Empty Nest, Full Heart — Sweet Tweets for 9/29/14

Yes, it’s Monday and I’m just getting around to compiling our Sweet Tweets. Go ahead and call me a slacker…

A week ago, we left home in a rented vehicle loaded to the gills with boxes and musical instruments and drove North. The college Sophomore was delivered to his off campus apartment. The boxed furniture from Walmart was assembled. Mom tried to avoid being to bossy about where to put what.

The goodbyes were said – Dad said goodbye. Mom hugged for too long and didn’t say anything because she couldn’t pass words over the boulder-sized lump in her throat without bursting into tears.

The rental vehicle, somehow still filled with stuff that didn’t fit into the apartment, drove two hours North to Vancouver, Washington.

Mom was somewhat distracted by joyfully participating in an amazing conference alongside 300 awesome women and the incomparable Danielle Bean and Teresa Tomeo. I recommend that if you have to do something emotional, you try to find a way to go to a retreat or conference immediately afterwards. It helps keep things in perspective.

Mom and Dad woke up Sunday morning and drove the thirteen hours home. To be precise, Dad drove, and Mom slept, and slept, and cried and slept. She did none of the work she’d taken along. She just looked out the window, prayed, and slept.

Today, Mom woke up as Dad was leaving for work. The house feels quite empty. The “to do” list feels quite daunting. And the heart feels quite full.

Full of emotion.
Full of blessings.
Full of thoughts about what the next few months will hold.
Full of gratitude.

For now, it’s time to put my head down and go back to work. I’m so happy for John Clem, who kept track of all that this Mom missed last week. It’s time to get busy…

As always, I’m grateful to John Clem, O.F.S. for compiling our Sweet Tweets:

• Papal Tweet: “Jesus understands our weaknesses and sins; and he forgives us if we allow ourselves to be forgiven.” (Pope Francis Sept. 25th)
• Vatican astronomer: Just a matter of time until life found in universe (CNS) ow.ly/BI0g2
• Bishop Cupich named to succeed Cardinal George as Chicago archbishop | CNS Blog ow.ly/BIwDw
• Blase Cupich in America | (Fr. Jim Martin, S.J. – America Magazine) ow.ly/BIDpA
• Feast of St. Pio of Pietrelcina | Saint of the Day | AmericanCatholic.org ow.ly/BOHfL
• Pope Francis establishes Commission to reform marriage annulment process (Vatican Radio) ow.ly/BIBCy
• Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has stressed how important the elderly are for society (Rome Reports) ow.ly/BICtR
• Tech Tip: How to use Apple’s iOS 8 (FREE), the complete guide – CNET ow.ly/BJQPt + compatibility graphic ow.ly/i/6Xr9A  (Note: 8.0.2 released today with fixes reported in media)
• Blessing and resources to all catechists for Catechetical Sunday 2014 (USCCB) ow.ly/BJSOB
• Pope Francis’ visit to Albania. InfoGraphic by CNS. ow.ly/i/6WViR
• Pope Francis to Albanians: fly high but don’t forget the past (Vatican Radio) ow.ly/BJSwp
• Pope to Albania’s faith leaders: religion is source of peace Vatican Radio ow.ly/BJV4k
• Pope Francis weeps as he honors Albania’s Martyrs | America Magazine ow.ly/BLGCb
• The Feasts – New Book from Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Mike Aquilina – (Archdiocese of Washington) ow.ly/BLWOA
• Catholic Archdiocese of Washington marks 75th anniversary – Washington Times ow.ly/BMqK1
• 400K Marchers in NYC hope grass-roots action shows urgent need for climate solution (CNS) ow.ly/BNa7i
• Google Maps Has Been Tracking Your Every Move, And There’s A Website To Prove It | Junkee ow.ly/BNaBZ
• U.S. Bishops Affirm Power of Prayer for Israeli-Palestinian Peace Following Pilgrimage to Holy Land (USCCB) ow.ly/BNbsx
• Pope Francis’ message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees: “A Church without frontiers, mother to all” (News.va) ow.ly/BOHWx
• Maybe Francis isn’t after a lurch to the left, but a new balance | (John Allen – Crux) ow.ly/BOP98
• 3 Fascinating, Rare Videos of St. Padre Pio, the 20th Century Stigmatist | ChurchPOP ow.ly/BOPUx
• VIDEO: Father Jonathan Morris on Dealing with Sadness & Depression (Christopher Closeup – Patheos) ow.ly/BOSBC
• Pope names five women to International Theological Commission (CNS) ow.ly/BOVXg
• Maybe your church can show good films with NEW EchoLight Cinemas ow.ly/BS6i1
• Biodiversity and the world economy – (CNS) ow.ly/BS72q
• Our Lady of Walsingham (Faithful Traveler – Patheos) ow.ly/BScpN
• Vatican to UN Summit: Climate Change is man-made and man’s responsibility (Vatican Radio) ow.ly/BSAGw
• The Catholic Church and Global Climate Change | (Catholic World Report) ow.ly/BSLer
• Pax Christi leaders alarmed that airstrikes will aid ISIS recruiting (CNS) ow.ly/BSTVo
• Couragio! A brief refutation of our cultural fear of being against things. « Archdiocese of Washington ow.ly/BTn0V
• 3 Things Catholics & Our Churches Can Learn from that Epic @DiGiornoPizza #TwitterFail (Lisa Hendey – Patheos) ow.ly/BV3Yt
• Nun who won Italy’s ‘The Voice’ records first album :: Catholic News Agency (CNA) ow.ly/BVwFR
• NEW Logo for Servant Books of Franciscan Media | American Catholic Blog ow.ly/BUx1d ow.ly/i/70me2
• 15 Fun Facts from Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s FBI file – CNA Blog ow.ly/BT1KR
• Hosting date nights a way for parishes to help couples keep bond strong (CNS) ow.ly/BOXFc
• Popeball: Pope Francis’ baseball moment | CNS Blog ow.ly/BVC9o
• Holy Cuteness! Rare Photos of 12 Saints as Children | ChurchPOP ow.ly/BPcsK
• Catholic Cuisine: Recipes for October ~ Month Dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary ow.ly/BY7SM
• 13 Insightful Maps of U.S. Religion | ChurchPOP ow.ly/BYAcR
• The tattooed feminist Catholic who chooses conscience over catechism | National Catholic Reporter ow.ly/BZNBo
• Pope Francis celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Restoration of the Jesuits in Rome (Rome Reports) ow.ly/C19Fr
• Pope Francis: Synod prayer to Holy Family (Vatican Radio) ow.ly/C19LR
• Pope Francis: meeting with elderly in St Peter’s Square (News.va) ow.ly/C2nxM
• Video:  Pope Francis at meeting with the elderly: “Violence against the elderly is inhuman” (Rome Reports) ow.ly/C30WZ
• Julian’s Problem with Evil – Julian’s  Voice (Veronica Mary Rolf – Listening to Julian of Norwich) ow.ly/C2W4l
• Celebrate Consecrated Life! – Year of Consecrated Life Nov. 2014 to Feb. 2016 (USCCB) ow.ly/C30q8
• Today is the Feast of the Archangels Sts. Michael, Gabriel & Raphael | AmericanCatholic.org ow.ly/C48tb
• Happy 5th Anniversary to ICC | | Online Catholic Adult Education and Evangelization – FREE! ow.ly/C33dy
• Fans say ‘Nats Mass’ at church near Nats Park helps NL East champs | WJLA.com ow.ly/C4oKm
• World Communications Day 2015. Communicating the Family: A Privileged Place of Encounter with the Gift of Love ow.ly/C4qdf
• Satire: 9 Alternative Bible Translations to Spice Up Your Devotional Life | ChurchPOP ow.ly/C4Bpj
• Off the hookah: owner explains why he named his bar “ISIS” (Deacon Greg Kandra – Patheos) ow.ly/C4GI8
• Open Letter to 2014 Synod on Marriage and Family – signed by many religious, professors, and political leaders ow.ly/C4J80

John Clem, O.F.S is the Director and Media Minister at Catholic Web Services (http://catholicws.com/). John is a professed member of the Secular Franciscan Order, and loves to share his talents in faith, technology, and journalism in service to the church.  John also writes a blog entitled Call To Holiness  (http://www.calltoholiness.us/). Follow John on Twitter at @Catholicwebs, on Facebook and at Google+.