Mom is out in the tractor raking ahead of dad's new baler, so grandma got to use mom's wonderful camera and get the 5 older ones while baby Joy napped. How I get excited when the corn stalk bales are here... this is just the tip of the iceberg with hundreds yet to make and put into huge piles in the yard!
After Joy got up from her nap we had to find a sunny bale to get her first bale pictures with big sister, Mary.
Better when not looking into the sun, and so sweet!
A lot today as usual with thoughts today beginning with The Cross as it is St Paul of the Cross feast day today. Shouldn't we all be future Saint in process Barbara Luke of the Cross... this seems so special to me as my maiden name was Cross, so Barbara Luke Cross was my name! Pondering how we are all called to embrace our Cross - take it up and carry it or for us weaklings drag it down the narrow path. For us that are married the biggest cross we are called to embrace is our Most Cherished Cross/ our spouse. It is so evident to me that through that embrace we literally receive LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT! Just as Christ embracing his Cross brought that into the world!
Too much fun with Ruth's camera!
Shortly after reflecting on the cross I received a Text from a couple of Pat's sisters, who had gone to Rochester to visit a cousin, Sr Doreen, who has been ill. They commented on how happy she was to see them..."Doreen treated us like 'Rock stars'. In so many ways she reminded us of mom. It was a great visit."
Reflecting on my wonderful mother-in-law on her way to heaven, as she has been gone from this world for 10 1/2 months now. John and I before praying the office shared how she was so welcoming and loving whenever you visited her. "She would wait on you hand and foot and not let you do anything." was how John put it, but serving you with love and grace. Also she shared with Sr. a deep humility and never putting yourself above another. It really made me miss her, and for as much as she was involved in my married life from August of 1978 to December of 2016... pretty much daily! It is no wonder that she would be deeply and powerfully missed by me and all the kids and grandkids! The tears are a river!!!
The new baler being used for the first time and will make us hundreds of corn stalk bales to last through the long winter! Bedding and feed for the cows and calves. So much going on at once... combining corn, hauling manure, and raking and baling corn stalks.
The words of St Paul to the Romans, in which St Paul quotes the Psalm 32, which is then the Psalm following the reading.... Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not record. Psalm 32:1-2
and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not record. Psalm 32:1-2
Realizing how much a part of St Paul the Psalms were... before he had been a devout and zealous Jew, who thought that Jesus was making himself God... he found out later that he was!!! Paul had immersed himself in the torah/OT scriptures and the Psalms were as the air her breathed - so he can quote them at will and I can imagine how wonderful and powerful to have them always with you! Our Hallel's Community reads through all 150 psalms every week and I am sure they have become a close companion to them on the journey down the narrow path, too! Yes, the Psalms are there for us up or down or anywhere in between! John and I have a thing that when we have an Hallel Psalm (145-150 of total praise) that I will scare him with my joyful Hallel!). Food for the journey and comfort and praise and longing and on and on and on!
Yes, they are saying "cheese."
Now the Gospel in this kind of up and down day with so much pulling at me and many emotions along with it all... One of the many times that Jesus tells us "Do not be afraid." Luke12
The meditation of the day by, one of my favorites, Caryll Houselander... She wrote this which made me pause and marvel and giggle and truly wonder if I could go this far..."My way is to say in every emergency, 'Now what could be the worst that can happen?' and then, 'So what?' That works for me."
Looking back at the huge crises of late - John's cancer and Patrick's traumatic birth - Could I truly say this? When it looked like death was a possibility for both? I did know early on that I had no control, and that I had to put it all in the hands of Jesus, and that did bring to us some peace until we tried to take it back again. Yes, the worst did cross our minds, but we were held by Him in his loving embrace and could find peace even if that were to happen.
however impossible it is to realize this emotionally, your will accepts as a certainty that whatever God allows to happen is his plan of love , what is really best for you and those whom you love.
Yes, the emotional part is where we get messed up.
Caught grandpa looking things over, too!
Cute and fun?
So much today... yes, I admit much has to do with my emotional state, which is usually pretty much how I work or tick. The tears are always close at hand happy or sad. But foremost the deep love for Jesus and His wonderful glorious Church is what fills me to overflowing! Literally gushing forth!
Thank you, my Lord, for all that you allow this emotional wreck to witness in my life of this journey called Faith/Family/Farm! I am weak and that is when I turn to you and lean on you and crawl into your arms... the love and forgiveness I am given I am called to return to those in my domestic Church/family and beyond. Jesus, I trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Their mom is such a farmer! She is out raking ahead of Paul in the new baler!
"Chased her across the field this evening and will chase her most of the day tomorrow and the next. She's a lady worth the chase every day for the rest of my life! " Paul on FB... he is the sweetest there is!
So true!
He is my hero of family and LIFE, and he just said what I tried to say in so many words in these few powerful ones!
So important to pray for our dead - they look to us for help!
"Don't drag yourself any longer to his feet. Follow that first impulse that draws you into his arms. That is where your place is."
--St. Therese
When you are weary, when the smallness becomes hard to understand, draw near to the Lord.
...
Crawl up onto his lap and rest in his arms.
Because we are not servants.
We are daughters.
--St. Therese
When you are weary, when the smallness becomes hard to understand, draw near to the Lord.
...
Crawl up onto his lap and rest in his arms.
Because we are not servants.
We are daughters.
Nancy does such a wonderful job with this each day! LOVE!
A picture Ruth took... so wonderful! I love my son-in-laws... all 3 are wonderful faith filled men that are raising LIGHTS!
Kathy Truccoli - Go Light your world
Casting Crowns - Come to the well
Love the LIGHT!
Ruth just painted the shutters a fresh green and continues to make the old house beautiful and their own!
On the go!
Carry Our Lord home with you after your thanksgiving, and let your heart be a living tabernacle for Jesus.
Visit Him often in this interior tabernacle, offering Him your homage,
and the sentiments of gratitude with which divine love will inspire you.
Preserve carefully the sentiments of love with which you are filled after Communion."
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