Rosie Toesy loves her mommy so much!!! She gets such a feeling of calm when she is sitting on her mommy's lap! I know that Ruth feels so blessed to have her little girl/gift from God, Rose Ida! She has mentioned to me many times that her last two children are so special to her after she was told no more children after rupturing with her second, Mary! "Others would not have David and Rose, but thankfully that surgeon, who saved my uterus, gave me hope and promised that they would keep a close eye on me and the baby and get them here safely as soon as possible. They only told me that I had to give my uterus at least a year to heal." Now to have another daughter facing the same Cross that they have been given in their childbearing years... I guess, you might know that I have asked the Lord - "Why?" When I get to heaven that childbearing years of my daughters and I is going to be a huge topic of conversation and the answers are certainly mysterious and hard to understand! "Why, Lord, did you want so many of mine to be there with you and not here with me?" I kind of think that it is because I am in need of a lot of heavenly help and prayers to make it through this world and to reach heaven! It was so sweet at Sunday dinner with Ruth's family... Little 8 year old Simon is in 2nd grade - his year of his first reconcilliation and first Communion- Ruth and Paul asked him what he is striving for here on earth..."To get to Heaven!" he pipes up in his beautiful voice of clarity and Truth! I think that they are doing a good job getting the kids ready here in Marshall at the Catholic School! Ruth said that he drew a picture of the earth and then heaven up in the sky and a stairway between..."Simon put himself on the stairs climbing up!" I love it!
There were conversations with the other grandma in Texas about the beautiful natural ability to see, and understand, and live, and breath the Truth, we see in children that have been raised with Faith in their domestic church/family/home! I know that my daughters have different styles in discipline in their homes, but they all pray and worship their Catholic faith together with their children and it shows! So often, when in Texas with my grandchildren, they would be speaking easily about Jesus and his love for them or singing about their faith! It was so heart warming and encouraging and many times I would burst out laughing to follow their clear and honest and gentle reasoning as they sometimes could understand better than those of us that have got all the influences of the world constantly crowding in on us! Especially Maria,who has noTV in her home! Such a powerful lesson to us and truly brings to reality the lesson Christ teaches us about the simplicity of the little ones and how that is not to be messed with! We, on the other hand, are to become more and more like them! Lord, help us! And thank you for the reminder of sweet Simon - "I want to get to heaven!" How this rings within me when it comes to our amazing True Catholic Church... All the Church, the Bride of Christ, is trying to do is help us to get to heaven!! 
To me that is all I need to know to embrace all that they hold out to me as Truth, yet in that I can always see the deep thought and prayer and spiritual insight that is part of every little thing we are to embrace! We are not to pick and choose - we are to Trust and follow the narrow path carrying our Most Cherished Cross! Yes, there are some Crosses that have been set upon our shoulders that I do not understand, yet I know that they are there to lead us to Life and LOVE and to bring our lives more fully into the LIGHT and out of the encroaching darkness that is filling the world with the culture of death! How I question how much help I am to my daughter, Maria, with all the hardships we face together in these last years connected to having family... yet, Nancy pointed out to me that "she needs me" and I should look at it that way rather than that I bring upon her this Cross that we share in many ways. "Mom, you have been through loss, and the Lord is placing you there to support her as only you can!" I know that with Patrick... I needed to be there to pray with inexpressible groanings in the midst of the horrible storm! How the Lord answered us by reaching out his hand to lift us as we were sinking!
Lord, thank you for the domestic church/family that is the base of your Church! Today in the first reading from Ephesians... St Paul reminds us of the LOVE that is called for to make marriage work. There is such a attack against the beauty and power of the uniting of a man and a woman in the sacrament of marriage... Fr reminded us today that 60% of marriages end in divorce today... Bless marriages and give them the shared Faith they need to face the hardhsips and carry our Most Cherished Cross forward as we climb the stairway to our Goal - Heaven! Yes, Lord, you know that I call my wonderful Patrick, my Most Cherished Cross and Hallel reminded us that this is what Marriage is for us. We embrace our Cross and through that death we find LIFE and LOVE! May we base our homes on the prayers of the children - knowing that they are clearly and without hesitation or distraction coming to know Jesus, his loving Mother of Heaven and Earth,the Angels and the Saints! May we too leave more and more of "me" behind and come to become humble and trusting followers of the Truth set forward by your Word, Sacraments, and Traditions of our Church! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb
"Live in love, as Christ loved us. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the Church in splendor,without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." Ephesians 5: 25-32
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