Praying/baking/packing... Jesus takes all the worries away focusing on him/"I will give you rest"/St Lucy is LIGHT!

A precious memory from 5 years ago!  Therese with her miracle baby brother, Patrick, and their cousin, Bernadette... these two are just a month apart and will soon be reunited at CCC!  I am over the moon excited, and a bit overwhelmed by all I need to have done in the next 24 hours before the big adventure begins... heading to the airport to pick up Maria and her 5 kids!  We haven't seen them in almost 4 months!

Yesterday I had so many reasons to not spend that time with Jesus... there is a long list of baking, packing and shopping, planning, writing out Christmas cards... on and on to overwhelming!  I did anyways and it really made the words of the Gospel come to life for me! 

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."  Matthew 11:28-30
All melts away as nothingness when I gaze upon my Savior and powerfully pray for all those he has given to me... more so my family and then our extended families which add up to over 200 now! 

I had to step into the Church after Adoration to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe on her feast and see the outpouring of roses!  I had heard Spanish praying and passed some people coming from the church when I arrived.  How they love her!  She is responsible for bringing millions to her Son, which is what she has always done and continues to do!  There is no where else to be but in The Catholic Church if you LOVE her!!!  She brings us to her Son and to his Bride, The Church!




Surrounded by her roses which tumbled out of Juan Diego's tilma in winter along with her image, which still touches so many with LOVE and Truth!  Her Son in humble acceptance of our sins on the cross over her head!  I was enthralled by the powerful lesson that she had and continue to come to us in the Visitation in our times through her having Jesus in her womb and we recognize HIM and his call to LIFE... she is the patroness of LIFE and The Americas, and how we need her help in fighting the battle for LIFE against the culture of death!

This pretty much explains the dilemma we face and how we recognize the evil and they don't!

Close to her Son in the womb and also in the glowing tabernacle!  LOVE! 


St Lucy, whose name means LIGHT!  "St Lucy is said to have chosen blindness rather than betrayal of the Lord she loved and longed to see.  In her suffering courage to catch sight of the light of faith that cannot be quenched by any darkness."  see www.magnificat.com
"Do you not know
or have you not heard?
The LORD is the eternal God,
creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint nor grow weary,
and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny.
He gives strength to the fainting;
for the weak he makes vigor abound."  Isaiah 40 - the first reading from mass today!

Rose and Bernadette are two of our 5 year olds along with Patrick... at Maximilian's burial a week and a half ago.  Rose cried tears of sadness for the loss of Berna's brother/her cousin.


Isaiah 40 continues so powerfully with St Lucy witnessing to us this exact way she faced those that tried to rob her of her calling/faith/Jesus her spouse!
"They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength,
they will soar as with eagles' wings;
They will run and not grow weary,
walk and not grow faint."
This brings to mind John's battle against brain cancer and how we heard over and over that he was a "rock star" in how he faced all obstacles with peace and strength!

Now that I can find this and share it easily... I will be doing it a lot!  So powerful and how he longs to share his story far and wide to the benefit of others that are struggling with their finding Faith!  "My life was spared for a purpose!"  he shouts to the 4 winds!!!!

Sweet 8 month old Joy with the amazing Christmas stocking her mom stitched for her with so much LOVE and JOY! 


Jesus, spending time with you is the best and fills us with the knowledge that no matter what we face... you are there to help us with our burdens and to give us the strength we need to "run and not grow weary."  When I am in chapel on wheels heading to the airport, those beads will fill me with peace and JOY!  Ahead lies seeing and hugging Maria and the kids, time with my parents, all of my grandchildren together and most of our kids and kids in law, my extended family together sharing our Faith and Family!  How we ask for safety and healthy times together.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

John is bringing Bobbi to meet my family for CCC weekend, too!  I am so excited for her to witness the wonderful blessings I have been given in Family sharing Faith!  Tears are standing in my eyes at the power and wonder and awe of it all!!!
http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html
Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke

The eleven kids the winter after I graduated HS... I am the oldest in pink velvet!  My sister, Mary, also in pink velvet died at 28 from cancer.

Some Mother Angelica TRUTH - be humble so God can work through you!

Also a little Pope Benedict XVI, such a man in love with our Lord!

"Lucy light, Lucy light, shortest day and longest night"
ST. LUCIA'S DAY
St. Lucia (also called Lucy) was a fourth-century Italian martyr. Her name is derived from the Latin lux, meaning "light," so she has become associated with festivals and celebrations of light. Before the Gregorian calendar reform in 1752, her feast day occurred on the shortest day of the year (hence the saying "Lucy light, Lucy light, shortest day and longest night"). St. Lucia Day is especially important in Italy and in Sweden, where the oldest (or sometimes youngest) daughter dons a crown of burning candles and wakes the family with coffee and St. Lucia buns (sweet rolls seasoned with saffron).

Danielle Rose - Litany of Humility

Danielle Rose - True love - the Cross

Casting Crowns - If we are the body

The Gospel - Ryan Stevenson







True of Maximilian and our losses!