The Sower and the seed teaches us the Truth

Interacting LIFE of brother-sister-dog-Our Lady, Queen of Heaven and Earth! 
The North wind is howling coldly outside our farmhouse this day.  Inside we have shared breakfast and prayer with Nancy and her precious two little ones!   We were overjoyed to have the Gospel from Mark 4 about the Sower and the seed!  Three years ago that was the reading on January 27th - the day of John's stem cell transplant!  Now 3 days later - 3 years later finds John in the midst of a retreat with the other seminarians at a Franciscan retreat house!  How I am praying that the Holy Spirit is speaking to him - sharing with him the Truth of Jesus, and his amazing glorious Bride, the Church!  It is such a JOY to have John share with us about his journey called cancer/healing/seminary... He is very happy and at peace although the studies are a definite challange and humbling... he is loving the community and prayer-life with his fellow brother seminarians.  Daily mass and prayers are so powerful for him as he grows closer and closer to the Lord.  We pray that his soil may be fertile, as it was when his stem cells were planted in his bone marrow 3 years and 3 days ago, so that the harvest may be great - thirty, sixty or a hundred fold! 

Nancy and the kids having a video chat with dad while he is in California on his first business trip of his new job.  With the kids still babies and not tied down with school - she is able to come home to the farm to be with her parents and sister's family for the time that Bill is away!  How special for us to have this time with them, and share our wonderful LIFE on the farm.  Soon spring will be here and the new baby calves will be coming.  I have a feeling that little Gus will be his grandpa's right hand man, when the weather gets nice.  Nancy's wish for her kids to be farmkids is looking like a possibility.  So nice to have them here!

Cousin Dave loves his little baby cousins! 

14 "The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

Mark 4

It is so powerful to hear Jesus' Word to us, and to realize that we have experienced all of these ways of receiving the Word!  But we long to truly take the Word into our inner soil and plant it there, water it, feed it with the sacraments and all the blessings of the Church... and that we can then bear much fruit starting in our domestic Church/family and then to all the world around us!  I have learned so much from the Community of the Lamb, and how they truly become the Word/Jesus, and represent HIM knocking on the door of the poor, as they beg for their food from them!  They repeat each line and listen to the Spirit as it speaks to them, and then they find "echoes" from throughout the Bible that enriches the Gospel and makes it speak to our hearts more yet!  I have learned from them that when I go to bed at night I excitedly read the Gospel for the next day and carry that with me into my sleep - filled with wonder and awe at all that HE teaches us as we walk with HIM! 

Jesus, we are thrilled at your Truth in our lives as we walk with YOU, and we see YOU in your Word!  You are all that we long for as we are hungry for YOU - we are fed in your Sacraments and Your Word!  We are filled to overflowing by YOU, O Jesus!  We are reminded of the gallons of water - you turned into wine at the request of your loving Mother at Cana.  We are overwhelmed by YOUR LOVE for us and unconditional forgiveness when we are distracted by the cares of the world or allow Satan to snatch the SEED away from our hearts!  There is more SEED to fall upon the rich soil as we are cleansed by YOU, O Lord!  We are longing to LOVE and follow after YOU carrying our Most Cherished Cross.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Halleluia

Bless-bless, Barb

“May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.
― Thérèse de Lisieux

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwtcwQwgdsA  Tenth Avenue North singing - You are More - Watch it!  Jesus, thank you for your unconditional LOVE and FORGIVENESS - AGAPE LOVE!  We are YOURS, now and forever!  May your Word take root in us!