My beautiful sister, Mary, who died of lymphoma at age 28 in 1986. I am attending a funeral for a young woman, who died suddenly at age 27, and the similarity in age struck me. There is hardly a day that goes by that I do not think and pray for my sister Mary! I know this is true for my parents, too.
Such a hard and devastating loss for her parents and siblings! I am now going on 34 years away from my sister passing, and I definitely still miss her and have a part of her with me on this journey. She left a dairy farmer husband and a 20 month old baby daughter, Audrey, and having them still in my life has been a gift!
Last night before we headed back home we shared prayer time with Bill, Nancy and their kids. We shared a decade of the rosary and even 5 year old Dominic did well with his "Hail Mary!' We also prayed for our intentions and then read the Gospel for tomorrow with each of us sharing what we heard after Bill read it. This is so rich and powerful and was suggested by our nun, Little Sister Hallel, as they start the night before "chewing" the Gospel. Each of the kids shared what they heard and then led from that to a prayer.
For example Bernadette heard about Jesus healing, and prayed that we can come to Jesus and be healed!
What did I hear when I had my turn to share and pray? First I will share the Gospel here...
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
I heard that he spoke poorly because he could not hear how to pronounce words due to being deaf. After Jesus healed him, he could speak plainly. My prayer was that when we share The Truth we have found in our following Jesus through Mary and His Bride, The Church, that we may "speak plainly" and share only what is true and right and according to the Holy Spirit at work in me!
Most days when I share here... the floodgates open with the help of The Word opened to me through the Holy Spirit! Father was saying today at mass after I prayed for a hour while Pat was at That Man is You..."Ephphatha" is used in Baptism where the priest touches the babies ears and lips. May our ears be open to hear only what is good and true and pure!
Dad thanked the Lord when he prayed for "all of these crazy kids we have been blessed with." Nothing can replace the family and sharing our Faith as a family is the BEST in this world!
Jesus, may we share your Truth without hesitation and "speak plainly" as the Holy Spirit guides and directs us. We are yours and we long to be forever with you in heaven. May all our dearly departed come into your presence. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Happy Valentine's Day to all! We are on the road early in the morning tomorrow to go to KC and get a "real hug" from our nun! True LOVE we witness there! Possible grandkids joining us, but not sure yet... Bless-bless, Barb
Happy Feast Day
Saint Valentine
Died: 269
Feast day: February 14
Patronage: love, youth, happy marriages
Saint Valentine of Rome was a bishop and martyr of the early church. Not much is known about him, except that his relics were found in the catacombs and an ancient church was dedicated to him. Tradition has it that Valentine cured the blind daughter of a Roman judge who along with his household, was later baptized. St. Valentine married couples, going against the edict of Cladius II. It was said that on the day of his execution, he gave a note to his jailer’s daughter that he cured, that was signed “your Valentine”. He’s pictured with birds because birds start pairing in February around his feast day.
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