Continue reading »]]> This Advent St. Paul’s letter to the Romans will be the focus of prayer, study and sharing.

You might be thinking Romans?  To prepare for Christmas?

Well join us and you might be surprised how St. Paul’s letter correlates beautifully to the preparation we are in need of to receive Our Lord.

The New American Bible states that St. Paul’s letter to the Romans …

“finds its center in salvation and justification through faith in Christ…

…Romans presents a plan of salvation stretching from Adam through Abraham and Moses to Christ and on to the future revelation at Christ’s parousia.”

We know that Romans arose out of a specific situation, when the apostle wrote from Greece, likely Corinth, between 56-58 AD.

Paul at that time was about to leave for Jerusalem with a collection of funds for the impoverished Jewish Christian believers there, he planned to travel on to Rome and enlist support there for a mission to Spain.

Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and came to Rome only in chains, as a prisoner. 

This letter refers to those “weak in faith” and those “who are strong”…

St. Paul’s letter to the Romans is a powerful exposition of the doctrine of the supremacy of Christ and of faith in Christ as the source of salvation.”

This makes it perfect for us to meditate and dive into this Advent!

Here is what we will do…

There are 16 chapters in the letter to the Romans,

We will pray, read, study and share one chapter every two days, except for the last three days where we will share one chapter per day.

(follow the schedule below!)

We will read the chapter and then share a word or verse/verses that really meant something to you. 

You don’t have to share but you have no idea who will be blessed by your sharing.

Here is the schedule:

12/1     Chapter 1

12/2     Chapter 1

12/3     Chapter 2

12/4     Chapter 2

12/5     Chapter 3

12/6     Chapter 3

12/7     Chapter 4

12/8     Chapter 4

12/9     Chapter 5

12/10   Chapter 5

12/11    Chapter 6

12/12    Chapter 6

12/13    Chapter 7

12/14    Chapter 7

12/15    Chapter 8

12/16    Chapter 8

12/17    Chapter 9

12/18    Chapter 9

12/19    Chapter 10

12/20    Chapter 10

12/21    Chapter 11

12/22    Chapter 11

12/23    Chapter 12

12/24    Chapter 12

12/25    Chapter 12 * third day for Christmas

12/26    Chapter 13

12/27    Chapter 13

12/28    Chapter 14 * one day

12/29    Chapter 15 * one day

12/30    Chapter 16 * one day

This going to be very exciting to see how the days flow with the scripture!

MOST EXCITING IS THAT WE END ON THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH!

Praise God and hope you can join us!

Any questions let me know!

Marie Joseph

Continue reading »]]> Today is the last day in 11/11!  The 11th month in the 11th year of the 21st century!  WOW!  Could Jesus really come now?  Am I ready?

Well while this is an urgent matter … it is not a reason to stress… rather focus on the fact that He really is coming closer to us this Christmas as He does every year!

This is such a grace filled time of year that Holy Mother Church purposely takes time to get us ready to receive such graces…

This must be the reason that the enemy tries to make so much noise at this time and cause so much distraction!

We have to work against all the noise because we know that Our Lord comes silently… in the middle of the night… as a newborn baby!

So beautiful… and so here we are in day three and final day of preparation before starting our 30 Day Spiritual Cleanse.

We started with reflection of where we are in our spirit. 

Then we prayed about what to focus on for these 30 days.

Today we put it all together and offer it up to Our Lord… we offer this “work” this time this sacrifice of praise and prayer that we are about to embark on….

for who?  for what?

Ask God… maybe there is someone you really need to pray for,

maybe there is someone you really need to forgive,

maybe there is a need in your church, your family, your community, your work,

maybe someone is sick?

I would like to offer my 30 days for all priests!  Especially those struggling in their vocation, those who feel hopeless, alone, those who are sick,

in a special way because of what they have gone through during the last years, and also because of any struggles they may find with adapting to new changes in the Mass –

The Mass changes are beautiful but as I heard from one priest… it’s like being married to a woman and then she changes…

any change can be difficult to get used to… even the ones that are good for us!

I would also like to offer myself this advent for all men struggling with morality…

for men struggling with addictions to alcohol, drugs, pornography, homosexuality,

especially for Jim Joseph, Christopher Warns, all the men from the King’s Men and all those who work in men’s ministry… and anyone you are praying for…

for holy men, for holy fathers!

The last thing to reflect and pray about today is who you would like to pray with you the Advent — ask God who He has appointed for you to spend time with…

Someone in the Community of Saints…

Since I am praying and meditating on humility I will be spending time with Saint Francis… and also trust… so Saint Faustina.

And of course the Queen of humility and faith and trust… Our Blessed Mother.

Who will you pray to and with this Advent to take this journey with you growing closer to Jesus?

Finally spend time putting it all together and come up with a 30 day spiritual plan.

We start tomorrow… choose at least three things to do spiritually daily for 30 days…

If you have the book Faith on Fire we are on page 119 – 122 — fill in the pages for when you will pray and what you will do.

I’ll post my plan later today along with the scripture study and sharing!

God bless you with a faith on fire!

Marie Joseph

Continue reading »]]> Advent is here and we are in our second day of preparing a beautiful 30 days in deeper communion with Jesus!

What does God have planned for you?  Well you know it is a lot more than Egg Nog and lots of chocolate!  Or the gifts you can’t wait to buy for others and to receive!

No good Catholic you and I both know that God has beautiful gifts and riches of grace that He would love to bestow on us if we would just spend some time in joyful hope… waiting for Him!

Jesus said over and over in the Gospel to wait, to be vigilant in preparation for Him and to WATCH!

Today is our second day of preparing and so we ask our Lord what He would like us to focus on.

Yesterday we reflected on were we felt we are spiritually right now.

Based on what I shared yesterday – especially about turning to things and people instead of Our Lord — for short term feel goods instead of waiting for grace…

So I feel led to pray for more faith, hope and love… I’ll expand on this tomorrow…

Also to pray for humility and trust!

Today is the day to pray about where God wants to fill your mind… with what riches…

If I am going to pray for more trust then of course I will spend some time meditating on Divine Mercy and St. Faustina’s Diary!  A total treasure!

Pray today and ask God what Scriptures He wants you to focus on… what spiritual readings…

Maybe you have not been as devoted to Our Blessed Mother this year? 

How about a daily Rosary… or a consecration to Our Lady –

I’m definitely going to spend much of Advent with Mary — queen of humility and faith!

Also take today to pray about the times you will pray… morning, noon evening?

For me morning is the best time… but I am also going to focus on creating an evening ritual of prayer that has been lacking for… basically always!

So pray pray pray today and be at peace and so much joy!

Knowing that whoever you are and however you have sinned this year… God wants you back and closer than ever to His Sacred Heart –

Actually He never left you!

Here is the reading that I meditated on in adoration today — I hope you are blessed and please share!

Divine Mercy Diary of St. Faustina # 133

St. Faustina says to Jesus:

“Jesus, it seems that You do not associate intimately with such wretched people as I”

Jesus says to St. Faustina

“Be at peace, My daughter, it is precisely through such misery that I want to show the power of My Mercy”

Continue reading »]]> Today is day one of the three days we spend in prayer before beginning the 30 Day Spiritual Cleanse!

This is a great day to reflect on the past year and how you are feeling in your spirit!

We are encouraged by the scriptures and from what we know of the Saints to spend some time reflecting on where we are…

“Like an open city with no defenses is the man with no check on his feelings.” Proverbs 25:28

As I reflect on this year for myself I know that the year started and so many huge blessings from the Lord were present…

But they did not come without huge temptations…

As the year unfolded I can see how the stress and anxiety grew…

with my father ill and all the demands on family and work… I can see how I turned to sensible pleasures and where I did not turn to Jesus.

I can see how fear crept in and I didn’t even realize it!

WOW – after praying and reflecting it is so clear… too much of so many things that slowly turned my spirit away from the fullness and peace that in in Christ and blocked me from receiving the grace to fight -

- and yet so deceiving…

because I really didn’t see it… it is the cumulative effect!

Relationships, food, drink, leisure time, finding pleasure – short term to get a  break from the sufferings that have long term grace associated with them…

You may have a totally different experience this year and I encourage you to pray, reflect, write it down if you need to!

For me, I know that I want to empty myself of me — ask the Lord for humility and more trust in Him.

The scripture verse I received during Holy Communion today is Matthew 5 -

“Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs”

Come Lord Jesus come — may we be prepared to meet you this Christmas and may

YOUR KINGDOM COME!

Please comment here with any of your experiences or thoughts!

God bless you!

Continue reading »]]> Hi Everyone!

It’s been a while… it’s been an interesting year!  So much has happened in my life this year…and I’m sure yours too!

I don’t know about you but I know that I really need this Advent to be a spiritual time of preparation and not a time to get even further sucked into what the world is doing during this holy time!

This year like many of you, I lost a parent, my father… it was really challenging to stay focused on Christ but God’s grace was and continues to be sufficient.

I’m sure so many of you have lost a loved one, experienced illness, the loss of a job, divorce, and so many more pains and sufferings that I wouldn’t even begin to list…

My job/ministry as the director of a crisis pregnancy grew and we are in the process of opening a new center in the city of Philadelphia…

This has brought on more challenges — spiritual struggles– temptations than I’ve ever experienced before…

This is why no matter how busy I think I am… Jesus and spending time with Him has to be number one… and of course it is… but I get so busy sometimes…

Do you know what I mean?

SO BUSY!!! — it is even so crazy to read this as I write it!

How can I be SO BUSY? Doing God’s will?  That’s not Him!

Something has got to give!  Some things have got to go!

Well this is the time of year that we get to stop!  Slow down!  Really spend time in prayer to be reminded of what is most important in life!

To be silent… to turn away from all that is pulling us away from God…

To turn from our lusts and longings — from our pleasures…

To become poor!

WOW this can seem like swimming upstream when people were out at midnight charging into stores to buy gifts for Christmas — which is not even here yet!

Without a plan to fight against the temptation to think it is already Christmas…

it is impossible for us… but with God all things are possible!

It didn’t even feel like Thanksgiving because the stores already had the Christmas decorations up!

OK well enough of what the world is doing…

here is what I’m going to do, and you can join me…

Starting on December 1st… join me for a 30 Day Spiritual Cleanse!

If you have the book Faith on Fire, dust it off and follow me through making a 30 day spiritual plan that will keep you focused on Jesus this Advent.

Go to the home page of this website… and register to receive emails during Advent that will keep you motivated to continually ask for the grace to follow your prayer plan.

If you’ve noticed we have reconstructed the website for a few reasons… and now  you don’t need to log in… you can post your thoughts right here!  It’s easy.

On Monday I’ll start with three days of prayer to find out how God might want you to pray this Advent.

If you don’t have the book Faith on Fire you can order it on this website… www.firedupcatholics.com and by the way it makes a great Advent gift for those you love!

Either way — follow with us for the next 30 days… and let Our Lord make this Christmas a spiritual experience for you — one that keeps you hungry for more of Him… not full of you and material goods.

We will also have a bible blog and I pray that everyone joins here for it… I’m still praying about it and will post here what the readings will be!

God bless you with a faith on fire this Holy Advent Season!

Marie Joseph

Continue reading »]]> Jesus said these words… and St. Catherine of Siena takes them and exhorts the faithful with these words…

“When we are whom we are called to be, we will set the world ablaze.”

An awesome priest on retreat recently preached every chapter of James!  The theme of the retreat was… Luke 18:8  ”…When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

The direction to the faithful is to LIVE OUR FAITH!

Join us for the first 30 days of Lent in the Bible Blog praying the Letter of James!

Starts Ash Wednesday!

This will be the perfect WORD to meditate on and study as we go out into the desert this LENT!  Please join us in the bible blog every day and share what you are receiving so that we may grow in faith by the grace of God during this time.

Schedule for Letter of James:

Day 1    1: 1-4

Day 2    1:5-8

Day 3    1:9-11

Day 4    1:12-15

Day 5    1:16-18

Day 6    1:19-21

Day 7    1:22-25

Day 8     1:26-27

Day 9     2:1-4

Day 10   2:5-9

Day 11    2:10-13

Day 12   2:14-17

Day 13   2:18-19

Day 14   2:20-26

Day 15  3:1-5

Day 16  3:6-12

Day 17  3:13-15

Day 18   3:16-18

Day 19   4:1-4

Day 20   4:5-6

Day 21    4:7-10

Day 22    4:11-12

Day 23    4:13-16

Day 24    5:1-6

Day 25    5:7-8

Day 26    5:9-11

Day 27    5:12

Day 28    5:13-15

Day 29    5:16-18

Day 30   5:19-20

Continue reading »]]> Marie goes “Deep In Scripture” with Marcus Grodi on the Coming Home Network for a Fired Up study of the Word of God!  Watch here now as they break open Luke 12:49, “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already blazing”… and many more transformational verses from Sacred Scripture!

Also watch January 24 EWTN “The Journey Home” Show as Marcus interviews Marie and she shares her testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Mercy and Grace in her life!  You don’t want to miss it! Stay tuned! http://www.ewtn.com/tv/live/journeyhome.asp

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEETcDpD23c