Good morning and welcome to the last week of July! We don’t want to say that summer is winding down because that’s not true, but it’s hard not to get into that frame of mind with back-to-school supplies and fall clothing starting to hit the shelves at the local stores.
Be consoled—there is much more summer ahead of us and we’re hoping this little email will get your weekend started off right! We wanted to use this issue of The Cause of Our Joy to very intentionally slow ourselves down. To take a breath and really focus on the blessings and the incredible gifts of Our Loving Father. Time always seems like it’s going so fast, so let’s hit the brakes a little!
And without further ado, let’s get into this!
Sunday’s Readings
Not surprisingly, this Sunday’s gospel contains many points for meditation. St. Luke tells of Jesus teaching His disciples the Our Father. Jesus Himself is inviting us to call God “our Father”! And even more, Jesus tells us to call him “daddy,” a closer literal translation of the Hebrew “Abba.” Here is a breakdown of what we’re praying when we recite the Our Father.
After doing some research, we found this article from Catholic Exchange that sheds light on how deep the Lord’s Prayer is—check out 5 Things You Don’t Know About the Our Father!
Seek and Ye Shall Find
Have you ever prayed for something so hard or for so long and not gotten the answer to your prayer? Have you begged God for something that was an obvious good and not received what you prayed for? Experiences like these can really cause our faith to take a hit. So what are we to do? Perseverance in Prayer is a fantastic article for those of you who are struggling with disappointment in prayer.
Beauty All Around Us
In an attempt to slow down and reflect on our lives with gratitude, sometimes we just need to stop and literally smell the roses. The following is an Ignatian exercise for doing just this! So go ahead, take a moment to read the article and practice this thankfulness for God’s creation! Bonus—St. Ignatius’ feast day is this coming week!
Finding Joy in the Everyday Mundane
We were just talking the other day about how easy it is to get into a complaining frame of mind. One unfortunate turn in our plans or with the kids and we’re smack dab on the slippery slope to grouchy grumbling.
If practiced enough, this grumpy, cynical attitude can become a habit. Since we both struggle with this, we found this article from the National Catholic Register, 5 Ways to Find Greater Joy Today, to be an absolute gem. We loved it!
Feeling Depressed?
Sure, it’s easy for us to link an article and encourage you to be more joyful, but what if you’re in a really tough place right now and it’s hard to tap into that “glass half full” mentality? Everyone has bad days and some of us struggle with true clinical depression. What do you do with this? Perhaps try praying this prayer of Padre Pio to help you reach out from the dark place you find yourself in.
Eucharistic Pilgrimage
As you all know, the Marian Center is hosting an International Eucharistic Miracles Exhibit. Praise God, it has been very well visited and its presence at the Center has born much fruit, but we were just thinking about how amazing it would be to actually visit the site of one of these miracles. And lo and behold, we found the perfect article! Check out this piece from Aleteia!
Marian Minute
Our neighbors to the north are doing an incredible thing! Canada has something interesting coming up on August 22nd—A Rosary Bowl! What is a Rosary Bowl, you ask? (We had to look it up as we’d never heard of it before!) A Rosary Bowl is simply a Rosary celebration for world peace. It is an invitation to join the community in public prayer for the needs of all families, for our communities, for our nation and for the whole world. What a great idea! (Thinking maybe we should get something like that going in Michigan!)
For the Kids
Do you have pipe cleaners, some beads, and a medal or two in your craft stash? If so, you have all the supplies you need to make these Sacred and Immaculate Heart children’s rosaries! They’re adorable!
Saint Spotlight
As we mentioned above, St. Ignatius of Loyola’s feast is this coming Wednesday, July 31st. St. Ignatius is most known for his work in spiritual direction and his Spiritual Exercises. If you are in the northern Michigan area and are interested in learning more about Ignatian Spirituality, there is an incredible opportunity coming up on Saturday, October 5th! For more information, click here.
Marian Center Update
The Marian Center is hosting the Eucharistic Miracles of the World exhibit until the end of the summer. Find out more here!
SAVE THE DATE: Marian Center Kids Camp will be held Aug 20-22 from 9 to Noon each day. K-5. More details to come!
To Christ Through Mary,
Katie Moe and Lori Mercer
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