On this feast day of ST Lucy - here is Little Sister Lucy in Oct of 2008... learning to use an apple corer pealer for the first time, and we had 6 Little Sisters come to see our farm as our daughter, Susan now little Sister Hallel, had just entered the community of the Lamb in France. Three months before this The Community of the Lamb had come to open their first foundation in the United States in Kansas City, Kansas. It was there in June that Susan had told us in front of the altar in the newly built chapel in an old Belgian rectory in the poor section of town... just where the Little Sisters love to be... IN front of Our Lady of Guadelupe, the patronness of the Americas... Susan told us that she was answering a call she heard to join the Community... only the second American to do this! It was such a powerful moment with tears of joy and sadness. 
Little Sister Lucy speaks English fluently, so she was a natural to come here with the first group. She is orginally French as are two others of the original 6, and she has shared her conversion story and call story with us.... I think that Little Sister Marie, the foundress of the community who is still alive, came knocking on her door of her home as well as the door of her heart! As for Susan in Rome where she encountered the Little Sisters for the first time... she could not get the joy they have the the song in their hearts and on their lips out of her inner being! They sing like angels and their blessings and psalms just get inside of you and echo Him and His Love! 
Today ST Lucy is invoked as patroness of the blind... "St Lucy is said to have chosen blindness rather than betrayal of the Lord she loved and longed to see. In her suffering courage we catch sight of the light of faith that cannot be quenched by any darkness." see http://www.magnificat.com/ 
I has just looked up ST Lucy in my saint book and realized that yesterday was the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe! I knew that the Mexican people in our area are having their big celebration this weekend! It is very special to me to have this connection today with Lucy from the community and our wonderful Patroness of the Americas - Our Lady of Guadalupe! 
The story of St Lucy is one of a young girl in the early Church, who loved Christ and secretly made a vow of virginity to be his spouse alone! When a young man discovered this, who wanted to marry her... He accused her of being a Christian and she was imprisoned, tortured and killed by the sword in 304... To see all these amazing women here in the U. S. for the first time... Brides of Christ, who devote their days to prayer and service of the Poor.
Our lives are forever changed by having them now a part of our family! We share with them a most precious member of our family - Little Sister Hallel/ Susan. We miss her, yet are forever enriched and changed to know of her happiness and joy at having Christ as her spouce in this most wonderful and personal way! 
Driving home with the glorious sunrise ahead of me this morning... Now I wake to the dusk of the day! It is not really of my choosing to be a person that sleeps through the day, but that is just part of my life these days. I am seeing more and more the beauty of caring for those that cannot care for themselves!
Coming up to our church, which is now under remodeling, I tried to snap it with the city scene and the beautiful sunrise... Just at this time in the chapel at the school many are gathered in prayer at the sacrifice of the mass most mornings of the week. Tomorrow I will become once again a person of the day and attend mass with my daughter, Maria, and her two little ones!
There is a picturesque creek just a mile down from our house... so many mornings going to town with the beauty of the morning sunrise I have longed to get it all put together with a picture... today was the day! With the beauty of the white snow cover... it was truly a gift! 
I am distracted by purring... one of Therese's kittens was just here for a break from its playtime in the Christmas tree with his sister! The kids are all gone over to their cousins today... Maria is watching all 5 grandkids while Ruth is working as a nurse at the hospital in town for 12 hours!
On this day devoted to "blindness" and the healing of it... I was so taken with the beauty outside as I arrived home... I went around to the windows and tried to capture the pink snow and the snowladen branches..."The soul should blindly resign itself to self abandonment and universal indifference. This is the only disposition asked of it by God; the rest belongs to him to choose and determine according to his designs, as an architect selects and marks the stones of the building he proposes to construct... WE should then love God and his plan in everything, and we should love it as it presents itself, desiring nothing more." Fr Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1751)
"What St Lucy saw with the eyes of her heart, she lived with a courage that shines like a beacon to all who await the good news of salvation. Yet her light is no more than a reflection of the light of Christ's face shining upon her in love." - Psalm 13 "Give light to my eyes lest I fall asleep in death.... AS for me I trust in your merciful love. Let my heart rejoice in your saving help: Let me sing to the Lord for his goodness to me, singing psalms to the Lord, the Most High."
Last night at the nursing home.. on my break once again the only thing I could read in my tired state of mind was the simple direct quotes of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta - "To sometimes experience disgust is something quite natural. The virtue, which at times is of heroic proportions , consists being able to overcome disgust, for the love of Jesus. This is the secret we discover in the lives of the saints: the ability to go beyond what is merely natural. This is what happened to ST Francis of Assisi. Once, when he ran into a leper who was completely disfigured, he instictively backed up. Right away he overcame the disgust he felt and kissed the face that was completely disfigured. What was the outcome of this? Francis felt himself filled with tremendous joy. He totally felt in control of himself. And the leper went on his way praising God." Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
Dear Lord, Our blindness to see you in all those around us and in all we do... we place that at your feet this day and ask St Lucy to intercede for us... May your light and love fill us and give us the strength we need to serve you... we find it especially challanging to love and serve those that are closest to us... our families! Those that we are gifted with in such a close way and that we love the most... are the ones that take our anger and impatience! May we "see" with new eyes... your face in those that surround us inside our domestic churches - our homes! May we kiss the face of the leper in our midst over and over again! Jesus, we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb"God does not demand that I be successful. God demands that I be faithful.
When facing God, results are not important. Faithfulness is what is important." Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
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