By Ellen Mongan
The best Christmas gifts are not always found under a tree rather they are discovered along the journey. This Christmas season Deacon Pat and I found ourselves homeless and alone. Our home in Viera, Florida sold miraculously in just one week without a realtor. Thirty days later we closed on our Florida home and that chapter of our life.
A friend is the fabric which covers your life with Christ love. One friend’s famous quote sown in my soul is, “We all know Jesus loves us but sometimes you need Jesus with skin on.” A true friend is one who shows Christ’s love in action.
Lizzie (L) and Betsey (R) work together to hone their message that “friends forgive!”
What better way to complete the Young Women of Grace: Embrace Your Femininity Study than by celebrating the gift of spiritual motherhood? The 13 young women from Christ the King parish in Chicago who took the course this year decided there was no better way to spend their last meeting together than by exercising this all-important feminine gift.
April 19
“The soul truly in love with God never fails through laziness to do all in its power to seek God’s Son, the Beloved.”
–St. John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle
April 18
“If you know how to speak without wounding, although you may have to correct or reprimand, hearts will not close themselves to you. The seed will fall on truly fertile ground and the harvest will be plentiful.”
–Fr. Salvatore Canals, Jesus as Friend
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April 16
“Faith: avoid defeatism and sterile lamenting about the religious situation of your countries, and get on with the job with effort and move … many people. Hope: God does not lose battles.”
–St. Josemaria Escriva, paraphrase reported in In Conversation with God, Volume 2, by Francis Fernandez
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April 15
Our Lady is rest for those who work, consolation for those who weep, medicine for the sick, a harbor for those assailed by tempests, pardon for sinners, sweet relief for the sad, succor for those who implore.
–St. John Damascene, Homily on Our Lady’s Dormition
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April 14
“How often I have failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer.”
–St. Teresa of Avila, her Life (paraphrase)
April 13
“Mary, Queen of Peace, is close to the women of our day because of her motherhood, her example of openness to others’ needs, and her witness of suffering.”
–From an address of Pope St. John Paul II, “Women: Teachers of Peace”
