"proof of his gentleness..." Wisdom 2

Having fun with my camera today - spending the day Pat's mom today.  I call her home an island of peace in my world of constant noise of grandkids, calving and construction and hence she is afloat in the midst of Jesus' agony in the garden and her parents while we share Mother Angelica's rosary on EWTN.

Ruth's camera seems to make the day to day special... over our bed in our upstairs bedroom are all the art work of myself, granddaughter, Mary and grandson, David.  The house is full of lots of activity today with workers continuing to get us closer to the end of the big remodel. 

Rose is sitting in the middle of it all with her watercolors.  "You make grandma happy to see you paint.  Grandma loves to do that too." 

Such a beautiful prophecy and picture of Jesus in the first reading from Wisdom today!  To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, Because his life is not like that of others, and different are his ways.  He judges us abased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure... He boasts that God is his Father.  Let us see whether his words be true, let us find out what will happen to him.  For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of the foes.  With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience.  Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.

I gravitated to the words - "proof of his gentleness" as I read through this last night and again this morning.  So much the Lamb slain for us! 

Such a heartwarming scene for me last night after supper shared with Ruth and her kids - their first bubble bath in the new bathtub!  Today they are putting temporary countertops in the kitchen so that I can move up out of the basement! 

 

So many places do I find gentleness in my world these days... the grandkids, my aging mother-in-law, the new life of the calves, who depend upon their mothers to care for them.  There is one calf, Hillary, she is our bottle calf and there are many stories of her being so loving and trusting in how she follows those that are leading her on her halter and asking her to help out when a cow needs to be milked or to feed her with her bottle.  She brings out the caring and gentleness of Ruth and the kids and Pat in caring for her need as she is an orphan calf with no mother to care for her. 

The sorrowful mysteries today... how can this be called 'gentle?"  The fact that Jesus/God submitted to being tortured, beaten, mocked, humiliated, nailed to the cross, killed for our sins as he himself knew no sin!  Definitely proof of his gentleness!

 

Jesus, thank you for this island of peace and gentleness in the midst of all the craziness of life.  Guardian angles watch over all those on the farm this day, in KC this day, in Missouri this day, in Rome this day, in Tracy this day... our family this day.  Your gentleness fills me with peace and the ability to fall on my knees before you and lay my burdens at your feet.  Jesus is in control in the midst of the storms of life.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen

Let the sunshine and the brightness a spring day into the shop after being closed for the winter!  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

"I am from him, and he has sent me."  Jesus in the Gospel today John 7:30

We are yours and long to follow your path for us this day and always with gentleness in the face of all that distracts and hurts us!

Mass has begun...

Yes, my life is certainly fragmentary these days... leave it with him!

St Therese is so small and wise!

We feel this LOVE when we look at the beautiful mass!

We all love The Lord and The True Church!

Casting Crowns - Praise you in the storm

Danielle Rose - the saint that is just me

Pre haircut picture in Missouri!

Love the smiles, too!

 

More from the newsletter from the Little Brothers in KC...

Another joy is the "open table" Saturday lunch.  We meet at our house with our friends from the street, some little sisters and others who wish to join us.  This time is truly a celebration of the joy of communion and friendship with everyone: no more barriers between the rich and poor, all little ones tenderly loved by God.  One day during the meal, one of the guests exclaimed, "Jesus saved me from drugs and the street."  Another gave her testimony, "Thirty years in the hell of alcohol and one day the Lord heard my cry and freed me!"  Around the table our guests were silent... then one of them said softly, "I think that I too should stop drinking, I would like to pray with you all..."  Yes, the Lord touches hearts.  How beautiful to be together, to laugh, to cry, to listen, to celebrate the wonders of God. 

Gentle Jesus is alive and well in this world of sin suffering and darkness!

First bubble bath in the newly/old farmhouse

After a supper with Ruth and the kids we used the newly hooked up bathtub and had our first bubble bath!   This is happening and feels so great! 

The doors are up in the shop and the heat is turned off for the year. Frolicking in the sun for man and beast.  We have had only 3 calves today, and two yesterday.  We are very close to our halfway point, and then down the other side. 

Simon using our newly painted chairs for a family supper shared in the new dining room!  These chairs will be used at the homework/art table that will be back by the staircase. 

Mary doing homework in the playhouse made from numerous boxes... only a few more days for their playhouse, and then couches will fill this family space!

A cozy farm family home is starting to come together and we are all ready and excited!  Bless-bless, Barb

Small steps to the finish line... living the mystery of the Lamb

Ruth left her camera here, so.... I borrowed her pictures once again and went around the house snapping some of the work that is being done around here.  I found a few from covering the pile of gluten over the weekend with the help of Ruth and Paul and their family.

It looks like a sand dune desert scene with winter jackets to tell you that rather it is a cold Minnesota spring day! 

There was a wonderful news letter from the Little Brothers in the mail yesterday that is filling me with so much wonder at the deep spirituality they carry forth with them from the time in the chapel each day in prayer and Sacrament to the streets!  In the first paragraph they speak of "the mystery of the Lamb" - Wounded, I will never cease to love.  Talk about the lesson of Mercy that we learn from our spotless Lamb, Jesus, slain for our sins!

Learning to help with big family jobs inside and outside.

For the big inside jobs of canning and harvesting our gardens - Ruth has the vision to have tile around the sink so that the projects will not harm the wood flooring. It sure turned out nice!  With the sand colored cement counter tops - quite a work of art in our old remodeled farmhouse now ready to hit another 30 years!

The Little Brothers pearls of wisdom again from their amazing newsletter - Indeed in this year of Mercy, the Lord invites us once more to love and to allow ourselves to be loved by this God who never ceases to forgive.  We must announce this infinite LOVE of God as the Lord invites us to, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature."  Mark 6:15

 Ruth left her camera here and I borrowed it this morning...

Foggy dreary day out the patio door - sun and warm expected for the weekend.  Praying that our calves stay healthy in this not so perfect weather!

A scattered/interrupted day... makes me shorten this today.  Probably a good thing with all the reminders of how our lives are in the Lord's hands and how we are called to look to His example of giving his all without counting the cost!

Old chairs we got from an auction at HRS years ago are getting a new zippy look... before

During...

Another helper (?)

After with some help from grandma while Ruth is out helping with the cows and calves... all small steps towards the finish line.

More fun with Ruth's camera this morning... Our Lady in the murky misty day keeps us in the Sacred Heart of her Merciful Son, The Lamb of God!

Jesus, I take a deep breath and ask your Spirit of Peace and LOVE to dwell in my heart this day.  May I rid myself of the feelings of self-pity and hurt that crowds out that wonderful peace of all understanding!  Looking at The Lamb without blemish - I find comfort in knowing that you are always loving and forgiving me - Mercy reigns supreme, and may I return what I have been given to all those in my world/domestic Church/family.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen

Faucets, doorknobs and countertops... step by step.

Lots of bling to update this 100 year old farmhouse for another 30 years.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

now the bench will be painted yellow... I am hearing from the discussion downstairs.

More bling in the ceiling fan in the new master bedroom.  Sparkles and farm must go hand in hand, I guess.

Spring is busting out in Missouri!

Yes, I find this when I pick up those rosary beads!

Tom Joad

March 3, 2013 ·

And then I found this.
"I don’t mean to dishonor the other stories here. But there is one I wanted to add.
A good portion of my pro-bono work is defending abuse...d children. It’s a cause close to my heart. In the course of my work I met a man who was an adult survivor. You wouldn’t have known it looking at him. He was this gigantic Polynesian guy. Wild curly hair. I think of him every time I see Khal Drogo on GoT. He was counseling some of the little kids, and doing a fantastic job of it.

I visited his home to get his opinion on something and I noticed a little toy on his desk. It was Trolley. Naturally curious, I asked him about it. This is what he told me:
“The most dangerous time for me was in the afternoon when my mother got tired and irritable. Like clockwork. Now, she liked to beat me in discreet places so my father wouldn’t see the bruises. That particular day she went for the legs. Not uncommon for her. I was knocked down and couldn’t get back up. Also not uncommon. She gave me one last kick, the one I had come to learn meant ‘I’m done now’. Then she left me there upstairs, face in the carpet, alone. I tried to get up, but couldn’t. So I dragged myself, arm over arm, to the television, climbed up the tv cabinet and turned on the TV.
“And there was Mr. Rogers. It was the end of the show and he was having a quiet, calm conversation with those hundreds of kids. In that moment, he seemed to look me in the eye when he said ‘And I like you just for being you’. In that moment, it was like he was reaching across time and space to say these words to me when I needed them most.
“It was like the hand of God, if you’re into that kind of thing. It hit me in the soul. I was a miserable little kid. I was sure I was a horrible person. I was sure I deserved every last moment of abuse, every blow, every bad name. I was sure I earned it, sure I didn’t deserve better. I *knew* all of these things … until that moment. If this man, who I hadn’t even met, liked me just for being me, then I couldn’t be all bad. Then maybe someone could love me, even if it wasn’t my mom.
“It gave me hope. If that nice man liked me, then I wasn’t a monster. I was worth fighting for. From that day on, his words were like a secret fortress in my heart. No matter how broken I was, no matter how much it hurt or what was done to me, I could remember his words, get back on my feet, and go on for another day.
“That’s why I keep Trolley there. To remind me that, no matter how terrible things look, someone who had never met me liked me just for being me, and that makes even the worst day worth it to me. I know how stupid it sounds, but Mr. Rogers saved my life.”
The next time I saw him, he was talking to one of my little clients. When they were done with their session, he helped her out of her chair, took both of her hands, looked her in the eyes and said: “And remember, I like you just for being you.”
That, to me, is Mr. Rogers’ most powerful legacy. All of the little lives he changed and made better with simple and sincere words of love and kindness."
http://thedark.tumblr.com/…/i-dont-mean-to-dishonor-t…
This was so amazing I just had to share! 
 

"I cannot do anything on my own... I do not seek my will." John 5:30

Our two oldest with a dairy calf back in our milking days - they are true farm girls through and through... always having cows and calves in their lives.  It has been so special to have Nancy home for weeks on the farm while her husband traveled with his work internationally.  It was hard for them to be apart, but that time reconnecting on the farm and sharing that life with her little ones was a gift.  We will miss that now that they have just moved to Kansas City, KN.

Susan and John showing a cow-calf pair at the County Fair...  Susan/Hallel loves cows so much and really enjoys catching up on our farming news when we talk to her time to time while she is now living in Rome for the last 2 years.  Pat and I are sleeping in her bedroom from years past - her stamp on it is a cow-calf border around the top of the wall.  It always makes me smile and brings those warm feelings of missing her and love to mind and heart.

 

Today in the Gospel Jesus in the Gospel of John 5 sets out for us the formula for living our lives as we are put here to live them.  "I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me."  How often do we need to be reminded that we are not in control of our lives?  Too often to count!   Every time I try to take it back I fall and Jesus is there to help me get back up and on the track that is the narrow path leading to eternal life!

Susan/Hallel has discovered that she continues to love working with her hands for The Community of the Lamb doing woodworking and building all their furniture.  She is wearing her work habit...

Which she brought home to wear while she helped on the farm with her dad and brother.  We had a bottle calf that year, too, and mom got to watch with my camera in hand while she fed the calf.

We had a huge snow in April that year - 2013 - which made a lot of work for her dad, and Hallel was excited to go out and work with the cows and calves! 

For our ongoing tally of calving this year.  We had 8 calves yesterday, and now 2 first thing this morning.  We are nearing our halfway point with 68 on the ground! 

In her good habit at mass at the beautiful Ghent Church with all the nieces and nephews 3 years ago - we have 3 more grandsons and a granddaughter on the way since then.  Hallel has yet to meet the youngest grandson, Romeo!  Such is the sacrifice she is called upon to embrace in her call to be a sister.  "I can truly say that I thank the Lord for having called me (even if that means sacrifices for me and for you) and I ask that I may be faithful.  God is so great that it is worth giving all your life!"  Hallel in a recent post card she wrote to us on Feb 2 while sitting in St Peter's Square waiting for The Mass of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple/Feast of Consecrated LIFE with Pope Francis!  In a way, I found some comfort in knowing that she misses us, too.  It sure makes those times we are blessed with a "real hug" so wonderful and precious!

Hallel eating an icy while the 3 youngest - now 3 - roll around on the floor together...

I will not speak too much about the pivotal point where we learned deep and powerfully that we have no control was the battle for John's life against brain cancer 6 years ago.  http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/johns-cancer-stories.html  Here lies the story in it's semi-entirety if you are interested.  Hallel reminded us that Father's day Sunday - The Gospel was Jesus calming the storm - Mark 4:35-40. "Mom, this is the storm and Jesus is in control."  Giving it all over to him over and over... we realized that we were helpless on our own and surrounded by an army of prayer warriors we sought the will of God and discovered that it was that John would find Faith and the new John would burn to share his story with all that will listen to him!

They now are 3 and the best of cousin friends!

When they are all happy that is...

 

Jesus, we learn at a young age that we cannot control our lives, but we still cry and fight it.  It is a hard thing to get past our selfish desires and centeredness of me.  When we pridefully think that we can dictate our lives, we are heading down the wide road to Hell.  Sure there is the allurement of prestige, owning the perfect car and house and stuff, the thought that we can pick and choose our children - using artificial birth control and abortion to have the few perfect kids we want, spend our time pursuing power and money rather than putting our Faith foremost in our lives.  Put Jesus and His Bride, The Church first in our lives and the rest will fall into place.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen

An armload of boys.. who would have thought this would ever be the picture after 4 girls and one boy - once again the Lord had the plan for us as we wanted a large family and we have that only we have 7 in heaven and 5 here with us!  http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html

Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

I must need a lot of help from heaven and lots of prayers for this journey!

Only missing Hallel... picture almost perfect.

Married and than consecrated life

the Word gives us direction to follow!

Love this... one thing we do know is that we are called to be small/humble and die to self.

Casting Crowns - Praise you in this storm

He writes much better than I - The Truth which sets us free!
http://aleteia.org/2016/03/04/how-the-commandant-of-auschwitz-found-gods-mercy/  An amazing story of Mercy in this jubilee year of Mercy in our amazing Church. No, we do not deserve mercy, yet we are given it no matter what sins we commit!  May we return that mercy in our domestic Church/family.  May PEACE reign!

Rise, take up your mat/cross, and walk

Calving is in full force - 12 calves yesterday and 4 so far today - 3 at the same time about an hour ago! 

 

It is a day unto its own with 2 kids home sick today, so there are 4 here with grandma while Ruth helps her dad.  It is a group effort around here, and with the work at night there is some fatigue setting in.  While reading the Gospel together this morning... when Jesus heals the man by the pool he tells him to take up his mat, but we both said "Cross" at the same time.  It struck me that for this man, who had been sick for 38 years - his mat he had been confined to for those years was truly his Cross!  So when Jesus speaks to us in our times of challenges and need and struggles whether it be illness or addiction or marriage challenges or whatever comes our way... the mat we have been laying on suffering on is truly our Cross and we are asked to take it up and walk into the LIGHT as a healed follower of Christ!

Rose loves the new babies.

 

All 4 kids are all laying down for their naps... PEACE!  The two sick ones know that the rule for staying home sick is that you need a nap after lunch as part of recuperating.  Grandma needs the quiet time!  I do hear some croupy coughing in the hallway where I had to make a bed for Mary on a sleeping bag with limited beds here. 

 

It is so true that those that suffer from illnesses including depression of spending large amounts of time with no energy, sad and immobile... Lots of time in bed suffering and sick - our bed/mat becomes our cross!  So the words are interchangeable as we did when we were reading the Gospel this morning.  Powerful to see this man, who had been sick for 38 years and longing to be healed, at the touch of Christ he was instantly healed and told to take up his mat and walk... He did this and so must we.  Our mat/cross is what brings us to find LIGHT/LOVE/LIFE!

We now have 60+ calves on the ground!  Very busy time around here!

 

Jesus, for those that are sick and suffering this is a day to recall that we are called to embrace our "mat/cross" and in our weakness turn to you , the life-giving water that fills our earth/lives with Fruit!  Our mind becomes "well" if we know that Jesus is in control and we lay our lives at his feet!  May we rise anew filled with the Holy Spirit and die to self so that Jesus may live in us.  May we receive the Mercy we have been shown through love and kindness and compassion to all those around us - most especially those in our domestic Church/family.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen

Patio door open and waving at grandpa out on the tractor - such warm and lovely weather.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

In our time too!

If we are the Body - Casting Crowns

Casting Crowns - the well

 

A cute one of 3 year old Patrick in Missouri yesterday.