— 1 —

I’m discerning whether or not to wear a veil to mass. While my initial reaction was negative after reading a blog post about a project to wear veils throughout Advent, my heart truly wants to. My main drawback is that I may be drawing attention to myself by doing so, which is the opposite of what I’m trying to accomplish. But I LOVE the idea of a veil as a form of humility, adoration and submission to our Lord. Would you wear a veil to mass?

— 2 —

The winter season is here! It’s snowing  here in Indianapolis and it’s starting to feel like Christmas! The kids actually had a 2-hour delay today and got to play in the yard with their snow gear and sleds. I always love the first couple snows, then get tired of the mess. 🙂

— 3 —

I want to go to the Holy Land! I’d never had the inclination until I began reading Father Mitch Pacwa, S.J.’s “The Holy Land: An Armchair Pilgrimage.” This book literally walks you geographically step by step, just like you were there, to all the key sites and gives wonderful insight, readings and prayers for each location. It made me realize the importance of understanding the setting where Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the apostles lived to get a more full understanding of the Gospels.

— 4 —

I recently finished reading “God’s Bucket List” by Teresa Tomeo, who is my favorite person to listen to on the radio in the morning and I also do some freelance PR work for her. Everyone should read it! She is so funny and in a great way gets across the point that everything we do in life should be at God’s prodding and not because of our own selfish, earthly desires. The book is really about discerning your vocation in life and putting God’s to-do list at the top of your own to-do list. 🙂 Highly recommend it.

— 5 —

Advent… I love this season, but I have not done a very good job with doing any traditional activities aside from the Christmas tree and decorations. Last year, we did a family prayer each Sunday as we lit the Advent candles. It has been so busy around here workwise I feel like I can barely come up for air! What are your special Advent traditions?

— 6 —

Has everyone entered the Catholic Book Bonanza I’m hosting with Teresa Tomeo and Patti Armstrong? Teresa is giving away 15 different Catholic books from authors like Randy Hain, Matthew Kelley, Dan Burke, herself, Johnnette Benkovic and lots of others. Contest closes on Monday, Dec. 9.

— 7 —

Excited to begin reading the Gospels in a Year with the team over at Flocknote! Last year I got their free daily email to read the Catechism in a Year. I switched to the Gospels this year, which starts Monday. I love this service because it sits in my inbox as an email every day and I can read while waiting in line or during other down time on my phone. I think it’s a great goal for 2014 to read the entire Gospel.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

If you’re anything like me, you love to read! Since I became interested in Catholicism and converted, the stack of Catholic books on my shelf is sky high — with many unread — but I just can’t resist buying new ones that pique my interest. If I’m any kind of an addict, it’s for books. They are always the one thing when we clean out our house, I just can’t stand to give away. 🙂

So here is a great new contest from the team at Teresa Tomeo Communications, run by the fabulous Catholic TV and radio show host Teresa Tomeo. As a part of the team who promotes various Catholic authors, organizations and projects, we’re giving away 15 awesome Catholic books from authors like Teresa, Dan Burke, Randy Hain, Matthew Kelly, Al Kresta, Father Mitch Pacwa and more. Plus, you have a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card to purchase whatever you’d like this Christmas. It’s Teresa’s gift to you and a way to share some of her favorite Catholic writers.

There are a bunch of ways to enter and the more you do, the better your chances to win. Browse the list below and choose which ways (or all ways!) you’d like to enter. Be sure to complete your entries before Dec. 9 (and there are a few entries you can do daily that involve promoting the contest to your network) when the contest closes. Then we will announce the winners on Dec. 10 via social media and by contacting you via the email you submit.

If there’s a particular book you’re interested in, note that in your entry or be sure to complete the Answer a Question entry that asks which book you’d like to win. Complete contest rules are available at TeresaTomeo.com. That’s it! Go enter below and good luck!

Prizes:

• $50 Amazon Gift Card
• “God’s Bucket List” by Teresa Tomeo
• “The Holy Land: An Armchair Pilgrimage” by Father Mitch Pacwa, S.J.
• “These Beautiful Bones” by Emily Stimpson
• “Something More” by Randy Hain
• “Dangers to the Faith” by Al Kresta
• “Navigating the Interior Life” by Dan Burke
• “The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic” by Matthew Kelly
• “Real Men Pray the Rosary”  by David Calvillo
• “Big Hearted” by Patti Armstrong and Theresa Thomas
• “Dear God, I Don’t Get It” by Patti Armstrong
• “Pope Francis” by Matthew Bunson
• “A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms” by Lisa Hendey
• “Experience Grace in Abundance” by Johnnette Benkovic
• “Mission Libertad” by Lizette Lantigua
• A Mass Journal from Dynamic Catholic

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Traveling to the Holy Land has never really been on my dream to-do list. My grandparents were blessed to go there before they passed on and had a wonderful time and my dad was even recently talking about a trip, but it’s never held much appeal for me. I think of it as a dry, barren place with much conflict, and while I wouldn’t mind seeing the places where Jesus walked, there were just too many other beautiful places I’d rather go.

Recently, I was asked to review a new book entitled “The Holy Land: An Armchair Pilgrimage” by one of my favorite priests, Father Mitch Pacwa, S.J. Father has led almost 60 trips to Israel and is an expert on the Holy Land and its Catholic significance. I love to listen to him on Catholic Answers radio, because he is such a humble guy and he is wonderful at explaining the complexities of the Catholic faith in terms that make sense to me. So I was delighted to take a look!

As soon as I opened this book, I was entranced! It’s a lovely hardcover book full of heavenly photography that gives you a wonderful sense of place. It didn’t take too many pages before I realized why I should care about visiting the Holy Land: You can’t truly understand the Bible without an understanding of the context in which it’s written.

Don’t you gloss over all the names of towns and mentions of geographical places and details when reading the Bible? I do! I thought, “Eh, that’s not important, it’s WHAT Jesus is saying that is important.” But after reading Fr. Mitch’s book, I realized I was missing a giant component that could greatly help my comprehension of the scriptures.

Let me give you an example. In the Bible when “The Visitation” is described, it says “Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judea.” As we meditate on this mystery during the rosary, we should consider how Mary felt as she made this journey. You can only truly do this with a knowledge of the time and place where this occurred.

In Fr. Mitch’s book, he takes you to the actual “hill country” that is referenced and explains how “hilly” it really is. Says Fr. Mitch in his book, “The climb up the driveway [to Elizabeth and Zechariah’s property] is a bit strenuous, causing one woman on a pilgrimage to say, ‘You mean she came up here pregnant?'” Can you imagine Mary pregnant, riding a donkey and climbing up a hill — in haste no less? How’s that for food for thought?

In his book “The Holy Land: An Armchair Pilgrimage,” Fr. Mitch leads you step by step through each geographic region of the Holy Land, taking you to all the key landmarks. In his wonderfully conversational writing, he explains the importance of each location, takes you on a verbal tour of the area and offers a prayer or bit of scripture for reflection. Each section is also accompanied by beautiful photography so you can imagine what it’s truly like to be there.

In  many places, Father cleared up some facet of Catholicism I didn’t understand or revealed to me some obvious connection I’d never made by explaining the geographical importance. But he’s just good at that :).

This book is the next best thing to actually traveling to the Holy Land, because let’s face it, for many of us, budgets just don’t allow for it. Maybe someday… but this is as good a start as any. It would also make a great companion if you really are traveling to the Holy Land. You could read the scriptures at each place, learn about the location, reflect on his words and pray the prayers Father has composed.

Guess what? Now, I’m dying to travel to the Holy Land! Thanks Father Mitch :).

See more travel articles on my FamiliesTravelFree.com website.

Trying to give your live over to God? Start by taking at look at your bucket list! It’s probably filled with trips, challenges, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences, but is God on there?

Teresa Tomeo‘s new book “God’s Bucket List” is a fun and entertaining way to help you start to focus less on self and more on God and begin the process of letting go and letting God! Available on November 5, the book considers what if God had a bucket list for each one of us and if he did, what would be on it?

Tomeo, who is the popular host of Catholic Connection on Catholic Radio weekdays at 9 a.m. and of the Catholic View for Women currently in its third season on EWTN (airs Wednesdays at 11 p.m.), takes a light-hearted yet thoughtful look in her latest book at the idea that we need to toss our own to-do list and start to follow God’s. She describes here in the introduction to the book the concept behind “God’s Bucket List“:

“…What if we suppose that besides all these things that you want to do in your life before you pass on to the next, God has a bucket list for you, an agenda of adventures He wants you to experience, ways of living before you die? … This book is about that what if question. This book is also about, well, me and my struggles to figure out what God might want from me before I kick the proverbial bucket. I tell the stories that follow in the hopes that there may be something in my life that mirrors your own and that I can be a helpful hand during uncertain times or a warm smile when you feel like life might be getting the best of you.”

In this book, filled with personal stories from Tomeo that will likely make you laugh out loud (if you listen to her on the radio or watch her on TV, you’ll hear her voice shine right through!), she shares her own struggle to hand God the keys to her life. She had always dreamed of being a successful television journalist since she was a child (you could say it was her No. 1 Bucket List item), and in the first 20 years of her career, she fulfilled that dream. But God had other plans for her.

She lost her prominent anchor position in Detroit and was forced to rethink her life. While she did return to her Catholic roots with help from her husband, she still felt herself hanging on to control about what SHE wanted to do with her life. She says, “If God was still driving this bus, it was time for me to really let go of the wheel.”

When she did, she ultimately found herself as a Catholic journalist, speaker, author and evangelizer, successful beyond anything she could have dreamed with national radio and TV shows, the author of numerous books  and a sought-after speaker around the country. She even recently participated in the Pontifical Council for the Family at the Vatican as an invited speaker and ate her meals in the dining hall just a few tables over from Pope Francis. Wow!

Tomeo says in the book that if we take a moment to think about what’s on our personal bucket list, most of these items are about sensation and pleasure and ME. Where is the spiritual side of things? It’s time to stop thinking about what I want and instead consider and discern what God wants. There we will find abundance beyond measure. She says, “The key to this grand way of living life is submitting to God’s version of fulfillment and abundance instead of insisting He bless, approve and put the final stamp on our version of things.”

Letting go and giving my life over to God is something I’ve recently come to terms with after choosing to Consecrate myself to Jesus through Mary. In doing so, I basically turned my life over to Mary, who will in turn guide me in doing her Son’s will in all things and also lead me in the quickest, most efficient way to Him.

This is not an easy thing to do, but I can tell you the peace and joy it has brought me is beyond measure. There is just something about letting go of control and handing the reigns over to someone else (God and our Blessed Mother, no less) that takes away so much stress. Even when bad things happen, you can say to yourself, “OK, Mary/God, you’re in control, so I know this is your doing and it’s happening for a reason. Give me courage and steadfastness to follow your path.”

I’ve tried to stop focusing on me quite so much, ie “I want to do this; I don’t want to do this” or what makes me feel good or bad, and instead try to remember I’m here to do God’s will, not please myself. It truly relieves much stress and disappointment, as you can let go of feelings like “I didn’t get what I wanted!,” and brings greater fulfillment. But it’s a process to get there and truly let go, and “God’s Bucket List” is a good way to light that fire within you.

In the book, Tomeo lists 8 bucket list items that might be on God’s bucket list for us, including:

• Live with Stillness
• Live your Passion
• Live with Instruction
• Live in the Mess
• Live with Understanding
• Live by Confession
• Live the Good Life
• Live like You’re Loved

See anything you need to work on? I plan to delve into these a little more in detail down the road and share my experience with them in my first year of being Catholic.

One last note, the book has a special offer available through 10/31/13. If you buy one, you get a second copy free. It’s a great reason to get one for yourself and then share one with a friend or family member. It would make a great gift or even a book group selection. You can take advantage of the deal here.

What do you think would be on God’s bucket list for you? Give it some thought :); it’ll change your perspective!

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