Our nun - giving back what God gives us- St Monica today/supporting carrying LIFE to term!

The 9 at the State Fair in a selfie!  Baby Tom is having his first State Fair - he will more than likely still be getting his family to the fair until he is 19!  

"Take our picture please!"  

Mary giving a purple ribbon demonstration on her meat goats!  

She has been a goat farmer for a couple years now.  She is amazing!  

Showing her goat at the State Fair - the new arena looks wonderful!  

David showing his goat at the State Fair!  

Such a great experience for them!  

Simon with his great cow-calf pair helped by David!  

LOVE this!  They sure should be proud of our wonderful commercial beef herd and all that these two do to help their parents and grandpa on the farm!  How we love our farm family!!!

With the farm family gone - it is just hubby and I.  We are kind of enjoying some time to just the two of us.  In my favorite spot on Ruth's wonderful porch - the bulls home away from the cows now in the front pasture with Ruth's beautiful hydrangea! 

Pat moved the cows and calves behind our place and we went to check on them.  

St Monica today models for mothers how we are called upon to pray for our children and grandchildren as we share The Faith with them in our domestic Church/home!  

Looking at the bulls today...

"That Hereford bull just doesn't care about being on top.  Some can be jerks and some just are happy to be in the background."  That huge hand and finger has pointed out to me so much over these 44 years of marriage.  I am a city girl now on the farm and I have so much to still be learning and must admit that I feel worried and uncertain a lot of times that I am called upon to help.  

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: Our marriage stories - "The world needs LIGHTS!" 

Nancy shared today on The Catholic Sprouts Podcast - Catholic Sprouts about how much of a blessing for their family is #6, Regina Maria!  New LIFE adds to our love!  Each LIFE is to be protected and cherished from conception to natural death!  

CATHOLIC SCHOOL OFFERS BENEFITS TO MOMS  The University of Mary in North Dakota is offering scholarships to support pregnant students who bring their children to term. A family donated the funds to offer free room and board as well as childcare services. “If we want to say, ‘You shouldn’t have an abortion,’ then we need to support them as best we can,” said Maggie Popp, Mission for Life program coordinator.  READ Nancy's College - U of Mary is taking seriously protecting LIFE!  So good!

In response to the Gospel today of the Landowner giving the talents to 3 servants - and receiving back with interest!  This was so wonderful!  It reminds me of our own nun, Little Sister Hallel!

I love this words of hers - Clearly my mother's heart has suffered, but I am happy in being able to offer the Lord the sacrifice which is in favor of your soul, a thousand times more precious to me than your body.  

Yes, giving our children and grandchildren back to the Lord as they ask him to show them the path he has for them.  I always wanted my children to consider religious life/priesthood!  It is such an amazing option of giving their all to the Lord and Lady!  

So powerful - Susan/Hallel sharing her own story of knowing that she was called to be a nun and the right place for her.  She is such a wonderful model for her younger neices and nephews - we are reaching 23 of them soon! 

Jesus, we love you and want to give our all to you!  May we die to self so that you may live, move and be our hands and feet and voice to proclaim your Gospel and Truth!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

 

Maria and family here to visit 2 years ago...

2 years ago today my wonderful father, Deacon Robert Cross, was living here on the farm with me - his last 6 months of life on the same hospice I had worked for for 15 years!  He was alert to the end and we shared in his religious life as a Permanent Deacon in The Catholic Church for 44 years!  Morning and evening prayer with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and rosary each day on my porch at 3p!  

He modeled for us a beautiful "natural death"  as he was so ready to meet his Lord and Lady! 

Pat with the 3 grandsons - all 18 months 2 years ago as we gathered on the farm with my dad for the last time!  I need to end this today - I had it almost completed and accidentally erased the whole thing.  It is devastating when you pour your heart and soul into sharing and it is totally blank in the blink of an eye.  Bless-bless, Barbara and the 54 - 34 with us and 20 in heaven!  

Danielle Rose 

Hail Holy Queen - Salve Regina as Hallel's community sings it at night prayer each night!   So stirring to my heart, mind and soul!  

 

 

The Gospel comes to LIFE - wise virgins with their lamps lit for the Bridegroom!

Hallel holding her lamp lit for her Bridegroom on the day of her final vows!  Today's Gospel lived out as Fr Denny shared - "We cannot give another faith.  That is a personal decision to encounter our Lord and Lady with a 'yes'.  The oil is symbolic of our faith that takes flame in our lamps to give light to those around us and to welcome our Bridegroom/Jesus."  

For Hallel Jesus is her spouse, and her vow to Him on this day and forward - "I promise unto death."  Such a lesson to all of her family and how we are to give ourselves totally and completely in our marriage to our spouses as well as to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! 

August 15, 2018 was the wedding day of our nun, Little Sister Hallel, in Saint Pierre, France in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains in southern France.  The sign of her final vows is the Lamb she wears around her neck replacing the wooden cross she has worn since she entered in 2008.

Our faces aglow after spending close time in the presence of Our Lord in Eucharist and Adoration in the Trinity Cathedral

Hallel's lamb was taken from this piece of wood and the surrounding wood has the words of the motto of her Community of the Lamb - "Wounded, I will never cease to love."  It was gifted to her parents and is much needed as a reminder that we are called to die to self and serve our Most Cherished Cross/spouse without counting the cost.

My farmer Pat's huge hands holding this powerful reminder of our call to embrace our Most Cherished Cross no matter the wounds that come with LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!

WE sat under the Cross on the hillside as watched as our daughter took her final vows - to hear her voice in English in the midst of 2 hours of French - "I promise unto death."  I was awash in tears of deep emotion at the power of it all!  

The 21 but really we were 24 with the 3 in the womb!  3 grandsons born the next spring were all there in the womb.  LIFE is real to us!  

Our 5 children here with us and in spirit the 7 losses in heaven!  

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: Our marriage stories - "The world needs LIGHTS!" 

Back from France and taking some Lourdes water to my parents.  How I miss them and the wonderful times I would have visiting them in their own home just over the border in Wisconsin.  They had 70 years together and were only apart 7 months in 2020.  Mom died in a day after a fall in March, and dad 7 months later after 6 months on hospice here on the farm living with me in our farm monastery.

Praying morning prayer together 4 years ago.  My JOY!!!  Dad and mom brought us into The Church 50 years ago, and each day has been the greatest of gifts!  We LOVE The Catholic Church with no reservations and when dad came here for 6 months on hospice I was allowed to share in his religious life as he was a permanent Deacon in the Church for 44 years!  We would share morning prayer and evening prayer and chaplet and rosary on my porch at 3p each day!  

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: The amazing story of the 13 becoming Catholic! 

I now have dad's well used and marked prayer of the Church books!  My JOY each new day as though I am sitting at his feet still, and I am!  This prayer dad loved so much that he memorized it and we ended our evening prayer each day repeating this together.  It pretty much covers it all, and now I know that dad and mom are "companions of the Son".  

7 years ago - 93 quarts of tomato soup with the help of John at Ruth's home, which is now where Pat and I live, and they live on the farm.  

A cool picture that I borrowed.

Alone on the farm with the farm family gone to the State Fair... The pool stays nice since we filled it with rural water.

The Salsa from our big canning day a few days ago - Spaghetti sauce next!  

The setting sun outside and Our Lady inside - the statue that I always had on the deck outside our family room which is now Ruth's bedroom.  The Lamb which is in the cupola of Lumen Christi/Light of Christ Monastery in KCK.  "Wounded, I will never cease to love."  Also the St Michael prayer which is depended upon mightily through life's difficulties...

How's that for protection in this crazy mess of a world all around us?  

Driving around at sunset to see the cows and calves on pasture behind our place.

Hubby and his cows and calves - with the lack of rain we are running out of grass for them and he has had to put up water tanks as the creeks are getting dry.  Lord, please send us rain!  

Mass this morning with our friend, Fr Denny.  It is special to have him at mass and then to pray for him with 7 Sisters for an hour.  My Fridays are deep in prayer, and it is a special time with the sorrowful mysteries and the stations of the Cross along with Morning prayer and Office of Readings as I know that I am sharing those with Fr Denny as a part of his priesthood.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help for a family member asking for prayers and assistance this day...

May there be nothing between us my Lord!  

Now the daily meditations by Pope Benedict XVI that mom left for me.  So powerful and keeps me close to mom with each new day also.

Paul sent this of Simon and David at the State Fair showing Simon's cow calf pair - they got a blue and were 4th out of 8.  Good job boys!

Hallel with her lamp lit and today's Gospel  the bridegroom came

and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. 
Then the door was locked.
Afterwards the other virgins came and said,
‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ 
But he said in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 
Therefore, stay awake,
for you know neither the day nor the hour.”  Matthew 25

Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barbara and the 54 - 34 with us and 20 in heaven

Danielle Rose 

 

"Go forth and share the Gospel"/Growing up in tough neighborhoods/St Paul to the Corinthians - the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus

A silly picture in the midst of a grandma going crazy photo shoot in the play room in Charlottsville a few days ago - the tough guy and the maiden fair!  The stunning blue and the light made me take way too many pictures. 

On my way home from mass and water aerobics I had a phone conversation with a special sister-in-law, Angela - she and my brother, Dan, love The Church as we do and how we love to share our journeys together!  United in our Faith and Family!  

The 3 sisters in our military family now in the East while dad attends the University of Virginia for his promotion to Major in the army as well as being a lawyer.  

Angela and I shared about our concerns for Maria's family and her son, Sam's family with wife and 5 young children that are in the process of moving to Montreal for a year.  The large city aspect as well as the neighborhoods with open drinking and drugs are making us worry and pray extra hard for their safety.  Angela, who spent some time growing up in the projects in Minneapolis with her 11 siblings, and I who with my 10 younger siblings was moved into the inner city of Flint, MI by my parents to experience LIFE... well, we both know the challenges they will face now.

I find comfort in knowing that Maria and family are going now to daily mass at St Thomas Acquinas Dominican friary on the U of Virginia campus.  

We attended mass there on Sunday and the friar, who works with the University students gave the homily.  So important to have our Catholic Faith there and knowing that Maria and all are starting their day with Jesus in Word and Sacrament of His Body and Blood! 

I was struck today when Fr Tony sent us forth at the end of mass, which my hubby joined me today, "Go forth and share The Gospel."  Yes!  In my own small way here I am sharing The LIGHT I am given!  

In my pew and throughout the Church was this missal - LIGHT of Christ!  They begin with morning prayer and one side reads and then the other - back and forth!  This is also the name of the Monastery of The Little Sisters of the Lamb in KCK!  Lumen Christi/LIGHT of Christ Monastery was built in a poor neighborhood in the heart of Kansas City,Kansas, and it is "the lighthouse on the hill" for the poor living around there.  A older black man shared that he had always carried a knife to protect himself, but seeing the light from the cupala and the Monastery has relieved his fears and given him hope and courage.  

Our pew of family after mass... we gain our ability to go forth into our poor neighborhood with love and acceptance and courage here!  

Angela and I realize from our experience in tough neighborhoods that vigilance to protect the children is vital and that with the hard things - the good is that much better.  Like the kind neighbor, who helped Major Joseph and husband farmer Pat to unload the entire livestock trailer!

Bobbi shared with hubby about his being a recovering alcoholic for years and insights about the neighborhood.  Maria and the grandkids commented on how wonderful Pat is with wanting to know and share with others.  

The cupala above at mass is the sky with stars of the heavens!  

Holy water font with St Thomas Acquinas church...  Swimming in a sea of it!

The song by Peter Mayer - Holy now!  Our challenges can be made Holy by our love and following of Jesus!

The family table sharing our celebratory meal after mass - the 7 children are 14 to one - a child every other year!

Oldest daughter, Therese, is 14 and started Catholic high school on line on Monday.  I am wanting to check in with her and see how she is liking it!  Such a shining LIGHT she is!

With Our Lady watching over them!  The same icon that The Community of the Lamb has in their chapels and Maria compared this year as similar to them as they will be living for this year among the poor and down and out!  

My rosary beads bring peace to me and each decade is devoted to one of my 5 children.  Therefore, the 3rd decade is for Maria and her 9 members of their family.  I know that they are under the protection of the Lord and Lady!

So exciting to see that we are beginning to have for our first reading at Mass from St Paul to the Corinthians - today we started at the very beginning of I Corinthians!  Beautiful words indeed!

I give thanks to my God always on your account
for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
that in him you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful,
and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  I Cor 1

Fun in the toy room with the two youngest made my heart sing with JOY!  

Love these words of amazing St Paul today and how we are reminded that God is forever faithful to us if we only turn to him and lay our burdens at his feet.  Jesus, we trust in you!

Going to mass in their huge transit for their large family!  

LOVE this!

So happy to have her back in her alcove at church... I am drawn to her each morning to thank her for being with me on the narrow path as I drag my Most Cherished Cross!

St Mother Teresa of Calcutta hear our prayer!

Dad and Brother Victor yesterday...

Take the last place - no one else will want to take it from you! 

Dad memorized this prayer and said each evening to end our praying evening Prayer of The Church together!  Dad was a permanent deacon in The Catholic Church for 44 years and the last 6 months of his life living here on the farm with me on hospice allowed me to share in his religious life!  He brought the 13 into The Catholic Church 50 years ago!  Thanks dad!!!

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: The amazing story of the 13 becoming Catholic! 

Dad and I prayed the rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy together each day at 3p on my porch!  

The complete Chaplet of Divine Mercy in song!  My mother-in-law  also loved this and shared it with her family while she was on hospice.  

Very much speaking to Father Tony's final send off - "Go forth and share the Gospel."  Jesus comes to us and shares the Truth in his Word each day!  I love to begin the night before reading the Gospel for the next day as we have learned from Hallel's Community of the Lamb!  I get very excited wondering what it will be... Bless-bless, Barbara and the 54 - 34 here and 20 in heaven