A recent Friday morning found me at the funeral Mass for a friend’s mother, and I had to take the two youngest with me. We lasted only a few minutes in the main church. My three year old, his toddler voice echoing during the quiet and solemn service, sent us into the vestible. I could hear the readings from the speakers back there, and listened while the kids sprawled at my feet. It was Matthew’s Gospel of the final judgement, where Christ tells of separating the sheep from the goats. I felt my stomach knotting up as I listened.
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This spring saw our backyard filled with new life: families of quail scurrying across the grass, baby doves peeking out from the eaves of our patio, and a special surprise: a little killdeer mother, nesting on the ground in a shallow depression in the gravel out near the children's basketball hoop. They were the first to find her, running in breathless one day to report that we had a new tenant. Sure enough, there she sat, seeming both a bit smug and suspicious on her small speckled eggs. My heart sank a bit, worried about her safety so near the children's play area. Her curious choice of a nest was instinctive, I had recently learned. Only weeks before, another killdeer had made a nest recently on our neighbors property - in the rocks right next to their busy driveway. My neighbor, concerned, had researched the birds and told me about these indignant little mothers. We were both amazed at their unusual habits. They always nest on the ground, sometimes taking turns on the eggs with the father. So slight an indentation do they make on the desert ground, and so like stones are the eggs, that they blend into gravel perfectly. It's good camouflage, but still...this one had no idea what she was in for.
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St. Rita Catholic Church in Alexandria, LA, under the mentorship of Reverend Craig Scott, Pastor, graduated 110 women from the Women of Grace® study program on the evening of May 4, 2015. Friends and family were in attendance for the Mass, graduation ceremony, and dinner to witness the women as they rejoiced in the Lord, who had called them to complete their Lenten journey for 2015.
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May is one of the months that Catholics around the world celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary in a special way. Women of Grace® encourages this ancient tradition and many of our facilitators lead their study groups in a May Crowning ceremony.
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This year’s Women of Grace® Retreat, which will be held from July 17-19 on the historic 120-acre campus of Orchard Lake Schools in Orchard Lake, Michigan, is the ideal setting for an encounter with the Architect of your life.
Entitled, "My Grace is Sufficient for You: Woman and God's Divine Plan," this retreat will feature Johnnette Benkovic, Fr. Philip Scott, FJ and Dr. Monica Miller in an intensive three-day immersion in what it means to be a daughter of God, and how to live out that call in this our day and time. These restful grounds, which were so dear to the heart of St. John Paul II, are the perfect place to escape the world and acquire the spiritual and emotional nourishment you need in order to empower you to engage in the unique cultural battles of our time.
“The Women of Grace Retreat always awakens what has been hiding inside of me,” says Mary Dillenback of Fishers Landing, New York. “I leave with renewed courage and joy – grateful to know I am a daughter of the Most High God and that much closer to who God needs me to be!” The retreat will be preceded by the Benedicta Leadership Institute for Women on July 16 – 17. Johnnette and Dr. Miller will discuss, “The Authority of Woman: Her Influence, Effect, and Power."
Click here for further details and to register.
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Richard Zeidler, my “Uncle Dick”
Nine years ago I went for a walk with Alice von Hildebrand. The lovely Catholic philosopher and theologian had come into Phoenix to give a talk on God’s love, and desiring to enjoy the weather and the views around Camelback mountain, she found me a willing companion. Our conversation turned to my uncle, who had recently died after a terribly painful battle with stomach cancer. I had described his life to her, and then she stopped me, looked into my eyes, and said in her beautiful accent, “You’ve got to write that.” Firmly. And I knew I should, not just because when Alice von Hildebrand tells you to do something, you probably should, but also because deep down I knew it was true. So…it took me nine years, but here goes, and intentionally in time for the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, May 1st.
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We recently received the exciting news from Regional Coordinator, Monique Russo, who is based in
Gibraltar, of the successful completion of our very first Women of Grace Foundational Study program in Spain.
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Commentary by Mandy HowardIt felt righteous. I was speaking God’s Truth and I was standing up for the life of the most defenseless. “Abortion is murder,” I said with strength and courage, “murder is not the same as natural death!”
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St. Rita Catholic Church Lenten Women of Grace Commencement
On the evening of February 9, 2015, St. Rita Catholic Church in Alexandria, Louisiana gathered 110 women who have committed to the journey of a Lenten Women of Grace® study program. These women are inspired by the life of St. Rita, a woman who well interpreted the "feminine genius" espoused in the study, by living it intensely in day-to-day life and particularly in her gift of spiritual motherhood. The Women of Grace study program is their path to a deeper understanding of their God-given, unique feminine gifts, and the discovery of their particular role in bringing Jesus Christ to the world.
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"Those whose hearts are pure are the temples of the Holy Spirit."
- Saint Lucy
We invite you to participate in our #50ShadesofGrace Novena to pray against the potentially devastating impact of the "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie. This prayer campaign will begin on February 6th and end on February 14th, the Feast of St. Valentine, coinciding with World Marriage Day.To join this effort, just pick up your rosary beads and fervently pray the rosary every day for the intention of helping people embrace the gift of true intimacy versus the perversion of it that is so rampant in our culture today.Here are some helpful links to aid you in your participation in this Novena along with some other resources to work against the impact of the "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie.
- Join our St. Valentine Novena of Masses for Marriage.
- Click here to learn how to pray the rosary via EWTN.
- Support "Old Fashioned," an alternative movie that upholds virtue and God-honoring courtship, also opening on St. Valentine's Day.
- Say "no" to porn by joining the "50 Shades Boycott" here.
- Help someone who is struggling with pornography by sharing this book.
- Click here for free videos on the rosary, pornography addiction, and recovery from sexual abuse.
Please be sure to share this information as widely as possible via Facebook, Twitter, and every means of media using the hashtag #50ShadesofGrace so that we can create a tidal wave of grace upon our land.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
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