St. Alphonsus Liguori- patron of vocations

God says to each of us: "Give me your heart, that is, your will." We, in turn, cannot offer anything more precious than to say: "Lord, take possession of us; we give our whole will to you; make us understand what it is that you desire of us, and we will perform it."

If we would give full satisfaction to the heart of God, we must bring our own will in everything into conformity with his; and not only into conformity, but into uniformity also, as regards all that God ordains. Confirmity signifies the joining of our own will to the will of God; but uniformity signifies, further, our mkaing of the divine and our own will one will only, so that we desire nothing but what God desires, and his will becomes ours. This is the sum and substance of that perfection to which we ought to be ever aspiring; this is what must be the aim of all we do, and of all our desires, meditations and prayers. For this we must invoke the assistance of all our patron saints and our guardian angels, and, above all, of our divine mother Mary, who was the most perfect saint, because she embraced most perfectly the divine will.

- Saint Alphonsus Liguori, from The Redeeming Love of Christ

His feastday is August 1.

Prayer to Know One's Vocation
Lord Jesus, up until now you have been quietly preparing me to be your disciple. Now the time of preparation is ending. I seem to hear you say to me as once to Peter: Will you also go away?" You were saddened then by friends who failed you. But Peter did not fail. "Lord", he said, "to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

I stand with Peter. Through prayer and counsel, show me, Lord, where it is in your vineyard that you want me to serve. Then give me strength to be faithful.

Mary, Mother and Model, help me to respond in generous love to the call of your divine Son.

Vocation Awareness Week

...second post of the year! :-P
This year I'll try to post more often... This week I'll also try featuring a quote or prayer each day by a saint about vocations (kinda). Anyway, for this special week, here's a handful of helpful websites if you or anyone else you know is considering a vocation, or even thinking of discerning a possible vocation to the priesthood or religious life... if you know any other ones, please leave a comment!

Holy Vocations Blog: A group blog consisting of people discerning a vocation. I would really recommend the introductions... plus the articles about the religious communities, and the reflections, oh! And the updates, and.... There's a loooong list of vocation links on the sidebar as well.

Vocation.com: Besides all the really awesome information it has, I especially enjoyed the testimonies, and a few other videos as well. There's also a Personal Guidance part where you can ask your own questions about vocations and have them answered by a priest.

Do I Have a Vocation?: Excellent articles about vocations... I'm still looking forward to reading some more... An earlier article was really helpful to me because I usually bake a plateful of cookies for the Daughters of St. Paul as gifts...

Vocation-Station: A blog consisting of many inspiring vocation videos, usually about a specific community. Really fun to watch, but my computer sometimes has a hard time loading up...

First post of the year...

...a video!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!

Nativity Scene at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace

Early Christmas present...

...because I'm not sure if I'll be able to post on Christmas day. Actually, it's a re-posting of a video that I did for Mother's day, I think. Anyway, just cross out the 'mother's day part'...

Tagged by Cy!

Pass this on to 5 blogging friends. Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56. Write the 5th sentence, as well as two to five sentences following that.

"...What is more, he knew where he came from."
"But how did he find that out?" asked Frodo.
"Well, as for the name, Bilbo very foolishly told Gollum himself; and after that it would not be difficult to discover his country, once Gollum came out."

~The Fellowship of Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

I tag anyone who hasn't done this yet!! :-)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Thank you Jesus for everything,
For every person, creature, and blessing,
Without You and them, my life would be so hollow,
And that’s why I’m saying mahalo.

Mahalo for my parents,
Who try to make my life straight not bent,
Mahalo for my siblings,
Without them, life would be so boring. :-P

Mahalo for my friends,
Whose friendship would never end,
Mahalo for my pets,
Who are so cute and colorful I bet.

Mahalo for the birds that sweetly sing,
And the comfort that cats and dogs bring,
Mahalo for every creature great and small,
From the tiniest ant to the giraffe so tall.

Mahalo for the flowers from roses to daises,
From colorful carnations to little white lilies,
Mahalo for plant life, whose names can be a disguise,
Especially for Hawaii ’s favorite, the bird of paradise.

Mahalo for the ocean so blue,
That fish swim in like there are always things to do,
Mahalo for the beach where it’s so fun to play,
Otherwise there would be no such thing beach day. :-(

Mahalo for the beautiful sky above,
Which is a sign of Your wonderful love,
Mahalo for the moon and the stars at night,
And the sun that gives us much light.

Mahalo for delicious food,
Which cheers us up when we’re in the mood,
From lumpia to grilled steak,
And from chocolate to pineapple cake.

But most of all, I thank you for you,
For your birth, death, resurrection too,
Mahalo for being my best Friend,
Whose love for me would never end.

Thank you Jesus for everything,
For every person, creature, and blessing,
Without You and them, my life would be so hollow,
And that’s why I’m saying mahalo.

Apostle for our times

Sorry, couldn't find a picture of him when he was young...

"The apostle is a temple of the most holy Trinity, within whom God is supremely active. The apostle exudes God from every pore: with words, works, prayers, actions, and attitudes, in public and in private, with one's entire being. Live God! Give God!" ~Blessed James Alberione



Childhood:

James Alberione (1884-1971) was born in a peasant family with four other brothers. Um...unfortunately I can't say too much about his childhood because I have two books that mostly tell about his later works in life. Anyway, with poor health, his mother always took care of him. She'd teach him about God and take him to church, often sitting in the back just in case he felt sick.
When he was six years old, his teacher, Rosina Cardona (Kind of like one of those sweet Sunday School teachers I imagine :-), asked her eighty students what they wanted to do in the future. James paused for a moment before saying, "I am going to be a priest." His teacher then saw great potential in him, and did her best to teach him well.
Even with poor health, thin and weak, he advanced well in his school years. Once, when he was nine years old, he was running fast to tell his mother that he had passed ahead of his class. But he didn't dare to tell her that he had promised to light a candle to the Madonna of Flowers, whom his mother had a great devotion to. She guessed, and scolded him saying not to just like a little candle. Then she gave him a coin that was enough for a larger one.
As a student he loved to read. He'd play sometimes, but it wasn't his aptitude, due to his poor health. He'd rather watch, or study with another student.
Most students, especially farmers, would usually finish after third grade (sniff...why can't we?), but James Alberione was the first in his family to have gone through the first year of junior high.
When farming (or something, I can't remember) he would be in charge of holding the lantern for light. Tired and sleepy, it was hard for him to lift it high. So that his father wouldn't scold him, his mother would call out to him, "James, give them light!"

Part two about entering the seminary coming next year :-P ;-)

Not giving up fighting for life!

I think the following song really fits the election for those who were voting for life... in my opinion anyway. It was composed by a group of three girls (siblings, and homeschooled!!!) who always base their songs on real meanings, not just weird ones that don't make any sense. It's kind of why they're one of my favorite singers. :-)

One More Round
by BarlowGirl

Round 1 wasn't how I thought it'd be
Round 2, I'm struggling to breathe,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7 times I wonder why I
stepped inside this ring.

I may be knocked down and so bruised
but I'm here to tell you
I may be knocked down, but not for the count...

So take me one more round
I'll just keep fighting
One more round
You're messing me up but I'm still here
One more round
I'll come out swinging
One more round
I'm telling you now I'm not going to lose it here.

It's so hard to get up off the floor again
But I know that victory is near,
I'm pushing through the pain that tries to feed me lies
that I won't reach the end.

I may be bloodied and so bruised
but I'm here to tell you
I may be knocked down but not for the count...

I am not defeated,
though you cannot see it,
I have never won a battle on my own.
I find strength in weakness
and find hope believing,
God is for me who can bring me down?

Even though I'm beaten up and hurt, you can't take me down, because God is at my side. You can knock me down, but I'll come back springing up. My body may be so tired... but not my will. I'm not giving up fighting for life! Don't let anyone knock you down, come back! Don't let them count your fall as a point! God is with us, who can take us down?

"The one who does things makes mistakes (sometimes). But the one who does nothing lives a continuous mistake." ~Bl. James Alberione

Happy All Saints Day, and please vote prolife!!

...and some part of my saying of pro-life. Anyway, here's a another vid I made. Thanks to Ms. Micki at http://thewindowshowsitall.blogspot.com/index.html for several of the featured holy cards.

Lyrics~

I’ve been hearing voices
Telling me that I could
Never be what I wanna be.
They’re binding me with lies,
Haunting me at night,
And saying there’s nothing to believe.
Somewhere in the quietness,
When I’m overcome with loneliness,
I hear You call my name.
And like a father You are near
And as I listen I can hear You say

You are a child of Mine
Born of My own design
And you bear the heart of life.
No matter where you go,
Oh, you will always know
You have been made free in Christ.
You are a child of Mine

And so I listen as You tell me who I am
And who it is I’m gonna be.
And I hang on every word,
Knowing I have heard
I am Yours and I am free
But when I am alone at night
That is when I hear the lie
You’ll never be enough
And though I’m giving into fear
If I listen I can hear You say

I am calling…I am calling…I am calling…

The saints heard the call of Jesus to be His children, and we are called too! As his children it is our duty to listen and obey like good children. But listening wouldn't be called listening if it wasn't followed by obeying... We're God's children, isn't that amazing?! He gave us the ultimate gift of life. But if we're God's children, then who are we to destroy it? We don't stand a chance against the Creator and Author of Life.
Imagine God's gift of life and abortion like this: You've been planting a flower for a special person. When you finally see that it's starting to grow, and you're so excited, that special person you've been growing this plant for, comes, pulls it out, roots and all, saying it's a weed. And they don't want a weed. But the flower hasn't even grown so much or bloomed out yet, how could you say it's a weed?
Those pre-born haven't done anything wrong. Not yet anyway. Not like they've killed someone. Not like they have done something so horrid that it death for more than one person. In fact, they haven't gotten a chance to do anything. What part of "Thou shalt not kill" do the abortionists not understand? God created life for us to live, not to destroy other's!
Even if I'm only a child, and cannot vote yet, doesn't mean I'm not old enough to help speak the truth out. I'm not afraid of being pro-life, neither should those pro-lifers be. Jesus mentioned more than one time to not be afraid. And he's also saying it today. You're alive. I think that should be more than enough to be thankful for. If you're alive, then I think you should stand up.
Life is life. Death is death. Killing is murder. Abortion is not just bad, it's 100% wrong. No one can change that. Not 75%, not even 99% wrong. St. Paul says let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no, all the way. It's that simple, like black and white. If black and white were the only colors that existed, then you can't have grey. There.
Let's fight the good fight of our faith, for life!

Please Vote for Life!!