A Not So Boring Beginning of Glory Glorying

I don't believe that I have ever written down just how Glory Glory Gifts came into existence. It's an odd tale, but one that truly happened and it is a sheer miracle that it is still around all these years later. It is 18 years and 4 months that I've been doing it and I still love it. 

Back in 2008, around my birthday, I was sitting in adoration for the Sunday, 3:00 P.M. hour, along with my co-adorers, Leo and Josephine (RIP Leo). If you don't know what adoration is, it is spending time with Jesus who Catholics (and Orthodox Christians) believe is actually present in the consecrated Eucharist through transubstantiation (transubstantiation occurs when the priest says the words of Jesus, "this IS my body...", which were said at the last supper). Our church had perpetual adoration at the time, meaning that at least one person was sitting with him 24/7/363. The Eucharist (host) is actually removed from the chapel on Holy Thursday and returned at midnight on Easter Sunday.The consecrated host is placed in what is called a monstrance and then in the chapel for all to adore and visit. 

Back then, I had set hours at 3 P.M. on Sundays only. I eventually increased my hours over the years and signed up to substitute for others, so I was there very often. On that particular Sunday I was sitting in the front row on the left side and Leo and Josephine were sitting in the second row on the right side and we were alone in the chapel. It was then that I heard a man's voice, not with my ears, but still very audible and it said, "Bring prayer to those that no longer come to my Father's house." I heard it clear as day but it confused me, so I turned around to look at Leo. He was asleep (sorry for outing you Leo.) Josephine was deep in prayer with her lips moving and her eyes downcast. We were still alone. Then I heard it again, this time more stern and a bit louder, "Bring prayer to those that no longer come to my Father's house." This time it stuck and I have to admit I was a bit freaked out as I knew exactly what I heard and had zero clue how to do it. 

Walking home from church, I started to contemplate it out loud and remember looking up to the heavens and saying okay, God. If that was you how am I supposed to do this and with what money? I walked into my house, closed the door, and immediately there was a knock on it. I opened it and there was a man standing there and he asked me, "is that car for sale," pointing to the one in the driveway. I said, "no." He said, "I will give you $500 cash for it." I again said, "no, it's not for sale," closing the door and shaking my head in disbelief. Now I'm totally freaked out btw. Some rando guy comes and knocks to see if a car is for sale? On a dead end street? What are the odds? So I figured, okay, that's a sign to line up funds and do what I was told to do in the chapel. I then went online and started to look for various ways to support this, without selling my car, and came across a website called Wholesale Catholic Gifts. All of the items were made in the holy land, specifically Israel, and I KNEW that I should work with them, purchase products, sell them and use the funds to propel my mission to success. That was the beginning of a long and amazing relationship with a lovely woman named Lena that lasted well into the 2,000's. Glory Glory Was started by my taking money out of my 401K and the total start up cost? $500. Initially, Tom and I sold our products at flea markets and fairs and prayer cards were given out as freebies, along with lovely little cards with holy land flowers on them. In 2010 the website was started. Around the same time, this blog was initiated, as well as our Facebook page, and in 2016 I changed my ebay account to a biz account and opened a small store. Since then, I have tripled the size of that. 

Promoting prayer is still 100% my ultimate goal though how I do it has changed over the years. My first focus is to spread the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Rosary, but I'm also fully invested in teaching people how to pray correctly. Like, when you wear a saint medal, yes you have an outward devotion to that saint, but you should also have a spiritual connection with them as well. A saint medal isn't an amulet nor is it magical. You should pray to that saint daily and often and I will provide you with that prayer to say. If you purchase a rosary, you will receive instructions on how to say it fully. If you purchase a holy water bottle, or font, you will be provided with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy prayers. This way, everything that I sell has a spiritual meaning that is meant to enhance your prayer life. It's not a job; it's a vocation. All proceeds go to that vocation. Facebook is also used to promote prayer, anecdotes, information, history, and even an occasional joke, as is this blog. Most of all, that little locution that I heard 18 years ago, has brought me so extremely close to God. That's the true beauty of what this has done for me and my life. 

He called and I listened and I'm still listening. This has been an absolute blessing. Every prayer I post, I say as well as prayers before meals, morning prayers, afternoon prayers, evening prayers daily. My favorites? The Chaplet, the Rosary, the Angelus, Saint Gertrude prayer for Souls in Purgatory, Saint Michael and Guardian angel prayers, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Act of Contrition and every Padre Pio and Saint Benedict prayer I come across. After all, how can I enhance the prayer lives of others, if I do not practice what I preach? In all honesty, I cannot. 

That's the humble beginnings of Glory Glory Gifts.I thank thee, Lord, for opening my ears and heart to your calling. May I continue to do your will and do it well. 

Peace to you all. 

Mare

When Saint Benedict Saved My Life

Ugh, today didn't start out the way I planned. It was one of those mornings. I swung my feet over the side of the bed, sat up, and the room spun. I just needed to lie back down and do it again, slowly, so that my positional vertigo caught up with my surroundings. Then, with my crumbling knees and wonky ankles I wobbled over to the bureau and I decided on my outfit for my outing with the fam for brekkie. 

We drove south to Ellis Street on the island, where our destination Fina's Farmhouse is located, and the traffic was rather insane heading to New Jersey. We found out that there was an accident on the Outerbridge that wasn't going to be cleared up anytime soon. Turns out it was not only an accident but also an oil spill, so that would tie up traffic on the island to New Jersey for hours. Now that truly is a bad way to start a day. I just checked the news and thank God it doesn't appear that anyone was injured in the 3-car collision. PTL We sat in traffic for a bit but managed to get out of it so that was unexpected. Sigh.

Now I'm no food critic, but I've had way better at a diner than I did at Fina's. Lisa's honey butter pancakes were suspiciously under cooked and not what she expected. We sat and watched them pour Timmy's apple juice from a Shoprite container into a plastic cup with ice, which cost us $3, and oddest of all, they only had two types of tea ~ black regular and green (according to the waitress). Now, I LOVE black tea, but my body hasn't done caffeine since the 90's so it was a disappointing green tea for me. But sitting with family for breakfast, or any meal, is priceless though isn't it? I digress...

When i got home I changed into my play clothes and headed into the backyard to say my Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet. That's when I started to think of just how fragile life is. I'm not sure what got me thinking about it but I thought of January 2025 when I was in the hospital with pneumonia and a UTI. Oh, I know what it was! My sugar is absolute crapola today. It was crashing when I woke up so I ate a banana (worst fruit ever for a diabetic). I have cyclical Cushing's syndrome so my sugar goes up when I get stressed, or if if I'm sick, or if my cortisol is wonky, or if I'm surprised, or tired, or singing, or exercising, or dancing,or if it's a Friday in August or no reason at all. Of course what I eat happens to affect it too, but normally my blood sugar just needs a high cortisol to get it pumping so it can and does raise while fasting too. 

Anyhoo, literally a week or so before going into the hospital in 2025, I had received 5 or 6 Saint Benedict medals for myself and my family that had been blessed by an Exorcist (how cool is that?) My cousin knew a guy, that knew him or something like that, but anyway, I got them and instantly switched the blackened one on my neck for the new one, so I had a brand new, shiny, Saint Benedict jubilee medal on my neck. While in the hospital on the third day, at dinner time, the lovely lady from dietary came and delivered my dinner and also a half turkey sandwich and graham crackers for later in the evening. (You know how hospitals are ~ serve dinner at 4:30-5 and the next meal is breakfast at 8:30 the next day.) The hospital administers insulin to diabetics before you eat, based on a finger stick just prior to the meal, and the shot is adjusted based on your numbers. At around 10, the aide came in to do a finger stick and give me my regular dose of long-term insulin for the night. At one point the doctor decided that the sugar was still too high so he sent her in again with another 10 units and then again with another 60 units, that was way, way, way over-medicating me. Aside from that, my long-lasting insulin should not be mixed with the short ones.

The moment she left I started to feel sick. I can't even begin to describe what it did to me mentally. I couldn't even form the words to speak, my heart started racing and I broke out in a sweat. Most of all, I swear I could feel my soul about to leave my body. It was a very odd feeling like my body was transitioning. I knew that I was in trouble because I was in the bed but didn't feel connected to my body. Very odd. My first thought was to get that sandwich into my mouth, which I did along with the graham crackers that were with it. My roommate saw that I was in trouble, from my gray color and flailing arms) and came over to me (she was a nurse too) and yelled for the night nurse. They got orange juice, opened it up, and added sugar to it and had me gulp two of them. The nurse then took a finger stick and it was in the low 20's!!!!! That's a coma number. It started to go up from there. After my body started to calm down, the nurse told me to get some sleep and I told her that I was afraid to, because I was afraid I would die in my sleep. She assured me she would watch out for me and I did finally manage to get to sleep.  

Now, normally, you just get meals delivered but that day dietary brought those extras. Because of Cushing's, I have a horrible immune system and I'm constantly at the hospital or in the hospital for something and that's the first and only time that has ever happened. 

Saint Benedict is the patron saint of many things, but one of them is protection against poison. Insulin is poison to a body that doesn't need it. I'm a firm believer that it was 100% because of the intercession of Saint Benedict, whom I have a devotion to, that I am still here. If I didn't have that half a sandwich and graham cookie, I would never have been able to function and get my roomy's attention. Praise the Lord, and thank you Saint Benedict. You won't change my mind about that and say what you want, but I just happened to get a new Saint Benedict jubilee medal, blessed by an Exorcist, a week before I was overdosed on a poison? Yes, it was him.

So that is when Saint Benedict saved my life. It is because of his intercession, and God, that I am still here and able to enjoy brekkie with the family and my little Timothy.

Enjoy each day. Thank your saints that answer your prayers. Thank God when you get a little God wink. Life is so fragile. Be kind to one another. Love and peace to you.

Mare 

 

 

I Had A Call Last Week...

 and it was just the oddest thing EVER. Normally, we get 10 calls a day from Google asking to verify our listing (t's been verified) and other spammers, so I honestly don't answer if the call is flagged as potential spam. Darn bots!! Anyway, Someone didn't realize they were leaving a message and I heard them say "OK Father, hello? Hello?" so I called them back (extremely rare without an actual message). I told her about the website and she said that she had looked at it, but it didn't look Catholic or even Christian. Ummm, what? I wholeheartedly hope she was looking at another site. 

 

The site is only 3 pages, and it does have a link to the store, but what doesn't look Catholic? Our ebay store has the same banner, btw, so that you know you are in the right place.  I had a nice little chat with her and told her what we carry.

To get to the ebay store directly you can use the following link, or the one to the right of this post (on a computer or classic blog style on phones). Our current list of items available are:

Rosary beads (all price ranges and styles including gemstones, sterling, pewter, freshwater pearl, plastic, wood), Rosary cases/holders, rosary bracelets, rosary rings, rosary necklaces, statues, pictures, icons, triptychs, diptychs, keychains, magnets, incense, crib medals, sterling silver medals, crosses, crucifixes and pins (made in the U.S.), veils/caplets, Cameos, chaplets, pocket prayer books & novenas, coins/charms, reliquaries, fonts, holy water bottles, devotional jewelry, Miraculous Medals, scapulars, tapestries, sports medals both pewter and sterling silver, and some beautiful tiles! www.ebay.com/str/gloryglorygifts. 

I assure you, we are Catholic. As always, if you are looking for something and do not see it, feel free to contact us via ebay messaging or Mare@gloryglorygifts.com. I don't suggest using the chat on the website as there is a delay in getting responses. Til next time. 

Have a good week and God bless.

Peace,

Mare 

Musings......

 I was just thinking the other day how incredibly blessed my current life is, for this week, and the last few anyway. Every day, I have the will to get up and get going because of my absolute love of Glory Glorying, my great grandson, my artwork, my family, my prayer life and my God. You all know how life is ~ everything is just glorious and then in one minute your life falls apart. Sadly, I've had decades upon decades of life falling apart, so it is extremely nice to have the lulls where everyone is happy, healthy and in a good place all at once. Of course, that's been true throughout my life.

I'm a huge fan of just sitting and listening to the silence and solitude in my mil studio and streaming adoration from Poland with my Rosary in hand. You cannot imagine how that centers me and dulls the craziness that sometimes goes on all around me. The craziness fades into the corners. Even the birds outside are quieted from the extreme heat hitting NYC this week. It's too hot to bicker over berries and bugs, so they just perch and observe. At the moment, the household cats and my dog aren't trying to find common ground to play with each other, which usually entails lots of hissing, barking and an occasional punch thrown by Luna (king of the castle). Except for the intermittent sound of the a/c unit coming on, no other appliances or electronics are adding to the din. Nobody is home, except for me. It's quiet in all its beauty.

Then slowly, the house will come alive again with the family returning, one by one. The doors will open and the animals mingle, or avoid each other depending on their moods. We will sit as a family and enjoy dinner. Our littlest member, Timothy, is learning to clasp his hands as we pray over our meal. Then we spend time as a family until he goes up for his bath and bedtime. It's such an incredible joy and blessing to have loved ones to spend time with and that want to spend with you too. 

Enjoy the small moments in your life that will create memories and sustain you for the times to come. Find that quiet time during the day to spend with God and refresh your heart and soul. Time is flying by ferociously, so grasp those moments. Make time for God and family, for without them life truly is vacant. 

Peace,

Mare