Yesterday and into today... I am feeling a sadness and empty place in the house and in my heart - missing my John John! We had discussed going up to the Cities today to attend mass at the Cathedral and then join the march to the capital on this 39th anniversary of Roe/Wade. But then we realized that we were going to have an amazing speaker at our church today at 1:30p - Mary Ann Kuharski! I have heard about her for years from my mom, who shared writing with her as well as an amazing journey into a large Catholic Family and all the JOY and TRUTH that is found there - a little slice of heaven on earth! Then we started getting the Catholic Servant - a Catholic tool of catechesis, appologetics and evangelization...Mary Ann writes about he family life every month, and I always read that article for sure! This week her article is entitled - Parents are attempting to raise children in a schizophrenic society! Here is a pearl to hold close from her article - "One beautiful family in our parish with 6 children recently added two more little ones to their clan. Both toddlers have Downs syndrome and their older brothers and sisters carry the youngsters into church as if they are holding priceless dolls. And they are!" I have tears in my eyes at the beauty of this Most Cherished Cross - Family that this family has embraced - the depth of the LOVE they have been called to, and the powerful witness of the value of ALL LIFE is so amazing within this family but also to all those that witness this kind of uncoditional LOVE that Christ calls us to!
John with his two amazing grandmothers - each raised large Catholic families! Continuing from Mary Ann's article - "The cruel reality is that over 4,000 babies die each day in America by legal abortion. We will never know who these "little ones" (fetus in Latin) were or what contributions they might have brought to our world... Yet there is a reason to hope. And it is our faith and the young themselves who offer that hope. The pro-life movement is experiencing a new wave of young people who proudly join the ranks of opposition to the taking of innocent life. For example, a young girl from New Birghton, MN saved her allowance for an entire year to help mothers and babie in need. Here is a testamony in their own words:
'Many people don't realize how important tiny human beings are. They think that the embryo is just a piece of tissue, but its not. It's a real live baby that God created. Each one has a purpose here on earth and when you abort a baby you will never know what they were capable of doing. I am thankful for every day that I am alive and I will pray for those who do not get the chance to live in the beautiful world God made.' " (Catherine D. age 12)
Lord, thank you for the voice of TRUTH! WE love you and honor you and thank you for LIFE and all that we learn as we embrace openess to LIFE and LOVE! The more we are given to love the more our LOVE expands and grows ever bigger and more beautiful! How we love and miss those that we are given to carry within our hearts and lift up daily to you, when we cannot be with them in reality! My prayers are flying to the Cities, to Texas, and to France! How I thank you for all the LIGHTS with which I have been blessed, and those 6 in heaven waiting to meet us someday and praying for us... that just adds to the entirity of so much LOVE... I am overwhelmed! May this anniversary of darkness and death that came to our country... be filled with such power of Truth and Life that many will have changed hearts and "see with the eyes of their hearts!" Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, BarbPray for your priests
"Saint Bernard tells us that everything has come to us through Mary, and we may also say that everything has come to us through the priest: yes, all happiness, all graces, all heavenly gifts. If we had not the Sacraments of the Orders, we should not have Our Lord. Who placed Him there, in the midst of the Tabernacle? It was the priest. Who was it that received your soul, on its entrance into life? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, by washing that soul, for the last time, in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest - always the priest. And if that soul comes to the point of death, who will raise it up, who will restore it to calmness and peace? Again the priest. You cannot recall one single blessing from God without finding, side by side with this recollection, the image of the priest." Catechism of the Priesthood, St John Vianney
Pray for Priests and for LIFE this day! Jesus, we trust in you!
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