Tea Time with Tiffany #63 - Divine Mercy in time of stress...

Good morning to you all! This week's edition definitely falls into the "stressed out" category, but the tea always helps, right?

Today I talk about STRESS, managing stress, and praying to manage stress. ;-) I also talk about my upcoming teaching load, and my schedule plans for the blog this summer. Join me!





**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice. Intro music is "Tea Ceremony" from PlayonLoop.com

Items mentioned in this episode:

• This week's stressy post ;-)
• Divine Mercy Chaplet
• Living with Christ 2017 Prayer Journal
• Sacred Reading 2017

How do you manage stress? Are you changing up your prayer routine this fall? What's coming up on your schedule this fall? Do write in!

Holy Week begins, and thus novenas are in the air!!

Ooooooh, look at that, it's Monday and I'm posting again!! Well, the fun times come to an end after this particular Monday, for sure. Until the semester wraps up, that is. Spring break is over, but my regular class is cancelled today in lieu of a "research day" (i.e. we didn't expect many of them to be alert and conscious on the first day back from break). I did have a one-time English Composition class to teach today, but that was done by 10 am, so my schedule is much more open today. This worked out well since the end of my week is going to be blog-less due to it being Holy Week.

But Holy Week.

*swoons*

I had a FANTASTIC start to things with Palm Sunday yesterday, and my plan is to talk about that during a special Holy Week edition of Tea Time with Tiffany that I will record on Wednesday. Tuesday? Ishk. If that's a word. Let's just be honest, it ISN'T. So, I'm coining this now, "ishk" means "don't even ask, it's THAT crappy." Very, very busy tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll have time to blog. But Wednesday we should be able to have tea together. So go ready your mugs!

In the meantime, I sorted out some novena plans over the weekend, and wanted to see if you all desired to join me! I am in need of a new rosary novena for some special intentions. To that end, I have created a brand new 54 Day Rosary Novena page, and the first day is TODAY! I have all of the deets on how the novena works (and why it is so long!) over on that page, so click on over, dear reader, and have a look! I love that the finish day when we start day is May 13th, feast of Our Lady of Fatima. I mean, is that perfect or what?! So start your rosaries today if you want to participate. If you start a day or so hence, just adjust your dates accordingly and we'll still be praying in tandem for the majority of the time, which is great too!

Also, this Friday marks day one of the annual Divine Mercy Novena, and I LOVE that one each year! Pray More Novenas is hosting this one, so you can sign up to get the prayers in your email inbox. Head on over to their site to join in!

Multiple novenas plus the other spiritual reading that I'm still finishing up for Lent? Indeed I may be setting myself up to miss something and not get a gold star on everything. But that's OK. I'll endeavor to do my best, and I'll be praying along with all of you. That is all that is important, and it keeps my focus on where it needs to be. I'll take it.

Joining in? Let me know! We can pray for each others' intentions. *heart*

On a hunt for mercy this Lent...

Good morning all! I have a long day today (on evening reference duty), but I felt happy and soothed this morning rather than a sense of dread. I'm attributing it to the discovery of a new book that I started reading yesterday, and also your role in my life. *heart*

What the heck am I talking about?! Well, I often think about what I'll blog about on a given day while I get ready for work in the morning. I'm usually listening to podcasts for part of this time as well, and sometimes I get ideas from those. See, the podcasters are my friends too, just like you all are. We have these conversations and inspire ideas in each other. ;-) I just love our global community.

At any rate, I was thinking in the back of my mind this morning as I straightened my hair and listened to "Adventures in Imperfect Living" with Greg and Jennifer: "what should I write about today?" And then it struck me: 33 Days to Merciful Love.

I've been on a hunt to find this book for several weeks now. I first learned about it through our fellow blog friend Laura, and the title instantly resonated with me. I bookmarked it in my little brain, but then didn't think about it again right away. Then I came across another mention of it in something that I was reading online, and the lightbulb in my head went off. Lightbulb, I know that so often I let you down and don't recognize your signals, but every once in a while I get it right.

I did an Amazon search, and found the book available for pre-order. I tweeted about it, and Laura and dear friend Samantha and I chatted back and forth about its' availability. The listed publication date had come and gone, yet Amazon still did not have it in stock. After reading the description on the back cover, I was more intrigued than ever:

33 Days to Merciful Love: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat in Preparation for Consecration to Divine Mercy

Live the Jubilee Year of Mercy to the full! Get your copy of 33 Days to Merciful Love, the stirring sequel to the international sensation, 33 Days to Morning Glory. Using the same 33-day preparation format, 33 Days to Merciful Love journeys with one of the most beloved saints of modern times, St. Therese of Lisieux, and concludes with a consecration to Divine Mercy. So whether you want to deepen your love of Divine Mercy or have a devotion to St. Therese, 33 Days to Merciful Love is the book for you.

 St. Therese? I'm there!! The three of us kept tabs on it via Amazon, but quickly Amazon changed the availability to "unavailable - out of print." There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Over the weekend, I ordered it via the Marian Helpers Catalog, and my copy is on it's way to me now. *beams* Samantha and I have been having lovely daily chats about the book now that the 33 day window to consecrate on the feast of Divine Mercy is underway. Obviously, you can read the book and do the at-home retreat whenever you'd like, but the Divine Mercy feast day tie-in is lovely, no? And even though our books aren't in our hot little hands just yet, the Marians of the Immaculate Conception website is making the first week of readings available for those of us in just such a situation. Day 1 was yesterday, but you can easily catch up by reading a few days together. Want to join us?! Ohhh, I see that it is also available as an ebook for instant gratification purposes! FYI, it is in epub form, so not compatible with Kindle. (UPDATE: Amazon now is offering a Kindle copy here!)

I'm very excited about this, and hope to have the book by the end of the week. If you're going to join in, leave a comment to let us know! Which brings me full circle from the beginning of this post: all of you. Over the past year or so, this community here at Life of a Catholic Librarian has grown a little bit. Not a lot, granted, we're still a small family here, ;-) but I get regular comments and messages now from readers that I absolutely treasure. And I feel like I've really gotten to know some of you! I've mentioned Laura and Samantha in this post, and I chat with them regularly on social media. There are a number of others of you out there that I've chatted with in the comments or over email, and I appreciate each and every one of you. You are all an inspiration to me, and I cherish your friendship. Thank you for bringing extra joy and meaning into my life.

*hug*

Thriving in fellowship and welcoming back insects, on Divine Mercy Sunday...

Morning all, and happy continuation of the Easter season. ;-) The Octave is over, but nevertheless, we are still celebrating Easter, and I love it. And I absolutely adore Divine Mercy Sunday. I always pray the novena leading up to it (at least, in recent years I have), and it harkens me back to 2005, when I was newly pregnant with Henry and Pope John Paul II passed away on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday. He always emphasized this feast, and that is one of the reasons that I am so drawn to it, because I love HIM so much.

And so Divine Mercy Sunday dawned bright and beautiful in Western New York. I think about 95% of our leftover snow has finally melted. People, this is *epic*. Never in my lifetime of living in the Northeast have I ever been more happy to see spring. As the kids and I headed out for Mass, I noticed something in our small backyard. Something fragile and beautiful that I feared I'd never see again: flowers. Real ones. Growing out of THE GROUND:

See them there amongst all the dead and shriveled things? I don't know exactly what they are, they may actually be weeds, but I CARE NOT. They are pretty and colorful, and we worship them. As I was over there snapping this photo, I even saw a bee hovering nearby. A REAL LIVE BUMBLE BEE!! Normally, I steer clear of such creatures, but I practically threw this one a party:

"Welcome to our yard, dear bee! I'm so glad to see you! Go tell your friends to come pollinate as well!"

And things were looking even livelier in the front yard:

Tulips baby! They're on their way. We'll have a party for them as well.

Then we left for Mass, and I am just in love with my parish community. Mass was as beautiful as ever, I loved the first reading from the book of Acts (4:32-35). It harkens back to my parish theme: a sense of community:

"The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power, the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, but those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need."

I just love that. Not a complete analogy, of course, but it is so soothing to me to think of all of us, our communities of faith both local and around the world, in this thing together. We're here for each other, supporting each other and doing our best to give witness to the Lord Jesus Christ.

After Mass, we sat and chatted with our friend Kendra for a bit. She has an art show coming up featuring her work, and we're planning to attend. While we discussed the details, Fr. Joe came over and sat with us. What chatted about his upcoming vacation and how he was going to a party later in the day to watch the Masters. I mean...I love this guy! He's the sort of congenial priest I could imagine inviting over for dinner with the family. He's very social and approachable, and I'm so grateful that we have him.

When we got back home, Henry went to a friend's house, so Mike and I took Anne out for a walk with her tricycle. Before she got on, Anne laid flat on the bare driveway:

"Mommy, look. The sun!"

We have been so, so deprived, my poor children. :0

How was your Divine Mercy Sunday, dear reader?

Divine Mercy Sunday

It was a very nice weekend, and I lived to tell about my latest Children's Liturgy of the Word experience. Come Sunday morning, things went thusly:

I was tired, because Anne slept like garbage, not a huge break from the norm there. But I was in good spirits. I even tried to pray a rosary before I left, which had the predictable result of me getting about two Hail Mary's in before being interrupted, but no matter. I was feeling cautiously optimistic and spiritually boosted.

I snuck out of the house when Anne was distracted playing with Mike so that she wouldn't cry when she spotted Henry and I going to Mass. Henry was all excited for his first week staying by himself back in the pew while I taught Children's Liturgy. He's been asking for a long time now, and recently he's really behaved at church in such a way that I could tell he could do it, and that he had earned it. He helped me set up, but then settled in with his Magnifikid. I was armed with the readings, a Divine Mercy booklet to show the kids, and some extra free rosary beads from the church entrance.

I got a large crowd, including my two regular troublemakers. However, they were totally fine, all of them. I told them right away that we were going to do something different today, which seemed to pique everyone's interest. We said the opening prayer, and dove into the readings.

I tied everything back to a theme of God's mercy *gold star* and then pulled out my Divine Mercy booklet. As soon as I showed them the cover image they were intrigued. When I started reading the story of St. Faustina's life, I got a litany of questions:

"What's a vision?"

"How did she die?"

"What did Jesus say to her?"

I was just getting to the chaplet when I heard the congregation starting to recite the Nicene Creed. I could hardly believe it, but our time was almost up and I still had a ton of good material. Not only that, but I didn't have anybody acting up or not paying attention. Everybody was very interested and well-behaved.

I summed up the chaplet as best as I could, saying that we wouldn't have time today, but maybe in May we could say a decade of the rosary and a decade of the chaplet (very ambitious, but I usually do that to myself).

I had a couple of the free rosaries on hand and asked them all if they had a rosary at home. About half raised their hand. I told them that there were a ton of free blessed rosaries near the exits to the church and they could take one if they wanted their own, and we would be talking about the rosary again in May. This also drew a lot of interest. As we were processing out, I was asked multiple times "where the free necklaces were."

I thought that was interesting. Obviously, it was the first impression of more than one child that a rosary looks like a necklace. I definitely want to spend some time with them next month talking about using a rosary as an aid in prayer.

When I got back out to the pew, I found Henry, halo perched firmly on his head, absorbed in his missal. He did really well. We've come a long way from "the Incident."

As Henry and I were leaving, I spied a few kids picking out rosaries. It made me smile. :) All in all, it was a successful Divine Mercy Sunday.

Interrupting my brief blogging hiatus for a Catholic public service announcement...

Today is Good Friday (I know that you knew that :)) but also the first day to begin the Divine Mercy Novena for anybody that is interested. My friend Irena and I are praying it this year, and it extends from today until Easter Saturday. A description, plus the prayers, may be found here:

http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/novena.htm

You also offer the Chaplet of Divine Mercy each day for the intentions of the novena. It's a lovely novena, I just finished the first day. I prayed my chaplet in the car, since I drove a bit farther than usual to get gas cheaper since the prices nearly knocked me off my seat this morning. Sigh.

I hope that you all have a very blessed Good Friday.