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!
Going to the later mass this morning, John up in the Cities with Nancy and the kids, no one in the house but me and the ticking of the clock, Pat is out feeding the weaned calves and they are starting to moo as they await their food in the feedbunk. The bawling of the calves is really the only sound in my world right now other than the click of the computer keys as I type this. Yesterday, we were asked by Pope Francis and our Church to fast and pray for Peace, and for me it seems to be here this Sunday morning - 23rd of Ordinary time. My world shows the effects of prayer this morning, and I hope and pray that there is many other places throughout the world where they have awakened, or are going to bed, or somewhere in between to a more peaceful existence! There was a very meaningful sharing on facebook this morning by a dear friend... her dad died yesterday morning and about 4 hours later her daughter had a son, and named him after his grandfather! The continuum of LIFE really is so amazing - we all have death awaiting us at the end of this life on earth... that is death from this world, and as followers of Christ- LIFE eternal then begins with Christ! The birth of a new child is a very wonderful blessing, yet LIFE begins as soon as the egg and the sperm come together - LIFE begins and is precious and sacred! From the point of conception to natural death - LIFE is to be cherished and protected at all cost! As Horton the elephant says in Horton hears a Who - "A person's a person, no matter how small."
We are all very excited and prayerful for Ruth, who is expecting a little boy in on All Saints Day - November 1 at noon. How can she know that? After rupturing with her 2nd - she is now a scheduled C-section about 2 weeks ahead of her due date. Not that we don't pray for each of our grandkids from the moment we are aware of them in the womb, but with Ruth it is that much more as she was told after rupturing - no more kids, and now she is having her 3rd miracle baby. There is a sense of these little ones having a special calling in this world - knowing that for many women they would not be here in this world. They would not have gotten a second opinion, and then gone ahead trusting in the Lord, and the doctors to get the baby here safely for mom and babe. Once again I am bursting with the reality and Truth that LIFE is the most amazing gift ever! We just got a video of our little miracle boy, Patrick, walking at 11 months! Another miracle of new LIFE and newness of LIFE after death there! I wish I could share the video with you, but it is such a delight to Pat and I to continue to watch the ongoing miracle, and proof of it with Patrick. So much this day reminding me of LIFE and how glorious are all the blessings we have had with our family - two miracles in the last year with John and Patrick!
Grandpa and two new granddaughters in the last year!
Jesus, we are filled with such JOY this day as new Peace fills the world. We know that you listen to the prayers of those gathered together, and so we are confident that Peace is now flooding this world! Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
Bless-bless, Barb
Psalm 90 from mass today speaks of our days on earth and that the Lord is in control of all our days
"Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O Lord! How Long?
Have pity on your servants.
In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the Lord our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge."
The Gospel according to Luke 14
"Whoever does not carry his own cross after me cannot be my disciple." Jesus speaking to you and me. Yes, Lord! Your servant is listening. You have the Words of everlasting LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!
Dana led us in this wonderful song before mass - this is Jeremy Camp singing - Give me Jesus. It was a very beautiful way to come into His presence in our hearts, minds and souls!
I just wanted to share one more song that was such a blessing at mass this morning - Lead me to the Cross - by Francesca Battistelli here, but every bit as wonderful and powerful led by our musicians at mass this morning after receiving Jesus in His Body and Blood. Today I recalled the powerful occurrence at the moment when Heaven comes down to earth!
Pictures have run dry these days so I went back to pictures taken a year ago today. Rose was then 4 months and now she is 16 months. It looks like I had her here for part of the day, and did my usual photo shoot. Today is a special day in The Church - it is first Saturday, and Pope Francis is calling for a day of prayer and fasting with the intention of world peace - most especially for the intention of the Middle East/Syria!
"All men and women of good will are bound by the task of pursuing peace. #prayforpeace
Dear young people, pray with me for peace in the world #prayforpeace
Peace is a good which overcomes every barrier, because it belongs all of humanity#prayforpeace... 09/05/2013 There is no such thing as low-cost Christianity. Following Jesus means swimming against the tide, renouncing evil and selfishness With all my strength, I ask each party in the conflict not to close themselves in solely on their own interests. #prayforpeace" Pope Francis said this yesterday
My grandbabies are usually seen with a rosary - I am constantly with one and they find them fun to play with and yes - put in their mouths when they are starting to discover the world.
It was a very special morning to be able to make it to mass this morning followed by a special joyful mysteries of the rosary, and reconciliation. In order for peace to reign in the world - it needs to begin within us and this was the best way for that to happen! Our amazing Church is such a LIGHT to the world and offers us all we need to find HIM and serve HIM with great joy and peace. We were reminded in the meditation for the second joyful mystery - the Visitation - that "Elizabeth knew that in welcoming the Mother, she was welcoming the Son." St Alphonsus How I love to realize that my great love and devotion for Our Lady leads me ever closer to her Son! Mother Mary Francis was an abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery in Roswell, New Mexico, and I became familiar with her and her wonderful deep writings while Maria was in the Poor Clares behind the enclosure for 5 months in 2004! Mother Mary Francis writes today in the meditation these amazing sweet words about Mary...
"Mary preferred, she chose, to accept what was to her was not understandable, and to return to her humble home and to go about her duties and to ponder these things in her heart. She made her own choice to allow him to fulfill all that was involved in his Passion. And she did not, when she met him on the way of the Cross, lapse into hysterical sobbing, nor did she demand that this should be stopped. She chose the will of God and she chose it freely - It is very important that we do not allow our Lady to be distanced from us by her Immaculate Conception, but to be brought closer to us. She is the one to teach us poor sinners because she is called the Refuge of Sinners. Our Lord did not give her to St John and say, 'Now I am giving her to you, and she is the Mother of all the flawlessly holy ones.' But he gave her to be the Mother of all persons... and he knew what was in man, what was in each one of us, our weaknesses as well as our strengths." Mother Mary Francis (2006)
Dear Jesus, we storm heaven this day with all the angles and saints and your Church led by our new Pope Francis - we beseech YOU to allow Peace to reign on this earth! We are filled with your river of Life-giving water as we have been filled with your Body and Blood this day, and had the graces and gifts of being freed from our sins as we laid them at your feet in the confessional! We long to become more and more yours with each new day, and this day is one of deep prayer and penance for the sake of bringing YOUR Way, your Truth and your LIFE into this world. So much is given to us so that we may embrace our Most Cherished Cross and follow after YOU. Our Lady is there to show us how to Trust and hold all we are given in Your Word and Sacrament in the depths of our hearts. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
Bless-bless, Barb
"Receive, O Lord, we ask, the prayers of your people with the sacrificial offerings, that, through the intercession of Blessed Mary, the Mother of your Son, no petition may go unanswered, no request be made in vain. Through Christ our Lord. Amen." Prayer over the offerings from mass today
Thank you, little Rose, for gracing my sharing today from a year ago today!
Shine by the Newsboys - this was shared by a homeschooling family on the road with the windows down and singing at the top of their voices! Picture it.... I can!
Just thought I would share another oldie Christian song that makes you want to dance and sing at the top of your lungs!
A year ago I had 4 month old Rose for a day in September. I was curious to check out the pictures I took that day... for one thing it looks like it was much cooler than the 94 degrees it was here today.
This was actually the 17th so it was over a week later - it will be interesting to see if we cool off soon. Lord, give us rain and cooler weather. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Bless-bless, Barb
Rose a year later and soon to have a baby brother. Life is a gift!
The tables have turned with Rose hugging the kitty!
The drought is getting very depressing - day after day of heat and wind.... watching the grass and crops die, and the creeks dry up. Day after day - the first thing Pat prays for is abundant rains. It goes so much further than the crops for Pat with his 120 cows and calves out on pastures - the calves were weaned just 4 days ago now because the grass is running out and the water is getting scarce. They could have had more time on their mothers if there had been rain for the pastures. Now they are in the barn and Pat has to feed them feed from the corn plant as well as ground hay - all those bales he put up early in the summer are now being used already! Pat does not seem to be overly anxious or upset by these two months without rain. Knowing that there is nothing he can do about it except pray and leave it in the Lord's hands allows him to just take what comes at him with each day and make the best decision he can under the circumstances at hand. This is a lesson for all of us in LIFE - first of all knowing that in everything in LIFE that God is in control, and we need only trust and take what we have before us and make the best decisions we can under those circumstances. We are the new wineskins and we are filled with the new wine - the saving Blood Jesus shed for us on the Cross showed us the way to find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT by embracing our Most Cherished Cross! John helped shed light on this Gospel today - he was recalling a discussion he had with 3 of his fellow seminarians last year about this exact Gospel - "The new wine is the Blood of Christ and we are the new wineskins blessed with the new Covenant with God through Christ our Savior." Wow! John admitted that he very much misses his seminarian brothers as he continues to look for the path the Lord has for him. This mothers heart is sad at this time, and yearns for him to be in seminary. It is hard for me to let go and trust, but I try not to let John know of my struggles with his decision.
Making sure the gate is locked really well! These bawling calves would be out and looking for their moms in a moment if they had a chance. Yesterday I was putting clothes on the line just after Pat had fed them and there was about 5 second intervals of silence while they all were eating. This being the forth day they are getting tired of calling for mom and starting to lose their voices.
Jesus, we are not in control of what comes to us each day of our lives. There is so much that is out of our control, and all we can do is give it up to YOU. From the first reading today in Colossians 1 - "For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the Blood of his Cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven." Yes, Lord, we are filled with so much gratitude as we recall what you have done for us through your Cross/death for the sins of the world, and in asking us to follow after you carrying our Most Cherished Cross! Yes, that is where we suffer death to self and find LIFE in YOU, O Lord! May we love and serve YOU in all we do and say and don't say and work and play and pray this day and forever! Jesus, may we "serve the Lord with gladness; come before him singing with joyful song." Psalm 100 - a grand Hallel psalm from mass today! We are the flock that you tend, O Lord, and if the pastures dry up and the creeks are dry - you give us water from the Rock and manna from heaven and care for us! May we go forth and give the Mercy to those in our domestic Church/family according to the Mercy YOU have shown us over and over again - unconditional LOVE and forgiveness flows over and around us - the Life-giving water from the Rock, Jesus Christ! Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
Bless-bless, Barb
We received news yesterday that Hallel and all those coming from France should now be in Kansas City! We are preparing to go there and join with them in celebration of the Little Monastery in a week.
"Know that the Lord is God;
He made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
Come with Joy into the presence of the Lord.
For he is good,
The Lord, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
Come with Joy into the presence of the Lord."
Psalm 100 from mass today - a Grand Hallel psalm!
Ruth trusts that the new baby will be welcomed by her current baby... Trust, wait and see. Please join in praying for the continued safety of Ruth and her little boy! The Lord is in control and we trust!
Casting Crowns - Come to the Well
Now that I have discovered how easy it is to put these on my blog so that you don't have to leave it to listen to music - I just thought I would add this one more. Holy Now by Peter Mayer! It truly is a reminder that we can even find HIM in the midst of the drought and all of life's struggles and pain - Our Most Cherished Cross becomes a thing of Life-giving beauty!
Rose is now 16 months and full of curiosity and developing her own little personality. Ruth describes her as liking little things to occupy her. I noticed last evening that she was very busy with a jar she found outside and she would put things in and out of it with her long delicate fingers. Finally she found rocks in the gravel that were the most fun to put in her jar. There were many kittens running and playing around her and she would giggle at them or pick them up when she could get close enough to them, and they would grow limp and put up with her snuggles. Her love of being outside and busy with things in the grass and the dirt and gravel equals a very dirty little girl yet adorable at the same time. Shortly after this she was smiling in a bathtub.
How many kittens do you see in this picture? If you said 4 you are right - they are gray and blend into the drought stricken brown grass... Rose with her jar and her kittens all outside in the cool of the evening.
David out riding his bike in the cool of the evening, too. Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barb
Enough kittens to go around, but usually they want the same one... I guess that is another life lesson to learn - sharing. David nicely (?) went and got Rose another kitten so that he could hold his favorite one - Pumpkin.
Ruth was just over with Rose to help get the cows across the road from one pasture into another. She made the mistake of asking if I had taken a picture of our 80 quarts of tomato soup... Rose looks very amazed at all that soup! I am still feeling the effects on my feet and just being tired today after our huge job yesterday.
Reading the Gospel last night and twice this morning with Pat and John what really grabbed my attention was the picture of Jesus having to get into Simon's boat to share the Word of God/preach to the people. How would it be to listen to Jesus/Son of God share the good news just after He touched you and healed you of your diseases? The realization that this is God is so real and reverberating throughout you... no wonder the crowd was pressing on Him, and the boat offered a way for him to get some space to breath and preach. The crowd could signify for us all the crowds in upon us each day that takes our attention away from sharing the Truth/The Gospel/The Good News of Salvation/That in embracing our Most Cherished Cross we find LIFE! This morning I have already worked with my canning, prayed with John and Pat, and been out to help get the cows across the road... in the midst of that there have been phone calls and people in and out of the house... the Crowd is pressing in on me! I need to get into the boat and go out upon the calm waters of the sea - yes, those too can become stormy at times... but today they are calm and allow me to gather my thoughts and share the Truth in this forum. So much gratitude fill me to the brim as I gush out all the great blessings and graces that are there for me each day as I carry my Most Cherished Cross and follow my Jesus, and His Bride, The Church!
I found this video of Jesus with the crowds...
In the Gospel yesterday - Jesus goes off to a deserted place to find peace and gain strength before he is once again called upon to heal and to preach. Luke 4
Jesus, how we long to share the JOY we have found through your personal touch of healing and directing our lives as we follow YOU down the narrow path. May we love and serve you without counting the cost. The last part of the Gospel today is your directing Simon to lower the nets for a catch after he had caught nothing all night. He did as you asked and they caught so many fish that their boats almost sank! I feel as they did that I am not catching any fish, O Lord. May I step out of the way and allow YOU to minister to those that are in need this day. Use me to your honor and glory. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
Bless-bless, Barb
Ruth and Rose with Sesame Street - Grover. Ruth grew up with Sesame Street and it still continues with the next generation.
"From the day we heard about you, we do not cease praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones of LIGHT. He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Colossians 1: 9-14 The first reading from mass today - read throughout the world today... such power and might gained from the Truth preached from the boat on the waters of getting away from all that crowds out what really matters in LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!
Early morning job of getting the cows across the road to the other pasture.
