Sunday, June 17, 2012

"Grilling and Guinness...

It just doesn't get better than that."
~ Dan

The Grillmaster

All our love and undying admiration to the guy who wants to cook for everyone else on Father's Day!  Hugs and Kisses and -- hang on while I run and get you a refill on the Guinness...


Also....  Happiest Father's Day to both our beloved grandfathers...
Dan's Dad:
With his buddy, Gavin.
 My Dad:
With his buddy, William.




And Papa Paul, too!!  (Can't wait til you're back together with your little guy and his Momma!)
 
We love you guys!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Friday, June 15, 2012

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

 The Sacred Heart by Ira Thomas,
Prayer of Reparation to the Sacred Heart

O sweet Jesus, Whose overflowing charity for me is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Your alter (in Your presence) eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries, to which Your loving Heart is everywhere subject.

Mindful alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Your pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying for from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow You, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the vows of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Your Law. We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against You; we are determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holidays, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against You and Your Saints. We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Your Vicar on earth and Your priest are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very Sacrament of Your Divine Love; and lastly for the public crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which You have founded. Would, O divine Jesus, we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Your divine honor, the satisfaction You once made to Your eternal Father on the cross and which You continue to renews daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Your Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Your grace, for all neglect of Your great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past. Henceforth we will live a life of unwavering faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent other from offending You and to bring as many as possible to follow You.

O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowing gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to You, so that we may one day come to that happy home, where You with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, world without end. Amen.



Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
(The story of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary can be found here. But, for
the story in her own words, her autobiography is in print and can be obtained here.)

In response to those who consecrate themselves and make reparations to His Sacred Heart:



 He will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
He will establish peace in their homes.
He will comfort them in all their afflictions.
He will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
He will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
Sinners will find in His Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
He will bless every place in which an image of His Heart is exposed and honored.
He will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in His Heart.
In the excessive mercy of His Heart, His all-powerful love will grant to all those who
 receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of
 final perseverance; they shall not die in His disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments.
 His divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.



The devotions attached to these promises are:


Receiving Communion frequently
First Fridays: going to Confession and receiving the Eucharist on the first Friday
 of each month for nine consecutive months. Many parishes will offer public First Friday

 devotions; if they do, you must perform First Fridays publicly. If it isn’t so offered in your parish,
 you can do this privately, going to Confession, receiving the Eucharist, and offering your
 prayers for the intention of the Church.
Holy Hour: Eucharistic Adoration for one hour on Thursdays. (“Could you not watch
one hour with me?”) Holy Hour can be made alone or as part of a group with formal
 prayers.
Enthronement of the Sacred Heart (as follows)

Enthronement of the Sacred Heart

Enthronement of the SaFather Mateo Crawley-Boevey, a South American priest
 of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesusand Mary, was inspired by
 God, after his instantaneous cure at Paray-le-Monial, to preach everywhere 
the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart to verify this promise of the Saviour given
 to St. Margaret Mary: 

"I will bless every dwelling where an image of My Heart is both exposed and
 honoured." 

Enthronement of the Sacred Heart is a solemn act of a family giving formal
 recognition of the kingship of Christ over their family and home and the official,
 ceremonial beginning of a family's commitment to live out the effects of their 
recognition of Christ's Kingship. During the Enthronement ceremony, a
 blessed image of the Sacred Heart is hung in the most prominent place in 
the house and Sacred Scripture is placed before it.  You can print out the 
traditional form of the Enthronement in a Microsoft Word .doc format -
- 8 pages -- click here).


To Celebrate the Day

* A beautiful coloring page of the Sacred Heart can be found here. And another one of the Sacred
 Heart andSt. Margaret Mary can be found here.
* Lacy has some nice ideas to celebrate the day over at Catholic Icing.
* Catholic Cuisine, as always, has some wonderful, yummy ideas for eating well on this day.
*  Today, here at the Davis house, we started the day with holy Mass, and will renew our 
Consecration to the Sacred Heart at rosary time this evening.  Our statue of the Sacred Heart
 (an unusual one, with a Child Jesus signifying His Heart) will take center stage on the dining
 room table at dinner tonight (probably quiche with sweet red peppers cut and shaped into hearts on the
 top).  Then, for dessert this evening, we'll have strawberry shortcake.  It's a nice cool and easy
 dessert,  strawberries are traditional symbols for the heart, and who doesn't  love strawberry 
shortcake?


Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Everyone!


See the Valentine He offers us?
What do we give Him in return?

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The Feast of St. Anthony, June 13th


 I love how Chambers portrays St. Anthony  here -- so real and likable, and refreshingly masculine!

I venture to guess that most Catholics would name St. Anthony somewhere in their top five Catholic Saints Hit Parade.  Not only is he the soul of gentle piety, wisdom, and self sacrifice, but he is one of the saints of the Church known for his miracles -- some which were of the highest order:  he was renowned for the gift of a golden tongue, having converted multitudes by his sermons; when men would not listen, he preached to the fish, who poked their heads out of the water to hear; he is recorded as having the ability to bilocate; and among his many other gifts, he was given the highest honor of holding the Christ Child in his arms...  


But I think it may be how St. Anthony touches our own daily lives with miracles that endears him most to those who know him.  Good St. Anthony  helps us find stuff. And, who, from the youngest to the oldest, the sharpest to the most distracted doesn't need help occasionally (or all the time, if you're me!) finding lost things? In a household like ours, with so people to lose things and so many things to lose, all the stories of St. Anthony "finds" are too numerous to list, but here are a couple that come to mind first:


My Mom, who is a convert, tells the story of lost wedding rings and her first foray into the Catholic world of the intercession of the saints.  St. Anthony came through, miraculously recovering Mom's rings for her -- and so we were brought up with St. Anthony a member of the household.


I lost my wedding rings one time, too, a few years ago.  I was pregnant at the time (Anna, I think)  and my fingers had swollen, so at bedtime, I took my beloved rings off and put them on my bedside table.  In the morning, after the distraction of getting everyone fed, and dressed, and ready for the day, I remembered my rings and went back to get them -- but they were nowhere to  be found.  I didnt panic until after I'd moved the bedside table away from the wall, stripped the sheets off the bed, and gone through the drawer in my table about three times, dumping it out, and inspecting every item.  I turned over the trashcan, too, and went through every scrap.  I cross-examined all the children.  I left no stone unturned. But still no ring.


 So I panicked.  But just for a minute.  I remembered my mother's good luck a lifetime ago finding her wedding rings.  For heaven's sake -- I hadn't asked St. Anthony yet!   All was not lost.  Straight away I knelt down with the Littles and we begged our dear saint from Padua to help find Mommy's rings.  Then, since Dan was at Boys' Camp with the four big boys, I got ahold of him (miraculously, I might add) and got Dan and the boys and their friends to pray, too.  


The next morning, I looked again: checked all over the floor, then looked in my bedside table -- and there, in the bottom, right in the front of the drawer, in a little "clearing" were my rings!  And I knew they had not been there before!  There was no chance that it had been one of the Littles returning them -- as that had crossed my mind.  They were innocent as lambs, and as dumbfounded as I was.  It was definitely St. Anthony's doing!  Our dear good friend in heaven.


Thank-you, dear St. Anthony.  Thank-you for reminding us that even those things that seem little in the grand scheme of God's universe are important in Heaven, too when they touch our hearts and souls.  It's so important for us to see how God's love and care for us extends through His saints to us in little every day miracles.  These little fireside dramas of faith and trust imprint images on the hearts of children, especially, that are like little love notes from heaven.  We never forget them. 



Prayer to St. Anthony
(by St. Bonaventure)

If miracles thou vain would see;
Lo, error, death, calamity.
The leprous stain, the demon flies,
From beds of pain the sick arise.
The hungry seas forgo their prey,
The prisoner's cruel chains give way;
While palsied limbs and chattels lost
Both young and old recovered boast.

And perils perish, plenty's hoard,
Is heaped on hunger's famished board;
Let those relate who know it well,
Let Padua of her patron tell.
The hungry seas forgo their prey,
The prisoner's cruel chains give way;
While palsied limbs and chattels lost
Both young and old recovered boast.

Glory be the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
The hungry seas forgo their prey,
The prisoner's cruel chains give way;
While palsied limbs and chattels lost
Both young and old recovered boast.

V/. Pray for us, blessed Anthony,
R/. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us Pray
O God, let the commemoration of Blessed Anthony, Thy confessor, be a source of joy in Thy Church, that she may always be fortified with spiritual assistance, and may deserve to possess eternal joy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen
.


For the Chaplet of St. Anthony
This chaplet is composed of 13 decades of 3 blue beads each. On the first bead of each decade is said 1 Our Father, on the second the Hail Mary, and on the 
third the Glory be. At the end, recite 
The Miraculous Responsory (above). 




Unfailing Prayer to St. Anthony

"Blessed be God in His angels and in His saints."

O Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, you love for God and Charity for His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited on your word, which you were ever ready to speak for those in trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore of you to obtain for me (state request here). The answer to my prayer may require a miracle, even so, you are the Saint of Miracles.

O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the eaars of the Sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms; and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen.

(Then say the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be)





Seeking a Lost Article

Dear St. Anthony, you are the patron of the poor and the helper of all who seek lost articles. Help me to find the object I have lost so that I will be able to make better use of the time that I will gain for God's greater honor and glory. Grant your gracious aid to all people who seek what they have lost---especially those who seek to regain God's grace. Amen.



Sunday, June 10, 2012

Because I Love These Faces

And because we were without internet for two weeks...

It was either fold laundry in my downtime, play the zombie game, or learn to make a slide show.

Is there any question which one I'd do?



Look out, though.  Theresa, who learned to make these first and who very kindly and patiently tutored her backward mother in the fine art, is hot on my heels with a "challenge" slide show and Michelle says she wants to play, too.  So, ahem -- Let the games begin...

* This slide show is dedicated to Paul, whose face we miss! Hurry home, Paul!  Afghanistan doesn't need you more than we do!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Saturday Morning Cartoons

This one's for my sister,  Donna (for the fuzzy and toothy spiders).

And for William, who is mesmerized by these French "Miniscule" cartoons --

Which, maybe, has something to do with his having the attention span of a gnat.

 I don't know.

Anyway, grab a cup of coffee  ('cause this is somewhat lengthy) and enjoy!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

What the New Nest Looks Like

(And, check it out!  I learned how to make slide shows!)


In order of appearance (roughly): 

the corn fields around our house
the front porch and front yard
(with glimpses of the grain towers and the big red dog house which are to the west and north)
the living room
the rec room
the kitchen
the dining room
the pantry
the laundry/craft room
Dan's office
the school room
sunset beyond the back 50 acres

The fifty acres is leased to a farmer, we just rent the house and have access to the old milk barns, tack barn, and grain silo.  The house is literally twice the size of the last rental at 4200 square feet.  Not shown are the work room behind the single car garage and four --yes, count 'em --four bathrooms and five bedrooms...  More on that later!

Just finished cleaning and moving the last bit of flotsam and jetsam out of the old house (a post coming on the moniker for that place, too, btw) -- so HURRAH!  It's official!  We. Are. Moved!!

And the internet is finally hooked up and running!  Woot!


* The above photos -- let us say they are "Befores." Hopefully we'll have some "Afters" ready to compare this summer!