"That I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord..." Psalm 27

 Luke has started to bring up grandpa's boots for him to put on and take him out to ride in the tractor.

Today two blind men sense the presence of the Lord, because it is the Presence we have been waiting for all our life, "Have pity on us!" Matthew 9
How blind we are in our lives when we consider how we are following Jesus on the path.  We are not fully aware of our missteps as we are so saturated with lies and the view of the world!  I am currently doing a mother's Advent Bible study by Nancy and two other young Catholic bloggers... the first week is Materialism to Generosity.   I have been convicted by with new eyes of Faith through the scriptures we ponder and meditate on each day.  That is so important on our journey - Yes, we have The Church to show us the Truth in most matters of our daily lives, but a personal inventory of how we are doing with matters of Faith - The Word is there to assist us in this way!

 I love the late afternoon lighting with the white snow and the activity of kids and dog!

I do not want to be blind to my weaknesses and faults and where I need to be better in my path to Sainthood!  I love to ponder the readings of each day - knowing that all Catholic Churches around the world from St Peters to the tiny country church are reading the same readings, preaching on them and taking The Word/Christ to heart and being convicted to have a change of heart!  Nancy's Bible study is reminding me that I can dig a lot deeper and confront some common issues that mislead us and cause us to take the wrong path due to what we are surrounded by - the world!

 Intrigued by the lighting....

 Love that Our Lady is in this white amazing setting!

 Mary with her sweet bunny with the snowy backdrop.

 Who needs snow?  A familiar scene of David with his dumptruck, snow clothes and backpack after getting off the bus from school!

I have had my world enlarged by this study I am in with the help of Nancy.  I think that looking further to The Word will be more in my spiritual journey!  I feel that the Lord has answered my pleas to Him to "have pity on us."  He has given me more to assist me with seeing The Truth and some of my blindness and prejudged thoughts have been taken away!  I have always felt that I am given so much more than I can ever use each day of this journey and now it has been broadened yet more!

 Picture perfect in the late afternoon whiteness...

Lord, I am far from perfect, yet you are always there to help me "according to your faith."  I do believe without hesitation in you, O Lord, and your Bride, The Church.  You are there to help me get to heaven forever with you, Your Mother, Mary the Mother of God, St Joseph, and all the Saints, and the Angels!  I know that I am weak, and sick, and sinful, and fail over and over, but I acknowledge my sins and ask for LIGHT for the blindness in me to be healed!  "Recognizing our failures is the first step to allowing the grace of God to purify us."  Sr Wendy Beckett  It was so special this morning, when faced with temptation to pray Blessed Mother Teresa's prayer - "Mary, my Mother, be a Mother to me now."  She held me close to her Immaculate Heart, and I felt stronger and able to withstand the onslaught.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

 A soft bunny came to visit and enjoyed the soft cushions and the warm house.

 A soft picture... Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

Mary and her bunny with the winter outside.

Ruth working on some remodeling plans as we are thinking about switching houses soon.  Talk about some big crazy changes on the horizon.  The first week of Nancy's study is Materialism to Generosity - so much to ponder. 

Finally a new picture from NC of the kids - they got their gear mixed up it appears.

My Mother is in my home after Jesus gave her to me at the foot of The Cross!

It works - I will use this more often and pause in my giving into temptation!

Danielle Rose - If I touch him

Buillt on the rock to face the storms of LIFE!

 Pat and I watch Ruth and Paul's 5 kids on Wednesday nights so that they can "teach kids about Jesus" as Faith Formation teachers.  It is so much more important for them to be sharing an example of a young couple open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS! 

It was a fun night last night as we turned off the TV while the kids played and then we read books.  Simon read to his younger siblings and grandpa! 

 Then he read to the two girls, while Luke played with his tractor, and David read a book to grandpa.  Pat and I watched a movie about the earlier life of Ben Carson, who is in the race for the president of the U.S.  In it his mother turned off the TV and encouraged her two boys to read, and they took off and their grades climbed to the point that Ben became a neuro surgeon! 

Nothing like a good Berenstein Bear book to giggle at!

The Gospel today is from Matthew 7 and telling us to be sure that our houses are built upon The Rock which can face all the storms that life will throw our way.  How do these storms take shape for us - The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and buffeted the house.  I don't know about you but it seems that the weather in my world is very fickle and changes from one minute to the next.  I need to ask my Jesus to hold me close to his heart burning with love for me on a regular basis. 

 The kids all had capes made from a blanket and would go running and jump on the footstool with a flying leap!

David's blanket had Our Lady of Guadalupe on it!  He was truly a super saintly hero!

 Such a special morning to begin it with Simon's mass at the Catholic School!  Simon led the singing with his beautiful voice and two other girls. 

It is such a peaceful and beautiful place to rest in the Lord and to receive Jesus with my 2 grandchildren along with Dave, who will have his first Communion next year.  Such a special blessing we have to have had this school now in our family for 4 generations!

 The consecration... 

 Ruth, Rose and Luke stop in to visit GeriAnn and her daughter, Edith... she sure loved to see Rose!

How do we know that we are firmly built upon the Rock?  We know if we give our all for Jesus - today Father Paul pointed to the Cross and reminded the kids what Jesus did for his Bride.  "He died to self so that she could have life and love and LIGHT in the darkness.  We need to look to The Church with no reservations - we are not to be shopping cart Catholics, but are to listen to all that the Church holds out to us and Truth and follow and believe it!  I love, love, Love The Church and believe all that it teaches! 

 Such a beautiful and sweet little girl, and she so loved Rose! 

Today is a feastday of a wonderful Saint - St Francis Xavier!  He preached and evangelized across the far East til he finally died just as he entered China in 1552.  How blessed we are to have the Saints interceding for us as well as modeling for us on how to live our lives on the rock/Jesus Christ! 

Jesus, you are the foundation upon which we build our lives and each day it is built higher towards heaven with Your Word and your Sacraments, Our Lady Mother of Heaven and earth, and The Saints.  St Francis Xavier pray for us and help us to evangelize The Truth wherever we are.  When the winds come whipping us and the floods are rising may we surrender to You and trust that you will save us and keep us planted and bearing much fruit!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

It was so fun taking a 4 -no 5 generation with Hector and Ida on the wall - Geri got some wonderful ones on her great camera thanks to Ruth.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

I have plenty of my weaknesses and failures to share.

Casting Crowns - Praise you in the storm

Natalie Grant - Burn Bright



Did I mention how important Jesus is in The Word each day?  HUGE!!!!  I am enjoying a Advent Bible study by Nancy and 2 other young mother Catholic Bloggers! 

Come to the Mountain, lay at his feet, be healed, and share it with JOY!

 Pat with his shadow, Dominic, on Sunday.  How Pat loves the little ones, and we are so thankful for all the new life as our daughters are open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS!  We now have 8 grandsons and 4 granddaughters with a grandchild on the way.  http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html

All the little ones are enthralled with their farmer grandpa and how he shares his farm life with them.  The new loader with a small seat and seat belt next to grandpa has been huge in allowing the kids to be close and watch his every move.  Pat was saying that 2 year old Luke now knows which feed he should load next when he feeds the cows and calves.  "He tells me to dump and go get the next type of feed."  No wonder they adore their grandpa and not want him out of their sight.  During the Thanksgiving holiday Dominic would cry every time grandpa would leave, and most often that would mean that grandpa would put his jacket and shoes on and bring him along.

Great-grandma reaches out...

There is just so much today in the readings!  I am filled with too much that I can't really find the words to express it well.
 The scene of Jesus up on the mountain after the first reading describing the mountain of the Lord... to see it happening and come to LIFE is so powerful!  On that day it will be said: "Behold our God, to whom we look to save us!  This is the Lord for whom we looked: let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!"  For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.  Isaiah 25:6-10

What happens on this mountain?  And what does this mountain mean for you and me?  The Mountain is where we meet our Lord as we fall at his feet and he reaches out and heals us and then he takes mercy on our hunger and thirst and miraculously heals us til we are content and satisfied!  I love to envision the Sermon on the Mount where we sit in the grass and listen to Jesus lay out the way to Heaven and the narrow path we are to follow after Jesus carrying our Most Cherished Cross!  What really makes it so powerful is to realize that Jesus was with His Father at the creation of that hill/mountain and created it!  Wow!

How prefect to have Psalm 23 as the Psalm for today!  the Best! 

I must speak more about the Gospel today - Matthew 15!  Just putting myself in this scene, which I have experienced numerous times in my life, with the healing of John surrounded by an army of prayer warriors, with my entry into the Catholic Church with my entire family - 13 total! 
http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html , with the sharing of Faith/Family/Farm with my 5 children and our growing numbers of LIFE!  with my total love for The Catholic Church which holds out to us the Truth which is there to get us to heaven. 
I want to share it in it's entirety as it is so amazing!

Matthew 15: 29 - 37
29	And Jesus went on from there and passed along the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain, and sat down there.
30	And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the dumb, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them,
31	so that the throng wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
32	Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."
33	And the disciples said to him, "Where are we to get bread enough in the desert to feed so great a crowd?"
34	And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish."
35	And commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground,
36	he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
37	And they all ate and were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over There now I feel better to have shared every last word of this amazing Gospel! Wow! Jesus, I am so touched by you and fed by you and your Bride, The Church!  I am surely satisfied and have no desire for more than YOU and all that you give me with your healing and mercy.  May I then go forth and share that mercy with all that I encounter each day - most especially those in my domestic Church/family.  Peace comes to me... The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  In verdant pastures he gives me repose; Beside restful waters he leads me ; he refreshes my soul.  I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.  Psalm 23  All I want is Jesus in my heart, soul, and mind!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah  So beautiful!  I am in awe of the stunning snowfall which covers our world with a winter wonderland.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke A glorious white mantle covers her and my world of Faith/Family/Farm! Yes! Danielle Rose - Litany of Humility

May we share what we see and hear - The Truth with childlike JOY!

Luke is shouting with JOY - "Amen!!!!!" after placing The Body of Christ in my hands.  We have a set in our home made from wood of a chalice, paten and hosts.  It has been a favorite thing to play with for all the grandkids over many years.  Luke loves to place them each in my hand one at a time as I say "Body of Christ" with each one.  When he places the final one he looks deeply into my eyes with great joy and excitement and together we shout to the Heavens - "Amen!!"  Over and over we go... such precious time with 2 year old Luke!

 Beautiful first snowfall is a backdrop for special time with Luke in the warm house! 

Pondering "childlike" today as Jesus calls us to be childlike in the Gospel today from Luke 10... what how do we attain this?  Through obedience and abandonment - in other words dying to self so that The Holy Spirit may guide and direct us down the narrow path laid out for us in this time on earth so that we may be forever in Heaven with Jesus, Mary, all the Saints and Angels and our dearly departed for whom we pray each day are finding their way to glory forever in heaven!

 The first snow is so beautiful and blankets the world with stunning whiteness!

Jesus says this to us, his disciples today - Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.  For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.  Luke 10:24

isn't this amazing to see?  Oh, to have the eyes to see... such a gift to know that Mary is the Mother of God and how she is the new Eve and has crushed the head of the serpent as foretold in The Word!  The artist - Matt Redmond certainly has The Truth in his heart, mind and soul and captured it in art form.  Looking at Eve touching the womb filled with our salvation while clutching the apple of deceit and desire.... a look of shame and sadness gives way to the smile of caring and understanding of Mary bearing Christ to the world!  Our sins are forgiven!  May we hold to that and be obedient and abandon our souls to Jesus!

 Yes, in his mouth, too.  He is such a precious example of childlike for me!

Luke has been out with grandpa grinding bales and feeding, so he came in pretending he is the bucket on the loader and talking with excitement about grandpa and the tractor feeding the cows!

Out in the snowstorm yesterday...

Jesus, may we not get too big for our britches and think that we are anything much in this world.  May we stay humble and forever childlike in our love of you and die to self so that we may be totally and unreservedly yours.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

Mary looking down upon her marigolds in the snow.  How I love and feel every bit a small child as I come to my Mother of heaven and earth each day with the beads of my rosary!

A heart shaped snow boughs around her this morning.  It was calm and so beautiful with the hazy sunlight and the lightly falling snow.

Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

Exactly the way I feel!

 

Yes!

Danielle Rose - Small things with great love

humility in picture form... Pat and I are still in a double bed!  People are amazed at this.  It keeps us close and humble.