Little Rose is very new in this world, and she has a tremendous legacy of LOVE and LIFE which she will learn about and is as much a part of her as her little fingers and toes. This being St Clare's feastday... I was transported to her Aunt Maria's amazing journey of faith leading her to consider the Poor Clares for 5 months. Living with them and discerning a call she heard while studying in Rome for a year with Catholic Studies in ST Thomas. Little Rose will hear the story of her Aunt Maria leaving to join just a month after Rose's mom and dad were married. It was a very powerfully emotional January 1st - the Solemnity of Mary in 2005. She took her few possessions with her, and it was a visible sign to us of the poverty she was embracing. A few small bags and a picture to go over her desk in her cell. I was just looking through my scans for pictures of that day and time, and as I was going through all the pictures of times past - my spiritual journey- I was reminded that it is also the spiritual journey of my entire family as well as new little Rose! It is so crazy amazing to know that she has been blessed with the same fingerprint of God upon her, and she has been surrounded by prayers since we were aware that she was in her mother's womb! Off to such an amazing start and with so many graces and blessings in her long journey of faith which started with the creation of the world! Wow!
Such a powerful emotional day this was... little did we realize that it is a day that will be shared and touch our family deeply for generations to come! How we experienced this first hand - "St Clare embraced wholeheartedly St Francis' joyful love for poverty as a means of entering into profound communion with Christ crucified. Her nuns, the Poor Clares, are renowned for the penitential austerity of their lives and the joy of their spirit." See www.magnficat.com Little Sister Hallel also heard the Lord telling her to leave it all behind and to have nothing! Sometimes when I am overwhelmed by the "stuff" that buries me in my life - I yearn to live in a mudhut in Africa and to have nothing! Yet, I do feel the lack of comfort in the life that Hallel lives when I go there to visit her, too. I say the words, but when it comes down to it - I like my soft couch to sit on after a long day or even in the middle of the day!
"What else have I in heaven but you?
Apart from you I want nothing on earth.
My body and my heart faint for joy;
God is my possession for ever.
To be near God is my happiness.
I have made the Lord God my refuge."
Psalm 73
My dad as a Protestant minister with the first 5 of 11 children! There is so much to share with the new generation of my JOY! On our travels over the last few days up to the Cities - in the car with 2 of my children - Nancy and John... There was talk that brought tears to my eyes about how the kids are so grateful to the Lord for their parents sharing the True Faith with them! Glowingly seeing the wisdom of their father, Patrick, yet also realizing that the prayer he had for a Catholic spouse at a young age brought us together and in that bond we were able to grow and nurture our Catholic faith and build our amazing and strong - dometic church/family! I shared with them that in the last year I have come to realize that Pat telling his sisters at a young age that he would only marry a Catholic - and in that way praying for me... could and, I am sure, was instrumental in the conversion of my entire family - all 13 of us - to the Catholic Church! Talk about tears flooding me with such joy and gratitude! The kids also realized that as a covert - I made my faith my own - I chose to be Catholic as a 20 year old and I have embraced it without reservation - all of it! I love and believe everything the Church in her wisdom tells me! I know that all the 2,000 years of saints and huge minds of faith in the Catholic Church are striving to help me and all those that believe get to heaven! Yet, I am not blindly following after Christ carrying my Cross - I see with eyes of my heart that it is the Truth that will set me free! I know that Maria in joining the Poor Clares for 5 months was doing it out of Love for Christ and trying to find the Truth for herself, but that was to be in marriage to Joseph! Yet, the exerience of cloistered life of prayer still dwells deep within her, as it does in me and the rest of her family. Our inner sanctuary has taken on the simple "poor" beauty of the Poor Clares!
I think after I am done here I am going straight to the phone and have them praying for Joseph in their Poor Clare chapel in Suak Rapids! So powerful to have them behind their Maria and her family of any family or any need- they are there to PRAY! That is their life! Here is their number for you to call with your petitions...320-251-3556 - the Poor Clare nuns at St Clare Monastery in Sauk Rapids, MN 56376
Jesus, we once again are asking for you to protect our Joseph and all those in harm's way! Thank you for looking out for him and his family. We know that we are yours and that we are called to give our all to YOU and to TRUST! St Clare, on this your feastday we ask you to intercede for your daugther at heart, Maria Theresa Clare! She has a special place in her heart for you, as she chose you as her patron saint years ago - your feastday being just 3 days from her birthday! And then what surprise to find that you were involved in her call to consider religious life! Reading The Story of a Soul by St Therese on the way to Rome - she felt that the cloistered life - a life seperated physically from the outside world and all of its distrations -was what you were asking of her... a life of PRAYER! Well, she is now carrying that forth into her family as she welcomes her 3rd child here on earth in a few weeks, and also has the 2 in heaven praying for her. It is bittersweet to have now 2 grandchildren praying for me along with my 6 children there! The ties to heaven are growing and growing, Lord! But mostly we want to come and dwell with you for eternity! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless, Barb
"Everything that makes up our life - our duties, the smallest worries, the most accidental meetings, the moments of weakness - all this is the kingdom if through prayer we can give it existence in the eyes of God. On certain days, the best way to 'make' our prayer will perhaps be simply to take our day's schedule, or else repeating in advance what we will do throughout the day, and offering each of our actions to God. What connection does this or that have with Christ? What is Christ's wish in this matter or that? Can I have this or that, in view of my life in common with Christ? The simplicity of prayer and of the Kingdom: a hidden seed and ferment." Brother Bro
May this image remind us all to pray for Joe and all those in harms' way! Maria had this on her blog as she explained the dangerous place that Joe is and the wounding of 4 of his men a few days ago!
No comments:
Post a Comment