Happy Pentecost Sunday: Come, Holy Spirit, fill our hearts with your peace

 

 Prayer to the Holy Spirit (by Cardinal Mercier)

"I am going to reveal to you the secret of sanctity and happiness. Every day for five minutes control your imagination and close your eyes to all the noises of the world in order to enter into yourself. Then, in the sanctuary of your baptized soul (which is the temple of the Holy Spirit) speak to that Divine Spirit, saying to Him:
O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. Tell me what I should do; give me Your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me. Let me only know Your Will.
If you do this, your life will flow along happily, serenely, and full of consolation, even in the midst of trials. Grace will be proportioned to the trial, giving you the strength to carry it and you will arrive at the Gate of Paradise, laden with merit. This submission to the Holy Spirit is the secret of sanctity.
(By Cardinal Mercier, copied from http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=1404).

Celebrating life from the moment of conception today on the Feast of the Annunciation

It's so clear when life begins, and we have God Incarnate, in the Person of Jesus, to show us today that life is very much present from the first moment of conception, Lk. 1: 28-34, and John 1:14
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

We happily celebrated another church feast, a solemnity, today with beautifully-set table by Madge, to a delicious seed cake dessert (made by the girls and Mom) and one fluffy angel food cake, with such a light flavor of vanilla, we made in our bundt pan. Delicous it was when topped with berries. Onion, garlic, spinache--sautted quiche with an almond crust and homemade applesauce. 

As our quiche baked, we prayed our family Rosary and thought a bit more about the meaning of the Joyful Mysteries, especially the Annunciation, while praying for our friends who are carrying precious life, as Pita read our reflections from our Marian Devotions book. 

Our little five treasures enjoyed setting up the scene of the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of Jesus, the Presentation and the Finding of Our Lord in the Temple with their little figures and the wooden home.

These feasts are so full of goodness in prayer, time together, reading, eating. Jesus knows our humanness and always fills it all up. We enjoyed Precious Life's Books of The Preborn Christ by the amazing authos and illustrators, the Andrews Sisters.

Happy feast day, Daddy. St. Joseph, pray for us!

 The Feast of St. Joseph

"...people are instructed in the truths of 

faith and brought to appreciate the inner 

joys of religion far more effectively by the 
annual celebration of our sacred mysteries 

than by any official pronouncement of 

the teaching of the Church. Such pronouncements 
usually reach only a few and the more learned

 among the faithful; feasts reach them all. 

The Church's teaching affects the mind 
primarily; her feasts affect both mind and heart and have a 
salutary effect upon man's whole nature."

--Pope Pius XI

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To my sweet husband, happy feast day. Thank you for providing for us. When a warm (or cold, es normal ;) shower cleans us at night, groceries are put in the refrigerator, or we lay our tired bodies into bed at the end of the day, we know how much you do for us, and we are grateful. When we walk into a HOUSE and are covered by a ROOF, we know how much you give, and we are grateful. When we make it back from one end of the earth to the other, we give God thanks for your skills and your protection. We give God thanks for the channel of grace you are to our lives. Thank you for serving. We love you.

OH, ST. JOSEPH, WHOSE PROTECTION IS SO GREAT, SO STRONG, SO PROMPT BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD,

I PLACE IN YOU ALL MY INTERESTS AND DESIRES.

OH, ST. JOSEPH, DO ASSIST ME BY YOUR POWERFUL INTERCESSION, AND OBTAIN FOR ME FROM YOUR DIVINE SON ALL

SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD.

SO THAT, HAVING ENGAGED HERE BELOW YOUR HEAVENLY POWER, I MAY OFFER MY THANKSGIVING AND HOMAGE TO

THE MOST LOVING OF FATHERS.

OH, ST. JOSEPH, I NEVER WEARY OF CONTEMPLATING YOU, AND JESUS ASLEEP IN YOUR ARMS;

I DARE NOT APPROACH WHILE HE REPOSES NEAR YOUR HEART.

PRESS HIM IN MY NAME AND KISS HIS FINE HEAD FOR ME AND ASK HIM TO RETURN THE KISS WHEN I DRAW MY DYING BREATH. 

ST. JOSEPH, PATRON OF DEPARTING SOULS - PRAY FOR ME.