Holding close in my heart the close family time that we enjoyed on the shores of Lake Michigan - two weeks ago now. Pat and I had a day with just Rose while the rest went up to Lake Superior for the day. She was a delight! Last night I had a wonderful time with her and watched her eyes light up when she saw me and heard her sweet voice calling me "gma" - there is great happiness that comes with all that! I lived a distance from my grandmothers - I in Boston and they in Michigan and Wisconsin when I was a 1 year old... so there was not this opportunity for me. Of course, being the oldest, I was doted on by my parents, yet at 14 months almost 15 months which Rose is... I had my next sister, Martha, already joining us. Rose has a few months to wait until her next sibling arrives, and Ruth was filling me in on her latest visit to the doctor this week and how pleased she is with her OB in listening to her desires and doing all she can to help Ruth get the baby here safely! With Ruth and her family so close - I got some wonderful help from them yesterday with my gardens around the house and weed eating, and then I could help them with watching the kids and making them supper. The blessings flow in both directions... and for me the frosting on the cake is the love and comfort I see in the eyes of my grandchildren! We are called to come to our Lord in equal fashion as we put Christ first in our lives and spend all our waking hours in prayer to HIM - so that we look upon HIM, who died and rose for us, with the eyes of LOVE and at peace and comfortable with HIS call to us to follow after HIM carrying our Most Cherished Cross!
The grandchildren are the magnet that gets the very busy grandpa to come and spend almost a week with us away from the ever demanding farm! They love him and much of that is because they are returning the LOVE that he showers upon them. This is what we experience with Christ - His LOVE pours down upon us unconditionally, and once we recognize that we are forgiven and called by HIM, we find our LOVE growing and growing and we look upon HIM as our Savior! We are called then to serve as He has served us! Today is the feastday of James - Happy Feastday to my brother Jim! And the Gospel/Word made Flesh is from Matthew 20 - "whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Yes, Lord, allow us more fully to give to YOU in all that we say and do this day with those the closest to us in domestic Church/family!
Those huge hard working hands are so gentle and loving and protecting and caring for the little ones that continue to pour into our family! Such a symbol and reality with our loving Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and filling us with the fire of LOVE/LIFE/LIGHT! "The world needs LIGHTS." Patrick Verly knows in his heart, openness to LIFE allows the world to be touched and changed by more and more LIGHTS!
Jesus, with St James at your feet among your Saints, we lift up this world to YOU and most especially our world/family/dometic Church where we are called to serve as YOU serve us! If we give without counting the cost we are given a small slice of heaven here on earth as we look to others and their needs over our own. You call us to follow you with humility and selfless giving - you modeled for us as a spotless Lamb led to slaughter with no sound of complaint. "Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?" He asked James and John in the Gospel today, and He asks us as we face all that LIFE holds for us in our lives too! It is impossible for us to accomplish this on our own, but with Christ we can accomplish all that comes to us! And when we fail - we are given the Sacraments to help us come back stronger than before - lay all our burdens at his feet in the sacrament of Reconcilliation, and be fed with the food of Heaven in the Sacrament of Eucharist! Lord, we need YOU and long to love and serve you more and more with each day. Be with all the youth that are gathered in Rio for World Youth Day with the Holy Father these days. Be with John and the group of boys gathered for the week for a special camp with reconcilliation, mass, adoration, talks, and much power of the Holy Spirit. Feeling that this could be a most powerful time for John in his discrenment and going forth down the narrow path and carrying his Most Cherished Cross - cancer/healing/seminary for one year and now looking for where he should be serving you in this world. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless, Barb
The three that we are missing in Texas... know that grandpa and grandma love you so much! The month I spent with you for the birth-rebirth-healing of Patrick fills me with the wonder of Christ's undying enless LOVE for us!
"Come to Serve" - Jean Vanier is the founder of l'Arche, an international network of communities fo the mentally handicapped
"Freed from inner barriers,
unprotected from pain,
Jesus was more totally vulnerable to people,
a gentle lover
in love with each person.
From his eyes, his hands, his flesh,
his whole being
flowed his total presence to people
in thier uniqueness.
Totally present to each person,
he received more fully the pain of each one.
He took that pain in him;
he suffered with each one;
he touched the deepest need in each one:
the cry for love, for value, for uniqueness,
for intimacy and for communion,
the cry to be.
But he also touched the fears,
the terrible fears of love in each person,
the pride, the need for independence,
the barriers that protect vulnerability,
the screams of 'no,'
'I do not want you!'
One senses the broken heart of Jesus
when he says:
'You refuse to come to me
to receive life.'
The heart of Jesus was so vulnerable;
it suffered more totally as he was pushed away by people.
The love surging up in him,
thirsty to give communion,
to give life,
and to rest in the hearts of people,
is shoved aside.
Gentle, humble lover,
silent lover,
rejected
in anguish,
the broken heart of a lover.
He experienced pain more deeply than any of us."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiypaURysz4 Holy Now with Peter Mayer
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