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!
LIFE is a gift!!!/Hubby with 2 grandsons walk 21 miles to Mary/Constant prayers without ceasing- Fr Tony farewell - +JMJ+
Grandpa Patrick with grandsons, Augustine and David, at the shrine where Mary appeared to a young Belgian girl in Champion, WI! They had just walked 21 miles from St Joseph to Mary!
At 14 miles they had lunch and changed socks and shoes.
Agustine will be 13 at the end of May and David will be 16 in July. Pat describes how they would say they were tired then run here and run there - probably putting on more miles with their back and forth. Oh, youth!
They heard many languages praying the rosary as they walked. A world class apparition that ranks with Lourdes, Fatima and Guadalupe! I predict the Verly family will be going there from now on!
Josephine got to wear her First Communion dress again for the May crowning on Sunday at St Maximilian in Delano!
How we love Our Mother of Heaven and earth! So blessed to have this special month for her. It is appropriate that Mother's Day is in May, too! Next weekend I will be sharing my "story" and the topic of the gathering - LIFE is a gift! Exactly what is the theme of my growing up with my parents and 10 younger siblings, my marriage to Pat with our 12 children - 5 here and 7 in Heaven, and my years of working as a hospice nurse plus that 6 months shared with my dad on hospice here in my farm monastery!
It must be heated although they are fish and love the water!
Packing meals for the hungry...
Mowing the lawn on Saturday - the grass is getting very tall and the cat must jump through in front of the barn.
Apple blossoms coming forth and a field yet to be planted. We have all our corn in, but not beans. We are to get another inch of rain tonight. Prayers for the farmers and the crops!
We celebrated Birdie Barbara's 4th birthday on Sunday in the midst of prayers for Fr Tony as we said farewell at his wake - the church was full!
We are also praying constantly for my sister-in-law, who is going through critical surgery and now prayers of recovery. The Rosary and taking it to Mary filled my time yesterday and today while I was in water aerobics - the Hail Mary's and comfort knowing that Mary was comforting and caring for her - "Be a mother to her now!" Pat's mother loved the Rosary and her sweet Rita! There is no doubt that she is joining me in praying in heaven!
Happy 4th birthday Birdie!!
Fr Tony had a full church with prayers and tears and a rosary said in Spanish. The Knights of Columbus watched over him, and Fr Denny broke up in tears as did Fr Shawn that morning at the 8a mass.
Ruth, Paul and their entire family came to pay their respects, and for the Catholic School kids this was like a family member to them. Every week at school mass and Sunday mass - Ruth shared that the school kids were crying when he told them that he would be dying in the near future. In many ways the kids probably have not had someone this close to them die! Ruth and Rose were able to go to church at 11a to watch his funeral live streamed on the screens. A beautiful and familiar place to say goodbye for the last time, and pray!
Jesus, we trust in you. Hallelujah and Bless-bless, Barbara and all. Thank you, Lord, for the example of fatherly love we have received from our Fr Tony.
"If angels could be jealous of men, they would
be so for one reason: Holy Communion."
St Maximilian Kolbe
In the spring of 1891, when Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity was
almost eleven years old she made her First Communion. Sensitive
by nature, especially to things sacred, she was profoundly affected
by her first reception of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
Tears of joy were seen to run down the young girl's face after
her Communion. Upon leaving the church, she said to a close friend,
"I'm no longer hungry. Jesus has fed me."
On the afternoon of her First Communion, Elizabeth also encountered the prioress of the Carmel of Dijon for the first time. The prioress, upon learning the name of the child, explained that "Elizabeth" means "house of God." A few days later, she would send this same message to Elizabeth, writing on the back of a holy card:
"Your blessed name hides a mystery,
accomplished on this great day.
Child, your heart is the House of God
on earth, of the God of love."
This theme of being the "house of God," then, was at first closely associated with the mystery of the Eucharist in the mind of Elizabeth. In a poem that she would later write to commemorate the seventh anniversary of her First Communion, she meditates upon the day:
"When Jesus made in me His dwelling place,
When God took possession of my heart,
So well that since that hour,
Since that mysterious colloquy,
That divine and delicious meeting, I have
aspired to nothing else but to give my life
In order to return a bit of His great love
To the Beloved of the Eucharist
Who reposed in my feeble heart,
Inundating it with all of His favors."
Elizabeth once wrote the following words to a friend who had just made her First Communion:
"If He came this morning into your
little heart, it was not to pass through it
and go away, but to remain there always."
Excerpt from article,The Saint of the Divine Indwelling
byFr. Gregory Ross, O.C.D., S.T.L.
Painting: After the First Holy Communion ~ Carlo F Smith (1892)
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