9 year old Dave home with grandma while he fights a virus. He has a history of getting very sick with lung related illnesses over the years including a yearly stay in the hospital for the early years. We take his colds seriously!
Altered plans to go along with my husband to a farm show today and quietly tending to Dave... I feel that I have been gifted with some special time. The Gospel from Mark 4 - the sower and the seed always reminds me that we are at the time that John had his stem cells/seeds returned to his body "after he had the bomb dropped on his system" wiping all clean and fertile for the seeds/cells to take root and grow healthily and give him a fresh start! It was January 27th and will mark his 8th birthday this year! The seed planted in fertile soil was the reading that day, too!
Dave with Aunt Hallel and his big sister, Mary, whom he looks up to a lot! How lucky are they to have a nun for an aunt and to have this wonderful religious community in their lives! They certainly know that this is a wonderful option to consider as they ask the Lord to show the path her has for each one of them!
In our home we shared our Catholic Faith with excitement and JOY! We see that carried forth in the domestic Church/family of our children!
Our grandchildren are protected from evil influences that could come from all those outside forces around them. There is no TV in their homes and only Netflix, which is supervised by their parents. In this way they are attempting to keep them away from things that may damage their purity. The seed needs to have fertile rich soil free of weeds and thorns and rocks in order for the seed to bear fruit!
They attend Catholic school and are taken to mass weekly and days of obligation as well as the weekly mass at school. They pray at meals and before they go to bed each night with as a family. They say the rosary at school with their classmates and teachers, and learn about their faith in school. But we know that it must begin in the HOME!
Yes, the battle to keep their children pure will become more of a challenge as they grow older, and we hope and pray and are vigilant to be aware of what they are being exposed to. Along with that we have filled them with the love of Our Lord and His Bride, The Church and have made their faith their own!
In the parable Jesus speaks of seed that accidentally "fell" on rocky ground, on the hardly packed path, among thorns... or were they planted there? I know from being married to farmer for 40 years that generally you don't purposely plant those precious seeds in these places and that it would be literally "dropped" there accidentally. Sometimes, however, there will be weeds that don't die and do affect the crop. And that the rocks need to be picked after the seeds are in the ground, and that is a hard and hated job, but for the sake of the crop and the machinery we use to plant, spray, weed and harvest it... it must be done!
http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html
Yes, I faced plenty of hard times and my purity was challenged by this world, but even after my first crazy year of college and my hippy years of hitchhiking out to Colorado... the Lord, grabbed me out of my darkness and called me in a very personal way.... I considered religious life and was led into my "nun years" and most importantly said "Yes!" to becoming Catholic with my parents and 10 siblings because "I want to be a nun, so yes I want to become Catholic." I have seen how my life could have gone down the wide path of sin and death, but I felt the personal touch of his love on me so many times over my life!
http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html
Lord, may I take your seed and bare much fruit! Jesus, I trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
St Francis de Sales, pray for us! Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke
LOVE!!!
“Let each father make his home a church. Are you not responsible for the salvation of your children? Are you not likely to give an account for their upbringing? Just as clergy will give an account for their flocks, so fathers of families will have to answer before God for all the people in their homes.” — St. John Chrysostom
Taken deeper by my children - John's cancer and conversion and Hallel's answering the call - "you have your nun because of your call."
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