ADVENT.....Prepare.....await....be ready..... be expectant.....Come Lord Jesus, Come!

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 523-524) “ St. John the Baptist is the Lord’s immediate precursor or forerunner, sent to prepare his way. ‘Prophet of the Most High,’ John surpasses all the prophets, of whom he is the last. He inaugurates the Gospel, already from his mother’s womb welcomes the coming of Christ, and rejoices in being ‘the friend of the bridegroom,’

whom he points out as ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ Going before Jesus ‘in the spirit and power of Elijah,’ John bears witness to Christ in his preaching, by his Baptism of conversion and through his martyrdom.

When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’”

Let us be aware during this holy season of preparation that we too must decrease and that Christ within us must increase. Let us take the time to slow our minds and to sit quietly in prayer to prepare our hearts and souls for the coming of our Lord Jesus. Let us open our hearts to prepare to receive Our Lord more fully. St. John the Baptist, please intercede for all who are involved with ENDOW and all faithful souls may receive grace to actively set ourselves aside in pointing others to Jesus. May we become a full gift of self during this Advent season and until our Lord Jesus comes again in glory.

Called and equipped to be “living images”.......make a special visit.....

What is a “living image?” St. Teresia Benedicta a Cruce, (St. Edith Stein) describes what she called “living images” as ordinary people who by their small daily actions revealed their deep love for Jesus Christ. St. Edith/Sr. Teresia once encountered one of these ordinary people when she entered a church to look at artwork and noticed a woman who was in the church praying. There was something very different in this as St. Edith was struck that she seemed to be in prayerful conversation with a person. This lady’s attention and prayer in front of the tabernacle in a Catholic Church struck Edith Stein to her core and increased her desire to her search for the truth which ended in a person...the Person of Jesus Christ. (more on ENDOW's St. Edith Stein study here).

In an article by ZENIT news organization recently, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his joy at a “Eucharistic Springtime” within the Church. The Pops says it is “manifested in the numerous people who pause before the tabernacle to enjoy a ‘conversation of love’ with Jesus.” (full article here).

We never know when we might be an influential “living image” when we visit Jesus in the tabernacle or in Eucharistic Adoration. What blessing we receive when we draw near to Christ in love and faith to experience his promise: “And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20)

During this bustling time of year spend time with Our Lord to have a conversation of love. This is certain to show our love to Jesus in a very special way while we increase our faith and make reparation for offenses to the Most Holy Sacrament.

I’m praying for safe travel for you all during this Thanksgiving week. COME HOLY SPIRIT!

The attitude of Gratitude! Let us GIVE THANKS..........

Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito says in a recent CNA article ....“The attitude of gratitude is one that is part of God’s very nature. Gratitude is an expression of love. God is love and for all eternity gives himself away and literally sacrifices himself. It is that love which is his life as a community of persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In their eternal expression of love for each other, the persons of the Trinity also express gratitude to each other. That gratitude was so often reflected in the life of the Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, who always prayed to his Father in a stance of thanksgiving.”(full article here).

Let us pray that all who are part of ENDOW celebrate this wonderful time of year with heartfelt thanksgiving and step forward in actively living our lives with greater attention to gratitude! We thank God for all of the abundant blessings received through ENDOW studies!

Listen to your Mother.....WISDOM from Archbishop Charles Chaput.....

Who must we follow during times of confusion?

Who must be our reliable guide?

In a recent article titled "In Culture of Confusion, Church the Only Reliable Guide" in CNA Archbishop Charles Chaput says "Over the centuries, the Church has often called her people to reflect on the 'Four Last Things'—death, judgment, hell and heaven. She has a good reason for doing so. Life is brief. And all of us, whether rich or poor, unknown or famous, will very soon encounter the Four Last Things, directly and personally......They’re very real, and they matter eternally....." Let us take time to LISTEN, to pay attention and to be lovingly shepherded......read the Archbishop's full article here.

Come learn what our Mother, the Church, teaches us by participating in an ENDOW study.....click here to see all the choices.

Be educated in order to educate....the responsibility of family......

Have you ever spoken with an adult who said “Oh, I learned all about my faith in grade school and high school.”....YIKES! Can you imagine if the level of education in other areas of our lives was left at that level? If we assumed that we “learned it all” from the perspective of that young age? Would that be adequate to live life to the fullest? Absolutely not. We have an immense personal responsibility to learn our faith anew, in a deeper and deeper way, on a regular basis as we grow in age and maturity. I have always loved pondering the way Jesus, the divine Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, had to grow in wisdom in his human nature. Luke 2:52 tells us “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.”

How do we take personal responsibility for our growth in wisdom and stature, and increase in favor with God and man?

First and foremost, we grow through receiving grace and blessing in the Living Body of Christ, the Eucharist. As we encounter Jesus, our Living God in His Word and in Sacrament we grow in holiness and wisdom. In reflection of the very Trinity, as we so fully receive, we must pour forth all we receive back to God and to our neighbor. In a recent article from the Vatican Information Service titled “The Family Has Special Responsibility For Education,” Pope Benedict XVI is quoted as saying “St. Francis' evangelical life and his vocation to follow the path of the crucified Christ arose from his participation in Mass and his devoted reception of Holy Communion.......the sacred nature of the Eucharist means that it must be celebrated and adored with an awareness of the greatness, importance and effectiveness it has for Christian life...... Yet it also requires purity, coherence and sanctity of life from each one of us, that we may become living witnesses of Christ's unique sacrifice of love".

How can we be most cooperative in being the instruments in our Lord’s hands? How can we best become the living witnesses of Christ’s unique sacrifice of love? The “how” is to obey Our Father, to receive his Son in the Eucharist and to be open to learn more so that can more love our Beloved and draw others to the love we have for Him. ENDOW offers many classes which help women come to know the beauty and graces of this very holy calling, the calling for each and every soul. Here is a very nice summary of the studies offered by ENDOW.....say your YES to God’s invitation to grow in wisdom and stature, be drawn......come, be educated in a dynamic and blessed way through ENDOW studies.

Let us pray for grace for all souls to have this desire and to take responsibility to receive the Eucharist with “an awareness of the greatness, importance and effectiveness it has for Christian life” and to be educated so that we may live responsibly in providing what is most needed for our selves, our families and for building the Culture of Life.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful!

ENDOW wraps up a Pilgrimage to the Holy land...pray for safe travel home....

ENDOW pilgrims show solidarity with Christians in the Holy Land.

The recent Mideast synod had as a main goal to strengthen the presence of Christians in the region, and one important way to do that is to promote pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke of Eichstätt, Germany said, “The target of the synod was to strengthen the presence of Christians in the Middle East, and it is still a target of particular importance! This target has been looked at from different angles. One way to reach this target is to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Places, where Jesus lived.

For example, one can go on pilgrimage to Nazareth in Galilee, where the Basilica of Annunciation is built (to remember the annunciation of Archangel Gabriel, upon having visited the Virgin Mary), or to Bethlehem, in Palestine, to the Grotto of the Nativity, the birthplace of Jesus, and to Shepherds' Fields.

Also, one can visit Jerusalem, the city of the Lord, which Jesus visited regularly according to Jewish rite of pilgrimage for prayer and to participate in the Jewish feasts. Jerusalem is also where Jesus overcame death for all humanity, for our redemption, and where he rose from death, and showed himself as the risen Son of God in front of his disciples on Easter day. A deeper view into the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord can be obtained when the pilgrim is visiting the Church of Holy Sepulcher.

Popes in the history of the Church have always encouraged pilgrimages to the ‘House of the Lord,’ and it is also important for Benedict XVI, who joined with the fathers of the synod in the hope that the spiritual impetus might be reactivated today.

To go on a pilgrimage signifies in the proper meaning of the word ‘to start on one's way’ to the Holy Places of the Bible. Every praying pilgrim can receive the grace of strengthening of faith once more in order to enrich his life in faith with God in a deeper and more fruitful sense.

The fathers of the synod would highly appreciate to see the faithful anew going on a pilgrimage to the Holy Places, which leads them further in the footsteps of the holy Apostles also to Syria, Cyprus and Turkey. This would also be a highly esteemed expression showing our solidarity toward the Christians living in these countries....” Read full article from Zenit: HOLY LAND IS IN NEED OF PILGRIMS.

Please check out the footsteps of our ENDOW pilgrims at this site Pilgrim Center of Hope. You can see where they have been by viewing a slide show.

Please pray for our ENDOW pilgrims as they travel home on November 10.

A few quotes from ENDOW’s Discover Your Dignity Part II Study......

Autumn is a wonderful time to reflect upon the changing seasons and the fact that all of life, including our own, comes to an end. This can arouse fear within many of us in considering the unknowns which lie ahead of us. My study group in Boulder is presently concluding the ENDOW Study Discover Your Dignity, A Woman’s Journey Through Life, Part II. This study has been a tremendous blessing as it has given us a glimpse into the beauty and wonder of the final “season” of earthly life and to our ultimate destination, our entrance into eternal life. Have you ever considered the fact that God keeps on giving us unique and special gifts and missions right through our dying day? In learning and knowing a bit more about the very special years of growing older...and wiser, there has been much relief and even joy in anticipating these years. This study has facilitated some of the very best discussions within our group as women have shared loving stories of personal experience in these years as well as the joys of sharing these special years with Mothers, Grandmothers and elderly beloved. What a treasure box to explore, appreciate and anticipate! I highly recommend this beautiful study!

Here are a few quotes from the Study Guide....

“Family prayer has for its very own object family life itself, which in all its varying circumstances is seen as a call from God and lived as a filial response to His call. Joys and sorrows, hopes and disappointments, births and birthday celebrations, wedding anniversaries of the parents, departures, separations and homecomings, important and far-reaching decisions, the death of those who are dear, etc. -all of these mark God’s loving intervention in the family’s history.” Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, 59

“When you are lonely, go and visit somebody who is still lonelier than you! .....In this you are going to find strength and consolation.” Pope John Paul II, You are a Treasure for the Church!

“Love begins by taking care of the closest ones-the ones at home. Let us ask ourselves if we are aware that maybe our husband, our wife, our children, or our parents live isolated from others, do not feel loved enough, even though they may live with us. Do we realize this? Where are the older people today? They are in nursing homes (if there are any). Why? Because they are not wanted, because they are too much trouble, because.....” Mother [Blessed] Teresa, In My Own Words

Treat yourself to learning more about the special plan God has for us all during the second half of life in this study. The plan of God revealed within this study have both relieved fear of our own elderly years and has increased our compassion and desire to accompany our beloved elderly on this sacred journey into eternal life.

Embrace this beautiful season.......and each year and season of our lives! May we all pray for our elderly and show them the love, respect and care that brings joy to God and to us all.

Check out more about this ENDOW study here.

All Saints’ Day and all Souls’ Day.......immersed within the Body of Christ...

Yesterday we celebrated All Saints’ Day.... a Solemnity which was instituted to honor all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the celebration of saints' feasts during the year.” Praise be to God for all of his saints!

Today we celebrate All Souls’ Day. Take a moment or two to soak deep within the blessing of being surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses! Let us become deeply aware of the saints who assist us and the souls who need our offerings. The saints are praying for all souls and we can join them in our offerings for the dear departed souls who are being purified to stand before God. We are all intricately linked to one another as members of the Body of Christ. Let us intently help one another by our prayers and good works and we offer our joys and sufferings for another’s sake. When we do for others, we demonstrate our “yes” to living our commitment to ever increasing gift-of-self.

Take in the joy and strength of our loving interdependence. We are instructed.... “But the souls of the just are in the hand of God and no torment of death will touch them. In the eyes of the foolish, they seemed to die, and their departure was considered an affliction, and their going away from us, a banishment. Yet they are in peace. And though, in the sight of men, they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. Troubled in few things, in many things they will be well compensated, because God has tested them and found them worthy of himself. Like gold in the furnace, he has proved them, and as a holocaust victim, he has received them, and in the time of their visitation they will shine, and they will dash about like sparks among stubble. They will judge the nations and they will rule over the people, and their Lord will reign forever. Those who trust in him, will understand the truth, and those who are faithful in love will rest in him, because grace and peace is for his elect.” (Wis 3:1-9)

Sharing in ENDOW studies increases our knowledge and trust in the loving plan of Our Father. ENDOW is helping so many women, their friends and families shine forth as faithful souls on our journey together! Enjoy this blessed Solemnity of All Souls!