A very wonderful sight to see all our priests concelebrating the Baccalaureate Mass on Sunday! It spoke volumes to me about how these young people are at a crossroads of life, and asking the Lord for his plan for them... consider a call to priesthood or religious life! Such a wonderful option of pure JOY as we are all called to die to self so that Jesus can live in us!
How I pray every day that each of my grandchildren will consider the possibility of giving their all to Jesus! I am so happy that they have an Aunt Little Sister Hallel to look to as a wonderful model to them of this beautiful life.
Such a blessing a year ago to have Hallel here on the farm for her every 3 year home visit at the same time that my father was here living with me for the last 6 months of his life! They had not seen each other for 12 years, and I was so happy and grateful for the tremendous blessing of my prayerful Deacon father and nun daughter - both who have said "Yes" to a vocation in The Church, sharing prayer and The Word in our farm monastery!
Until 2 weeks ago this was our youngest grandchild, Birdie Barbara, who Hallel got to meet when she was just a month old. Hallel is now in France with a new niece she will meet someday in the future, and 2 more to pray for in the womb!
Yes, it is a sacrifice for us to have our nun unable to be with us in our day to day lives. Yet, we have been blessed with a bigger family than we ever could have hoped for with her Community of the Lamb!
The Gospel today is The Truth we know after 13 years ago when our daughter left for France and her taking the habit in France with John, Nancy and I present in 2009, first vows with Pat, his mother and John and I in 2011, and 21 of us in France in 2018 for her final vows!
Peter began to say to Jesus,
‘We have given up everything and followed you.”
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
The family moments of sharing our time are such an unexpected lavishing gift ... we are definitely given so much back with the giving up of our daughter to be His Bride! Just as we know in life - if we suffer the loss of our day to day lives - we are lavished with her prayers each day as she has mass, prayer and adoration at the feet of her Lord! Also when we do see her and share with her it is not to be taken lightly, but is more precious than gold!
Pat putting out the creep feeder for the calves out in the pasture behind our house...
A farm scene that greeted me when I went out to check on the chickens, and went down the path to the pasture behind our house to see the cows and calves on this hot summery day - the prairie winds were swirling all around me.
Cow and calf in the shade of the tree with the breezes keeping the bugs away - about as comfortable as can be.
On the other side of the creek kept them from jumping up and running away from this strange old lady with her camera.
Calf on the move
Hi mom!
"See you later mom"... it is so cool how each calf and cow recognizes the "moo" of the other. Also there is a distinct smell that they recognize for their calf alone. When mom stands up to eat the grass her calf will come when she moos to get some milk from her udder. The creep feeder has a bar so only the calves can go in there to get some feed to help them grow big and strong.
Crossing the rushing creek waters felt cool and refreshing and a pair of ducks took off from the water.
The path from the pasture to my place beckoned me to take a walk to see the cows and calves on this spring day in May.
Sister time is precious. Nancy has now left KC as has Hallel - they had a few years there where Nancy would see Hallel every week at Adoration, and many Sundays when Nancy's family would share mass with Hallel on Sunday at Lumen Christi in the poor area of Kansas City, KS! That was one of the hardest to leave behind for Nancy and Bill. They love and miss their Community of the Lamb! Jesus, we know that if we leave behind and sacrifice for you that we are given so much in return. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Grandpa and some of the girls a year ago on the farm. Girls are always special to us as we had 4 girls and then you had that boy! Bless-bless, Barbara
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