The Feast of St. George

Now here is a saint of mystery, legend, and glory. The popular story of St. George, passed down to us in the Golden Legend, has dragons and princesses running around, with our hero saving the day. This is the familiar tale and the origin of our saint's iconography, but, there are other legends of St. George, too. In one of the earliest legends , he's put to death, chopped up into little pieces, buried, and set on fire ~ three times ~ and each time God restores him to life! A more likely possibility, though, but no less heroic, is the figure of St. George as a martyred Roman soldier, perhaps the one who tore down Diocletian's edict of persecution at Nicomedia. That would have been, in my mind, a feat at least as courageous as facing a dragon!

Still, even that is legend.

We do know, though, that St. George lived in the late third century in Nicomedia, and that he likely was martyred at Lyda, and we're pretty sure he was a high ranking Roman soldier. But, we don't know for certain what the real story of this saint may have been. The details of his martyrdom have been lost to history, but his fame over two millenia has only grown. Whatever may have been the truth, we know it must have been amazing and heroic, based on the legends that have grown up around him!

St. George is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and was chosen above a heaven full of saints to be the patron of England: Greece, Portugal, Russia, Bulgaria, Germany and the Netherlands, among others.

He is also the patron saint of: horsemen, calvary soldiers, soldiers in general, farmers, lepers, shepherds, scouts, farmers, and Teutonic knights.

The flag of St. George, bearing the red cross on a white background is the standard of England and Georgia, and is the municipal flag of Montreal, Barcelona, Milan, Genoa, and Padua, among others.

* England, however, is considering doing away with the flag of St. George, as they deem it now too "warlike" and possibly offensive to Muslims. All I have to say about that is: God helps us. See that story here.
* And, though, St. George's Day is still a national day of celebration in England, it seems to have hit on some controversy. If you're interested in getting a sense of the British people's thorough confusion these days, look here to see how they are attempting to redefine the "symbolism" of St. George and the his flag to reflect modern sensibilities. (gag,gag)

For the record, here's the Catholic symbolism of the story of St. George and the Dragon:

Dragons = sin, evil, wickedness

Princess = God's Truth, Holy Mother Church

So, St. George defends the Truth of the Church against that wicked influence that would try to defeat it, from Diocletian to the Muslim tide during the crusades (and today!), and all the humanism and pagan influences of the modern day, as well as the personal dragons each of us must slay to perfect our own souls and win heaven.

~~~

On a lighter note: You can find an awesome, realistic coloring page of St. George and the Dragon, here,* and a simpler one here.

Catholic Cuisine has a plethora of fun ways to celebrate St. George's Day, including this totally cool dragon cake!

And, if the children would like to "play" St. George and the dragon today, Kimberlee at Pondered in My Heart has the best sword making tutorial here, and here is a shield-making tutorial.

* We, um, just realized upon printing these out, that the colorers, will have to, um, provide some clothing for poor, cold St. George on this coloring page...

** Repost from 2009 (Please forgive me if any of these links is not working any more.  I just haven't had the time to recheck them all!)

The Big Kids Vs.The Little Kids

When I was a new parent (are you shocked I can remember back that far?), I had this idea that there was a right way and a wrong way to raise children.  And I thought my way was the right one, of course.  I had it all figured out. It was all drawn out in black and white, and it was good enough for anyone if it worked for me.


I laugh now. {snort}

You see, back when I thought that way?  Well, we were only about one or two kids into our family; I hadn't been around my own life very long yet.  I didn't know that before all was said and done we would raise every single one of our children differently from the rest.  And none of them by the blueprint I'd had in my mind in the beginning.  You see, there was no way around the fact that these children of ours are all so dollgarn different from each other!

 Not only that, but as the years went on, Dan and I were different!  And the family dynamics for each child at each individual stage of his or her life was different, too.  Heck!  The world is different now than it was in 1989!  Though the basics have remained the same for us since then in relation to faith, morals, and basic values, our family and how we manage it has morphed and fluctuated and changed with the times and the people. Which is normal and good.

It really is, kids.

You see, it's been a popular complaint among our oldest children, this discrepancy in parenting techniques. Actually, it's a common whine in pretty much any big family I've ever met. The oldest kids always think the youngest kids are getting a break. The youngest kids, in return, think the oldest kids are mean.  And they don't think they're getting things one bit easier.

And, believe me, they're not.

I have no doubts about this, and no guilt. They say with age comes wisdom, and I am here to unequivocally maintain that this is true. (Because I know what unequivocally means and I can spell it....)  No, but, really, it's a fact. In our forties, Dan and I have way more wisdom than energy available for parenting. And I really believe that's part of the Divine Plan.  God is so good; those who give their reproductive lives completely to His Hands know a poetic symbiosis unique to big families.  This is one example: with our first handful of kids, we needed the energy of youth to corral all those little ones more than we really needed wisdom.  In the early

days, it was all about perseverance and consistency.  Now, with all ten children at ten different stages of childhood and early adulthood, energy is a nice bonus, but what we really need is wisdom to properly coordinate and juggle and prioritize everything and everybody. And still have a little oomph left over for one another as a married couple.   It takes smarts, and lots of planning, yes indeed.

But in the end, though the road to the finish line for each child has been different, with God's help (and the children's cooperation), everyone ends up even.

So, you see, Big Kids, our parenting of you vs. the Littles has been different but equal.  We're just as mean as we ever were; we're just more efficient about it. Have no fear: with the instinct hatched at the same time you were, we know exactly the right way to be mean to each and every one of you. Muwahahaha!

And we also know how to love each of you best.

Hang On, Everyone!

I believe we're in for somewhat of a wild ride...

Raise your hand if you're stocked up and prepared.
 Or, no! Wait!  Don't raise your hand!  Don't Let Go! Hang On with both hands!
(And pray.)

Monday Morning Madness

Our Crazy Children:


What can a mother say?  They're nuts.

Good Shepherd Sunday

The image of the Good Shepherd is a universal favorite.  Who doesn't love the very idea of Christ, the Shepherd, leaving everything behind to come after His lost sheep? There are few more comforting thoughts than this.  Jesus will always come after us; we're never too far away, never too precariously perched, never too small or insignificant or wayward.

Jesus is every single person's own Good Shepherd.  

But, you know what?  Not only is the Shepherd still (and always!) walking His fields gathering in His lost sheep, but in a world that seems to be increasingly worldly, and less concerned about the salvation of souls than ever, I've had a chance to see that folks are also still looking for Him. 

In April, 2010, I enjoyed finding and highlighting many of the images of the Good Shepherd in art.  And in the three years since, this single post has received 34,363 page views altogether -- including ninety-two in the just the last fourteen days.  Isn't that AMAZING?!  And comforting?   I mean, really!  This is just my lost-in-the-corner little blog we're talking about here, which represents only a fraction of all the people who've searched the internet for images of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.  And those who've taken the trouble to search out this image from the whole of the internet represents just a fraction of those folks who've sought Him out personally -- in prayer, or even just in curiosity, a call for Him to come find them (whether they know it or not). 

Don't you love that?

No doubt about it, the devil is very busy today in the world and very much so in the mass media -- where he's thriving on the internet.  But Christ is here, too, looking for His sheep, though they may think they're the ones looking for Him.

And that comforts me very much, indeed.

   

An April Meditation

Low Sunday

Also called "Quasimodo Sunday," today marks the end of the "high" of Easter week, following the greatest feast day of the liturgical year.  Without Easter, there would be no other feast days.  Without the risen Christ, there would be no liturgical year, no Church, no Faith.  It seems, then, right and good (as all of the traditions of the Church do!) that this week of great celebration ends on a note of Faith -- the answer to doubt. Not on a "low" point, but, perhaps a sobering one. 

Today in the Gospel at Mass we got to hear the familiar story of Doubting Thomas.  Thomas, Thomas, Thomas... I was a young child when I first heard the story of the Apostle Thomas, and the impression of a six year old still sticks with me every time I read it: an orange crayon haze of worry, shot through with red crayon whirls of embarrassment, surrounded by yellow crayon bands of sympathy. (My childhood memories are not sepia; they're crayola...) 

But, forty-odd years later, I still worry for Thomas as I relive that night of Jesus' risen visit with him. I think: Oh, no!  Jesus is going to be mad with Thomas! I want to hide my eyes.  Then I'm embarrassed because I think:  Oh dear! Jesus isn't mad, but He is disappointed in Thomas; He corrects him in front of the other Apostles.  I can feel Thomas' red cheeks and the tears welling up in his eyes. Tears of love and sorrow.  And, last of all, I identify with Thomas.  I understand exactly how it happened -- this tight hold onto reason he feels he has to maintain;  this fear to hope; this fear of the unknown.

How often have I clung to "reason" as an excuse to be timid in the expression of my Faith?  Heaven must know the shallowness of this world requires less depth from me, right?  How often have I feared to hope for anything more than the ordinary, spiritually?  It's so much easier to live squarely  in the middle of a predictable and "normal" world.  One where miracles happen, but not to me.  Where God stays in His Heaven and doesn't actually walk with me on the earth.  Why ever would I expect such a thing?  How could I believe it if someone came to me and said this was happening right now?  Not  in a Bible story.  Not in someone's overwrought imagination.  But really happening.  How could I believe that?  Come on.

 How, indeed?

Unless He looked into my eyes with those beautiful, loving, sad eyes and said to me: Here, Lisa...

" Let me have thy finger; see, here are my hands. Let me have thy hand; put it into my side. Cease thy doubting, and believe."

There have been very few of us in this world that have that kind of faith which has never had a moment's doubt. Even among the saints.  It's true, you know.  Likely those faithful who haven't recognized their doubt have just missed where they've hidden it.  Because, you see, if the truth of Jesus' life and all that He revealed of life and death, heaven and hell, mercy and justice were plain to see and obvious, none of it would require our faith.  Faith isn't faith unless it leaps over doubt, over improbability, over fear, over laziness, over our own selfish hearts.  All the things Thomas had to overcome, too.  And he did overcome it all. Just like we have to do. With Our Lord's help.  Seen or unseen.

Bp. Fulton J. Sheen tells us to "believe the incredible, and you can do the impossible.  It is our want of faith that holds us back, even as Peter.  When did he begin to sink?  The Gospel gives us the reason. He took accounts of the winds, he began reading some surveys' it was established statistically that 99.44%  of mankind cannot walk on water.  All of the incredulities were in the winds.  When he took his eyes off Christ, Peter began to sink."

The good bishop also tells us that "the temptations of the saints were seen as opportunities for self discovery.  They allowed temptations to show them the breaches in the fortress of their souls, which needed to be fortified until they would become the strongest points.  This explains the curious fact about many saintly people -- that they often become the opposite of what they once seemed to be."

There you are.  Though it may seem otherwise, the Gospel story of St. Thomas, the doubter, is really a story of St. Thomas the faithful.  And it's our story, too.

A Half Dozen -

"Catchings Up"

(Early April, 2013)

First, Easter Celebrations Pictures...

1) We had the big Holy Thursday Mass at our parish with procession last week, of course.  Michelle went to Denver to spend Easter with my parents and siblings (and a slew of her friends), so it was only Theresa, Cathy, and Anna adding Davis voices to the choir (and they sounded lovely!).  As you see below, Anna did double duty, though, also participating in the procession...

  bringing up the rear behind William -- who, being the shortest by far, led the rest of the processors...

 right behind Gabriel -- who was serving as torch bearer -- on his very first outing as an altar boy!

Here he is, on the right, next to the altar rail.  

We were so proud of Gabriel; he did a great job!  Perfect, in fact.
But, still, after all these years, and four altar server sons besides Gabe --
who all started out as torch bearers -- it still amazes me that they trust these
 little guys to walk around carrying fire...
Their Guardian Angels are very much on guard, no doubt!

2) But, really the biggest news in the life of Gabriel this spring, is that he was finally
able to become and altar boy because he received his First Holy Communion
on Palm Sunday.  

Unfortunately, due to a ridiculous comedy of errors, this is the only picture -- taken with my phone after Mass.  Gabe didn't care, of course, whether I got pictures or not.  He was properly disposed! But, this Momma was a a twitter of a mess because neither of my cameras worked for the occasion.  ARGH!  I'm over it now, yes.  And the lingering impression of the Big Day is sweet.  I'm ashamed I was upset at the time! Gabe is such a good little guy; he was focused totally on what was important.  He's already working toward Confirmation now -- has his saint picked out and everything.  :0) There's no stopping this little  Catholic; he's already a soldier of Christ!

3) Fast forward to Easter:

Here they are -- the kiddos, after Midnight Easter Mass, which ended somewhere around 2:30 a.m. (Ugh.  Yaaaawwwwnnnnn...) See how chipper they all look, though?  Dan and I did not look so chipper.  (You'll notice we're not in the picture....)

But, the reason the children are looking so bright-eyed at 2:30 a.m.?  You can see it at left. The Easter Candy Bar.  We set all the goodies out Easter eve and everybody enjoyed from 2:30 a.m. Easter, until this morning when I bagged up what was left to freeze or store.  We'll take a little out once a week or so until it's gone.  Maybe.  It's not like any of us needs this stuff.  We started on a sugar rush in the wee hours of the morning Sunday that may last us until the 4th of July.

4)  After being complete sugar-sotted pigs and slugs (sligs? pugs?) for a couple of days, we decided we needed to clean up our act on Easter Tuesday, and had a Pride and Prejudice marathon (the long A&E version), with a tea party at the intermission.  Here, as promised earlier, are a couple photo clicks I slipped in between scones and English Breakfast tea...

Good job on the pinkies, Anna!

Cathy, scone baker par excellence! Also served: tomato
basil and chicken salad sandwiches, deviled eggs, blueberry scones with
lime curd and mock Devon cream, and coconut vanilla cheesecake.
It was all yummy!

All the tea party goers (minus the photographer and the little boys who were banished
to the back room with their own goodies for a "man party," wherein they wrestled
on the school room couch, watched Abbot and Costello, and got scone  crumbs
all over the floor.) L-R: Anna, Theresa, the Child Jesus, Cathy, and June.

And in other news...

5) This guy is coming home:

We are glad to get the Dominic-themes of the
house soundtrack back again, regardless. :0)

Because he's had a relapse of ill health, Dominic will be driving back to Colorado from Omaha this weekend. He's been unable to kick the Epstein Barr virus that's been plaguing him, and he's missed more of his classes than he's been able to make at the seminary, so we all agreed that it would be best in the long run for him to head home for another extended rest cure. We're determined to kick this thing once and for all through the rest of this spring and summer, and are looking at this "cure time" as just a slight setback.  Dominic says he has every intention of re-entering the Religious life again as soon as he gets a completely clean bill of health.  It's a difficult cross for him, this delay of all his hopes and plans, but he (and all of us) feel the hand of God in all of this.  Please keep Dominic in your prayers -- body, mind, and spirit?  We're so happy to have him home -- but then, we'll be so happy for him to leave and get on with his real goals!

6) And this guy is leaving home:

Apparently, Paul did such a good job in his training mission in Jordan the last time around, that the Marine Corps had to have him out there again.  Darn him for being so good at what he does!  He's taking his men back to the desert this Monday night, leaving Nicole and Gavin (who's two now -- and all of it!) back at Camp Pendleton.  This excursion is supposed to only take a month or so. We're all hoping that's true.  Since he returned from Afghanistan last summer, he's had to leave his family every six weeks or so for a month or more out on assignment or training exercises.  It'd be awfully nice for the Paul Davis family to have a decent length of time to enjoy one another, for heaven's sake!  Anyway...  Prayers, please please -- for his safety in that always-tense part of the world??  And that God will be good and get him home soon -- and for more than a month or two this time around?

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

Oh, ouch, right?  The kids and I were having a chat the other day about this very point though. It's so easy to lay blame elsewhere for my own stupidity.  I'd like to think some mistakes were inevitable and unavoidable.  I want to say the devil made me do it.... But, really.  Really?

Generally speaking, he doesn't need to expend the effort.

One of the saints (I can't remember which one) illustrates this in the tale of a heaven-sent vision.  It seems he was permitted an aerial view of the countryside -- that alone, a unique perspective for medieval days -- but, more amazing, perhaps, was that as he flew over the hills and valleys, he was allowed to see how the forces of hell dispersed their legions.  And he was surprised at what he found.

Over a Benedictine abbey tucked away in the hillside, demons swarmed like bees around an upset hive.  The air was alive with the sound and smell of them.  Our saint was happy to keep his distance and quickly flew on, afraid of what he'd see at the large and worldly city over the hill, but curious still to see how many more fiends would inhabit such an evil place. But, as he tentatively approached, he was surprised; there was no cloud of  demons buzzing over the city. In fact, he couldn't see even one devil.

He flew in for a closer look.  Maybe the devils were more subtle in cities, he thought.  But, hard as he looked, hovering over the streets and houses and marketplaces, he couldn't catch sight of a single evil spirit!  He looked in windows, dove down through  alleyways and searched the busy thoroughfares, but in the end, all he found was one lone devil lounging at the city gate, picking his teeth.

Our saint, puzzled, asked God, "What the heck?" Or words to that effect.  The explanation was simple:

 Most people, led by their own fallen natures and the lures of the world, make their own trouble.  The devils don't need to tempt them; they sin all on their own. It's at the religious houses -- the convents and abbeys and seminaries -- where the devils need to do the most work to get men and women to fall -- and where they can expect the best return for their labors.

So, the devil really is not standing next to the Easter candy "bar," luring me over to those peanut M&Ms, forcing me to eat them against my will.  The half a (very large) bag of M&Ms that I've consumed over the last three days is my own bad decision -- and I'm the one solely responsible for the indiscretion (and I'll be the one to pay for it, whenever I actually get the courage to stand on the scale again...)

 But my sons in the seminary -- well, we'll leave it up to them to figure out who to blame their peanut M&Ms on...

Daily Prayer for a Seminarian Until his Ordination to the Priesthood O Jesus, Eternal High Priest, I offer You through Your Immaculate Mother Mary, Your own Precious Blood, in all the Masses throughout the world, as petition for graces for all seminarians, Your future priests, especially for...... (Dominic, Br. Philip,  Henry, and Fr. Vincent and all their fellow seminarians at  Mater Dei and St. Augustine seminaries) Give them humility, meekness, prudence, and a burning zeal for souls. Fill their hearts with the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Teach them to know and love the church, that they may always and everywhere speak, act, and think with her, the glorious spouse of Christ. Teach them generosity and detachment from wordly goods; but above all, teach them to know You and to love the One and Only Eternal Priest. good Shepherd of Souls, hear this my prayer for saintly priests. Amen.

The very powerful prayer to St. Michael to defeat all the powers of darkness -- the entire prayer and the story of how Pope Leo XIII was inspired to write it -- can be found here.

Easter Week

The Theme for Monday

Sat around like Jabba the Hut, sans hooka, of course -- stuffing down Easter sweets, watching movies, reading novels, acting like slobs, and accomplishing absolutely nothing.

The Theme for Tuesday

Tired of the low-life, recivilizing ourselves with a Jane Austen Day!

Started the day with prep work:

* quick shopping trip for groceries

* put together scones, chicken salad, tomato basil sandwiches, deviled eggs

*  cleaned out the teapots, set out several different tea blends

*  washed the good white tablecloth

*  pulled out best "period" costumes we could find (tho', admidttedly they ended up being of several different periods)

* settled the boys back in the school room with an Abbot and Costello marathon

* queued up our beloved A&E version (Colin Firth, oh yes!) of Pride and Prejudice

*  just now dipping into the first disc -- 

*  looking forward to high tea between discs, roughly about 4 pm 

Ah! Lovely order and culture!

(Pictures later, hopefully -- IF I can get my computer to recognize my camera to download them!  Go figure.  Now that my camera is fixed, my computer has a grudge against it.)