John celebrates his 16th birthday since stem cell transplant - tomorrow his 37th birthday/Quick trip to see family/Beatitudes +JMJ+

16 years ago the day of John's rebirth when his harvested stem cells were planted after his bone marrow had been wiped clean!  The reading that day was the Sower and the seed just as it was last week reminding me of John's new birthday.  His yield is 100 fold!  The new John!  

John in a boy who loves his Mother!  I am not hurt as I love her too.  John is known to say; "Mom there is a better mother than you."  I totally absolutely agree with him!  

A couple years ago John and baby Lucy on his anniversary of rebirth.

A few days ago as we celebrated his birthday #16!  

John has struggled holding down a job, so he does the important work of taking care of 3 year old Lucy while the others are at school and work!  

Little miss Sunshine is our Lucy Marie.

Wednesday the 28th of January the Feast of St Thomas Aquinas and the Gospel was the Sower and the seed from Mark 4.  So interesting that just a bit later in Mark is Jesus calming the sea, which was the reading on Father's Day 2009 when we were told that John had a tumor in his brain and our cancer journey began

John will say to this day that his half hearted prayer for Faith resulted in his brain cancer a few days later.  It led him to Mary, Jesus and The Church!

John's Spirit Juice video

https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/johns-cancer-stories.html  

Grandma brought over a big cookie for Lucy and doughnuts too to celebrate John's 16th birthday!  

Nothing says a party quite like doughnuts brought to your door on a cold winter day!  

Pat and I had a chance to visit my parents grave just across the road from our military family in Shafer, MN on Friday.  

9 year old Evangeline with a beautiful bowl of our brown eggs!  They eat a couple dozen every morning, and we have brought them 12 chickens that they feed and care for.

A gift for Major Joseph, who is serving in Poland for the last 6 months and not to return till this spring.  After 7:30 Mass where the 3 boys serve so reverent and makes this grandma so filled with wonder and awe!  

Wonderful and beautiful!  

Youngest is 4 year old Maggie with their dog, Dom!  

Bright sunny January day to visit my parents in their final resting place.  So peaceful and beautiful and Pat and I shared a St Joseph prayer as well as Hail Holy Queen with my parents.  

Love and miss you mom and dad!  I am eternally grateful for the Faith you instilled in me!

https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html  The story of our conversion to The One and True Catholic Church - all 13 of us 55 years ago now!  Each day since has been a pearl of great price!  

After mass grandpa made his famous pancakes for the military kids - all 7 of them!  

6 year old Hector with a puzzle he is working on.  So beautiful!!! 

Pat brings along all he needs to make a wonderful breakfast at each home we visit!  

They come with their plates and wait for one hot off the griddle!  

Maria Catholic homeschools her kids and protects their purity - limits screens and no phones!  Lots of time spent reading and working on homework and just plain board games!  

The Mass is so beautiful thanks to Fr John and the boys reverence as they recognize Jesus in Word, Body and Blood!  

Praying at Midnight with my Most Cherished Cross - Farmer Patrick.  He traded hours with son, John, so we were back to back - Pat and last hour of Sunday and me the first hour of Monday.  We talked and prayed leaving me only half of my time to pray for family.  It was special!  

Grandpa pancakes after Mass yesterday with John's family.

We put blueberries in them too!  

Over the weekend Maria and Nancy's kids got together.   The two 4 year old girls dressed up and pretended that they were off to college.  Magdalene is getting concerned as her oldest sister, Therese, is going off to college this fall.  University of Mary here she comes.  

Therese has been such an amazing oldest sister, There is a joke in our family that Maria has a new baby and comes home and gives it to Therese saying..."Look, I had a baby for you!"  T changed more diapers of the last 3 siblings than Maria!

Now the 2 "Pink Sisters!"  

Over the weekend grandpa made breakfast/pancakes for Simon after work at ADM and David his helper on the farm for the weekend.

The farmer breakfast chef!  

Verly beef a few years back for the little sisters!  

It gives us so much JOY to share our wonderful food with all 5 of our children.  Now when we visit Hallel in KCK we bring our breakfast food along too.

Therese with the group from the Superior Diocese in Wisconsin that went to Washington DC for the March for LIFE.  Nothing is more important than LIFE!  Lord and Lady, please protect and cherish ALL LIFE from conception to natural death.

Jude and Birdie looking adorable as old people for Catholic Schools Week

Lucy from Narnia is a literary moral character for Catholic Schools week at St Max School in Delano last week.  This is Nancy's Josephine.

Augustine is Fr Brown

4 year old Regina is a bunny.

Bernadette is a character from A Place to hang the Moon

Frodo and Sam Gamgee from Lord of the Rings

St Max kids about 4 years ago!

A year ago!  How I love the uniforms!

Our Marshall Catholic School kids - Holy Redeemer Catholic School where hubby went with this 9 siblings, our 5 children attended, now both John and Ruth's kids.  I also need to point out that John's wife, Bobbi, also went there!  So special for John and Bobbi to share this with their 3 kids!  

Sweet JOY loves her Catholic School!  

Adorable Jude!  

Tom leads the way to his preschool room at the end of the hall!  

Birdie Barbara in her Kindergarten room - I think the smile tells us that she loves school!  

Birdie Verly is a true Verly girl in name and so much like her aunties in appearance!  

The Gospel for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time and Catholic Schools Mass in the gym at the School!  

Tom at 2 in his grandpa Pat's boots!  LOVE little kids in big shoe pictures so much!  

I have these big shoe pictures in my bathroom and they make me smile every day!  

Rose in some speech clothes a year ago - she is on fire this year with her humorous speech!  You go girl!

They are now Saints!  How I love to have the Saints with me each day!  

I am itching to make a similar painting!  Love the clothes line, the cats, and the big lake!  

JD Vance at the March for LIFE!

Gospel for the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Mark 5:1-12

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 
He began to teach them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven."

It is especially powerful to read about the Peacemakers with all that is going on in this world and our state!  How we need "children of God" to be peacemakers!  Lord and Lady, hear our prayer.  Bless-bless, Barbara and the 33 plus 13 in heaven.  They keep my eyes on heaven as I stumble down the narrow path with Heaven forever as my goal.  

 Feast of the Presentation of the Lord*

February  2

Today the Church celebrates the Presentation of Jesus 

in the Temple at Jerusalem.  In that same spirit, 

we present ourselves today to the Lord, especially 

in the Mass. Present yourself to Jesus today. 
Receive His life-giving light and love.

Simeon and Anna:  Jan van 't Hoff

“Simeon gave back Jesus to His Mother,

he was only suffered to keep

Him for one moment.

But we are far happier than Simeon.

We may keep Him always if we will.

In Communion

He comes not only into our arms

but into our hearts.”- St John Vianney

 

This Feast is also known as Candlemas Day,

since the blessing and procession of candles

is included in today's liturgy. 

The symbolism of the candles is described

by Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB, in his "Liturgical Year":

The mystery of today's ceremony has frequently been explained by liturgists, dating from the 7th century. According to Ivo of Chartres, the wax, which is formed from the juice of flowers by the bee, always considered as the emblem of virginity, signifies the virginal flesh of the Divine Infant, who diminished not, either by His conception or His birth, the spotless purity of His Blessed Mother. The same holy bishop would have us see, in the flame of our Candle, a symbol of Jesus who came to enlighten our darkness. St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking on the same mystery, bids us consider three things in the blessed Candle: the wax, the wick, and the flame. The wax, he says, which is the production of the virginal bee, is the Flesh of our Lord; the wick, which is within, is His Soul; the flame, which burns on top, is His divinity.

The candles kept by the faithful in their homes 

should be seen as a sign of Christ "the light of the world" 

and an expression of faith.
_____________________

From the Pieta prayer book:

to pray while burning a blessed candle

in one's home during a storm:

Jesus Christ a King of Glory has come in Peace.+ God became man, + and the Word was made flesh.+ Christ was born of a Virgin.+ Christ suffered.+ Christ was crucified.+ Christ died.+ Christ rose from the dead.+ Christ ascended into Heaven.+ Christ conquers.+ Christ reigns.+ Christ commands.+ 

May Christ protect us from all storms and lightning. + Christ went through their midst in Peace, + and the Word was made Flesh.+ Christ is with us with Mary.+ Flee you enemy spirits because the Lion of the Generation of Judah, the Root David, has won.+ Holy God+ Holy Powerful God! + Holy Immortal God! + Have mercy on us. Amen. 

__________________________________________

“Christ Himself says, ‘I am the light of the world.’ And we are the light, we ourselves, if we receive it from Him.... But how do we receive it, how do we make it shine? ...The candle tells us: by burning, and being consumed in the burning. A spark of fire, a ray of love, an inevitable immolation are celebrated over that pure, straight candle, as, pouring forth its gift of light, it exhausts itself in silent sacrifice." - Pope St Paul VI

___________________________________________

More on the Feast of the Presentation:

*The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord marks the time when Mary and Joseph first brought Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem. According to Mosaic Law, after a time (40 days) of waiting, Mary was to bring an offering to the priest as purification after her having given birth (Leviticus 12:2-8). Hence, this feast is also known as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. It was also within the context of this event that the Holy Family meets Simeon and Anna, encounters which are recorded in Luke 2:22ff.
                The encounter with Simeon has given us one of the most beautiful and haunting canticles (songs) the Church has today. The words that Simeon spoke upon encountering the infant Jesus have been recited and sung through all the ages of the Church. The prayer is called the Nunc Dimittis, Latin words which comprise the first words of the prayer. Here is the complete text in English, taken from the Liturgy of the Hours:

    Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; 

Your word has been fulfilled.

My eyes have seen the salvation
 You have prepared in the sight of every people, 
A light to reveal you to the nations 

and the glory of your  people, Israel.   

To add to the haunting beauty of these words, the Nunc Dimittis is typically said at the office of Night Prayer, just before going to bed, when, as we lay ourselves down to rest, we also look ahead to our eternal rest. It’s a wonderful grown-up bedtime prayer! (Hat tip:  Patrick Conley)

  

Danielle Rose - The Saint that is just me

Danny Gokey - we all need Jesus

Hillbilly Thomists - Good Tree