We love Our Lady and we love parties! (keep in mind that TWO sanguines live at the Fiat House). Every Marian feast day provides an opportunity for a Fiat Fiesta!
Tonight, we had the privilege of having dinner with another seminarian friend, Joseph Koczur. We are not always sure of what to feed our beloved brothers in Christ, but we are learning that any hearty red slab of meat is usually a win. Tonight, we decided on a nice summery spread consisting of BLTs and fresh sweet corn. You can’t go wrong with bacon!
But sometimes you can….
We started out the evening in full Fiat Flair (chaos) as the smoke alarm started going off around the time our guest arrived. It was a bit difficult to see Joseph through the haze of smoke, but we managed to keep him safe as Marita ran circles around him while swinging her laptop case at the smoke alarm in efforts to silence the offending noise! Marita learned that in order to make the noise stop, you have to swing your laptop case at the right smoke alarm!
Despite our rocky start to the evening, dinner turned out to be delicious and great conversation ensued!
WOW! Thanks be to God for giving us such beautiful weather, no injuries, and a huge turnout for the Fiat 5K at the Farm!!
You all made it happen by showing up and being so joyful and eager to participate! Thank you!! There were over 200 people there!! And the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus (New Ulm diocese) brought all 11 of their sisters in 3 vehicles! And yes, some of them ran in full habit with their veils flying! Add 1 Benedictine, 4 Franciscans, and 6 diocesan priests, and you’ve got one heck of an event!
Happy Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady, ya’ll!
In preparation for this very holy day (I hope you’re celebrating! Mass is assumed, no pun intended), we here at the Fiat House thoroughly enjoyed throwing out all the titles of Our Lady that we could come up with. We quickly came to realize that we know very few compared to how many there actually are. (Kind of like when you see that billboard that says, “Can you name 5 types of berries?” and you say aloud “Yeah!,” but then can only name three.)
There are just so many to choose from! You can tack anything behind “Our Lady/Mary of the,” be it a virtue, a place, fruit (I’ll get to that one), event, etc. I guess it just means she’s queen of everything.
We have a few favorites that we aleady knew, and here they are with some of the new ones we found:
-Mary, Undoer of Knots (or Untier of Knots). Very popular in Germany I hear, and one that Pope Francis has mentioned before.
– Mary, Seat of Wisdom
– Mother of Good Counsel
– Mother most pure
– Our Lady of Good Remedy
– Comforter of the Afflicted
– Madonna of the Grapes (A piece of art, but perhaps not necessarily a title of devotion widely used)
– Our Lady of Surprises
– Queen of Angels
– Our Lady of Pompeii
The list really does go on and on. You can even find just the right recipe to celebrate a feast day of Our Lady’s, or any feast day for that matter. Assumption Parfaits? You got it. All you need is blue jello and Cool Whip and you have a party. Assumption cupcakes? Of course! They can even be gluten-free!
So, when the day is done, and you’ve gone to mass and eaten your assorted Assumption celebration food, remember how much your mama in heaven loves you. Her one goal: bringing you safe and sound to Jesus.
Find a title for her you love and declare with zest “Pray for us!”
Check out this awesome video on St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Saint of Auschwitz, whose feast day is today!
This clip is from YDisciple.org (it’s part of their young men’s study). You should check out YDisciple.org to learn how to start a teen discipleship group in your parish. When I looked at the team of people who put this program together, I almost fell off my chair! Truly the best of the best! Solid stuff for sure.
Last Thursday’s feast day of St. Dominic gives us the perfect opportunity to write a shout out blog post to the Dominican order. This blog post is a few days late since I (Kristin) was both returning from a trip to Nashville and leaving for my best friend’s wedding on Thursday. But you know what they say, “ its better late than never”…
You may have heard of the Dominican order, but have you ever wondered what they are all about? As you probably know, different religious orders emphasize certain aspects of Christ’s life and work. Dominicans focus on following Christ the preacher who sent his disciples to preach the Gospel to all nations. Dominican spirituality is rooted in the vocation of preaching, and because of this, they are known as the Order of Preachers.
St. Dominic knew that before his friars could preach, they had to know and love what they were talking about so he insisted that his friars be well educated and committed to sacred study. Dominicans are committed to sacred study so they can “give to others the fruits of their contemplation ” and “preach for the salvation of souls.”
The Dominicans were very influential in my life, and I will always be grateful for what they have taught me. During my time at Franciscan University, I went on a spring break trip to visit the Nashville Dominicans. The Lord was doing a lot in my heart during that season in my life and the trip ended up being a gateway into a new chapter in my life.
The Nashville Dominicans were influential both to my vocation discernment and formation as a young college aged woman. They taught me the importance of sacred study and intellectual formation – which was at first intimidating to me since I was more interested in extra-curricular-save-the-world activities than my studies.
After my trip to Nashville I became committed to Sacred Study by reading a portion of the Catechism every day (I was not a Theology Major, so even though I went to Franciscan University, it was still necessary to take the extra step on my own). During this time I experienced a new zeal and wonder for the Gospel and I felt a true desire to “give to others the fruits of my contemplation.”
I was also blessed to be apart of a Dominican Household on campus where we would host sacred study nights. Some of the women from my household who have since graduated are now replicating our sacred study nights by doing awesome things like this:
If you are a young woman in the Church, I would challenge you to begin a commitment to sacred study. You don’t have to start off with some scary latin document, just do what I did: pick up the Catechism and read a few paragraphs each night before you go to bed. We need women in the church who are strong in both mind and heart to effectively minister to the souls entrusted to us.
A few women from our diocese have entered the Dominican orders mentioned above. I had the privilege of seeing one of them, Sr. Ann Therese Wilder, during my trip to Nashville with my family last week. Sr. Ann Therese is pictured below:
Some of my best friends from college and partners in crime have also joined the Nashville Dominicans:
Meet expert pranksters extraordinaire: Sr. Mary Josephine and Sr. John Vianney. Don’t be deceived by their angelic smiles…
It’s providential that today I landed on the youtube video below. I will leave you with this little treat as I end this post:
The Fiat Ladies and one of their favorite seminarians, Gabriel Walz, hopped in their car this morning for an adventure at the Stearns County Fair.
With funnel cakes in hand, the four made their way to the Dairy Show, 4-H Project Building, Middway, and Commercial Buildings (who doesn’t like free stuff?).
Kristin’s sisters were up at the fair with 21 head of cattle! Whew! The girls were busy bees this morning getting their cattle ready for the dairy show.
The Stearns County Fair proved to be another epic day of Fiat Fun 😉
Happy Feast of the Queenship of Mary!
Last Thursday’s feast day of 
Fiat House 