It was a beautiful peaceful evening to watch the cows and calves out grazing at sunset. John and I just were sharing morning prayer/office as he struggled with head allergies - we joked that with his recent ear infections, sinus infections and now allergies preceded , of course, by his battle with brain cancer - that he suffers from his neck up! It seems that this is his area of illness and healing. It was quite crazy when we went though similar journey with Patrick when he was without oxygen for 20 minutes at birth - his MRI at just days old and prayers for his brain were too similar and the healing he received was also so amazing and we rejoiced to the highest heavens! We also talked with great JOY and excitement about all the offers that are coming to John to share his message of finding Faith/healing! Just as we were praying together another call came to him for him to speak to young people. We were reminded of Pope Francis telling the Youth at World Youth Day - "Be LOUD! Be joyful witnesses of his love, courageous witnesses of his Gospel, carrying to this world a ray of his LIGHT." This was magnified by sharing the 30th Psalm - "So I will not be silent; I will sing praise to YOU. Lord, you are my God; I will give you thanks forever." Ps 30:12 What just blew us away, as we read this sharing evening prayer on our way together to a speaking engagement - the verses preceding this share about how he was spared from death so that he can share the message of healing and the power of God! "I called to you, Lord; I begged for your help: 'What will you gain from my death? What profit from my going to the grave? Are dead people able to praise you? Can they proclaim your unfailing goodness? Hear me, Lord, and be merciful! Help me, Lord." Psalm 30: 8-10 I think that you can see how powerful this was to hear - as words that truly passed between God and John in his spiritual battle to find LIFE/Faith/Truth! The bigger battle for John - the spiritual one- and what brought all of this about was his half-heartedly asking for Faith! Today in the Gospel we are also shown a picture of Jesus calming the storm within - driving a demon out of a man! Jesus is in control of all in our lives inside and out, above the neck and below!
On this feast of St Gregory the Great we are reminded in the first reading that we are "children of the LIGHT and children of the day!" Plans are underway in our family with great planning and anticipation for our gathering in Kansas City in a week and a half for the dedication of the Little Monastery of the Community of the Lamb on the weekend of The Exultation of the Cross and the Sorrowful Heart of Mary - Sept 14-15th. The Little Sisters and Brothers there share some beautiful stories from their poor neighborhood finding a safe haven in the midst of the darkness that dwelt there before their arrival about 5 years ago now. One man shared that he always carried a knife with him as he walked there, but now he has found a sense of safety by the LIGHTHOUSE on the hill - first they lived in a large Belgian rectory still standing after the Church had burnt down. After years of fund raising they have now built their little monastery on the site, and the neighborhood has rejoiced and taken great pride and a sense of HOPE in their putting down roots in their midst! The name of their home - Lumen Christi - LIGHT of Christ! Truly a light in the midst of not only a poor neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas, but also in the heart of our country! Our country with the battle we have with the darkness/sin to our very soul! "As we just arrived in our new country where everything was a discovery, we received in our hearts this somehow crazy call: to build again a monastery, there, in the heart of this neighborhood! You know what followed! You, in so many different ways, have shared this adventure: the construction, on this once consecrated land, a new monastery, Lumen Christi, the Light of Christ... It will be inaugurated on the 14th of Sept. This day, the Lord's Cross of Light will be exalted on all the earth. We invite you with great JOY to this HISTORICAL event which won't make newspaper headlines!"
http://www.communityofthelambusa.org/monastery_progress.html If you wish to see this LIGHTHOUSE on the hill - Kansas City, we have discovered through our visits there, is very hilly!
Lord, what peace floods us knowing that you are alive and well and at work in this world! Your beautiful LIGHT greets us with each new day, and we are lulled into our peaceful sleep at night after watching the beauty of the sunset. We are filled with wonder and awe at the beauty of your Truth revealed to us through each day that we journey in your Church! Endless blessings and graces surround us as we are healed inside and out knowing that you are in control and calming the storm with great "authority and power!" There is such a powerful and amazing picture imagining the man you healed of a demon today in the Gospel... how healed of mind and spirit that he went forth to share LOUD and wide what you have done for him. No longer is the darkness of sin and death lying to him, and he can see clearly with the LIGHT that has taken the place of the darkness! He can say with great conviction - that he is not of the night or of the darkness... we are reminded that we are to stay awake and to not to sleep, but to stay alert and sober. "For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether awake or asleep we may live together with him." I Thessalonians 5:9-11 The powerful first reading from mass today - read and shared Truth throughout the Catholic world today! We find peace in trusting in the great leaders of our Church - Pope St Gregory the Great, pray for us this day, and we are blessed by the wisdom of your writings still with us the guide us. May we always look to you from our weakness - knowing that you are in control always calming the storms inside and out! Jesus, we are yours and we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
Bless-bless, Barb
"We beg you: pray, pray, pray for us! We truly entrust to your prayer our desire to see the Little Monastery become a fire of fraternal love, consuming itself in prayer and offering and our desire renewed in our mission vocation to 'go!', to leave the little monastery, poor, begging the bread of the day, going from door to door announcing the Kingdom is at hand, of Christ our King meek and humble of heart." ending from the invitation to the dedication of the Little Monastery in Kansas City, Kansas - Sept 14, 2013!
Psalm 27 from mass today
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is my life's refuge; of whom shall I be afraid? I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living."
Lord, we put Ruth and her baby in the palm of your hand for the next two months.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDftVG6AHWo Danielle Rose singing Give and Take
This was the first song we heard her sing at NCYC about 10 years ago! We fell in love with her Catholic spirituality that comes to us from her music and journey!
It will soon be very loud and not peaceful around here as John, Pat and Paul are out taking the calves off the cows... weaning day!
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