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!
After our sharing mass and brunch on the wind swept porch we checked out the new used swimming pool on this hot day in June. Luke yearns for his cousins to come and share this fun, and without a doubt Nancy will come down to share in the fun!
No masks and many more returning to mass - our 3 oldest grandchildren on the altar and Paul read today. The most powerful Solemnity of Corpus Christi today... We are given food for the journey as we stagger down the narrow path to eternal salvation - receiving eternal redemption by the blood of The Cross
From a work by Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest (Opusculum 57, in festo Corporis Christi, lect. 1-4)
O precious and wonderful banquet!
Since it was the will of God’s only-begotten Son that men should share in his divinity, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might make men gods. Moreover, when he took our flesh he dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us for ever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.
O precious and wonderful banquet that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion.
It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the fulfillment of ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation.
From the Office of Readings today is Truth!
Processing in and out has returned as well as our old way of receiving Eucharist before Covid! Things are gladly returning to normal in many ways!
Our feast to celebrate sharing our faith as a family and the gift of Jesus in His Body, Blood and Word that sends us forth with JOY for the journey!
Fruit rolls and coffee are a feast for our bodies after our souls are fed at the table of the Lord!
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. Hebrews 9
Out with hubby and the old tractor to fix the fence around the lush grass for the cows and calves! To me he is my heart throb, and one of my favorite occupations is to watch him do the work that he has done always since he was old enough to help.
A beautiful sight to behold - the shade is a blessing these days with the intense hot sun heating things up to 100 + degrees.
Following him down the cow path...
A tire almost a big as him on the old tractor .
Tiny wild daisies dot the path to the creek...
A low crossing and some gravelly bottom to cool my feet while I wait for hubby.
Toes in the cool rushing water on a hot day. It would have been perfect except for the horse flies dive bombing around my head and shoulders.
Coming down to work on the fence as it crosses the creek. He has his rubber boots to keep his feet dry. The creek got close to the top of his boots, but not over the top.
He shared with me the questions he answered in physical therapy about how he is still limited by his healing shoulder. "The only one I put a #1(no problems due to his shoulder any more) was sexual activity, all the rest activities are not as good as they were yet." he smiled. It seems that we are the happiest when we are working together if we have some playfulness about the marital embrace and after 43 years our ability to freely share with one another. It certainly gives me something to smile about, and a little bit of a charge.
When he asked me to come and help him about supper time... I kind of dreaded going after a not very pleasant time out there a couple days before, but this turned out to be a good time for us. I know that it can quickly change with frustrations and problems, but our time was appreciated and went well for this time working together!
The fence was done and I drove ahead of the cows and calves calling them - "Hear Bossy, hear Bossy..." To my surprise they followed my voice and quickly moved from one pasture to the new one!
Up to their bellies in new grass!
A cow and her calf running to catch up to the others!
The tail enders brining up the rear - mom taking care of her little one.
This way.
Appreciating the cool waters, and praying for more rain soon! This hot wind is hurting our dry crops!
Therese with the 3 little girls in the water color aprons she sewed for them out of a skirt of her Godmother, Little Sister Hallel!
3 years ago after John and Bobbi's wedding which was The Corpus Christi Mass so that we could attend their mass and fulfill our Sunday mass, and how powerful that was indeed to then watch John and Bobbi receive Jesus!
Maria sending me pictures of her growing daughter, Maggie Rose! She is now 3 weeks old and doing so well!
Studying her mom's face with her long fingers so peaceful and contented.
Jesus, we thank you for the gifts we are given for our journey with heaven forever as our goal! Thank you for the JOY that helps us as we carry our Most Cherished Cross and stagger down the narrow Path. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
St Anne's Catholic Church behind and the cemetery all around us - my niece, Audrey, her dad, Jerry, and Audrey's 2 little girls, Eleanor and Emelia in front of Rita Kieckhoefer's casket. It was a very special day for me, to see with my eyes and my heart the wonderful happy lives that Jerry and Audrey have been blessed with since the tragic loss of my sister, Mary to cancer 35 years ago. Mary left behind her farmer husband, Jerry, and 20 month old daughter, Audrey.
Our morning started out with meeting some new goats on the farm... Ruth and Mary out with first light on this hot day in June.
The mass in the same church where we had Mary's funeral mass 35 years ago, and burial just next to Jerry's parents, who have both passed away in the last 2 years. Rita stepped in for Jerry and Audrey after Mary died. She lovingly cared for Audrey from 2years to 14. We can only imagine how great a loss this was for Audrey. It was so special to be there and share in the day.
Nancy came with her 5 as Audrey and our girls shared many times over the years together here, in Michigan, and going to Disney World some years back. Such special memories that we cherish indeed!
Audrey's wonderful Godparents. Paula and Bill, were there to show their love and support for dear Audrey. Audrey shared with us that just a few weeks before she passed away, her wonderful grandmother asked about her "Cross Aunts and Uncles", so it was very special to be remembered by this great woman after all she did for our niece and her granddaughter, who became like her daughter for 11 years! Such a gift she gave her and Jerry, who lived with his parents on their dairy farm.
Our sister, Audrey's mother was right nest to Rita. I wept from the bottom of my heart when I watched Audrey point out her mother to her two little girls.
Gathered around on a hot day... Bernadette just lost her Godmother to cancer in Pennsylvania. It happened to Nancy and Susan 35 years ago as my sister, Mary was their Godmother.
Jerry paying his respects to his wonderful mom, who raised 7 children and then added her love to raising Audrey! Thank you, Rita, from the bottom of our hearts. Audrey carries forth many of your sweet and humble attributes.
Jerry and Audrey's lives took on new HOPE and LOVE 23 years ago when my mother introduced Kathy and Jerry. Kathy had lost her husband to drowning - "I wept for 3 years, and could not imagine another man." It is so wonderful to see their happiness found in the midst of such loss and mourning that they shared - "we could lean on each other." Kathy brought 5 children with her, and to see how they all see the sweetness and gentleness in this man - "JerBear" is what they call him and when I think of a care bear - that so fits his loving and sweet ways!
Nancy and Audrey are close after sharing many good times together over the years. I promised Mary that I would include Audrey as often as I could - each year we would take our week in Michigan - we would swing by and stack one more bag on top of the suitcases. No better place to share than our beloved Michigan.
I also would sew one for Audrey when I would sew for the girls. I was also given the JOY of sewing her First Communion dress! Nothing better and how I loved to rejoice with my sister, Mary!
How I longed to get this picture to cherish and record the happiness that has come to them in the last 35 years with much of the credit going to Rita!
The story of Jerry's family continues in such a beautiful way! He is now grandpa to 23 grandkids and they are expecting another this year! As Kathy and I agreed as we parted yesterday - "Our love grows more with each new life and not stretched more thin!" "Yes!"
I know that mom and dad are smiling to have this rug mom made for Mary with her cat, Basil, and her favorite flower Lilly of the Valley, also her green shamrocks around the edge indicating her St Patrick's Day birthday! Mom is rejoicing with us!
What JOY to see these two farmer friends, who were brother in laws for a couple years, sharing about their favorite subject the farm! Jerry would come down with Audrey after Mary died from time to time on the farm... How we rejoice with him now as he has such a full life of LOVE with kids, grandkids and wonderful wife, Kathy!
Trying to capture the happy times as Mary's story continues and allows us to know that the Lord had a mysterious plan that continues to happy before our eyes making our hearts, minds, and souls full!
As Raphael the angel told Tobit today...
“Thank God! Give him the praise and the glory. Before all the living, acknowledge the many good things he has done for you, by blessing and extolling his name in song. Honor and proclaim God’s deeds, and do not be slack in praising him...." Tobit 12
Two very wonderful special farmers in my life! How Mary left here after my giving birth to Nancy in love with the farm and hoping for her own farmer! She found wonderful JerBear! We love him dearly, and knew Mary had found a very special man!
After a day away - I was very needing to hear from dad and mom today after the huge emotions of yesterday. The first paragraph by St Boniface today on his feast day was a ringing bell extolling The Truth!
For My flesh is real foodand
My blood is real drink.- John 6:55
"Let us stand fast in what is right,
and prepare our souls for trial.
Let us wait uponGod's strengthening aid and say to Him:
O Lord, you have been our refuge
in all generations."
St Boniface
Benedictine monk, Bishop, Martyr
675 - 754
nee England ~ Missionary
Known as Apostle of Germany Patron: Germany, brewers, World Youth Day
Feast Day - June 5
“In her voyage across the ocean of this world,
the Church is like a great ship being pounded
by the waves of life's different stresses. Our duty is not to
abandon ship but to keep her on her course.”- St Boniface
The ending paragraph also tells us to take our Faith and share it far and wide! Yes, Lord!
Then mom and Pope Benedict XVI today speaks about the Exodus we are all to take. We need to leave self behind! Die to self and welcome Jesus - the Holy Spirit into our inner temple so that we may become his hands and feet! Hear our prayer, O Lord. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Audrey with her girls and wonderful grandma, Rita, at Easter time. Thank you, Rita, and Lord for answering the many prayers for the family that Mary was called to leave behind. Bless-bless, Barbara
A special golden time with hubby in the pasture will have to be on hold...
My heart throb!
The Psalm today also from Tobit 13 - how I love the JOY we find with dear Tobit!
Bless the Lord, all you his chosen ones, and may all of you praise his majesty. Celebrate days of gladness, and give him praise. R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
Many tears are flowing for me with the emotion of the last day - Yet there is much celebration of gladness in those tears of JOY!
Almost 2 weeks ago my nephew, Philip, married his wife, Kimberly in a most beautiful in every way Catholic wedding at the Church of St Mark in St Paul!
I loved to read their first reading from Tobit in mass today read throughout all the Churches in the world! Such a beautiful testament as Father preached at their wedding - the desire for their marriage to be based on prayer allowing Jesus to be in control.
These two old folks are to soon celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary and we also used this marvelous love story as our first reading at our Nuptual Mass.
When the girl’s parents left the bedroom and closed the door behind them, Tobiah arose from bed and said to his wife, “My love, get up. Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us and to grant us deliverance.” She got up, and they started to pray and beg that deliverance might be theirs. And they began to say:
“Blessed are you, O God of our fathers, praised be your name forever and ever. Let the heavens and all your creation praise you forever. You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve to be his help and support; and from these two the human race descended. You said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a partner like himself.’ Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose. Call down your mercy on me and on her, and allow us to live together to a happy old age.”
They said together, “Amen, amen,” and went to bed for the night. Tobit 6 and 7
I can't say that Pat and I have always been the best at praying together in our marriage, but with TEC in our lives since 2000 we have added The Magnificat to our morning and evening prayer, and have added the reading of the Gospel the night before as we have learned from our daughter, Little Sister Hallel and her Community of the Lamb. Prayer is real and so important to allow us to return the love and unconditional forgiveness we are given by Jesus!
A deep hour of prayer with my Lord at 4a this morning and these words of Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity were so true of bringing all of both of our families there with me in prayer - all 250+!!
Jan 1, 1904 - To her mother:"... I spent a heavenly day close
to the Blessed Sacrament, and I took you with me,
for you know very well I never leave you.
I am so happy about the nice day you had."
Sept 11, 1901 -"Every Sunday, we have the Blessed Sacrament
exposed in the oratory.When I open the door...
it seems to me rather like the gate of Heaven opening!
Then I present to Jesus all those who are in my heart,
and there, close to Him, I find them again."
St Elizabeth of the Trinity Excerpts from Light, Love, Life: Elizabeth of the Trinity
Yes, I love to place each one in both of our families in the monstrance with Jesus in prayer. I get so excited when I know of newly discovered life in the womb and can place them with Jesus for the first time! I currently have 2 new grandchildren surrounded and supported by these prayers!
Jesus present there for me and all of us!
I had a yearly check up today and talking to the nurse - she shared that she had 5 daughters and only 2 grandchildren. "Some of my girls say that they don't want any children. What can you do? The world is a mess with no morals and values." I shared with her my story of our engagement weekend and how all the other couples wanted at most 2 children and some none! Asking Pat if we were being selfish to want our 12 kids - 5 here and 7 in heaven - "The world needs lights!" The nurse agreed with me that the answer to bring LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT into the world is to be open to LIFE and raise them as LIGHTS to the world!
Virgin Mary was certainly open to LIFE and raised Jesus - the LIGHT of heaven and earth!
I am so blessed as a woman to have Mary with me as my Spiritual Mother, and her rosary prayer with every breath that I take and every beat of my heart!
The doctor today reminded me that my "personal time" of prayer is certainly keeping me calm and grounded and peaceful and I feel it is helping my pulse and blood pressure. My inner chapel is filled with LIGHT and peace and joy and wonder!
Out by the flag pole thanks to Ruth's landscaping years ago. She is my master gardener!
Our first load of fat cattle went out this morning to Buffalo Lake - 40 head at just a little over a year old! That's putting on the meat to go from 75 pounds to 1700 in 14 months! We are serious about feeding the world!
My 20th grandchild, Magdalene Rose, is getting a lot of love and care from her siblings - all 6 of them! She is loved by her 2 year old brother, Hector!
Special prayers this morning for this wonderful farm wife, Rita! So many deeply held feelings for how she stepped in for her son and granddaughter, Audrey, after my sister, Mary, died of cancer on July 3, 1986. She had married her dairy farmer, Gerry, a couple years before and they had 20 month old Audrey when Mary died. So many hearts were broken! Gerry moved home and Rita cared for Audrey as her own. They are so close! My heart breaks for Audrey and her dad to lose Rita after a week of 4th stage Pancreatic cancer and much pain. "She isn't suffering any more."
Pat and I are planning to go up tomorrow to St Anne's Catholic Church in Somerset, WI. Our hearts are forever filled with love for my sister's family!
Audrey with her grandma and her two own daughters in the last year!
We will be standing here next to my sister, tomorrow! We were just there 2 weeks ago as we stopped in to visit her before a family wedding reception nearby.
Two of my daughters are her Goddaughters, Nancy and Little Sister Hallel.
The parents of the groom 2 weeks ago - brother, Dan and wife, Angela Cross!
With their 4 grandkids from Maryland here for a wonderful 2 week visit!
John with the 3 Cross boys! John is on his way to Rochester and has an appointment with his eye doctor as his double vision returned after only a week. Prayers please. Jesus, we know that you have a wonderful plan for John, Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barbara
