Prayer to Mary, by de Grandmaison

Holy Mary, Mother of God, preserve in me the heart of a child, pure and clean like spring water; a simple heart that does not remain absorbed in its own sadness; a loving heart that freely gives with compassion; a faithful and generous heart that neither forgets good nor feels bitterness for any evil.  Give me a sweet and humble heart that loves without asking to be loved in return, happy to lose itself in the heart of others, sacrificing itself in front of your Divine Son; a great and unconquerable heart which no ingratitude can close and no indifference can tire; a heart tormented by the glory of Christ, pierced by His love with a wound that will not heal until heaven.

Happy St. Joseph's Day!!

  The feast of St. Joseph is such a special day during Lent of such a humble Saint.  He was so humble in life and still is even in heaven!  Besides being the spouse od the Blessed Virgin, Foster Father of Christ, he is the patron of the Universal Church and of fathers and families.  He is especially beloved by the Sicilians.  One way they express their devotion to St. Joseph is through the tradition of tavola di San Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Table or Altar).
  The St. Joseph Altar comes from a legend that many years ago there was a famine in Sicily.  The famine was severe and the people had to sustain themselves on fava beans (which were used mainly for caddle fodder).  The people prayed for St. Joseph's intercession to end the famine and these prayers were answered.  In thanksgiving they had a celebration which over the years has become the St. Joseph Table.
  Some of the things found on the table include:  the table is made up of three tiers of tables representing the Trinity and the three members of the Holy Family.  Then it is furnished with pastries and breads representing a Monstrance, chalice, cross...etc...  The fava bean, Mudica (bread crumbs representing the sawdust of carpenter St. Joseph), 12 fish (the apostles), wine, and many other foods except meat.  A feast day compatable with obstaining from meat on Fridays, yeah!

  We made a 3D St. Joseph's Table this year.  We got the idea from the St. Joseph's Altar website and it was a lot of fun for us to do!  I hope you do one too!  God bless and Happy St. Joseph's Day!

Our Lenten Rosaries

We have made the commitment this Lent to say daily rosaries as a family.  And it has gone really well.  With children ages 8,8, 4, 2 and 9 months it can be challenging but very worth the effort.  The Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary is such a powerful prayer.  We have been blessed by being faithful to reciting it.  Our 4 year old has even lead a couple of decades this Lent!  What a precious sound to hear this little one recite the prayers.  It has also been very soothing to our family.  It is a wonderful time to come together. 

Prayer intention time at the beginning of the Rosary is especially rich and touching.  The children pray for the end to abortion and for those suffering in Hati as well as praying for conversion of some of the people we love.  I have a new appreciation for the fact that the children actually do listen to me and want to emulate their parents beliefs and preferences.  I have heard that fact many times but it is very different to actually experience it firsthand in a good way!

We had our first fall in our commitment to say the rosary last night.  I felt terrible as a tried to say the rosary myself in bed before falling asleep halfway through.  Waking up today I find that we will copy what Our Lord did during His Passion when he fell, which is to get up and continue again.  Our evening rosary will continue tonight and for the rest of the Lenten Season.

I hope all of you are having a productive Lent and that each thing you do less or extra brings you closer to the Lord as the rosary has brought us closer to Him and eachother.

Lenten traditions/sacrificies:

Due to the move I almost forgot a wonderful Lenten activity with do with the children every year. Thanks be to God I remembered before Lent was over.   It was introduced to us by our good friend Mary several years ago and has been a great success in our family.  Thanks Mary!  It is the Lenten Crown of Thorns. 

At the beginning of Lent, (preferably Ash Wednesday) we take 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt and enough water to make a dough.  We roll it into three long "snakes" and I braid them into a crown.  We put in many toothpicks and then bake it at 350* for one hour.  If you want it to be brown you can paint on egg whites as an option.  After the crown is cooled we put it in the center of the table on a purple napkin and the good deeds start.  See, when someone in the family does something extra good, kind or wonderful for someone else they get to take out a thorn from our Lord's Crown.  The goal is for all of the thorns to be removed by Easter Sunday.  The children are always so excited to take out a thorn!  I like this because instead of always focusing on giving something up we can help the children remember that doing a extra for our Lord it good during Lent too.  I like having both aspects be remembered each Lent (especially for me). 

Please share with me any Lenten traditions your family does and maybe I can add to our Lenten journey for next year! 

Wordless Wednesday

The Big Move

Well, we finally made it to Indiana and have unpacked almost everything and got our internet squared away.  God has truely blessed us in so many ways (see pictures below).  An unexpected thing came up in the move.  I will preface it by saying I do try to be detached from my things.  I try to excercise this virtue on a regular basis (by getting rid of things, not getting upset when things are broken, avoiding the mall etc...just to name a few).  But I found it to be very stressful to have 367 boxes to unpack (so much for being dilligent about getting rid of stuff!!).  And I found that my stress level has decreased significantly now that I have all of my things out, orderly and around me.  Apparently I have some more work to do in this area of detachment, do you?

More later, homeschooling is calling!

A Birth-Day book

Outside my window...the sun is shining and there is still a little snow left on the ground.

I am thinking...that I hope my three little babies recover soon from this latest illness they have.  My prayer life is active to this subject in the past couple of days.

I am thankful...for my husband and family.  Also for the fabulous friends that we have.

I am wearing...comfy sweats, again.  I think that I should be comfortable on my birthday!  I don't look great in them but it sure feels good to be comfortable.

I am reading...The Domestic Church: Room By Room A Study Guide for Mothers.  Written by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle.  What a great book.  I have been working on the first chapter called The Foyer: Our Blessed Mother Mary and Motherhood.  I think it will take my some time to work through this chaper and have already found it to be helpful.

I am hearing...Dr. Ray on EWTN radio.  I enjoy the show "The Doctor is In" which airs on EWTN or Holy Spirit Radio at 1 PM weekdays.  Check it out.

Around the house...each room is in a different state of readiness for our impending move to Indiana which will occur in a little over 2 weeks.

Learning all the time...I am busy preparing to homeschool as the school out in Indy has a waiting list so we have decided to homeschool until we get in to the parish school (which is free, by the way!).

One of my favorite things...Dairy foods!  Which I can't have right now because my sweet baby boy who is nursing is allergic to it.  It is a sacrifice I am certainly willing to make for him but it is hard to do. 

I am creating...bags ready for our move that provides my children with everything they need for that week we are without our stuff.

A picture thought: made by my son Froggy.

Motherhood in the New Year

To paraphrase a few words from Donna-Marie Cooper-O'Boyle's Preface of the book The Domestic Church: Room by Room:  The gift of conceiving & carrying a human life within one's own body-under one's own heart-and then giving birth to and raising this little one is almost beyond words- and nothing short of a miracle.  The vocation of motherhood is a sublime privilege and an awesome responsibility.  We are partaking in a partnership with God and our husbands, through our marital vows.  In that partnership, we can experience a special communion with the mystery of life as he or she develops within our very being.  What a gift it is to be a mother. 

 The Catechism says: "The Christian home is the place where childeren receive the first proclamation of the faith.  For this reason the family home is rightly called 'the domestic church', a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity" (CCC, 1666).

How beautiful and profound!  Life can be so messy I am happy when I come across such notions to meditate upon when I am in the thick of daily living.  It helps me so very much to hear and contemplate these ideas instead of my own some what selfish ideas.

The other idea this book reminded me of is to look at the example of our Blessed Mother and her generous heart.  "Mary's determination and generous heart sent her-alone, on foot, and pregnant-on a 3-day journey to help her cousin Elizabeth, who was much older and also expecting a child.  We can be sure that Mary prayed and reflected all throughout her journey because the blessedness of Jesus dwelled within the tabernacle of her womb." (The Domestic Church: Room by Room page 3).

Sometimes I find it overwhelming to follow Mary's example because she was so perfect, but I can immitate her in the little things I do (visiting someone in need instead of staying home and getting my things done) and it somehow doesn't seem so overwhelming.

So for this new year of 2010 I am looking forward to doing a better job of immitating our wonderful Blessed Mother in the little things I do each day. 

Thank you Donna-Marie for the inspiration and insight!  God bless you in your work.