Ruth and Joy with one of my favorite statues of Mary in the Catholic School in Marshall! The statue where she is crushing the serpent is called The Immaculate Conception.
Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week with Easter in a week! March 25th alone would have been the feast of The Annunciation as it lies 9 months from Christmas, but this year it will be for another day with Palm Sunday here.
It seems that we cannot forget the mother of Jesus today as mom and I shared the story of Mary the Mother of God bringing us into The Church! "I had a dream where a woman came out of the sacristy and placed her hands on my head." "If you love Mary there is no place to be but The Catholic Church!" So powerful and the Truth has set us free and led our entire family to The Church!
The cutest ever story about Rose - "I heard my name!" after sharing The Easter Vigil when she was about 2 1/2 or so... "Rose again!" from the creed. She loves to be called "Rose again" by her family to this day, and every Sunday at mass she looks around with the biggest grin when we say her name..."Rose again..." Such beautiful special moments/small slice of heaven when we share mass as a family each week!
With Nancy's loss of Maximilian on Thanksgiving Day... Mary has come so close to Nancy as she shared...
http://www.dosmallthingswithlove.com/2018/02/mary-is-real-and-she-loves-you-2.html
"The hours we spent waiting for Maximilian to be delivered were some of the darkest I have experienced. I wept until I was completely dehydrated and numb, and yet, in those moments I also received one of the most profound gifts of my life.
I was allowed to experience Mary.
Thanks to all I had been taught growing up Catholic, I knew to call on Mary in my pain. I began to pray the ‘Hail Mary’, aloud and silently, and when that seemed too much, I fell into simply saying her name. “Mary, Mary, Mary,” and as I did, I could feel her presence in that room. She did not come gradually, but suddenly and all at once, as if she had been just waiting for me to call.
Thinking back on those moments I can visualize exactly where she was standing in the room, just to the right of my bed, looking directly at me. I never doubted that she was really there, right there. But more than anything I remember feeling a deep stillness emanating from where she stood. I knew she was there gazing on me with love.
My experience of Mary was really quite simple. There were no bright lights or premonitions or words from heaven. Just a feeling of peace and love, and the comfort of knowing that she was there and she loved me.
The weeks and months following the loss of our little Maximilian have been difficult, and I expect more struggles as we attempt to get pregnant and once more open ourselves up to the pain of loss. But the gift Mary gave me in that hospital room has I no longer feel her presence as strongly as I did that day, but I am left with the knowledge of who she is.
And I can honestly say that I know Mary now. I tasted her love for me. I was able to touch, for just a few minutes, her tender hand and I know now that those same hands are holding my little Maximilian up in heaven.
The knowledge that Mary is really there has changed everything. I cling to my Rosary and attempt to carry her with me everywhere.
And not just that, it has set me on a mission..."
Yes, Mary is so important to us on this journey of embracing The Cross/The Tree of LIFE to find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!
I am feeling excited to return home to my family on the farm! There truly is a feeling of two different worlds strongly now with the work of a foot of snow down there... 4 hours southwest of here and not a flake of snow here. Also all the work needed to care for all the cows and calves is compounded by this weather. Pat just called on their way home from mass to say with the weather and challenges we face that we cannot think about Easter with Nancy and Hallel in KC, and I agree that we need to be here where the work is. I do not want to separate again and long to be together for Holy Week, and all that it holds for us on the farm as well. These days with my parents are fairly long and quiet, with prayers and sharing interwoven. Divided between two worlds is starting to be what my life feels like more and more.
I am so happy to have Mary with me always!! "You cannot love Mary too much. You can't love her more than Jesus does." Maximilian Kolbe Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke
"Palm Sunday tells us that...it is the cross that is the true tree of life."
- Pope Benedict XVI
"And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name."
-Phillippians 2:8-9
Love this so much!!! St Paul's words and Faith amazes!!!
Reading 2 Phil 2:6-11
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
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