Planting starts today/"Chief broken wing"/continued on his way rejoicing - Acts 8/John 6 - "the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”

Little Birdie will be 1 in a couple weeks and certainly is so sweet and pretty!  She gives grandma the best present after her nap!  Happiness in a smile on such a sweet face rosy from sleep.  She took such a nice nap for her old grandma!

I just giggled and took way too many pictures!

Today we hear the big tractor digging the field across the road as planting is beginning a few days later than last year.  Still a better start than those wet years that set us back a month, so we are grateful and prayerful!

Seed tender filled and ready to start in the morning today.  Busy time on the farm and prayers for safety are constant in my heart.

A year ago dad had just arrived here and hand wrote 50 thank yous for  mom's death a month before.  He was so good here for 6 months on hospice and modeled a natural death with great prayerfulness and peace.  Our "Farm monastery" was truly filled with prayer and peace and we did our work of morning and evening prayer and at 3p we had our rosary and chaplet.

John social distancing a year ago with my dad.  

Today he brought the two kids for the day - the difference a year makes and it seems that my life fills up with caregiving, and that is a good thing.  I can do all things with God, who strengthens me.  No, I am not perfect, but dying to self and giving without counting the cost is the way to go!

"Hallelujah!  He lives!"  Easter continues with week 3!

I always love to see the sweet beautiful story of Philip and the Eunuch in Acts 8! What really spoke to me today was how when the Eunuch was baptized in some water along the way, Philip was taken from him, yet he "continued on his way rejoicing."  He was filled with The Holy Spirit and filled with LIGHT and Truth... he was rejoicing on his way!!!  How I can relate to that JOY!

The digger loaded and ready to go ahead of the planter.  "Chief broken wing"/Pat the farmer is going to run this and allow Paul to handle the jobs that takes two good wings!  We are so proud of Pat allowing his "wing" to heal and pray for getting back to normal!

Each one is better than the one before!  

Then added to that sweet story we have amazing John 6 continuing and getting into the meat and potatoes of The Eucharist!  "Amen, amen, I say to you,

whoever believes has eternal life. 
I am the bread of life. 
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die. 
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my Flesh for the life of the world.”  John 6:44-51

So black and white is This Truth we embrace in The Church!

My happy girl is so sweet - grandma can't get enough!

Yes, she is that sweet!

And that cute!

Grandma's box of toys are still new and exciting for these two, and that is worth a lot!

Jude is happy 

Jude took a nice nap and Birdie came to wake him up.  They like the wall painting that Ruth and Paul did on the bedroom wall.

Our Lady of the creek with God's creation all around is special to look upon as they come to grandma's house!  LOVE my big wonderful home off the farm and how we fill it up regularly with FAMILY!  On my way rejoicing in the blessings that abound with Faith/Family/Farm!

SECOND READING

From the treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, bishop and martyr
(Lib. 5, 2, 2-3: SC 153, 30-38)

The eucharist, pledge of our resurrection

If our flesh is not saved, then the Lord has not redeemed us with his blood, the eucharistic chalice does not make us sharers in his blood, and the bread we break does not make us sharers in his body. There can be no blood without veins, flesh and the rest of the human substance, and this the Word of God actually became: it was with his own blood that he redeemed us. As the Apostle says: In him, through his blood, we have been redeemed, our sins have been forgiven.

We are his members and we are nourished by creatures, which is his gift to us, for it is he who causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall. He declared that the chalice, which comes from his creation, was his blood, and he makes it the nourishment of our blood. He affirmed that the bread, which comes from his creation, was his body, and he makes it the nourishment of our body. When the chalice we mix and the bread we bake receive the word of God, the eucharistic elements become the body and blood of Christ, by which our bodies live and grow. How then can it be said that flesh belonging to the Lord’s own body and nourished by his body and blood is incapable of receiving God’s gift of eternal life? Saint Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians that we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones. He is not speaking of some spiritual and incorporeal kind of man, for spirits do not have flesh and bones. He is speaking of a real human body composed of flesh, sinews and bones, nourished by the chalice of Christ’s blood and receiving growth from the bread which is his body.

The slip of a vine planted in the ground bears fruit at the proper time. The grain of wheat falls into the ground and decays only to be raised up again and multiplied by the Spirit of God who sustains all things. The Wisdom of God places these things at the service of man and when they receive God’s word they become the eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ. In the same way our bodies, which have been nourished by the eucharist, will be buried in the earth and will decay, but they will rise again at the appointed time, for the Word of God will raise them up to the glory of God the Father. Then the Father will clothe our mortal nature in immortality and freely endow our corruptible nature with incorruptibility, for God’s power is shown most perfectly in weakness.

From the office of readings a sharing of great wisdom and Truth from one of our Church fathers!

Happy with snack time always!  Soon we will have morning snack, followed by lunch, and then afternoon snack time.  LOVE those smiles!

Raisins and crackers are getting low.  No bread so wraps are in the menu....

Great-grandma's bell is a hit!

Mom and Pope Benny XVI - "endless Hallelujahs!"  Yes!!!  

So powerful from The Magnificat today - 'The LIFE of the world!"  

Much like St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross!  

I need to get to my kids now... Jesus, we thank you as we go on our way rejoicing filled with the many blessings that are all around us.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah endlessly!