"May you be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country! Blessed be the fruit of your womb."

In a long line for reconcilliation after work before mass last evening.  So good to be standing there with so many that understand the call to be more ready for the coming of Christ into our hearts and souls!  Reconcilliation is such a special gift in teaching us how to be humble and yet rise to new life after we embrace those crosses that are our sins.  It is such a wonderful sacrament to help us on our journey of Faith with HIM.  Yet, it is one that we set aside and don't get around to often enough.  What strides of virtue could we make if we took advantage of it bi-weekly or even monthly!  I have heard that Blessed John Paul II went to confession every day!  Wow!  How deep you could go with those faults and weaknesses we don't even see! 

The darkened church decorated for Christmas... all 4 candles of the Advent wreath are lit... Christmas is near!  Now to have a clean heart and soul... such a gift from Jesus and our glorious Church!  It was so special to find a verse I have never read before in morning prayer this morning -"May you be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country!  Blessed be the fruit of your womb."  Deuteronomy 28:2-4

It is such a gift to be living on the farm and able to raise you kids here!  But I now have daughters that live in the City and they too are filling their homes with FAITH!  It is our job and duty to have homes where the faith is passed on and it starts with being open to family and loving and cherishing the "fruit of our wombs!"

Pope Benedict in his Wednesday audiences is now speaking about faith and passing it on to our children!  "Sharing the faith with children and others should be done in a joyful, clear and simple manner.  In our time, a special place to talk about God is the family, the first school to communicate the faith to new generations."  Pope Benedict said on Nov 28

"It is important to help all members of the family to understand that faith is not a burden, but a source of deep joy."

"Speaking of God means first to be clear about what we bring to men and women of our time, which isn't an abstract God or a hypothesis, but a concrete God that exists... to speak of God requires a familiarity with Jesus and the Gospel, and one must follow the method of God which is humility."

"We need a recovery of simplicity, returning to the essential, the good news of a God who is interested in us and who draws nearer to us in Jesus Christ."

"To speak to God, we must make room in the hope that it is he who acts in our weakness.  Make room without fear, with simplicity and joy in the profound conviction that the more we put him in the middle and not us, the more our communication will be fruitful."  Pope Benedict XVI

St Nick was spotted peaking in the windows to see if they were being naughty or nice!  This reminds me of a sweet story about Simon.  He is in second grade at the Catholic School here in town and he just had his first reconcilliation.  Ruth was with him as the parents are very much included in the process.  "He was saying that he hit, and punched, and didn't listen to his mom."  Ruth shared.  The day after he got mad at his younger brother and hit at him...  a few minutes later his dad found him loudly crying..."My soul isn't clean anymore - I have sinned!  I have sinned!!!"  Wouldn't it be great to have this keen sense of doing wrong?  Instead we have over all these years sugar coated it and minimized it to the point that we don't even recognize our sinfulness and the things that separate us from the LOVE of God! 

Family is the domestic Church - the center and heart of our FAITH  and passing it on!  Jesus, we are filled with JOY at this time of year!  We reflect the great wonder and JOY that entered the world in just a few days in the institution of the Most Holy Family!  Yes, they were poor and humble and yes they faced great dangers and hardships, but they also had LOVE and LIFE beyond all telling!  They came together as a unit of Faith, LOVE and HOPE in the Truth that will set all free!  Jesus, may our families grow in the knowledge and LOVE of YOU!  Jesus, we thank, praise and trust in YOU.  Amen and Halleluia

Bless-bless, Barb

"First he says, 'Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings , you neither desired or delighted in.'  These are offered according to the law.  Then he says, 'Behold I come to do your will.'  He takes away the first to establish the second.  By this 'will' we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Christ Jesus once for all."  Hebrews 10:5-10 The second reading in mass today