Rose watches her first canning of soup. Next year we will have to watch out for her under foot. She will be that toddler that is heading towards the kitchen when you are carrying steaming jars out of the canner. Little Gus was that baby yesterday, as the older cousins all got some turns at the jobs of canning. Great Grandma showed up too and put all of the tomato soup in the jars with the assistance of granddaughter, Nancy, and Great-granddaughter, Mary. It just takes a few watchful parents and grandparents to keep them safe, but the joy of sharing a busy family day of canning is wonderful and this soup was made by generations of LOVE and LIFE! So good! Great grandma brought a part jar home and Aunt Raterra said - "The best soup ever!" That is a thumbs up!
Ruth got Church in before she got called into work... so that is wonderful! Rose really liked to share mass in the arms of her loving and beautiful mommy! It is a very wonderfully joyful family time to share mass as a family, and once again we had 4 generations there. It was a special day, as Paul and John were up leading the singing, and grandpa was a Eucharistic minister. It is very good for the kids to see the adults being involved in their worship service... it shows them in real ways... living out the ways Our Lord asks us to put our faith into action. It shows them that our faith is valued and cherished! That we want to be at mass, and help make it a special tribute to our Lord! "It is the spirit that gives life,while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and LIFE." John 6:60-69 The Gospel for today and the continuation fo the last few weeks - where Jesus tells us in definite terms that HE is the Bread of LIFE, and that we need to eat HIM!
Three of the 4 generations, and so much JOY sharing the most important part of our lives - Our Catholic Faith! Jesus, we are filled with the Bread of LIFE, after sharing mass together this wonderful day of week - Sunday! The day that you set aside for Family and Faith! Our blessings are so great, and we rejoice in and with you! St Peter said it for all of us this morning - "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal LIFE. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." John 6: 69 We are filled to overflowing with YOU, and may your Spirit dwell within us and tranform our world! Our world that starts with our domestic Church/family! May we carry you always within our hearts, minds and souls. You are the Way, the Truth and the Life! We are on the narrow path carrying our Most Cherished Cross and following after YOU! Jesus, we praise you and trust in you now and always! Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless, Barb
"To work slothfully and tepidly in God's service will cause you to lead so unhappy a life that you will be forced to change your ways. Besides, such a life is disloyal to our Savior who labored with such ardent love to redeem us, and so willingly took up the cross that his love for us exceeded his suffering. The tepid soul cannot enjoy the world's pleasures, having given up in the desire of doing right, and yet, for want of fervor, it does not find happiness in God. In this way such a soul is placed between two opposites, each of which is a torment to it; it suffers such severe afflictions that at last it leaves the right road, and with miserable fatuity seeks the flesh-pots of the Egypt it had left, because it cannot endure the hardships of the desert. Compare the trouble that is undergone by one who serves God diligently and fervently, with that which the tepid soul offers through sloth, and you will find the burden borne of tepidity is a thousand times the heavier. It is indeed wonderful that vigils, prayer, fasting, mortification, and other works undertaken for our Lord should bring more pleasure to fervent souls than the tepid find in their feasts, and riches, and other indulgences. The lukewarm Christian appears gay, but grief gnaws at his heart: while the just man, though his life be one of penance, has happiness within his soul."
St John of the Cross (1569)
Rose watches her brothers running around the table - combine derby game! Great grandma shows Mary something in the kitchen as Rose uses grandpa for a chair. We fill up grandma's quiet house with LIFE and JOY overflowing from within! Thank you, Jesus!
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