Thursday, November 17, 2022

Hallel with Nancy and family overnight/"have a bunch of kids and raise them to be good"/St Elizabeth - Donald 30 years later

Yesterday was Gina's 11 month birthday!  She got to see her Aunt Hallel!  So special to see The Lamb that Hallel now wears around her neck as a sign that she is fully professed as a Little Sister/Bride of Christ!  The mountain moved to France in 2018 - 21 of us with 3 in the womb= 24 went to France to witness and support and celebrate her Final vows!  

A wonderful beautiful gift from Nancy and Bill of #4 Daughter, Little Sister Hallel, with 11 month old Regina Maria last evening while she stayed the night with 2 others with Nancy and Bill in Delano.  It was hard for me to stay put at home, but the patchy roads and the knowledge that I would be 5 hours on the road mostly after dark and only 3 hours with Hallel.  I asked for pictures and an update instead.
A powerful reminder of how we are protected by Jesus and Mary and all the Saints in this daily battle against evil! 
So sweet to see 3 year old George hugging his Aunt Hallel!  George was batized by Archbishop Naumman in Kansas City and Hallel was able to be there for our family.  Archbishop Joseph Naumann will baptize babies from big families as he wants to promote openness to LIFE as we are called to be open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS!

Borrowed from Facebook this sweet picture of Fr David Michael Moses with a family of many children

He shared this - I had the father of a large family ask me how he should respond when people are critical of him having so many kids. I said: “It’s simple. What does the world need the most right now? I think it’s pretty clear: We need good people. Holy people. People of integrity and high moral character. People who are joyful, and hopeful, and courageous. And we don’t just need a few of these people- we need a lot of them. So, have a bunch of kids, and raise them to be good, and holy, and joyful, and courageous people, who will one day become the husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, Priests and Sisters that our world so desperately needs. Have a bunch of kids, and raise them to be good, and you’ll have made the world a better place.”
FrDavid Michael Moses | Facebook  

Pat and I were traveling about a half hour away to pick up some feed, so I was able to share this with him with GREAT JOY!!!  I shared that my huband, Farmer Pat, had put this in a nutshell at our engagement weekend.  "Are we selfish to want to have a lot of children - 12?"  "The world needs lights!" was his immediate response!  Father David said it with much more beautful words of Truth!  LOVE!
8 year old Dominic Patrick is showing his great JOY to have his Aunt Hallel in his home.  They have always had a special bond as Hallel's Community of the Lamb is Dominican at their roots!  St Dominic is super cool - he gave us the rosary prayer, which is my prayer without ceasing.  

Hubby just called and asked me to go and get a part in Cottonwood in "my chapel on wheels."  So I will be leaving this for now...

Little Sister Marie John is French and took her final vows at the same time as Hallel in 2018.  Nancy said that she loved playing with the kids last night and pretends that she is eating them up with her fingers.  

A very fond memory of her was when Pat and I and his mother, and John went to France for Hallel's first vows in 2011.  Marie John has very good English and her voice came to us over the ear plugs in our ears and the tears flowed for us at the power and beauty of the ceremony!  She is so intertwined in our time with The Community of the Lamb!  

Sharing with some gathered about their life!  Hallel with Gina!  "Hallel is so excited to see Thomas in a few days.  He is such a special sign of LIFE and healing for our wonderful farm family!"
Waiting in the farm yard for the feed to be unloaded - I admired the huge farmhouse that Ruth and Paul have made their own.  It looks like a proud ship in the calm white sea of snow.  The porch is a huge beautiful addition to make it shine with some lights around the edges.
So much warm welcoming light in this early winter that has come with snow and cold.
Ruth in the command center cleaning up after supper for her family of 9.  Ruth had a vision and which required moving the kitchen from the north side of the house looking out at the grove to the south side where all the action is on our busy farm.  She can look out and keep tabs of the farmers and her 7 farm kids.  So wise!  
On the move...
Cleaning off the table - it is so open and great for their large family to share time for meals and all.
Such a good reminder for me.  Pat's brother Donald has been on my mind, and heart a lot over these last days.  He was murdered in Montana 30 years ago in January.  The man that killed him was up for parole and his hearing was yesterday.  He was denied parole for another 3 years and then they will reconsider.
Good to see this picture of Pope Benedict XVI.  He just keeps on going.
The 6 that are here from KCK to lead the Mission over these next days - 3 Little Brothers, and 3 Little Sisters.  They stayed with Candace's parents the first night.  
Dad today in the Morning Prayer after Psalm 57.  A prayer that dad memorized and we said it after sharing evening prayer each night after supper.  My dad was a Permanent Deacon in The Catholic Church for 44 years after he brought all 13 into The Church 50 years ago after being a Protestant minister for 20 years.  Amazing!!!

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: The amazing story of the 13 becoming Catholic!  

An wonderful Saint today - St Elizabeth who loved the poor and gave her all for them although she was a queen and very wealthy - she died at 24 in a humble Franciscan habit.  Father Denny shared that she was so prayerful and her face would glow with the encounter with Jesus and Mary.  I read that in the Office of Reading today and it reminded me that when I pray for Fr Denny on Fridays - I can join with him on my phone iBreviary 

My granddaughter, Regina Maria - means Queen Mary!  So wonderful for her in her lifetime!  
Snowy Manistique, MI where we had a cabin for 15+ years.  I miss is so much!  
Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barbara and the 34
Made in the image and likeness of God!  Miracles each and every new life and they make our LOVE grow bigger with each new member of our domestic Church/family!  
Many prayers for Donald over these last few masses.  Each time Father had us pray for those members of our family that have died - Don would come to mind and heart.  
Prayers for the man that took his life also.  It would be a blessing if he had a conversion and found his Salvation and forgiveness for his sins.  

More from Fr David - I have become a very huge fan of this wise young man!  Fr David Michael Moses

“People who say that we priests are lonely people have simply got it all wrong. We are far less lonely than anyone else, for we can count on the constant company of the Lord, with whom we should be conversing without interruption. We are in love with Love, with the Author of Love!” -St. Josemaria Escriva

St Elizabeth of Hungary, when as a little girl
used to play about the palace with her companions,
would always pick a spot near the chapel so that
every now and then, without being noticed, she might
stop by the chapel door, kiss the lock, and say to Jesus,
 


"My Jesus, I am playing,
but I am not forgetting You.
Bless me and my companions.
Goodbye."
 
St Elizabeth of Hungary
Hungary ~ 1207-1231
Wife, mother
Secular Franciscan Order
Feast Day - November 17
 
 The Charity of St. Elizabeth of Hungary by Edmund Blair Leighton (1895) 

"How could I bear a crown of gold when the Lord 
bears a crown of thorns? And bears it for me!"
 St Elizabeth of Hungary


________________________________
 
From a letter of Conrad of Marburg, St Elizabeth's spiritual director:

"Elizabeth recognised and loved Christ in the poor.  ... She was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castles should be converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in that place but in all the territories of her husband’s empire. ...
Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, Elizabeth went to visit the sick. She personally cared for those who were particularly repulsive; to some she gave food, to others clothing; some she carried on her own shoulders, and performed many other kindly services. Her husband, of happy memory, gladly approved of these charitable works. ...
Apart from those active good works, I declare before God that I have seldom seen a more contemplative woman. When she was coming from private prayer, some religious men and women often saw her face shining marvelously and light coming from her eyes like the rays of the sun. ...
Before her death I heard her confession. When I asked what should be done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute everything except one worn out dress in which she wished to be buried. When all this had been decided, she received the Body of our Lord. Afterward, until vespers, she spoke  often of the holiest things she had heard in sermons. Then, she devoutly commended to God all who were sitting near her, and as if falling into a gentle sleep, she died."
Continuing in a series of descriptions of the great female figures of the Middle Ages, Pope Benedict XVI (October 21, 2010) spoke of this princess who shows how a life of "faith and friendship with Christ creates a sense of justice, equality  of all, of the rights of others... which creates love, charity ... and from this comes the hope and certainty that we are loved by Christ and the love of Christ awaits us, and so enables us to imitate Christ, to see Christ in others. Saint Elizabeth invites us to find Christ, love Christ, have faith and so find true justice, love and joy that one day we will be immersed in God's love."
St Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us!


Danny Gokey














Danielle Rose 



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