Happy Birthday to our sweet, precious boy! 

​I can’t believe that our son is TWO years old!  

It really does feel like it was just yesterday that I was taking several at-home pregnancy tests and willing a positive result.  As in all things, God had a greater gift for me.  While the tests all showed negative, I just knew that I was pregnant.  In my impatience, I took test after test and still nothing.

Then on Mother’s Day, 2015, I woke up bright and early, swearing it would be the last test I would take.  The minutes went by painfully slow.  But this time, I received my first and best Mother’s Day gift: I was PREGNANT!  We were elated! I couldn’t contain the excitement and felt overjoyed that there was LIFE growing inside me.

​From the moment he was conceived, our son has been our biggest blessing, despite the obstacles.  As I’ve written, my faith was tested but continuously strengthened from the day we learned there was a high “risk” of Down syndrome (Trisomy 21) to when our sweet boy was born and we were told that his screening was a “false positive.” 

While we would have loved our precious boy just the same, an extra chromosome or not, I just always had a feeling that he didn’t have Down syndrome.  At the time, people could say that I was “in denial” or “delusional”, given the test had a “97%” accuracy for his 9 in 10 risk”, but my mother’s intuition turned out to be right.

However, I now realize that if I hadn’t been so impatient to learn the gender of our baby and did not take the test to screen for Down syndrome (it checks for gender as well as chromosomal abnormalities), then I may not have been able to deepen my relationship with Jesus Christ and the Blessed Mother.

Again, God used my impatience to forever change my life.

During the last trimester of my pregnancy while we were celebrating the birth of the Lord, I spent more time than a pregnant woman usually would at my doctor’s office and the Prenatal Diagnosis Center at Women and Infants Hospital.  

​Our son was diagnosed with IUGR at the end of my second trimester and therefore required twice weekly screenings that a few times left me afraid that we would go to the hospital sooner than my delivery date.   

During this time, I would pray the Rosary and call out to specific saints (St. Anthony and St. Anne especially) to intercede on my son’s behalf.    These tests went up until the very end of my pregnancy.  In fact, due to his limited growth, I was scheduled to be induced early.   But as in all things related to our son, God had a better plan. 

My water broke two days before I was schedule to be induced.   Special note: my water broke just as I laid down to relax after a very long day, a taste of months to come with a newborn.   Our son’s due date was supposedly around the same time as the Epiphany of our Lord.  I say supposedly because from the start, I had a feeling it was closer to the end of December.

My mother’s intuition was right again as our son was born 18 hours after my water broke and on the Feast of the Holy Family!  Quite fitting for us, given the fact that we relied heavily on the Blessed Mother, Saint Joseph and, of course, Jesus Christ during the pregnancy.

God not only listened to and answered our prayers for a healthy baby, regardless of Down syndrome, but he gave us our biggest gift on this great feast day.

God knows what He is doing!

The time I was in the hospital during and after giving birth, a week after the Nativity of Our Lord, I couldn’t help but think of the Blessed Mother and how she brought Jesus into the world.

Whereas with my son’s birth, I was warm, albeit in significant pain, in a hospital, surrounded by my husband, my mother, my doctor and nurses.   She was alone with Saint Joseph, most likely without very much shelter, surrounded by animals and without a proper bed to place Jesus in when he was born.

It almost makes the 15 hours of unmedicated labor not as bad (I opted for the epidural towards the end!)  Okay, almost not as bad!

Now that our son is TWO years old, I am so thankful to be able to realize all these lessons.  I am still learning to be patient, let go and LET GOD.

I remember getting ready to go home from the hospital with him and asking my husband “I can’t believe they’re going to let us leave here with him!”   Still, two years later, it is sometimes difficult to think that God has entrusted us with a child.

But when it comes to raising children, we can do our best as parents, but we must realize that God is the ultimate parent.  In trusting in Him, He will guide our paths and make our lives better in all ways.

If I haven’t said this enough, God, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR OUR SON!

Our sweet boy: the love that we have for you is overwhelming and we are not able to put into words just how much you have better and changed our lives!  Thank you for being ours.  God bless you all the days of your life!   Numbers 6:24-26

Prayer to the Holy Family:
Lord Jesus Christ, who, being made subject to Mary and Joseph, didst consecrate domestic life by Thine ineffable virtues; grant that we, with the assistance of both, may be taught by the example of Thy holy Family and may attain to its everlasting fellowship. Who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.​
 
Please join me in wishing our sweet, precious, wild boy a very Happy 2nd birthday on Facebook!

As always, thank you for reading.  God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

“The days are long but the years are short.”

I have heard this phrase a thousand times and have repeated it to myself on the hard days.  But, boy, does it sometimes smack you in the face!

Like today, when my son wasn’t attempting to injure himself in any way possible, he wanted me to carry him. EVERYWHERE.

This wasn’t a problem when he was younger, but now that he’s 30 pounds and much more solid, it can take its toll.  Especially when I am trying to get some chores and work done.

This morning, as I was picking him up for what seemed like the 100th time and lamenting the fact that my back was starting to get a burning ache, with the hand that wasn’t holding him on my hip, I tossed some mail into the shred pile.   Then I stopped.  There was a postcard from my university (Go Rhody!) that is sent frequently to alumni. 

At first, I thought how great it would be if he went to the same university that I did and then I thought, oh my goodness, one day my sweet little boy will (hopefully) be going to a university.  He won’t be the 30-pound squirmy worm that just wants his mama to hold and carry him around everywhere.  He won’t be the little boy who calls himself “Jo Jo” and demands to me “I do” when I try to brush his teeth or hair.

He will, God-willing, grow into a strong, wonderful man.

One day he won’t only be ours anymore.

He will belong to friends, a wife, children, co-workers….the world.

For now, it is just us.  Our little, sometimes quiet, mostly loud, family.

As we are now approaching his second birthday, the reality of “the days are long but the years are short” are screaming at me louder than when I don’t give him “bobby” (peanut butter) sandwiches for lunch.

So, instead of getting upset that the dishes needed to be done, the clothes needed to be folded and my pile of work was overflowing, I strapped on the baby carrier, propped him inside and spent the morning making chocolate hazelnut date balls for desert.  I first made these chocolate hazelnut date balls when I was pregnant with him. 

​When I was pregnant, I read somewhere that eating dates in the third trimester can help when it comes time to labor.   So, every single day, I would eat dates, multiple times.  I would put them in shakes, cut them up and put them on bagels, roll them into the same chocolate hazelnut date balls.

So today, as I was putting the dates in the food processor, I was struck with another “the years are short” realization.

As I carried him my womb two years ago and we shared chocolate hazelnut date balls, now, as he is almost two years old, I again carried him but this time in my arms and again, we shared chocolate hazelnut date balls.

These past two years have flown by and it is bittersweet to watch him grow up.

Whether it is making chocolate hazelnut date balls or praying the Rosary together, I thank God for the constant, little reminders to slow down and enjoy each precious, little moment. 

How do you slow down to enjoy the precious, little moments?  Please share with us on Facebook!
 
As always, thank you for reading.  God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Christmas is such a marvelous season in which after preparing ourselves throughout the four weeks of Advent, we joyfully celebrate Our Lord Jesus Christ’s Nativity.   With beautifully decorated homes, Churches and businesses along with Christmas music, gifts, parties and feasts, the season of Christmas can become so ornate that it can be easy to overlook just how humble His birth really was.

The manner and place in which the Blessed Virgin Mary gave birth to Our Lord and Savior is quite the opposite of the elaborate festivities that take place around the globe to celebrate His birth.
While I do feel that it is justified to jubilantly celebrate His birthday as it is one of the greatest events to occur in history, one must not forget how God came to us. 

“and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7)

Let the sentence “there was no room for them in the inn” sink in for a moment.

On Christmas Day, I was reading all the Gospels for the various masses and when I finished reading that sentence sobs immediately lumped in my throat and tears welled up in my eyes.  Thankfully it was my son’s nap-time, so I was forced to quickly swallow my sobs and wipe my tears.

God loves us so much that He choose His Son to be born to us in the poorest and most simple of ways.  He came to us, a King in the exact opposite of how a King would be born, as perceived by secular world.

My sobs and tears came so quickly after reading that sentence because I remembered the times when I didn’t have room for Him.  I remembered how empty and meaningless my life was when I made no room for him.   To this day, there are still moments where I could do a better job of making even more room for Him.   Just as there was “no room” for Him then, too many still do not have room for Him now. 

Thanks to Saint Francis of Assisi, who created the first nativity scene in 1223, the Nativities are a simple, yet powerful reminder of Jesus Christ’s humble beginning.  For our family, the Nativities in our home are always put up first and taken down last.   

But, if you had never heard of Jesus Christ and did not know that He was the Son of God and you saw the Nativity Scene, would you imagine that God would be born and become flesh there?  In an area which was used to accommodate farm animals?

With the Nativity Scene, Saint Francis of Assisi wanted “to do something that will recall the memory of that Child who was born in Bethlehem, to see with bodily eyes the inconveniences of his infancy, how he lay in the manger, and how the ox and ass stood by.”

It reminds us that we need to always make room for Jesus Christ in the “inns” of our hearts, minds and souls. 

Wouldn’t You Have Opened the Door to the Blessed Mother Pregnant with Jesus and St. Joseph?

You still can.  The true celebration of the Nativity of Jesus comes when we actually follow Jesus’s ways in our actions and in our words.   

When we make time for daily prayer, weekly Mass (at least), and regular confession.   When we take the time to venture out into our community to see how we can utilize our time, treasures and talents to help those in need. 

​When we love one another, and treat everyone like they were the baby Jesus laying in swaddling clothes in the manger.
 
How will you make room for Jesus Christ?  Please share with us on Facebook!
 
As always, thank you for reading.  God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!  Merry Christmas!



Source:
“Understanding the Nativity Scene.” Archdiocese of St. Louis - Alive in Christ, archstl.org/stewardship/page/understanding-nativity-scene.

"It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!" is something that I have (annoyingly) been singing during each day in this last week of Advent.  

The menus for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are finalized, food shopping is officially done, the Little Christmas Angel has been flying about the house, baby Jesus(s) have been wrapped and the box is under the tree, we know which Masses we are going to, Christmas cards have been sent, the tree is completely decorated and the stockings are all hung by the chimney with care.  Okay, well, the stockings are just hanging on for dear life at this point, but still, Christmas is almost here! 

​Every item off our “Christmas To-Do List” has almost been checked off.

Ut-oh. Christmas gift shopping.

Before having our son, I had this Christmas gift shopping down pat.  As a self proclaimed "Type A person" I would plan, buy, wrap, ribbon and be ready to put the gifts under the tree before the first Advent candle was even lit.  Now, things are much different, and I've been struggling to make sure that a gift is accounted for everyone. 

Most of our family and friends have agreed to forgo exchanging tangible gifts and to instead spend quality time together.   Despite the fact that our gift lift was quite small this year, it has still been difficult to finish Christmas shopping.
​

Since the Fourth Sunday of Advent also happens to be Christmas Eve and Christmas falls on Christmas Day, Catholics must attend Mass twice in order to fulfill both the Sunday mass requirement and the Christmas Mass requirement. 

"When consecutive obligations occur on Saturday-Sunday or Sunday-Monday, the faithful must attend Mass twice to fulfill two separate obligations," the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Divine Worship said earlier this year. 

Every other year my family and I would celebrate Christmas Mass on the Christmas Eve Vigil.  Before having our son, we would attend the midnight Mass.  These days, I would need two naps and three shots of espresso to stay awake until midnight.  My family would gather at our house and we would host a big, somewhat traditional, Italian Christmas Eve dinner and then we would all attend Mass together.  

When I say "somewhat traditional" I am referring to the Italian, and Neapolitan, "Feast of the Seven Fishes" which is celebrated on Christmas Eve.  While growing up, my nonna would cook for days leading up to Christmas Eve.  For our family, there were many more than just 7 fish dishes.  I can even remember a platter of an entire cooked octopus on the dining room table surrounded by a multitude of other dishes she would make.  

While I aspire to be as wonderful of a cook as my grandmother, my family barely eats fish now, not evening mentioning an octopus.  So instead I make some seafood, like baked stuffed fish, linguine with clam sauce and shrimp cocktail.   I tried frying calamari one year but haven't been brave enough to revisit that undertaking again.  Oil + high temperatures + toddler = disaster. 

While the menu is the same as previous years, Mass this year is different as I mentioned Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday.  When I first realized this I wondered how we were going to make it work.  

Luckily, Under Thy Roof put together a great graphic which helps decide which two masses to attend:

​The takeaway: attend TWO Masses this weekend, using whichever combination explained above.

When I say we "have" to attend two masses, I mean it in a general context, not that it is a burden.  As, Jesus Christ is the real reason for the season, I think it is actually quite nice to be spending some extra time with Him on His birthday.

How will you be celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?  Will there be octopus involved?  Please share with us on Facebook.
 
As always, thank you for reading.  God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Since I was a little girl, my mom and I had always waited for Christmas Eve to put baby Jesus in the manger.   The empty cradle was symbolic of our waiting for Jesus Christ to arrive at Christmas and I would always get so excited to give him a kiss at midnight (or before bed) on Christmas Eve and then each day until the Epiphany on January 6th.
 
Since my son was about two years old, however, we've tried something different.   We keep Jesus out of the mangers and wait until a few weeks of Advent pass.  Then around the third or fourth week of Advent, my son and I collect each baby Jesus and nestled them in a small shoe-box filled with tissue paper.   The first year, my son was so excited to collect all the “babies” and proud that he got to put them in the box.   Before placing them in the box, my little love gives each baby Jesus figurine a kiss.  We then close the box and I wrap it in Christmas wrapping paper.  Then, he proudly puts the box under the tree. 

The first year, not a minute passed that the box was under the tree and my son started demanding “Open! Open! Open! Baby! Baby! Baby!”  I reminded him that baby Jesus is coming soon and we will open it before bed on Christmas Eve.  He settled down once I promised him that he will get to unwrap the box and put Jesus back in each of the mangers.

The Best Present of All
 
When we put Jesus in the box and I told him that Jesus will be here soon, it will hopefully make a bigger impact on him come Christmas Eve. 
 
The box of baby Jesus figurines will also be the first present that he gets to open.  This is quite symbolic to the fact that despite all the hours we spend shopping, wrapping and exchanging gifts, Jesus Christ is the best gift that we will ever receive. 
 
“Because of his boundless love, Jesus became what we are that he might make us to be.” – Saint Irenaeus of Lyons 
 
 I hope to continue with the tradition with my little loves of placing baby Jesus in the box, wrapping it and putting this greatest gift under the tree.  I pray that my son will always nestle Jesus in his heart and soul and carry Him there for all their lives; realizing that Jesus Christ’s birth is our greatest gift.
 
Do you have any special traditions with baby Jesus that you share with your family? Please share with us on Facebook.
 
As always, thank you for reading.  God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!
 ​

Counting when I was pregnant with our little love, this will be the third Christmas that I have been a mother.   As a mother, I look at baby Jesus in the manger, nestled in between the most pure Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph and feel overwhelmingly happy to belong to Him.  I think of my son and how much joy and how many blessings he has brought to our family since he was born. 
 
As a mother, I also think of how our Blessed Mother would feel during this season leading up to the celebration of our Savior’s coming into the world.  I think of how she, the Mother of us all, would feel about her children at what is known as ‘the most wonderful time of the year.’  Here is what I think she would tell me and all of us.
 
When you are shopping for gifts for family members or friends, think of my Son.
When you see a man dressed as Santa Claus posing for photos with children, think of my Son.
When someone wishes you ‘Happy Holidays’, think of my Son.
When someone wishes you “Merry Christmas’, think of my Son.
When someone ignores your “Merry Christmas” greeting, think of my Son.
When you drive past an elaborately decorated house, illuminated with endless lights, think of my Son.
When you sip a cup of steaming hot cocoa either alone or snuggled up with loved ones, think of my Son.
When you listen to Christmas music, even if it is about a snowman or a reindeer, think of my Son.
When you are vying for the last parking spot at the mall and someone steals your spot, think of my Son.
When you are up late at night wrapping endless gifts, think of my Son.
When you are shopping for groceries to prepare a Christmas feast, think of my Son.
When you are baking cookies and getting them ready to give to loved ones, think of my Son.
When you feel the burden of Christmas parties, decorations and other obligations, think of my Son.
When you are tired, stressed, worried, anxious or otherwise burdened, think of my Son.
When you feel worried that you won’t be good enough this Christmas, think of my Son.
When you are sad because the Christmas season is missing a loved one, think of my Son.
When you are sad for whatever reason and not feeling the ‘Christmas spirit’, think of my Son.
When you drive past my Son’s home, consider going inside the Church to be with my Son.
 
During this entire Advent season leading up to the birth of my Son at Christmas, think of Him.
 
Think of my Son coming into this world, which is the same world in which you live. 
Think of my Son at that hour and moment ‘at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold.’
Think of my Son at that very moment in which the entire world stood still when he was born.
 
Think of why my Son was born: for our salvation, for your salvation.
 
 
I am promising to take moments this Advent, even when I am not in prayer, at Mass or saying the Rosary, to think of Jesus.  Whether I am happily wrapping presents or trying to keep cool when someone steals my spot in a busy parking lot.  I hope you will too.  Please share with us on Facebook.
 
As always, thank you for reading.  God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!
​

December 12 is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  After learning that Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas, unborn children and New Evangelization, I desired to learn even more about her visitation.   This summer, I read (more like devoured) the book: “A Woman Clothed with the Sun: Eight Great Apparitions of Our Lady edited by John J. Delaney.  I was delighted to find that this book included the apparition of the Blessed Mother to Saint Juan Diego in the 16th century in Mexico City. 

As we’ve posted on social media the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe begins on December 9, 1531, when Juan Diego, an Aztec, saw the Blessed Mother on Tepeyac hill in Mexico City.  Our Lady told Juan to have a church built in her honor. When Juan went to ask the Bishop about this, the bishop did not understand Juan’s Indian dialect and did not believe in the vision he described.

​Three days later, on December 12, Mary appeared again to Juan Diego, and this time she gave him a sign for the bishop. “Take these roses to the bishop,” she said, as she arranged in his cloak beautiful roses she had Juan Diego pick from the hillside although it was winter. When he was admitted into the bishop’s room, Juan Diego opened his cloak, and out dropped the roses. On the cloak there remained a miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe as she had appeared to Juan Diego.

This miraculous image is the only one in which Our Lady left us of herself with which is “unmade by human hands.”  This image is also “the only universally-venerated Mary and Christ Child image in which Our Lady is pregnant instead of holding the Infant Jesus.”

What I find to be most amazing is that the image on Juan's cactus fiber cloak, or "tilma", still exists today for all to see in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

​Here are some more interesting facts about the Our Lady of Guadalupe image from the Catholic Company:

• The tilma's weak cactus fiber should have decomposed within 15-20 years of being woven. It hasn't, not even after 500 years
• Mary’s mantle is a constellation map, showing the same constellations that were in the sky on the day of the apparition
• In the image Mary is “clothed with the sun” with “the moon at her feet” as described in Revelation 12:1
• A doctor once heard a heartbeat coming from the image when he place a stethoscope over Mary's womb
• Our Lady's eyes, when examined through a microscope, reflect the images of the witnesses present at its unveiling, including Juan Diego and the bishop

 

How We Are Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe:
 
Our Lady of Guadalupe Coloring Page
 
My son LOVES to color and I am happy that he embrace his creativity, as long as he is not coloring the walls, the floors or the dog, of course.
Loyola Press has a wonderful coloring page of Our Lady of Guadalupe that is printable and free.  To view and print the coloring page, please click here.
 
Mexican Wedding Cookies
My son and I LOVE to bake together and we take any opportunity to bust out our measuring cups and mixing bowls.  While I mostly do all the measuring, mixing, pouring and cleaning since he has a toddler’s short attention span, he still enjoys playing around in the kitchen and especially loves to sample the finished product.
These Mexican Wedding Cookies are so easy to make and delicious.  We use this recipe and will definitely make these cookies again!

Prayer
What Feast Day would be complete without a prayer?  This prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe is by Pope John Paul II and a prayer that we will be saving in my “Catholic toolkit”.
 
O Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, grant to our homes the grace of loving and respecting life in its beginnings, with the same love with which you conceived in your womb the life of the Son of God. Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Fair love, protect our families so that they may always be united and bless the upbringing of our children.
Our hope, look upon us with pity, teach us to go continually to Jesus, and if we fall help us to rise again and return to him through the confession of our faults and our sins in the sacrament of penance, which gives peace to the soul.
We beg you to grant us a great love of all the holy sacraments, which are, as it were, the signs that your Son left us on earth. Thus, Most Holy Mother, with the peace of God in our consciences, with our hearts free from evil and hatred, we will be able to bring to all others true joy and true peace, which come to us from your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
​

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us! 
​
Virgen de Guadalupe, ora por nosotros!

How are you celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe?  Please share with us on Facebook!

As always, thank you for reading.  God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

​

Sources:
Lynch, Dan, "The Amazing Truth of Our Lady of Guadalupe." Catholic Education Resource Center https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-amazing-truth-of-our-lady-of-guadalupe.html

Filz, Gretchen. “Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day: Facts & Celebration Ideas.” Get Fed, Catholic Company, 22 Sept. 2017, www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/our-lady-of-guadalupe-feast-day-facts-celebration-ideas/.

"Our Lady Of Guadalupe." Catholic Online. http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=456

"Our Lady of Guadalupe." Loyola Press. https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/saints/saints-stories-for-all-ages/our-lady-of-guadalupe

"Unveiling the image’s hidden meaning." The Catholic Spirit. September 29, 2011  thecatholicspirit.com/special-sections/travel-and-pilgrimages/unveiling-the-image’s-hidden-meaning/

“Wait, what?” has been a recurrent phrase that I have said both aloud and silently upon learning more about our faith.  One would think that a “Cradle Catholic” would know quite a lot about our rich history.  Unfortunately, for me at least, that is not the case.
 
I’ve teased my husband that while I’ve been Catholic since birth (minus the time I was not practicing), in comparison, he has only been Catholic “for like five minutes.”  This teasing rarely comes up, (mostly because I don’t want to keep confessing it…) unless, of course, he is telling me that I’m saying the Apostles Creed wrong.  (For the record, I just do not like saying that Jesus “descended into hell” and I say, “descended to the dead” instead.) 
 
My husband and I were both fully initiated into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, at the same time, several years ago.  My husband received both the Sacrament of Baptism and Confirmation and I received my Confirmation.  I suppose, technically, we’re pretty much neck and neck as far as who has been a practicing Catholic the longest.  Just don’t tell him I said that 😉
 
One of the added benefits about coming back home to the Catholic Church as an adult is that I am now able to better appreciate our rich history.  Learning about our Catholic faith has been eye-opening and I find that the more I learn about our faith, the more peace I feel within myself.
 
A “wait, what?” moment happened several years ago and was a few months before we were fully initiated into the Church on that Easter Vigil.   Our beloved Priest, who married us and we have since kept in touch with since he left our Church, sparked this “wait, what?” moment.    It was during Advent and at one of our RCIA group meetings that Father was discussing the Immaculate Conception. 
 
Growing up, I assumed that the Immaculate Conception was when Jesus Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the Blessed Virgin Mary’s womb.   Wrong.
 
Then in that RCIA group meeting, I thought that Mary, like Jesus, was conceived in her mother, St. Anne’s, womb also by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Wrong.
 
Wait, what?
 
Okay, the Immaculate Conception actually means that “Mary, whose conception was brought about the normal way, was conceived without original sin or its stain—that’s what "immaculate" means: without stain.”
 
In other words, Mary’s parents: Saint Joachim and Saint Anne conceived Mary the “normal way”, which is the same way that all other people are conceived.  I am not going further into this because thinking of Saints Joachim and Anne is like thinking of my grandparents and that is just enough of that.
 
Saint Jocahim + Saint Anne = Mary
 
Holy Spirit (God) + Mary = Jesus
 
Mary’s conception was “Immaculate” because Mary was born, like her son, Jesus, free from original sin.
 
What is original sin?
 
Original sin is “the sin that Adam committed” and “a consequence of this first sin, the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from Adam.”
 
You, me, my son, my parents and everyone else in the world, except Jesus, the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist were born of “original sin.”
 
Why is it so important that the Blessed Mother was born without original sin?
 
“The essence of original sin consists in the deprivation of sanctifying grace, and its stain is a corrupt nature. Mary was preserved from these defects by God’s grace; from the first instant of her existence she was in the state of sanctifying grace and was free from the corrupt nature original sin brings.
 
Also….
 
“God the Father had prepared her from the first moment of her life to be a worthy mother of his Son.”
 
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day of Obligation
 
Yet another “Wait, what?” moment came when I found out that missing weekly Mass and/or Holy Days of Obligation is a mortal sin.  Gulp.
 
For more on that, please click here. 
 
Since you and I and the rest of the world were born with original sin, we are not exempt from going to weekly Mass or on Holy Days of Obligation.   The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day of Obligation, so unless you have a "grave cause", you want to plan to attend Mass. 
 
Have you had any “Wait, what?” moments pertaining to the Catholic faith?  Please share with us on Facebook!
 
As always, thank you for reading.  God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!
 
 
 
Sources:
 
Landry, Fr. Roger. “Following Mary's Advent Footsteps.” Catholic Education Resource Center, www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/following-mary-s-advent-footsteps.html.
 
Harent, Stéphane. "Original Sin." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 7 Dec. 2017 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11312a.htm>.
 
Donovan, Colin. "Sunday Mass and Holy Day Obligation", EWTN www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/sunday_mass.htm.
 
Echert, Father. "St John the Baptist and Original Sin", EWTN www.ewtn.com/v/experts/showmessage.asp?number=423372.
 
“Original Sin.” Catholic Encyclopedia, www.newadvent.org/cathen/11312a.htm.
 
Image: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

​Happy Feast Day of Saint Nicholas!   While much of what is known of St. Nicholas comes from legends passed down over the years, Saint Nicholas of Myra, like many other saints, has a rich and extraordinary history.   Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, children, students, among others.   
 
As promised, here is how we are celebrating the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas with our little love!
 
Leaving Out Shoes
 
My son awoke this morning to a special treat.  Before he went to bed last night, we set out his shoes by the fireplace.  This morning, we placed a bag of trail mix (walnuts, marshmallows and chocolate chips), an apple, an orange and a candy cane in his shoes.   He was so excited!  Since he eats apples every day, I assumed he would go for the candy cane and trail mix first but was pleasantly surprised that he went for the fruits first.  He kept saying “APPLE! APPLE! APPLE!” gripping the orange and apple in his little hands until I promised him that he would have the apple during snack-time.