The Feast of Pentecost

We generally celebrate Pentecost by making a 12 Fruit Salad, in honor of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, but today we're having a quite afternoon watching the rain come down and praying for the busload of young people who are on their way to LifeTeen Camp in Georgia. May the Holy Spirit guide and protect them on their journey. In a little bit, I'll pack up all of the remaining Easter decorations, pull out our 7 red candles, and we'll gather with those at home to pray the following prayer: 

CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

 O Holy Spirit, receive the perfect and complete consecration of my whole being. 

In all my actions, grant me the grace of being my Light, 

my Guide, my strength and the Love of my heart. 

 I surrender myself to You,

 and I ask You for the grace to be faithful to Your inspirations. 

 Holy Spirit, transform me

 through Mary and with Mary into a true image of Christ Jesus, 

for the glory of the Father, 

and the salvation of the world. 

Amen 

 Fr. Félix de Jesús Rougier, M.Sp.S – Founder Missionaries of the Holy Spirit

Wells Cathedral, England – Pentecost Altar Frontal

He Is Risen - He Is Risen Indeed!

Wishing you and your families a joy-filled Easter Season. During these 50 days of Celebrating our Lord's Resurrection, there are many little things easily incorporated into family life to help make this period a tangible part of our faith. In our prayer area, the purple has been replaced by white, the ashes by Easter water, and the crown of thorns by the Paschal candle. We used a plain white candle and decorated it with colored wax, focusing on the prayers for the blessings of the candle. 

                                        

Another idea would be to use parts of the Exultet as the evening prayer. We focused on thanksgiving for the bees and the lovely scent of the Easter candles and the overall joy of the Proclamation. 

Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,

ablaze with light from her eternal King,

let all corners of the earth be glad,

knowing an end to gloom and darkness.

We've also copied and decorated the word 'Rejoice' with the younger children:

Rejoice,

let Mother Church also rejoice,

arrayed with the lightning of his glory,

let this holy building shake with joy,

filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.

Last week, all of us were amazed at the brightness of the moon, a perfect time to lift up the following verse:

This is the night of which it is written: 

The night shall be as bright as day, 

dazzling is the night for me, 

and full of gladness.

Most of all, enjoy this blessed time together. For me, it is always a reminder that each day is a gift. May God's peace be with you all ~ Beate

" Let us accept the grace of Christ’s Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish." ~ Pope Francis

Neglected Blog

Our long period of Ordinary Time is drawing to a close and the readings are urging us to assess where we are - how are we doing in our collaboration with God? It's been a year designed to assure we don't settle into complacency over here and quite a few times I've completely empathized with the grumbling Israelites!

November came, and we put photos of our loved ones who've been called from their earthly home on the prayer table to remind us to pray for them. For the most part, they led full lives among many hardships which they handled with trust and grace. I ask them now to pray for me as this particular journey ends. Where will the Good Shepherd lead me next?

I love the upcoming season of Advent and will sing with the children,

Prepare now, prepare now,

The way of the Lord.

Make ready, make ready,

The path of the Lord.

This year, we'll have the longest possible Advent time, as Christmas falls on a Sunday. I'm looking forward to those days of joy filled preparation and waiting.

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