FOCUS and VC blogs

FOCUS has a new blog and Tyler wrote an article about the student-athletes who attended the Spiritual Impact Retreat last month.

You should also check out the Varsity Catholic blog. Tyler writes for this blog about once a week and his latest article is titled "Underage Drinking, Marijuana use, and Conversion."

Okay, one more link. Here are a few testimonies from student-athletes at Loras about the Spiritual Impact Retreat last March.

An Easter Celebration

We had a fabulous time hosting Easter this year with both of our wonderful parents being able to visit us! As it was the first time to Dubuque for Tyler's parents, we showed them around town and our favorite places.

On Saturday after our morning at Panera, a Rappana-family tradition, we drove to Galena, IL and walked down main street.


Tyler and I discovered a new shop we hadn't seen before, Galena Canning Company. We all spent, oh, maybe a half an hour (or more) tasting the samples! That was very yummy.


My dad and I explored and found another river walk! We have our favorite one that is right across from our apartment, although this was a new one I had seen from the bridge. It was short but a beautiful view of the river and town.


We went to Mass Easter morning and then spent the day at home relaxing.

Here's a riddle. Out of six people, five people spent the day watching golf (not counting Frannie, although I'm sure she was watching it too) and one person spent the day baking. Who was the odd one out? That's right...it was me. I am not much of a golf person, although I suppose I could be if I tried because I have become a soccer, basketball, baseball (at times) and football person all in the span of two years. But I was enjoying the time in the kitchen and made a new bread recipe and chocolate chip cookies. The people watching golf were happy I was baking.

We finished the day with a wonderful Easter meal. Tyler cooked steaks and we had one of our teammates over to join us. She brought a delicious carrot cake and mom made a strawberry pie. Needless to say we had plenty of good food that day.



The weekend went by way too fast and we are already trying to plan the next time our parents can be here at the same time! They hadn't seen each other since our wedding almost two years ago. We are so thankful for our parents and the sacrifices they made to spend Easter with us!

Divine Mercy Sunday

This Sunday, April 15 is the Feast of Divine Mercy.




Jesus revealed to Saint Faustina,
“My daughter, look into the abyss of My mercy and give praise and glory of this mercy of Mine. Do it in the way: Gather all sinners from the entire world and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. I want to give Myself to souls; I yearn for souls, My daughter. On the day of My feast, the Feast of Mercy, you will go through the whole world and bring fainting souls to the spring of My mercy. I shall heal and strengthen them.” (Diary 206)

Jesus says we should not be afraid to approach Him for mercy and forgiveness. He told Saint Faustina, "My Secretary, write that I am more generous toward sinners than the just. It was for their sake that I came down from heaven; it was for their sake that My Blood was spilled. Let them not fear to approach Me, they are most in need of My Mercy." (Diary 1275)

So I invite you all to run to Jesus and beg of Him to take you into his most Merciful Heart! This Sunday is a day like no other. Jesus said "On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet." (Diary 699)

What do we have to do to receive this great Mercy? It is so simple! Jesus told Saint Faustina that on the Feast of Divine Mercy the person that goes to Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Confession "shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment." Meaning, every past sin of our entire lives plus the punishment due to the sin, will be completely forgiven. Therefore, if we were to die the next day, we would go straight to Heaven. (If confession is not possible the day of, it should be as close to the day as possible. Saint Faustina went on the Saturday before Divine Mercy Sunday.)

Jesus is begging us to come to Him. Again he said to Saint Faustina, "Let the sinner not be afraid to approach Me. The flames of mercy are burning Me—clamoring to be spent; I want to pour them out upon these souls.” (Diary 50)

How can we refuse to go to Jesus when He desires to pour out his mercy upon us?

To read more about Saint Faustina and the Feast of Divine Mercy, please visit

http://divinemercy.org/feast.html
Images from: http://www.marypages.com/FaustinaEng.htm

Loras Antioch Retreat

Tyler and I had the opportunity to go on a second retreat this month. It's been a crazy few weeks! Campus Ministry puts on several retreats each year and each semester they have an Antioch retreat. (I went on a similar retreat called Koinonia at the University of Nebraska when I was in college so the retreat brought back some great memories for me!)

The retreat was lead by students and Tyler and I had the privilege of giving a talk on Sunday morning about community. We talked about the community of the Catholic Church and started with the commercial from Catholics Come Home (please watch it if you haven't seen it, it's awesome: http://www.catholicscomehome.org)

We didn't get a picture of us giving a talk, but here we are with our respective small groups. My group was the "Holy Cows" and we were excited to have our picture taken by the cow...


This is Tyler's group during a skit. Forgot what they were doing but it was funny...


We are so thankful to be able to reach out to students and share our lives with them! It's such a joy.