Veronica's Veil

Today, I was reading a small booklet on "Devotion to the Holy Face".  More on that in a later post. Picking up the book, I wondered if any image of Christ's face was considered "The Holy Face", or what? 

This led me to google "Veronica's Veil Image". This is one of the images that came up.I find it to be fascinating. This account,
(Veronica's Veil Found?)  Part of the article compares the Shroud of Turin image with this one, (it says that the images are, essentially, identical). Part of it is about the fact that the ability of the fine gossamer fabric that the image appears on, is not paintable. So if the image is not paintable, what created it? 
)on the "Catholic Culture" website, goes into some detail about it.

I hope you find the article, and especially the image, to be as fascinating as I did.

Legion Of Mary

A little more than a year and a half ago, I joined a group at our church called the Legion of Mary. For anyone that is not Catholic that might read this, the Legion is devoted to helping Mary, the Mother of Jesus, serve Him by bringing souls to Christ, and by helping those He spoke of when He said "Whenever you did for the least of my brothers, you did it for me."

The Legion has been a huge blessing in my life. We had just moved here to Fredericksburg when I joined, so most of my friends are in the Legion. They are without a doubt, the holiest group of people I have ever met.

Members who join the Legion agree to do several things in order to be part of a group.

1) Members agree to go to one meeting a week, held at the same time and place. Our Church has several groups, call Praesidiums, that meet at different times during the week. One of these groups is a Spanish speaking group, and another is a Junior Praesidium, composed entirely of members under the age of 18.

2) Members also agree to participate in work that is assigned by the President of the group. Such work usually consists of visiting nursing homes, shut ins, prisons, teaching CCD, visiting parishioners, or other outreach type work.

3) Members also agree to respect the confidential nature of the facts regarding the work that they do. Oral reports are furnished to the group every week concerning the work done the previous week.

4) Members agree to say a particular prayer called the Catena, which is derived from the words of Our Lady, spoken upon her visit to her cousin Elizabeth.

These requirements are for active Legionaries. There are also Auxiliary Legionaries, who pray certain prayers each day for the success of the Legionaries that are active in the field. These include the Catena, and the rest of the small leaflet called the Tessera. They also agree to say one Rosary a day for the intention of the Legion.

Please consider this wonderful ministry. It has been said by one person I know in the Legion, that it is a "Fast track to holiness". And that, is a beautiful objective in itself.

For anyone interested in joining the Legion, you may contact me by emailing peggy dot wickham at gmail dot com . If in the Northern Virginia area, you may go to the "Head group" or "Regia" for Arlington. If you are not in this area, you might google your city's name and "Legion of Mary" to see if you come up with anything. This page is the headquarters of the Legion, which is in Dublin, Ireland. Here is a page that has Senati (the next level up from Regia) of many areas of the world. If that doesn't work to find you a Praesidium that you might participate in, please do email me, and I will try to locate one for you.

If you have been feeling that you need something more in your faith life... please consider the Legion. The miracles that abound from it are amazing.

Defending our Faith against the anti-Catholic media, jokes, etc.

OK, so I'm wondering if the anti-Catholic, anti-priest, anti-Pope jokes are getting to anyone else? I sure have had my fill. I love to watch the late night television shows, but I am sick and tired of the same old jokes. OK, so some bad stuff happened. Move on. The Catholic Church learned from their mistakes -- of course, there can be no guarantees that there will be no more mistakes. But then, the various other faiths who are not constantly on the hot seat like the Catholic Church is, have had problems too in this area. I would virtually guarantee that they haven't learned from the experiences that our church have been through. I would be very surprised to find that there are no incidents of child molestation in other faiths, or other groups that have a lot of contact with children. They just keep it hidden better.

Do you know how I know? Two of my children were molested as boys-- and guess what-- it wasn't the Catholic Church that was responsible but the Boy Scouts. I think that the numbers of incidents of molestation in both groups are comparable. But there has been no public outcry for change in the Scouting program, or in the Presbyterian Church, or the Jewish faith, etc. I am not against the Scouts, but the outcry that has come against the church is out of proportion to what has happened in other cases. I believe most of the people promoting the scandal are from outside the church-- from the heavily anti-Catholic media and Hollywood.I also believe that this constant stabbing at the Catholic Church is responsible for a lot of the loss of membership that has been experienced over the decades. I may be wrong, but I don't think so. Has anyone ever thought about  what an outcry there would be if other faiths were constantly assaulted like the Catholic Church is?

I think it's time we as Catholics did something to defend our faith, our priests and our Pope. Anybody have any better ideas than me? So far, the only thing I've come up with is either to boycott programs that consistently slam our church, or to write massive amounts of letters to sponsors of said programs that we are boycotting THEIR products. That makes the most sense to me. I'd love to hear what any one else thinks.

Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen And Have Believed....

I am visiting our son Michael and his lovely wife Sonya in Raleigh NC this week. I went to our old parish, St. Andrew's, for the evening Mass. It was lovely- still decorated for Easter, and as always, everyone there is so nice-- friendly, and very prayerful, and reverent. Most stay for the entire song at the end of Mass, etc. It was really a nice thing to be back, if only for one day.

Anyway.  Father Thomas gave a lovely sermon about St. Thomas. He reminded us of the Gospel we had just heard, where Thomas said that unless he put his fingers into the nail marks in Jesus' hands and his hand into Jesus' side, he would not believe. Then of course, a week later, Jesus gently tells Thomas to put his finger into the nail marks, and his hand into His side. He wants Thomas to not only see, but BELIEVE. Christ says, "Blessed are those who have not seen, but believe!". Maybe we can answer our own unbelief sometimes with that Scripture passage. We haven't seen, but we can believe.

Father mentioned that Blaise Pascal, a famous scientist, mathematician and philosopher, pondered over the fact that there are doubters of Christ's Resurrection.  His answer to them in part, follows (I highly recommend that the entire piece be read as it is very interesting. I have linked the passage to the source I found it on - the passage I am quoting comes about two thirds down the page.)

Fifth and finally, the lives of the disciples were transformed such that they were willing to die for their conviction that Jesus had risen from the dead. After the crucifixion of Jesus, his followers were disheartened and depressed. The one who they had believed to be the Messiah, the promised Savior of the world, had died in the most dishonorable way possible, crucifixion. They scattered and fell away, but within weeks they were leaving their jobs, gathering together and committing themselves to proclaiming the Gospel that Jesus was the Messiah sent by God, who died on a cross to pay the penalty for sin and then was raised to life seen alive by them. From an earthly perspective, they had little to gain in return. They were often hungry, ridiculed, beaten and imprisoned. Ultimately, most of them were brutally executed in torturous ways. Why were they willing to proclaim this Gospel to their death? Because they were absolutely convinced that they had seen the resurrected Christ.

I found this explanation to be absolutely riveting. All the people who deny that the Shroud of Turin is real, who give whatever (false) reason that Christianity is not the Truth, cannot deny that countless people have died for their faith. Among those were many who saw, spoke to and ate with, touched, were healed by JESUS himself!  How can this be denied???

Blessed are they who have not SEEN but have BELIEVED!!!
(The painting at the bottom of this post is called "Stoning Of St. Stephen"  by Adam Elsheimer (1576-1610) )

The Seven Sorrows Of The Blessed Virgin Mary

At a meeting at our parish several weeks ago, we talked about the devotion to the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Mother. I put this devotion into my prayer life that day. When saying the prayers and meditating, I found myself wishing that I had something to guide me in my meditations - to help to make sure I was not missing the point, as I knew I was meditating on each of the seven Sorrows as a mother would, but not necessarily from the viewpoint that the Blessed Mother might have.

For those new to this devotion, Our Lady promises (According to St. Bridget of Sweden)

The Blessed Virgin grants seven graces to the souls who honor her daily by saying seven Hail Marys while meditating on her tears and dolors:

1. "I will grant peace to their families."

2. "They will be enlightened about the Divine Mysteries."

3. "I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work."

4. "I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my Divine Son or the sanctification of their souls."

5. "I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives."

6. "I will visibly help them at the moment of their death--they will see the face of their mother."

7. "I have obtained this grace from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness, since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son will be their eternal consolation and joy." 

The Seven Sorrows are: 

The prophecy of Saint Simeon.

The flight into Egypt.

The loss of the Child Jesus in the temple for three days.

The meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross.

The Crucifixion.

The taking down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross.

The burial of Jesus

So I've been searching for a meditation that would work for me. I found some early on, but they were too flowery which I found distracting, and would get so caught up in the language that I had difficulty remembering to say the Hail Marys!  I thought that maybe I would re-write it in language that was not so archaic. So to make sure I found the one that was the best for my purpose, I did some more searching (I found that using different search terms got me some other meditations that worked much better for me.)I thought I would share the meditations I found in case there is someone that has had the same difficulty as me.I am pleased with these so will not do the re-write that I was thinking of.

Tonight I found this meditation -- I think this is my favorite. It is in modern language, and is very much in a story form that works for me. Then I also found this page that is a rosary of the Seven Sorrows. (A very nice fellow commented that there are 15 promises with the Seven Sorrows Rosary by the way.)  I found the pictures of the paintings that go with each of the separate sorrows on the Rosary site to be quite nice and helpful to visualize the situation that Our Lady was in at that time.

This is a lovely site and  this site as well. I hope that the links to these sites help to promote this wonderful devotion.

My Conversion Story

Today I was at a Legion of Mary meeting and spoke to Father about one of my children who is having some difficulties. He mentioned a couple of things which will be food for thought in future postings. The thing that really got me excited in my conversation with him was a book he mentioned "Surprised by Truth". The library at church had a copy of the sequel "Surprised By Truth 2"-- I took it out.

I went to a restaurant and ate my lunch, and then spent the best half hour of intense reading in a long while. The book is about the reasons behind the conversion of several people who have converted to Catholicism, which resonated with me since I am a convert. So I decided to tell my story on my blog. So here it is.

My earliest memory of going to church was probably in a Unitarian Church. I remember it was filled with colored light from stained glass windows-- I was very impressed. I was about 4. That was possibly the first time my parents took me to church. They did not go very often. My dad worked most days- even Sundays- at a gas station. We were pretty hard up and he didn't have a choice about working or not on Sundays- but truthfully, although he was Christian, he was not really a churchgoing guy. My mother couldn't drive in those days. The next time my sister and I went to church was about a year later. We went with our next door neighbors to their church-- it was an Episcopal Church. I don't know about my sister, but I was amazed-- the church was huge. I had to go to the restroom during the service and I remember being terrified that I would never find our friends who had brought us again-- it was just so big. Our neighbors on the other side were Catholic. I remember the girl that was between my sister's and my ages showing us her statues of the Blessed Mother and of Christ, and her rosary. We didn't have anything like those items at our house, and I asked my mother about them. I don't remember her answer-- but it was not encouraging, you can bet.

Then  we moved to the country, and my mother tried to start taking us to church. We went first to a Community Church, and then to a Baptist Church. (I still remember the pastor there's sermons-- I was terrified-- he yelled a lot it seemed to me!

Three years later, we went to my cousin's wedding. He was a Catholic convert. At the wedding, everyone was knelt on the kneelers several times during the service. "When in Rome-- do what the Romans do" -- right?? So when they knelt, I knelt. I remember my mother looking down the pew at me, and the look on her face spoke volumes. She was not happy. I could not understand why - it did not seem like a bad thing to be kneeling. Weren't we supposed to kneel in prayer when we said our prayers next to the bed at night? How could kneeling in church, where it seemed even more appropriate, be wrong?

I'd had exposure at that point to five different churches. In my teens yet another neighbor took my sister and I to church. That was a Presbyterian Church. That made it six different churches. I noticed that each church said it was "the" way to Heaven. I felt confused. How could all these churches be the only way? I started praying every night that God would lead me to the best church. I believe my parents are in Heaven. I have to believe that, but of course, only God knows for sure. BUT- I do believe that the Catholic Church is the One Universal Church that is the Church that Christ spoke about to St. Peter "Upon this rock I will build my church".

So, when I started to date my husband, who had had his fill of non Catholic girlfriends who not only weren't Catholic but hated Catholics, he said (after he asked me to marry him of course lol) that he could not marry a non-Catholic. It seemed that I'd been waiting to be asked to be Catholic since that wedding almost ten years before. In addition to my husband, there were several people along the way whose faith just made me sit up and take notice. It just added up to -- I wanted what they had. I knew no other people at my age that had such a firm faith. Although my faith journey has not been entirely smooth since my baptism, (I did have some rocky sections) when looking back over the course of the years, I thank God for His calling me to become Catholic. It is a joy.

The famous fake trip to the bathroom scheme...

I think back to the Good Old Days (and they were GOOD :-) ) when we had all our kids at church. There were some interesting times at Mass with all of our kids and trying to keep them quiet, keep them from doing their worst to their brothers, keep their fingers out of their noses, etc. Some of the things were funny, some were not lol. The funniest things our kids did -- like crawling under the pews lickety split before we could catch them-- we had to sprint like five pews up (and we were in the front section of course!) and catch the youngest mid pew right in the middle of the sermon. Then there was the time that our "middle child" decided right in the middle of the consecration he needed to visit the restroom. Joel took him out, excusing himself as we were in the middle of the pew. He got him all the way into the bathroom, and is standing before the toilet, when Chris said "I was only kidding.... ". We have never let him forget this of course lol.

Saints and Souls...

All Saints and All Souls Day... I tend to think of these two days as days to pray to those who have already passed on, many of whom I have never known. Sometimes, I think about figures I have known from the news, etc-- Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, etc-- that are a shoe-in for Sainthood.

However, today at Mass, Father spoke about the multitudes spoken about by St. John in Revelations. He said that of those multitudes, some most likely will be some of the ordinary people we have known in our lives. How comforting that was to think of. Even more comforting was his statement that even the "Cranky and the Crazy" amongst us can still get to Heaven. Boy, since I am probably a candidate for both categories, I was glad to hear that! He spoke further about those who have touched our lives living and non-living that have and are continuing to help us to our goal of being Saints. These are those that have helped us to do more of what Christ has asked us to do in being more Christ like. I started to think-- who has affected my life most positively in this way?

Here are the people I thought of-- they are not listed in the order of importance, rather, chronological order.

My Dad-- 1973

First and foremost, my father. He was the first one that came to mind-- although in his final years, he was difficult for many to deal with, throughout his life, there was probably no more humble and giving a man. Many nights he would be late coming home because he saw someone on the highway that had a flat tire. Most of those times, he would refuse to be paid for his assistance with the person's flat tire, their dead battery, or just waiting with the person as they waited for a tow truck to arrive.My first true lesson on going to Heaven came from my Dad. In chastising me for some transgression that has since faded to oblivion, Dad somehow went on to discussing the subject of who gets into Heaven. He had a piece of chain in his hands, and working his fingers down the links of chain as he described the line of people one by one getting to the Gates of Heaven, he described how some would be allowed in and some would be denied entrance. It scared the living daylights out of me! My Mother was also influential-- probably for the most part just because she loved me, and spent so much of her time listening to me and caring for me- a good lesson in how the Father cares for us all, certainly.


The next person was the most important person in my life-- my husband Joel. For one thing, he asked me to become Catholic. That alone has brought me so much closer to God. Plus, the number of times in the early years after my conversion that I turned to him while at Mass when something happened I didn't understand - he most times instantly knew I was wondering what was going on. He would whisper "after Mass!".

Father Murray who was the priest that conducted the classes I took before being baptised was very influential. At any rate, his teaching of me "took" certainly, and I consider the mind bogglingly incredible gift that he gave me by baptising me on May 12, 1969. He is a very joyous man, and gave me the knowledge that being Christlike is to be full of JOY!

Father Murray baptizing me, with Terry behind me. 

Terry, my classmate and Godmother, was the person during the time I took the classes that showed me my first example of a woman that was deeply religious. She was very supportive during those classes and questions that Joel didn't answer, Terry did.

There are many who have also affected me through the years... the Sisters at St. Lucy's in Middletown RI where they supported my first attempts to teach a CCD class. It seemed incongruous that someone who was still giving her husband puzzled looks during Mass could actually teach others about God. (Although I hope they got something good from their classes I taught- there is no way they could have gotten as much from that class as I did!)

Then, in my "thirtysomething" years-- I was finally confirmed-- and my sponsor, Priscilla-- was a model of good mothering, and what a good Christian should be. She was an incredible friend to me at all times. The thing I have always thought of when I think of Priscilla is "Peaceful". The quote from Scripture "In quietness and confidence shall be my strength.".

The person that taught the classes for Confirmation was Sister Cecelia Dolores. She also was such a good friend and over the years, the lessons she taught me have helped so much. She was the most self sacrificing person I think I ever met. Many good friends-- Alicia, Helen, from church, Judy from the place where I worked-- Evelyn from our Marriage Encounter sharing group. I was abundantly blessed far more than anyone could ask for by the people I met through the years.

Three decades have come and gone since I was confirmed. My growth thankfully hopefully) has not stopped there. So many people have come into my life and gone out of it-- some by moving, some by death. Rose taught me about service to God through serving others. One of those I served, Marie, taught me about incredible courage in the face of an excruciatingly painful death, but that there was a reward coming that she was eagerly awaiting. Erin is an example of a person that truly loves everyone. I think she sees Christ in every person she sees during her day.

Rose and I painting "Forget Me Not Pots" at the 2007 Relay For Life-- Cary NC

So who was most important in my faith journey? (Well, first of all, ME -- I am the one that has purposely tried to find the way to be closer to God.)But other than that,it is all of these wonderful individuals that have shared with me -- plus so many more from our Marriage Encounter group in Poughkeepsie, our Small Christian Community group we were in when we lived in Raleigh, the Legion of Mary group I joined a few months ago after moving to Virginia. So many blessings. Thank you to all of them, and to all the blessings to come.

Council of Catholic Women -- "Women Doctors of the Church"

Yesterday, I went to an Arlington Diocese Council of Catholic Women meeting that our parish was honored to be able to host at our church hall. After the delicious dinner, there was a presentation on the spiritual journey of the Women Doctors of the Church. Most of the presentation centered on St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena. What facinating and inspiring women they were! Both taught about how to reach a closer relationship with God.

St. Teresa's journey was not always an easy one- she had her periods of not paying much attention to God, and so she is the one I felt closest to while hearing the presentation.

However, St. Catherine was one of 25 children-- 25 children!! (I thought I had it tough with FIVE!!! So here's a note to my kids-- if St. Catherine could have been so holy after having been raised with 24 siblings-- I don't want to hear about how awful it was being one of five!)

I did some preliminary research and found several online blogs and other resources that I can't wait to check out on these two amazing women:

Catherine of Siena:

1. (Her own writings-- The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena
   
   St. Catherine of Siena deliberately told popes, queens and kings how to behave. She was spontaneous, unafraid of authority and fearless in the face of death. She was a Dominican religious who corresponded with Popes and peasants alike.
   
   Born in 1347, at Siena, Italy, Saint Catherine lived through the Black Death, famine and numerous civil wars. During her lifetime the papal residence moved from Rome to Avignon and back again, and the great western Schism pitted Pope against anti-pope.
   
   Even at a young age, Catherine sensed the troubled society around her and wanted to help. Childishly she dreamed of dressing up like a man to become a Dominican friar; more than once she ran into the street to kiss the ground where Dominicans walked. l
   
   Catherine's parents tried hard to discourage her from becoming religious, but eventually, when she was about sixteen-years-old, Catherine, with the help of the Holy Spirit, was permitted to enter the sisters of Penance of St Dominic, the Mantellate.
   
   During her life as a religious, St. Catherine had numerous visions and long ecstasies, but she is most remembered for her writings, which eventually led to her being declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
   
   Truth be known, she didn't learn how to write until the end of her life, but that never stopped her. She dictated her literary masterpieces, sometimes reciting three documents to three secretaries at the same time.
2. Inner Reflections on Leadership
3. Drawn By Love
   Although much has been written about her life, relatively little attention has been given to her spiritual teaching as found in the compendium of her mystical thought known as the Dialogue, her 381 letters, and 26 prayers. In this website we have brought together some of the very best but often hard-to-find resources on Catherine's thought in the hope of filling this lacuna in spirituality. Every effort has been made to post materials on this website in such a way that citations for academic papers can be made without having to find the originals in a library. We hope to add new materials to this site from time-to-time--so please come back often.

Teresa of Avila:

1. Her own writings: The Way of Perfection
2. Interior Castle: St. Teresa of Avila
   St. Teresa of Avila
   
   "I BEGAN TO THINK OF THE SOUL AS IF IT WERE A CASTLE MADE OF A SINGLE DIAMOND..."
   
   INTERIOR CASTLE is one of the most celebrated books on mystical theology in existence. It is the most sublime and mature of Teresa of Avila's works, and expresses the full flowering of her deep experience in guiding souls toward spiritual perfection. In addition to its profound mystical content, it is also a treasury of unforgettable maxims on such ascetic subjects as self-knowledge, humility, detachment, and suffering. But above all, this account of a soul's progress in virtue and grace is the record of a life -- of the interior life of Teresa of Avila, whose courageous soul, luminous mind, and endearingly human temperament hold so deep an attraction for the modern mind.

We are in God's Mind Even When He Isn't In Ours

At Mass this week, Father spoke about how a Monsignor friend of his had made the comment that if God ceased to think of us, we would cease to exist. He then spoke about how this at first seemed weird but after thinking about it, it made sense.

The more I thought about it, the more things that occurred to me. We are always in God's care, and He knows our every thought, our every need. Thus, whatever our need, it is OK to ask God for it. He cares about the most insignificant hair on our heads, so it follows that He cares about whatever we are concerned with at the time. If we ask Him for help on something, He will always answer our prayers. He may answer "No" but He will always answer. Further, the more we speak to God about our needs and our concerns, the closer to Him we grow. If you have a friend that you speak to daily several times a day, you grow closer to that person, not more distant.


One more thing Father said that made me think: He said that we cannot appreciate anything until we have had the lack of it. So, for us to appreciate sunny days, it follows that we must have rainy days, and so on. If this seems elementary to some, I have to say that I write this not for anyone else that may read this but for ME-- that I will not forget that in order to know the joys of life, you must have some sad times.

In order to feel close to God, you MUST have had some times in your life that you feel FAR from Him.

To appreciate being satisfied, you must have been hungry at some time.

And further, in order to keep remembering these things, you have to have them happen more than once for most of us.

God is so very, very good to us. We have only to realize that He loves us so much more than we could ever imagine, and He wants us to be happy!

Choosing Life-- being "Life Giving"

I've been thinking a lot about Thursday's March For Life. My sign that I carried said "We Choose Life". Multiple things have occurred to me about Choosing Life. One is that we can cause a little death in the hearts of those we love when we are sarcastic, when we do not choose to reinforce the goodness in them. We cause a little death when we don't let them know how much God loves them not to mention how much WE love them.

I am a firm believer that the greatest problems in this world (terrorism, crime, loneliness, etc.) are a result of people not knowing how much they are loved, first and foremost by our all Loving God and of course, by their parents and other family members. No one can even imagine the extent of God's immense love for each of us. It is just beyond our human comprehension. I know He loves me, and it's comforting to me to know that I cannot even begin to imagine the vastness of his love for me. We can think about in this way-- the love of a parent for his child is usually endless. Most parents feel that they would die for their children if they were endangered. God loves us so much, that He DID die for us-- he allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross and He died because we were endangered. God loves us INFINITELY-- there are no limits to the love that God has for us.

How do we begin to spread the knowledge of that love to others? It seems to me that we can do it primarily by loving others ourselves, and doing whatever we can to bring comfort to them, and then taking whatever chance we can get to talk about how much God loves each one of us.