First big rain of the summer while we prayed in our sleep/St Bartholomew help us to die to self so that Christ may bring HOPE and Healing!

 

Oh my!!!!  Love this from a year ago - Grandpa Pat with the 3 boys, who were 1 1/2 then.  A year later George and Hector are together in Washington as Nancy and Bill and family are out there experiencing the Pacific Northwest.  

We are rejoicing today that we have finally gotten a big rain overnight of an inch and a half!  It has been months since we have had that kind of a rain!  The whole world around us seems to be taking a huge refreshing drink and smiling ear to ear!

Photo worthy as we have not seen this much rain in months!  Maybe now we can start seeing our grass come back for the cows and calves in the pastures.  It seems too late for the crops, but it is something.

Kittens frolicking in the wet grass after the rain.  I missed the whole thing, but prayer for rain is constant in my prayers these days.  Pat heard the "heavy rain and thunder", and without a doubt he was praying hard!  Prayers answered!

Birds on a wire together look cute...

A year ago... in matching shirtlessness!

A month ago with grandma's matching outfits that makes me smile!  They are now 2 1/2!  George is 3 weeks older than Hector in the middle, and Hector is 3 weeks older than Jude on the right.  Our 3 boys in 6 weeks!

Together doing the same thing is a step in the right direction for them to become cousin/friends!  A couple times a year they get together, so we have to make the most of those times with matching outfits and photo shoots!

A picture entitled - My grandpa raises beef!

Jude yesterday is such a picture of cuteness and coolness, but cool he is not as he is running fevers now for days with foot, hand, mouth sickness.   Poor little guy!  We are praying for his quick recovery and that baby sister will not come down with it, too.

St Bartholomew today and after reading his being brought to Jesus by Philip - Bartholomew definitely knew that he was known and loved by the LORD!  As did Blessed Charles de Foucauld, whom Hallel introduced us to as "the saint that accomplished nothing."  

Talk about humble!  Today we are reminded that Bartholomew totally is unknown and became invisible/decreased so that Christ would be known throughout the world!

Love how my dad continues to show me his total love for Jesus and His Bride, The Church, which dad brought our family of 13 into 50 years ago!  His markings of Tobit/the 2nd Psalm in morning prayer this morning!

And it continues with the 3rd Psalm 33 with Creation and Shepherd KING!   O dad, how I was blessed with sharing in your vocation as a Permanent Deacon - morning and evening prayer of The Church, and our time of prayer on the porch for rosary and chaplet each day in our farm monastery!

From a daily meditation of Bishop Fulton Sheen!  Wow!  May we die to self so that Christ our LORD may live and move and touch others as we return the unconditional love and forgiveness we have been given by Him!

Dad's man, Brother Victor today!  He allows me to share in the life of a monk with his living each day in The Church with the Feast of that day and Saint of that day, and prayer and work in his garden throughout the day.  

Dad points out the high and important things to take to heart!  I love to continue to sit at his feet!

What JOY!  My dad with his great-grands that loved him and have now a fond memory of their greart-grandfather living here on the farm with me!  It had been a few years for Maria's family as they were unable to attend CCC the year before and then it didn't happen at all last year due to the pandemic!

So powerful to read this in The Magnficat this morning followed by the out of this world verse Philippians 2:6-11!  Jesus led the way at emptying himself!  Now we are called to embrace our Most Cherished Cross and die to self so that he may LIVE in us!  As my sweet sister prayer partner said this morning..."Humility is the foundation."  

The Good News is what must be shared so that we can find HOPE and healing in this messed up world of sin and darkness and fear!

Philippians in its entirety!  So amazing and our prayer this day for us to take this message out to the world starting with our domestic Church/family!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

And then take that unconditional love and forgiveness I have been given and return that to all those around me - most especially those the closest to me in my domestic church/family!  Bless-bless, Barbara

St. Bartholomew is one of Jesus' Twelve Apostles who, together with his friend and fellow Apostle Philip, came from Cana in Galilee. All we know of St. Bartholomew (also called Nathaniel) is what is mentioned of him in the synoptic Gospels and the book of Acts. Philip told Bartholomew that he had found the Messiah, and, despite Bartholomew's incredulity, the two went together to see Jesus. When Jesus saw Bartholomew he exclaimed, “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him!", indicating that Bartholomew possessed great purity of heart. Bartholomew then asked Jesus how he knew him, and Jesus explained that he saw Bartholomew sitting under the fig tree. This secret between Jesus and Bartholomew caused Bartholomew to immediately exclaim that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God. According to the Roman Martyrology, Bartholomew became a missionary in the East, preaching and evangelizing in Asia Minor, Ethiopia, India, and finally Armenia, where he was flayed alive and beheaded by King Astyages. St. Bartholomew is the patron saint of nervous and neurological diseases, butchers, leather workers, tanners, cobblers, trappers, and shoemakers. His feast day is August 24th.

 The LORD is near to all who call upon him,

to all who call upon him in truth. - Psalm 145:18

 

"Though I had believed in transubstantiation for more than a year,

I had no yearning to receive. But now a hunger for the Eucharist

became the last thought of the day and the first thought

of the morning.  I had received Jesus as Savior and Lord by faith

when I was a teenager, but now I longed to receive his Body and Blood.

For not only had Jesus humbled himself on our behalf in taking on

human flesh to be our perfect sacrifice, he had even condescended

lower - to offer us that same flesh to be the life and food of our souls!

All this so that we could have him within us - not only in our hearts

but in our physical bodies as well, making us living tabernacles.

I felt that my heart would burst with so much joy!"

Kimberly Hahn

Rome Sweet Home,
Our Journey to Catholicism

____________________________

Today is the FEAST DAY of

St Bartholomew

Nee: Cana

Apostle and Martyr

"Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him."

-said of St Bartholomew by Jesus - Gospel of St John 1:47

 

 

 

Among the twelve apostles great…There was Bartholomew…Known also as Nathanael…Among Christ’s chosen few…He too received The Holy Ghost…And he preached everywhere…That every soul might turn to God…And no one might despair…St Philip introduced him to…The Master and The Lord…And thus he came to understand…The goal he struggled toward…Bartholomew proclaimed the faith…Through all the barbarous East…And in the truest Christian sense…He was a holy priest…His death was double martyrdom…As legend now abide…Condemned to death, Bartholomew…Was flayed and crucified.  ~ James Metcalfe, Poem Portraits of the Saints

Danielle Rose - Small things with great love

Sr Dede - Pro Eternal LIFE!

At the Republican convention - Sr Dede - Pro Eternal LIFE!

Danielle Rose