The 40th day of Easter...

..or Ascension Thursday has come and gone, which means Pentecost is right around the corner. The readings yesterday reminded us of the initial despair that the apostles likely experienced when Jesus ascended into Heaven. They needed a reminder that He would return and, in the meantime, they needed to wait for the fulfillment of God's promise. On Pentecost, fear and anxiety was transformed into courage and the apostles went forth to proclaim the Word! One by one through personal encounters they brought the love and mercy of Christ to anyone who would listen.

For me, it is fitting that the celebratory days of the Easter season culminate with Pentecost - a harvest feast of offering our first fruits to our loving Father transformed into the feast of the Father offering the gift of the Holy Spirit to us all. I tend to be prideful, desiring to do great things. Yet the Father whispers, "Let me!" I'm reminded to live my life, to proclaim the word, to "remain." Thus the fruit is born. Two thousand years after the Apostles, the teachings of our Lord must still be transmitted in a series of encounters - in relationship! Our deepest calling as parents is to transmit the love and mercy of God the Father to our children and only then can the teachings of our Lord take root.

Father Don reminded us:

"We are loved and not abandoned,

Treasured and not forgotten,

Cherished and not dismissed."

May the Good Shepherd bless and keep your families ~

Beate

Living Lent Joyfully

Back in 2008, Lent took on a different meaning in our home and I admit to dreading it since that time. It dragged on forever and the brightness of Easter was lost in the mist of our family's sadness. It was much like Narnia's eternal winter with no hope of Christmas. We've come a long way since those days, yet Lent still needs dusting off. Tonight we are spending Fat Tuesday putting out the purple cloths, putting away remnants of the Christmas season, and creating a salt dough crown. This year we'll use the crown in the spirit of the Advent wreath, adding six candles to count down the weeks until we again can see the brightness of Easter! I'll post a photo when we get it done. The big kids are helping with the crafting and hemming the prayer cloth and I'm enjoying seeing everyone working together.

There are notebooks filled with Lenten resources on the shelf, family meditations, crafts, prayers for the stations of the cross, etc. However, this year I realized what was needed was for me allow myself to enter into this time willingly and to recognize and trust in the period of waiting. Our Lord loves us so, how can we not trust in His perfect plan?

Tomorrow I'll attend Mass with the kids - our foreheads will be marked with ashes and we'll be reminded: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel." The gospel tells us to not be afraid and to love one another. That will be my focus this year. Let us pray for one another that a spirit of peace and love permeates our families and all that we do.

Last year's post has the instructions for the Lenten Crown of thorns project and can be found here. Just remember, keep it simple and enjoy this time waiting for the Resurrection!

In the peace of the Good Shepherd,
Beate

Lent

The Great Lent  by Alexander Schmemann (intro)

...Easter is our return every year to our own Baptism, whereas Lent is our preparation for that return - the slow and sustained effort to perform, at the end, our won 'passage' or pascha' into the new life in Christ. If, as we shall see, lenten worship preserves even today its catechetical and baptismal character, it is not as 'archeological' remains of the past, but as something valid and essential for us. For each year Lent and Easter are, once again, the rediscovery and recovery by us of what we were made through our own baptismal death and resurrection.

A journey, a pilgrimage! Yet, as we begin it, as we make the first step into the 'bright sadness' of Lent, we see - far, far away - the destination. It is the joy of Easter, it is the entrance into the glory of the Kingdom. And it is this vision, the foretaste of Easter, that makes Lent's sadness bright and our Lenten efforts a 'spiritual spring.' The night may be dark and long, but all along the way a mysterious and radiant dawn seems to shine on the horizon. 'Do not deprive us of our expectation, O Lover of man!'

Chapter 1 - Preparation

The desire to see Christ - Zacchaeus, Lk.19:1-10
Humility, seeing ourselves honestly - the Publican and the Pharisee, Lk. 18:10-4

Return from Exile - the forgiving Father Lk. 15:11-32

I first heard of this book during a CGS formation in 2006. Father Schmemann was an Orthodox priest, so the book takes one through the intensity of the Orthodox Lent. It is on my prayer table every Lenten season, but I have never read it cover to cover. Instead, I dip in here and there, savoring the richness of the meditations. We will use these 3 scripture readings starting Wednesday for our prayer time, as a reflection on our journey to Easter. The scripture readings are already familiar to us, so it's always interesting to find what we hear differently this time around.

As my children have grown, it's been more difficult to gather together for most things. When they were little, they naturally gravitated towards me - they were well equiped with the Mommy radar as my husband liked to say. Now, the older kids like one on one time with either of us. They are busy and independent. It's my goal to invite and encourage, rather than insist. If nothing else, I can send them texts of quotes that jump out at me ;-)

May God's peace be with you and your families ~
Beate

Feast of the Epiphany

Advent has come and gone and the Christmas season is drawing to a close. Life has been busy in our home yet we've managed to spend some moments reflecting on God's great love for us as evidenced in the Incarnation. Each year I fall in love again with the beauty and simplicity of the Infancy narratives as I share them with the children in the atrium - their joy and wonder ignites my own and I thank God for the little ones.

This weekend we celebrate the Epiphany. As a mom, I think of Mary with the toddler Jesus - watching his first wobbly steps, picking him up when he falls. I wonder at her openess and trust, saying "yes" to parenting God! What were her thoughts when foreigners complete with entourage showed up at her humble abode with gifts for a King?

With my children at home we will celebrate on January 6, and again bake a "crown cake." We will read and reflect on the readings:

• Isaiah 60:1-6
• Psalm 72
• Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
• Matthew 2:1-12

I'll also invite them to read CCC 528: ....In the magi, representatives of the neighboring pagan religions, the Gospel sees the first-fruits of the nations, who welcome the good news of salvation through the Incarnation.

Below are some books we have in our basket. Some of these books show the Magi at the creche - in the past we've looked at maps to see how far these men traveled and looked at the wording in the scriptures. We talked about Jesus being closer to 2 than to a newborn when they arrived :-)

Mary: The Mother of Jesus 

The Legend of Old Befana 

We Three Kings 

The Legend of Old Befana 

The Stone: A Persian Legend of the Magi 

Humphrey's First Christmas 

Collect: May the splendor of your majesty, O Lord, we pray, shed its light upon our hearts, that we may pass through the shadows of this world and reach the brightness of our eternal home. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2015-01-04

Pope Francis' suggestions for the New Year

– “Take care of your spiritual life, your relationship with God, because this is the backbone of everything we do and everything we are.”

– “Take care of your family life, giving your children and loved ones not just money, but most of all your time, attention and love.”

– “Take care of your relationships with others, transforming your faith into life and your words into good works, especially on behalf of the needy.”

– “Be careful how you speak, purify your tongue of offensive words, vulgarity and worldly decadence.”

– “Heal wounds of the heart with the oil of forgiveness, forgiving those who have hurt us and medicating the wounds we have caused others.”

– “Look after your work, doing it with enthusiasm, humility, competence, passion and with a spirit that knows how to thank the Lord.”

– “Be careful of envy, lust, hatred and negative feelings that devour our interior peace and transform us into destroyed and destructive people.”

– “Watch out for anger that can lead to vengeance; for laziness that leads to existential euthanasia; for pointing the finger at others, which leads to pride; and for complaining continually, which leads to desperation.”

– “Take care of brothers and sisters who are weaker … the elderly, the sick, the hungry, the homeless and strangers, because we will be judged on this.”

ht to my friend Maria :-)

Merry Christmas!

May the incarnation of our Lord fill your hearts with peace and joy! I must say, the gift of God Himself in the form of a wee babe in a stable in Bethlehem causes my breath to catch in my throat. The utter vulnerability and poverty of that moment in time is beyond words. Yet love, hope and the sense that all will be well is perfectly conveyed. Thank you God!

Below is an unedited slide show of our Christmas pageant - thank you to all the actors and those of you who worked behind the scenes. You all helped to make this Holy Eve even more delightful :-)