You are the hands with which He is to bless men now.

I just found this quote attributed to St. Teresa of Avila in this book:

Christ has no body on earth but yours,
no hands but yours, no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which is to look out
Christ's compassion to the world;
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.

Encouraging Link

I found the life lessons at the bottom so good.

How language can set our hearts ablaze with Love...

I had half an hour to read and pray a little...these reflections printed in Magnificat at the end of the Mass readings are rich indeed. This is from Mother Marie des Douleurs who was the foundress of the Benedictine sisters of Jesus Crucified. Since she died in 1983, I hope to have the time to research this inspired foundress. Here is a quote from the meditation:

She (Mary) put herself wholly into this perspective of final, absolute triumph, and we see her always in a golden light. She believed, not in a timid faith in tune with the weaknesses and vicissitudes of our present life, but with a faith in harmony with the awesome ardors of the Infinite. She had seen the reign of the Spirit of her Son, and in her serenity she was in no need of patience while waiting till the sparks led at last to the blaze of glory.

(italics mine -- wow!)

the apostolate of kindness

I'm off to bed too late as I am not used to the time change. I was over here and love this...

And this from the Pope's Wednesday catechesis:

The Pope said that St. Bonaventure was "fascinated" by the idea that love still has sight in the “dark night of the Cross all the greatness of divine love appears: where reason no longer sees, love does. ... This is not anti-intellectual or anti-rational; it accepts the path of reason but transcends it in the love of the crucified Christ.”

"...the loftiness of God..."

This quote is taken from today's meditation in Magnificat. It is by St. Augustine:

We are striving for great things; let us lay hold of little things, and we shall be great. Do you wish to lay hold of the loftiness of God? First catch hold of God's lowliness.

Timely quote from St. Francis de Sales

I, for one, am very attached to this "pretty planet spinning in space" (a lyric from a song M used to sing when she was at our parish preschool), so it is a constant battle for me to pray and fast as I ought. Of course, it is a form of praise to our Creator to see the beauty of creation in and around us. At the same time, our God, who is all good, wants us to know that we are just pilgrims passing through. We are, as Walker Percy wrote, trying to make sense of it all by decoding what he calls "signposts in a strange land." I guess the point is that the more we strive to live for Heaven, then the stranger this world appears. We ought to be outcasts of sorts if we take the Gospel counsels seriously. Serious evangelists still find time to laugh and play, but ideally, are ready to turn on a dime, ready to drop their nets and follow Him, even when it is most inconvenient. So, since I signed up for Facebook, I have not checked in with my fellow Catholic mom bloggers. Not long ago, I was over here and found this link to daily quotes from St. Francis de Sales. It is timely for me so I throw it out hoping it will encourage someone else too:

Self-love dies only when our body dies, so we must, while we
live in this land of exile, continue to counterattack its assaults on
our senses and its underhanded tactics. It is enough if we firmly
withstand, giving no willful or deliberate consent ... When we feel
within ourselves the first movements of self-love or of other passions,
let us prostrate ourselves immediately before the heart of God and tell
Him, in a spirit of confidence and humility, "Lord, have mercy on me
because I am a very weak creature." Then let us tranquilly rest in peace and put ourselves at God's disposal. (Letters 1675; O. XIX, pp. 272-273)

Keeping the Home Fires Burning

Sickness has come to visit; and we've decided to welcome him in. Did the "flu snorts" work? I think so. Usually, I am laid out for at least 2 or 3 days. Sunday was bad for me. It felt like the flu, but, mercifully, I was up and about the next day. M and Dad did not get it too bad. JB is like me and experienced near total collapse, yesterday. Little man, so far, is the only one not to get acquainted with the visitor that we've decided to welcome. This is from my Magnificat, "Prayer for the Morning," Jesus said: I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. (cf. Jn 10:9)

The Day You Have Just Lived

"You will be judged on the day you have just lived," came as an exhortation from a good and active priest one morning this past spring. A group of mothers had gathered to pray and reflect. I wrote this in my notes, and, since then, it has become a simple, yet powerful, prayer.

This morning my husband and I rose before our children and had a little quiet time. I was reading my Magnificat. There is a lengthy quote from Pope Benedict XVI on the souls in Purgatory and here is a good part of it:

With death, our life-choice becomes definitive -- our life stands before the judge. Our choice, which in the course of an entire life takes on a certain shape, can have a variety of forms. There can be people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie, people who have lived for hatred, and have suppressed all love within themselves...In such people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of good would be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell. On the other hand there can be people who are utterly pure, completely permeated by God, and thus fully open to their neighbors -- people for whom communion with God even now gives direction to their entire being and whose journey towards God only brings to fulfillment what they already are.

Yet we know from experience that neither case is normal in human life (emphasis mine). For the great majority of people -- we may suppose -- there remains in the depth of their being an ultimate openness to truth, to love, to God. In the concrete choices of life, however, it is covered over by ever new compromises with evil -- much filth covers purity, but the thirst for purity remains and it still constantly re-emerges from all that is base and remains present in the soul. What happens to such individuals when they appear before the Judge? Will all the impurity they have amassed through life suddenly cease to matter? What else might occur?...[Saint] Paul [says] that Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us even in death. Then Paul continues: 'Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw -- each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Cor. 3:12-15). In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that in order to be saved we personally have to pass through "fire" so as to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast.

Sin is at the bottom of the most profound Mystery of Faith, the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist. So many people do not believe they are in need of salvation. Our Savior is both our hero and our best friend. The doctrines of Mother Church are merciful because they come from the Son of Mercy, our Lord, the Christ. The fires of Purgatory purify us, and we need purification. I think often of the famous quote of St. Catherine of Sienna, "Be who you are and you will set the world ablaze." Our Lord calls us to be grateful for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (Fear of the Lord, Knowledge, Fortitude, Piety, Counsel, Understanding and Wisdom) and to use them all at all times. Yet, we are weak and we fail. Then, we stoke the dying embers by our faith in the Sacraments; and, thanks be to God, He, by the request of Our Lady, fans our flame. Father, thank you for giving us Jesus as real food to enflame the fires of our love. Help us to love others as your Son has Loved us.

Trying to keep my eyes on the prize

Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone
I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because
I love You and ask no other reward
but to love You more and more.
– St. Pio of Pietrelcina

I found this quote saved in my Microsoft Word documents and it made me sigh and breathe deep and remember that it is all about Him. I am so weak and easily overwhelmed. And, simply put, He is not.

Virtue's Reward

If it were given to a man to see virtue's reward in the next world, he would occupy his intellect, memory and will in nothing but good works, careless of danger or fatigue.
– St. Catherine of Genoa

Like many parents, I have spent alot of time thinking about the best motivators for my children. Well before I read Alfie Kohn's book Punished by Rewards, I had prayed to God to give me the grace and strength to serve as the model my children deserve. I know that our actions often speak louder than words. I know that stickers and money and charts will soon fizzle if the kids see that their supervisors are uncaring or distracted. I know that good living is its own reward and that children will follow the lead set by their parents, their first and foremost educators. The polemics raised in Kohn's book are actually answered in Familiaris Consortio, one of Pope John Paul II's encyclicals (This document and much of his other writings cover these perennial themes of love and obedience to God's will.).

Enter concupiscence (a very fine discussion of this is found in the current catechism)....our intellect is darkened and our will disordered due to the effects of original sin. This is an apple few want to crunch on. Yet, imagine the myriad benefits to society if everyone would stop and think about the origins of human nature and, most importantly, the ultimate destiny of the human person. I got to thinking about all of this after spending a blessed quarter of an hour with JB, reading Chapter 3, "Creator of Heaven and Earth," in her Faith and Life book. As she read aloud to me, "Is God a creature? No, God alone is uncreated. He had no beginning. God is the cause of all creation."

She looked at me with those beautiful, baby-blue eyes of hers and asked me, "But, who created God?" She asked, but she knew. And, there was mystery and marvel in her question and the discussion that followed.

First things. We are missing the old discipline of philosophy. Socrates loved learning, and he knew who was the Author of life and learning. Socrates was sentenced to death for telling his contemporaries that their mythic figures --their gods and goddesses-- may be entertaining, but that they did not express the eternal truth of the one, uncreated, and utterly holy God. He was forced to drink his poison, but he did not die a pagan. He did not live as a pagan, even though he lived among pagans. Paganism abounds in 21st century America. We wonder why our children and youth struggle so to live out the virtues; yet, as a culture, we are very oriented toward vice. Much of it masquerades as myth and mystery, but all the old heresies are alive and kicking. Flannery O'Connor wrote some of the most chilling and memorable fiction this country has known, and it was her deep-seated conviction that American culture had forgotten the true meaning of the human person. Who created us? What do we owe to the One who has given us life? Are we passing on to the next generation a thorough understanding of freedom? Are we spirit as well as matter? Does the soul live forever? If so, why do we rob the soul of grace by refusing true religion?

When we do not understand sin, we do not understand virtue. It takes heroic virtue to raise a loving family in this day and age. May we bless God by revisiting our understanding of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." These goals are worthy goals for our children; the means to achieve them are found first by God's grace through Holy Mother Church. The Church, as a mother, teaches us to love others as our Lord loved us -- both by dying on the Cross, and by giving Himself to us as spiritual food in the Eucharist.

How perfect! I just opened JB's cursive practice, and it landed on Proverbs 12:1: He that loveth correction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is foolish.

Stella Maris, pray for us!

We are headed off soon to our coop on Marine Biology. J, JB and I just read the Pauline sisters daily entry on the "Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary." In this book, St. Bernard is quoted as having written the following:

"As you struggle through the stormy sea of life, do not turn away from Mary, star of the sea. If the winds of temptation blow your little boat, or if you are headed toward the rocks of suffering, look at the star -- call Mary! If you are tossed by waves of ambition or envy, look at the star -- call Mary! If anger or greed rocks the little boat of your heart, look at Mary! If you are getting
discouraged because of your sins, think of Mary! In dangers and difficulties, remember Mary --
call Mary! Do not let her name be far from your lips. Keep the thought of her fixed in your heart! She will keep you from losing your way. She will protect you so you have nothing to fear. She will guide you to Jesus, your Savior!"

B16's compelling words and the theology of the body

I was just reading this article written by a college student who attended World Youth Day. Her words are compelling, as are those she quotes by our beloved "German Shepherd". I guess it's been 3 or 4 years since I attended one of Christopher West's 2-day conferences at a local parish here in Alpharetta. I too was moved to tears, and it was one of the most blessed two days of my life.

I too felt compelled to spread the word about Mother Church's authentic teaching on human sexuality, dignity and true freedom.

Here is the quote from Pope Benedict XVI:

"Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses, and the pain of false promises. Our hearts and minds are yearning for a vision of life where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion."This is the work of the Holy Spirit! This is the hope held out by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is to bear witness to this reality that you were created anew at baptism and strengthened through the gifts of the Spirit at confirmation. Let this be the message that you bring from Sydney to the world!" (Address at Sydney Harbour, July 17).

Yard Sale fun and a spontaneous trip

We are having a good time preparing for our TORCH annual yard sale that will take place this Saturday. Also, very exciting that it looks like the children and I are going to squeeze in one more trip to the seashore before we start our fall coop studying marine life. What a happy coincidence! J-bird is going to help me bag up some sand and shells to present to the TORCH students. I am still working on my booklists for J and JB. I am still "shaking in my boots" a bit at M's decision to enroll in KOLBE, but, at the same time, I realize that the best way to learn is to teach, so I am sure she will teach me and she will learn. I will teach her, and I will learn. Years ago, a friend of mine in the real estate business, would often say, "God is in the details." This reminds me of my little plaque that I bought at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. (Jerry took me and the children there for Mother's Day in 2003, when I was very sick.) I placed this plaque on window by my kitchen sink, as a message from God to me. It is by Mother Teresa, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." This is by a woman who did such great and amazing things for humanity and for God. I think the point is that she did not go about it all at once. She took each day as the blessing it was, and allowed the good Lord and His Mother to help her parse out her mission as a daily mission, powered by the Holy Spirit through personal prayer and devotion. Love is prayer put into action. I think another point that this quote brings forth is that a day without prayer is not a day in the life of a missionary. Parenthood is a missionary vocation. We are all constantly travelling and constantly serving, constantly loving. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your Love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created and You shall renew the earth. Amen.

Raising saints, not, necessarily, scholars

Pentecost 2008: Thy kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven!

My family and I were working hard yesterday cleaning house, de-cluttering and organizing. (My, how I wish I had more energy and strength!) I found a little book with big ideas, The Saints Speak to You Today: 365 Daily Reminders. I turned right to this one, which, since sensuality is a root sin for me, you can see why it resonated:

If you would rise, shun luxury, for luxury lowers and degrades. St John Chrysostom (5th C.)

And, this was so applicable to my life as well, from my Confirmation saint, St. Teresa of Avila (16th C.):

Cursed be that loyalty which reaches so far as to go against the law of God.

Our Lady of China, pray for us!

Through one of my internet support groups, I found this rich "Around the World with Mary" study. Click here for the link for the whole study and here for more information about Our Lady of China. Bon Voyage!

And, yes, a few more highlights from a grace-filled weekend: We were able to celebrate First Holy Communion with 3 other families this weekend. We have been praying for all first communicants during our evening family prayer. I found this wonderful quote by Tolkien.

Amicalola Falls family field trip Friday and some thoughts on unschooling

That was alot of alliteration! Click here for a link to this most amazing Georgia park.

Highlights for this past week: 1966 was a good year! Got to actually spend Rachel's b-day with her here cooking, talking and playing -- so good! So happy that drama is behind us and feel so blessed from all the hard work both kids and adults put into both ALICE and TOM S. Loved Adoration this week in a way that is hard to put into words. JB and I have been having a surprisingly good time preparing for her and M's upcoming ITBS. We have been gardening some, drawing some, walking and talking alot, with less reading, writing and music than is usual around here. Come to think of it, we have read more magazines and newspapers and been discussing current events more than usual. And, spring drama has led to lots of good work and talk. Oh yeah, and we wrote several "thank-you" notes.

M is fully engaged with family and friends. Challenge was fun and inspiring, and we have added a daily Mass here and there. J lost both his front two teeth during the past 2 weeks, so he is past adorable. He asks me every night to make up a story, and I am inventing Aesop's Fablesque stories. Latin is on hold, but I am hoping we will have one more short run with it before taking summer off....Which makes me want to reflect a bit on what happens the minute I say we are "off" -- everyone goes into huge learning spurts. As unschoolers, and any attentive parents, will attest -- kids love to move and they love to learn. Whether they are intraverted or extraverted, kids are always investigating, exploring, expressing/communicating, dancing, listening...They like a little directed work, but just bust at the seams to get on with their lives.

I think every parent and educator should read some of John Holt's work, as he really took the time to observe what is good and true and real about childhood. It makes me think about what Jesus taught in the Gospel about being like unto children. Their learning is so passionate. They have their dishonest moments, but they recover from such dishonesty much faster than adults (in general, I mean, of course...).

Life is not boring when you are young (young at heart, too <: )and given the time and space to use your imagination. I mention this because I am really loosening up and becoming such the unschooler. And, I love it. (And, I do get anxious, but prayer calms my fears.). I think I have a feel for when they are wasting time; and, as I have often heard, unschooling is not unparenting. Our day is punctuated by prayer and devotions. His grace is sufficient for staying faithful both to our families and our vocations. JB and I wrote a "LOVE" acrostic: "learning our vocation everyday". All the happy, enthusiastic individuals and families that I know are true to themselves and the good God that created all.

I am truly amazed at how creative children are and how much they need "down time," which is not to say that they are inactive, but that they are not over-scheduled/being shuffled off to something organized at every turn. My kids are loving the weather and exploring our neighborhood creek as I write this. M got a Wii for her b-day (this Wed.), and, while I'd rather be outside than playing a video game, I do see the appeal. I am happy to report that, though the Wii was part of her gift, she wanted to share it with everyone.

That's all. "Pray, hope and don't worry." Padre Pio

Funny coincidence with St. Basil quote

The NFW (Natural Food Warehouse) down the street from us sells the yummiest raspberry poptarts. Like Celestial Seasonings tea boxes, there was a quote on our poptart box, which I tore off just after I had picked up the book on the Church Fathers. I told JB I'd post it:

A tree is known by its fruit:
a man by his deeds.
A good deed is never lost;
he who sows courtesy reaps friendship,
and he who plants kindness gathers love.

--St. Basil (329-379 AD)

a time to be silent and a time to speak

Around 4pm, I curled up on the couch in our family room with one of my favorite books on the liturgical year, A Continual Feast. We are all thinking about feasting and fasting and the value of fasting as a means to repent, a turning back to God. Below is the famous Scripture from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV). It is on page 89 of A Continual Feast. After fasting yesterday for Ash Wednesday, the children and I enjoyed a "mini-feast" at luncheon with my dear, dear sister in Christ, Rachel and her daughter, Autumn. We feasted on discussion and play, built a Lego battlefield, cleaned rooms and painted hooks. Both of us moms are very fond of the widely known quote of Cardinal John Henry Newman, "To know history is to cease to be Protestant." We often discuss history and the lives of the saints. Today we were talking about Hillaire Belloc's very important book, The Characters of the Reformation. Belloc's studies and ideas are a light to a confused and darkened cultural landscape. (Belloc was a contemporary and dear friend to the more famous writer, G.K. Chesterton.) We Catholics need to wake up and listen to inspired voices, like Belloc, so as to get our Lord's saving Word out into the world. The world, the flesh and the devil are to be conquered by full participation in the sacramental life of the Church. We should not be surprised when human beings fail, no matter how much grace they have received. We ought to be very surprised and impassioned that the truth is so hard come by these days.



Mother Church gave us the gift of the canon of Scripture so as to help us hear God's will for each and every person. The Eucharist came before the canon of Scripture; and, it is from this most Blessed Sacrament that we have what is today widely known as the Bible. Rachel and I are both converts and fervently believe that, one day, there will be a time for unity among Christians. We both try our best to feast on God's Word -- this is for you, Rach:



There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Welcome Christmas!

A dear priest we know from Ghana, Fr. James, signs many of his written communications with the exhortation to, "Stay blessed!" Keeping a good and holy Christmas is to really let the Lord in and to give Him every fiber of our being. This is easy to say, hard to do. I am organizing my workspace in my kitchen and am going to throw away the paper version of this quote, attributed to Mother Teresa of Calcutta. As you can see, it is an examination of conscience of sorts:

People are often unreasonable and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.
Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

FOR YOU SEE, IN THE END, IT IS BETWEEN YOU AND GOD.
IT NEVER WAS BETWEEN YOU AND THEM ANYWAY.

Mother Teresa

Those of you who know what a clutter bug I am will laugh. I am not throwing it away and am off, instead, to tape it into my new red leather F.Covey zipper organizer that I bought for myself at Wal-mart a few days ago. Watch out 2008, I am armed with a Day Timer!

Abe Lincoln and his mother

Yesterday was a glorious day; the weather here in Georgia was sunny and warm. We took Jaybird to play at the "castle park". It really took some of us a while to get going on "academics," but, by the end of the day, we settled in and, of all sources, plucked the "L" book from our set of World Book Encyclopedias (purchased last winter at a library sale for $10 for the whole set, including a huge atlas), and I read much of the entry on Abe Lincoln. The entry mentioned that, as a youth, Lincoln rescued a dog from a freezing cold stream, that his ax was his best friend, and that he lost his first mother at an early age due to "milk sickness." Jay was especially intrigued by this. According to the piece, cows who ate of the poisonous snakeroot plant gave, in turn, poisonous milk. Nancy Lincoln died when Abraham was 9. His father would marry again the next year to Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow with three children. Lincoln was probably referring to his stepmother when he said:

God bless my mother; all that I am or ever hope to be I owe to her.