I find myself longing for this to happen again! It looks like it will have to be this summer. I was bemoaning that it only is happening once a year. It was pointed out that I should be rejoining that it can happen that often to get my 3 baby boys together! Yes!
He has got a new job working with the elderly at Heritage Point Assisted Living and memory care. He is activities director, and says that he does hear from ladies from the Church about how they remember "all those girls with ribbons in their hair and then they had that boy!" Yes, that boy will be 31 in a few days!
I had the deep prayer time in the dark church early this morning before mass while Pat was at This Man is you. We then shared mass together and heard about St John and also the first reading about David and Bathsheba... Father pointed out that David should have been with his men, who were in battle and not taking a nap and lusting over a married woman.
St John Bosco knew how to keep boys busy and away from temptations, and also they had fun and played games together - not a task master but a loving and patient and forgiving fatherly figure for poor boys. He modeled his calling to being like Christ!
It is good to keep busy with helping on the farm when needed, too! Tomorrow they will be vaccinating the cows and Simon and David will be out helping as Mary will be gone for a speech meet.
Yes, there is plenty of movies and show on Netflix going on after homework is done especially in the winter time. It is a challenge to keep kids away from bad influences where there is evil lurking just a mouseclick away. Keeping busy and mom and dad being there when they monitor what they are watching is a must!
How I love to share our life more closely with Hallel these last 3 years that she has been living just 7 hours away in Kansas City! It is wonderful to share our canning and meat with them... knowing that Hallel is sharing in our home cooking and hard work!
“Trust all things to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
and to Mary Help of Christians
and you will see what miracles are." - St John Bosco
"Wounded, I will never cease to love!"
She writes:
Here is our Adoration Story.
This is the beautiful chapel of the Little Sisters of the Lamb in Kansas City, Kansas (go visit if you can). And yes, that is Jesus up on the altar.
My sister is a fully-professed member of this community (meaning she is a nun), and through the grace of God three years ago she was sent to the community’s monastery in Kansans City. At the time, we happened to be living just outside of Kansas City. And so, without asking me, my sister signed me up for a weekly Holy Hour.
I remember when she told me she said something like, “I think it will be so beautiful! To have the kids there, playing before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”
I told her she was crazy. Nun or not, she was still my little sister, and on this point she was being just stupid. My kids were crazy. Some of them are downright wild! Before this I had “stopped by” adoration a few times with the kids, but that was it.
A whole hour, every week? Um, no. Impossible.
But the thing about nuns, especially when they are your sister, is that they can be really pushy.
She forced me to give try it, and if it really was impossible, she told me, they would find someone else to cover the hour. To make matters worse, Bill, my husband, was on my sister’s side. “It’ll be an opportunity to see your sister each week,” he reminded me, “and it could be really good for the kids.”
Easy for him to say, I told him. He isn’t going to be the one wrestling the kids in there for an hour each week.
But I submitted, and I went.
That first Wednesday at 9:30am I showed up with a huge bag of coloring books, crayons, picture books, a wooden nativity set, a knot of rosaries, 300 peg dolls, snacks and water bottles. I dropped everything in a heap on the floor and knelt down as the kids settled in. “What are we supposed to do?” they asked me. I pointed to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and said, “Say hi to Jesus.”
And that’s where it all started. We all looked up at Jesus and said “Hi”. And then the silence came in around us, for just a second.
I remember following the gaze of my little Bernadette, four at the time, as she looked at Jesus up on the altar. It was incredible to see her seeing Jesus there in the Blessed Sacrament. For a second I was transfixed. Then the baby pushed her way up onto my lap, the big bag of stuff got dumped out, and someone slipped and fell.
That first hour we spent with Jesus passed like every hour since.
I kneel as kids moved in and out of my arms. I encourage them to kneel too, to speak quietly, to talk to Jesus in their minds. They did these things, for a while. Sometimes they color or draw a picture for Jesus. Sometimes the older ones write a note to Him. There is usually a tussle or argument over something, on a number of occasions we have actually broke things, I’ve had to deal with all sorts of behavior issues while in the chapel, but, in the end, we always come back to Jesus. Before we leave we spend the last minute kneeling together saying thank you to Jesus, regardless how the hour went.
Making it through that first hour was a victory. Not going to lie, I was WAITING for the next adorer to show up–and I still wait anxiously!--but I walked out, even that first day, knowing that we had done something special.
Keeping a Holy Hour with little kids is HARD, but it is also very special. Maybe the fact that it is hard is what makes it so special? I’m not sure, but I do know that taking my crew to Adoration is the most special thing I have done as a mother.
Needless to say, I kept the hour.
The next week I showed up with WAY LESS STUFF and no snack. I also laid down some ground rules before we walked in. There were still issues, and we were all ready to leave when the next adorer showed up, but once again we made it, and it was special.
I wish I could say more than that–that it was special–but I’m not sure what else there is to say.
That hour–full of kids and noise and mess–was a gift. A gift to a God that has already given me everything. We were there for Him. It is a joy to know that I was able to give Him something, imperfect and small, but a gift nonetheless.
And because God is so good, He has poured gifts on me in return.
I am still such an imperfect Mom, but I find it easier to pray for my children and to see God in them. I am still such an imperfect wife, but even when I fail him in so many ways, I know I can give my husband the gift of prayer each week as I kneel before the Blessed Sacrament. And, I am still such an imperfect daughter of the Most High God, but spending time with Him each week has reminded me of His faithfulness, His mercy and His determination to be close to me.
In short, that hour with the Lord as my children fall in and out of prayer, has changed me utterly and completely.
Because of my own experiences, I believe so strongly that adoration is for everyone, even families with little ones. Bring the crabby, wild kids. Bring the nursing babies and moody big kids. Bring them all and give the Lord an hour.
He doesn’t ask us to be perfect before we come. He will work on us while we are there.
your sister in the small things,
Nancy
LOVE this quote from St John Bosco this morning;
When I say the dignity of a Christian, I mean the great dignity that you have acquired, when, through Baptism, you have been received into the arms of our mother, the Church. Baptism opened the doors of The Church to you and delivered you from evil. At the very moment of your baptism, God gave his amazing love to you. In your heart, he deposited faith, hope, and charity. Having become a Christian, you can lift up your eyes to heaven and cry: "The God of heaven and earth is also my Father. He is my Father, he loves me, he asks that I call him by his name: Our Father, who art in heaven."
Jesus the Savior calls me his brother and, as his brother, I belong to him. I share his merits, passion, death, glory, and dignity. He even wants to give me God as a Father, the Church as a mother, and the Word as a guide.
Lord Jesus, it is such a great beginning of this day to have wonderful St John Bosco to look up to and listen to his words of wisdom and LOVE! Your Gospel today helps us to remember that even the tiniest bit of faith and Truth can be planted in us to bring about fruit for all those around us!
Jesus said to the crowds:
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”
He said,
“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
Mark 4
Yes, we come to you and we fill our time and lives full of those things that are going to take us ever deeper so that the roots go deep and the plant is strong and healthy and produces much fruit for your Kingdom to come and be alive in our domestic Church/family. May we die to self so that you may live in us! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
A classic - the first time I set eyes upon my future husband, Patrick! I had met him before in 1971 when I came home with his sister, Marge, to visit her farm home. Pat was 3 years younger and still in high school, so I have no memory of him at that time. Really did not "see" him at all! It took me to return for Marge's wedding in 1977 to think to myself "What mysterious older brother is this?" It turned out he was 3 years younger, and it never bothered him so I quickly got over it myself!
Happy Feast Day
Saint John Bosco
1815-1888
Feast day: January 31
Patronage: Christian apprentices, editors, publishers, schoolchildren, young people, magicians, magic tricks
John Bosco, also known as Don Bosco, was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth, employing teaching methods based on love rather than punishment. A follower of the spirituality and philosophy of Saint Francis de Sales, Bosco dedicated his works to him when he founded the Salesians of Don Bosco.
https://
Saint John Bosco
1815-1888
Feast day: January 31
Patronage: Christian apprentices, editors, publishers, schoolchildren, young people, magicians, magic tricks
John Bosco, also known as Don Bosco, was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth, employing teaching methods based on love rather than punishment. A follower of the spirituality and philosophy of Saint Francis de Sales, Bosco dedicated his works to him when he founded the Salesians of Don Bosco.
https://
Do the baby shark dance!
Today we are commemorating in particular Saint John Bosco, the Founder of the Salesian Family and Patron of young people.
The figure of St John Bosco brings us to see how important it is to educate the new generations in the authentic human and spiritual values of life.
Look to him as to an authentic teacher of life and holiness.
🙏 St John Bosco, pary for us!
The figure of St John Bosco brings us to see how important it is to educate the new generations in the authentic human and spiritual values of life.
Look to him as to an authentic teacher of life and holiness.
🙏 St John Bosco, pary for us!
Baby shark
Happy!
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