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Hello Reader,

Happy feast day of St Elizabeth of the Visitation. I always love reflecting on the image of Mary running to Elizabeth to tell her the good news and Elizabeth greeting her with her own good news. And then, together, they rejoiced that God had heard their prayers.

With every move or changing season of life, I ask God to grant me an "Elizabeth", a virtuous friend (or friends) with whom I can share life. Someone who, too, has a deep faith, and we can continue to grow in our faith together! Sharing in the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows, the highlights, and even just the everyday stuff. And each time that I ask, God grants me my heart's desires. In fact, this is one of the foundational inspirations behind the apostolate.

If a space is created for women to come together to grow in Faith, then they will be able to be each other's "Elizabeths." St. Elizabeth was described in the Gospel of Luke as "righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments of the Lord blamelessly."

Let us all be an Elizabeth, righteous and observing the commandments of the Lord. Also, may we build a community of "Elizabeths" around us!

This week, we want to highlight the Gratitude Challenge that is featured on our social media this month. We are announcing the Advent Book Pick and providing the details on the upcoming Advent Encounter Event. You can check to see if your parish will be hosting the Advent Encounter Event; if not, it's not too late to get registered!

Let us continue to grow in Faith + Community together.

St Elizabeth, pray for us!

Mary, mother of God, pray for us!

Blessings,

Natalie

Easter Book Pick Living Easter: 50 Days to Practice Resurrection by Laura Kelly Fanucci​ Living Easter will help you fulfill the vision of St. John Paul II, who said, “We are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song!” As the most significant season of the Church year, Easter deserves to be lived well and celebrated fully, and few voices speak more compellingly about Christian joy than Laura Kelly Fanucci, celebrated author and creator of The Holy Labor newsletter and the Mothering Spirit platform. “Living Easter celebrates joy itself as our Resurrection practice,” Fanucci writes. “Taking up joy as a daily discipline teaches us about feasting as a companion practice to fasting: an intentional sacred act that draws us closer to God." PURCHASE HERE

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Lenten Virtual Guest Speaker ​Mallory Smyth is a Catholic Writer and Speaker. She currently has a podcast titled "The Gospel and ...." ​ She has written for Walking with Purpose and Endow in the past and her book "Rekindled" is our January book pick. You can find out more about Mallory here Substack - Podcast

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Advent Encounter Event On the first Sunday night of Advent, you can host this great event at your parish. On November 30th, the virtual guest speaker will go live at 7pm CT/ 6pm MT FIND OUT MORE HERE Parishes Hosting The parishes hosting this year are: ​St. Agnes Catholic Church - Scottsbluff, NE ​Church of the Resurrection - Grand Island, NE ​St. Patrick's Catholic Church,- Chadron Ne​ ​Holy Spirit Catholic Church - North Platte, NE ​St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church - Burlington, CO ​St. Patrick Church, McCook, NE​ St Mary's - Mullen, NE

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March is a special time in the liturgical calendar, as it often aligns with Lent. During this time Catholics are encouraged to deepen their prayer life and engage in fasting and almsgiving. Who better to model this to us as Christians than St Joseph. St Joseph, the earthly father or Jesus and the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is revered as a model of humility, obedience and fidelity to God's will. This month for the Rhythm of Prayer we will pray this prayer to St Joseph as we prepare to celebrate The Solemnity of St Joseph on March 19th.

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Blessings, Natalie & Kristin

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