Chastity

As I have said before, one of my FAVOURITE parts of my  job is when I get to write the front of the weekly bulletin. It is a chance for me to reflect personally on the readings from the Sunday but also to write! I love writing (which is why I started this blog). This past Sunday I ended up doing the bulletin front - I wasn't scheduled to but filled in for someone who wasn't able to get it ready.  I chose to talk about the topic of chastity in light of the recent letter to  young people put out by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.   What I thought was just 'ok' was apparently more than ok. I have been blessed to have received great feedback from a number of people. One lady even called and left a message on my voice mail at work. She isn't a parishioner of the parish but comes to play cards on Wednesdays. She said she picked up a bulletin and was so impressed and loved that I took on a challenging topic.  Her message was so sweet and I almost cried (tears for sure welled up)

I wonder, Is God giving me these opportunities to write and speaking to me through these complete strangers?  I pray that I can be open to what God is calling me to with this gift He seems to have blessed me with.

If you are interested here is my reflection.  The Gospel for last Sunday was Matthew 5:38-48.


 In the Gospel today, we are challenged to be perfect, as our Heavenly Father is perfect. I don’t know about you but to me that is a HUGE challenge.  In our daily lives there are standards that we are held to or ones that we strive for and this trumps ALL of those!  As Christians we are on a journey to holiness. This journey will take us through trials and triumphs but we need to always keep at the centre our focus of being holy and perfect as God is perfect.

In January, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops released a pastoral letter to young people on chastity.  In a world that has little respect for sexuality, they are speaking out and calling our young people (and all of us) to a higher standard - to be perfect like our Heavenly Father is perfect.  St. Paul tells us many times in his letters that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (in today’s second reading).  If God dwells in us then people should be able to see God working in our lives through our actions. In their letter the Bishops say, “The body is our doorway to salvation, and so how we treat it matters.”

Chastity is something that we are all called to, young and old, single, married, religious, or ordained. It calls us to purity of body and mind. “The virtue of chastity involves the integration of the powers of love and life placed in us. This integrity ensures the unity of the person and is opposed to any behaviour that would distort it.” When we try to separate our body from our spirit, we live a double life, become self-centred and lose sight of the beauty around us.  

Society tells us to listen to our bodies and to follow our own desires – ‘if it feels good do it.’ But Jesus calls us to a great standard. He says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mk 8:34). Chastity is a struggle and requires that we order our lives with God at the beginning of everything.  By knowing what we believe, surrounding ourselves with friends who are supportive of our faith, and choosing wisely the entertainment we seek, chastity and holiness is possible.

When World Youth Day was held in Toronto in 2002, Pope John Paul II (who will be beatified on May 1st) said, “Just as salt gives flavor to food and light illuminates the darkness, so too holiness gives full meaning to life and makes it reflect God’s glory. How many saints, especially young saints, can we count in the Church’s history.” We have many men and women who have gone before us who are great examples of chastity and holiness. One of my favourites is Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati who went against his family’s lifestyle and what society told him and chose to act on God’s call to follow Him.

As we go about our faith journey’s I pray that as a community we can help our young people and one another to strive for chastity and holiness in our daily lives.

The full letter from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops can be found on their website: www.cccb.ca.

I wish I was here......

If I was here, that would mean I was married! If I was married I would be happy! Not that I am not happy now - because I am. But right now everything in life seems to be leading to that day when finally, FINALLY!!  I can say that I am married to my beloved and that we will live forever as husband and wife.  I look forward to not just that day but all the days to come after - to being married.  Not having to plan and think about what I've forgot or what needs to be done....just be! 

Oh Jamaica!! I'll see you soon!!

First Wedding Shower

I was back home this weekend and my mom and sisters surprised me with my first wedding shower!  It was great! Tom and I are so blessed to have such great family and friends.  It's exciting to have things to put into our home and now that we have a place we will call home its exciting.  The house is ready for us to move into (freshly painted, new carpets, etc). But there are some changes that we plan to make that will make it ours.  One being the dumb cupboards that were added to the kitchen that took out over half the front hall closet and 2nd access to the attic.  We also want to put in new counters in the kitchen.

But one thing we will be working on before we get married is the bedroom.  When I got my 2nd apartment here I needed a dresser (the apartment before had a GIANT closet with shelves so it was not necessary). So in looking at dressers and what they cost Tom and I ended up finding a nice bedroom set that got me not only a dresser, but also a queen bed, mattress (much better than the futon I had been sleeping on) and bed side table.   So we have that bought and good to go.  We have found a sheet/duvet cover set that we love and hope to get.

Our plan is to then paint the walls a light grey and bring in pops of colour (ok the last little bit is my plan but Tom will go along with it). For now it will be with my red curtains.  So that is exciting!!

So the countdowns continue: 37 days until we get our house! Only 88 days till we are married and will be husband and wife for the rest of our lives! Time is a flying! 

96 days!

We are at less than 100 days!! It's crazy to think that in just 96 days we will be husband and wife.  There is still so much to do. Since the last update we have done a few things (slowed down by buying a house).
So in the past week:

• we received our favours and are working on those
• ordered the groomsmen gifts
• ordered some of the ladies gifts
• we've finalized the wedding cake and dessert choices (thank you Two Cups of Sugar sistas!!)
• we've also put our 2 MC's in contact with one another so they can start planning and talking

So lots still to do this month to keep up on the checklist. A good number of things are in progress/ongoing. These include:

• program design - almost finalized (will start printing once we confirm readers, and music)
• waiting to hear back from our caterer so that I can get started with either printing or ordering our menus (from vistaprint - sweet site!!)
• reception decor - ridiculous!!!!  so hard to figure out
• Church decor - to flower or not to flower...that is the question!!
• music -  working on figuring out songs and such for the reception
• gifts for me ladies!

So lots to do but its all exciting! And now we can add thinking about house renos to the list!! But wedding first....then marriage and house renos!!!  

We bought a house!!

Yeah!! We will be officially home owners come April 1st!! So excited! Its a 4 level back split with 3 bedrooms and is so perfect for us!  A lot of the houses we looked at were houses that we could be in for a few years. This house when we walked in and looked around we knew it was something that would be more long term for us. Something we could make our own and not worry about needing to get our money back in a few years when we sell it again.

 So here are some pics from online. We didn't any while walking through or during the inspection (darn!). But in just 46 days it will be ours so pics of it as ours will be shared then!

This is our lovely kitchen and living room. We plan to focus our time on the kitchen and fix it up a bit.  That will be our first reno (including pushing a wall out of the closet that previous owners had built into to allow them to put a set of cupboards in-silly)

The bedrooms are on the top level off the back of the living room.  The 3rd level is a complete basement seen here.  Then off this room there is a bathroom and the 4th level which is unfinished and includes a HUGE laundry room and storage plus a little workshop for Tom to keep his tools in.

We are very excited to have a place to call home!!!

We look forward to sharing with you our adventures of renovating and decorating our first home together!

A new Outlook

Life is good. This week has been good. Ever since Tuesday I cannot complain.  I was successful in crossing things off the list....let's see the list and what I accomplished: 

So up for this month is:
-Schedule Dress fitting early February done
-Design Menus (mostly designed - waiting to hear back from caterer)
-finalize wedding cake and desserts 
-Reception Décor (by March 1st)have contacted another rental place about a backdrop and have been pricing out DIY options
- Ceremony Décor  simple....is key....
- Decide songs for dances (parents, BP) and what not to play list       
-Wedding Programs 
-Wedding party gifts am having some brilliant brain waves for my ladies!! Tom has the guys figured out just need to purchase.
-Order/buy favour supplies bought half!!!!!  waiting till next month when my Mom's down to buy the other half....or maybe not.....forgot about a discount a certain STUDENT can get me....hmmmm
-Jr Groomsman attire and shirts for the guys
-sort out bar with the hall have contacted them
-finish card box (ribbon around it-will do when home in 2 weeks) 


So looking good. Plus we have a hot prospect for a house!! Stay tuned!!!

Today I will

BE HAPPY!!  Lately with everything that has been happening with work, wedding and house hunting, I have been struggling with stress! It has taken its toll on me. I have noticed I've been crabby and irritable and just overall not myself. Which in turn makes me angry and stressed out - its a horrible circle I am caught in.  I am taking time this morning before heading into work for me.  I think I have been pouring myself into work, and wedding planning and now house hunting that I have forgotten to breathe and relax. So that is the goal for the next 1/2 hour before I start getting ready for work.

So today - happy thoughts - I hope it works!

I think today I will try to cross some things off our list. There are some easy things to cross off so for today I will aim to schedule my dress fitting.  This is a stressful part. Since I bought my dress at David's Bridal in the States I am getting the alterations done locally. My goal has been to just get the bustle added because it fit perfectly everywhere else. Now it seems as though I may have lost weight and need to get it taken in (booo...but yeah I guess!)  I could also contact our DJ and set up a meeting for next month....so many opportunities to be productive....and happy!!  And when in doubt remember....we get married in 109 days! and just BREATHE!