Be Not Afraid

Dear Godkids,

Something has been on my mind a lot today.

Fear.

Fear is a powerful motivator. Fear can be a strong chain. Fear never liberates. It only binds. Fear never frees. It confuses. Fear is the enemy of Truth.

There is a reason that "Be not afraid" is the most used phrase in the Bible. There is a reason why it has become almost synonymous with John Paul II's epic papacy. There is a reason why he especially implored young people to "Be not afraid!" What Jesus knew, what JPII knew, is that fear can cripple us. It can break us. It can keep us from becoming who we are made to be, and coming to know who God is.

And I see it everywhere. Fear.

I see fear in the eyes of the young woman who refuses to break up with her boyfriend, even though they aren't meant for each other.

I see fear in the face of the young man who screwed up but doesn't know how to take responsibility.

I see fear in the woman contemplating abortion.

I see fear in the couple who stops using NFP and turns to contraception because it seems easier.

I see fear in the young woman afraid to step out in life and live boldly.

I see fear in the parents who hover and micromanage their children.

I see fear in the young man who sits in Church and refuses to say the prayers, but something draws him there anyway.

I see fear in the boy who won't stand up to a bully.

I see fear in the girl who won't see her own beauty.

I see fear in the woman who becomes an isolationist and racist. 

I see fear in the young person who won't say "no" to peer pressure.

I see fear in the man who hates others who are not like him.

I see fear in the young person who is trying to ignore God's call.

Fear is nasty. It sneaks into us. Sometimes fear comes because we have been hurt. We have been wounded. We want to protect ourselves from more hurt. We become afraid.  When we have wounds or hurts that cause us to fear, it means we need healing. Never be afraid to pursue healing. Whether that is in the form of therapy, spiritual direction, confession, or psychotherapy, physical therapy, or any combination of the above. Pursuing healing is an act of Hope and an act of Faith. Fear cannot remain long where one seeks healing! Just don't forget that Jesus is THE Healer, and as you pursue healing for the mind or body, its also important to pursue healing for the soul. When the soul is healthy, it is harder for fear to enter.

Sometimes fear comes because we lack faith. Fear is the antithesis of faith. They cannot co-exist. The more faith increases, the fear decreases. This doesn't mean you may never feel afraid. Feelings are human. They are natural. But we have the power to choose to have Trust in God and to overcome our fear. That power comes from the Holy Spirit. Trust, to Jesus, is the ultimate act of Love for Him. He wants nothing more than our Trust - reckless trust - in Him. The more we trust, the less we fear. The less we fear, the more free we become.

Fear is funny. It sneaks up on us and lies. Fear whispers, "I am reasonable. Fear is healthy. I will keep you safe." But it doesn't. Fear traps. It never frees. We justify our fear. We tell ourselves it is good and OK to be afraid. Maybe we even think we deserve to feel afraid. But Jesus told us something very different: BE NOT AFRAID.

Godkids, you were not created with a spirit of fear! You were created to be free in Jesus - the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He told us that the Truth will set you free! And the beautiful and amazing Truth is that Trust, Faith, are what you were created to have! Not fear and doubt!

Ask Jesus in the Divine Mercy to help you Trust Him. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you an increase in the gift of Faith. Keep asking Him!

The world needs your witness of Trust. Too many people are afraid and living in fear. Don't be one of them, your Godmother is here to help you.

Until next time,
With Love,
Your Fairy Godmother

Christmas Still Comes

Dear Godgirls, Godboys, Confirmandi and Honorary Godoffspring,

Let's welcome Little Lu-Lu to the Fairy Godkid family! One day she will be old enough to read!

So Christmas is coming! The most wonderful time of the year! It's no secret that I LOVE Christmas. Like, LOVE, LOVE Christmas. I know most of you do too! But what about those years when Advent doesn't seem very Adventy. And when Christmas seems to be coming so fast and you just aren't ready yet! And what about those years you just want to hit pause, back up, rewind, and get a do-over?

Godkids, let me tell you something. I think it is for THOSE years that Jesus especially comes.

This Advent started out great. We were READY! I even remembered to buy brand new Advent Candles the week before Advent started! (This is unheard of!) I knew it meant that this would be a stellar Advent! The Jesse tree ornaments were organized the day before Advent began, we had a routine for Bible time, traveling through Salvation history, and the Christmas Novena. We were going to OWN this Advent and have the best Christmas Prep EVER! (Which, of course meant that we'd have the best Christmas to date!)

This Christmas we were all going to get to go to the Midnight Christmas Mass together! I have yet to go to a Christmas Vigil Mass because I'm mom. And in years past we would attend at least 3 different Christmas Masses collectively as a family because of choirs and kids' choirs and altar serving. But THIS year, we were rocking it! All three boys were scheduled to serve the Midnight Mass, which is the same one that my Fairy Godhusband is singing for! #ChristmasScore The Fairy GodRicketts were going to go to ONE Mass TOGETHER for Christmas!

Then. Chickenpox. And more Chickenpox. Then recurrent Chickenpox. Then I got Chickenpox. Then there was an emergency appendectomy. Then more chickenpox. And Christmas is 4 days away.

And yet.

And yet, Jesus Comes.

Christmas is still coming.

Our Bible time has been mediocre at best. The Jesse Tree is getting filled in fits and starts. The Advent candles still get lit (though contagious kids are not allowed to blow them out). The first two weeks of this short Advent were spent with at least half the members of this family not feeling well, and with me feeling rather poorly (OK, fine, like I had the flu).

We won't all be going to the Midnight Mass now, I will most likely be attending a Christmas Mass by myself, not breathing on anyone, just in case, as once again the elusive Christmas Vigil slips through my grasp.

I am not sure when I will get to the other preparations that need to still happen in order for us to be ready for Santa to come down our chimney. We are alerting the guests who had already accepted our Christmas Day invitations for dinner that they will be entering a Chickenpox zone. I may need to make a few more side dishes and probably a big ol' pot of soup. Christmas cookies just aren't happening this year.

And yet. 

And yet, He comes.

And its OK.

Because Jesus didn't come for the perfect Christmas. He is the entire reason for Christmas. HE makes it perfect. And just like over 2000 years ago, He comes quietly and peacefully into a crazy, break-neck world.

Maybe this Christmas isn't shaping up to be what you had hoped. Maybe things feel out of control. Maybe your family is struggling. Maybe you're going through something personal or difficult. Maybe Advent feels like a bust and you wish you were more joyful about Jesus' upcoming birthday. Maybe you wish this Advent and Christmas were different.

And yet.

And yet, He is coming. Jesus doesn't wait for us to be ready. We never will be. Not really. He knows how much we need Him. Now. In the middle of the chaos and the crazy. Sickness, uncertainty, insecurity. We need Him. So He comes.

This Advent, I want to give you permission, Fairy Godkids, to let go of your idea of what a perfect Advent or a perfect Christmas looks like. Let go of what you decided would make for the best holiday and instead, be still in the truth that Jesus is coming. For you. For us. And THAT is what makes it perfect. That is what makes it Christmas. If Advent is a time to recall and contemplate our need for Christ, our need for a Savior, then perhaps it is the crazy, unplanned, chaotic Advents that remind us best of all how very much we need a Savior bigger than us. Bigger than all our problems, bigger than all our sickness, all our worries. A Savior who humbled Himself to become one of us.

Christmas is coming, dear Godchildren. How very blessed we are!

Your Fairy God Mother wishes you a very Merry, Happy, Holy Christmas!

Are You Happy Yet?

My dear Godkids,

Are you happy yet?

Not, like, "yeah, I'm happy, I just got to sleep late and the house is empty so I can binge on my current fave show" kind of happy. I mean the deep down content, not restless, peaceful sort of happy. The kind that can't be ruffled. The kind that is hard to shake even when bad things happen. THAT sort of happy.

No?

Well, then we need to talk. I saw that - I saw you rolling your eyes at me! But really, we should talk, because its time for a Holy Spirit intervention.  (there you go again with the eye rolling!)

God has made each and every person for a purpose. There is a mission, a plan JUST FOR YOU. The world needs you to accomplish it! It is why you were created! God loves you so much that He not only MADE you, but He made you with a PURPOSE. And this purpose will make you happy. It will give you that deep peace. The unshakable happy peace. It will also get you to Heaven - where you will be deliriously happy FOREVER. See, God desires your happiness. He desires you to have peace. He made you this way!

If you aren't feeling it, its time to figure out why, because living without this peace, without this happiness, isn't worth it.

Some of the biggest things that steal this peace and happiness from us are sin, lack of a prayer life, and noise. If we haven't been to confession in a while, if we are stuck in habitual sin, if we aren't praying or seeking to deepen our prayer life, if we are so distracted by noise and social media and phones and friends and stuff we will soon be robbed of happiness and peace. The good news is that we can change this! We can start frequenting the confessional. We can pray! And keep trying to pray! We can put the phones down and sit in some quiet with God. And we can ask Him to help us do these things! The Holy Spirit has been sent to us for just this! To convict us and to assist us!

The Holy Spirit can help you to stay on track with a relationship with God and He can help us to discover what it is that God has made us for!

Invoke Him! Call upon Him! Trust Him! He is our Advocate. Our Guide. Our Helper. Tell the Holy Spirit you want to be happy and ask Him to show you how! He will!

With Love,
Your Fairy Godmother

Like My Stupid Little Plant

Dear Godladies and Godboys,

I have realized something about myself and I want to share. (Actually I have realized 2 things, the first being that I am HORRIBLE and have neglected this blog and I MUST do better. I WILL do better. Seriously, send me threats via text if I fail again!)

See, I have this plant. It is a stupid little plant, but its hard to kill, which is why I still have it. Me and my black thumbs haven't gotten the best of it yet!

Anyway, so this plant sits on my desk:

My messy, functional, desk. (How do you like the lights underneath? Totally Pinterest-worthy, right? And yes that is JPII and a cat plaque....and the Holy Spirit. Really, you aren't THAT surprised, are you?)

Every so often I realize that the stupid little plant is basically climbing the window. The stems aim for the sun and the whole thing bends to reach the window and be as close to the sun as it can. 

When I notice this, I turn the plant. Sometimes I turn it 180* so its facing the opposite direction, totally away from the sun. In my mind its like plant exercise - it will keep it healthy. (or at least that's what I tell myself.)

Whenever I do this, the plant dutifully and hastily makes it way back to the sun. It amazes me how quickly it moves too. One of these times it would be fun to time-lapse it. 

After just one day, look how far this stupid little plant has come: 

Its halfway there already! Its like 'The Little Plant That Could!'

It needs the sun. Its stops at nothing to get to it (I've seen it all of a sudden grow or contort itself just to get to the sunlight!) And I realized I am that plant. 

I am my stupid little plant. 

Except I'm a stupid little girl who needs the Son. And I literally stop at nothing to get to Him. Even when it seems crazy. Even when it makes no sense. Even when it gives my parents a mini-heart attack (no really, ask them). I cannot help myself. Like my stupid little plant, who just knows it needs the sun, I, stupid little girl, need The Son. Desperately. And without Him, nothing is worth it. Its just not. There is no joy. No peace. No FUN. No Adventure!

So I want to tell you. You need Him too. You need the Son, just like my stupid little plant. Just like I have realized I am worth nothing - to you, to me, to ANYONE or ANYTHING without Him and I just can't change that (nor, honestly, would I want to) you too need Him. For EVERYTHING. 

We are made like my stupid little plant. We were created to NEED, to CRAVE the Son. God. We just get so distracted with stuff, and things, and media, and filters on Snapchat (ahem. no comment) that we put Him off. We forget. We have Him in His God-box and take Him out when we have a crisis or feel a fleeting sense of piety. Or want to show off for the hot guy in Church. But we NEED Him. All. The. Time. 

JPII said, "It is Jesus you seek when you dream of happiness..." He nailed it. It IS.

So turn to Him. Keep turning to Him. Little by little. Like my stupid little plant. Aim for HIM. And you won't want to turn away. 

<3 

With Love,
Your stupid little Fairy GodMother 

Whacked Out World

My Dear Godkids,
I am sorry! This is a LONG overdue letter and I feel terrible that it has taken me THIS long to write it! Things have been so wacky (did she just say "wacky?") lately and well, that is sort of the theme I'm going for here. Because, Godkids, this is a flipping whacked-out world.

Seriously, can I take a moment and apologize for my generation (ahem NOT a Millennial though, OK?) and everything we have done to royally screw up the future for you? You're welcome...

You know what I think the most cray-cray-crazy thing is? The bizarre notion that whatever someone feels or thinks is "reality." I know one of you recently had an incident at school along those lines. All of a sudden men aren't men. Boys aren't boys. Women aren't women. They are instead, whatever they feel like they should be. Or feel like they are. Or want to be, or whatever.  Things like, oh, you know, biology, have little to do with reality. Instead of the famous "I think therefore I am" we have coined the belief that "I feel, therefore I am.....whatever I feel like I am." (If this is actually the case, I am a chinchilla. And my name is Horace.)

And the craziest thing? If you call out the absurdity, YOU are ridiculed, or reprimanded, or punished. That person over there, with the large biceps, facial hair, and deep voice? No, NOT a man. That person is a Shar Pei today. Please refer to  him as "puppy."  

Godkids, you are inheriting a mess.

But I am not worried.
Do you know why?

Because of YOU.

YOU are going to be the ones who have to put this mess back together again. It will be up to YOU to make order out of the chaos that is all around. It will fall on YOU to make things make sense again.
And I know you can do it.
You're ALREADY doing it!

Every time you refuse to fall for the crazy. Every time you speak the simple Truth that you know is in front of you. Every time you don't allow yourself to bullied by the pop culture cray.

You KNOW the Truth. You do.
You have been confirmed (well, those of you who can speak in sentences and sleep through the night without soiling yourself).
Mo and Helen, you are ADULTS in the Church. You are responsible for witnessing to the Truth, in Love. Even if that has consequences.

Recently Pope Francis canonized a new Saint; Jose Sanchez del Rio. He was one month shy of turning 16 when he was put to death for professing his Faith in Christ. He was killed. For speaking the Truth. He was killed for standing for TRUTH. My Godkids, no one is seeking to kill you.
Will you speak the Truth?! You are tasked with witnessing to your Faith- to witness to what you know is right and what you know is true.
You can do it. If this 15 year old boy can die gladly for his faith, you can stand up to the crazy and witness to the Truth.

Your fairy Godmother is proud of you.  You can do it.

Love,
Your fairy Godmother

I'm Ugly Crying and Geeking Out All At Once

I Want You To Know....

So there are some things I want you to know.
Namely, I want you to know what I want for you.

 

However, unlike Selina here, I won't "tell you lies."  (While we're talking about Selina though, how many times do you think she fell over filming this video? I mean anyone who flips their head around THAT much, with THAT much hair couldn't have had very good balance..... also, why does she change her outfit three times for one night out clubbing? Does she spill drinks on herself? Sweat through her other clothes? [ew!] Is she THAT indecisive? Sorry.... I digress...)

So it's graduation season.  None of my Godchildren are graduating this year, unless you count G-man graduating to the rank of Big Brother and being squarely in the "eating solid food" camp.... but I think we all know a few people who have put on that ridiculous Mortar Board hat and walked to Pomp and Circumstance (Does it get stuck in your heads too?).

Graduating is great. It's an accomplishment. It is something to be proud of. It also usually gets everyone talking about the future. "What do YOU want to do when you graduate?" "What are YOU going to be when you grow up?" "What are YOU going to go to college for?" "How much money do you want to make?" "What career are you going to choose?" "PLAN YOUR WHOLE FUTURE RIGHT NOW!"

Guess what?

I will NEVER ask you these questions.

Ever.

Dear Godchildren, I am not the least bit interested in WHAT you want to be. What you want to DO.
I AM interested in WHO you want to become.

Is there a difference?
Absolutely.

See, you are up against a world that measures success by "accomplishment."  A world that says power, money, prestige, and position define who you are and even define your worth.  That power, position, money, social status, and material gain are what MATTER.

This is a lie.
A BIG FAT LIE.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I could honestly care less if you go to college. If you double major in political science and molecular biology. If you score a job with a huge company and your entry level position brings in six figures. If you own a yacht or fly in a corporate jet. I could care less if you discover a new planet, cure Zika, or win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Because if you aren't doing the Will of God, if you aren't, as JPII said, "Becoming who you ARE" then it doesn't matter. None of those things, by themselves will get you to Heaven. In fact, if being destitute, uneducated and dirty was going to get you to Heaven and all that stuff I just mentioned wasn't, then by golly I want you to be destitute, uneducated and dirty!

The world has it wrong.

It's not about stuff. It's not about accolades. It's not about what or how much you DO. If God has not called you to it, it's not worth it.

When John Paul II said "Become who you are" he wasn't being mysterious. He wasn't being coy.
He understood that when God made you, even before anyone else knew you existed, He knew what would make you the most happy - the most peaceful. This was the beginning of what He wants for you. Because in addition to knowing what would make you the most happy and peaceful, He also knew what the world would need. He knew the kind of person the WORLD would need you to be and to become. Did you get that? The WORLD needs you to "Become Who You Are." God made you for a reason. Firstly because He wants to love you. Forever. Secondly, because He wants you to be with Him in Heaven someday. Thirdly, because He knew the World would need you.  But the world needs who He made you to be. And who He made you to be might not stack up with what the world THINKS you should be.

My Godchildren, I want you to "Become who you are." If that means going to college, go to college. If that means being the person who cures cancer, cure cancer. If it means becoming the Secretary General of the UN, I'll visit you in NYC. If it means becoming the best wife and mother you can be, I'll babysit for you when you need a night off. If that means selling everything you own and begging in the streets for the poor, then I'll help you advertise the yard sale. Become who you are.

There is something ONLY you can do. A purpose God has ONLY for you. Don't get weighed down and confused by the very loud noises this world makes. Listen to HIM. Ask HIM. And if you don't hear Him answer right away, that's OK! This world is noisy! It takes practice to learn how to tune it out of our minds and our hearts. Keep talking to Him. Keep praying. Keep listening. He will lead you.  And while you are waiting on Him to show you who you are, pay attention to your passions. Your talents. Your gifts. He gave them to you for a reason. Not so you can get rich. Not so you can be famous, but because they are part of His plan. Part of what He wants for you and what will give you that happiness and peace. They are like clues God has given you. They will help you to know Him and they will help you to know yourself. And they will help you to change the world for Him.

So, my Godchildren. This is what I want you to know:
I want you to know that I already know without a doubt that God's plan for you - Who You Are and Who You Are to Become - is better, more exciting, and beyond what you could ever imagine. I promise.
I want you to know that all you have to do to Become Who You Are is to Trust Him. And if you don't Trust Him yet, ask Him to help you Trust Him.
I want you to know that I support you. That I will do everything I can to help you figure out and become who you are. (Whether that is quietly praying at home every day like I do now, or something else).
I want you to know that I love you.
And I want you to know that the world desperately needs who He made you to be.
Desperately.
And I am proud of you.

Love,
Your Fairy Godmother