Family time on a glorious evening on the farm. Ruth had thought about going to a local State Park with the kids, but the men were working putting cattle out to the pature here, so we decided to have our own campfire/cookout in the grove! It was a wonderful evening. I love to have the convenience of the house right there for anything we may need or want. Yet we are out in a camping mood surrounded by the glorious smell of lilacs from the hedge that surrounds our house in a cloud of heavenly beauty! I can imagine no more wondrous thought than the clouds surrounding heaven as being billowing with the plumes of lilacs. Looking up at the fully open mass of blossoms - it did have a fluffy cloud like feeling to it!
Clouds of lilacs... smellvision... I can smell their beauty sitting here and looking at this...
Well, I am off to take cattle with my husband... we will try to travel the Holy way as described from Isaiah in morning prayer this morning - "it is there for those who have a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk... crowned with everlasting joy; they will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee." Isaiah 35
Every day is a challange for us to keep to the path that the Lord has laid out for us to follow. That path that is labled for me personally? There is a sign that says "Wife" and a sign that says "Mother" and a sign that says "Nurse" and a sign that says "One who writes a lot about her faith journey since she wrote about John's brain cancer journey" and a sign that says "One who has been blessed with LIFE with her 12 children - 7 in heaven and 5 with her" and a sign that says "Daughter to faithfilled parents, and sister to 11, 2 of which are in heaven" and a sign that says "In love with the True Church and without hesitation a believer and follower of all that The Church upholds as Truth" and a sign that says "a woman who needs her Lord as she is very weak and emotional and anxious at some of the hardships she faces!" Well, there is so much more that marks my path in LIFE, and I know that I have shared at great length that journey here. Yet, each new day holds so much to add, and it seems that I never run dry of all that I can, with great excitement, share!
It is such a blessing to have grandchildren sharing our life on the farm with us, and to see their joy and excitement at the LIFE they are blessed with here. We know that our girls have appreciated their life here, and with great happiness share that with their kids whenever possible. Most importantly we feel is the fact that as a family of approaching 20 now - we share with a single mind, heart and soul - the Truth of our Catholic Faith. We are united in Faith and that is what gives us the greatest happiness in LIFE! I will never forget Pat speaking to someone, who said that all that mattered is if your children are happy. "No! There is false happiness! All I want is for my children to get to Heaven." We feel, without a shadow of a doubt that the Catholic Church's main goal is to help us get to Heaven! All that She teaches or proclaims is for our benefit and to help us get to Heaven! Each day is filled with all that we need to keep to the narrow path carrying our Most Cherished Cross... the sacraments, the Saints - today is a feastday of St Charles Lwanga and companions - martyrs from Uganda, Africa in the late 1800s - Our Lady, Queen of Heaven and Earth, the sacramentals as in the rosary and many others, and we are given the gift of having Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament two days a week now! I could go on and on and I must add here the wonder of Jesus in The Word! There is a misconception that the Catholic Church does not honor The Word as it should - every day The Gospel reading is read and preached and meditated upon around the world... that is truly allowing Christ to work in this world through the power of "where two or more are gathered in my Name, there am I in their midst." Matthew 18:20 We have adopted a wonderful taking in of the Gospel and taking it to heart through Hallel's Community of the Lamb! They start the night before "chewing" the Gospel by repeating each line over many times and things just leap out to you in this way! We read with great anticipation the night before the reading for the following day and we are never disappointed and go to bed with that ringing in our hearts, minds and souls!
Jesus, we are filled with so much as we are given the path called The Church to follow on our journey to make. Yes, it is narrow and hard, yet there is so much to help us and fill us with the strength to go forward singing to Your Honor and Glory with all the Saints! Today we are reminded of those martyrs - "They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. 'These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have their robes washed and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.' " Revelations 7:14 Yes, Lord, we too have faced those times that we are persecuted for our faith in YOU. May we find strength in the witness of many that faced the supreme sacrifice - most especially YOU yourself, Jesus! Turning to YOU... we are reminded of the creed of the Lamb - "Wounded, I will not cease to LOVE." As I was walking through Saint Pierre in 2009 watching my son on a walker and struggling to walk on his own after having a biopsy to discover the name of his brain cancer, and the next day to watch my 4th daughter, Susan, take the habit of the Community of the Lamb and change her name to Little Sister Hallel... Little Sister Sarah told me that this was the motto that they lived by in the Community - "Wounded, I will not cease to love." When you engage those from the Community in conversation they speak so often of how this situation or person is a "lamb." So when she spoke these words the vision of the spotless Lamb/Christ going to the Cross for our sins and our darkness to bring LIGHT/LIFE/LOVE into the world came over me, but I also asked her if it were a hard thing for them to do day to day. "Yes! It is a very hard calling to live out." she said, without hesitation. Lord, give us the strength - most especially with those that are the closest to us in our domestic Church/family. Why is it that those that we love the most and are the closest to us, do we treat the worst? May that change this day. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless, Barb with my most Cherished Cross - Patrick Gerard Joseph Verly
"Salvation is from God and from the Lamb!" Rev 7:10
― Thérèse de Lisieux
“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”
― Thérèse de Lisieux
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO_YUOAA1HU Small Things with Great LOVE by Danielle Rose
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