Holy Spirit

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Quote for the Day: I will abandon myself fully to the Holy Spirit, allowing myself to be led wherever and whenever the Holy Spirit wants, accompanying the Spirit, for my part, with effective and strong resolutions and serious discernment. The Holy Spirit descends upon us with great gentleness, never with a racket. St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Quote from the book, "101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer"

Mother's Day has been very nice so far. I had my mom over for dinner and she seemed to have enjoyed herself very much. On the way back she wanted to know just where she was going to be staying. Seems every time she goes out with me she ends up in a new place to stay! Hmmmm. Then she said she must be getting old because it didn't use to bother her to go to new places. Which is true. And poor mom has been uprooted quite a bit in the last few years... as we find one new place for her to live after another as her dementia progresses. I sure hope this will be the last place for her.. It is so nice.

I have to tell you something sort of funny. I mean actually I find it VERY funny but I don't know if you will. It has to do with my 1000 free book give away. If you remember I told you I heard this small voice when I was in Chapel one day that said.. "Why not give away a 1000 books?" Well, that sounded like an exciting idea - and I discussed it with the sisters and they were fine with that so I had the "okay" to proceed. Then I heard another small voice (and this is the funny part.. because this small voice I am not sure was from God or just by cautious nature) that said, "Gosh, since you are giving away free books ... why not ask those who get one to help promote the book... sort of make it a "condition" for getting a free book?

That sounds logical doesn't it? Good business reasoning and all that. So that's what I did - announcing the Free book Publicity Squad idea. And I easily got 1000 great volunteers.. BUT then.. today I was reading in this book, "Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To" (mentioned this one last week.. but I am going slow with this one..because like I said.. It's sort of scary. I mean its Very, Very, Good.. Just sort of scary for us wimp types.) that Prayer Number Three (or chapter Three) called, "WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?" with the subtitle of "God, Outdo Me in Generosity" is all about Giving. Not with an eye for return exactly .. but giving because no matter how much you try.. God will ALWAYS outdo your generosity. And the thought came to me.... "Hmmmm.... I think you sort of fudged, Sr. Patricia!" I think that first small voice which said "Give" meant with No Strings Attached!"

Well, I don't know. Because I sort of feel the second nudge was okay, and it did feel like it was another Holy Spirit nudge... but sometimes you just don't know.. so anyway I think I better cover my bases because I don't want to be chickening out on God here - which I tend to do quite easily!

So...."If" that second nudge was more of ME than the Holy Spirit than I want to doubly state that you should only promote the book IF you like the book and IF you want to.. but I think I better make it clear... if it doesn't seem like "Your Cup of Tea" to do.. than just enjoy the book and forget it! God will handle the rest.

When I was driving back from taking my mom home this afternoon, I was sort of talking to God about this whole thing and this image came to mind of myself in the boat with the apostles. I see Jesus walking on the water and I brave, courageous soul, say to Jesus. "Lord, I want to walk on the water too!" and Jesus says, "Come!" and Sr. Patricia says, "Uh. let me just put out one little foot on this water stuff and see if it holds me first."

Pentecost - It's almost here!

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Quote for the Day: Satan has in fact a plan against the saints of the Most High which is to wear them out. What is meant by this phrase, "wear out"? It has in it the idea of reducing a little this minute, then reducing a little further the next minute. Reduce a little today, reduce a little tomorrow. Thus the wearing out is almost imperceptible; nevertheless, it is a reducing. The wearing down is scarcely an activity of which one is conscious, yet the end result is that there is nothing left. He will take away your prayer life little by little, and cause you to trust God less and less and yourself more and more, a little at a time. He will make you feel somewhat cleverer than before. Step by step, you are misled to rely more on your own gift, and step by step your heart is enticed away from the Lord. Now, were Satan to strike the children of God with great force at one time, they would know exactly how to resist the enemy since they would immediately recognize his work. He uses the method of gradualism to wear down the people of God. Watchman Nee Quote from the book, "101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer"

Today we had beautiful sunshine... cold....but sunshine. Yeah. Now, its almost eight o'clock and the sun is just spreading across the top of our big maple tree. Almost as if its waving goodbye before night comes.

I am continuing to work on replying to the email requests for the book ( and yes we have reached the1000 limit.. so sorry if you missed it - but the bookkeeper said I absolutely had to quit). Anyway it is a very uplifting thing to do.. because so many say nice things and share thoughts and even prayer requests. Sometimes I get particularly blessed by something someone will include as part of their "signature" or little message at the bottom of their email.

This one I thought was very nice. It's just a thought.. an imagination ...but its nice.

Perhaps they are not stars in the sky...
But rather openings where our loved ones...
Shine down to let us know they are Happy !

Do you like that? I do. It kind of reminds me of one of the stories in the Rosary book when someone was taught by their mother that when the sky was blue.. it was a Hail Mary Sky. Just a little thought trigger to help us remember loved ones or to cheer us up a bit when we are sad and missing someone.

The count down is on for the Presales. Right now you have lots of time.. 20 days... but thought I would just mention it every day.. because .... maybe you are like me... and time goes by much faster than you think!

I have also decided I would offer to autograph books for those who want that. I can only do it through Aunties Bookstore though because that is right here in town.... St. Francis Online Bookstore is in Cincinnati and that's a bit of a trip for signing books! Not sure how many I can do though.... so don't be surprised if I announce that I have reached a limit. Will try and give you a day or two warning if that's going to happen.

http://101prayer.com/autograph.html

Pentecost - It's almost here!

To send today's card:Saint Victor Maurus

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Quote for the Day: Sometimes people ask me this question: "If God does not wish us toask for material things, but for Himself, the Giver of all good, why does the Bible never say: Do not pray for this or that, pray simply for the Holy Spirit? Why has this never been been clearly expressed? 'I reply, Because He knew that people would never begin to pray if they could not ask for earthly things like riches and health and honours; He says to Himself: If they ask for such things the desire for something better will awaken in them, and finally they will only care about the higher things. Sadhu Sundar Singh Quote from the book, "101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer"

I took a little footage of Pi (my parrot) this morning and was going to share that with you.... but when I tried to upload it to the computer said it wasn't in the right format. Don't know what that is about. Always something.

It's definitely Spring and Pi is on the move. Every time I looked around she was out of her "enclosure" and chewing on my shoestrings. Very cute, but I'm always afraid I'm going to step on her or something... so then I bring her up to the desk and she decides I need a few papers shredded and gets busy. The problem is she doesn't care what the paper is, important, unimportant... all the same to Pi... lets get nibbling!

Slowly, bit by bit I am trying to reply to all the wonderful folks who replied to the Publicity Squad - if you haven't heard from me yet... stay tuned.. may take a week yet but we will get there!

Also, THANK YOU to those who sent a few words of endorsement for the books. I will get to you too! Hopefully this side of the moon phase.... but who knows... life keeps getting in the way of plans.

Blessings Of Peace And All Good,
Sister Patricia

P.S. Today I did my program for, "Faith, Hope and Action" on the fly. It was an hour to the time the program was to air and I hadn't done it or even rounded up a person to interview...SO... Sr. Colleen got roped in for the job. It was fun... off the cuff but fun. I will share it with you tomorrow for anyone who wants to listen a bit to what Poor Clare life is like - from another opinion besides myself!

To send today's card: Pentecost - It's almost here!

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Quote for the Day: Christians must lean on the cross of Christ just as travelers lean on a staff when they begin a long journey. They must have the passion of Christ deeply embedded in their minds and hearts, because only from it can they derive peace, grace, and truth. Saint Anthony of Padua Quote from the book, "101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer"

New day, new Video! This is a look at my office. I figured nothing could be more inspiring than looking at my clutter to make you appreciate your own. It will just sort of put everything into perspective for you.

I don't know why the code doesn't seem to make its way through email... so here is the link for you if you are reading this via JoyNotes. [2:40] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlTlpizSsNc

And for those who missed my earlier videos....

Here is 43 seconds of Shelley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk1tCDer_Jo

and [8:12 seconds] of my Mom - which is way too long for anyone I'm sure... but hey, I'm just learning this stuff! My mom is 90 years old and doing pretty good, I think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umvAC4wv3C0 .

Blessings of Peace and All Good,
Sister Patricia

To send today's card: Cinco de Mayo

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Quote for the Day: As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer. Saint Augustine Quote from the book, "101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer"

Just to let everyone know... the presale page is now set up to take online orders. Aunties Bookstore was not set up to give a sliding discount for how may books you order through their online system. Can do it just fine by phone though! Anyway if you want to order books online.... I am now working with St. Francis Bookstore Online. They have been carrying my books from day one, are Franciscan (that always gets extra points) so this is a good fit. More Information

As you can tell - tiny bit by tiny bit I am trying to master this video stuff. Today's lesson I actually managed to delete something! This is very important. Because lots of things in life need to be deleted. The video is very short (thanks to my deletion technique!). It shows Shelley somewhat following directions. What I deleted with great glee was the part where she was not quite getting it. So as a result you have a very short video in which it looks like our dog is really getting it. And she is... just not all the time, consistently ... yet.

It occurred to me the Sacrament of Confession kind of works like that. A little deletion here, a little bit there. and Viola! We don't look so bad!

Here is Shelley... only 42 seconds but enough to give a glimpse of her.

Blessings of Peace and All Good,
Sister Patricia

To send today's card: Cinco de Mayo

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Quote for the Day: To pray is nothing more involved than to open the door; giving Jesus access to our needs and permitting Him to exercise His own power in dealing with them. Ole Kristian O. Hallesby Quote from the book, "101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer"

A nice quiet Sunday - beautiful weather. The first truly nice day of Spring of the Year! Well, maybe the second.. last Sunday was nice too. I was to able to bring my Mom over after Mass today. We had a nice time. Doing nothing. Just enjoying the day. Truly wonderful.

Last Sunday and this one I filmed some bits and pieces of my Mom. If you want to see you can go here. It's nothing fancy. I haven't really learned how to edit anything... so all the blips and upsy daisy shots of the camera when I lost control for a bit are all right there in technicolor.

I am continuing to read Anthony Steven's book, "Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To" and it is wonderful. I have decided I can risk praying that second prayer... asking God to let me be of service to someone else. I guess He is not going to have me jump off the bridge to save someone or at least I hope not. I'm not too good a swimmer.

The book is actually very powerful. I am getting a lot out of it.

Then to make life more interesting... I started reading Anthony's second book at the same time! Actually it "his" first.. but I got it second. It's called, "A Travel Guide to Heaven." Totally good. Totally.

OH! I wanted to ask a favor please. If you have read any of my other books and liked them (don't respond if you didn't) would you mind writing me a few sentences that I could use as endorsement on my web site? To encourage someone who has never heard of them before .. to maybe take the risk of buying one! Please include your name (first will do) and your location...(city, state, country). Thank you so much!

I will post them on the Presale Page and hopefully also use them in other book promotions. You could email them to me at 1srpat@calledbyjoy.com

Blessings of Peace and All Good,
Sister Patricia

The Poor Clare Sisters in Spokane, announce they are starting presales for their latest book, "101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer."

The book is a collection of true stories of answered prayer collected from all over the world. The book also includes quotes, meditations and even cartoons about the Power of Prayer.

The foreword of the book was written by Jerry Usher of Catholic Answers Live .

The Introduction by Bishop William S. Skylstad, Bishop of Spokane.

The book is published by the Sisters in Spokane but distribution is exclusively handled by Saint Anthony Messenger Press after the Presales.

You can find out more information at 101Prayer.com

To send today's card: Saint Athanasius

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Quote for the Day: Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? Corrie Ten Boom Quote from the book, "101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer"

Don't you just love that quote above? I think I should spend the whole day just thinking about that. Is prayer taking you places or only getting you out of places? Hmmm. Very fun.

So, moving on with this subject - I am on the second chapter of "Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To," by Anthony DeStefano. They don't tell you on the back cover of the book.. that this is a SCARY book. It's like, "Oh no, just what I thought! Those ten answers are like "No way am I going to pray those. Are you kidding. How do I get off of this bus?"

The first chapter was okay. It was about asking God to show you his presence. Not with a lightening bolt or a sledge hammer but just opening your eyes to see God's presence. Good chapter. I liked it. I could handle it.

So we moved on to chapter two. It is called, "Why Should I Get Involved?" Hmmm? That should make one a bit nervous - and I was a bit.. but not serious. I started reading. My blood pressure started to rise. I started wrinkling up my forehead and sort of squirmed a bit in my chair. I thought about closing the book and pretending I had never started the chapter but I had this feeling that God was watching me. I was being put on the line.....

Truthfully, I haven't finished the chapter yet. I mean its been a busy day! I've had a lot of things to do. You know. Stuff. Lots of stuff to do. I may read a few more paragraphs. Because, well you have to kind a go slow into this. You don't want to start climbing up the mountain and realize you should of brought along oxygen.

Okay, so look this is what the chapter is about. It's about asking God to "Let you help someone in need."

That's it. Just a few simple words. Help someone in need. You can do that, can't you? What's so scary about that, huh?

Well, I will tell you what is scary about that. We're talking about invading my Comfort Zone! What if helping someone in need - means getting out of my Easy Chair? It's like - can't we just read about this? Can we pray about this?

I knew God was watching me on this one. I mean I could practically feel him laughing as I read those words and my eyes started to bulge out. I knew He really wanted me to pray that way. So I sort of did. It was something like this.

"God, look, you know I am a wimp. I would really like to help someone in need. But I'm like really afraid of what it might cost me. I'm like feeling let's don't get into this too deep, Okay? I will go ahead and pray this... but can we be a little easy here? How about just someone in a "little" need to start off with?

I prayed that this morning. The day went along pretty well. No earthquake. No Flood. No Lightening bolt. Just a normal day. I'm a little nervous about tomorrow.. but I think we will make it okay. I may even get enough nerve to pray that prayer again. Not sure, will keep you posted.

Love and Prayers,
Sr. Patricia

P.S. I know I got the link wrong on the Presales page yesterday. I know that a few of you who tried it out - ended up on a site by Walt Disney called "101 Dalmatians." Because "their" link is 101.com not 101prayer.com - Just a little bit of quick typing there. If you didn't figure it out.. here is the real link. 101prayer.com.

And - last night I taped my radio program, "Faith, Hope and Action." And I sort of cheated. I didn't have a guest. I just had myself and I talked about the book. I read Jerry Usher's Foreword and Bishop William Skystad's Introduction and shared a few stories. If you have tons of time.. like 27 minutes and 30 seconds - you can take a listen. Sr. Patricia - Faith, Hope and Action

Blessings of Peace and All Good,
Sister Patricia

To send today's card: Feast of the Ascension

Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker

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Quote for the Day: Learn to love the Creator in his creation; the Worker in his work. Don't be so fascinated by things created that you forget the One who created them all. St. Augustine Quote from the book, "101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer"

Blessings of Joy and Gladness on this beautiful Feast of the Ascension and the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker.

The day has finally arrived for the Presales of the Book. Since the book was put totally in Mary's hands I felt the month of May would be the perfect time for this. I had forgotten that the first of May was also the Feast of Saint Joseph my second favorite saint.. and then this year of course it is also Ascension Thursday. Pretty packed day. Should be blessings falling all over us!

Here is the page to find out about the Presales if you are interested. For the first few days Aunties Bookstore is requesting that you phone them for your orders until they get everything set up online for us.

I spent the day working on the web page for this so as a result I did not get to any of the "Thank You's" for those who have joined the Publicity Squad. So please don't worry if I didn't get back to you.. I have probably about 650 more to go! I wish I could express how excited I am to have so many respond to this offer - truly grateful. And don't worry for a minute if you think your promotion efforts might be too small... any little mention at all - to anyone is treasured! I ask the Blessed Mother and all the Angels and Saints to bless you as well!

Love and Prayers,
Sr. Patricia

Presales page: http://101prayer.com

To send today's card: Saint Pius V

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Quote for the Day: Make your requests with definite earnestness if you would have definite answers. Aimlessness in prayer accounts for so many seemingly unanswered prayers. Be definite in your petitions. Fill out your check for something definite, and it will be cashed at the bank of Heaven when presented in Jesus' Name. Dare to be definite with God. Annonymous Quote from the book, "101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer"

Well, I've reached an all time high in procrastination in writing the JoyNotes. Sometime back we saw on the news an episode that stated the most uclean place in the whole house was the computer keyboard. And for some strange unknown reason, this evening I started looking at my keyboard to see just how bad it was. And yeah it sort of looked bad. So I took a little paper clip to sort of dig into the depths between the keys to see if there was enough soil down there to plant anything... and I think it was very close. Maybe not a potato patch but I'm sure if I had a few lettuce seeds and a bit of water I could grow something. Isn't that just the lowest of the low? Why do they have things like that on TV for people like me who never knew that there was a life below the keyboard keys? I might need psychological counseling after this.

I bet you are thinking I should spend more time in prayer than disecting computer keyboards, eh? Oh well....its just that these moments of earthly reality sort of sneak in between my bouts of levitation. Sigh.

Last Sunday we started watcing, "Into the Great Silence" the video about the Carthusian monks. Which I have to say we are totally loving. It was too long to finish in one recreation period - so we have been watching about 20 minutes of it a night since then. It is just fascinating. And then somehow the contrast of my being absorbed with a computer keyboard seems a bit much.... but that is how life sneaks in between the cracks. One minute you think you might have a chance at being a bit holy and then something like that hits.

Good thing our God is a forgiving God! A loving God! A God who allows for people who live between the cracks some days or most days perhaps and still maintains constant loving place in his heart for them.

Holiness I think lies more in how much we let God take over our life just as we are.... just where we are than how much we strive of our own merit. Could be wrong of course. If I get to heaven and they won't let me in, I will be sure to come back and let you know on my way down.

At any rate this is what I love about the book I have been working on. The stories come from so many varied and different sources... and the beauty of the stories is that glimpse to see just how powerful God is working in each and everyone of our lives. Just where we are. It's very comforting and very inspirational I think at the same time. It's not how much we struggle - but rather how much we love and let ourselves be loved by God.

Presales Start Tomorrow!

Tomorrow the first of May - the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker is the day I hope to start the presales. This year they will be operated a bit differently in that I am working through our local Independent book store here in Spokane. There are two main reasons for this. The main one is that I honestly believe this is the best book that God has allowed me to do so far and that I hope it will reach a wider audience. By starting off with it in a major Independent bookstore - every time a book is sold it registers in almost every large Independent store in the country. (Technology lives again!) AND I know this is sort of over the top.. but wouldn't it be nice... if a book on prayer actually became a popular book in the secular world?

My hope for this book - which I have put completely into the hands of the Blessed Mother since day one - is that it might be a Missionary book. A book that will touch ordinary people - living ordinary lives and show them just how much PRAYER is surrounding our world. That it will send a message that PRAYER is a bigger force then we often fail to remember.

The second reason for not handling the presales myself - is more of a practical reason. I simply do not have the time and energy to do it well. Every year I seem to lose people's orders, mix up things, lose checks, which is both distressing to the person placing the order and to Me! So it just seemed better to let the "selling" part of the book be in the hands of those who are more suited to that task.

Today, will you please pray that this book will do well? Pray that an angel might be with each and every person who reads these beautiful stories and will be encouraged and strengthened in their life of prayer.

Thank you!

Love and Prayers,
Sr. Patricia