A young friend from facebook shared this today. She is attending the U of Mary in Bismarck, ND where both of my two oldest girls went to college! Last year as she traveled the country with the NET team she wrote me about meeting the Little Sisters- Community of the Lamb in Kansas City and was so impressed by them that after college she might consider a call to look into being a postulant there! What a delightful gift to have these wonderful young people raised as LIGHTS and on fire with their LOVE of Christ and His Bride, The Church! Another wonderful part of all this is that now the U of Mary has a Catholic Studies program in Rome!!! I am sure my friend will get her time to be there as she is in Catholic Studies. We know well the couple that is in charge of the students studying there - they just had their second child while there in Rome - little Gianna! What a beautiful message from the Saint for today - amazing St Francis de Sales - reminding us that the basis of all our journey should be LOVE! We read this morning as we were sharing morning prayer that he influenced St Therese with his writings!
It is so special having the two here for a length of time and really discovering the wonderful children they are! One special thing Gus does that makes me smile is he will say things that I remember with my kids when they were little, and he must realize that they are made up words, because he will say after - "My mom says that." "Ouchy wawa. My mommy says that." Is an example that just tickles me... I am not sure if that is a word that Nancy came up with as a little girl, but it is so sweet to hear it coming from the lips of her sweet little boy! I know grandpa is very happy that he is here and that grandma is spoiling them with pancakes every morning! Gus is off with grandpa in the pickup, and Berna is hanging out with grandma while Sesame street is the background sound for her activity of getting into cupboards. At least it is the cupboard of mostly empty lotion bottles and perfume. She should smell really good!... I am deeply moved by all the wonderfulness that surrounds me with each day from the wonderful LIGHTS among my friends and my own kids and husband - add to that the Saints and readings and presence of Christ in His Word and Body and Blood each day - I am overwhelmed with almost too much to take in! Reading in The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic by Matthew Kelly last night - his chapter entitled How do you eat an elephant? really reminded me of the most wonderful feeling I have about my amazing glorious Catholic Church - that I will never digest or be able to take it all in! It is to me infinite and if you are talking about God and anything pertaining to HIM - that is very true for sure! I do not feel defeated by this but as Matthew Kelly shared we should try to gain a little more knowledge through some time spent in study with each new day! What an exciting gift that is and our LIGHT amps up a bit higher and higher as we grow in the knowledge and LOVE of Jesus and His Bride, The Church!
Berna came over to me while I was on the throne and there is a multi frame with kids in big shoes - mostly grandpa and John's size 13s! So I tried with my little 14 month old cutie -she didn't go for it so good!
She was happier to carry them back to the closet...
So I got one of her in grandma's cowboy boots - size 9 - she still wanted to walk too much and not do the smiling pose I had longed for. Yes, these are the disruptions to my sharing today - mostly of my own making in my obsession with pictures. With such cute little ones around me - it is constant and my mind gets tired of itself! One cute sharing this morning by my brother's wife, Angela Cross, so true and made me laugh... "We feel this way every year at this time. It's like childbirth, as soon as Spring arrives, we forget about it!" And I will go one step further - the pain and agony of winter as grueling as this one as well as the pain and agony of childbirth makes the coming of Spring and the birth of that perfect Gift-from-God-child that much more wonderful after! It goes without saying that if life were a bed of roses and easy and wonderful all the time, which is what most of us pray for and hope for... we would become bored and it would be dull to us. But with the Cross in our lives - Our Most Cherished Cross - we need to pass into that to find the Resurrection/LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT, and it is truly glorious and hugely delightful to us after the sufferings of LIFE! I look at the 5 children I have with me on my journey - Ruth, Nancy, Maria, Susan/Hallel, and John and now we have expanded to 20 going on 22 in our domestic Church/family... yet the years of having our 12 and losing 7 - now waiting for us to be united in Heaven. There were many tears and pain and loss in the midst of our family- making us respect and value each other to the highest heights! I see now the same openness to LIFE and raising LIGHTS that value all LIFE - knowing that it needs to be protected and cherished at all costs! They all are practicing Creighton Model natural family planning, and Ruth even is an instructor! The miracle babies we thank God for! Ruth with her 5, Nancy expecting this summer number 3, and Maria expecting number 6... she had 2 miscarriages between David and Patrick! As Therese said - "We are going to have to get a big van for all those kids when we get to heaven!" She understands the beauty of a large family filled with LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!
Just blessed with special snuggle time with Berna... her little lamb says "Our Father" "Hail Mary" and "Glory be" and we listened to them each about 4 times as we had some precious quiet time for this very busy little girl. She just pulled over a heavy table and scared me for the second time today. Her guardian angels are hard at work!
Jesus, today you called your twelve apostles in the Gospel reminding us along with the message of LOVE from St Francis de Sales - that we are called to give all we have without counting the cost! Even when life is hurtful and we suffer - we grow in the knowledge that after the Cross we rise to New LIFE and share that with all those we meet each day. We also know that those we meet that have needs to be met are Christ in our midst! Jesus, your Mercy is unconditional and without end - if only we can leave behind the darkness and sin that holds us captive. If we only lay all our burdens at your feet - your Mercy flows all around us and we then share it with all those in our lives. Jesus, we are called to be your apostles in our lives - "that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons." Mark 3:13-19 Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
St Francis de Sales on United in Service with the Apostles
"So go forth very bravely with perfect trust in the goodness of Him who calls you to this holy task. When has anyone ever hoped in the Lord and been disappointed?... Remember this simple truth which is beyond all doubt: God allows many difficulties to beset those who want to serve him but never lets them sink beneath the burden as long as they trust in him."
St Francis de Sales (1622) How is that for a little bit of study and growth in our faith this day at the feet of a very wonderful saint?
We are bundleing up now and heading out for an adventure - it is our window between artic blasts! It is about 30 degrees out there now! Wow!
Matt West - Child of the One True King - Hello my name is
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