Letting Go...Again!

You know the saying...'you can't take it with you!' It usually precedes an extravagant purchase of yet another handbag with matching shoes or a

recreational trip to the casino. But, I'll never forget when the phrase took on real meaning for me.

It was the day my mother died. 

She was a woman who loved nice things with every suit that she ever owned hanging neatly in her walk in closet long after she retired. She had a habit of neatly keeping track of all of her beloved possessions from Hummels to teddy bears. Did I mention, she was a collector?

But on her last day, none of those things mattered or were even remembered for dementia had erased so many things and precious memories. Still, her greatest possession and treasure of all filled the room that day, even if she wasn't aware of it. It was the gift of love that God restored between us. 

After so many years or strife, pain and misunderstanding in our relationship a miracle of mercy erased it all and replaced it with the golden currency of forgiveness through grace. 

It's the heavenly treasure that was stored up and waiting to be received all those years. And in the end, it enriched us in ways that I never even inagined. 

I pray that you open your arms...and your heart to receive that kind of treasure because you can take it with you such that you will never be wanting again.

NEW YEAR~~ RENEWED PURPOSE

2010 Promises to be a breakout year for many. It will be challenging for those brave souls who are choosing to step out of the comfort zones of their ordinary lives and embrace a life driven by the Holy Spirit and filled with renewed purpose and joy. There has never been a better time than RIGHT NOW to pursue a "higher calling" whatever that may mean for you.

For some, it means stepping out in radical trust to embark on a healing journey, hand and hand with the Lord.
for another it could be

Realizing a life long dream by applying the discipline, faith and gifts to get it done.

for you it could be that you need a new way of thinking, a better means of coping or an empowered strategy to change self defeating patterns into life-giving and self satisfying ways of relating to yourself, your God and others!

2010 can be YOUR YEAR to realize your spiritual calling and potential.
No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, the HOLY TRINITY is
right there with you and all together~~ YOU ARE A POWERFUL TEAM!

It would be an honor and a blessing to accompany you on that journey!
Pray, Pray and Pray and then check out my website at
www.charismatacoaching.com

Remember... Your life is God's most precious gift to you... what you do with it is your gift to Him!!

Peace, Anne Costa

Oh Lovely Lent! This is the time of year when we are reminded of whence we came
(from dust) to where we are going ( back to dust) and then on to our final destination ( by God's grace)onto our HEAVENLY HOME! When I think of spending all of eternity in the presence of our Lord...it takes my breath away! I know how overwhelmed with wonder and awe I become when I am praising Him and adoring HIm here on earth... I can't imagine what it will be like to join all of the angels and saints in heaven and to partake of the heavenly banquet. The Lord tells us that the Father has a room prepared for each one of us. Have you ever contemplated what that room will look like? How will it be decorated? What will it feel like to be there? When Jesus enters into that room, what will it be like?

This morning there was a hint of Spring in the air and I heard amidst the still naked branches of my backyard tree, a bird's song. It was beautiful, light, lyrical, joyful sound that pierced the early morning silence with HOPE! I was reminded that GOD prepared us a garden of pradise once and we threw it all away... but that we have a second chance to enter into His perfection, thanks to Jesus.
Christ.

The Season of Lent prepares us to get closer to that room that awaits us in the Presence of Almighty God. While all things shall pass away, we can be assured that God is waiting patiently and wants nothing more but for us to join him in a place that will last forever.... Let's use Lent to reflect on just how much we want that too and if we are not sure let's pray to the Lord for the desire to want Him and Heaven more than anything else on earth. AMEN!

Here's a beautiful prayer I found today:

O Lady of Mental Peace,
Mother of tranquility and
Mother of hope, Look upon me
in this time of my weakness and unrest.

Teach my searching heart to
know that God's love for me
is unchanging and unchangeable; and that
true human love can only being and grow
by touching His love.

Let your gentle peace- which this world
cannot give- be always with me. And,
help me to bring this same peace into
the lives of others.
Our Lady of mental peace, pray for me!
Amen

His Sacred Life...

This is a beautiful picture of Christ... the whole story of his life is contained in it. The sacrifice he made for us, the life he gives us, the love that he shares with us... we are so blessed as Catholics to have the fullness of the Truth in the Blessed Sacrament. It seems that the Holy Spirit is moving me to use this blog as a place to glorify and proclaim the beauty of the Eucharistic Presence of Our Lord in our midst... It is full joy to do that. I could write all day long about the glorious graces that pour out from the monstrance. If you have not ever gone to the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament... I would urge you to do so. You will be touched and transformed from the inside out!!

The New Year is Here...

And it is my sincere hope that it will be a better year than last. The stress of the first holiday without my father was almost unbearable. I found myself coping with deep grief that came upon me swiftly and suddenly. It was horrendous. Nobody can prepare you for the loss of a loved one and how it impacts you mentally, physically and spiritually. The new year comes like a big deep breath and I am trying to keep positive and anchored in hope.

As someone who suffers from depression, it is not always easy. I grow impatient with myself. I bemoan my lack of energy and enthusiasm... as I am genetically predisposed to depression, my inner spirit is nevertheless, one of optimism and unbounded resiliency. If it weren't so, I wouldn't be here now... Most of the time, I am a deeply engaged person who enjoys life to the fullest--- except when my brain chemicals crash the party.

Thank God for faith, thank God for all those saints and sinners who have gone before me who have carried the same cross. I have learned so much from them and I am grateful. And thank God for medication and skilled therapists who listen from the heart. I believe that God gives us many helps in carrying our crosses and that it is our responsibility to take full advantage of them. Therefore, I have greatly benefitted from all of the above but nothing more than the help of the Sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church.

Just this morning I visited a local Dominican monestary where I had the beautiful priveldge of adoring our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. What a joy! What complete rest I receive in his presence. There is no greater way to renew one's spiritual strength and hope. His presence washes over you as you kneel before him. It is all I can do to hold myself back from throwing myself on my face before him in complete surrender. With Jesus I feel safe and complete.

Another step into the cyber system...

I am stepping into the blogging world with one intrepid toe, not quite sure what I am getting into. Maybe this will be just me talking to me, which is fine with me because I talk to myself all the time!

Life is on fast forward these days.... I am busy promoting my first book, Refresh Me Lord!: Meditations to Renew a Woman's Spirit and seeking to launch a speaking ministry called CHARISMATA COACHING... All of this while working full-time as a Development Director and before all of that... I am my daughter's mother and my husband's wife... and my mother's only daughter.... My father just passed away 3 months ago after a long struggle with pulmonary fibrosis which is an excrutiatingly difficult disease of the lungs.

Caring for him in his last weeks was one of the greatest gifts I could have been given, as difficult as it was to see him suffer and struggle to breathe. I cherish the time that we spent on his "via dolorosa." Prayer sustained us all. I believe that the Blessed Mother is always near when her children are suffereing and especially at the end of life and I can honestly say that I felt her presence and the strength of her graces.

If anybody reading this is a caregiver of someone who is dying, I want to say... pray without ceasing in whatever manner that you can. Sometimes a prayer is a sigh, or a tender touch, sometimes a prayer is a quiet tear or the holding of a hand. Sometimes a prayer is a scream of exasperation, sometimes a prayer is a fitful night sleep... just offer it all to Jesus. He knows what you are going through. He and his mother have been there.

Now life is busy but not too busy to grieve. Honor your grieving as you honor the memory of your loved one. Your season of sorrow will pass but not too swiftly. We experience the pain of loss in stages, like waves that crash and then subside, only to return, with a different constellation of emotions. Everyone of them is necessary and "good" in the sense of being a part of what it means to say goodbye to someone we so dearly loved.