Monthly Archives: November 2013

Running Into His Arms

Sacraments, , ,
Guy-holding-his-girl-in-arms-so-tight

I remember, before 9/11 and security changes at the airports, flying into airports to meet my boyfriend.  He would be waiting for me at the gate (occasionally the other way around), and there would be that nervous anticipation, that giddiness, that longing for the flight to *finally* be over.

And then it would be.  And our eyes would meet each other across the gate.  And I would leap into his arms.

Oh, yes.  We were *that* couple.  It was lovely.

This morning, I woke up and was going to bring some medication to a friend who was in the hospital.  As I looked at how much time I had to get to the hospital and then to work, I thought that I might have enough time to stop by our church.  Then, I’d be able to bring her the Eucharist, too.

And who wouldn’t want to receive the Eucharist?!?!

The more I thought about it, the more I was like, “Yes!  Yes-yes-yes!”  And I was looking forward to those few precious minutes while driving to the hospital, where I would have Jesus in the Eucharist in my hands in my own personal, tiny tabernacle.

It’s only about 2 miles from my house to church — roughly.  For the first mile, I was recalling those feelings of anticipation and longing from those airport reunions.  I couldn’t wait to see Him and be with Him.  And I was so excited to bring Him to my friend.  During the second mile, I thought about how amazing it was that soon I would be holding Him in my hand.  To be able to pour my heart out to Him, and have Him right there.

And, of course, I’m all about sharing.  And I most wanted to share this with one of my best friends.  Because he would understand.  After all, he holds Him in his hands every day when he celebrates Mass.  I prayed that today my friend would feel that same overwhelming anticipation and joy at spending time with our Lord.

Lives of the Saints in 140 Characters

Saints and People of Note, St. Anastasia, ,

I have to say, I’m quite enjoying myself today. I have been working on filling the Twitter queue for the Firestarters, so that we have messages going out more routinely. I have been sending out the Mass readings on Saturday, but I was thinking of what else I could do.

As usual, I look to what I need in *my* life for inspiration.

And, I don’t really have a great relationship with the saints. I don’t know too many of them.

So, perhaps a Saint of the Day tweet would be welcome to others, as well.

While queueing up these tweets, I found some great stories! Many of these saints are truly interesting! (Duh, right? But I was surprised nonetheless.)

But then I was faced with another problem… How do you condense their lives into 140 characters or less???? 🙂

So far, I have saints lined up through the end of November. If you are so inclined, please follow us @FirestartersStA!

All Saints’ Day

Saints and People of Note, , , , , ,

All Saints’ Day has kind of crept up on me. I really need to introduce a lot more discipline into my days, but I have been failing miserably of late. I was speaking to a friend on the phone and it was about 5:30 pm when I finally realized that it was a Holy Day of Obligation and that I needed to get myself to church! Thank You, God, that you had me remember this!

At Mass, Fr. JJ told us to look up an obscure saint and start praying to him or her.

Here it is, 3 days later, and I am just now getting around to that. *sigh*

I found this entry on St. Clarus at Catholic Online’s website:

A priest, probably born at Rochester, England, Clarus went to Normandy, became a Benedictine monk, lived as a hermit, and settled at Naqueville, near Rouen. When he repulsed the advances of a noblewoman, she had him killed and beheaded near Saint-Clair-sur-Eph. His feast day is November 4th.

This saint speaks to me because lately I have felt called to pray in earnest for the chastity of my priests (to be clear, I *do not* know of any reason why I need to be praying this), and for them to have an undivided heart. St. Clarus seems like a good person to request help from in interceding for them.

It is also interestingly coincidental that this is Pope Francis’ prayer intention for November, “That priests who experience difficulties may find comfort in their suffering, support in their doubts, and confirmation in their fidelity.”

St. Clarus, pray for us!