Kate Spade Sunglasses

As an asian, my facial features makes it challenging for me to find the perfect sunglasses. I have puffy cheeks with a nose that flat, wide, and bulbous. I love my looks and so does my husband. He thinks I'm the most beautiful creature ever created. 😍 So sweet! Unfortunately,  I am very sensitive to bright light like the rays of the sun. It results to migraine headaches. So, sunglasses would be great. Most sunglasses leaves a mark on my cheeks after wearing even just a few minutes. So not glamorous. Lucky, I found Kate Spade cat's eye sunglasses. It sits on my nose not on my cheeks. There you go! Lines on the cheeks gone. Problem solved. 

PokemonGo

Have you ever caught the PokemonGo fever? My husband and I did. Every time we have to go out for errand checking out Pokemons in the vicinity has become part of the errand. Funny we see a lot of people walking around on their phones looking for Pokemons. The good side of it is it is fun & it makes you walk. Here is my husband trying catch one in the parking lot. Normally, after mission is accomplished we get in the car & go but not this time. We walked around the parking lot & even around the building just to find Pokemons. The only downside the app freezes a lot. So, it could frustrating especially if you're trying to up a level. Overall, a fun activity you just to be careful not to hurt yourself for walking around with your eyes on your phone. 

Me in the Eyes of Rohan

Rohan's illustration of me speaks so much of how he sees me. One school day he proudly handed me this picture he drew with a mischievous grin. I was curious with the expression of my face in the drawing. He adorably explained that this is usually the face he remembers of me when he is being naughty in class. I laughed so hard, as he continue to take note of the details. Starting with my yellow hair which shows the lhighlights. My eyes were blue because I wear gray contact lens which appears blue. Finally, the red lipstick which he said was his favorite. Rohan surely made my day. 

Road To Healthy Habits 1

OI want to be healthy, look, and feel fantastic by the time I am 48 which is rapidly approaching. July 24th to be exact. I think I've been doing good so far. I have been getting up as early as 5:30 am since Tuesday to do a 15 to 30 minutes of workout to start my day. I need to work on my diet though. I am eating healthy but caught myself cheating with junk food a couple of times. To strengthen my will power I have been reading and watching documentaries on healthy lifestyles. I envision myself looking fantastic everyday & making it my idenity. Consistency is the key. I keep going & eventually I get there. 

The photo below is proof of success when I lived on balance focusing on mindful eating for an active mind & body. I always use myself as my inspiration to embrace the gift, beauty & potentials God has given me to be of service to others by example. 

TEACHER GETTING READY FOR CLASS

It's always wonderful to start the day early. You have ample time to prepare. When you are prepared you excited, confident, and ready to take on the day. Beautiful day with an inspiring coat by Kate Spade. 

VIBER CHAT WITH MY SISTER ANN

I felt relieved having able to release my feelings towards my daughter moving far away. Sister talk is always an effective therapy. 

Bold, romantic yet professional red handbag

I have been looking for the perfect red handbag. I luckily purchased this at 75% discount at Kate Spade. It is definitely woth every penny. Every item I want to take with me fits perfectly. I received lots of compliments. It is confident, bold, romantic, yet professional 

New Hairstyle

Trying out a new hairstyle is a brave move for me. I have always worn my hair long and straight with its natural color. Life was easier for me that way. Everyday I would tie my hair into a bun. It actually has become my regular style. Until recently I have thought of changing my look. I want to have fun with my hair. Cut it short & colored it blonde. Courtesy of Kimmy of Santa Clara Hair Studio. I love it. My husband loves it too. He loves it so much so much he wants me to keep it for quite sometime. A little bit costly maintaining it but I feel fabulous. Fabulous versus cost, I go for fabulous. 

To Find the Grace of God, We Must Discover Mary by St. Louis De Montfort

It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God.

Let me explain:

(1) Mary alone found grace with God for herself and for every individual person. No patriarch or prophet or any other holy person of the Old Law could manage to find this grace.

(2) It was Mary who gave existence and life to the author of all grace, and because of this she is called the "Mother of Grace".

(3) God the Father, from whom, as from its essential source, every perfect gift and every grace come down to us, gave her every grace when he gave her his Son. Thus, as St Bernard says, the will of God is manifested to her in Jesus and with Jesus.

(4) God chose her to be the treasurer, the administrator and the dispenser of all his graces, so that all his graces and gifts pass through her hands. Such is the power that she has received from him that, according to St Bernardine, she gives the graces of the eternal Father, the virtues of Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit to whom she wills, as and when she wills, and as much as she wills.

(5) As in the natural life a child must have a father and a mother, so in the supernatural life of grace a true child of the Church must have God for his Father and Mary for his mother. If he prides himself on having God for his Father but does not give to Mary the tender affection of a true child, he is an impostor and his father is the devil.

(6) Since Mary produced the head of the elect, Jesus Christ, she must also produce the members of that head, that is, all true Christians. A mother does not conceive a head without members, nor members without a head. If anyone, then, wishes to become a member of Jesus Christ, and consequently be filled with grace and truth , he must be formed in Mary through the grace of Jesus Christ, which she possesses with a fullness enabling her to communicate it abundantly to true members of Jesus Christ, her true children.

(7) The Holy Spirit espoused Mary and produced his greatest work, the incarnate Word, in her, by her and through her. He has never disowned her and so he continues to produce every day, in a mysterious but very real manner, the souls of the elect in her and through her.

(8) Mary received from God a unique dominion over souls enabling her to nourish them and make them more and more godlike. St Augustine went so far as to say that even in this world all the elect are enclosed in the womb of Mary, and that their real birthday is when this good mother brings them forth to eternal life. Consequently, just as an infant draws all its nourishment from its mother, who gives according to its needs, so the elect draw their spiritual nourishment and all their strength from Mary.

(9) It was to Mary that God the Father said, "Dwell in Jacob", that is, dwell in my elect who are typified by Jacob. It was to Mary that God the Son said, "My dear Mother, your inheritance is in Israel", that is, in the elect. It was to Mary that the Holy Spirit said, "Place your roots in my elect". Whoever, then, is of the chosen and predestinate will have the Blessed Virgin living within him, and he will let her plant in his very soul the roots of every virtue, but especially deep humility and ardent charity.

(10) Mary is called by St Augustine, and is indeed, the "living mould of God" . In her alone the God-man was formed in his human nature without losing any feature of the Godhead. In her alone, by the grace of Jesus Christ, man is made godlike as far as human nature is capable of it. A sculptor can make a statue or a life-like model in two ways:

(i) By using his skill, strength, experience and good tools to produce a statue out of hard, shapeless matter;

(ii) By making a cast of it in a mould. The first way is long and involved and open to all sorts of accidents. It only needs a faulty stroke of the chisel or hammer to ruin the whole work. The second is quick, easy, straightforward, almost effortless and inexpensive, but the mould must be perfect and true to life and the material must be easy to handle and offer no resistance.

Mary is the great mould of God, fashioned by the Holy Spirit to give human nature to a Man who is God by the hypostatic union, and to fashion through grace men who are like to God. No godly feature is missing from this mould. Everyone who casts himself into it and allows himself to be moulded will acquire every feature of Jesus Christ, true God, with little pain or effort, as befits his weak human condition. He will take on a faithful likeness to Jesus with no possibility of distortion, for the devil has never had and never will have any access to Mary, the holy and immaculate Virgin, in whom there is not the least suspicion of a stain of sin.

Dear friend, what a difference there is between a soul brought up in the ordinary way to resemble Jesus Christ by people who, like sculptors, rely on their own skill and industry, and a soul thoroughly tractable, entirely detached, most ready to be moulded in her by the working of the Holy Spirit. What blemishes and defects, what shadows and distortions, what natural and human imperfections are found in the first soul, and what a faithful and divine likeness to Jesus is found in the second!

There is not and there will never be, either in God's creation or in his mind, a creature in whom he is so honoured as in the most Blessed Virgin Mary, not excepting even the saints, the cherubim or the highest seraphim in heaven. Mary is God's garden of Paradise, his own unspeakable world, into which his Son entered to do wonderful things, to tend it and to take his delight in it. He created a world for the wayfarer, that is, the one we are living in. He created a second world - Paradise - for the Blessed. He created a third for himself, which he named Mary. She is a world unknown to most mortals here on earth. Even the angels and saints in heaven find her incomprehensible, and are lost in admiration of a God who is so exalted and so far above them, so distant from them, and so enclosed in Mary, his chosen world, that they exclaim: "Holy, holy, holy" unceasingly.

Happy, indeed sublimely happy, is the person to whom the Holy Spirit reveals the secret of Mary, thus imparting to him true knowledge of her. Happy the person to whom the Holy Spirit opens this enclosed garden for him to enter, and to whom the Holy Spirit gives access to this sealed fountain where he can draw water and drink deep draughts of the living waters of grace. That person will find only grace and no creature in the most lovable Virgin Mary. But he will find that the infinitely holy and exalted God is at the same time infinitely solicitous for him and understands his weaknesses. Since God is everywhere, he can be found everywhere, even in hell. But there is no place where God can be more present to his creature and more sympathetic to human weakness than in Mary. It was indeed for this very purpose that he came down from heaven. Everywhere else he is the Bread of the strong and the Bread of angels, but living in Mary he is the Bread of children.

Let us not imagine, then, as some misguided teachers do, that Mary being simply a creature would be a hindrance to union with the Creator. Far from it, for it is no longer Mary who lives but Jesus Christ himself, God alone, who lives in her. Her transformation into God far surpasses that experienced by St Paul and other saints, more than heaven surpasses the earth. Mary was created only for God, and it is unthinkable that she should reserve even one soul for herself. On the contrary she leads every soul to God and to union with him. Mary is the wonderful echo of God. The more a person joins himself to her, the more effectively she unites him to God. When we say "Mary", she re-echoes "God". When, like St Elizabeth, we call her blessed, she gives the honour to God. If those misguided ones who were so sadly led astray by the devil, even in their prayer-life, had known how to discover Mary, and Jesus through her, and God through Jesus, they would not have had such terrible falls. The saints tell us that when we have once found Mary, and through Mary Jesus, and through Jesus God the Father, then we have discovered every good. When we say "every good", we except nothing. "Every good" includes every grace, continuous friendship with God, every protection against the enemies of God, possession of truth to counter every falsehood, endless benefits and unfailing headway against the hazards we meet on the way to salvation, and finally every consolation and joy amid the bitter afflictions of life.

This does not mean that one who has discovered Mary through a genuine devotion is exempt from crosses and sufferings. Far from it! One is tried even more than others, because Mary, as Mother of the living, gives to all her children splinters of the tree of life, which is the Cross of Jesus. But while meting out crosses to them she gives the grace to bear them with patience, and even with joy. In this way, the crosses she sends to those who trust themselves to her are rather like sweetmeats, i.e. "sweetened" crosses rather than "bitter" ones. If from time to time they do taste the bitterness of the chalice from which we must drink to become proven friends of God, the consolation and joy which their Mother sends in the wake of their sorrows creates in them a strong desire to carry even heavier and still more bitter crosses.

The Grace of God is Absolutely Necessary by St. Louis De Montfort

Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like him in this life, and glorious like him in the next . It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God in not doing the work for which he created you and for which he is even now keeping you in being. What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvelous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving his grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this.

Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practised them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.

The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practise all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say "not in the same measure", because God does not give his graces in equal measure to everyone , although in his infinite goodness he always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works. The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles.

Silence and Prayer

Jesus spent forty days in prayer before beginning his public life. He often retired alone and spent the night in silence and prayer.


     The fruit of silence in prayer.
     The fruit of prayer is faith.
     The fruit of faith is love.
     The fruit of love is service.
     The fruit of service is peace.


Let us provide each other an atmosphere of peace and quiet which will facilitate prayer, study and rest.


Mother Teresa

The "Weight" of the Rosary at the Judgement Seat of God.

“Whatever you do, do not be like a certain pious but stubborn lady in Rome, so often mentioned when speaking about the Rosary.

She was so devout and so fervent that she put to shame by her holy life even the strictest religious in the Church.

“Having decided to ask Saint Dominic’s advice about her spiritual life, she asked him to hear her confession.

For penance he gave her one whole Rosary to say and advised her to say it every day. She said that she had no time to say it, excusing herself on the grounds that she made the Stations of Rome every day, that she wore sackcloth and a hair shirt, that she carried out so many other penances and fasted so much.

Saint Dominic urged her repeatedly to take his advice and say the Rosary, but she would not hear of it. She left the confessional, horrified at the tactics of this new spiritual director who had tried so hard to persuade her to take on a devotion that was not at all to her liking.

“Later on, when she was in prayer, she fell into ecstasy and had a vision of her soul appearing before Our Lord’s Judgment Seat. Saint Michael put all her penances and other prayers onto one tray of the scales and all her sins and imperfections onto the other tray. The tray of her good works was greatly outweighed by the tray with her sins and imperfections.

“Filled with terror she cried for mercy, imploring the Blessed Virgin Mary’s help. Her gracious Advocate took the one and only Rosary that she had said for her penance and dropped it onto the tray of her good works. This one Rosary was so heavy that it weighed more than all her sins as well as all her good works. Our Lady then reproved her for refusing to follow the counsel of her servant Dominic and for not saying the Rosary every day.

“As soon as she came to she rushed and threw herself at Saint Dominic’s feet, and told him all that had happened. She begged his forgiveness for her unbelief and promised to say the Rosary faithfully every day. By this means she arose to Christian perfection and finally to the glory of everlasting life.

“You who are people of prayer— learn from this how tremendous is the power, the value and the importance of this devotion of the Most Holy Rosary when it is said together with meditation on the mysteries.”

*An excerpt from Saint Louis de Montfort’s The Secret of the Rosary (Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1999), 63–64.

The Joyful Mysteries

THE ANNUNCIATION

The Virtue— 
That we may accept that even the purest joy we experience in this life necessarily entails suffering. It is with full reliance and trust in God that we are able to accept our suffering in order to fulfill our mission and forward God’s plan of salvation with humility and love.

C onsider that an Angel was sent from Heaven to declare to the Blessed Virgin, the choice which God had made of her, to be the Mother of the Eternal Word: She receives this declaration with the most profound humility, and the Son of God becomes incarnate in her by the invisible operation of the Holy Ghost.

Hail Mary, ten times — Glory Be— O My Jesus

The Prayer— 
O Holy Mary, Queen of Virgins, through the most high Mystery of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, wherein our salvation was begun, obtain for us, through thy most holy intercession, light to understand the greatness of the benefit He hast bestowed upon us, in vouchsafing to become our Brother and in giving Thee, His own beloved Mother to be our Mother also. Amen.

THE VISITATION

The Virtue— 
That our hearts may be visited by The Blessed Mother’s Divine Son, and through His grace, we may always practice brotherly kindness.

C all to mind how The Blessed Virgin, goes with haste into the mountains of Judea, to visit her cousin St. Elizabeth, where, at her arrival, St, John the Baptist, yet unborn, rejoices in the presence of his Redeemer, and is sanctified in his Mother’s womb.

Hail Mary, ten times — Glory Be— O My Jesus

The Prayer— 
Most Holy Virgin, who in this mystery didst eminently display the greatest humility and charity; obtain for us of God, that our souls may be frequently visited by thy dear Son, and in some degree experience those impressions which his presence once made on his blessed precursor. Amen

THE NATIVITY

The Virtue— 
That we may love God in return for His love of us, by becoming detached from the things of this world.

T hink about how The Redeemer of the world was born in a stable, and laid in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn at Bethlehem. Rejoice in the advantages of this humiliation, and endeavour to practise the lessons He teaches here.

Hail Mary, ten times — Glory Be— O My Jesus

The Prayer— 
O most pure Mother of God, we sincerely rejoice in thy having given birth to the Desired of Nations, to the Saviour of the World. Beg him, we beseech thee, that he would now graciously vouchsafe to be spiritually born in our hearts, enabling us by his grace, to imitate the virtues of his childhood ; particularly his simplicity, innocence, docility, and contempt for the vanities of this world. Amen

THE PRESENTATION
OF THE BABY JESUS
IN THE TEMPLE

The Virtue— 
That we may live the purity bestowed upon our souls by the Sacrament of Baptism and that we may imitate Christ in the practice of that holy virtue.

P rostrate ourselves with the wise men, to adore Jeans Christ in the arms of his blessed Mother: instead of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, we may offer him our minds, our hearts, and our whole being, without reserve.

Hail Mary, ten times — Glory Be— O My Jesus

The Prayer— 
Most Holy and Immaculate Virgin! by the unspeakable comfort thou didst feel in the homage paid to our Redeemer, we entreat thee to present him in our name the offering we make of ourselves, that he may receive it more favourably through thee; that we may ever walk faithfully by the light of his grace, until we arrive at the possession of himself in heaven. Amen.

THE FINDING
OF THE CHILD JESUS
IN THE TEMPLE

The Virtue— 
That we may seek Jesus and find Him in His Holy Catholic Church and never to be separated from Him.

L et us participate in the joy which the Blessed Virgin must have felt, when, after having lost, without any fault of hers, the child Jesus in Jerusalem, and having sought him in much affliction during three days, she found him at length in the Temple amidst the Doctors, hearing them and questioning them

Hail Mary, ten times — Glory Be— O My Jesus

The Prayer— 
Most tender Mother of God! Comforter of the afflicted! we earnestly call upon thee, by thy extreme delight on finding the child Jesus and over the anguish of having lost Him, to obtain for us the grace never to lose Him by consenting to mortal sin nor to enjoy either pleasure or repose, while we thus oblige him to withdraw from us. Amen

The 6 Sins against the Holy Ghost

Presumption
Despair
Resisting the known truth
Envy of another’s spiritual good
Obstinacy in sin
Final impenitence

The 7 Capital Sins and their Contrary Virtues

Capital Sin	Definition	Contrary Virtue
Pride	Unrestrained appreciation of our own worth	Humility
Greed	Immoderate desire for earthly goods	Liberality
Lust	Hankering for impure pleasures	Chastity
Anger	Inordinate desire for revenge	Meekness
Gluttony	Unrestrained use of food and drink	Temperance
Envy	Sorrow over another's good fortune	Brotherly Love
Sloth	Laxity in keeping the Faith and the practice of virtue	Diligence

Note:
The 7 Capital Sins, also known as "The 7 Deadly Sins," are those sins that give rise to other sins. They were first enumerated by Pope St. Gregory the Great in "Moralia in Job."

THE 4 CARDINAL VIRTUES

Prudence
Justice
Fortitude
Temperance
Note: Reference Wisdom 8:7. The Cardinal Virtues, unlike the Theological Virtues, can be achieved by human effort.

THE 3 THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES

Faith, Hope, Charity 

Note: Reference I Corinthians 13:13. The Theological Virtues are called such because they are supernatural in origin, relate immediately to God, and can only be gained through His grace

THE 12 FRUITS OF THE HOLY GHOST

I.    Charity: Love for God and for others

II.   Joy: Happiness in living the Christian life

III.  Peace : Inner calmness, even in difficulties

IV.  Patience : Kindly putting up with the faults of others

V.   Benignity (Kindness) : Sympathy and concern for the needs of others

VI.  Goodness : Giving good example for the needs of others

VII. Longanimity (Longsuffering): Extraordinary patience in enduring suffering

VIII. Mildness : Being gentle in our words and deeds toward others

IX.  Faith (Fidelity) : Loyalty to God and the people we are committed to, such as one's parents, spouse, good friends

X.   Modesty : Respecting ourselves and others in conversations, dress, etc.

XI.  Continency: Proper balance in our desire for pleasure

XII. Chastity: Proper attitude toward others and control over our sexual desires
Note:
See Galatians 5:22-25 (three of these are not mentioned in some Greek and Latin manuscripts). The 12 Fruits of the Holy Ghost are the effects of the 7 Gifts of the Holy Ghost.