Catholic Fire

1. I love food, but need to consistently eat healthy food. Once in awhile, I sneak in some sweets, which puts weight on. Above are two dishes I made for supper tonight: my favorite tossed salad with Italian chicken vegetable soup. I used mostly organic or non-GMO ingredients in everything. My husband loved it! If you would like the recipes, just email me with "Recipes" in the subject line at jean.heimann@gmail.com and I will be happy to share them with you.  2. With winter in full force, I have been drinking more tea lately: Roobois, Ginger, and Cinnamon.  Here are some ideas for healthy hot, delicious drinks to warm you up.  3. What did you do for fun over the holidays? I celebrated with family at Christmas and several friends at a New Year's Eve Party. I also went to see  Star Wars: The Force Awakens . Who can resist a new episode of Star Wars ? I don't understand all the fuss about Carrie Fisher's appearance. Of course she no long...

Happy New Year, and a blessed Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God! What a beautiful feast day this is! On this first day of the New Year, just eight days after the feast of the birth of Christ, we remember the Blessed Virgin Mary by celebrating her divine motherhood. As the Mother of God, her greatest title, Mary is known as Theotokus, which means the "God-Bearer". It is appropriate to honor Mary as Mother of Jesus, following the birth of Christ. When Catholics celebrate the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God Incarnate, we are not only honoring Mary, who was chosen among all women throughout history to bear God, but we are also honoring Jesus, who is fully God and fully human. Everything begins with Mary. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta told us, "No Mary, no Jesus." St. Alphonsus Liguori stated:  "Such is the will of God that we should have everything through Mary." St. Louis de Montfort revealed: “We never give more honor to Jesus than when we ho...

Today is the feast of the Holy Family. The primary purpose of the Church in instituting and promoting this feast is to present the Holy Family as the model for all Christian families. How can we emulate the Holy Family in this Jubilee Year of Mercy? The primary way we can imitate the Holy Family in being a giver of mercy is to forgive one another of our faults and failings. Although we are not given details of forgiveness in the Holy Family, we know that there had to be forgiveness in the family in order for them to live in peace and harmony with one another. For example, when Jesus suddenly disappeared and was nowhere to be found, Joseph and Mary became anxious. Certainly, there must have been some blame-sharing that occurred and forgiveness that followed. Pope Francis Shows us the Way Pope Francis tells us that the family is “a large gym for training in self-giving and mutual forgiveness, without which no love can last. … Love doesn’t remain, it doesn’t last if we don’t giv...

1. Saturday is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe -- - one of my favorite Marian feast days. Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, brings hope into our lives. She covers us in the folds of her heavenly mantle and cradles us. She is the Mother who tenderly consoles us and protects us from evil. She is the one who carries Divine Life within her and crushed the head of the wicked serpent. She brings us life and love; hope and healing. She brought conversion to Mexico and will renew the Americas again if we pray for her intercession. She is the Mother of Mercy. Here is a beautiful reflection for this Feast Day from Father Stephen Morris with some intercessions to help us during this Jubilee Year of Mercy. Here is a story of my family's personal miracle through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 2. On December 8, we celebrated two significant events in the Catholic Church on the same day – the beginning of the Jubilee Year of Mercy and the Solemnity of ...

The Advent season seems to go by so quickly that sometimes we don't have a chance to celebrate it the way we would like. In this Seven Quick Takes, I want to focus on ways to keep the Advent season a holy and peaceful one, while we wait patiently and contemplatively in joyful hope and anticipation for the coming of Our Lord, Jesus, at Christmas. 1. To start off, here are  Ten Tips for a Peace-Filled Advent. 2. Are you falling in love this Advent ? 3. This Advent is a very special one, as it takes place during the Extraordinary Jubilee of  Mercy. How can we make it a season of mercy? 4. Prayer is important during Advent. Here are two novenas to pray: one to Our Lady of Guadalupe and a Christmas novena. 5. Here are 15 Advent Prayers for you. 6. This Friday is the First Friday of the month and the feast of St. John Damascene, Patristic Father and Doctor of Christian Art. 7. Can you relate to this one? My mom made beautiful gingerbread houses from scratch and I ...

Pope Francis has given an interview to a Catholic weekly magazine, saying he hopes the forthcoming Jubilee Year of Mercy will enable people to discover an alternative to the atrocities, cruelty and exploitation of our world today. The Pope also talks about his personal discovery of God’s mercy in his own life and calls for a “revolution of tenderness” to encourage more just, tolerant and patient relationships between individuals and nations. In the interview with the official Jubilee publication ‘Credere’,  Pope Francis recalls that he dedicated his first Angelus address and his first homily in the Vatican parish of St Anna to the theme of mercy, noting that he’s following the teachings of his predecessors, especially Pope John Paul II who instituted Divine Mercy Sunday. We have become so used to bad news of cruelty and atrocities, the Pope says, but the world needs to discover that God is our Father, that mercy exists and that cruelty and condemnations are not the way forw...

By Jean M. Heimann The season of Advent is a time of preparation. It is a time to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus. It is a time to make more room for him in our lives. During Advent, we wait patiently and prayerfully, with the Blessed Virgin Mary, in joyful hope and in anticipation of the miracle of the Incarnation. This year is remarkable in that Pope Francis has proclaimed it to be an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. During this Advent, then, we are called to come to Jesus and to seek out his merciful love which can heal all that is injured within us. He calls us out of the darkness into the light of His radiant and merciful love. For, his mercy has the power to free us of our fears, worries, and all the burdens that weigh us down.  It can heal us of the hurts that lie deep within and of the despair that accompanies our darkest sins. First and foremost, God invites to embrace his mercy, to repent and to be cleansed, to be made spotless and holy. This Adv...

Pope Francis has composed a special prayer for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which will run from December 8, 2015 to November 20, 2016. In the prayer, the Holy Father asks the Lord to make the Jubilee of Mercy a year of grace so that the Church, “with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed, and restore sight to the blind.” Pope Francis’ Prayer for the Jubilee Year of Mercy Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father, and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him. Show us your face and we will be saved. Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money; the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things; made Peter weep after his betrayal, and assured Paradise to the repentant thief. Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman: “If you knew the gift of God!” You are th...