"I AM ONLY TREADING IN MY Master's steps." St Katherine Drexel

Two year old Rose Ida is at home in Church, and after mass the huge boulders that appeared for Lent drew her up on the altar called her, with her puppy in arms, to come up and examine them.  She looked up in recognition and awe at Jesus hanging on his Cross over the sanctuary.  About 10 years back we were on a committee to get a crucifix.  We yearned to have a realistic reminder of LOVE to look at, and we got a beauty!  Lifesize and realistic with the wounds and his hanging dead on the Cross/The Tree of LIFE!  Rose has seen him there all her life and her eyes are drawn to Jesus, and I pray that her entire life will be filled with that journey of Faith!  In our home and the homes of our children... Faith is shared with JOY... taking seriously the call to be open to LIFE and to raise LIGHTS for the world of darkness!

We receive The Catholic Digest in our home, and I just read an article in interest titled - Why can't my child choose his own faith?   I am strongly opposed to this, and was interested in how Fr Roland Guilmain would answer this person saying that they had religion "stuffed" into them by their parents and they weren't going to do this to their child - They could wait til they were 18 and decide if they wanted to be baptized.  Fr wrote with wonderful words of insight and Truth - he shared that the child would be exposed to so much to lead him away from Faith - "God doesn't come into the picture because the existence as Creator and Savior negates all the so-called values of the world.  He offers us truth, beauty, and love."  "We quickly realize that faith is not just for church on Sundays.  It affects all aspects of our life: how we treat others, how we relate to others, how we work, how we recreate, how we face the challenges of life.  Today's culture leaves very little space for daily prayer in the midst of all the frenzied activity.  Even 10 minutes a day could keep our life on track for God."  "The decision to baptize or not to baptize will give an orientation to your child's life.  Will it be a life for God or one without God?"  Fr Guilmain

It was so precious to me to have my two preschool grandkids helping me clean in prep for company the other day.

 Today my heart and mind and soul are focused on humility!  Why?  Morning prayer started with this: Pride sets subtle snares.  Whenever we imagine that we are in control of life - our own or someone else's - we have fallen prey to the ancient whisper in the Garden: "You will be like gods." Mortality is the enduring reminder that we become like God not by our own power but by the power of the Cross.  see www.magnificat.com  Just ask John and Pat... I was slapping the table and yelling and hollering at these words!  Some of the situations of LIFE are so filled with those that need and desire to control, and it only leads to misery, and pain, and anger, and hostility, and did I mention heartache and PAIN?  John kept kidding me that I had gone back to my early childhood Baptist roots in how I was raising my hands and my voice at The TRUTH!   Whoever will humble himself will be exalted.  Mt 23:12

Pat's mom is on hospice, and in a weakened state due to age and an old tired heart, greets her grandson loving sweet David.  As I shared with one of Anna's nieces - "Mom always dreaded when she would be a burden to others, but it seems she has come to the place where she sees how she is surrounded by LOVE and caring from her family and others and this is a beautiful thing to experience."  Really this is the place of humility - where we are no longer self-sufficient and need to be helped by others!  When we allow others to serve us, and give back the LOVE they have been given by you... it is a thing of great beauty!  Working with the elderly I see what we all do... at the end of our lives we return to a place of helplessness and need, much like that of a small infant/child.  Jesus tells us time and time again that we need to become like little children!  We need to be humble, and it seems that life has a way of doing that to us at the beginning and the end!

Today is the feast of St Katherine Drexel, who worked with the blacks and the Indians here in the U.S. building them schools and colleges.  This quote of hers is so powerful in the midst of my exclaiming from the rooftops of the Truth this day!  "I am only treading in the Master's steps."  Yes!  Look to Jesus as the true example we are called to follow as we take up our Most Cherished Cross and follow after Him!

 Hugs shared - still having good times with our wonderful mother.  She continues to share LOVE/LIGHT/LIFE/Jesus/ and His Bride The Church with all those who come to see her in her weak state of walking into the sunset of her life. 

Sweet Simon's turn!

 How Mom/grandma/great-grandma loves to have another's hand in hers... holding onto Simon's and sharing the moment in which Jesus is before them in his life-giving/intimate union with Christ Jesus/Eucharist separates us from sin/Through it Christ unites us to all the Faithful in one Body-The Church/"To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest."CCC, 1397/"The more painful the experience of the divisions in The Church which break the common participation in the table of the Lord that the time of complete unity among all who believe in him may return." CCC, 1398/"Someday, when we die, we will meet Jesus Christ face-to-face.  The Church, too, awaits the Second Coming of Christ.  Ultimately, the fruits of the Holy Communion help us prepare for that day, both personally and corporately." Pat Gohn - The five Fruits of Holy Communion in The Catholic Digest this month.

Celebrating!!!!

Jesus, I am so filled with the fire of the Truth which we find in Your Word, Your Church, Your Saints, our time in prayer and most importantly our seeking to be less and less so that you may be more and more in us!  Life is miserable, and sad, and painful, and hard when we take it into our own hands, and think that we deserve to get this or that, or be given what we deserve or "need."  All we need do is look to the example you set for us as you are God and yet you were as a lamb led to the slaughter, and then slaughtered in the most horrible and brutal way for our sins!  You were the spotless Lamb and without blemish/without sin and you did not cry out at what truly was nothing you earned or deserved!  There is nothing that we could ever truly deserve other than to find a place of humility!  Giving up all we think we are and want to have or be, and dying to self so that you may live in us!  O Christ, you washed the feet of the disciples, though you are both Lord and Master.  Strip us of the garments of pride, and free us to do for one another the tasks of love as you have done them for us.  Lord, I know that all the fruits of the Spirit can be found here on earth - ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control.  Galations 5:22  By their fruits you will know them, O Lord!  Jesus, we trust in YOU.  Amen

Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

So true!

God is stronger!

Lord, I want you and need you each moment of each day!

The Litany of Humility by Danielle Rose

My mother sent this to me at a difficult point in my life.  When I first read it - I thought; "How can anyone pray for this and ask the Lord to give them this in their lives?"  But we need to!  And just listening to this you will understand how hard it is!  The Missionaries of Charity/Blessed Teresa of Calcutta's order pray this each week!  Look at her example of serving without counting the cost!  Wow!  I need to ask for humility right now!  Then I stand back and wonder what I am going to be knocked down by next?!? 

Newsboys - Narnia version of God's not dead

http://www.catholic.org/saints/sofd.php  To read more about the true example of humble service and making a difference in this world - Saint Katherine Drexel

Litany of Humility Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930), Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me. From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being loved... From the desire of being extolled ... From the desire of being honored ... From the desire of being praised ... From the desire of being preferred to others... From the desire of being consulted ... From the desire of being approved ... From the fear of being humiliated ... From the fear of being despised... From the fear of suffering rebukes ... From the fear of being calumniated ... From the fear of being forgotten ... From the fear of being ridiculed ... From the fear of being wronged ... From the fear of being suspected ... That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be esteemed more than I ... That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease ... That others may be chosen and I set aside ... That others may be praised and I unnoticed ... That others may be preferred to me in everything... That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…  I miss my Patty Joe!

"Heal my heart, Lord." John at prayer

John leading us in a Eucharistic service with his homebound grandmother yesterday after we had shared mass as a family.  It is different now not to have Pat's mom with us at church.  For over 5 years she has joined us each Sunday and Holy day - we would come and pick her up and take her with us to mass - usually sharing together the 3 generations.  How we loved to have her with us!  It just feels like something is wrong to not turn to her house on the way to Church, and we never let a chance go by to get His Body in a pix and to bring it over and share Jesus and The Word with our matriarch, Pat's mom Anna! 

 John has a lot of confidence and ability to share in special prayers and services in the home.  He had a special year in seminary discerning a call..."Why did God spare me?"  And he had a month a few Lents ago of living and working with his cousin Fr Craig and a lot of it was visiting the homebound and nursing home residents. 

This morning before work we gathered sharing breakfast and morning prayer.  At the end of the intercessions we always lift up our individual needs and prayer requests.  This morning John prayed; "Heal my heart, Lord.  So that my mind may hear your Word and I may speak your Word."  When I first heard him asking for healing for his heart - my first thought was that he has no issues with his heart... Then I realized he was speaking about his Faith journey of turning more and more to Jesus!  Such a Ah-hah moment for me!

 Observing the dynamics of LIFE all around us...

The Gospel shared this day is a hard and important one!  "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."  Then he goes on to remind us not to judge and to forgive in order to be forgiven.  So hard to do in the closeness of family and all the times we are battling to get our way in the midst of realizing that we are to give without counting the cost.  The battle is with ourselves and we place it upon others to justify our selfishness.  Yes, Lord, I do need healing of my heart!

Clean up crew - family sharing the work makes it more enjoyable family time!

Jesus, it is so wonderful to have these jolting reminders from our children and their children that we are called to give our all and then some.  May you truly heal our hearts and minds and souls and bodies when they are sick - "The sick need the physician!" And our spiritual self is probably more sick and definitely more in need of your healing than our bodies for the most part.  May the reminder of our illness and weakness and sinfulness on other levels keep us small and humble and depending on your LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT as we follow after you carrying our Most Cherished Cross and dying to self so that you may live in us and use us to serve you in one another.  Jesus, we trust in YOU.  Amen

Rose and her puppy this morning looking at Luke turning on the wipers of the car. 
Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

Blessed Teresa has so much to teach us about accepting all people and loving them!  She reminds me a lot of what this man is trying to teach us...

It is hard for me to love without judging... I continually am reminded of Jesus with the woman taken in adultery... "Go and sin no more."  Yet, he did not condemn her and send to be stoned according to the law but forgave her!  Lord, help me to love more perfectly and return the unconditional LOVE I have been given by you to me!

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Casting Crowns - Does anybody hear her?

If we are the Body- Casting crowns

Calving is here!

 Yesterday was our first big day of calving... we had 4 calves and the night was very busy for Pat.

This new baby loved the warm sunbath on a cold winter's day.

 Mary's pet, Snowball is locked up and getting ready to calf soon.

 She lets Mary pet her on the head while she ate.

 Out to see our new calves for today.  We just watched our 5th calf born for today.   It is warmer today, so that is better for the wet newborns.

 This new cute black baby calf frisked across the pen - feeling good!

 How's that for attitude which says - "I know that I am cute and my mommy loves me!"  This is what makes calving fun!

Bless-bless, Barb with a Rose on my lap as we share a communion service with Pat's mom and birthday JOY with his sister, RaTerra.  It will be fun to see how Rose likes the calves this year.  Last year she was scared at first, and then thought that she liked to chase them - for sure the calves only and not their big cow moms!  She will have lots of opportunities to get used to the cows and calves this year.  Ready, set, go!!!

Momma baby time with sniffs and licks to bond them and keep the babies fed and healthy!

  We have 60 in the barn with the camera watching them day and night.  Lord, give us a safe and good calving season. 

The desert of Lent - Second Sunday - we are called to give our all!

After mass as we waited for Simon to get out of his server robes - Rose Ida in her 2 1/2 year old curiosity had gone up to check out those huge boulders that have appeared in church complete with bare branches and cactus and purple fabric to denote the penance of lent.  Rose asked "Rock?"  with a question in her voice.. it was a bit too much to explain to Rose that we are in the desert of lent and looking towards the death of our Savior, and then His resurrection of Easter JOY!  The Paschal mystery is a bit large to explain to a precocious 2 year old, but Father Paul definitely got Rose's mind going as she looked up at mass and saw that large rocks have appeared there.

 Simon serves with such specialness in how much he gives in intensity and reverence!

 Special mommy and Rose time during the homily in which Father talked about how our clean windows get the finger and nose marks of the little ones!  So true.  The Transfiguration brings us to brightness and wipes all the dirt away so that we can see clearly that Jesus is the Son of God and will bring us to LIFE everlasting by dying for our sins and showing how to carry our Most Cherished Cross and follow after HIM. 

 Rose wonders what these rocks are there for... it is good that she was caused to wonder and question and be comfortable to go up into the Church and touch and make it her own!  How I pray that my grandchildren will find their Faith and take it to heart!

Amazingly wonderful!!!!

 David happy to see his Godfather after mass!

 Stunning windows in our special gathering space!

 A joyful loving David... it is so wonderful to share mass and they to share the joyful community with our fellow Church afterwards!

 "You are so pretty Mary and your skin is so young and soft."  said Great-grandma Anna to Mary when we stopped with Eucharist and birthday cake for RaTerra. 

I couldn't quite get the right angel of 8year old Mary and Great-grandma comparing hands.  But the onlookers were to special to not share.

 Simon comes to greet great-grandma for the first time since she has been sick.  She was having a good morning today and we were most grateful...

 We shared a lot of mass/Eucharistic service around the table today.  We shared the readings, and the first reading from Genesis is Abraham being asked to sacrifice his only son, Isaac!  It jumps from the request to the Abraham preparing to do it!  Today I allowed myself to consider the tears and pleading and anguish Abraham went through as he faced doing this horrible deed to his only son, whom they had finally been blessed with in their old age.  Yet, it came to the point of taking up the knife to carry it out and the "Yes!" was huge on Abraham's part.  He would do what the Lord asked of him!  Such a lesson to us, who are asked to do hard and impossible things in our lives and we cry and plead and beg and then go forth to do what is asked of us.  It is called Trust!

 We shared the sign of peace, too!

 Simon got a hug at the peace sign - the Best!

 The Body of Christ...  "My Lord and My God!"

 We sang a closing hymn to end this most precious time sharing our Faith with JOY!

Simon and Mary sang "Mary's Song" so sweetly... we all were touched to have them join the adults.  Most especially grandma.

 Then the birthday celebration for our sweet RaTerra got started with the guest of honor being escorted to the table in royal style with two servants pushing her and Luke to get special treatment too.

 Now she knows how great it feels to get a ride and be cared and loved as she has done so willingly and specially for her mother! 

 Riding along to the tune of Happy Birthday to you!

 The big moment of blowing out her 16 candles with help from Rose!

 Two boyfriends?

 Cake and ice cream for breakfast?  It's Sunday after all... and someone's birthday too! 

 Good for all but Rose...

Rose is better, but some of the others... oh well, when you try to get this many to look good.

 Ruth and her grandma do a selfie...

Nothing beats starting the day with You, O Jesus, in your Word and in your most Precious Body and Blood in the Eucharist and in the Communion of Saints as they join us on in the Churches throughout the world sharing YOU!  We are united with Hallel this day in The Eucharist as we are with Nancy and her family and Maria with her family - united with all the angels and Saints and Mary the Mother of God in the Eucharist! 

Jesus, we trust in YOU.  Amen

Came home to see this sweet pair - this frisky healthy little guy was born overnight.  Two new calves last night, so Pat got some better rest.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

Danielle Rose - See you in the Eucharist

Danielle Rose explains See you in the Eucharist

Brandon Heath - Jesus in Disguise