WHAT YOU'LL FIND IN THIS E-LETTER:
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Just recently our five daughters (ages 16 down to 4)
were invited to a sleep-over with our wonderful Sisters of the Presentation of Mary here in Saskatoon.
What a great time they had! Going for walks along the river ... spending time in prayer in the chapel ... learning the "convent rules" for eating popcorn (nobody
gets to go to bed until ALL the popcorn is gone!) ... getting up early and making pancakes together
(which were reported to have been SO GOOD!) ... playing bocce ball in the yard ... and having a family wiener roast at the sisters' campfire pit with the families when we came to pick them up the next day.
Two of my children and one of their friends came in habit. Sr. Gemma is 4 years old, Sr. Jacinta is 9 years old, and Sr. Katie is 9 years old! They had a lot of fun dressed up in character!
"It might look like their teaching us how to pray, but what we're really doing is learning
how to whistle with quack grass!" (Rebekah is 14 and Maria is 15 and Sr. Chantal is just super cool!)
Sr. Evelyn is really cool, too! "Sr." Jacinta learned how to whistle with the quack grass under her gentle tutelage!
What a great idea for helping our children to be open to religious life. If you know any religious orders in your area whom you trust with your precious children, perhaps you can present them with the idea of a "vocational sleep-over".
"It was so much fun to spend time with the Sisters and get to know them," reported the girls!
If you are high-school or college age, perhaps you can speak to some sisters in your area and get a group of young people together to enjoy a sleep-over with some sisters to discuss religious life and to get a "feel" for life in the convent.
One thing our children have discovered is that religious sisters are really FUN people who love to laugh and enjoy life to the full! What a great way to help everyone have a BIGGER picture of our Catholic Family!!
Wondering what that is??? The sisters taught us a great new way to start campfires!! Using a cardboard egg carton, fill it with lint from the dryer and pour hot wax over the lint to hold it in place. The lint ignites quickly and the wax keeps it burning long enough for your kindling to catch on fire and get things "cooking" at your campfire! As you can see, there's so much more to learn about life from the Sisters than "just" vocational discernment!!!
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LIVING LIFE IN THE SHELTER OF THE CHURCH
Hi Carmen,
Great job again :o) I really loved this book (SURRENDER), especially Maggie's story! I'm so excited for this new generation of girls who will hear God's whisper, His invitation! How exciting!!!!!! I can't wait to hear more about the Collins family. Following God's plan for marriage and family is truly the best way. My husband and I courted, and now 13 years and 5 children later, no regrets. The grace of living life in the shelter of the Church has been an unsinkable ship for us.Louise, Saskatoon
This feedback came recently from a reader. I especially loved what she said about living life in the shelter of the Church, for indeed it is "an unsinkable ship" for all those who choose to step onto the Bark of Peter!
Our Catholic Faith is the ROCK SOLID foundation on which all our relationships should be grounded, especially our dating and courtship relationships during that SPECIAL SEASON in life!!!
As the above reader tells us—courtship was the path to marriage which she and her husband chose. Courtship can be summed up well in a quote from Arms of Love:
What existed between Joanie and Brandon was the outgrowth of the choices they had made: to reserve their physical affection, to practise self-discipline, and to die to self for the sake of the other. These were the stepping stones along the path which they had chosen to follow to prepare themselves entirely for marriage. . . . It was inspiring to all. . . . In the vision that this young couple presented to the world, everyone could see how beautiful the love of a man and a woman was intended to be, in God's most gracious design.
Did you ever stop to realize that God is the author of romance and love? And He desires for you to enjoy the BEST ROMANCE POSSIBLE if He is calling you to marriage!
Living in a culture of self-gratification and sexual permissiveness, it is hard for young people to know how to approach romance in a truly Christian way. We need to present to them a "RENEWED" model of romance—courtship—which is as old as the hills and has a proven track record for laying a foundation for lasting love and marriages that stand the test of time!
Dating relationships that follow the "wisdom" of the world do not prepare young people for marriage on a solid foundation. Many of those marriages have proven to have been built on sand and when the storms of life came, they crumbled and were swept away.
When a couple sets a pattern of selflessness and sacrifice in their relationship before marriage (as in a courtship relationship) they are setting a pattern for life of being able to die-to-self. Ask any married couple if they have ever had to die-to-self for the sake of the other? I can tell you personally that it has been in the times of sacrifice that I have been most blessed in my marriage! And in return the greatest joys have come to me and my husband when we have laid down our lives for each other and allowed God to work in our relationship!
So what's in a name? Whether you call it courtship or not is not what makes it virtuous. I've seen many virtuous relationships which the couple called "dating" . . . and I've heard of some very "not so virtuous" relationships that some couples have called "courting". It is not the name that makes it virtuous, but how a couple chooses to live out the relationship.
Personally, I like the name "courtship". It sounds old-fashioned and harkens us back to a time when Christian morality was more widely accepted in our culture. It tells people that you are doing something different than the present norms of our society in dating—and right there you've already won ground in saying that you are not willing to go with the flow!!! It sets the expectations higher—and don't you want just that for yourself?
If you are NOT willing to settle for less (the low standards our society sets before us for romance), then SET FOR YOURSELF a standard that is going to guarantee that you get more out of life than what the world has to offer.
God has a perfect plan for your life and wants to bless you with tremendous joy. You have to be willing to do your part! And really, is any sacrifice too great on your part to guarantee that you will find lasting, life-long love in marriage?
Do you want to enjoy dynamic, joy-filled, exciting romance that will stand the test of time? Then make the investment while you are single by planning for courtship—the roadmap for romance—and live your life in the shelter of the Church, that unsinkable ship!!!
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Today is June 13th, the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua, one of our all-time favourite and most-called-upon saints in the Marcoux household!
"Anthony should be the patron of those who find their lives completely uprooted and set in a new and unexpected direction. Like all saints, he is a perfect example of turning one's life completely over to Christ. God did with Anthony as God pleased—and what God pleased was a life of spiritual power and brilliance that still attracts admiration today. He whom popular devotion has nominated as finder of lost objects found himself by losing himself totally to the providence of God." (Reflection on St. Anthony taken from the website of AmericanCatholic.org)
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AWESOME RESOURCES FOR CATHOLIC YOUTH AND FAMILIES:
The feature resource for this CourtshipNow E-Letter is my brochure,
20 TIPS FOR CHRISTIAN COURTSHIP.
This is a great resource to help young Christians understand courtship and to set a game plan for romance in their lives!
This brochure is available as a free download off my website.
for 11x17 folded brochure style: Click here.
for 8.5x11 size in colour: Click here.
for 8.5x11 size in B&W: Click here.To order In Bulk, please visit our website www.courtshipnow.com
or call us at 1-800-705-7396 or 306-934-3511.
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St. Anthony:
"The saints are like the stars.
In His providence
Christ conceals them in a hidden place
that they may not shine before others when they might wish to do so.
Yet they are always ready to exchange
the quiet of contemplation for the works of mercy
as soon as they perceive in their heart the invitation of Christ."
St. Augustine:
“We are made for you alone, O God,
and our hearts are restless until they rest in you!”
G.K. Chesterton, "Heretics":
"Posting a letter and getting married are
among the few things left that are
entirely romantic; for to be entirely romantic, a thing must be
irrevocable."
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