My day has been tied up and held hostage by a husband needing help getting ready for the County Fair a week from today! Sometimes I regret that neither of us work out of the homebase other than my nursing home nurse job here and there. No excuses, I guess.
The grandkids will be arriving in less than an hour - a work day for Ruth and the grandmas help out.
I might have had a lot to say earlier, but at this point it has faded to gray. Some might cheer at this being much shorter than usual. It was good to read the Gospel together this morning and discover when I read it over last night that it is the sower and the seed - Matthew 13:1-9
Luke needed a place to play and a clean up yesterday when he was here, and the bubble sink works well other than he is trying to pull himself up so I have to be there by him the whole time.
When I read this Gospel I am reminded of the little ones we are given to raise as LIGHTS... how do we ensure that the soil is fertile? By openly sharing our faith in our homes. That is where the Church takes root and grows - in our domestic Church/homes! How do we go about doing this? By sharing the Sacraments with Joy and excitement each week. By sharing the lives of the Saints with our children! This was huge in our home and taught us that we are never alone on our journeys and no matter what we face we can persevere!
Rose was very excited to find pictures of our time in Michigan with "Patrick" and playing in the sand on the "beach" with Bernadette and Gus!
How else can we make our little ones fertile soil for the seeds of Faith to grow and produce much LIGHT for the world? By being open and sharing of all that comes to us as a family! WE suffered many losses of pregnancies and shared that openly - when we were expecting with JOY and then when we grieved their loss! This was a painful Cross to share, but the result has been to make us a very close family and to value all life very highly! We see clearly the wisdom of The Church in leading us in their wisdom to be open to LIFE and to protect it at all cost! This is the basis of our family and now continues into each of our children and their families or calling to follow Christ as his Bride.
Shining LIGHTS - my husband's words when we went to our Engagement weekend - "The World needs LIGHTS!" he said when I asked if we were being selfish to have a large family, when others said they were only going to have 2 kids, one, or none due to the mess the world is in. 5 here with us and 7 in heaven praying for us.
Jesus, thank you for the ways we can pull the weeds and clear the rocks from the soil so that it may be fertile/rich soil and produced fruit, a hundred and sixty or thirtyfold. I was just out in the garden thinking I am such a poor gardener while I have Ruth loving her garden and it shows! I pray that I can be a much better gardener of raising LIGHTS in my children and grand-children than raising plants and not weeds in my own garden. Thank you, Phyllis Lanoue, for showing us the beauty of putting tarp down to keep the weeds out! May our LOVE for your Church always attract those in our lives to YOU and YOUR Truth! Your Way is a path laden with flowers and fruit and all that is to fill us with goodness - the Tree of LIFE, The Cross! Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
A complete picture of LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT that fills me with so much JOY... I want to shout from the highest height - "Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!!!!"
Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
The Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Bridget and said to her this:
"I, who speak to you, am the Queen of heaven. I am, as it were, a gardener of this world. For when a gardener sees the rise of a strong wind harmful to the little plants and the trees of his garden, at once he runs to them quickly and binds them fast with sturdy stakes as well as he can. And thus he comes to their aid, in various ways according to his ability, lest they be broken by the rushing wind or wretchedly uprooted."
~St. Bridget of Sweden
1373 patron saint of Sweden
"I, the Mother of mercy, do the same in the garden of this world. For when I see blowing on the hearts of human beings the dangerous winds of the devil's temptations and wicked suggestions, at once I have recourse to my Lord and my God, my Son Jesus Christ, helping them with my prayers and obtaining from him his outpouring of some holy infusions of the Holy Spirit into their hearts to prop them up and savingly confirm them that they may be kept spiritually uninjured by the diabolic wind of temptations lest the devil prevail against up by the stem in accord with his wicked desire. And thus when, with humility of heart and active compliance, human beings receive these said stakes of mine and with assistance, at once they are defended against the diabolic onslaught of temptations; and remaining firm in the state of grace, they bear for God and for me the fruit of sweetness in due season." St Bridget continues - she is the patron Saint for today, and with a full blooded Swedish grandmother, Dagmar, I think she is special to me. Right dad?
Picking up bales by Lake Marshall yesterday... the breeze coming off felt cool, but...
Nothing like Lake Michigan - I thought you would like to see this family pic of Marty and Steve's bunch taken this week! All but Tricia... they have us beat by 4 here!
The Afters - Broken Hallelujah
picking up bales along a really pretty corn field yesterday
Kind of pretty don't you think? We could use rain, Lord.
Brandon Heath - Give me your eyes
"Let there be a place somewhere in which you can breathe naturally, quietly. A place where your mind can be idle, and forget its concerns, descend into silence, and worship in secret." ~Thomas Merton
How I love Thomas Merton!!! He takes me back to my early Catholic days - filled with Romance and LOVE which has never ever faded!
No comments:
Post a Comment