Light in the darkness... visiting the ducks in the dark cold shed/Warmth and light

It warms my heart to see my Maria spending time with sweet 8 month old Birdie.  We all spent a very close weekend together in our heated shop in early January.  The next weekend we were in KC and then on to Washington. 

 I am basking in the light and warmth of our wonderful family times in the midst of the world keeping each other at 6 feet away with half of their faces covered with a mask.  Pat pushed up the heat in his shop so that we could have comfortable warmth for our weekend and not be in Ruth's house too much.

Back 11 years ago in John's hospital room.  Postulant Susan returned to support her younger brother, who had brain cancer.  Holding her Goddaughter, Therese.

Little Therese 

Pat with his arms full of George and Birdie, who is a thumb sucker like her Verly aunts - all 4 of them!

Susan/Hallel in the tree where she became part of our time even though she was in France for the year.  George will be 2 in a couple weeks, 3 weeks later Hector will be 2 and 3 weeks after Hector Jude will be 2!  Three boys in 6 weeks!

Just back from doing my 3 ducks with water and feed.  Since they are done laying eggs Pat turned off the light for them, so it seems so harsh to go into the cold dark shed each day.  "It sure seems like a sad existence."  How comforting and welcoming is that light and warmth!  

The Gospel today refers to that light set upon the lampstand for all in the house or shop.

Jesus said to his disciples,
“Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket
or under a bed,
and not to be placed on a lampstand?
For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; 
nothing is secret except to come to light.
Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.”  Mark 4

Our live nativity was a picture of LIFE with one of the little lambs lost and wandering and another one sacrificed on the floor and unlike Jesus he wasn't silent!  

I love the other aspect of light allowing all to be visible and nothing is secret.  Our inner light allows us to come to Reconciliation and rid ourselves of all that is dark and evil and sinful and sorrowful.

Driving home with the setting sun last night.  Pat and I discussed that darkness after sunset is much more darkness in the early hours of the morning as the sun coming up is always a sign of hope with the increasing light.  

We experienced both ends of darkness on our trip as we would leave before sunrise and watch with anticipation the lightening of our world around us.

Rays of setting sun between the cars of the train.

Then we would have the dark world settle around us as we drove after 6p on til 8p or 9p... one night there was snow to contend with and trucks with flashers climbing up mountains.  Scary and lots of prayers especially when you see a truck recently jack knifed!  

Snow covered landscape as the light leaves our world for another day.

Jesus we are filled with warmth and light after the gift of family time with our children, grandchildren, Community of the Lamb... our family is filled with LIGHT/LOVE/LIFE shared as we embrace our Most Cherished Cross and follow you carrying/dragging our Cross.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

So much fun taking Hallel along to KC with her family of the Lamb!

Hallel even asked for me to send her these pictures so that she could have fun with her foundress, Little Sister Marie -"Look, I am in Kansas City already!"

Each day we had 2 hours of Adoration - so powerful to spend all that time with Jesus!

I am gifted with times that I can have some "nun" time after I discerned whether the Lord wanted me to be a nun before I met Pat.  The answer was "no" but the Lord spoils me from time to time!

Hallel in our room with the special bouquet for us.  We are allowed to stay right there with them in their guest room.  Talk about living the LIFE with them!

"Wounded I will never cease to love."  The motto of The Community of the Lamb, and of The Lamb!

Their humble warm and light filled chapel - brings us close to Jesus and Mary and The Church!

From Nancy....There is something so sweet about the stillness and silence of the Adoration chapel.

When I first committed to a Holy Hour, back in my 20's, I hated when someone else would walk in. Not good, I know, but I loved being there all alone with Our Lord. I loved having Him all to myself, and even just hearing the breathing of someone else irritated me.

These days I am never in the Adoration chapel alone. I keep a Holy Hour with a hoard of noisy, impatient, loud-breathers...and if I sneak into the chapel during one of my kid-free hours, I am intruding on someone else's hour, not that they ever seem irritated I'm there.

To be honest, I still long for that silent, still, private hour with the Lord, but these days my Holy Hour is filled with interruptions.

You read me this book?

Look at what I colored!

Is it time to go?

I have to peeeee!

He took my book!

Can I take my boots off? Can I take my socks off? Can I take my shirt off?

It's endless.

My goal in Adoration is always to meditate on the daily Gospel passage, pray a Rosary and pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Sometimes I do it all. Sometimes I barely get through the Gospel.

In my early days of taking the kids to Adoration I would bring LOADS of stuff with me, hoping that they would be so occupied that I would be able to pray without interruption.

HILARIOUS, right!?!

I quickly learned that more stuff=more mess and more fights. Then I tried to bring less but BETTER stuff, hoping that they would again, leave me to pray without interruptions. That helped, but the interruptions didn't end--and how could they? Kids are kids.

But here's the worst part. When I was interrupted in adoration, I would huff and puff and get short with the kids. Real classy mom-move, I know, right there in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

But I felt trapped...and I saw myself as a victim.

I had already given up so much for these stink'n kids...and now they were taking over my Holy Hour too!?!? Was I just supposed to be some sort of doormat that never gets anything good?

Cue the Pity-Party...

...and enter St. Therese.

You likely know already that I love St. Therese and she has given me tough-love on a number of occasions. Here, with kids in adoration, she saw another opportunity and, with the help of Fr. Jacques Philippe's book, Interior Freedom, she introduced me to the freeing idea of CHOOSING TO BE INTERRUPTED.

Fr. Philippe writes:

[St. Thérèse] did not like having her work interrupted. Sometimes she was asked to do work requiring quite a lot of concentration … [but] the schedule of the Carmelite community was so intense that she had very little time at her disposal. When she finally found an hour or two to devote to the job, she applied herself in the following spirit: ‘I choose to be interrupted.’ If a good Sister then came by to ask her for some little service, instead of coldly sending her away Thérèse made the effort to accept the interruption with good grace. And if nobody interrupted her, she considered that a charming present from her loving God and was very grateful to him.

Interior Freedom, 56

Choosing to be interrupted.

Every fiber of my being tells me that I need to FIGHT AGAINST interruptions, that I need to DEFEND MY TIME and MY SPACE. But St. Therese smiled down on me and gently shook her head.

There is a better way.

When we go into a situation--like adoration with little kids--and we know that we will be interrupted, we can decide something right then and there.

We can choose to be interrupted.

We can choose to remain open. We can choose to give what we have, instead of clutching onto something that will be taken from us. We can choose to see Jesus in that interrupting voice. And when we choose to be interrupted, we are more free to love.

Of course St. Therese didn't come up with this concept. This is exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross. He chose suffering. He gave us His pain and anguish as a gift.

And so, with the help of St. Therese and the profound example of Jesus Christ, I am working on loosening my grip while in adoration.

If I have a minute or ten to pray in the quiet, it is a gift. If the interruptions come nonstop, then that is a grace as well. A different kind of grace, but a grace nonetheless.

Do I do this perfectly? Far from it. But this advice from St. Therese is so freeing.

Choose to be interrupted. Decide when you walk into adoration (or mass or family prayer) with little ones, that you will welcome the interruptions.

No longer are those little ones intruding on your time with God. Instead, the children are calling you to love Jesus just as present in them as He is up on the altar.

I hope this bit of wisdom from St. Therese is as helpful for you as it has been for me.

Hang in there sister. It's not easy, but it is drenched in grace.

your sister in the small things,

Nancy

PS--All adoration materials in our shop are on sale now through the end of January. Head here to look around: https://shop.catholicsprouts.com/collections/adora...

Bach Cello Suites