Once again I have my friend... Scott Hahn, to thank for posting this today! As a woman, who has had 11 pregnancies, I know very personally and profoundly the knowledge of "Light of LIFE" within me! All LIFE is a gift, but for Mary she is the temple, gate, beacon, root, wheat, mirror... bringing into the world ALL LIFE, All Light into the darkness of sin and death, and ALL LOVE from which we are healed and forgiven and allowed to go forward as His!
"Church isn’t a place you go to get pumped up about life. It isn’t entertainment like a movie or concert. It is literally a life and death matter. Eternal life. Just as a loving parent wouldn’t allow their child to wander in the road or to quit school, a loving Christian parent also does not give the option to their children about going to church, learning Bible stories at home, and praying together. Do your kids always jump for joy when they hear you say, “Time to get up! Let’s get ready for church!” No. They won’t. Do they get excited for school every morning? Hardly. But you still make them go. Why? Because you are the parent and you know what’s best. Even when they complain, you serve them healthful meals and limit their junk food intake. You set boundaries for their own safety when playing outside. You insist they go to school because you’re looking at the long term picture. And you are right to do those things. How much more so are you responsible for doing all you can to secure their eternal well being?
Yes, kids can be brought up in a loving Christian home and still turn away later. That’s on them. But you, parents, have a task of the utmost importance. God has placed these precious children into your homes for such a brief while. You have them with you for perhaps 1/5 of their lives. Set a strong foundation while they are under your roof. Take them to church. Make sure they understand that they are sinners and that Jesus is their Savior. They are never too young to learn this. My one-and-a-half year old sees a cross and excitedly shouts, “Jesus!” Don’t use the excuse that “they wouldn’t understand this.” Try them. I don’t understand it all myself, but I still believe. And you’d better believe that the Holy Spirit works in their hearts effectively. My children sometime amaze me with the insights they pick up during devotions or Bible readings. The strength of their faith often humbles me. Once when I was having a terrible day, my oldest asked, “Can I pray with you?” He was nine at the time. He knows there is power in prayer. He perceives that sometimes there’s nothing he can say that will make it better, so he’ll just go straight to the One who does have that power. Do my own kids complain about church? Yes. Do they tell me it’s boring? Sometimes, yes. They say the same things about school. But church and school are different environments for a reason. School is centered around learning and thus has its own schedule and structure. Church is a hospital for sinners. That would be all of us, mind you. You, me, the drug dealer a few streets away- all of us are sinners in need of a Savior. So what do we do at church? We confess our sins. Why do we do this at the start? To “wipe our feet” before entering God’s house, so to speak. Then we are assured of forgiveness. We hear God’s Word. We sing hymns proclaiming what Christ has done for us. We hear sermons where our pastors preach Christ. We don’t go to church to hear what we have to do to gain heaven. No, Christ did it all. 100%. We can’t do one thing to merit salvation for ourselves. That’s why we hear sermons about Jesus and not about us. We take the body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion for the strength of our souls. And we depart refreshed to serve God by serving our families, friends, and neighbors in Christian love." Ruth Meyer
http://truthnotes.net/2014/03/24/why-i-would-never-force-my-kids-to-go-to-church/ For the entire article... well worth the read!
Pat and I just had a special laugh together after going to Maria's blog and discovering a vocation story rooted in their attending not just weekly mass together, but daily mass as a family!
"This morning at Mass the homily was about vocation and how Mary accepted hers from God. After it finished, David leaned over to me and asked me what vocations were. I said it was what he would decide to do when he grew up, whether he would be a priest, a Little Brother, or a dad.
He thought momentarily and then very seriously responded with this:
"Mom, I don't want to be a priest or a Little Brother or a dad when I grow up.
When I grow up I want to be a…(pause for thought)…a... (obviously having trouble thinking of the right word and then a look of excitement when he thought of the proper term)…an altar server!"
When I grow up I want to be a…(pause for thought)…a... (obviously having trouble thinking of the right word and then a look of excitement when he thought of the proper term)…an altar server!"
Yeah - pretty much the best!"
The picture of David that went with this adorable sharing! Pat and I both commented that we were sure he would name one of his favorite super heroes - Robin Hood, Spiderman, etc. Knowing that he attends mass daily with his mother and siblings and these are the kind of discussions that result along with the thinking he has going through his young head, heart, and soul! As Maria says - "pretty much the best!" So true! Knowing the Maria that discovered her Catholic Faith that first year at St Thomas in Catholic Studies, and attending daily mass ever since... this is just so wonderful to witness the fruits of that deep Faith discovered when she was about to leave the Church for E-free! Here again a story of parents being firm and not caving to the whims of their children! When we looked at colleges with Maria, she decided on another private college - "They are all the same, anyways." "No! If we are paying for a private college - it will be Catholic!" was our firm stance. She went to St Thomas, and in the first week asked a seminarian where she could find an E-free church. "We need to talk." That talk brought her to the realization of what she was walking away from, and I received this letter from her at a TEC retreat I was working... it is forever taped inside my Bible!
Mom, I love you! I have been stubborn lately about this statement, but it is true. You have always loved me, even when I totally turned against you and all you believe in. Well, now you know that prayers are definitely answered, because I know that my faith filled a lot of your prayer time in the last 2 years. My relationships at college have really helped me. I have definitely renewed my love of the Catholic Church and everything in it, but I am still in need of prayers for me to continue to grow in this faith.
I don't think I've ever told you this, but you and dad are amazing. You raised all of us in His Church and built us a faith foundation on which we can now grow on. Thank you! Maria Theresa
Maria last week after daily mass at a special birthday party others had to surprise Therese on her 6th birthday! Truly a family of Faith!
You can only imagine the tears that flowed when I received this precious letter! As a result of this there are two girls/women I have included on Maria's decade of the rosary daily that are struggling with making their faith their own. I pray that they too will write a similar letter to their parents someday - finding the Truth and appreciating the all important prayers we say for our children every day!
Lord, today in the Gospel you remind us that the Law/Commandments are there to guide us to the goodness and the right path. That narrow path we are to walk down following You and carrying our Most Cherished Cross! Every day we are called to pray for the needs of those in our domestic Church/family! At times it seems that we see no hope or answers, but when we look back and remember the miracles and blessings - we are filled to overflowing with your goodness and LOVE and care and concern for each one of us. You have counted every hair on our heads and you knew us from conception on! There is no reason to hide from your LIGHT, as you know all! We are yours and we long to leave behind that selfishness and self concern that keeps us from being totally Yours and allowing your Holy Spirit to live and work within us! May we as parents know that all of Faith begins in the home! We share our Faith with Joy in our domestic Church/home! We attend mass daily/weekly together, as a family, from the first week of birth on. We gather to pray, to read the Word, to share the lives of the Saints, to share family meals begun with a prayer of blessing over the food we are about to eat, to discuss the deep meaning of vocations and callings from God - what He wants us to be when we grow up and not the self-centered ideas we might have, to value all life and to open to LIFE and how it calls us to give of ourselves for the new life we are there to nourish and to raise with the right values and morals of The Church... not out of duty, but rather seeing that it is right and just! How do we do all this? Not on our own, but by dying to self so that Christ may live in us! He is our strength in our weakness - He carries us in His arms and shows us the Way, the Truth and The LIFE! Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
Oh, Lord, for the warmth for shirt sleeve weather once again!
"Your word, O Lord, for ever
stands firm in the heavens:
your truth lasts from age to age,
like the earth you created." Psalm 119:89-90
"Listen, my children." Proverbs 7:24
Carrying our Cross - easy and light? Jesus, assures us and I trust HIM!
Danielle Rose - Psalm 139 Fearfully and wonderfully made!
Lead me to the Cross
Casting Crowns - The East is from the West
As I pray for Maria and her child daily - I am filled with much peace knowing that this new life is also getting the great graces and blessings as well as nourishment of the Bread of Heaven and earth in the Body and Blood of Christ! Maria is going forth filled with Hope and Faith as she looks to her older sister, Ruth, who has now had her 3rd miracle baby after rupture! So we Hope and Pray for Maria and this new Life!
Grandma holding this gift of LIFE... soon two more as Nancy and Maria are both expecting!
Susan/Hallel holding her Goddaughter March of 2008! WE know of her prayers for all as she receives Christ daily in His Word and Eucharist! As she kneels before Him in the monstrance in Adoration! We are lifted on the wings of eagles!
Godmother, Little Sister Hallel, with her Goddaughter, Therese last April in Kansas City! Sharing the blue!
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