Come with an open heart

Father Martin Scott is coming tonight to St. Raphael to celebrate Mass at 7:30pm and extend God’s gift of healing.  Father Scott is not a healer…he is an instrument of God’s amazing love.

Come, even if you don’t think you ‘need’ any healing! This Mass is wonderful and after Mass you will have the option to come forward for a prayer of healing and blessing by the priests or deacon.  The healing is not just for physical ailments, but also spiritual and emotional hurts as well.  You will be so inspired by the loving care that family members show each other and the faith they project as they come forward. Watching the priests bless the people will remind you of the stories of Jesus healing the crowds in the Gospels.

To prepare for the healing Mass, be as open as you can to God’s love and grace.  Throughout the day offer up your prayers to God and ask Him to give you an open heart. 

Loving Father, I surrender myself to you today with all my heart and soul.  Please come into my heart, my wounds in a deeper way.  Help me to say yes to you today.  I open up the secret places of my heart to you and say “Come on in.” 

Take away my fears, my anxieties, take this cup from me.

I believe in You and receive You as my savior and I hold nothing back.  I surrender all to you - my health, my family, my resources, my occupation, skills, relationships, time, success and failures. I release it and let go. 

Be honest in your prayers - if you are afraid, tell Him you are afraid.  At the healing Mass, when the priest or deacon lay their hands upon your head, remember to be docile and say quietly in your heart…

”Come Holy Spirit and do your work in me.”

When I had Him, I had comfort

by Veronica

One Lent, I was blessed to be stricken with Malaria.  Yes, blessed to have Malaria. I had spent the previous spring in a Honduran orphanage. While I was there, one boy got malaria, all of the children took their medication.  I took mine too- but mine only worked half-way.  A little parasite hid itself away inside of me, and decided to come out a year and a half later.

It was seven years ago and I entered Lent with the common expectation of trying to be humble and growing closer to God. A week after Ash Wednesday, I got sick. It started with an extreme chill. I shivered, I shook, I rattled, I was freezing cold. I took a hot bath, and warmed up in blankets. I had a very high fever. My body ached. I fell asleep and slept in a hot pain for almost a day. And then - just as suddenly as I was sick - I was better. I felt better enough to go back to work with a few ibuprofen, so I did.

A grace filled moment

Posted by Adrienne

An HVAC fan motor created an opportunity for this grace filled moment at St. Raphael.

Said fan motor decided to 'burn-up' and although it did not cause a fire (and could not cause a fire per the experts), the burned-up fan did trigger the smoke alarm which led to an evacuation of the building after school and before Religious Education. 

A police car and three fire trucks later, the building got the 'all clear' and Religious Education went on as scheduled.  As did the wedding shower for Keri, Assistant Director of Religious Education (Best Wishes Keri and David!!!)

While the firemen performed their inspection, look how the St. Raphael School students kept themselves occupied on the lawn...

...praying the Holy Rosary for the safety of the firemen and the protection of the building.

God Bless those little angels!!

Simplicity

~by Gina

4^th Commandment:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

Reflection:

The Lord is our creator and therefore He knows best what we need most.

A simple meal - things in the pantry

by Veronica G

The meal suggested for tonight in the 2012 CRS Lenten Rice Bowl Calendar is Vietnamese Vegetable Spring Rolls, this dish has 8 ingredients which we did't readily have in the house, and would have to go to a specialty store to procure.  Therefore, we created our own meal tonight.

Tonight we had an onion cooked in oil, cooked with kale, chick peas and some Tamarind and Garlic sauce (which I bought on clearance) that has been sitting around our pantry for a month, and rice.  Instead of celebrating Vietnam with our meal, we celebrated India instead. 

 I cooked all of these things together in one pot, and also made a pot of rice.  The result was fast, easy, and delicious. 

Seek and you will find

Our March calendar features a hopeful passage from Matthew's Gospel from this month's Mass readings.

The calendar is also all glammed-up with a chandelier to match our new Women of St. Raphael bulletin boards!  Have you seen them yet? 

Next time you walk through the school on the way to the Trumpet Room for donuts (for the children, right?!) - look for the pink, black and silver sparkly goodness!

You can pick up a copy of the calendar from the bulletin board, or print your calendar here.

God is for us

An occasional illustration of the word of God

Are you praying the 40 Days for Life daily devotional for Lent? 

Come and save a life with your prayers!

photo credit

Crisis of Faith Averted

Posted by Molly

I'm not just Catholic; I'm also Irish which means guilt is pretty much eating me alive at all times.

Over the past week, I have been really beaten down by it.

You see, I love being Catholic. I am proud of our faith. And when the media or people outside our faith buy into bad press about our church, I always stand up for us. I always point out all the great things about Catholicism and what a difference it has made in my life. I am so grateful that I was raised Catholic. In times of hardship, my faith has been my greatest gift.

A simple meal - vary amin'anana

by Veronica Greenwell 

Tonight we made a small, simple meal from our Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Rice Bowl 2012 Lenten Calendar. It is a dish called Vary amin'anana, which means rice mixed with greens. It is a very simple dish and has very simple ingredients. 1/2 of an onion, 1 tsp of ginger, 1 tomato - cooked in a small amount of oil for a few minutes, then greens are added, and cooked for a few minutes more, then a bit of rice and water.

Our ingredients.

Our meal

While cooking, we learned about our Catholic family in Madagascar.  80% of the people in Madagascar are farmers, but Madagascar is frequently stricken by many natural disasters - making farming an uncertain career. For this reason, 35% of people there are hungry and struggle each day to get enough food.  CRS had helped a village by building a water pump.  It improved the productivity of their farms by providing a steady source of water. It also freed time for farmers to farm, instead of travel back and forth to the river for water. CRS also helped farmers learn new planting techniques and provided them with drought resistant seeds.  A thankful farmer, Mr. Robin, was able to hire 2 employees and also lead a local farmer's market which provided local, affordable, good quality food to his community.