Lately in the evening, when I usually do some spiritual reading before bed, I have been at loose ends with really nothing on the go... I was just ready to go on a search throughout my daughter's bedrooms - looking for something to grow with. The Lord answered my request in a huge way, and I am filled with joy and gratitude!
The frosty trees outside beckoned us to the front window with Indian braids this morning... Therese was excited to have braids in her hair as they have been reading the Little House books at night and they are in book 2, and have started to read about some Indians in the area... 
I am so blessed to have Maria here with her two kids for these months... her clarity and wisdom is a constant source of understanding to me! As she was lovingly touching and explaining each book to me last night as the pile grew and grew and became pile after pile....I was overwhelmed in gratitude for the ways that the Lord takes me deeper with the help and direction of each of my children! 
As Maria handed me all these amazing books - little Therese looked at me and said - "Your welcome grandma." I knew that she knew that they were giving me a great gift and that I should be saying over and over how thankful I was! I did have her come in her sweet Indian braids today and pose by the piles of books that I am gladly being buried alive in... and I said to her with total heartfelt joy, "Thank you Therese and Maria and Joe and David for the hours of growth and deeper journey of faith that these books will and have already allowed me!" Not really.... I merely said, "Thank you for the great books, Therese!" She smiled ear to ear! 
I think that she already knows the fact that books are a wonder and a path to great adventures and wisdom in our lives here on earth! Just like anything else - we need to guard what goes into our minds through books... I am sure that she will, with the help and guidance of her parents - make wise decisions. Sharing the books about Little House on the Prairie is certainly an amazing start! 
I already picked out some books, and devoured one last evening... it is written by one of my early teachers in the Catholic Faith - Thomas Merton! How I loved to read any and all that he wrote, but somehow this little book called, Praying the Psalms, escaped me back in my early Catholic days! It is very small and has a great picture of him on the front - more than I have ever seen of him before... I feel like I know him better by having that view of him...
I have noticed about religious orders and the Office that they follow every day - that they focus on the psalms a lot! In Susan/Hallel's order they read all 150 psalms every week! You will see them in chapel with the book of psalms reading them, and when we gather in the chapel for prayer we will chant about 5 or more of them every time! I do know that for me - they are very wonderful, and powerful, and I love them! Now that my daughter has taken the name with the Community of the Lamb as little Sister Hallel - the Hallel psalms have become like a personal love letter from her every time that they are shared in the mass for the day or morning or evening prayer! 
Today for instance the psalm in mass is Psalm 149 - a Hallel Psalm! I will see that and exclaim to all that are in earshot around here - "It's a Hallel Psalm today!" "Let them praise his name in the festive dance, let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the Lord loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory.
The Lord takes delight in his people."
Merton writes this about the amazing psalms -"The psalms are the songs of men who knew who God was. If we are to pray well, we too must discover the Lord to whom we speak, and if we use the psalms in our prayer we still stand a better chance of sharing in the discovery which lies hidden in their words for all generations. For God has willed to make Himself known to us in the mystery of the Psalms." 
Jesus, I am so overwhelmed with your answer to the prayer of my heart - that I may always be learning and growing in faith and love of your amazing Church and all that it holds! There is no end to all that we can learn about and the wisdom of those that love you and your Body the Church! I am filled with such gratitude for the ways that my children love you and lead me closer to you! The prayer of a parent for their children to embrace the Truth has certainly been answered over and over. I am humbled and overwhelmed by your LOVE! Jesus, we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb"The Church loves to sing over and over again the songs of the old psalmists because in them she is singing of her knowledge of God, of her union with Him. To put is plainly: The Church loves the Psalms because in them she sings of her experience of God, of her union with the incarnate Word, of her contemplation of God in the Mystery of Christ." Thomas Merton
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