Eating breakfast in my parents' home this gloomy morning in St Croix, WI... hanging on the wall is this copy of a sculpture on a the outside edifice of a Cathedral my mother painted years ago. It speaks of forgiveness and reconciliation along with the healing we are blessed with in the Confessional... it especially speaks to me this day as I was able to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation before the Sacrament of The Eucharist!
Father with the rosary in his hands encouraged me to ask Our Lady to help me be a better follower of Christ and when he asked me to give my act of contrition... I have never memorized it so I pray my own version of being sorry for all my sins and all the ways that I allow things and sinful actions to come between us, and with his help that I can do better.
Oatmeal by my dad, morning prayer and mass readings, a painting by my mother of our inner temple and giving our all to Jesus and His Bride, The Church, and my ailing mother resting her heavy and dizzy head after sharing mass this gloomy morning.
After my hearing the Lord's words to me of forgiveness and healing in the confessional.. the words of the Gospel from John 8 had an unusual call to me. At the end after Jesus proclaims that he is "sent" by His Father and He is I AM... they are ready to stone him and "Jesus hid and went out of the temple area."
Experiencing the pain of separation from my loving Lord by my actions of sin really made me ponder this in my own life. "Jesus, I am sorry for anything that I have allowed to come between us." speaks to me of how I have caused Jesus to be hidden from me and how I have allowed my temple area to be less than light and filled with Jesus!!!
This also pulls at me in prayer for my dear mother, who suffers these days from pressure in her head, fear of memory loss, and this morning very extreme dizziness which is making her feel sick... Lord, hold her ailing head in the palm of your hand and give her comfort and healing! I would love to see that look of peace and acceptance on my mother's face, O Lord.
Can Jesus actually hide from us, or do we cause him to vanish from time to time by our sinfulness coming between us? Yes, I do know that there is the hidden Jesus, who allows us to experience the darkness and finding him even when we don't feel him. There are many saints that have expressed this trial in their faith and coming to a stronger place of being totally humbly on their knees in constant prayer as a result. Going forward knowing the Truth of Jesus' love and forgiveness even though they don't "feel" it.
So many prayers for their safety and every waking hour spent working hard to watch over them!
"Paul appreciates all that I do to help dad while he is away working." Ruth... I have learned from Ruth and Paul that we need to be "life-giving" in how we treat each other in our marriages. I should say that I witness it with them and see that it is how we should treat each other, but I have a long way to go.
I have started to call my Most Cherished Cross/Patrick, "honey" and it does make it sweeter and closer to "life-giving." It gets our conversations off to a positive start, and hopefully continues to be that way.
"We have not gotten up to barely 40 degrees due to the snow covering everything!" Pat just a bit ago. Sharing that the sun was starting to come out..."we need to put it in a bottle for the next few days."
Then I get calls from Pat outside with the cows and baby calves mooing all around him and his thoughts about the weather and this or that. I hear him telling me that they really do need me there, but that they are working it out without my piece of being in the house with the kids while Ruth is out helping... "I might take Joy in the tractor with me tomorrow while I scrape yards." Jesus, we trust in you, and you are in control!"
"Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought, " Psalm 105 from mass today
Yes!!! This is what we must do as we stagger down the narrow path carrying/dragging our Most Cherished Cross!
Jesus, my world is so wide, deep and full of Faith/Family/Farm/and YOU!!! I am humbled by your love and care for me, who am a sinner. You took my sins upon yourself and I am made clean if only I lay my burdens at your feet in the confessional! Jesus, I trust in you. Amen
Love this!! John speaks of The Father permitted him to get brain cancer to find Faith!
“Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.”
Saint Augustine
http://www.lifenews.com/2018/03/21/archbishop-condemns-pro-abortion-cafeteria-catholics-who-pick-and-choose-what-teachings-they-like/
Archbishop Joseph Naumann
November 2018 will mark the beginning of Catholic Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann’s new leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Pro-Life Activities Committee. November also will determine the political fate of those whom Naumann has labeled “cafeteria Catholics.”
Yes!!!! How I love this man! He brought The Community of the Lamb to the U.S.... first the Little Sisters and now the Little Brothers! He is amazing and right on!!!
Yesterday's celebration of all life!!!
50 mums and 50 Downs toddlers!!! So good!
We must have rubber boots always!
An order of French nuns that have made a place for sisters with Downs!
“I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enameled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord's living garden.” ― Thérèse de Lisieux
Danielle Rose - the Saint that is just me
Danielle Rose - Small things with great love
Danielle Rose - Wonderfully made - Psalm 139
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