So much has changed in those 6 years! Each of the girls have expanded their families... Maria and Nancy with 3 more and Ruth with 2, John is now married and has a newborn son, Jude, and Hallel is living close by in Kansas City with her Community of the Lamb. As her Aunt Angela said yesterday... "We all went to her destination wedding in France last August!" Yes, she took her final vows.."I promise unto death." in Saint Pierre, France! Another wonderful change for all is that Ruth and Paul are living on the farm with their 6 kids, and Pat and I moved 3 miles away!
My mother was showing this wall to her PT lady as they walked around the house. I look at this and pray for our marriages.
Embracing our Most Cherished Cross is hard but where we find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!
Hallel described this so powerfully in this letter she shared with her sister, Nancy, on the occasion of her engagement!
I am writing you a letter... aren't you impressed? Well, you better be because both you and I know how often this happens. I am writing to tell you now extremely excited I am about your engagement to Bill. I have to admit, when I got the news I wasn't really shocked but that night as it sunk in during adoration and the next day during mass I was so happy. My heart overflowed with joy for you. How beautiful to know that you have found your... most cherished cross. While I have never had the experience of being married, from what I hear is that he will truly be your cross. But not your cross as human eyes look at it, as a thing to run away from, as a thing of torture but rather as that which is truly the tree of life. It is only when clinging to the cross that one can truly live, it is the source of all life and of all love. Your marriage to Bill will be this, not something to run away from when it gets hard and when it hurts, but something to hold tight to, especially when it hurts because it is in this that you will find life and love. Know that it is through your marriage that Jesus wants to show you his great love for you and also that the best example that you can give to the world of Christ's love is a marriage lived in truth. So, in other words, know that I am so happy for you and that I love you a whole lot. Know that you are in my prayers during this crazy time of wedding planning; that you may not go crazy but rather learn to love each other better and that you may both have great joy and great peace. Remember to pray for me too! God Bless, Your little Sister Hallel
I borrowed this picture from a silent retreat... Wow!!! She shared that a Protestant participant wanted to sleep close to Jesus. So many memories flooding me from along the way with my encounter of my loving and forgiving and life-giving Lord in the Body and Blood and also Jesus in His Word!
The Gospel today of the woman taken in adultery is so revealing of Jesus in this way! He is not condemning us of our sins, but rather transforming us through forgiveness and then sending us forth with his command to "go and sin no more." How can we turn away from our many ways of being adulterous - turning away from our LOVE and embracing lesser loves and temptations which bring us only temporary pleasure and fill us with darkness? Only with Christ dwelling within us can we hope to "sin no more." We are weak and helpless without his conversion and transformation/The Holy Spirit within. We fail, yes. but instead of being brought before him to be condemned... we fall on our knees in the confessional and start once again with his help and the help of so very much with each new day!
My mother's artistic work filled me with wonder as this hangs behind every altar in Hallel's Community! The Trinity! For her to be led to the beauty and deep meaning of this really speaks of how we are united in our Faith!
A week ago we shared mass with Hallel and The Community in Kansas City! The Trinity is very prominent... the great silence after we have received Jesus is very much speaking of their LOVE for their Spouse, who has come to them in his Body and Blood and in The Word shared ! "Go, and sin no more!"
Jesus, thank you to the highest heavens for this most wonderful peaceful time sharing Faith and family with my parents! How I am so blessed to have them together in their own home still! There is so much that they have given to me as they answered "yes" to the call of the Lord to come into His Church! Each day is overflowing with so much to help me sin no more. Yes, I am weak and continue to struggle, but you do not condemn... you transform and convert me to come from reconciliation clean and able to fight those temptations. Your Church is ever wise and leads me down the narrow path to heaven forever with Jesus, Mary and all the Saints! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen
George being baptized by Archbishop Naumann 2 weeks ago in the Cathedral in Kansas City! This will go on the wall with the others... Ruth and Paul with St JPII and Hallel with Pope Benedict and others for confirmation and first Communion... The Sacraments of The Church are life-giving and bring us ever closer to Jesus! Bless-bless, Barb
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html
LOVE!!




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