Holy Faith

Novena Day Five.

From the start of this novena, I've eagerly awaited today's Mass. While I've enjoyed the other four, I knew today's Mass would be beautiful. I didn't know how special it would be, most especially for my pastor. Today it was my parish's turn to host the Mass. The choir sang beautifully, the liturgy was beautiful, much of it in Spanish, and finally Father's homily was poignant and touching. His words truly reflected the spirit of what this novena is about. He's from here so he understands the significance of this novena. In his homily, (I'm paraphrasing) but basically he stressed that we have a strong culture, rich with tradition and history here, but what was most important is our faith in God. Faith matters above everything else. He talked about the Blessed Mother, how she guided him and helped him in life, how we can all turn to her and ask for her intercession as she is our mother as well.

This morning the sun was out and shined brightly through the trees and over the altar. I really wish I could capture that on film. It's something best imagined I think. I didn't have my camera this morning. I was bummed out.

Today's Mass also fell on First Friday so we had the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament after the final prayer of the Mass. It was also the anniversary of my pastor's ordination and it was also my parish's day to celebrate Mass, so for those reasons, it truly was special. Today, Our Lady was changed into a new dress made especially for her, it was made to match the new vestment given to our priest for his anniversary. He was recently in Rome and bought a new crown for La Conquistadora and had it blessed by Pope Benedict XVI and she wore it today.

Last year this novena brought me back to my faith and the Church. This year, it's truly helping my faith grow. I'm still struggling with a few things-- maybe I just need to let go and trust God fully and completely.

Anyway, I said above I forgot my camera so having some free time after breakfast with good friends, I went home to get it. I also had a few errands to run. I took Mom and Dad's dog over to play with my dogs, while she cleaned house, I got my camera, my rosary and prayer book and headed back to the chapel for adoration. I'm still a bit perplexed about what one does during adoration-- I just think of it as time sitting quietly with Jesus. I took my prayer book and read a few prayers specifically suited for Eucharistic Adoration and then, some specifically for Mary. I do find a quiet peace there. Today I felt like I was really with Jesus and his mother, Mary. I don't really know exactly how I should pray. Sometimes, I think I do ok and other times, I just don't know what I'm doing. I still hope that in time, I'll have a more fruitful and spiritual prayer life. For now, I'm just going to sit and enjoy the beautiful silence of it all.

Today's Pictures Posted Here.