Isaiah 55:1-2 1"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.
When dad read those words 49 years ago... the Holy Spirit told him that he and his family should come into The Catholic Church! He was a Protestant minister at the time, and he and his wife had 11 children - I, Barbara, being the oldest! I can never thank my father enough for his bringing me into the Church - each day since has been a gift to me!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html
My brother just shared these words of dad that we are going to make into a memorial card for him, and suddenly the markings in his prayer book make so much powerful sense!
Words – certain words – have gained great significance for me. Reading the scriptures, these words have leapt from the page; I have even taken to underlining every time I find them. They center my life. The first is NAME.
How many times the scriptures tell us to honor the Name. In the Old Testament when God reveals His Name to Moses, the very ground where it occurs is declared holy, and God’s holy name is so sacred that the Old Testament substitutes “Lord” for every occurrence of the NAME – YAHWEH. He is Our Father, ABBA.
In the New Covenant, the Name is JESUS. “There is no other Name under heaven by which we are to be saved.” JESUS! When God’s name is treated lightly, when used coarsely as in the exclamation, “O God!” it’s painful, as it is when I hear the Name of Jesus taken in vain.
I desire GLORY be given to the NAME. Glory is the way we praise GOD in the Highest. This is to enter the radiance, the magnificence, the awesome presence of the NAME. GLORY BE TO YOU, O LORD!
We are not to be shy or timid about our praise of the GLORY, we are to SHOUT WITH JOY TO THE LORD! If within our spirits we feel this exuberant shout when we contemplate the Holy Name, our spirits are lifted up and we are filled with joy, and the temptations that beset us fall apart like the walls of Jericho which came down at the SHOUT of the people of God. These words – when placed in the context of the Catholic Church of Jesus – become radiant with life and, in this context, I bequeath them to the next generation of this family and to those many others that I have loved in this life.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit...." Ephesians 2
The Holy Spirit is so much shared by dad and I as he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and then prayed over me! My love for Jesus deepened at that point! I shared prayer groups with dad and mom - most importantly our finding one in Minneapolis after our move from Flint, MI at The Cenacle Convent - Charismatic nuns! My first exposure to nuns and The Church! Their prayers and The Holy Spirit speaking to dad led all 13 into The Church!
Dad's interview on Journey home - listen to his conversion in his own words!
2-26-07
Time to visit with my farmer and share how we are still getting used to my father being gone after over 6 months. We were thinking that it could be much longer with as stable as dad seemed to be. I am realizing that if dad had truly died suddenly after collapsing on Sunday that it would have been much harder. He came back for 5 days and he voiced that he was disappointed that he did not go on Sunday. He was ready!!!
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Painting: Francisco Ribalta
Danielle Rose
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