How we love LIFE and pray for them from the moment we are aware of them in the womb. We are open to LIFE and raising them as LIGHTS for the world! This is so much a part of our family framework that when it comes to the Christ child at this Christmas season - we certainly are in awe of The Christ Child and the Truth we see there that He made our families holy by his arrival and that as he came in the form of a human infant - how He proclaimed to the world that LIFE is a gift to be cherished and protected from conception to natural death!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html
The Psalm for today speaks loudly of how we are called to have Christ at the center of our domestic Church/family!
Responsorial Psalm PS 96:7-8A, 8B-9, 10
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Bring gifts, and enter his courts;
worship the LORD in holy attire.
Tremble before him, all the earth.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
I’m terrified about the upcoming launch of the Domestic Church Project.
Like, up at night, weeping in adoration, heart palpitations, terrified. I’ve been trying very hard to keep my fear a secret, but I just can’t anymore.
I’m not worried for the reasons you might think. If no one signs up and the entire project is a flop because it wasn’t actually directed by the Holy Spirit, I’m fine with that. God’s will be done.
I’m worried that God has asked us to do this...and that we will mess it up. I’m worried that our own issues and imperfections will get in the way of building Domestic Churches.
Honestly, I’m worried that God has asked the wrong people to take on this work.
Afterall, who are we? Our prayer lives are a struggle, our kids have issues with lying and disrespect and laziness...and so do we. It doesn’t make any sense that WE should be the ones doing this work. There has to be someone better than us!
I find it especially crippling when I am reminded of just how important this work is. Catholic Parents (you) are the key to renewing our Church. If we fail to embrace the work of building our Domestic Churches, if we fail to teach the Faith in our homes, then our Church will suffer.
Friend, the stakes are very high. Nothing matters more than what happens in your home and what takes place between you and your children.
Up until today I have been trying to deal with this fear by dressing up The Domestic Church Project offering. We have been obsessing over the details and working ourselves ragged adding cool features to the app, brainstorming guest speakers, adding more resources...but this morning in adoration God pushed all of that aside.
He took away everything that I had been hiding behind and spoke plainly to my heart.
Catholic Families need a program that shows them HOW to teach the Faith at home.
Catholic Families need a program that trains them in their own homes and with their own kids.
Catholic Families need a program that requires zero prep and walks them through the entire process of building a Domestic Church.
Catholic Families needed a Domestic Church Project Bootcamp.
Through the grace of God we created this bootcamp this summer. We tested the bootcamp with over 100 families this fall. We verified that the bootcamp worked and that it was able to utterly transform families.
Now, after being reworked based on the feedback from our beta test, the bootcamp is ready for you and your family.
Yes, the DCP Bootcamp lives inside of our beautiful new app. Yes, you will have the support of a community of Catholic Parents as you go through the Bootcamp. Yes, we have created lots of other resources to support you after the Bootcamp, including liturgical studies and saint stories.
But all of that is extra.
This is about your home and your family, not an app.
My friend, I don’t know why God has put us here or why He is offering this through us. Perhaps it is simply to prove that He really can use even His lowliest servants.
But please, as you consider being part of the Domestic Church Project in 2021, forget us, and forget the app. Think about your family. Are you living out your call to be the primary educator of your children’s faith? Is your home a school of love? Are you living the sacramental life at home?
...or, are you like us, and you need a little help with all of these things?
If so, then I invite you to join us in the Domestic Church Project app on January 1. Building a Domestic Church is our calling, and it is a big responsibility, but, we don’t have to do it alone.
Thank you for your continued prayers as we attempt to leave ourselves behind and embrace the work God has given us.
In Christ,
Bill and Nancy
Not only did Jesus show us the beauty of human life from conception, but he also came to us in our lives in this most personal way of a perfect helpless newborn. So very personal is a new baby in a family as we all tend to their needs, which are total! In Maria's family, her oldest daughter, Therese, is a total loving and caring big sister. Probably since Patrick she has helped with dressing and changing of diapers and any other need that might happen. Maria feeds them, of course, but Therese is always there to help in any way! I am sure the two girls, including 4 years old Evangeline, are super excited to know that they will have a new baby sister on June 1st! Therese will model for Evie how to care for a new baby.
When we realized that we looked for the same thing for a spouse - the fact that I was 3 years older never bothered him, so why not? Within a year we were married!
Jesus, we are so blessed to see your hand at work in our lives! We love and adore your coming into the world of darkness with your marvelous LIGHT! LIFE is a most precious gift and we fall on our knees to adore you and you give us LOVE! Gazing upon that helpless baby in the humble manger, we are reminded of how we are personally included in your holy family if only we die to self and return that unconditional Love and forgiveness we are given to those the closest to us in our domestic Church/family. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
placed in the Churches, and set upon the Altars,
which daily supplies Heavenly Food to the faithful."
Chant for the Christmas season
O blessed swaddling clothes,
Christmas Gregorian Chants... LOVE - thanks, Brother Victor-Antoine! This makes me feel close to my Hallel and her Community of the Lamb and their chanting the psalms...
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