"The Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." Exodus 20

I love this soft sweet picture of my parents taken at dad's 90th birthday party last evening at my sister's home.  We all commented that it was so much nicer than going out to a restaurant.  There was lively conversations, lots of laughter, some games of pool in the basement, looking at the album of dad's 80th at which time we rented a bus and surprised him in Michigan on Sunday at mass!  All 10 kids with spouses, many grandkids and our grandson, Simon, boarded a greyhound bus and drove the 8 hours from the Cities to Manistique for dad's 80th ten years ago!   It was so meaningful to drive up to the front door of St Francis de Sales and go into Church to attend mass as a family.  Dad walked out to see about 50 of us sitting there and it took him a minute to register what was happening.  Today with the Gospel in John of Jesus chasing out the money changers to keep the Sabbath and the Temple holy.  And in the midst of the 10 Commandments in Exodus this morning is the beautiful Commandment from God - "This is why the Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." 

Sharing the head of the beautiful setting Paula provided for this special occasion.

 

Pondering keeping the Sabbath holy goes back to my home growing up and my mother's wonderful Sunday dinners after attending church together as a growing family - eventually reaching 11 kids!  I still often have Ruth's family over and add Nancy's from time to time, when they come to the farm, and of course John... we gather around the dining room table, fill it up with young and old and have a "farm dinner" - a name given it by Maria for her 12th birthday- one in which we have more than one vegetable usually just picked minutes before from the garden.  You can tell that Maria's birthday is August 14th and this is what she would order for her birthday dinner... beef, potatoes, and at least 2 vegetables from the garden or more.  Pat would try to join us, which is unusual for the most part with his farming schedule and we would laugh and visit and just have that sense of resting in the arms of family and Faith. 

 Dad looking over his 80th scrapbook with the beautiful table set for our feast! - I made him 80 cards for the occasion... not this time- I only made him one!

Growing up with my dad being a Protestant minister... of course, Sunday was special for us to worship together and a lot of times my dad would be up in front leading the worship, and many memories of him preaching.  He is now a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church, and has preached at my daughter's weddings in the last few years and officiated up on the altar assisting at mass, etc.   He has been retired since returning to Wisconsin from Michigan.  I know that dad misses preaching, but, now with his hearing restored we marvel that we can sit and visit and be enriched by his wealth of wisdom.  He continues to be a man of prayer and study, and does the office mornings with my mother at which time he lifts each one of us down to the great-grands by name in prayer!  We all know that we are covered with loving prayer and that means so much to us on each of our journeys of LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!

Two brothers missing, and of course, our sister Mary, who died from lymphoma when she was 28 in 1986.  It is darn good to have 8 of the 11 together, and so much fun to have the comfort and closeness of being in my sister's home! 

Dear Jesus, we are so blessed to have such a rich family life on both sides of our families.  It was hard not having Pat along, but we did see him on cow TV on my phone as he introduced Daniel the calf to my brother, Dan.  They could see first hand just how crazy it is now on the farm and that Pat had to be there to care for the 10 new calves we had yesterday and probably again today.  Sharing mass as a family is probably going on right now in Marshall... Pat with his daughters and grandchildren and then taking Eucharist over to his mother and sharing Your Word and Your Body with his mother and siblings there visiting.   Jesus, we thank you for showing us that the money god is to be shunned so that the Temple may be holy and filled with Your Spirit - we need to give you undivided attention and cast away all that distracts and is "nothing."  "Those who run after nothing become nothing." Pope Francis reminds us, and it is so true.  May we hold tight to Faith and Family and Farm as we die to self so that we may give without counting the cost.  "Wounded, I will not cease to love" is so hard to live by, yet this is the key to living humbly in our domestic Church/family and finding a small slice of heaven here on earth.  Jesus, we trust in YOU.  Amen

 Some of the scenes from today - each week this is how we share our day and find The Fruits of the Spirit by sharing our Faith and Family and Farm!
"the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."  Galatians 5:22-23
Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

Sharing Jesus in his Word and Body and Blood - the Best!

I have found myself stepping back on this trip... driving the way I used to go when I was first dating Pat and today looking at going to mass at my parish as a new Catholic and then where Pat and I were married 36 1/2 years ago at The Basilica of St Mary!  Here is Thanksgiving almost 40 years ago in our home of Fremont in Mpls... My mom would set a beautiful table and we felt it to be a most precious family time! 

Peter Mayer - holy now