Note: This is an edited repost of a post I had written for the blog Maidens for Mary, which has since gone inactive. 

Greetings to you, dear readers!

This week, the whole Church begins to celebrate Passiontide, which includes Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and ends on Holy Saturday. From there, the Church moves into a long season of rejoicing as Easter is celebrated!

Considering the above, it is no surprise that April is known as the month devoted to the Holy Eucharist.

For this post, I want to highlight two well-known saints who's feast days are in April: St. Gemma Galgani and St. Bernadette Soubirous.

St. Gemma Galgani Source: www.stgemmagalgani.com

St. Gemma Galgani was born in 1878 near Lucca, Italy. From childhood, she developed the virtues of modesty, piety, chastity, purity, obedience and faith with the upmost care. As a young girl, she developed spinal tuberculosis and was cured as a result of a novena to the Sacred Heart. She was a mystic from an early age, and received the stigmata. While she wished to be a Passionist nun, she remained hidden in the world - keeping busy by seeing to the needs of her family and visiting the sick. She was a perfect victim of suffering and was always resigned and joyful. She died on April 11 1903, at the age of 25, as a result of tuberculosis of the lungs. She is hailed as the patroness of pharmacists (because it was her father's trade), orphans, those suffering from back pain, those suffering from headaches and migraines, those suffering from temptations to impurity, as well as patroness to students and Italian paratroopers/parachutists. 

For those who wish to know more about St. Gemma Galgani, I would recommend that you visit the website that bears her name, which you can find HERE. I most recommend the following articles: Life of Gemma Galgani, and St. Gemma's Heroic Chastity and Purity.

St. Bernadette Soubirous Source: Wikipedia

St. Bernadette Soubirous was born in Lourdes, France in 1844. She was born the first of several children, and lived in poverty. She was a shepherdess as a child for a peasant woman who fostered her for a time. She frequently suffered from chronic illness, including asthma. At the age of 14, she was favored with visions of the Blessed Virgin, who asked for penance and a shrine at Lourdes. In her early 20s, Bernadette entered into the convent of the Sisters of Charity at Nevers. She spent most of her 13 year tenure as a religious sister in the infirmary - both as a nurse and as a patient. She also was a talented embroiderer. During the last years of her life, she developed tuberculosis of the bone from a tumor on her knee. She died on April 16, 1879 at the age of 35. She is the patroness of illness, shepherds, poverty, people ridiculed for piety, and of Lourdes, France.


For those who want to know more about St. Bernadette, I would recommend the book The Song of Bernadette, and the movie by the same name. It is by far the most comprehensive biography of St. Bernadette that I've found. I've also used the following sites to compile this biography: EWTN and Catholic Online.



I hope that the intercession and examples of these saints will inspire you all to greater sanctity and to reflect the greater glory of God in your own lives. 

God bless,

 

+JMJ+

In a few hours, 2024 will be dawning. 

It's hard to wrap up an entire year in one blog post. But I'm going to attempt it now. Here we go! 

A General Update 

2023 was a roller coaster for me. My biggest life change was changing from working part-time at night to working full time in the early part of the day in the beginning of the year. Practically overnight, my schedule flipped upside-down and it was very difficult to get it settled again. 

Because of my schedule, I had to let go a lot of my volunteering. I slowly backed off of my involvement in my professional organization, with my roles ending completely in the fall. I also changed my role with my YAG, stepping back from communications to a regional chair/mentorship role. I even stepped away from choir for nearly six months to allow myself time to get my schedule clear. 

This major change also changed how I allocate my time for leisure and writing. Using a screen at work and heavy information overload has negatively affected my muse's willingness to work. Early nights also has not allowed for long writing sessions, nor even for projects such as the garden. Therefore, I've been focusing on my crafting projects.  

Goals for 2023

Last year, I created a short list of goals that were supposed to hit various aspects of my life. My biggest accomplishment this year has been the procurement and restoration of a spinning wheel. This was a pipe dream that I had no clue was going to come true this year. The restoration especially was surprisingly easy and was much faster than I had anticipated.

But how did I do with the rest of the goals? 

2023 Spiritual Goals

- Daily spiritual reading, er, podcast. I started listening to the Mystical City of God in a Year podcast in the beginning of 2023. I was really good about listening to it every day for the first half of the year. Then the podcast stopped updating for a few weeks because Father Looney experienced some ill health and I dropped the habit. Since I do better with visual stimulation than auditory, maybe next year, I'll do some ACTUAL spiritual reading, lol. 

- Divine Office. I have been really good about keeping up with praying Prime and Compline. I've switched to doing the traditional version for both for consistency. I have not added on any hours like Terce or Vespers. 

2023 Food Goals

- Making Bread once a week. I made this goal with the idea that I would be employed in part-time work for more time than I anticipated. Within a month of 2023, I was employed full-time, which left me no time or energy to make bread as I used to. So I gave up the goal within the first month. 

- Use old seeds for the garden. This was meant as a de-stash of the family seed collection. While we didn't use all of them for the family garden this year, we were able to use some! 

2023 Practice Goals

- Practice French. Again, this was a good goal for the first half of the year. My record was a 161-day streak of practicing my French. However, Duolingo and I increasingly grew at odds and I finally deleted my account around Thanksgiving. I haven't found another practice tool to use yet, but I hope to find one at some point. 

- Practice music, both dulcimer and choir. Neither goal was attained. Once I got my full-time job, I had little time to devote to music. I actually dropped out of choir for several months because it was just too much to handle with work.  

2023 Crafting Goals

- Mums Afghan. I've been working slowly but steadily on it. I've currently got two and a half rows of the afghan completed. I've had to make a few color changes because of my yarn supply. I was recently gifted some more purple yarn, which I'm excited to incorporate into the design. I plan to continue working on this in 2024, so we'll see what progress I make then! 

- Scrappy quilt. I successfully completed this goal in the spring of this year! I wrote a post documenting the journey HERE. 

While it has been disappointing to see many of these goals either scrapped or little progress, I'm not too upset. As we all know, having set plans doesn't mean that they will be followed to the letter. 

Goals for 2024

Unlike last year, I decided not to pursue any hard goals relating to my spiritual life, food, garden, or practicing this year. With my job situation being so volatile, I need a little more flexibility. Crafting goals seem to work out the best, so here's what I'm hoping to accomplish next year: 

- finish processing my gray wool

- make a set of scrappy placemats (a destash project) 

- continue working on mums afghan and floral wreath embroidery projects

- completely reorganize my crafting spaces

I'll re-evaluate these goals in about six months, adding or taking away goals if I need to. 

In other news, I have a new page specifically devoted to my craft projects!! Similar to a WIPs page on a writing blog, this page will feature progress updates and some visuals relating to the projects that I've been working on. It's now live, under the About tab. 

And I think that wraps up 2023! I hope and heartily wish that you all have a blessed New Year! 

God bless, 

Catherine

+JMJ+

It has been seven years since I started to blog. (Glory to God!) 

It has been a crazy ride sharing my recipes, my crafting projects, and my observations about Catholicism and femininity with you all. 

I know I speak a lot about my handicrafts and other feminine interests on this blog. But I would be lying if I said that this was the entirety of my interests. 

So today, in honor of this 7th blogoversary, I want to share 7 things that I am interested in that may surprise you! 

1. Engineering

My love of engineering was born when the reality TV show Design Squad aired on PBS. I was right about the age of the contestants and the projects they did on the show looked absolutely awesome. I loved the problem-solving aspects and seeing how forces interacted with each other. The main thing that stopped me from becoming an engineer in real life was...I can't math to save my life, lol. 

Nowadays, I still have a strong interest in learning about historical engineering. NOVA and Smithsonian documentaries are some of my favorites. Doubt it will go beyond that, but it's still cool!

2. Hunting/Fishing

Many times people will poo-poo hunting and fishing as masculine pursuits. In some ways, I can see why - mainly because killing something and harvesting it for food goes against the feminine nurturing spirit. 

But I am a country girl, and out here, the outdoor sports are life-bloods to us. I have fished before, though I haven't done it in over a decade. I'm not particularly good at casting, not gonna lie. May have accidentally hooked a person or two in my time (ooops). But I haven't hunted yet, and I wouldn't mind trying it once. 

3. Guns/Weapons

Again, this happened because of my obsession with reality TV. In this case, it was Top Shot and Forged in Fire by the History Channel. Both gave me a strong appreciation for marksmanship and weapons creation. 

I learned to shoot when I was a teenager. I do still like to shoot, but I do have a slight fear of shooting guns - I have a bad startle reflex when the gun kicks in my hand. Granted, what I probably need is a lot more practice, especially with an instructor. I've also shot a bow, and while I really like it, my shoulder doesn't do well under the repeated strain. Haven't done much axe or knife throwing yet, lol. 

4. Classic Cars

This one's because of my family. My mom is a big classic car fan and so are some of my brothers. Therefore, when we see an old roadster, there is a collective "Oooh!". 

I'm primarily interested in the aesthetics and the restoration processes. I'm not much of a mechanic, lol. I can't even drive half of those vehicles because I don't know how to drive a manual transmission. 

5. Skeletons/Mummies/Incorruptibles

If you knew me before 2017, you would have known that I had a morbid fear and horror of dead bodies. I still feel a little queasy if I see war casualties or murder victims (which is why I typically can't watch murder shows). 

However, skeletons in an archeological or lab setting? I'm okay with that. More than okay, I'm actually interested in those. (Though I will admit that the documentary I watched the other night on the St. Bee's Man kinda grossed me out a little.) Ancient Egyptian mummies and bog bodies are also (morbidly) fascinating to look at because of the souls connected to them. 

I think what helped me over the hump was learning about the "incorruptibles". For those who don't know what those are, they are bodies (or body parts) of saints that didn't follow the natural decaying process. Realizing that not all dead bodies are dehumanized freaks of horror (as depicted in many police and murder shows) was a big step in dealing with that phobia. 

6. Disaster Stories

As someone who tends to avoid murder shows and heavy dramatics, this may come as a surprise to some people. It started with weather disaster shows when I was a kid. Then it moved to plane and boat disasters. I had a whole obsession with Titanic during the 100th anniversary of that sinking. 

Again, I can't *usually* stand watching these for a long time. The dramatics get to me. 

But what hooks me is the "How and why did they happen" (or if people survived, lol).  Again, the problem-solving thing. This seems to be a complex, lol. 

7. Space/Astronomy

I'm sure many of you guessed that history was my favorite subject. Science was a very close second, however. As much as I loved biology, zoology, botany, and other sciences of living things, I had a very persistent interest in space and astronomy. 

Growing up in the space shuttle era was fun, y'all. I watched so many shuttle launches as a kid, and I watched the ISS fly over our house once. I learned how to identify planets and some constellations such as the Big Dipper and Orion the Hunter. I did have a telescope that we used to look at the moon a few times, but the lenses were bad. Since I am in a semi-rural area, I can still observe the stars whenever I'm out. Nothing is more beautiful to me than a clear night sky (unless it's a sunrise, lol). 

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And there you have it! 7 unusual areas of interest for 7 years of blogging. I do miss the ability to spend hours in front of a computer screen, pouring my heart into this space. As I begin to recover, I'm beginning to feel the words coming back and I hope I can devote more time to some of those deeper posts that I used to write. 

As always, I want to thank all of my loyal readers for sticking by me these past seven years - especially Lia, who is the person responsible for dragging me into this. If you would like to keep up with all of my adventures, I highly recommend that you sign up for my monthly newsletter, which is located in the sidebar. In the meantime, stay warm and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

In corde Mariae, 

Catherine