Alone with HIM!

It seemed that I just needed to sit close to HIM and pray over the last few years... so I would slip in the side of the church and sit in the pew right next to the Tabernacle and find an island of peace with my rosary.  This week I missed the two days of Adoration, so I ducked in for some time with HIM alone.  It felt so decadent and amazing to have the entire beauty of the renovated church all to myself, but HE seemed so far away from me compared to the old times when I could sit just a few feet away and bask in his presence.  So... with some hesitation I pushed one of the chairs set on the side for the chior up to the edge of the step going up to the side of the altar, and sat there with HIM... not as close but closer and so special to have some close personal time with JESUS!  I think that a new tradition has started and I know that there are now cameras that are probably watching me, but I am just getting a little bit closer to HIM, and nothing more.  Filled with His Peace, Joy, and Love, and catching the windows reflections on the marble floor and the glow of the tabernacle and Jesus overhead in the stars with the Light of the World streaming in... I am blessed and the river of grace is flowing over and around me!

"Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hangs the Savior of the World!"  Jesus, I trust in you! 

Bless-bless

"Glad my eyes, and warm my heart."

Digging into my archive of pictures.... Mary with her kitten summer 2010... just before we headed to Kansas City to say goodbye to Hallel before she left for France.  She has been there ever since, and that means close to a year and a half now.  It was a crazy time for our family as 4 carloads of family went down over about a weeks time to join with Susan/Hallel in her life and get some cuddle and snuggle and prayer and laughter and a hug here and there...  Now we hold those close to our hearts - knowing that she is happy and living the life the Lord has called her to! 

Such an experience the neices and nephews have with Hallel and her community in their lives!  Simon sitting on Hallel's lap can go into a blue world under her scapular and ponder the simple beauty of her habit - to him it is totally normal and beautiful to see Auntie Sue in her blue from head to toe, and her beaming face, and joyful love for him.  There is nothing more peaceful or special than to sit on her lap, and to be embraced by her arms on a summer afternoon in Kansas City.  Listening to the sharing of sisters about each of their lives, and then going into the chapel with them as they sing like angels, and read the Word of God many times throughout the day.

When I realized that there would be carload after carload of family coming to say goodbye to Hallel... I asked them if it wouldn't make more sense for her to come here to say goodbye, but they reminded us that we are their family too, and they wanted us to come and share their day to day life.  I see that it is so hard for her to come here, as she needs mass every day, prayer throughout the day, and time with her spouse, Jesus, in adoration.  How special it is for us to be allowed and invited to share these times with them! 

Then the chores that come with living as a community of heating water to do the dishes and no dishwasher here except for a group of hands helping... including little ones and the joy of having one of those blue aprons tied around your waist too!  Mary felt very special to be able to climb up next to Aunt little sister Hallel, and help with the dishes.  The meals we shared were not the usual rushed hit or miss family times... it was a liesurely gathering with laughter, talk and courses served one to the other.  Very French... and we experienced the beauty and joy of a meal this summer once again in France. It seems that they are simple yet they become a work of art - I should learn a lesson from them, but old habits of eating alone as Pat is usually outside through supper is hard to break.  I did call him to come in and eat with me last night with the TV muted anyways, and it was good!  I need to remember the lessons that we learn from the community!  So good to look across the table at someone to share your meal and listen to them with your heart... from morning prayer opening hymn this morning - "Glad my eyes, and warm my heart."  see http://www.magnificat.com/

It is just warming my heart this morning to go back to this wonderful Family Time that we were blessed with - sharing with the family that Hallel has brought into our circle!  Although she will never have children herself... our family has been expanded to include the most wonderful new members we could have ever hoped for!  Our family has grown by the hundreds, with many more to meet and share with!  We were so touched by those that opened themselves to us while we visit in Kansas City and in France!  WE are forever changed by the wisdom and beauty that our daughter shares with us, and all of our other daughters and sons from the Community of the Lamb!  Although we miss her terribly in our day to day lives...we also know that we are lifted up in prayer by her, and during John's illness - there was tremendous peace and powerful prayer coming from the Community for John and his family!  We were lowered into the presence of Jesus through the roof by all the prayers of our prayer warriors!

Jesus reminds us today in the Gospel - where he cleansed the temple of those buying and selling..."My house shall be a house of prayer..."  How we are able to experience that with the Community!  Jesus, thank you for the rich blessings that we have received through Hallel's saying an enthusiatic "YES!"  to your call to her!  To see her joy and to feel her prayers make the "eyes of our hearts glad, and warm our hearts!"  We are so filled to the brim with the beauty of a life of prayer, and embracing the richness of your sacraments - feeding us the bread of Heaven.  Be with our sweet daughter - your spouse- sweet little sister Hallel.  Use her in the lives of those around her to share the Truth of answering your call, and finding true happiness in life... Turning away from things, and finding life free from the burdens of possessions and need to be something.  Embracing humility and simplicity, and praying without ceasing!  Jesus, may all of our lives become more and more yours.  Jesus, we trust in you!  Amen and Halleluia!

Bless-bless, Barb... we love BLUE!

"God comes out to meet us, and his desire is to set up in us a new universe of life, light, and love, so that we may be able to make our way toward the depth of his being and intimacy with him, to speak to him as our friend.... God raises us up, rather as the artist uses an instrument to make it produce what by itself it would be incapable of - joy, sadness, prayer.... If divine grace comes down into me, I shall no longer be in community only with the things of earth and with men, but with the divine Persons, with all that is deepest and most hidden in the heart of God..."

Cardinal Charles Journet (1975)

Sunrise or sunset?

The sun rises behind Ruth and Paul's little red barn... Three years ago...one early morning in July I found myself at their home watching the other two kids, while Ruth went to see if she would be having her 3rd child that day.  The sunrise was spectacular with an amazing pattern of clouds across the sky... David was not to arrive that day, but safely about a week later.  But the pictures I took that morning... I have used many times and even won a photo contest with one of them.   I never leave the house without my camera, and if I do I always regret it.  We are soon to be off on an adventure to Texas, and able to spend Thanksgiving with Maria and Joseph and their family in El Paso.  I will certainly have my camera along and the landscape will be new and different for us.  For all those that are traveling to be with family for the holiday, and for those in our family that we will not be able to be with.  Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless

Texas and Plymouth

Missing my kids and grandkids,,, I borrowed these from the blogs of my two daughters... Nancy, Bill, Gus and John in the Twin Cities, and Maria,. Joe, Therese, David and #4 on the way in El Paso, Texas.  I love and miss you all!  Bless-bless, mom and grandma

We will see you Thanksgiving week!

Able to "see" God - JESUS!

Dave greets baby Gus, who is the newest member of our family, with a hug and kiss!  WE have only known Augustine for 5 1/2 months, and that he was coming to join us for about 9 months before that, but already we love him and can see some of his love of people and socialness.  How he lights up when he sees little Dave... come to spend some time stroking his head or hugging and kissing him, and then there is his mom and dad and how he responds to each of them.  We can "see" how he grows and blossoms fed with the love and care he receives.  Jesus, is God!  He entered the world through the immaculate womb of Mary, and was surrounded with the love and care of his holy parents, so that he could come to show us GOD!  He modeled for us how to be all of life from conception to death.

Such a look of contentment and peace do we see in our little Gus.  Yes, there are the times of getting a cold from his cousin and then the teething... all those things that we have been through with our babies as they grow and develope.  We are there for them and I am sure that the mother's in the time of Jesus, had their ways of helping their children through these times.  Mary probably had to sit and nurse her child for hours day and night like Nancy... they turn to their mothers and chew on them for comfort.  Nancy gave me great joy to show me how Gus chews on her chin... like Jesus chewed on his mother, Mary.  You see it all the time in icons.  The baby has it's arm wrapped around Mary neck drawing her face to him...he is chewing her chin as if he can't get enough of her... like he wants to eat her with LOVE! " Thanks mom for giving me LIFE, and allowing me to enter the world to show them the face of God! "

As I say... I love these and surround myself with them... I agree with you, Jesus, your mother is so absolutely amazing and shows us how to bring YOU into our families and homes!  May this day bring healing and joy into our domestic church - our family.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Halleluia.

Bless-bless, Barb

"Who has gone up to heaven and come down again - who has cupped the wind in his hands?  Who has bound up the waters in a cloak - who has marked out all the ends of the earth?  What is his name, what is his son's name, if you know it?  Every word of God is tested, he is a shield to those who take refuge in him."  \Proverbs 30: 4-5

Glorious CLOUDS!!!!!!

One picture that I had a vision of as the kids grew up was an in-the-clouds picture.  I would have them sit on top of the pickup on cotton batting, or on a fence post, or have them hold a baby up in the air with the clouds all around them... my attempt to show them as though they are in the clouds.  The day of John's appreciation party at Ruth and Paul's in July of 2009... there were huge piles of white thunder heads filling the sky over his head, and I just sat looking up at him and took many pictures as he talked to people... unaware of me.  Being the fact that there was a mysterious tumor in the center of his brain... it seemed quite profound to be capturing my handsome young 20 year old son in this type of a showcase.  Now 2 years later and getting close to our huge 2 year anniversary of our week of prayer from Dec 1-7 and also our going for our 3 month check up on the 1st... and expecting for that to mark our almost 2 year mark without any cancer... I am thinking that this picture kind of captures the magnitude of power and might behind the prayers and miraculous healing that we continue to experience!

We are absolutely filled with awe, and wonder, and continue to trust in our God of heaven and earth!  We are filled with the GLORY of YOU!