"God is better than money." Simon Lanoue

I love reflection pictures, and when the subject is a little baby girl named Rose Ida... two angles is definitely aditional gift of her sweetness!  

I have been wanting to share this profound sharing that we had with little Simon on Sunday.  He is in the 2nd grade. so this is a very big year for him.  He has already had his first reconcilliation and that affected him deeply.  The day after he had confessed that he hit, and punched, and didn't listen to his parents... he was playing with his younger brother and got frustrated with him.  He shoved and hit him, and suddenly he started to cry loudly with tears running down his face - "I have sinned!  I have sinned!  I am not washed clean any more!"  Now aware that he needs and wants to do better in his life and stay in that state of grace where he is clean and following Jesus and His Bride, The Church!  

She so much reminds me of my girls, and that is so fun for me!

On Sunday, out of the blue, Simon said; "God is better than money, and that is why Susie/Hallel is poor."  I just laughed with great JOY at this simple yet so profound statement.  It allowed me to share with Simon about the vow of poverty that little Sister Hallel has taken. I told him that what he said is just exactly the theology behind this for her.  Such a lesson to the rest of us, too!  Little Simon has been diagnosed as being in the autism spectrum, and that makes him very special and unique.  But he also has such a beautiful clear insight into many deep and beautiful thoughts about his faith, and that makes him a most specially close-to-God little boy!  I have yet to share this with Hallel, but I know she will just laugh with great JOY when she hears about it, and give her Simmey a huge hug when she sees him in April!  It could be that she will be here the day that he takes his first communion and that would be a wonderful special time to share together.  Hallel has been super close to Simon, as he is the oldest nephew, and their birthdays are just 2 days apart.  So it would just be most special if she could be here to share in this glorious occassion in Simon's life.  If she is here then... all of Simon's cousins will be here too!  They are all planning to be here for the short week we are allowed to have Susan/Hallel here for her home visit.  It would be such a beautiful event to share with all of those younger than Simon.  I know that he will just be glowing and excited on this first day of receiving Jesus' Body and Blood in the Eucharist!  It is all in the hands of the Holy Spirit to show us how it will all work out.

"Lord Jesus, Who in the Eucharist make your dwelling among us and become our traveling companion, sustain our Christian communities so that they may be ever more open to listening and accepting your Word. May they draw from the Eucharist a renewed commitment to spreading in society, by the proclamation of your Gospel, the signs and deeds of an attentive and active charity,"

- Pope John Paul II
Jesus, we are reminded of your Truth through the "eyes of the heart" of a little 8 year old boy.  May we see you as clearly and closely as the children in our midst, who humbly love you and allow nothing to come between them and your LOVE and Forgiveness for them.  May we learn from the little ones in our midst to love you more than money and to fill our lives and our homes with LIFE and LOVE, and not stuff, and things, and mindless TV, and computer use, and all the ways that we are pulled away from YOU.  We are weak and that is when we turn to YOU and ask YOU to give us the help that we need to leave self behind and follow after YOU carrying our Most Cherished Cross.  Thank you for the profound lesson that Little Sister Hallel and her Community of the Lamb has brought into our family/domestic Church.  Her example of giving up all - poverty - to embrace YOU is such a powerful lesson for the little ones as well as those adults that forget so easily!  May we come to YOU this day and lay all our burdens at your feet.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Halleluia

Bless-bless, Barb

http://www.michaeljournal.org/eucharist.htm  The encyclical that Blessed John Paul II wrote on the Eucharist!

"To contemplate Christ involves being able to recognize Him wherever He manifests Himself, in His many forms of presence, but above all in the living sacrament of His body and His blood. The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist; by Him she is fed and by Him she is enlightened. The Eucharist is both a mystery of faith and a “mystery of light”. Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: “their eyes were opened and they recognized Him” (Lk 24:31)."

Simon teaching by example a younger cousin, Augustine.

Blessed John Paul II from his encyclical on the Eucharist!!

"When I think of the Eucharist, and look at my life as a priest, as a Bishop and as the Successor of Peter, I naturally recall the many times and places in which I was able to celebrate it. I remember the parish church of Niegowiæ, where I had my first pastoral assignment, the collegiate church of Saint Florian in Krakow, Wawel Cathedral, Saint Peter's Basilica and so many basilicas and churches in Rome and throughout the world. I have been able to celebrate Holy Mass in chapels built along mountain paths, on lakeshores and seacoasts; I have celebrated it on altars built in stadiums and in city squares... This varied scenario of celebrations of the Eucharist has given me a powerful experience of its universal and, so to speak, cosmic character. Yes, cosmic!

Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world. It unites heaven and earth. It embraces and permeates all creation. The Son of God became man in order to restore all creation, in one supreme act of praise, to the One who made it from nothing. He, the Eternal High Priest who by the blood of His Cross entered the eternal sanctuary, thus gives back to the Creator and Father all creation redeemed. He does so through the priestly ministry of the Church, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity. Truly this is the mysterium fidei which is accomplished in the Eucharist: the world which came forth from the hands of God the Creator now returns to Him redeemed by Christ.

The Eucharist, as Christ's saving presence in the community of the faithful and its spiritual food, is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history. "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wutmEjdbedE  Open the eyes of my Heart, Lord!!!