Mother and Child in Sea Glass

Working on this sea glass mosaic under the guidance of St. Mark and Our Lady brought me peaceful memories of warm and quiet days walking the beach to collect the bits of glass.  I'm pleased with how this turned out and am ready to begin another mosaic.  What a wonderful way to pray!

Year of St. Mark the Evangelist

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Each January for the past few years I have enjoyed participating in Jennifer Fulwiler's Saint Name Generator where, after saying a short prayer I click a button and a saint comes forward to accompany me for the coming year. This year St. Mark the Evangelist is my prayerful companion.  I find it especially providential that the Gospel readings at daily Mass just happen to be from Mark so I have been paying extra close attention to them.  I've also spent the past month reading and reflecting upon the Gospel of Mark, the shortest of the four Gospels to be written, in my daily prayer time.  What a great way this has been to immerse myself in learning about my friendly saint and the Lord as well!

In researching St. Mark I found so many different stories and they all seemed to contradict each other. In the end I'm not sure what is really the truth of his life but will share what I found to be the most fascinating aspects about the saint.

St. Mark had traveled with Paul and Barnabas and was possibly a source of contention dividing the two in their evangelic travels.  In the end, all made peace and Mark was known to be a great help in spreading the good news of Christ.

St. Mark was a close friend and possibly a relative of St. Peter during the early years of Christianity, and it was from Peter that St. Mark learned about the life of Jesus.  St. Mark payed close attention to Peter's preaching and recorded everything that he learned from our first Pope, and that's where I feel that I just may have something in common with my 2017 patron.  Most of the blog posts that I share here are taken from my notes written while listening to moving homilies or talks given by great priests.  In addition, St. Mark is a patron of imprisoned people, so there's a connection with the title of this blog, too.

In St. Mark's Gospel he mentions a man with a water jug at whose house the disciples were to prepare the passover.  That house may have belonged to Mark's mother, Mary.  His Gospel also mentions a man who ran away naked from the Garden of Gethsemane. There is speculation that St. Mark may have been the man with the water jug and the man fleeing from the Garden.  He is also mentioned as having been present at the wedding at Cana where water was changed to wine.

St. Mark is identified with a lion because he begins his Gospel with St. John the Baptist described as a "voice crying out in the wilderness." St. Mark was martyred in 68 AD when he was dragged through the city of Alexandria for two days until he died.  His relics can be found in Alexandria and at St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice.  St. Mark's Feast Day is April 25th.

St. Mark is the patron saint of stained glass window makers, although I haven't been able to make a connection as to why that might be so other than the fact that he painted pictures with his words.  But with that patronage I've decided that this will be the year that I will work on making more sea glass mosaics under his guidance.  From the time I started collecting sea glass ten years ago I had always thought that I'd like to make a mosaic of the Virgin Mary but never thought I would be up to the task and had no idea about how to begin on my own.  So it must have been St. Mark's influence that caused me to discover a lovely mosaic of Mary and Jesus made by a woman from Helsinki that was shared in a sea glass group on facebook, and upon seeing it I knew that I, too, could piece together the same image.

My friend Christi of Lumen Christi Art who designed and helped me to make a Sea Glass Tree of Life mosaic two years ago had sent her Milwaukee Journal Sentinel entry for Christmas Artwork, the icon of "Mother of God of Tenderness," as a Christmas card this past year. Of the icon she wrote:  "Christ draws our attention to His mother and there is an additional detail of love where we see that Jesus' arm is around His mother's neck.  The little face tenderly pressed against His mother's face is Christ Immanuel, the Glory of God and Creator of all."  

Using Christi's icon and my new friend from Helsinki's art as examples I have begun the work under the patronage of St. Mark.  Our Lady's face was certainly the most difficult part so far and I'm nervous about bringing Jesus' face to life after the difficulty I had with His mother's face.  I'm sure that if I would try to replicate this mosaic I would make lots of changes the second time around to improve it, but for a first effort on my own I'd say it's going pretty well and I am learning a lot.  I only have so much glass available to me so using limited supplies poses a challenge, as well.  My mosaic definitely has more of a folk art feel than classic art but I am enjoying the work and the deep prayer that accompanies the task.  The image below is my humble beginning.  I'll be sure to share the finished project in a future post.

Prayer (source)

“O glorious St Mark, through the grace of God our Father, you became a great Evangelist, preaching the Good News of Christ. Obtain for me I pray you, lively faith, firm hope and burning love; patience in adversity, humility in prosperity, recollection in prayer, purity of heart, a right intention in all my works, diligence in fulfilling the duties of my state of life, constancy in my resolutions, resignation to the will of God and perseverance in the grace of God even unto death. Through the same Christ Our Lord, Amen.”

Here's a nice reflection on St. Mark by my friend, Fr. James Kubicki, SJ from the Apostleship of Prayer.

To Jesus through Mary

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On the Feast of St. Luke I was blessed to attend a most reverent daily Mass with Fr. Cliff Ermatinger of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee as the presider. Fr. Cliff had not ever presided at daily Mass at my parish as far as I know, and this was the first time that I had ever been present at his Mass.  I was deeply moved by how reverent he is!  Fr. Cliff spent a great deal of time elevating both the host and the chalice which made for a significant amount of adoration of both.  I had never seen that done at such length before and felt that it really helped to keep me focused on the real purpose of the Mass and prevented me from becoming distracted as, sadly, I too often seem to be.  

His homily for the feast day was enlightening!  He said that not only was St. Luke a physician and an artist, but he was also an historian who personally  sought out the sources before writing his Gospel. Although he never met Jesus in person, he had met His mother Mary, and it was through Mary that he learned everything about Jesus. He learned about the Incarnation, the Visitation, the Nativity, and all aspects of the  life of Jesus, through the eyes and stories of the Blessed Mother, with whom he personally spoke. How did he know that she pondered these things in her heart?  He knew because she told him.  And that's why Luke's Gospel is the only one that shares the personal details about Mary's experience.

St. Luke went to Jesus through Mary, just as we do today!  What a great and beautiful example!

Magnificat

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my savior, for He has looked with favor on His lowly servant.”

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Recently, as a penance, a priest in confession told me to pray and meditate upon Mary's Magnificat of praise.  On the occasion of her birthday, my thoughts return to that gorgeous prayer...

In the scriptures Mary is nearly always moving-going in haste to visit Elizabeth, traveling to Bethlehem where she’ll give birth to the Lord, fleeing to Egypt to escape Herod, searching for Jesus in Jerusalem.  Her Magnificat is also a prayer of movement.  In it she moves from gratitude, to praise, to reflection upon God’s treatment of the proud and humble, and finally ending with the reminder that God keeps his promises.  Fr. John Hardon, SJ notes that throughout the Magnificat the stress is always on God.  In other words,  Mary leads us to Jesus, she moves toward Him.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that the Magnificat is both a prayer of the Mother of God and of the Church, that is, each one of us.  Mary teaches us that the Church is called to sing praise to God in all situations and when we praise God, joy will follow. Because the Magnificat is a prayer of the entire Church it's good for us to remember that when praying this ancient prayer our Mother brings us to God and we acknowledge that the Lord has done great things for us, too, and Holy is His Name.  

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

To Honor Our Mother

The beautiful tradition of honoring the Blessed Mother during the month of May has been carried out with a May Crowning and Eucharistic Rosary Procession by Milwaukee's Roses for Our Lady for the past 36 years.  This year on the day of the May Crowning the group was blessed with beautiful weather and the presence of Archbishop Listecki and four Milwaukee priests, we were treated to beautiful singing by the Andress and Urlakis sisters, we were delighted by many reverent First Communicants and were joined by many religious and laity.  What a beautiful day and wonderful way to spend Mother's Day honoring Our Blessed Mother!

Here are images and video of Roses for Our Lady's 36th Annual May Crowning and Outdoor Eucharistic Rosary Procession held on Mother's Day, May 8th, 2016 at the Archdiocesan Marian Shrine in Milwaukee.  Photo credits to Mary Anne Urlakis, Terry Boldin, Jazmin Trujillo and Mary Bender.  Video credit to Sylvester Markowski.  You may view the videos here and here or at the bottom of this post.

A Birthday Party for the Blessed Mother-UPDATED

Roses for Our Lady in Milwaukee has an annual tradition of celebrating the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a Mass or Holy Hour and an outdoor Eucharistic Rosary Procession each year. This year that celebration took place at Old St. Mary in downtown Milwaukee.

We are blessed to be joined by the Dominican Sisters, and this year they shared the facebook post with details of the event with the caption "Let's party!"  Doesn't that make you smile?  And it really is a party; a party that sends the devil running, as Fr. Tim Kitzke, Vicar General for the Urban Ministry in the City of Milwaukee and Spiritual Advisor for Roses for Our Lady, told us during his homily.

This year our procession walked right past a downtown location where a gentleman's strip club is being proposed.  Fr. Tim has been working hard to fight against that club being allowed a license, and has been asking for the help and prayers of everyone who attends Mass at Old St. Mary.  As our procession moved past the empty building of the proposed club we paused to pray a decade of the rosary there, and then Fr. Tim blessed the building with Our Lord in the monstrance.  At the very instant that he blessed the building, the church bells rung out.  It was a powerful moment of prayer! Fr. Tim said that he felt that the ringing of the bells was a sign from God.  Let's continue to keep the devil on the run as we invoke Our Lady's assistance in all that we do!

UPDATE:  The Milwaukee Common Council voted 3-2 against granting a license to the Gentleman's Club on September 17th.  Much thanks is due to Fr. Tim and all who worked and prayed to keep it away from our downtown neighborhood so close to Old St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist Cathedral, and most of all, thanks be to God for all of His blessings.  Story here and here.

(All photos courtesy of Jazmin Trujillo)

Saints of Summer

Where do the summer days go?  It seems as though we blink and they're gone.  The busyness of summer has kept me away from the computer, but it hasn't kept God's saints and holy ones away from my heart.  Here's a few beautiful ways that I found God's grace this summer.

I was blessed to take every Wednesday off from work so that I could spend some quality girl time with my daughter, Mary, before she made the leap into high school.  We spent many a lovely day together riding a tandem bike (it's harder than we'd imagined), searching for sea glass, and rummaging through antique shops.

A bicycle built for two with a lovely Lake Michigan view.

We had a blast trying on vintage hats!

Sweet Mother Mary, I love you!

At one antique shop we found this beautiful statue of my Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe. She had a bunch of purses and junk piled up in her arms so I had to clear that away for her. Then I noticed that the picture propped in front of her was of a man flashing a work of art with the caption "Expose yourself to art." So I had to turn that around to face the wall. My Mother doesn't want to look at that! They were selling the statue for the ridiculously low price of $125. I should have paid it and brought her home with me so she wouldn't have to be treated with so much disrespect. After all, who else tells me "Am I not here, your Mother? Are you not under the shadow of my protection?"  I was so grateful that a friend of mine was able to go and rescue her and is now finding many blessings in her home with Our Mother's presence there.

Marquette Hall mirrored in the stained glass windows of The Church of the Gesu

The Holy Spirit will overshadow you.

I'm blessed to walk the Marquette College Campus every day on my lunch break. The bells at Marquette Hall ring out the Salve Regina and my heart sings along. I marvel at the sight of the Marquette Hall tower reflected in the Gesu windows and each time I see it I tell myself to bring my camera so I can capture the image forever. But when I leave my office I always forget to bring it...until one spectacularly sunny and beautiful day when I was able to capture the image above.  The bonus: I took a picture of the outside of the stained glass window of Our Lady and didn't notice the gull (that looks like a dove of the Holy Spirit) flying in the reflection until I got back to my office and looked over my pictures. A perfect overshadowing!

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Schoenstatt Shrine

One day as I was driving home from work, I saw the most beautiful sight and wish I could have pulled over to take a picture. (I found the picture above on pinterest and it looked very much like the scene I witnessed.) There, walking across the busy Wisconsin Avenue bridge, were 12 Schoenstatt sisters carrying the Rosary Campaign flag. Although I couldn't hear it, I imagine they were praying the rosary as they walked. Maybe they were on their way to their beautiful little shrine just further west on Wisconsin Ave! Sanctifying the city! Just what we need!

I'd been looking for a statue of the Infant of Prague ever since last Christmas when my pastor, Fr. Tim Kitzke, told me that everyone should have a statue of the Infant in their homes saying that He is a help with financial situations.  On one of our Wednesday outings my daughter and I paid a visit to a little antique mall and cheese shop (well, we do live in Wisconsin!) and there we hit the jackpot.  We found four statues of the Infant so I bought them all!

Not too long ago I met a woman who told me that she received a blessing from Pope John Paul II, and then later was able to shake his hand after praying a novena to the Infant of Prague.  When I told her that I will be going to see Pope Francis in Philadelphia this month, she recommended that I pray a novena to the Infant for whatever I might want from that experience, and when I found those four statues all in the same place, I took it as a sign that my prayer might be favorably received.

Now naturally I hope to receive spiritual blessings for myself and my family, but I would also want to meet Pope Francis personally.  So I have been praying a beautiful novena to the Infant of Prague with the intention that my traveling companions and I will be blessed to meet the Pope and  have a selfie taken with him.  Then my sister Cindy and I will be able to replace our paper pope picture with a real one!  I know that sounds awfully selfish to pray for a selfie, but Pope Francis is always reminding everyone to be joyful, and thinking about a selfie with the pope sure does make me joyful!  

Here's the prayer I'm saying.  It's so lovely!  Care to join me in prayer?

Novena Prayer to the Miraculous Infant of Prague

Dearest Jesus, Little Infant of Prague, how tenderly You love us! Your greatest joy is to dwell among us and to bestow Your blessing upon us. Though I am not worthy that You should help me, I feel drawn to You by love because You are kind and merciful. (say three times)

So many who turned to You with confidence have received graces and had their petitions granted. Behold me as I come before You to lay open my heart to You with its prayers and hopes. I present to You especially this request, which I enclose in Your loving Heart:

(Mention your request)

Rule over me, dear Infant Jesus, and do with me and mine according to Your Holy Will, for I know that in Your Divine Wisdom and Love You will arrange everything for the best. Do not withdraw Your hand from me, but protect and bless me forever. 

I pray You, all-powerful and gracious Infant Jesus, for the sake of Your Sacred Infancy, in the Name of Your Blessed Mother Mary who cared for You with such tenderness, and by the greatest reverence with which Saint Joseph carried You in his arms, help me in my needs. Make me truly happy with You, dearest Infant, in time and in eternity, and I shall thank You forever with all my heart.  Amen.

Tree of Life Sea Glass Mosaic Final Post-Mary as the Tree of Life

"Happy the soul in which Mary, the Tree of Life, is planted; happier the soul in which she has acquired growth and bloom; still happier the soul in which she yields her fruit; but most happy of all: the soul which relishes and preserves Mary's fruit until death, and for ever and ever. Amen." ~St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary

Tree of Life Mosaic with natural lighting

Christi Jentz and I completed our Tree of Life Sea Glass Mosaic this past weekend!  We began the project last June with the passage from the book of Revelation in mind, but as I prayed over this project during the past seven months, I came to feel that St. Louis de Montfort's explanation of  Mary as the True Tree of Life who bore the fruit of the tree, Jesus, to be more meaningful to my heart than the Revelation passage, although that is still very fitting and very beautiful.

I renewed my Marian Consecration on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.  While attending the noon Mass on my work lunch break on my consecration renewal day, I was pleased to hear Father speak about consecration and the need to renew the offering of our complete self, our bodies, mind and spirit to the Lord.  Father had no idea, of course, that I was thrilling from his words, feeling that this was a confirmation from God that my consecration must be pleasing to Him.

And the fact that we completed the mosaic in time for my Marian Consecration also felt like a little confirmation of my thoughts regarding the Tree of Life as a sign of Mary's self-giving for Christ.   For the past seven years as I bent down upon the shores of Lake Michigan to gather the small shards of glass, I always felt that each piece of glass I collected was a small prayer of praise to God from me, and a gift of love to me from Him.  So shaping the glass into a Tree of Life Mosaic became a meaningful prayer of completion.  It became a way that I could give the gift of sea glass back to Him, through my love for Mary and my desire to draw ever more closely to the Heart of Jesus.

What a glorious day this day of Consecration is-presenting myself to Jesus through Mary on the day that she presented Jesus to God, and then seeing that gift symbolized in this beautiful work of art, made with small, found pieces of glass arranged with love by the hands of artisan Christi Jentz, who patiently taught me as I worked beside her, just as our Lord learned his artisan craft of carpentry by working beside the ever-patient St. Joseph.  The Presentation has come full circle, hasn't it?  Mary and St. Joseph presented their Son as a gift, and I, in turn, present the offering of my life and my love for sea glass as a gift to glorify both Mary and Jesus.  How amazing this life of faith truly is and how much there is to ponder in the words of St. Louis de Montfort and his book The Secret of Mary!

Tree of Life Mosaic with white background

"Chosen soul, provided you thus carefully cultivate the Tree of Life, which has been freshly planted in your soul by the Holy Spirit, I can assure you that in a short time it will grow so tall that the birds of the air will make their home in it. It will become such a good tree that it will yield in due season the sweet and adorable Fruit of honour and grace, which is Jesus, who has always been and will always be the only fruit of Mary." ~St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary

Tree of Life mosaic with blue background

"This tree, once planted in a docile heart, requires fresh air and no human support. Being of heavenly origin, it must be uninfluenced by any creature, since a creature might hinder it from rising up towards God who created it. Hence you must not rely on your own endeavours or your natural talents or your personal standing or the guidance of men. You must resort to Mary, relying solely on her help." ~St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary

flowers in springtime details

"The person in whose soul this tree has taken root must, like a good gardener, watch over it and protect it. For this tree, having life and capable of producing the fruit of life, should be raised and tended with enduring care and attention of soul. A soul that desires to be holy will make this its chief aim and occupation." ~St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary

leafing out in summer details

"You must guard against grubs doing harm to the tree. These parasites are love of self and love of comfort, and they eat away the green foliage of the Tree and frustrate the fair hope it offered of yielding good fruit; for love of self is incompatible with love of Mary." ~St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary

autumn color details-if you look closely at the top orange triangle in this section, you will see that it is a seed, like a tiny mustard seed....

"You must offer yourself to Mary, happily lose yourself in her, only to find God in her. If the Holy Spirit has planted in your soul the true Tree of Life, which is the devotion that I have just explained, you should see carefully to its cultivation, so that it will yield its fruit in due season. This devotion is like the mustard seed of the Gospel, which is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but nevertheless it grows into a big plant, shooting up so high that the birds of the air, that is, the elect, come and make their nest in its branches. They repose there, shaded from the heat of the sun, and safely hidden from beasts of prey." ~St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary

winter ice details

"Yet you need not be alarmed when the winds blow and shake this tree, for it must happen that the storm-winds of temptation will threaten to bring it down, and snow and frost tend to smother it. By this we mean that this devotion to our Blessed Lady will surely be called into question and attacked. But as long as we continue steadfastly in tending it, we have nothing to fear." ~St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary

"You must not allow this tree to be damaged by destructive animals, that is, by sins, for they may cause its death simply by their contact. They must not be allowed even to breathe upon the Tree, because their mere breath, that is, venial sins, which are most dangerous when we do not trouble ourselves about them." ~St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary

"It is also necessary to water this Tree regularly with your Communions, Masses and other public and private prayers. Otherwise it will not continue bearing fruit." ~St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary

the last of the sea glass from seven years of collecting

the last of the sea glass from seven years of collecting

with the soon-to-be finished project in the background

our next project-Mother and Child

For more on this Tree of Life project see the initial post here, a follow-up here, another follow-up here, and Christi's blog here.

Happy Birthday Blessed Mother/And in Her Morning

Photo from Roses for Our Lady's Mass in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, 2013

I'm so excited about the Blessed Mother's birthday this year!  Roses for Our Lady will be celebrating in a big way with a Mass and outdoor Eucharistic Rosary Procession by candlelight at Divine Mercy Parish in South Milwaukee.  Mass with Bishop Donald Hying, Fr. Bob Betz, Fr. Joseph Sebastian, Fr. Tim Kitzke and Fr. Luke Strand is at 7 pm.   The beautiful and talented Grace Urbanski, who works and writes for the Apostleship of Prayer, (listen to Grace sing the Ave Maria here), and the St. Stanislaus Schola, will provide the music.  Then we'll have a Eucharistic procession by candlelight while praying the rosary in the lovely Divine Mercy neighborhood.  The weather forecast looks perfect!  And we'll finish off the celebration with a birthday party complete with cake and punch.  For more details, visit this link.

One of my favorite poets, Jessica Powers, aka Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, wrote a beautiful and moving poem about our Mother, and in honor of her September 8th birthday, as my own gift to her, I invite you to pray with it here.

And in Her Morning by Jessica Powers
from The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers

The Virgin Mary cannot enter into
my soul for an indwelling.  God alone
has sealed this land as secretly as His own;
but being mother and implored, she comes
to stand along my eastern sky and be
a drift of sunrise over God and me.

God is a light and genitor of light.
Yet for our weakness and our punishment
He hides Himself in midnights that prevent
all save the least awareness of Him.
We strain with dimmed eyes inward and perceive
no stir of what we clamored to believe.
Yet I say:  God (if one may jest with God),
Your hiding has not reckoned with Our Lady
who holds my east horizon and whose glow
lights up my inner landscape, high and low.
All my soul's acres shine and shine with her!
You are discovered, God; awake, rise
out of the dark of Your Divine surprise!
Your own reflection has revealed Your place,
for she is utter light by Your own grace.
And in her light I find You hid within me,
and in her morning I can see Your Face.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLESSED MOTHER MARY!