Author Archives: Paul and Anna Albert

“Behold Your Mother” – John 19:26-27

By | September 12, 2012

“The Virgin Mary. . . is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the redeemer. . . She is ‘clearly the mother of the members of Christ’ . . .” – CCC 963 I have recently recommitted for about the 20th time in my journey with Christ to pray a daily rosary, but this time is very different. I’m entering this commitment with a new found respect and honor for our Blessed Mother. I don’t know what took so long for me to figure it out but Mary had a very important role in

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I Love Priests

By | July 12, 2012

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For the past month or so, the Lord has been placing an extreme gratitude on my heart for our priests. With each Mass I attend, every time I receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or when I enter a church and pray before the tabernacle, I am just moved with a spirit of thanksgiving. Some of my most profound times with the Lord have been in the Sacraments. Those times are only made possible because some guy decided to die to himself and give his life completely to the Lord and to the service

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Beaten and Tortured

By | April 25, 2012

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From now on, when I hear about Jesus’ death, whether it’s someone talking about it, during mass, or while reading scripture, I want to pause and really reflect on what that means for me. I want to take it more seriously, to be moved with pity for those who took part in crucifying Jesus, and to realize how much I am loved. Jesus would have done what He did if you and I were the only people on earth. He even did it for those who killed Him!

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4th week of Lent…Recommit

By | March 23, 2012

So it’s the fourth week of Lent, and you’ve passed the halfway mark. You might find yourself slipping on some of those things you committed to, like not eating sweets, praying more, reading Scripture, giving up Facebook, or watching less TV. It’s ok. I’ve slipped a few times as well. The good news is that “God’s love endures forever” (Psalm 136). There’s no need to beat yourself up over it. There’s still about three weeks until Easter, so now is the time to recommit. • Pray about

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Be the Hemorrhaging Woman!

By | January 28, 2012

I thought I had a pretty good prayer life, but I came to Covecrest and all my time spent in prayer felt really dry, like I was getting nothing out of it. You’re not always supposed to feel something in prayer, but I could tell something was off. Every now and then, I have a profound moment with God, but I was longing to feel more personal and intimate with Him. I say Jesus is my best friend, but I wasn’t saying much to Him! Think about your best friend or someone important to you. You’d do

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Imitating St. Joseph

By | January 13, 2012

The year 2011 started well, midnight Mass with my Cardinal Archbishop at St. Leonard Church in the North End of Boston. This was a great way to start off what would be an eventful year. I entered the year with an important decision: when would I propose to my girlfriend, Anna? With lots of prayer, I decided on a date to pop the question that would forever change my life: March 6th, it’s the feast of her confirmation saint so I figured that would help me out a little. Thankfully, she said yes!

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Slowly Letting Go of My Pride

By | December 16, 2011

Right before Advent began, all of the missionaries had a “desert day”: from after morning prayer until 5pm mass, we were silent, spending time alone in prayer and reflection. To be honest, when I found out about the “desert day,” I was overwhelmed thinking of all of the things I needed to get done, like updating this blog, but I decided not to, knowing that I could actually really use a day of silent reflection. After a few hours of praying at home, I decided to go for a walk to the waterfall

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You Are My Beloved

By | October 29, 2011

We are currently reading a book by Henri J.M. Nouwen titled The Return Of The Prodigal Son.  He is a well renowned author, a former Harvard professor, and a Catholic priest. The first few chapters of this book discuss the idea of being God’s beloved. In formation Tuesday morning, we were asked to focus and journal on this same concept of being God’s beloved. We were instructed to enter into dialogue with God and to start that dialog with God saying, “You are my beloved.” I was extremely

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Healing or Haiti?

By | October 19, 2011

Before Paul and I moved to Covecrest, a friend of ours named Jon, who had also been a Life Teen missionary, called Paul on the phone.  I overheard Jon telling Paul that he’s excited for us to be going to Covecrest and that he believed that I would receive healing that I needed while at Covecrest. When I heard that, I immediately got upset and thought “How dare he say I need healing?” Fast forward two months: We arrived at Covecrest and I was immediately overwhelmed with lots of questions running

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