The Pat and Barb Verly family and their 5 children, in laws and grandkids along with many prayer warriors have been drawn together by John's cancer... sharing daily for 8 months started this blog- Family Soul Story - Our faith, family, farm and now our cancer journey called HEALING have colored and deepened our world. WE continue to share and depend on the support of our prayer warrior community, that has lowered us into the Lord's presence for His healing!
Oh my!!! I probably have not seen our youngest grandchild, Regina Maria, for a month or more... so I am so happy to see this... borrowed from a visit over the weekend by Bill's sister, Tina! So sweet and blossoming like the most beautiful flower!
All eyes and sweetness!!! Thank you, Tina, for allowing me to share these today, and to fall in love with my sweet little soon 10 week old baby girl! Time certainly flies so quickly!
Tina with the 3 girls - they also have 3 brothers! How we love our domestic Church/family!
7 year old Dominic building a very intricate building
All but Nancy and Regina gloved...
I have just been gifted with an hour as hubby called me to go with him on a trip for a few hours, realized that it is lunch time and no one would be there, and so they are bedding and he will call me when he wants to head there. How I love to have time gifted back to me!
Talk about a gift of time which is a small taste of heaven... my hour of adoration which is the first hour of Monday - midnight - 1a!
Another wonderful gift is that the hour before mine is my son John's hour. I try to arrive early because John, I ,and Jesus, and Mary have a conversation about needs and joys and the ups and downs of our lives, and then we pray aloud together ending with a Hail Holy Queen to the Mother that we love and is the best mom of ALL! Being John's mother... I totally agree and take no offense whatsoever by this Truth! "Mom there is a better mom than you." Yes!!!
Dad's well marked Prayer of The Church he left behind for me to take me so deep each day! The last 2 days we have been reading Job for the first Reading of The Office of Readings! I see the Truth here that both my father and Job are good men, who do not turn away from their Faith or LOVE for Jesus and His Church - no matter what comes to them in the form of loss or suffering!
When dad lost mom in a day after her falling and breaking her hip before breakfast... he did not speak against the Lord's plan. Rather he spoke about how mom's prayers were now more perfect for her family as she had the perspective of heaven looking down on us in our needs! The beauty of my parents deaths 7 months apart is that they were so ready to be with Our Lord and Lady, and there is so much peace when they die a "natural death" without extreme measures knowing how they have been longing for this end of their days and the beginning of their time in heaven forever!
Now St Gregory - a Father of The Church speaks about Job with my dad's highlights! If we have received good from the hand of the Lord, why should we not endure evil? Evil refers to the scourges of the present time...
On the day of prosperity do not forget affliction, and on the day of affliction do not forget prosperity.
I love to recall all the many ways the Lord has shown me His hand on my life! When times get hard - I would say that I come to Him knowing that He is there if I call and I unite my prayers with many by putting the need out there! I know that this was true for John's brain cancer, and Grandson Patrick's traumatic birth!
I am so blessed to have my dad beside me yet - in the most powerful and wonderful place as I begin my day with morning prayer and the Office of the Reading in his well marked Prayer of The Church! Permanent Deacon for 44 years!
Every time I would visit them over these last years when they lived just 3-4 hours from my door to theirs... I would be allowed to spend days with them! So lucky to have my parents living together in their own home for 10 years that close to me! Dad, mom and I would begin our days together sharing Morning Prayer - they each in their well worn prayer books and I on ibreviary on my phone. So blessed that it brings JOY to my heart and tears to my eyes!
A little over 4 years ago Maria here visiting my parents during Advent in their home in St Croix Falls, WI! How I miss them and this peaceful haven where we shared our Faith and Family! I am eternally grateful to my wonderful parents who brought all 13 of us into The Catholic Church 50 years ago! Each day since has been the greatest priceless gift!
Praying morning prayer with my parents 4 years ago - this continues to this day in my heart, mind and soul! Dad would pray the "litany of the family" each Monday - first and middle names of his then 50+ great- granchildren and 34 grandchildren. He has now reached 65 greats! I have adopted his praying for the "litany" for my first hour of Monday in front of Jesus on the altar in Adoration! Only first names for me, dad!
Dad loved The Name!!! Take me deep dad! How I love that we share our LOVE, love, love for The True Church! We totally saw eye to eye and had so much JOY sharing the Truth! Dad's favorite verse; " I am the Way, the Truth and The LIFE!" Jesus to us
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time.
Love to have these words today and tomorrow from St Peter, the Rock upon which our Church is built! We then enter Ash Wednesday...
So much wisdom to help us on our journey!
Boy! Do we ever have problems - turn to Jesus - He is there with His arms wide to LOVE us and forgive us unconditionally!
Oh, my!!!! LOVE!!! I am a Mama's girl!
I LOVE all that the Church gives to me with no reservations at all!!! Totally and completely! There lies the Truth that can set us free to love and serve Him without counting the cost!
America come to your senses!!! We need Jesus and common sense!
My wonderful wise father memorized this prayer and we prayed it every night after Evening prayer shared as the sun set in the West! How dad loved and lived being "a companion of your Son." Every time I am at mass - I know that mom and dad are united with us in the Eucharist! Danielle Rose - See you in the Eucharist
Now my mother shares with me each day the wisdom of Pope Benedict XVI - she read this over and over for 10 years right up until dementia made her slow down a bit. She poured out her love and Truth in her writings of many books and an entire study of the entire Bible.
Jesus, we love you and thank you for all that you have blessed us with - the good and the hard. We know that The Cross becomes The Tree of LIFE for us if we embrace it and find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT! Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barbara and the 46 - 33 here on earth and 13 in heaven.
These two keep us giggling with their advanced speech and cuteness in every way! Today Birdie Barbara had the cutest dog ears in her hair, and an adorable old fashioned shirt that I remember being worn by many little girls before her... Maybe even her aunties! Oh my!
Grandpa treated them to slurpies after breakfast shared at McDonalds as the farm family had other plans after the 15 of us shared mass together this morning. He got a pink one and a blue one, but of course they both wanted "the blue one." Surprisingly they shared quite willingly.
Just before mass we had a calf, so there was quick getting it to nurse and putting it in the warming box to get all nice and warm and ready to go. Just now we have 2 more calves, and we are very grateful that these arrived during the day and not in the middle of the night.
Birdie's turn with the blue one and Jude with the cherry. It was fun to share time with our little family! Sitting with them at mass - Jude sat on Grandpa Farmer Pat's lap for the first time! Birdie moved between grandpa, grandma and mommy. Her big smile and hug when we arrived was so sweet and special! There is nothing better than sharing our Faith - Mass as a family every Sunday. We were gone last week to KC, and I think we were missed.
From the pictures - it appears that Birdie has the blue one more than Jude. Grandpa loves to spoil the grandkids and they appreciate his love for them!
It might sound braggy, but I truly do see so much LIGHT in our kids, their spouses and our grandkids - "good fruit" as Jesus speaks about today in the Gospel. Just reading an article in the Catholic Servant - Sisters of Jesus the Lord serve in Russia.
It looks like she was at St Thomas in Catholic Studies possibly with Maria, and just before Susan/Hallel! So powerful to see another new order of nuns begun as are the Handmaids in New Ulm and Hallel's order is relatively new starting in the early 1970s during Vatican 2.
With the current war started by Russia against the Ukraine - I thought this about the lack of Faith in Russia was very insightful. What she writes about the importance of mothering and fathering..
Sr Catherine really shows us how important being caring and involved parents and sharing our Faith lovingly and with JOY is so important! The "Good fruit" coming from..." A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good..." Luke 6 the Gospel today. But we need to thank our parents for showing us how unconditionally loving and forgiving is our God! Thanks, dad and mom!
Sorry - you need to subscribe to receive a paper copy and not available to show you on line, but it was very insightful considering the current situation in the world!
Much about the Church not caving in, but standing strong. Lord and Lady protect them!
Ruth and Paul sleep with cow TV - thanks for all you do and allow the old guy to sleep most nights during calving. I think that this part of the move is very nice, and also all the work that your family of 9 do to bring young excitement and hard work to the farm!
Every day prayers for LIFE from conception to natural death!
A St Mother Teresa pearl of great price!
Start LOVING in our homes!
The Lanoue bunch at mass needed 2 pews today and sweet Tom-Tom was held by Rose, dad, Ruth and David!
13 year old big brother caring for his 3 month old baby brother, Thomas. David is such a sweet boy when it comes to little ones!
Nothing better than a large family with siblings to share your life with!
A week after this was gifted to me... I admired it on Iran's mother, the new postulant in the neighborhood of the Little Brothers. She handed it to me as we left a week ago to return to the farm. Had to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe this morning... Thank you, sweet Laura!
John; "I love it! It is so Catholic!"
She brings so much JOY to her old grandparents and her old namesake. "She loves to say her whole name -Birdie Barbara!"
Dog ears and attitude with a cute top worn by many of the little girls down through the years.
"I want the blue one!"
Grandma got carried away!
Lord, how we love you and know that you are such a loving and forgiving Father as we are just days away from beginning our Lenten journey! May we die to self so that you may live and move in us. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Birdie passing over the pink for the blue. They really did share well. Close in age and taught to share at just about 3 and 2 years old. Good job mom and dad! Bless-bless, Barbara with the 46... 33 here and 13 in heavenChris Tomlin - Your a good good Father
8 years ago - 6 of our then 10 grandchildren together in El Paso, TX. Pat invited Nancy and her two little ones to join in the adventure, and we also brought 5 year old Big Dave along. We have since added 12 to equal a total of 22 now.
I am using the pictures Nancy shared on her blog after our time there to go along with my sharing today as I am low on new pictures to use and these are fun to revisit.
Yesterday Jesus addressed Marriage as being till death do us part and between one man and one woman. Today he speaks about children, and that makes me smile as one follows the other in our family - our motto is; "Open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS!"
Dry and dusty is the desert of El Paso, TX!
All 4 of my married children amazed me! They all celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary with their first child! How I wished to do that in my marriage, but I was only 5 months pregnant on my First wedding anniversary. For each of them their honeymoon baby meant that they were a family as quickly as possible. Selflessly sharing their love, yet does not each new LIFE make our LOVE grow more? Yes!
Maria's oldest, Therese, is the sweetest oldest child! She is now 13 and cares for each younger sibling as they come along. Now #7 Magdalene Rose has joined their family in May while Captain Joseph was deployed to Afghanistan. She has probably changed more diapers than her mother for her 3-4 younger siblings.
Therese and Bernadette 8 years ago... they continue to be good cousin friends.
The words of Christ to us today are carried forth in our Church teachings...“Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these...." Mark 10:13-16
"Do not prevent them" Our Church gives us the Truth that we are not to artificially prevent children using artificial birth control. Taking God out of the equation is being taught us as how we are to be in our marriages by the culture of death! Natural spacing with NFP is still allowing God to be in the picture. Yet, we are called to be open to LIFE and then the responsibility of sharing and teaching the Faith in our domestic Church/family homes!
Little Dave and Augustine are just a year and a half apart in age and when the cousins get together they love to play and reconnect. David just turned 12 and Gus is 11 in May! Nancy shared that the Minnesota kids that had just left the February snow were thrilled to find wonderful dirt to play in!
The wisdom of the Magisterium and of our Church - each marital act needs to be open to being Fruitful - new LIFE!
The Magisterium
The Church also, fulfilling the role given it by Christ as the identifier and interpreter of apostolic Scripture and apostolic tradition, has constantly condemned contraception as gravely sinful.
In Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI stated, “[W]e must once again declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun, and, above all, directly willed and procured abortion, even if for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as licit means of regulating birth. Equally to be excluded, as the teaching authority of the Church has frequently declared, is direct sterilization, whether perpetual or temporary, whether of the man or of the woman. Similarly excluded is every action which, either in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible” (HV 14).
This was reiterated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “[E]very action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible is intrinsically evil” (CCC 2370). “Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means . . . for example, direct sterilization or contraception” (CCC 2399).
The Church also has affirmed that the illicitness of contraception is an infallible doctrine: “The Church has always taught the intrinsic evil of contraception, that is, of every marital act intentionally rendered unfruitful. This teaching is to be held as definitive and irreformable. Contraception is gravely opposed to marital chastity, it is contrary to the good of the transmission of life (the procreative.aspect of matrimony), and to the reciprocal self-giving of the spouses (the unitive.aspect of matrimony); it harms true love and denies the sovereign role of God in the transmission of human life” (Vademecum for Confessors 2:4, Feb. 12, 1997).
Boys and glorious dirt!!! Although my Nancy loved dirt and mud and still gives her kids free reign to get really dirty! I think it takes will power for her to not join them!
Yes, many see the horror of taking the lives of the innocent in abortion, yet so few take to heart the the condemnation of artificial birth control! How Satan has lied to us that we have a right to take our family planning into our own hands and prevent welcoming a large family as His plan for us! So sad that vacations, houses, cars, our own selfish time to ourselves or big jobs has deprived many of having more children which definitely bring us to the Lord!
Miracle boy - Patrick Joseph 8 years ago. He was 1 1/2 and the picture of health after being born dead and brought back to LIFE! Grandma baptized him as we entered NICU in El Paso just hours after his traumatic birth!
Yes, when we are open to LIFE we have to face crisis and disappointments along the way. The Cross comes along to keep us looking to Jesus and knowing that He is in control and not we ourselves. The phrase "Jesus, I trust in you." was introduced to us by Bishop LeVoir in a most stressful terrifying time in John's battle with brain cancer... growing back through the chemo! "When in times of great distress repeat these words; 'Jesus, I trust in you.' "
Pa
Pat and I in El Paso 8 years ago - it looks hot! Here we might get to freezing today after many days of below zero. With now 6 baby calves on the ground we pray for less cold and safety in calving.
Our story of being open to LIFE is filled with many losses, and even though I prayed so hard that my girls would not have to suffer as I did - there are 7 of my losses and now 6 of the girls'. My plans for 12 kids did not happen as I pictured - 5 here and 7 in heaven.
Sharing that pain of loss has had some wonderful and surprising effects upon our family. We LOVE ALL LIFE with such a passion! Also we are very close to one another after knowing how precious are those here with us after many losses. Finally they keep our eyes on heaven and someday being united as a complete family with those "children" that are in heaven being touched by Jesus and praying for us.
Mass on base 8 years ago with a slumping 2 year old Gus. Gus, Little Dave and Big Dave are all altar boys now! LOVE!
Again Jesus shares how we come closer to the Kingdom of God through children as it belongs to those that are childlike and Trust in Jesus. How can I be open to more children and have a large family, Lord? Trust in Jesus and allow Him to be a part of each marital conjugal act so that they are ALL LIFE giving and fruitful. What JOY!
Sweet Therese and Gus outside of St Patrick's Cathedral downtown El Paso just a few blocks from where Patrick was in NICU for a few weeks - "he is the sickest baby in here." to healed and home healthy and happy after the miracle of so many prayers!
8 years ago - thank you, St Patrick!
So powerful - St Patrick has come to be so close to me since sharing so many tearful hopeful prayers for sweet baby Patrick!
"Then he embraced the children and blessed them, placing his hands on them." Mark 10:16
Children keep us on our knees and in prayer. They also allow us to teach them The Faith in our homes, and how they love to learn about Jesus, Mary, the Saints, and our beautiful amazing Church! The Saints were so important and beloved by our children! They teach us how to LOVE Jesus, Trust Jesus, live holy lives in spite of our weaknesses, and persevere no matter what we face in life.
On our way back to Minnesota we stopped to see our Little Sisters 8 years ago. My husband takes trips to see them this time of year... just before he is tied down for 2 months by calving and then by spring planting and then hay and then cows and calves on pasture... he gets very busy, but we love to see our Community of the Lamb first!!!
Jesus, we are so blessed by all you give us from The Word- Your Truth! May we die to self so that your Holy Spirit may be at work in our lives and our domestic Church/family. May we give without counting the cost. Embracing our Most Cherished Cross and finding LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT. Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barbara and the 46 - 33 here and 13 in heaven
Our Lady of the snow in the setting sun... a time of peace and LIGHT!
Soft companion - Ignatius
Words from dad and Ecclesiastes today... We take delight in being saturated with the sweetness of the Spirit...
Yes, my dad probably underlined this when he had entered his 90s - he lived with me the last 6 months of his life on hospice, yet sharp to the end. He died at age 95 and 1/2
Shared this with my brother, Dan, this morning - his reponse..."Exhorting himself to learn when he was 92! Pretty special." LOVE to share with my wonderful brother with whom we see eye to eye on our parents and the gift we were given 50 years ago when we came into the Catholic Church - all 13 of us!
Oh, daddy! I love to share in your LOVE and Wisdom! So blessed each day with his well used Prayer of The Church after 44 years of being a permanent Deacon in The Church!
Now mom's special sharing with me - a daily meditation by wonderful wise Pope Benedict XVI!
And dad's man, Brother Victor, who shares so sweetly his love for Jesus through his life as a monk living off the land in upstate New York
Cow TV my companion today...
Ruth and Paul's farmhouse for their family of 9 ... "Wounded, I will never cease to love." So important for all families to live by this. Lord, help us to forgive and love no matter the wounds.
