Fr. Anthony Wieck's Homily

Fr. Anthony Wieck, Sr. Theresa's spiritual advisor, celebrated the liturgy on Sunday. It would be the last gathering of the weekend of our group attending the profession of vows. I was profoundly moved by his words filled with insight and wisdom. He graciously allowed me to post his homily. Here it is:

What a wonderful weekend we have experienced together. Hasn't it been wonderful? We have been so edified by the example of all the sisters around us, their gracious hospitality, and most of all by the witness of Sister Khristina and Sister Theresa Aletheia who have surrendered their entire lives to the Lord, in love. It is a gift for all of us to witness.

What perhaps we haven't thought about yet or realized is that the vocation of these two beautiful sisters is meant for all of us in a special way. A vocation is a gift from God, and a gift is meant to be shared. The Lord has shared something precious with you this weekend so as to ASK something precious of you, of each one of us. The Lord brought you here for a purpose.  Each one of you. He is asking something of each one of you this day. Perhaps you thought that you were coming simply to witness the vows of your beautiful relative or friend. But I assure you that God has bigger plans than that. Likely by the end of your time here you too can identify with the words of Jeremiah in our first reading, "You have duped me, Lord, and I have let myself be duped." These are words of love. God has done the end around on you, and me also. What is he asking of you and me? No doubt he is asking each one of us here to commit to him more completely in our own lives. He is asking us to follow the example of generosity given by our two sisters (which is a response of love to love). How can YOU now give yourself more completely to God?

Jesus tells us all in the Gospel today that whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever wishes to lose his life, for Christ, will save it for eternal life.

You and I, then, are surely being invited to a greater surrender to Christ, to lose our lives by giving of our lives more completely.  That is why we are here this weekend. If we go to prayer for even a few intimate minutes, we will likely hear a gentle invite of Jesus, calling us to give more quality time to him. That gentle invitation starts with our prayer. What is your prayer life like? I think we can make a good case that Jesus' love language, that is, His preferred way of being loved, is quality time. What kind of quality time do you currently give to the Lord? What kind of quality time is He asking of you? Quality time in prayer is absolutely necessary for a deeper intimacy with Christ. Without it we will not experience new life, God's life. And without that life, what will it help us to gain the entire world, to put all our efforts there, and lose our soul in the process.What will it profit us? Nothing.

When we give quality time to the Lord in prayer, everything changes! Our lives begin to blossom, as our relationship with Christ begins to blossom. Absolutely nothing can substitute for intimate personal one-on-one time with our Lord in prayer. Quality time. For each one of us that kind of prayer will vary but it must be a staple of our lives.  To simply be an average Catholic, going with the flow, being a generally good person in our lives, trying to fit in with the world, will never work. We'll never experience deep intimacy with Christ.

And we ought to pray to God that we not hear those scary words that Christ utters in the Gospel to those who arrive in heaven thinking they know him, for they have worked a few miracles in his name, and yet he says to them, "I never knew you. I never knew YOU! I never had one-on-ones with you. We never chatted much. You never shared with me your deepest self, your joys and your wounds. You never allowed me to be on the most intimate terms with you. You always kept yourself so busy. You didn't really have time for me."

No, let's not let that happen. We are called to something greater this weekend. St. Paul reminds us that we are not to be conformed to this age, but be transformed in our minds, discerning what is good and pleasing and perfect. As we come to know our Lord, we will want to give him everything, offering up our bodies as gifts, gifts of love.  Our body is the vehicle of godly love. We are to offer it as a living sacrifice to God.

We have been reflecting on this all weekend, and now we are beginning to implement it in our lives in a deeper way.

But all this presupposes prayer. Prayer is the key. How is your prayer going to change after this weekend? If it doesn't change, much has been lost. Much fruit meant for you personally has not been savored. Much joy meant for your beautiful heart has gone unwelcomed. Many seeds will be left untended and will eventually die.

To be a disciple of Christ, making a difference in the world, as St. Paul did, one has to have a deep life of prayer. Otherwise we will never make a difference in the world. If you want to make a significant difference, you have to have prayer.

Let me give you an image of this. Think of a bow and arrow.  The arrow can only travel as far as the string is pulled backwards in the bow. The deeper the pull, the further the arrow will launch. The active life, the apostolate, our effectiveness in making the world a better place, will depend upon the depth of our interior or contemplative life. Every one of us here has to develop a contemplative, interior life. You and I are called to it. Jesus has a lot to say about it in the Gospel.

The prophet Jeremiah was called to it. These amazing words of love we read today speak to us so profoundly. Look how filled with God's fire of love he is!

"I say to myself, I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more.
But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,
        imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it."

And in the Gospel, we are called to pick up our cross. This is part and parcel of following Christ. It is not an option. Peter, who last week is extolled for listening to the Father and proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Son of God, now listens to the father of lies, Satan, and tries to dissuade Jesus from his destiny of victory over suffering. He is worried about his own skin perhaps, having to follow a suffering leader in suffering. He is rebuked, and has to learn that true love embraces suffering. It does not shirk it.

Eventually he will embrace it fully, and become a great leader of the Church. But God will have to give him that gift. You and I are broken also. We don't have it together. We need Christ more than we realize. Our brokenness is our strength however, because it allows us to humbly go to Christ and beg for his healing mercy and for him to put us together again. You and I are really all Humpty Dumpty. We fall off the wall all the time! And our Good Shepherd Jesus loves us, and finds us quite endearing. That's always going to be a part of our daily intimate prayer with Christ.  Put me back together again, Jesus! Lord, I need you! Or in the words of Blessed James Alberione, as we read in the booklet yesterday,

"Your mercy is infinite and I will never be able to understand it.
More than to scrutinize it, I want to adore it.
How is it that you have chosen me,
a person so small and so great a sinner,
whom you could see would betray your expectations?

It is totally your mercy. I am a miracle of God!
Your call transformed the twelve;
Your call has made me into a new person.
I have been grafted into Christ: his interests are mine;
My doctrine is His; my life is that of Christ;
I carry out the works of Christ, or better,
It is Christ who carries them out in me."

                                - Blessed James Alberione,
                                  Founder of the Pauline Family


Let us make this weekend what God desires of it. Let us love Jesus back by offering him quality time in our lives. That quality time will be bringing our brokenness to Him and asking him to fix our boo-boos. It will be praising Him for many different graces. It will be revealing our deepest interior to our greatest Lover. I now wish each one of you to reflect for a minute on what you wish to give Christ as far as prayer time in your life from this point forward. Be concrete in your choices. He has certainly loved you concretely this weekend.

Pampered

Look what Kim had in her freezer! 

Oh yum - cauzone for breakfast!

It was DELICIOUS. 

Crab Cakes

Crab, mayo, celery, onion

Panko

Cayenne

Garlic powder

Ping pong ball size then flatten

Toss in Panko mixture

450 for 15 minutes

On parchment paper

Little Neck Clams

Little Neck Clams

Soak Clams 20 min  in very cold water

Remove Clams and discard water

Soak Clams 10 minutes in warm water

Remove Clams and discard water

Soak in very cold water with some ice 5 minutes

1 stick butter

2 Tbs garlic

1/4 cup crisp dry white wine

Grill until open

As soon as they open slather with butter

Boil butter into clam 30 seconds then remove

Fish Feast

At the Hinz home - having a fish feast for dinner. Salmon, shrimp, crab and mussels. Mmmm... can't wait for dinner.

Profession of Faith

My niece, Sr. Theresa made her profession of faith on Saturday, August 30, 2014. It was a faith-filled journey for all of us. We joined with Sr. Cheryl's family to share this beautiful celebration of two women becoming Daughters of St. Paul.

Jim, Cindy, Pat and I ventured out on Wednesday morning to drive to Boston. From the moment we arrived at St. Thecla's Retreat Center in Billerica, Massachusetts on Thursday afternoon we were surrounded by unconditional love, gracious hospitality and gentle care.

it was such a joy to be with family. Jane and Chris so proud to have Theresa taking her vows. All the Noble siblings and significant others surrounding us with love.

There were four little ones, Sarah's Ella, Liz and Joes' s  Margot, and friends of Theresa's Little Theresa and John. They were the main attraction at the retreat center. The Sisters just loved them and had complete patience for their antics.

Over the next few days the Sisters joyfully transported the families and friends to St. Paul's Church in Jamaica Plain, a 45 minute drive from the retreat center, the airport, even the bookstore, wherever they wanted to go.

Every meal was prepared for us and they were such delicious meals. We didn't have to think of anything except enjoying the time with our loved ones.

Sr. Carmen went over every detail of the ceremony with each family. Her great love for God pours out of her and embraces anyone she is with.

After Mass on Friday we were taken on a tour of the media center. The Daughters of St. Paul took precious time out of their work day to explain their mission to our family. Sr. Theresa stopped at each office for us to hear what was accomplished each day by the Daughters working there.

We were amazed to learn that so many projects were going on at the same time in one building.

At the radio station one sister explained that when she began working at the station the technology used was reel to reel tapes. She would mail it out praying they would arrive in time. Many people depended on those tapes to hear the word of God. She said that many times in foreign countries a villager would ride a donkey or a horse for hours to pick up those precious tapes. This was the only way people in the remote villages heard the word of God.

She said that now with digital programming available there was more time spent on preparation and the programs were in greater depth. They were sent worldwide in a matter of seconds over the Internet all over the world. The families commented about how technology had changed so much in the past twenty years.

Stopping at the video department was very fun. Sister showed the children the puppets which were used in their videos. Then she showed a section of the video she had been working on. The little ones were fascinated with the dinosaurs.

The art department was busy making handmade greeting cards. Beautiful wreaths in yellows, oranges and reds adorned the front of the cards. These cards were meant to welcome someone to a new home. Sister showed many finished projects including a coloring book of saints.

The book department was everyone's favorite stop. That is where we saw two prototype book covers for Sr. Theresa's book.  They were side by side on a white board. One maroon and gold and the other one blue and gold. Each with the words, 'The Prodigal You Love' by Theresa Noble. I had tears in my eyes; overwhelmed with the pride and great love I had for my niece. Her book will be published just a few weeks after her profession of her vows. Such an accomplishment! I can't wait to read her book.

Back at the retreat center we did what families do when they gather. We laughed and talked and laughed and took pictures and laughed some more.

The next morning Sr. Martha was taking pictures of pictures on the wall. I asked her if she was a tourist! She said the Daughters were going to tweet all during the weekend and she wanted pictures to add interest to her tweets.

Saturday morning was turning into a beautiful summer day. Honestly I couldn't stop the tears flowing. The solemn vows and rich rituals were overwhelming.

It is up to each Sister to take on an additional name or change their name completely.  The Daughters of St. Paul could not contain the excitement and anticipation of the new names. There had been a box in the dining room for the past few weeks with guesses of what their names would be. When it was announced that Sr. Theresa would add the name Aletheia (the greek word for truth) to Theresa and Sister Cheryl would become Sr. Khristina it was tweeted out for the Daughters all over the world to be a part of this extraordinary day.

A beautiful reception followed. We were at the table with the longtime Noble friends, the Maddens and Sr. Mary Elizabeth who grew up in Bay City. She enjoyed talking about Saginaw and Bay City. It was great conversation and a good time getting to know everyone.

Back at the retreat center we had a delightful evening. A Piñata, music and dancing, games and lively conversations.

This morning we had Mass at the retreat center. Fr. Anthony, Sr. Theresa's spiritual advisor, celebrated the liturgy. His homily filled me with renewed conviction to increase my prayer time. He graciously gave me his copy and permission to post it here.  I will make it a seperate post.

We have been loved and cared for by the Daughters, certainly a little piece of Heaven on earth. I thank you with all my heart and soul for being sisters to my sweet niece for eternity and caring so lovingly for us this week.

Free Book Promotion - August 26 - 30th

A short story filled with 

love and friendship  

Best friends, Katy, Jen and Colleen enjoy the summer before tenth grade at St. Mary Cathedral High School. Volunteering at the East Side Soup Kitchen, camping in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and helping Colleen's Aunt Sarah start her new bakery are all part of the fun. However, will they be able to help a new friend as he faces difficult challenges? 

Airman Robin J. Jacklin Jr.

Day One - Robbie receives the Coin to show he has finished his basic training.

 So happy to see him!

Talking with Javier and Ayva and Romeo - making faces at them.

 Asking his best friend to marry him!  Robbie and Alicia

 Nana and Robbie by St. Anthony statue - I prayed to St. Anthony every day to give him the strength to endure the training.  Also to St. Anne and our Blessed Mother to comfort him during his time away from his family.

So glad he has moved on to Virginia for his tech training.

Almost home

Our trip to San Antonio was filled with emotions. On our way we stopped at Chris and Jane's. Visiting with Mary, Sarah and baby Ella. Ella talks non stop. We had fun. We all went to Antoinette ' s for treats.

Then we stopped in Dallas to see Kelly and meet Kenneth. What a nice time. Kelly looked wonderful, just returned from Cuba. We so enjoyed our visit and the warm hospitality. Her apartment is so cute.

Then on to San Antonio. So many great things. I started four chapters of the book. I have been writing every day. Such rich experiences. We were so proud of Robbie. I am so glad we came. And... Robbie asked Alecia to marry him. It was so nice to get to know her better on this trip. I used my camera so I will fill in pictures later.

Jane and Chris were so nice to let us come in late and leave first thing in the morning. Got to visit a bit.

We had a wonderful visit with Sr. Honora. She is so busy. We picked her up so we saw the home she lives in and met the other sisters. We took her to Patrick's and it was the best dinner ever.

Home later on today.

St. Mary All Class Reunion

I had such a nice time. Joanna, Caroline, Danielle and Sheala took over the registration and told Pat and me to go have fun. So we did!

I saw so many friends from years ago. Some I had not seen since school.  One person, Marty left St. Mary's after sixth grade. His sister talked him into coming with her. We were so happy to see him. Cathy was another friend we hadn't seen since graduation.

But my favorite thing was sitting with Bette Jo and Velma for about a half hour. They were my Mom's good friends. They miss her as much as I do. They were so pleased to see Sheala. They anticipated her birth and spent a most amazing day with Sheala at my Mom's bedside the day before she died.

It was a fun night filled with memories and laughter. Even got to smack my lockermate for being bad. Doesn't get any better than that.

Inspiration Hits!

I am so happy - I have been inspired!

I have been praying for inspiration for a new book.  Today my prayers were answered.

Mike Sonnenberg is a fabulous photographer based in Saginaw.  Lost in Michigan is one of his websites.  Today he posted this picture on Facebook and my heart melted. I am meeting him this afternoon to purchase the picture for the cover of my next eBook.

I am not sure what the story will be about - but - I started researching the Tawas Point Lighthouse and guess what - some feel it might be haunted by a little girl!!!  Stay Tuned!

Ma!

This was our beloved - MA - I just loved going to the Novaks and watching her bake cookies.  My Mom made this for my memory book - in 1957.  They all voted NO for me to get my haircut.  Just after this vote, I ended up falling off Kochan's porch and fracturing my skull and the weight of my hair hurt my head so I had to get it cut anyway.

Anne Sullivan Explains How She Taught Helen Keller

Post by Rhonda Werthman Brewster.

Meatless Chili Stuffed Zucchini

This was a yummy meatless dinner. Cindy gave us a huge Zucchini. I had some meatless chili in the freezer. Delicious dinner.

Done - and not a minute too soon!  

583 nametags for the 

St. Mary Cathedral All Class Reunion 

on Saturday.

Girl's Night

Caroline, Sheala and Ayva had a girl's night last night. It looks like they had fun.

First Time

This is the first time that Romeo played with the jewels. He kept going to the treasure box and bringing me coins and jewels. Then he stuffed them into the teapot. He had a fun time at Nana's.

We played while Grandma Caroline gave me a pedi. Thank you Moon!

Poor Family Dollar

I just read that Dollar Tree bought out Family Dollar.

Now I feel just a bit responsible!

When I was selling my plates and knives the best sellers were the Family Dollar plates. I couldn't keep them in stock. I would have beautiful antique cut glass plates that never had a chance to sell if the customer saw one of the snowman plates.

Pat and I would travel all over Michigan and buy boxes of them. We would start in September. I went through boxes and boxes and boxes of them.

Last year I didn't buy any. We imagined stores being sent extra cases to keep up with the previous year's demand.

Sorry Family Dollar!

Margot

Uncle Pat, Aunt Cindy and I went to Grand Rapids to celebrate Margot's Baptism and 1st birthday. We had such a nice time. David and Sarah and Jane and Chris were there (Missed you Theresa and Mare Mare.) and Theresa did Skype in. 

What a nice party after at a friend of the family bowling alley. It had six lanes - just right for a party.

Margot being Baptized

Nana and Aunt Cindy and AuntME loving Margot at her party.

Margot

Ella

Hey Fran!

The curtain turned out cute!

(Look how it compliments those green wine glasses!)

Pine Street is indeed paved!