Crockpot Love

I don't know about you but life at my house can get crazy quick! I often find myself getting lost in the day and before I know it it is dinner time AGAIN and I am buried in things to do. So whenever I can find a crockpot idea I pounce on it and hope it will solve the dinner stress! I haven't tried this one yet but it sounded promising and so I thought I'd pass it along in hopes that it will also solve your dinner woes!

Simple Crock Pot Roast Dinner

Kent said this was the best roast he’s ever eaten.  Your house will smell amazing in a few hours after the flavors get going in the crock pot.  I use an arm beef roast from our local farm, but you could use another type of roast, too.  I’ve also used one arm roast and one pork loin — my Mom used to make beef and pork roasts together and they were always so moist and flavorful.  I’ve started this as late as 10:30 in the morning for a 5:30 supper, but the longer it cooks, the better.

Throw the following into a crock pot:

I use one like this (it’s big and lead-free)…

• Two 3-4# beef roasts OR one beef roast and one pork roast (or one or two pork loins) – really anything works, so just use what you have.  (If you’re starting with meat that is already thawed, you could first brown it on all sides in a frying plan with bacon grease or ghee for more flavor, but I rarely think ahead enough and just end up throwing them in frozen.)
• 2 Guinness or other dark beer (If you only have one beer, add a little water with it.  Also, if you don’t have a dark beer, any beer will do, but it won’t have quite as much flavor.)
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 6 T. palm or coconut sugar
• 6 T. paprika
• Optional:  Add a bayleaf or two
• Sprinkle some parsley all over the top

Two hours before you want to eat, toss in the following:

• Peel and chop carrots, potatoes, celery, turnips, etc.  Anything your family will eat and as much as you can get down into the liquid in the crock pot where it will cook and get soft.  I use organic as much as possible.
• Add pepper and sea salt to your taste.
• Note:  If you’ll be getting home just shortly before you want to eat, you can steam your veggies first to get them soft (it’s faster than in a crock pot) and then add them to the juices in the crock pot to get them flavorful, or just serve them with gravy.
• When you’re ready to eat, you can either eat it as it is, or if you want gravy (and who wouldn’t?), remove the meat (cover with foil to keep it hot) and pour the juices into a frying pan on the stove.  Bring to a slow boil.  Stir together about 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup arrowroot, sprouted flour, or organic cornstarch (you want a pasty substance that’s not too thick or not too thin – you may need to play with it a bit) and mix well.  Whisk into the meat juices, it will thicken quickly.  Season with sea salt and pepper to your taste and serve over the meat and veggies.  YUM.

Let me know what you think!  Is this how you make your roast dinners?  If not, let us know what you do differently so we have variations to try, thanks!

-Courtesy of www.catholicmom.com

6 Strategies for Organizing Clutter

6 Strategies for Organizing Clutter  

6 Strategies for Organizing Clutter - Parenting.com
Tame your clutter with these quick organizing tips and solution
by Sara Ellington and Stephanie Triplett

When you're a mom, you're waging a constant war against clutter -- it's one of the great mental challenges of motherhood. We become very close friends with the guy who mans the Goodwill truck.

With all the bags and boxes we give him, you'd think there'd be nothing left in our homes. But the stuff multiplies faster than we can get rid of it!

And the more stuff you have, the less time you have -- because then there's more to clean, and more to put away or look for when it's lost. So it makes sense to streamline wherever you can.

Some moms thrive on order; for others, closets are used primarily for cramming things into just before people come over. No matter which type you are, we've gathered some great, realistic tips for getting your life more organized. Consider it our Mother's Day gift to you!

Strategy: show kids how to help

·  Give your children specific instructions: Just saying "Clean your room" is too vague for most of them, and it's also overwhelming. "Pick up all the blocks and put them in the block box" is a more useful thing to say. Break big jobs down into smaller ones.

·  Make sure there's enough storage space: If you're helping your child clean his room and get stuck trying to find a place for everything, you need to get rid of some stuff or get more storage, or both.  

·  Maximize closet space by hanging shoe racks on the doors (which you can use for more than just shoes!). Add hooks for hats, belts, necklaces, tote bags, robes, and so on.

·  If hangers and drawers are out of reach, keep a library stool in the room so kids can reach clothes, to make it easier for them to clean up or get dressed.

Strategy: get crafty with artwork

When your kids are in preschool and elementary school, it's important to find a place (other than the refrigerator) to display their prized scribbles and projects. Some ideas:

·  Mount clips on a wall near the kitchen, low enough for the kids to reach, where they can hang up the creations for everyone to see.

·  Put a magnetic board in their room, the playroom, or the kitchen so they can switch out the displays.

·  Hang a long ribbon or string along the wall with clothespins for attaching artwork -- this is an easy and inexpensive way to show off their masterpieces.

·  A more expensive solution: Buy frames with an opening on the back that makes it easy to slide artwork in and out for exhibiting various pieces.

No matter which method works for you, be sure to rotate artwork so your display area doesn't get overloaded.

Strategy: purge toys regularly

Kids rarely want to part with their toys. (And sometimes parents don't, either!) Which means you'll have to dig deep for your most creative mom skills to help them realize it's time to get rid of something.
For very young children, sometimes it's easiest to simply put an item away for a while, then get rid of it after they've forgotten about it. This also helps sentimental parents because it's a two-step process; somehow it's easier to get rid of an item that's gathered dust in the basement for several months than something taken straight out of your child's toy box. As kids get older, it's best to be up front and honest about clearing out the clutter.

·  Go through the easy stuff with them first: broken toys, puzzles with missing pieces, Happy Meal -- type toys that have no sentimental value. Throw all this stuff out!

·  With some kids, it works to tell them they've outgrown something: "This toy is for really little kids. You're way too big for this now!"

·  If it's sentimental, give it to a younger cousin or close friend. That way, neither of you will feel like you're discarding something important, but instead you're sharing it with someone special.

·  Give the kids a bag to fill with toys and games for less-fortunate kids.

·  And when you need to, just chuck the stuff after they're asleep. (But make sure you use a black garbage bag -- if you use a translucent white one, they're sure to spot the "treasures" and want them back!)

Strategy: rein in your photos

It nearly kills us to get rid of any pictures of our precious kids, even those shots that are so blurry we can barely make out their features. Some steps that will help you tame the beast:

·  Purge before you print. We take lots of duplicate shots with our digital cameras and tell ourselves, "I can always delete ones that aren't good." Just make sure you actually do delete them -- and, ideally, before you upload them to your computer. There's no need to have eight different shots of your daughter's Brownie troop lined up together.

·  Sort through boxes and eliminate bad photos.

·  Pass on duplicates to grandparents, aunts, and uncles. And to your kids -- they love having pictures of themselves.

·  If a shot really doesn't have much meaning to you, toss it.

Strategy: let go of things

·  Use the revolving-door technique: For instance, for each new book that you buy, get rid of one you've already read or know you won't. Give it to a friend, donate it to a charity, or sell it to a secondhand shop.

·  Don't keep it if you can find it elsewhere: If a recipe, insurance form, article, etc., is easily accessed online, don't keep it lying around -- toss!

·  Tackle your kitchen: Throw away old spices that are past their prime, and every now and then, go through your pantry and toss out items that are out of date. Also go through the drawers and keep just those kitchen tools that you use frequently (store other things, like the holiday cookie cutters, in a box on a shelf).

·  Only keep business cards of people or businesses you can't easily find online. For those you're hanging on to: Buy a business-card binder, which will hold hundreds without taking up too much desk space (you can find them in different sizes at places like Office Depot, OffceMax, and Target). Then when you're looking for that guy who cleans gutters, you can quickly find his card. 

·  Take back your garage: Clean out toys and ride-ons your kids have outgrown and donate them to a nearby preschool or give them to Goodwill. Then get equipment off the floor so you might actually be able to park your car in there! Put up shelves with large hooks and bins for hanging gardening tools and storing sports equipment.

·  Don't feel guilty about getting rid of gifts that you never used or didn't like. Give them to someone who needs them.

Strategy: make a place for yourself

Do you have a closet or nook somewhere in your house that's underutilized? Or one that could be decluttered to free up some space? Here's what one of us, Sara -- an avid scrapbooker -- did when she was tired of spreading everything out on the dining room table, working for an hour (if she was lucky!), then packing it up again: She turned a double-door closet in her basement into a scrapbooking nook.

·  Her husband and father-in-law installed a countertop, wire drawers, and shelves. The work space is at counter height to keep little hands off her stuff.

·  Sara added a wire wastebasket for storing gift wrap, a small rod attached to a shelf for ribbon, and hooks for gift bags, cutting templates, scissors, etc.

·  She bought an inexpensive stool that stores under the counter when she's not using it.
Says Sara, "This is one of the best ideas I've ever had for my house because I don't have to put anything away when I'm in the middle of a project and can't finish -- I simply close the doors! Even if you don't scrapbook, you can use this idea for a home office, sewing nook, or anything you'd rather not have to put away midstream. It's a great way to carve out some space for yourself

Our bottom line:

If you have to choose between alphabetizing your toy room and going outside to blow bubbles in the backyard with your kids, of course, choose the backyard. We share these organizing tips with you to help you have more time with your family. If they're useful, great. But if all this just seems overwhelming, then do what you can and don't fret the rest.

All moms know what a challenge it is to keep a house neat and organized with kids running around. Most of your fellow moms understand, and if they don't, then remove them from your holiday-card list immediately because they're not true friends! After your kids go to college, you'll have more than enough time to devote to a spotless home. While they're here with you, spend every minute with them that you possibly can stand. Your kids aren't going to remember how clean your house was, but they will remember that you played games with them.

Teaching Your Child Charity

Hello ladies I found the article below and thought it might interest you! Enjoy!

 

Teaching Your Child Charity       

Helping kids share their good fortune with others may be the most important money lesson of all

By Diane Harris

 

             All kids are born with an innate sense of charity and compassion. Sure, it's easy to lose sight of that fact as we listen to our little ones clamor for the hottest toys, tastiest treats, and trendiest clothes. But if we look closely, the signs are everywhere. Watch your 2-year-old stop to offer a wailing baby a comforting toy. Catch your 5-year-old consoling a pal who has just been walloped by a playground bully.

"Children naturally look for ways to make a contribution and help others," says Deborah Spaide, founder of Kids Care Clubs, a national organization based in New Canaan, CT, that provides information on community-service projects for youngsters. "But just as we give our children opportunities to use their legs when they're learning to walk, we need to give them opportunities to exercise their charitable muscles so they become really good at giving too."

The benefits of actively fostering children's charitable impulses are enormous. Besides helping counter the overdeveloped "gimme" impulse, it gives kids a powerful boost in self-esteem to realize they can make a difference in someone's life. "And as corny as it sounds," says Patricia Schiff Estess, a New York City writer and the author of Kids, Money & Values, "when you help a child help others, you are helping to create a better world." Here are the best ways to go about it.

BE HANDS-ON

Most people tend to associate charity with giving money. We write a check to our favorite cause, drop a few dollars in the basket at church, participate in school fund-raisers, and feel good about our efforts. But preadolescent children may have trouble understanding such an abstract concept as donating money to a worthy cause. "It's hard for kids to grasp that the money is going to, say, buy bread, which in turn will help feed ten homeless people," says Spaide. "Many children can't take the process that many steps forward in their minds."

Spaide encourages parents to let their children experience charitable giving firsthand. Even a preschooler can help a parent bag lunches for a soup kitchen, distribute socks to the people in a homeless shelter, or clean an elderly neighbor's yard. And as children grow, so do their opportunities for making a difference.

In choosing a project, try following your child's lead and interests. The more you let her direct the process, the greater the involvement she'll feel and the more she'll learn from the experience. Suppose your 6-year-old has expressed concern that poor children don't get enough toys. You might ask her if she can think of ways to collect and distribute toys to needy kids. Perhaps she'd like to do extra chores around the house to earn some money to buy the toys herself. Or she might suggest posting a sign in school to solicit toy donations from her classmates.

Of course, if your child is stuck for inspiration, there's nothing wrong with gently leading her to a worthy path. One book that's full of ideas for suitable projects: Spaide's Teaching Your Kids to Care. Also consider helping your child band together with friends to do good works by helping her launch a Kids Care Club.

PUT THEIR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS

An allowance can be as handy a tool for fostering charity as it is for teaching other aspects of money management. Peggy Houser, a Denver financial planner and author of How to Teach Children About Money, advocates starting an allowance system as soon as your child starts school (or even earlier if you think he can handle it) and dividing the weekly dole into three parts, each clearly earmarked for a specific purpose: spending, saving, and sharing. Explain that the sharing portion is to be used for gifts to charity, and couple your explanation with a simple statement of your philosophy on the subject, such as "Our family believes it's important to share our good luck with people who are less fortunate."

The exact percentage of the allowance you apportion to charity doesn't matter; what is important is simply to incorporate giving into the child's budget. "The goal is to make giving money to those in need a routine," says Houser.

What you encourage your child to do with the money is key too. Instead of simply giving cash to a worthy organization once he has accumulated a reasonable amount, suggest that he use the money to buy a toy for a poor child or socks for a homeless person or some other item needed by someone in serious straits. Then take him to deliver it.

SEIZE THE MOMENT

You don't need to set aside a special time to talk about the importance and joy of giving. Opportunities pop up all the time. Passing a homeless person on the street, for example, might be a good occasion to talk about the fact that some families don't have enough money to pay for a place to live. Visiting an elderly or ailing relative might be the right moment to discuss how important it is to reach out to people in need. Says Spaide, "The idea isn't just to sensitize your child to some of the pain and suffering in the world, but to give her the great gift of thinking that she has the power to help make it better."

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH

As with everything else in life, kids learn best by example. You don't have to regale your child with tales of your charitable works or keep him glued to your side while you serve meals in a soup kitchen to prove that you care too. But neither should you hide everyday acts of kindness. If you're taking a meal to a friend who has just gotten out of the hospital, say so. If you help raise funds for worthy causes through your church, temple, or local community group, talk about it. If you give money to an organization you believe in, explain why doing so is important to you.

By talking about to whom and how you give, you not only show your kids the importance of giving itself, but you're sharing your values about the issues that matter most to your family  -- whether you're passionate about supporting the arts, cleaning up the environment, assisting the elderly, or helping to alleviate poverty and homelessness. Although some parents may worry about exposing young children to painful experiences that might haunt them later, Houser thinks the joy inherent in giving far outweighs any sadness they may encounter. She notes, "Kids can handle so much more than we give them credit for."

So can moms and dads. Busy parents who have found it hard to devote time to worthy causes outside their own homes may well discover that teaching their children to give back to the community is an ideal way to get back in touch with their own charitable impulses. "We call it trickle-up charity," says Spaide. "The effort starts with the kids, but the parents often get the biggest payoff of all."

 

http://www.parenting.com/article/teaching-your-child-charity?page=0,1

**So here is my question to you... How do you promote charity in your home?**

April Newsletter

Mothers
and Others

April 4/8/2013

From the Coordinator

Good Morning Ladies,

Spring is upon us and it has never looked better.  We are installing our new board.  Coordinator Linda Donivan, Co-Coordinator Maureen Dickinson, Fundraising Coordinator Cynthia Lobb, Membership Coordinator Amy Ortiz, Treasurer Kelly Downey, Secretary TBD, Church Liaison Edith Archundia, Child Care Coordinator Myriam Thamer, and Hospitality Coordinator Georgina Mitchell. Thank you ladies for stepping up for the new 2013/2014 calendar year. 

This month’s topic is” Embracing Our Strengths”. Our guest speaker John Gabriele is the instructor and owner of West Coast Krav Maga.

Next month May is our Tea & Testimony with speaker and Mother & Others member Debbie Bertran. I hope you all will join us and bring a friend.  May is also our last meeting for the M&O calendar year and we will be finishing off the year with our Annual Fundraiser.  Tickets are still for sale!

I hope God has blessed you all.  Remember Mothers & Others is a group of women sharing their gifts with each other and I hope you will keep on doing so.

Sincerely & God Bless,

Davene Franklin.

Clubs

Bible Study:  We are continuing with our study of "Beginning Apologetics". Please join us. Each week is a different subject and we welcome you to listen in. Social time 10:15-10:30. The study starts at 10:30. As always, childcare is provided.

Book Club:   Book Club will meet tonight April 9th, at 7pm, at the Murrieta Hot Springs Road Starbucks, to discuss The Casual Vacancy by JK Rolling. And, our last meeting of the year will be on May 7th, same time and place, to share thoughts about The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Too busy? Why not enjoy a leisurely read over the summer?  I suggest Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and join in our club discussion September 9th. 

Play Group:
April 10:  9:30 am.  Winchester Creek Park (the park by Winco) 39950 Margarita Road.
April 17:  9:30 am Los Alamos Sports Park Tot Lot.
April 24:  9:30 am Meadows Park.

Recipe Club:  Tuesday, April 16^th at 11 am at Georgina's house.  The theme is "5 ingredients or less."  That does not include salt, pepper, oil (the basics).  So make a quick and easy 5 ingredient or less dish, make copies of your recipe and join us.  Can be side dish, salad, or desert.  Please, RSVP to j.mitchell123@verizon.net.    

Scrappers Club: Every Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Cynthia’s house. Please, make sure you  call Cynthia ahead of time to let her know that you are coming.

Tennis Club: Every Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Cynthia’s house.  For more info call Cynthia.

Wine Club:  April 19^th at 7:00 p.m. at Maryellen and Dan Farrar at 26868 Desert Locus Street, Murrieta. The theme for this month is Chardonnay. If you don’t drink white, you can bring something else. For more info you can call Maryellen or Maureen . RSVP by April 18^th

Remember, last day for discounted tickets for the gala is April 12^th





 

Annunciation of the Lord

Somehow, this young girl Mary, looks at the incomprehensible future offered to her, makes herself larger than her fear, and says: I'll take it. Good Words: Inspiration for Catholic Women

Divine Mercy Sunday

“Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the prayer, 'Jesus, I trust in you.'” --St. Faustina Kowalska

Why Catholics Celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday

Why Catholics Celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday

By Rev. Alfred McBride, O.Praem.

On the Second Sunday of Easter of the Jubilee Year 2000, at the Mass for the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska, Pope John Paul II proclaimed to the world that “from now on throughout the Church this Sunday will be called Divine Mercy Sunday.”

Pope John Paul had actively promoted the message of St. Faustina. In his 1980 encyclical on God’s mercy, Rich in Mercy, he developed a scriptural and doctrinal basis for our faith in the mercy of God. By linking the revealed truth about God’s mercy to one of the most solemn Sundays after Easter itself, he illumined the fact that the liturgy already proclaimed the divine mercy. The truth has been embedded for two millennia in the worship of the Church. Once again we see an illustration of the ancient saying, “The law of faith is the law of prayer.”

On the Second Sunday of Easter, the responsorial psalm and Gospel for Cycles A, B and C center on the theme of mercy. In Psalm 118 we sing three times, “His mercy endures forever.” The Gospel, from John 20:19-31, begins with the risen Christ appearing to the apostles on Easter night. Jesus calms his disciples by saying and giving them “Peace.” He shows them the scars of his Passion, his wounded hands and side. His glorified body retains the evidence of his saving work through his suffering, death and resurrection.

He fills them with joy and again says to them—and produces in them—“Peace.” Then he breathes on them and explains what the divine breathing means with the words, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” He gives the apostles the power of God’s mercy for the sinner, the gift of forgiving sins from God’s treasury of mercy. The other texts speak of healing and give the assurance there is nothing to fear.

From Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday to the Eighth Day of Easter, the divine love song of mercy is chanted amid abundant alleluias. For centuries in liturgy the Church has proclaimed the mercy of God through the Word of God and the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. The tables of Word and Sacrament are heaped with the promises of Divine Mercy and its grand effect in the lives of millions. The liturgy is the storehouse of the wisdom of God and a treasure chest for all the worshipers.

‘I spoke as a brother’

A TIME magazine issue in 1984 presented a startling cover. It pictured a prison cell where two men sat on metal folding chairs. The young man wore a black turtleneck sweater, blue jeans and white running shoes. The older man was dressed in a white robe and had a white skullcap on his head. They sat facing one another, up close and personal. They spoke quietly so as to keep others from hearing the conversation. The young man was Mehmet Ali Agca, the pope’s attempted assassin; the other man was Pope John Paul II, the intended victim. The pope held the hand that had held the gun whose bullet tore into the pope’s body.

In the cell, unseen in the picture, were the pope’s secretary and two security agents, along with a still photographer and videographer. John Paul wanted this scene to be shown around a world filled with nuclear arsenals and unforgiving hatreds. The Church has always used paintings, sculpture and architecture to communicate spiritual meanings. This was a living icon of mercy.

The Church was celebrating the 1,950th anniversary of Christ’s death and Christian redemption. The pope had been preaching forgiveness and reconciliation constantly. His deed with Ali Agca spoke a thousand words. John Paul’s forgiveness was deeply Christian. He embraced his enemy and pardoned him. At the end of their 20-minute meeting, Ali Agca raised the pope’s hand to his forehead as a sign of respect. John Paul shook Ali Agca’s hand tenderly.

When the pope left the cell he said, “What we talked about must remain a secret between us. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust.” This is an example of God’s divine mercy, the same divine mercy whose message St. Faustina witnessed.

Ways to observe Divine Mercy Sunday

With a relatively new liturgical celebration like Divine Mercy Sunday, the Church will look among its members for ways to celebrate. When he was archbishop of St. Louis, in 1998, Cardinal Justin Rigali wrote a pastoral letter to his priests in which he urged them to preach on the mystery of the riches of God’s mercy on Divine Mercy Sunday:

I ask that each of our Archdiocesan parishes observe the Second Sunday of Easter as a celebration of Divine Mercy. . . . I ask that the principal focus of our observance be the Eucharistic Liturgy itself, with special attention given in the homily to preaching on Divine Mercy. The link between Divine Mercy and the Easter celebration, especially on the Second Sunday of Easter, exists on many levels . . . .The Scripture readings lend themselves to linking Easter and Divine Mercy since the texts highlight the forgiveness of sins.

The disposition of trust in God’s mercy is essential for receiving the graces God wants us to have. The time of preparation for the Divine Mercy Sunday is meant to strengthen our people’s trust in God’s mercy. Artwork or holy cards related to Divine Mercy can play an important role. There is one image of St. Faustina that speaks to many hearts in a way that is deeper than words. Like a good icon, it confronts the praying and worshiping person with the merciful love of Christ, and its inscription, “Jesus, I trust in you,” encourages the believer to respond to this invitation with greater confidence.

One way the Church celebrates God’s mercy throughout the year is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Cardinal Rigali notes, “This beautiful Sacrament was presented to the Church by Christ himself on the day of his Resurrection, hence this Sacrament of Mercy is supremely relevant also in this Easter season.” The cardinal also suggests that finding times for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is another good way to observe Divine Mercy.

St. Faustina Kowalska: Apostle of Divine Mercy

The story of St. Faustina Kowalska reveals the inspiration behind the Divine Mercy devotion. Helena Kowalska was born in Poland on August 25, 1905. She was the third child of a devout Catholic family. As a small child she reported seeing bright lights during her night prayers. At age 16 she went to work as a servant in a neighboring city. She soon resigned after a fainting spell, even though a doctor said she was healthy.

Helena told her parents that she wanted to enter religious life but failed to obtain her father’s permission because he felt she was too young. She took another post as a servant and made friends with a circle of young women. At a dance, she experienced a vision of Christ suffering that touched her conscience and revived her desire to be a nun. She soon left her job and sought entrance in a religious congregation.

In 1925, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, taking the name Faustina. She served as a cook, gardener and doorkeeper in Krakow and several other community convents. The sisters liked her but did not appreciate or understand her deep interior life, which included visions and prophecies. On February 22, 1931, Sister Faustina experienced a new and life-changing vision of Christ. She saw him wearing a white robe and raising his right hand in blessing with his left hand resting on his heart from which flowed two rays of light. Jesus told her, “Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the prayer, Jesus, I trust in you.”

Faustina could not paint, and struggled to convince her incredulous sisters about the truth of her vision. Ultimately she persuaded her spiritual director, Father Michael Sopocko, that the vision was real. He found an artist to create the painting that was named The Divine Mercy and shown to the world for the first time on April 28, 1935.

Father Sopocko advised Sister Faustina to record her visions in a diary. At one point she wrote that “Jesus said I was his secretary and an apostle of his divine mercy.” She devoted the rest of her life to spreading the message of divine mercy and the growth of popular devotion to it. Her mystical writings have been translated into many languages. She died of tuberculosis at age 33. Pope John Paul II canonized her on April 30, 2000.

The revelations experienced by St. Faustina were of a private nature, which are not essential to anyone’s acceptance of the Catholic faith. These types of visions and revelations are described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Throughout the ages, there have been so-called ‘private’ revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history” (#67).

In another section, the Catechism describes popular piety, which helps us to put St. Faustina’s revelations into a broader context: “The religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church’s sacramental life, such as veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals, etc. These expressions of piety extend the liturgical life of the Church, but do not replace it....Pastoral discernment is needed to sustain and support popular piety” (#1674-76).

So we see that devotion to divine mercy in no way replaces any of our rich liturgical traditions. The Divine Mercy devotion fosters the virtue of trust in God’s mercy that finds its fulfillment in the liturgy of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist. Popular piety animates the faith attitudes that make participation in the sacraments more vital and fruitful.

Mercy in the midst of tragedy

The news is filled with illustrations of mercy—or the need for mercy—in our world. One of the most moving stories came to us on October 6, 2006, when an armed man entered an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. He chased out the little boys and lined up the 10 little girls in front of the blackboard. He shot all of them and then killed himself. Five of the girls died. After the medics and police left, the families of the fallen came and carried their slain children home. They removed their bloody clothes and washed the bodies. In each home they emptied a room of furniture except for a table and chairs. They sat for a time and mourned their beloved children.

After a while they walked to the home of the man who killed their children. They told his widow they forgave her husband for what he had done, and they consoled her for the loss of her spouse. They buried their anger before they buried their children.

On the wall of the local firehouse is a watercolor of the schoolyard painted by a local artist, Elsie Beiler. Its title is “Happier Days,” and it depicts the Amish children playing without a care before the shooting. Five birds, which some say represent the dead girls, circle the blue sky above.

Amish Christians teach us that forgiveness is central. They believe in a real sense that God’s forgiveness depends on their extending forgiveness to other people. That’s what the mercy of God is all about. That mercy is why we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday.

Rev. Alfred McBride, O.Praem., is a priest of the Norbertine Order and a widely known catechist via books, articles and TV programs. He holds a diploma in catechetics from Lumen Vitae, in Belgium, and a doctorate in religious education from the Catholic University of America.