My Favorite New Catholic Calendar!

This month, I was fortunate enough to receive a review copy of the calendar that will grace my office walls in 2009 - The Beauty of Grace 2009 Calendar of Indulgences from Bridegroom Press.

I’m thrilled to help spread the word about this particular product, since it is so much more than simply a way to keep track of appointments. First, a physical description of the calendar: it’s a heavy duty 12 x 12 calendar with lovely artwork from Murals by Jericho. The photos that grace each month’s page are absolutely lovely images that will look great in any room.

More importantly though, the content of this calendar far exceeds any I’ve ever seen - you could almost call this calendar a reference book. In fact, I know that the calendar will be hung very close to my desk, since I will be taking it down regularly to refer to the various features it offers. These include:

Lists all the indulgenced works of the Church on a month-at-a-glance basis,
Highlights the twenty-two special days when a partial indulgence becomes plenary to honor a day,
Color-codes the indulgences for easy identification
Has scholarly notes on the history of indulgences,
Contains the conditions for earning both partial and plenary indulgences,
Gives the complete text of over a dozen different indulgenced prayers,
Carries weekly reminders for Friday fasts and Saturday confession
Provides the Scriptural supports for one dozen different apologetics topics:

o The Eucharist
o Marian dogma and doctrines
o Redemptive suffering
o The divinity of Christ
o Apostolic succession
o The problems with contraception
o Reconciliation
o Purgatory
o Indulgences
o Divinization
o Church authority
o Catholic baptismal teaching

I’ve learned so much from this calendar already on the topic of indulgences, and I’m certain that my spiritual life will be enhanced throughout all of 2009 through the regular performing of indulgences in my own life.

I’ll be looking for opportunities to share these with you throughout the year. But if I were you, I’d head over to The Catholic Company today and purchase two - one for you and one as a gift for a special friend. The Beauty of Grace Calendar of Indulgences is the type of gift that keeps on giving!

This review was written as part of the Catholic book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on The Beauty of Grace Calendar of Indulgences 2009 Wall Calendar.

Put Me In Coach!

One of my favorite bloggers, Mike St. Pierre, has written with a very generous offer for Catholic Mom Moments readers. I recently mentioned that Mike has started a Life Coaching service. He shares the following:

I've just launched my own coaching ministry/endeavor and for the upcoming week, I'd like to offer a free coaching session to any of your subscribers. No strings attached, just something nice to do.

If anyone's interested, the topic would be "life balance" and the process would be for them to go to www.mondayqb.com and they can contact me via email from there. A phone call would then be scheduled and voila!

I'll bet Mike could help me with my stacking problem! I understand the concepts of time management, but perhaps need a little accountability when it comes to follow through. I'm thinking about taking Mike up on his offer and will let you know how it goes! "Life Balance" sounds like a good concept to me!

Topsy Turvy

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.
John Lennon

It's been another one of those wonderful weeks - the kind that skid by so quickly that you barely have a moment to breath and recollect. Today, in particular, was filled with fluid, moment-by-moment changes that sometimes drive me a little crazy.

Each week, on Monday, I spend about an hour having "table time" - a session at my kitchen table where I inventory mail, pay bills, balance the checkbook, look over the week's agenda, and generally try to obtain some semblance of ordered chaos in my life. Each morning, I consult our family calendar and lay out a general gameplan for the day. My planning incorporates the minutia that fills many moms' minds: who needs to be where, when, and in what clothing; what will I feed everyone and when; what "business" do I need to take care of throughout the day; and the like.

This week has been one of scattered and broken plans. We've had a few major shifts, evolutions, fractures and bloopers since Monday. For a control freak like me, living life on the fly and rolling with the punches of a goofed up schedule can be stressful. But rather than reacting with panic and anxiety, I am trying to react with patience, acceptance and flexibility. We have one major situation that is in flux right now, and until it is resolved I will continue to feel unsettled. But I've already prayed for the right answer and I know that God, in His goodness and according to His plan (not mine) will provide direction for the path that needs to be taken.

These types of weeks are good for me (as long as they only occur every once in a while...) since they help me to recognize the blessings of each moment of each day, even if they didn't turn out the way I'd originally planned them!

Being More Organized

Whenever I lament the lack of time I have to get everything done in the too few hours that fill my day, I like to visit Mike St. Pierre's Notebook for a kick in the behind. He talks a lot about time management, getting things accomplished, and being organized. I especially liked Mike's post today about things that you can accomplish during a break. Moms frequently have small segments of time, spread throughout the day between other jobs like driving and cooking. I sometimes feel that if I have less than one hour to accomplish something, I might as well not start it. That's wrong - there are many things that only take a few minutes to do, if I set my mind to them. Each moment is a gift from God - I just need to remind myself to make the most of each of them!