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“He showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, and he said to them again, 'Peace be with you. 'As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.' After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone's sins, they are retained.” + John 20:20-23 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Happy Pentecost Sunday! Holy Spirit, come. We desperately need you. We decked ourselves out in red for the occasion. 🔥 Also, you might notice we have started painting the house (we have a looooong way to go) but I’m super excited about it. 🙃

Today is St Joan of Arc’s feast day. I’ve always felt drawn to this Saint and her seemingly unwavering strength, but today I reflected a little bit on what her witness means for us now, in this time and place. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We are now able to see her for what she was. A holy, incredible woman, and a warrior for our faith. But in her time, this is not how she was perceived. She was hated, controversial. She died excommunicated from the Church — and was burned at the stake. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Here’s the thing. It’s easy to stay out of controversy. I could sit here posting pretty pictures, and ignore all the hard stuff. The thing is, I very much feel called to speak out on the hard stuff, especially when I feel like many well meaning Catholics may be lead astray by others. God has placed on my heart a desire for Truth, a love for His Church, and a passion for sharing it with others in the hopes that they will more fully understand the teachings of the Church. I do not seek to divide, but Christ laid out in the Gospel that because of the fallen nature of our world, His truth will inevitably cause division (Lk 12:51).⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I almost always lose followers when I post about the hard stuff, which I find a little shocking because I’ve never said anything that is in contrast to my faith and the teachings and tradition of the Church. But ya know what, that’s OK. It’s never been about that for me. If what I say resonates with you and you “follow” me, that’s wonderful, and I’m happy and humbled you’re here. But, I really don’t want you “following” me at all. I want you to follow Christ, and His Church. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ St. Joan of Arc’s example makes it clear that living our faith fully will not make us popular. In fact, it could cost us our lives. Even though I don’t have an ounce of her conviction, her strength, or her holiness, I too can strive to live unapologetically for the Lord just as she did, with my sights set on Heaven. After all, what does one profit to gain the world, but lose his soul? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ St. Joan of Arc, pray for us.

Thankful for slow mornings, family prayer, fresh eggs, and the most beautiful peony that bloomed in our yard.

Thanks to a home tour I gave over at @everyday_mamas, a post I wrote that resonated with some friends, and a little internet controversy I found myself in the middle of today (😂) there’s some new peeps around here so I wanted to say hi & do a little #fridayintroductions! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Here’s the thing, I’m not here to be controversial. I’m here to share my faith, to be a joyful witness to Christ and His Church. I’m here to encourage you to grow deeper in relationship with God and to seek Truth. I will warn you, though, it’s the Truth that usually makes people uncomfortable and causes the controversy in the first place. But hey, Jesus warned us that would be the case (s/o to John 15:18). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Don’t get me wrong, I love a good debate and I’m pretty unapologetic of my beliefs. I used to lose a lot of peace over things like political disagreements, but God has shown me that change begins with my hands folded in prayer and not when my fingers are pointed at others. So yeah, I may get fired up every now and then, I may tell you that if you’re Catholic you better vote for Trump this November, and I may even disagree with you on how to solve the problems we face in America today. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ But at the end of the day, it isn’t about any of that. Our lives are finite, but our souls are eternal. I care about my soul, and I care about yours too. I just want to get to Heaven, and I’d like to help get as many other people get there as possible. If Instagram helps me do that, well, then every single bit of this is worth it.

I wish we cared more about souls. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Don’t get me wrong, I care about life. I think it is beautiful and necessary to care very much about life, so much so that we search for cures and minister to the sick and talk about things like health and injustice, so much so that we march for it year after year. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ But, I wish we cared more about souls. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I wish we protected our souls from sin the way we protect our mouths from respiratory droplets. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I wish we begged one another to live in a state of Grace with as much conviction as we beg one another to wear a mask. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I wish time we spent criticizing one another and pointing fingers was spent in prayer, seeking to better ourselves and grow closer to God. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I wish we took to prayer and fasting rather than to the electronic debate stage, seeing one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, instead of strangers on the internet. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I wish we readied ourselves for eternity the way we do for a quarantine, letting nothing stand in our way of being fully prepared by stocking up on the essentials. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I wish we practiced what we preach online, stopping to care for every desperate soul in need in our lives, instead of hiding behind our screens and demanding justice only when others deem necessary. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Maybe if we cared more about souls — both ours and those around us, there’d be less anger, less racism, less injustice, less disease, less death. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Maybe innocent souls of every race and developmental stage wouldn’t lose their lives at the hands of others. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Maybe there wouldn’t be souls falling into Hell like snowflakes, as Our Lady of Fatima revealed. After all, this is truly the greatest tragedy. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ For the sake of our lives, I wish we cared more about souls.

I’m a planner. I’ve always loved using a planner. I almost never put things in my phone. I love having a tangible place to put my to-do lists and plans into. What I love about the @blessedisshe__ planner is that it doesn’t stop there. It also gives opportunity for growth in prayer as it includes scripture, has prompts for goals and prayer intentions, and it helps me keep track of the liturgical calendar by including all my favorite feast days. It’s the first thing I open each morning as I ask God how He’d like me to spend my day. And really, it’s just beautiful — @blessedisshe__ has a knack for embracing the beauty of our faith, and using that to draw women into a relationship with God and His Church. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I’m using the mini planner here & if you’re interested in taking a closer look you can head to the link in my bio to get yours!

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