Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Pray and Trust

I'm sure you must have noticed by now that things are heating up in the world and are changing at sometimes very rapid speeds. In times like these it is easy to panic. Lately it seems as if I keep coming across the same message, "Pray and Trust". There are so many different scenarios that we could run through our head day after day, many of which may never come to fruition, some of which might be worse than we thought. In light of that, what else can we do but pray without ceasing and trust in the fact that God loves us and will guide and protect us - IF we keep in touch with Him.

On that note, I would like to encourage you to check out Mark Mallet's post for today. He talks about this in a very comforting way. Whatever is coming, it won't be easy, but if we anchor ourselves properly, we will triumph.


Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Holy Communion in the Hand

At times I have to sit back and reflect on what this blog is all about. My title talks about homeschooling, but in a deeper sense I think it is more about joy. What are the things that bring joy into our hearts that make it easier to homeschool? What can we do to become holier so that we can be more joyful so that homeschooling becomes a joy and not a chore?

When I look at it that way, I think it opens up this blog for a wide variety of topics. It is for this reason that I've not found myself limited to posts just on homeschooling. It's why I like to talk a lot about building up your prayer life and about things that will make us think about becoming holier.

With that being said, I found another nugget of gold in the book I've been reading about the Holy Souls in Purgatory called Get Us Out of Here!!" - Maria Simma Speaks with Nicky Eltz. At the end of this book there is an addendum about receiving Holy Communion in the hand. Want to start a heated debate? Bring up this subject in your church group.

The author provides many detailed reasons why receiving the Eucharist in the hand is wrong and why it goes against what the Church and Pope wants. In one section, he makes a comparison to fine art in a museum or to the President of a country and Jesus in the Eucharist. I thought this was such a powerful argument that I'd like to share it with you.

"If museums never let the people touch their most cherished exhibits (just try touching the Mona Lisa, the Hope Diamond or the Declaration of Independence without prior permission!), and if armies of security never let the people touch their Presidents...why do some people still think they may touch the Eucharistic Jesus, our God and our Savior, without such a permission and privilege having been bestowed upon them by the Church and thereby through the Holy Spirit?...When the Consecrated Host is touched by the general public then subconsciously it becomes denigrated to the level of another general blessed thing or object."

I've heard that Pope Benedict will not give anyone Communion in the hand - only in the mouth and if they are kneeling. Of course, many Catholics still don't understand why this is. I think that the example given above is a powerful way to help explain how important the Eucharist really is and why it is so important that only consecrated hands touch the Eucharist.

If you want a much more detailed reasoning on this subject, then I highly recommend you get this book and read it. It is definitely an eye opener! The reason for our existence, after all, is to get to Heaven. It is helpful, therefore, to read and learn about things that will bring us closer to God. According to Maria Simma and the Holy Souls, right now the Church is in the worst shape it has ever been in. Therefore, according to the author,

"God's Holy Church needs truly holy and not somewhat holy men! The tide of ruin is stronger than the mediocre, so how should it be conquered by mediocrity?"

My daughter has a t-shirt that says, "Get Holy or Die Trying". I think that might be a good motto for the times we live in.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Gratitude

I sat down here to try and figure out if I was going to post anything when I went over to check out Carmelitemom's blog. She had a post called Praise God and she also does posts she refers to as her Gratitude Journal. Reading this reminded me of an awesome talk that Father gave Friday night at the Miles Christi Evening of Recollection. It was all about Gratitude.

He told us that at all times, but most especially during this, the Easter Season, we need to give "immense thanks to God!" God gave us His only Son so that He could die to save us. For that we must be eternally grateful.

Father also reminded us about how much St. Paul talked about the virtue of gratitude. Check out 1 Cor 1:4, 1 Thes 5:18 and 1 Cor 15:57 for some examples.

This is a great quote from the talk:

"Gratitude enkindles charity and inspires our gestures of love toward others, for if it is sincere, it expresses heartfelt affection. Therefore, while gratitude is the sign of the nobility of a soul, ingratitude is one of the worst vices. A lack of gratitude signals a lack of love - at least, a certain negligence in our dealings with others, or at best, a callousness."

It was kind of funny because while he was giving this awesome talk, I kept wishing that my older kids were there to hear it (of course, not because the are especially ungrateful, just because it was such a good talk :) when Father said, "We need to regard our personal lack of thankfulness and correct ourselves with care, rather than concern ourselves with criticism of others' lack of gratitude, thinking, for example, how 'they should be here to hear this'"! What great timing God has!

Anyhow, I thought I'd jump on the gratitude train and offer up some things that I am grateful for today (or should I say yesterday since I wrote this on Sunday evening but you are not reading it until Monday):

1. The sun coming out to warm up our day after a day and night of rain.
2. Good, wholesome food to eat for dinner
3. Some wonderfully talented young people to listen to at a piano recital today.
4. Good movies to watch, like "Fireproof". We were supposed to watch the second Star Wars movie. Thankfully we borrowed Fireproof instead!!
5. The many, many ways that God shows me He truly does love me, each and every day.
6. A special gift my father gave me this morning without even realizing it.
7. The wonderful family that I am so blessed to be surrounded by.

I hope you have a glorious day and remember, "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad"!

Friday, April 24, 2009

7 Quick Takes Friday Vol 20

Hello and welcome to Friday! Check out Conversion Diary for more fun.

1.

Emily update - Emily is doing okay. Some medicine they gave her to control the nausea is helping a bit. The doctor said things are looking better in her mouth. She is such an inspiration to us all in the way that she is fighting for her life and yet keeping herself at peace. I just wanted to share a portion of an email that her mother sent out on Monday:

I usually end with a funny comment but I wanted to take a minute and share my feelings from this weekend. Divine mercy was incredible. I wish we could celebrate this feast everyday. I Prayed for Emily all thru mass. I talked to Jesus and realized, although we have a long road ahead of us, I definitely felt a renewed sense of purpose after this weekend. Emily is suffering for all of us. We are blessed to be a part of it. Jesus chose Emily's heart to take refuge in. He has given her a mission. How lucky for all of us that we get to share in this mission. Everytime you write, pray, think, or talk about Emily you become a part of our lives. So many of you have written to us. Sent her gifts. Prayed. Shared these updates with others.

I believe we are changed by Emily. She is changing us each day she fights. Is she fighting for her life or ours?? Emily's cancer has become a gift of love. Bringing so many of us together. Friends reunited and new friends being made.

I just get to hold her and believe.

Please continue to pray for this amazing girl and her family!

2.

We borrowed the Star Wars Trilogy from my dad this past weekend. After all, I was anxious to show my kids one of the coolest movies from my growing up days. Well, after the first 1/2 hour my husband and I couldn't stop laughing. Movies have come a long way in 30 years, haven't they? My favorite part was when Luke, Leia and Han were caught in the garbage compactor and it's supposed to be a very tense moment. It was then that I realized that there was NO MUSIC. What a huge difference some good, dramatic music makes on a scene. Go back and watch that part and see if you agree.

3.

Speaking of Star Wars, while we were watching it, my husband made a comment that resulted in this: We imagined that about 20 years after Star Wars, a group of movie-making people were sitting around talking about how Star Wars was such a huge hit. Maybe, they said, we should make a movie just like it but in another venue. Outer Space has already been done, so how about..............Pirates. Yeah, that's it, and we'll have people just like in Star Wars, you know, we'll have someone named Cap'n Jack Sparrow for Han Solo, Will Turner will be just like Luke and Elizabeth can play Princess Leia. And then for the villain, instead of Darth Vader on a ship, we'll make him a slimy-looking guy called Davey Jones. The only place they deviated was in not making Davey Jones Will's father. Quite frankly, I think the "Pirates" Trilogy far surpasses Star Wars. Maybe next they'll make three more movies telling us how Jack and Davey Jones got to be the Pirates they are????

4.

Remember the census lady from last week? Well, since then I've had people tell me that maybe that hand-held little computer she had was really trying to tap into our computer or grab our IP address. Something to keep in mind in case a census worker tries to get too close to your house!

5.

This weekend is the monthly Miles Christi Evening/Day of Recollection. If you live in the Chicagoland area and are looking for a wonderful, spiritual experience, come check it out.

6.

As I mentioned the other day, I've started reading another book called "Get Us Out of Here!!" It is actually a book compiled from a series of interviews with a woman named Maria Simma who was privileged to be visited by the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Assuming you believe that what she says is true, there are some very profound things in this book. Even if she was a complete hoax, reading this book will get you thinking about these souls who really do depend on our prayers and sacrifices to get them out of Purgatory and into Heaven. Hopefully it will also get you praying for them and offering up works of love for them. This is another book I highly recommend.

7.

Every once in awhile I would stop and read a section out loud to my family (although at this point I think four of us are trying to read it at the same time). In this little section, the author asks Maria, based on what she has learned from the Holy Souls, what are the gravest sins for children (say ages 6 to 12) to commit? Her response was, "Disobedience and rudeness against the parents are the two worst ones." I read that section with much seriousness to my kids, just waiting for them to fall at my feet and promise that they would never disobey again...(I can hope, can't I???) Oh well, have a very blessed weekend!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Crazy 8's

I've been tagged for the Crazy 8's meme by JMJ over at Totus Tuus. I've never done one here before and I'm not sure how successful this one will be - I mean really, 8 things in all these categories?? But, here goes:

8 Things I am Looking Forward To:
1. Dinner - I am quite hungry right now.
(Just a clue, I'm starting this Wednesday evening)
2. Heaven (hopefully), although I'm sure it will be a long road to get there.
3. The Era of Peace - will it ever get here? Will I be around to enjoy it?

4. A warm day so we can go get ice cream and eat it outside.
5. The day that Blogger decides to fix their weird program so the fonts don't change in the middle of a post for absolutely no reason!
6. The upcoming camping season.
7. Walking around outside without any socks and shoes on.
8. A trip to Hanceville, AL this year - hopefully, sometime, don't know when for sure yet, but I can hope, can't I???

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Got up - Praise the Lord!
2. Went to Mass
3. Made apple cinnamon muffins from scratch
4. Taught my children some new things
5. Read aloud from a new book - "Ginger Pye" - and so far we all like it!
6. Went to the eye Doctor to discuss my new glasses and why it is I can't see things clearly that are 2 to 3 feet in front of me!
7. Got a cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts - Decaf of course
8. Read more from the book "Get us Out of Here!"

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
1. Climb every mountain...
2. Ford every stream...
3. Follow every rainbow...
4. Till I find my dream :) Okay, so this isn't technically something I can do. HMMM, how about sing like Julie Andrews?
5. Convince people that they are better off forgiving than they are carrying all that baggage around.
6. Live in Hanceville, AL. Although I suppose we could live there, it would just mean being unemployed.
7. Kneel down right now without being in pain.
8. Play music from "Pirates of the Caribbean" with a professional orchestra!

8 Shows I Watch:
1. Sorry, this is going to be very brief because we don't watch TV.
2. We don't have cable and we're too far out for any TV reception.
3. It's been so long since I've regularly watched TV that I don't even remember what we used to watch.
4. Except for maybe Seinfeld.
5. As far as TV shows on video, however, we do tend to watch a lot of "Bob the Builder"
6. Oh, and "Thomas the Tank Engine", too.
7. And I hate to admit that I used to plan my college classes around "All My Children"
8. If I did have cable, we would probably watch EWTN and Animal Planet.

8 Tags:
1. Guess what, I don't really know 8 people with blogs of their own. None of my friends around here have one except for...
2. Roger
3. And Rose
4. Then we'll try Theresa
5. And see if Marcus will join us.
6. Well, that's probably about it. :( How about friends that don't have a blog, they could email me and I could read their responses to anyone who is interested????? Come on, Dolores, give it a try. You could do a guest post!
7. Anyone?????
8. Thanks for sticking with me this far! It wasn't as hard as I thought.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Protecting Our Children Against Evil Forces

Is it just me, or have you noticed that kids are just different now than when we (those of you in the 40+ group) were young? My mom has noticed it, too. You know, after one of the kids would do something "interesting" she would say, "Where do they get that from? You guys never did stuff like that when you were younger." (And no, she wasn't commenting on my parenting skills :) I just figured that the evil in the world has increased dramatically since we were young and it has had some kind of an impact on our children.


So, anyway, today I was reading this really good book called "Get us out of Here" by Maria Simma with Nicky Eltz and it talked about this very topic. The author said that in the last couple of decades, the Exorcism Prayer that used to be part of the Baptismal Rite has been either watered down or entirely left out. She says that because this has happened, it allows evil to affect children more easily. In order to be fully protected, the author maintains that the Exorcism Prayer must be put back into the Baptismal Rite in its full form! I'm glad to see that I wasn't imagining things all this time!

She also said that the St. Michael prayer should be reinstated at the end of every Mass. She claims that by not saying it today, people's protection against evil is weakened when they leave the church. We have been saying it after Mass as a family for years now, but so far we haven't been part of a parish that has picked it up. I have to admit, however, to being in shock when, one Saturday morning at the Cathedral in our somewhat liberal Diocese, the people there prayed the St. Michael prayer as a group. It was very cool and I wish that other parishes would do the same.

This is an incredible book and I hope to bring you more pearls from it as I work my way through it. In the meantime, if you don't already do it, consider adding the St. Michael prayer to the end of the Mass you attend.


Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Another Good Read Aloud

About a month ago we finished another very entertaining read aloud book called "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien. This book is the Newberry Medal winner from 1972.

First off, if you haven't read a book out loud together in awhile, you should definitely give it a try. We have found that even if you pick a book at a higher reading level than some of your children, every one seems to still be able to follow along and enjoy the book. Right now my "audience" consists of kids from 4 years old up to 17 years old - quite a range to try and please. So far we've managed to pick books that make everyone happy.

This book was a great mix of adventure, suspense, humor and caring. The story involves a group of rats that have escaped from a scientific laboratory where they had been injected with something that allowed them to learn to read and write. It told of their journey to their new home and how they built up their advanced colony. Mrs. Frisby and her four children are mice who live near the rats. One day she has need of the rats' help and the rest of the story tells of how their friendship builds and how they help each other out in their times of need.

It was quite an enjoyable story that was at a fast enough pace to keep everyone wanting more. I love stopping at the end of a cliff-hanging chapter and making them wait until the next day to pick it up again!

If you're looking for a fun read aloud book, I would highly recommend "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH".