Saturday Session

The Blessings team is working diligently at preparing the launch of our inaugural issue for spring 2012! 
We are happy to report that our cover shoot was a great success, and we are so thankful who all who came out to help and take part! 

The magazine is coming along beautifully! On this sunny winter morning we are hard at work at piecing together articles, editing photos, and working on layouts! We can't wait to share it with all of you when the snow melts and spring is here! Stay tuned for more sneak peaks from our first issue! 

Our Lady of Grace

A Special Gift Giving Project

Come this spring our first issue of Blessings Magazine will be available, in it we will have a focus on Mother's Day and Our Lady. With this is mind we will be providing some Mother's day gift ideas that you can make yourself!


Here is a great idea that is sure to touch the heart of anyone blessed enough to receive it.


I will use the example of myself and my mom, but you can create this gift for anyone at any time of year. Here's what you do: For every year that your mother has been your mother you write a note, poem, or recall a memory in a letter.  So this mother's day my mom will receive a package that will take her down memory lane with my reflection of the years we have shared.  


Great things to include: Photographs, poems, old cards you have given each other, artwork from your childhood. This list can go on and on, there really are no rules except to get gushy and pack this gift full of love! It would also be a great idea to include a prayer to Our Lady that you say for your mother, or whoever is receiving the gift.


Here's an example of what this DIY Mother's day gift might look like:

Hands

“The Lord has laid his hands upon us and he now wants our hands so that they may become his own in the world.  He no longer wants them to be instruments for taking things, people, or the world for ourselves, to reduce them to being our possession, but instead, by putting ourselves at the service of his love, they can pass on his divine touch.  He wants our hands to be instruments of service, hence, an expression of the mission of the whole person who vouches for him and brings him to men and women.”

Pope Benedict XVI

Benedictus: Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI, Magnificat

All Saints

To learn more of your faith, look to the saints.


Do you know who your patron saint is? Do you have a name saint?

Let me tell you a quick story about my patron saint. I always struggled at school,it caused me a lot of anxiety and even made me depressed because it caused me to feel like a failure. One day I discovered that my patron saint(which means he is the saint for September 18 which is my birthday,) is Saint Jospeh of Cupertino-the patron saint of students! Since I have discovered this small miracle from God I feel like I have been given a personal guardian to help me to cope with my anxieties. Knowing Saint Joe is by my side reaffirms that my schooling and teaching-along with the rest if my lifes actions, are all for the glory of God. 

Take it from me, learn about your saint-God does nothing without a great reason!

Check out more info about St Joseph of Cupertino here:  http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/joseph.htm

Here is a great cite where you can research the many Catholic Saints: http://www.ourcatholicfaith.org/patronsaints.html

 Look for more about saints in the first issue of Blessings Magazine coming soon!

The search for Epic love...

We all want to be loved, we search for it in the eyes of family, friends, spouses, children, co-workers. We long to feel special, to have a place of importance in the lives of people who we share a piece of ourselves with. 
The search to find the one who will love us just as we are, with all of our flaws and unconditionally begins and ends with God the Father, and Jesus the son. David Crowder's lyrics reminds us of the great love we have! On the days when you need to be reminded listen to this song and find comfort and love in the one that loved us first... 

You can listen to the song at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCunuL58odQ&ob=av2e
How He loves
And He is jealous from me, loves like a hurricane, I am a treeBending beneath the weight of His wind and mercyWhen all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictionsEclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You areAnd how great Your affections are for me
And oh, how He loves us, ohOh, how He loves us, how He loves us all
And He is jealous from me, loves like a hurricane, I am a treeBending beneath the weight of His wind and mercyWhen all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictionsEclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You areAnd how great Your affections are for me
Oh, how He loves, yeah, He loves usOh, how He loves us, oh, how He loves usOh, how He loves
And we are His portion and He is our prizeDrawn to redemption by the grace in His eyesIf His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kissAnd my heart turns violently inside of my chestI don't have time to maintain these regretsWhen I think about the way
Oh, how He loves us, ohOh, how He loves us, how He loves allHow He loves
Yeah, He loves us, oh, how He loves usOh, how He loves us, oh how He lovesOh, I love
Yeah, He loves us, yeah, He loves usHow He loves us, oh, how He loves us all

Introducing... Blessings Catholic Magazine

It is our pleasure to introduce you to Blessings Catholic Magazine, a fruit of Women of the Word Toronto. We are today’s Catholic Women; witnesses and professors in faith, dedicated to inspiring devotion, strength, and purpose as true daughters of God.  In our mission we have created an artistic and intellectual magazine to inspire, teach, and grow in faith as a reading community.

We hope that Blessings will provide a message of faith that will open hearts to challenge and empower women in their daily lives.  We want to inspire today’s woman to foster her relationship with God. In the pages of our magazine you will find stories of Catholic witness, ways of putting faith into practice, teachings of the catechism of the Catholic Church, and biblical inspirations. Alongside these messages of faith you will find DIY projects, recipes and other articles that will foster your mind, body and soul. It is our goal to exemplify to the reader the possibility of weaving faith into our everyday lives.