Simple Woman Monday on the Ides of March

 What I'm hearing... I've discovered a whole world of YouTube videos ( sometimes eight or ten hours long  -- with no ads!) that are untouched soundtracks of locations like beaches, birdsong forests in the UK or the southeast coast of America, a windy mountaintop, etc. Right now it's a crackling campfire by a woodland stream with the sounds of birds -- perfect peaceful background noise while I'm making up my Monday morning list for the week -- and filling out a Simple Woman Monday blog post.

What I'm seeing outside the window... All the signs of early spring: a cloudy drizzly day, a muddy driveway - bulb shoots poking up all over the gardens -- and hayfever! (Yes, I declare I see it coming for me.)

What I'm planning... Another week of cleaning and organizing all around. Dan's half finished removing the carpet upstairs so Dominic can lay a new laminate flooring when they move in next week, so, yeah, Dan'll be doing that in the evenings. In the meantime I got all our closets and dresser drawers weeded out and organized neatly in new labeled bins (how satisfying a project!) last week -- and now I'm planning to get the pub cleaned and organized before the troops get here for Anna's ceremonies for her entrance to the convent on the 25th -- otherwise Gabe and William won't have anywhere to sleep. (grimace) The countertop and bunkbeds are covered in stuff the local progeny don't want, but I don't have the heart to give away to Goodwill, and haven't found a place for yet. Wish me luck; I'm going to have to pluck more storage space out of thin air like Houdini I think.

What I'm thinking... Wondering about signal graces -- and whether it's fair to jump to conclusions about them. (God must know we're going to, right?) Anyway, what spurred this train of thought? It's just that, after praying for so long to our St. Joseph, patron saint of laborers for answers to the dilemma of how to manage our retirement (which is coming faster than we really even want to acknowledge -- but which we'd be foolish to ignore the reality of),  we finally landed on what we think may be the ticket to the next twenty years, financially and otherwise. This thing being the practicality and overall security of buying an RV -- and the coincidence (or God-incidence?) of its delivery date just happening to be on the feast of St. Joseph. And just in time to serve as a "spare room" for Sr. Antonia who's coming for Anna's ceremonies in a couple weeks!  Nothing is sure, and we always keep out antennae up for any promptings from the Divine Will -- but it surely feels like a bit of signal (emphasis on 'signal?') grace to us. I guess we'll see!

In the kitchen... Deciding whether to have Guinness Stew or Corned beef and Colcannon for St. Patrick's Day on Wednesday. But, one thing is sure. We will definitely be having Irish Soda Bread!

Picture thoughts... with a few words...

Bowling on Laetare Sunday!

With my sis, Linda, and Dan, plus Ben and Michelle and their four: Daria, Ella, Claudia, and Quinn.

It's a long-held family tradition to go out to dinner on Laetare Sunday (pretty much the only day in the year we sprang for the whole crew to eat at a restaurant!), then we'd embark on some other family excursion. For many years we went to a favorite steak house that had great salad and dessert bars and then went hiking in the Colorado mountains. Now that we're in Iowa, though, where there aren't any mountains and there aren't any Sizzling Steakhouses (here or anywhere maybe?), we play every new year by ear -- and invite anyone who is near. This year Michelle and Ben were on the ball (haha!) before we could even suggest anything, and arranged for the day out. It's nice to allow these arrangements to fall into other hands finally! I am not in the least feeling bereft of the responsibility. :)

Quinn with Aunt Nina

Forming the spectator cheering section along with yours truly.

The lanes were packed -- and there were a bazillion small children -- who were
using all the smaller lighter balls, leaving only the heaviest balls -- too heavy
for Linda and Quinn (winkwink) to be able to use -- and  I wasn't wearing socks
 -- and just really didn't want to wear a pair of bowling shoes without socks... because...
Ew. So we just enjoyed watching the kids.

Daria Showing Her Style

"See? You just... push."

Check this out: not only bumpers that came up automatically when the children bowled, but this
super cool ball-slide for the children. Why didn't they have these when our kids were little?

Daria and Ella (who took turns) WON!

With the help of bumpers and the dino ball-slide
which the grownups are saying they're going to use next time.

It's a little fuzzy. The names in order, for posterity: Michelle (who did all her own bowling without the bumpers or the dino slide), Aunt N -- was actually a free-for-all slot. Anyone who wanted to bowl
that one just jumped in and bowled. Daria (with her winning 139) was really mostly Daria and Ella --
helped by a really good slide placer (Michelle!). And the last two were Ben and Dan. I think Michelle
may have ended up beating Ben by one point. 

But Claudia probably had the most fun!

No competing with the air-blowing thinga-majig!

* The best thing about this day out -- is that, once it got started, it was almost just like the old days. We began the day (after Mass, of course) by first trying out the Pirate Putt Putt place right down the hill, but the formerly very common sense establishment is now (at the tail end of covid) suddenly mandating mask wearing. So we took our business up to Thunderbowl Bowling Alley -- which, from day one, has not required masks. The crew behind the desk doesn't bother with them -- and we were thrilled to see that, in the whole bowling alley, only one couple was masking. Dan remarked that it was more than worth the price of admission just to be in a situation where you knew the mask-wearers might have felt a little silly. Bless them. Nice to have a fun afternoon, though, that felt just -- normal! 

(Great little restaurant attached to the alley, too, btw, for any locals who might enjoy a date night out.)

Greatness

Today (March 12th) is the feast of St. Gregory the Great, and just his name begs a queue of questions -- not about whether St. Gregory deserves the appellation (of course he does!), but more about the honor of the title itself. Don't you wonder? First of all, what makes for the distinction, considering there are so many saints we might also think of as great who don't get 'the Great' as part of their legacy? Is it an official title conferred by the Church? How many Greats are there, and do they come from all different strata of Church life or are they all "big wigs" in the hierarchy?

I had a hard enough time just trying to remember more than two or three saints called "the Great," so, as a public service -- and because I was just curious -- I grabbed my deer slayer hat and took my magnifying glass to the internet, and this is what I found:

* Though it seems there is a list of popes at the Vatican (the Annuario Pontificio) that does distinguish the Greats among the Successors of Peter, the Church never officially pronounces saints as “great”; rather, those whom we know by the title have won the honor by popular acclaim at the time of  death and later earned them in perpetuity by the acclaim of history itself. When the moniker, sometimes applied out of the affection of a saint's contemporary society, stands the test of time and the objectivity of distance and comparison, the saint is officially unofficially one of "the Greats."

* There are seven holy men and women of the Church who have thus stood the test and become universally acclaimed the Greats of the Roman Catholic calendar Though there may be more, these are those most universally recognized.

 

Three Popes: Pope St. Leo I (reigned 440–61 AD); Pope St. Gregory I (590–604  AD); and Pope St. Nicholas I (858–67 AD). 

Two bishops: St. Albert the Great (aka 'Albert Magnus,' c.1200-1280 AD) and St. Basil the Great (aka 'Basil of Ceasarea,' c.330-379 AD)

One abbot: St. Anthony the Great (aka 'Antony of the Desert,' 251-356 AD)

One Abbess: St. Gertrude the Great (aka 'St. Gertrude of Helfta,' 1256-1302 AD)

One motive for persisting in the Great reference for some saints is that of providing distinction between two saints of the same name. For instance, St. Gertrude, the only female called Great, received the title from Pope Benedict XIV to differentiate her from Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn, who was the elder sister of St. Mechtilde and abbess of St. Gertrude the Great's convent, but she left no writings, and is not a canonized saint.  A good abbess and holy woman, to be sure, but the abbess didn't merit the acknowledgement from the pope as our St. Gertrude did. 

St. Anthony the Great -- perhaps more commonly known as St. Anthony of the Desert -- earned several other distinguishing titles to prevent confusing him with St. Anthony of Padua: Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Hermit, and Anthony of Thebes, but the title of Great is a well-earned asterisk considering he is known as the Father of All Monks, one of the founders of Christian monasticism. 

But What is Greatness?

Seeing as all saints (in my mind, anyway) are great, the next question has to be: what was it exactly that made these saints, popes, bishops, abbot and abbess, stand out in their greatness? All the accomplishments and virtues of these seven would fill the big walnut tree in my backyard, but here are some nutshell possibilities to consider:

St. Albert the Great 

Popularly known as the teacher of the great St. Thomas Aquinas (the consummate theologian, the Angelic Doctor, who did not get the sobriquet) -- and not as a bishop, St. Albert was appointed the bishopric of Regensburg, Germany, by Pope Alexander IV in 1260. 

Due to the difficulty of maintaining his Dominican vows of humility, however, he resigned the post with permission of Pope Urban IV after only three years . The story goes that he felt riding a horse incompatible with this vows, so he walked the length and breadth of his large diocese in his zeal for his people, but felt unsatisfied that he provided for them adequately. (Can you imagine?) Humble to a fault, St. Albert earned the laud of centuries of Catholics for his great learning, his successful diplomacy, and his passion for education of all kinds, but especially in theology (and especially amongst his Dominicans). He was known in his time, as well as in our own, as a scientist, philosopher, astrologer, and spiritual writer.  How could we think of the teacher of St. Thomas as anything less than Great?

St. Anthony the Great 

Known as the Father of All Monks, he was not the first ascetic, but he was the first to escape to the wilderness (c. AD 270) to live a life devoted to prayer and sacrifice -- and lead others to do likewise. The biography of his life by Athanasius of Alexandria is credited with spreading the concept St. Anthony's type of monasticism throughout Western Europe, otherwise little would be known of this holy monk who purposely hid from the world. It is known through Athanasius that St. Anthony ate only bread, salt, and herbs. He drank only water and never took of meat or wine. He ate only once a day and sometimes fasted for several days. He was periodically beaten by demons in the shapes of fantastic beasts, sometimes to within an inch of his life. Though he struggled to remain solitary, a scattered group of followers began to set up "camps" near his hermitage and begged him to lead them also to holiness. In sympathy, and no doubt at the prompting of the Holy Ghost, he agreed to lead them, and spent the next five or six years organizing and teaching the great number of monks that had sprung up around him -- then retired to the inner desert between the Nile and the Red Sea where he spent the last 45 years of life in solitary prayer and penance. How could we not call the Father of Monks Great?

St Basil the Great

A Greek bishop of Caesarea, St. Basil was an important theologian  of the early Church who championed the Nicene Creed at the Council of Nicaea. He fought all the chief heresies that beset the early Church, including Arianism and the errors of Apollinaris of Laodicea. He was instrumental in laying out the guidelines for monastic life. Laying the foundational groundwork for monasticism in the Church, he founded (with the help of his widowed mother and sisters) a monastic settlement on his family's estate near Annesi. His writings about monastic communal life became instrumental in the development of the monastic tradition, particularly in the Eastern Church. 

Together with St. Gregory Nazianzus, he collected within the Origen's Philocalia a large portion of the historian's works documenting the early Church. When he was bishop of Caesarea, he personally organized a charitable kitchen for the poor during a famine and gave away his personal family inheritance to help the poor. We know from his letters that he worked to reform thieves and fallen women. He took personal interest in the selection of candidates for Holy Orders, personally chastised civil officials when they failed in their duties -- and preached to large congregations every morning and evening in his own church. St. Gregory Nazianzus who knew him well compared him to the seven wonders of the world. And if St. Gregory doesn't know Greatness, who does?

St. Gertrude the Great

Part of the confusion between Gertrude of Hackeborn and St. Gertrude the Great lies in the fact that Gertrude of Hackeborn was the Abbess of the Convent in Helftla when our St. Gertrude (the Great one) entered in the year 1260 at the age of 4 (most likely having been orphaned, but it is a debated point). St. Gertrude the Great was mentored under the renowned St. Mechtilde (patron saint of Church music), and reportedly joined the convent itself (Benedictine or Cistersian? It is also debated) at the tender age of ten. By all accounts, however, she was a phenomenal child, taking naturally to Latin and a large range of common course studies. 

At the age of 25, however, her priorities changed to studies of theology and scripture when she experienced the first of a series of visions that continued throughout her life. She became one of the great mystics of the 13th century, devoting her time to prayer and meditation and to writing spiritual treatises for the benefit of her monastic sisters, several which survive today, including her Spiritual Exercises and many sections of a book called The Herald.  She was one of the first devotees of the Sacred heart of Jesus, promoted amongst her Religious Sisters the notion of "nuptial mysticism" -- or being "Brides of Christ," and shared her tender regard for the suffering souls in Purgatory in her writings and her personal urging. She is well known for the following prayer: 

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, for those in my own home and in my family. Amen.  

St. Francis DeSales and St. Philip Neri both benefitted by St. Gertrude's revelations and prayers, and Dom Prosper Gueranger (famously, the author of The Liturgical Year and the restorer of Benedictine monasticism in France) owed his gratitude to the influence of St. Gertrude's writings. Her life, spent over 750 years ago, has never stopped influencing seekers of the Spiritual Life. That is true Greatness.

Pope St. Gregory the Great

Another Roman pontiff born in Rome, Pope St. Gregory was born in AD 540 to a wealthy Roman family that was also devoutly Catholic. His mother, Sylvia, and two paternal aunts are honored as saints. A prefect of Rome first, Pope St. Gregory did not enter the Religious life (the Benedictines) until after the age of 33. He was chosen to be a papal deacon by Pope Pelagius II in 578, was papal nuncio to the Byzantine court from 579-585, and, finally, was elected and consecrated pope (by unanimous decision) in 590 AD. His pontificate was distinguished throughout with greatness. In his Liber Regulae Pastoralis, he detailed the specific duties of bishops, he recorded many lives of the saints in his Dialogues, and is recorded as having reformed clerical discipline, removing bishops and priests from office where necessary. He was responsible for peace treaties among barbarian invaders, converting many, and commissioned many groups of missionaries, notably to the British Isles through St. Augustine of Canterbury; St. Colomban who converted much of France; and St. Leander who freed Spain from the Arian error of the Visigoths.

He restored clerical discipline, removing unworthy bishops and priests from office. He protected the Jews from persecution. He fed those who suffered from famine and ransomed those captured by barbarians. He negotiated peace treaties with the barbarian invaders, converting many of them. He instituted the Gregorian chant and to him is attributed the practice of offering thirty Masses for the repose of a soul after death. He is one of the 33 Doctors of the Church and is considered the final Western Church Father.

And this just hits the highlights. The list goes on and on -- and can only lead us to conclude that Pope St. Gregory is, indeed, one of the Greatest of the Greats.

Pope St. Leo the Great

Born a citizen of Rome in the early fifth century, Pope St. Leo succeeded Pope Sixtus III in AD 440. He fought tirelessly against the early heresies of Manichaeism, Pelagianism, Priscillianism, and Nestorianism, and is especially known for his labors against the heresy of Eutyches, which denied the hypostatic union (the divine and human natures united in the divine Person of Christ). He called the Council of Chalcedon in 451 to cement Catholic teaching in the matters of the Incarnation. 

A leader of courage and faith, Pope Leo met Attila the Hun (known as "the Scourge of God") face to face in AD 452 and by the grace of God prevented the destruction of Rome. The story that survives the centuries is that at the meeting Attila saw Saints Peter and Paul wielding swords above  the head of Leo, and this ominous threat motivated Attila to retreat. Ever after, Leo was known by his people as “the Shield of God.” As the Roman Empire declined, Leo sought to strengthen the Church: he suppressed any surviving pagan festivals and closed all remaining pagan temples; he sent missionaries to Africa, then under the threat of barbarians; and he instituted many  needed reforms, including defining the roles of bishops under stricter discipline.  One of the hammers of heretics, Pope St. Leo provided not only guidance and leadership in the midst of heresy, but courage and miracles in the face of worldly danger. Truly a Great!

Pope St. Nicholas the Great

Another "not-to-be-confused-with" saint, Pope St. Nicholas was born c. 820 and has nothing to do with hanging stockings by fireplaces. Not merely a native of Rome, he was practically raised in the Vatican. Because his father was an official in the papal administration, he received his educated at the Lateran, then served in the papal administration, himself, under Pope Sergius II. He was later ordained a deacon by Pope Leo IV, became an advisor to Pope Benedict III, and upon Pope Benedict's death in 858, replaced him in the See of Peter. Well known for his charity and justice, Pope Nicholas denounced the king of Lorraine for attempting to divorce his legitimate wife to marry his mistress, and in the midst of resistance within the Church's hierarchy to bend to civil constructs, he remained firm. With the same resolve, he protected the rights and authority of the papacy at a time when secular rulers sought to control the Church, never hesitating to take decisive measures against them. Pope Nicholas was also a champion of the poor, a supporter of sacred art, and a reformer of clergy and laity alike. He sent missionaries to Bulgaria and Scandinavia under the leadership of St. Ansgar. Though a difficult time in the life of the Church, Pope St. Nicholas represented Christ on earth with the highest personal integrity, dying on November 13, 867 after nine years as Vicar of Christ. His guardianship of the Church, a job requirement of the papacy ignored since Pope Pius XII, amounts to true greatness.

A Great Gift to Us All

What all saints have in common, but especially The Greats, is that they were -- as GK Chesterton says in the quote on the right -- antidotes, not just of their particular time, but of all future times in the history of the Church. They offered what souls needed in their ages, and sometimes they cracked the whip on the Church, itself, when it needed to pull back on track. From the beauty of Gregorian chant to the devotion to the Sacred Heart to the examples of the guardianship of the church and the founding of ascetic and communal monasticism, every one of these Greats made permanent contributions to souls -- and to civilizations. They were a gift to our ancestors and to us, as well. 

My prayer is that we live to see the next Great and that he or she will be the antidote to the problems of our crazy times -- but most especially that they'll lead individual hearts, one by one, to God. St. Gregory the Great, please intercede for us!

* Please forgive the wacko fonts. Blogger is giving me all kinds of trouble in this regard lately! I'm not sure why. If anyone is having similar issues, let me know if you know what the solution is, please!

Throwback Thursday

 I don't have the photo any more, but I remember it. It was taken shortly after we were able to bring home our firstborn, Paul Joseph, from the NICU; Dan and I had gone over to my parents' house for dinner, and a some time during the day I got to have a sit-down with my Mom. She sat on the oatmeal-colored wing chair in the living room, I was nearby on the couch with little Paul (with the oxygen tube still), and someone (probably my sister, Linda) snapped a picture of me and itty-bitty Paul. Mom wasn't in the frame, but she was there. I remember distinctly. I remember the outfit I was wearing (navy blue skirt set with white collar and cuffs), and though I don't remember the conversation exactly, I know what we talked about: diapers and feedings and sleep and baby acne. Just like Cathy and I talked about a couple days ago when I snapped this picture of her with her firstborn, Chlotilda Marie. 

I told her to mark my words: some day you'll be sitting with Chloe talking about these same things with her about her first baby. What a thought, huh? It's a funny thing about our great career: motherhood separates us -- Cathy is no longer under my wing, my own little bird, now that she has her own nest -- but in a beautiful way her motherhood binds us in a way we've never enjoyed before. You never really get your mother until you are a mother yourself! You never really see your child until she blooms into parenthood, a free agent creating a new family with her husband. Completely separate. Completely connected. Such an awe-inspiring thing to contemplate this carrying-on that mothers and children do, all the mothers of mothers of mothers before us, all the children of children of children to come. 

It's a thing to pray about! That all the good gets passed on. That all the not-so-good is forgiven -- but not forgotten: fixed. Gently and well. That God's Will is the Hand that braids and weaves the generations together. That all our children and our children's children, ad infinitum to the end of the world stay connected through Him, through the Faith, and through the Love that binds all. That's not much to ask, is it? Only everything. 

Heads Up!

 Today is the day to start a novena to St. Joseph!

Many people begin novenas to end on the day before a special feast, but they may also be timed to fall on the feast day, itself.  That's how we like to do it, but there's no right and wrong way!  In fact, though it's pretty neat to end a novena on a saint's particular feast, you certainly don't need to do that, either!  We're usually not on the ball enough around here to get the timing right, anyway! But that shouldn't stop us from using this efficacious means of prayer. Heaven knows, we all have needs that spring up out of the blue -- and some that are just on-going. No need to wait! We can start a novena any time we like.  

Likewise, though there are many beautiful prayers prescribed for novenas, any prayer can be used for the purpose. Just repeat it with your petition nine days in a row. That's the sticking point; you can't miss a day! It seems God is pleased with us when we stick to a thing with commitment and devotion enough to remember it nine days in a row.  (I know I'm always impressed with myself when I make it all the way through, too!)

But, St. Joseph.   How can you say too much in praise of our St. Joseph?  He's the patron of the Universal Church, the patron of the dying, patron of families, patron of workers...  He is always interested in us and in our problems, and always practical in his help.  His Divine Son -- who loves him very much, indeed -- gives St. Joseph what he asks.  He is sure help in our need!  

Listed below are a good handful of prayers that are novenas, or can be used as such  Begin today and you can finish  (like we hope to) on March 19th!

Words of St.Teresa of Avila 

“I took for my patron and lord the glorious St. Joseph, and recommended myself earnestly to him. I saw clearly that both out of this my present trouble, and out of others of greater importance, relating to my honor and the loss of my soul, this my father and lord delivered me, and rendered me greater services than I knew how to ask for. I cannot call to mind that I have ever asked him at any time for anything which he has not granted; and I am filled with amazement when I consider the great favors which God has given me through this blessed Saint; the dangers from which he has delivered me, both of body and of soul.” —Autobiography, VI, 9

 Prayer to St. Joseph for Our Children

Oh glorious St. Joseph, to you God committed the care of His only begotten Son amid the many dangers of this world. We come to you and ask you to take under your special protection the children God has given us. Through holy baptism they became children of God and members of His holy Church. We consecrate them to you today, that through this consecration they may become your foster children. Guard them, guide their steps in life, and form their hearts after the hearts of Jesus and Mary.

St. Joseph, who felt the tribulation and worry of a parent when the child Jesus was lost, protect our dear children for time and eternity. May you be their father and counselor. Let them, like Jesus, grow in age as well as in wisdom and grace before God and men. Preserve them from the corruption of his world, and give us the grace one day to be united with them in Heaven forever.

Amen.

Prayer in a Difficult Problem

Oh Glorious St. Joseph, thou who hast power to render possible even things which are considered impossible, come to our aid in our present trouble and distress. Take this important and difficult affair under thy particular protection, that it may end happily. (Name your request.) 

O dear St. Joseph, all our confidence is in thee. let it not be said that we would invoke thee in vain; and since thou art so powerful with Jesus and Mary. show that thy goodness equals thy power. Amen, St. Joseph, friend of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.

“Would that I could persuade all men to be devoted to this glorious Saint [St. Joseph], for I know by long experience what blessings he can obtain for us from God. I have never known anyone who was truly devoted to him and honored him by particular services who did not advance greatly in virtue: for he helps in a special way those souls who commend themselves to him. It is now very many years since I began asking him for something on his feast, and I have always received it. If the petition was in any way amiss, he rectified it for my greater good . . . I ask for the love of God that he who does not believe me will make the trial for himself—then he will find out by experience the great good that results from commending oneself to this glorious Patriarch and in being devoted to him . . .” —Teresa of Avila, Autobiography, VI, 11-12

Prayer to St. Joseph

We come to you, O blessed Joseph, in our distress. Having sought the aid of your most blessed spouse, we now confidently implore your assistance also. We humbly beg that, mindful of the affection which bound you to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and of the fatherly love with which you cherished the child Jesus, you will lovingly watch over the heritage which Jesus Christ purchased with His blood, and by your powerful intercession help us in our urgent need. Prudent guardian of the Holy Family, protect chosen people of Jesus Christ; drive far from us, most loving father, all error and corrupting sin. From your place in heaven, most powerful protector, graciously come to our aid in this conflict with the powers of darkness, and as of old you delivered the Child Jesus from danger of death, so now defend the holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity. Extend to each one of us your continual protection, that, led on by your example, and borne up by your strength, we may be able to live and die in holiness and obtain everlasting happiness in heaven. Amen.

A Boy Sweetheart's Daily Prayer

O St. Joseph, Model of justice, and therefore of husbands, I beseech Thee to direct me in my choice of a future wife. Grant me especially wisdom and deliberation in this choice. Make both my friendship and courtship especially chaste, unselfish, prudent, thrifty, and cheerful. Be my companion in single as well as in wedded life.

A Girl Sweetheart's Daily Prayer

O Mary, Model of pure love, and therefore of sweethearts, I beseech Thee to direct me in my choice of a future husband. Grant me especially wisdom and deliberation in this choice. Make both my friendship and courtship chaste, unselfish, prudent, thrifty, and cheerful. Be my companion in single as well as in wedded life. 

“To other Saints Our Lord seems to have given power to succor us in some special necessity—but to this glorious Saint, I know by experience, He has given the power to help us in all. Our Lord would have us understand that as He was subject to St. Joseph on earth—for St. Joseph, bearing the title of father and being His guardian, could command Him—so now in Heaven Our Lord grants all his petitions. I have asked others to recommend themselves to St. Joseph, and they, too, know the same thing by experience . . .” —St. Teresa of Avila, Autobiography, VI, 9

Indulgenced Prayer to St. Joseph

Patron of the Universal Church 

(TO BE SAID ESPECIALLY AFTER THE ROSARY)
 

To thee, O blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our affliction,
and having implored the help of thy thrice holy Spouse, we
now, with hearts filled with confidence, earnestly beg thee
also to take us under thy protection. By that charity, wherewith
thou were united to the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God,
and by that fatherly love, with which thou didst cherish the
Child Jesus, we beseech thee and we humbly pray that thou
wilt look down with gracious eyes upon that inheritance
which Jesus Christ purchased by His Blood, and wilt succor
us in our need by thy power and strength.
Defend, O most watchful guardian of the Holy family, the
chosen offspring of Jesus Christ. Keep from us, O most
loving Father, all blight of error and corruption. Aid us from on
high, most valiant defender, in this conflict with the powers
of darkness, and even as of old, thou didst rescue the Child
Jesus from the peril of His life, so no defend God's Holy
Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity.
Shield us ever under thy patronage, that, imitating thy example
and strengthened by thy help, we may live a holy life, die a
happy death, and attain everlasting bliss in Heaven. Amen.

An Ancient Prayer to St. Joseph

Oh St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires. O St. Joseph, assist me by thy powerful intercession and obtain for me all spiritual blessings through thy foster Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord, so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer thee my thanksgiving and homage.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thine arms.  i dare not approach while He reposes near Thy 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.

“Those persons who give themselves to prayer should in a special manner always have great devotion to St. Joseph, for I know not how anyone can think of the Queen of Angels during the time that she suffered so much with the Infant Jesus without giving thanks to St. Joseph for the assistance he rendered to them then. He who cannot find anyone to teach him how to pray, let him take this glorious Saint for his guide, and he will not lose his way.” 
—St. Teresa of Avila, Autobiography, VI, 12

Prayer to St. Joseph the Workman 

Composed by Pope St. Pius X 

(State your petitions) 

O glorious St. Joseph, model of all those who are devoted to labor, 

Obtain for me the grace


 To work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my natural inclinations, 

To work with gratitude and joy, in a spirit of penance for the remission of my sins, 
considering it an honor to employ and develop by means of labor the gifts received from God, 

To work with order, peace, moderation and patience, without ever shrinking from weariness and difficulties, 

To work above all with purity of intention and detachment from self, 
having always death before my eyes and the account that I must render of time lost, 
of talents wasted, of good omitted, of vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God. 

All for Jesus, all through Mary, all after thine example, O Patriarch, St. Joseph. 
Such shall be my watchword in life and in death.
 Amen

Prayer to St. Joseph for Employment

Dear St. Joseph, you were yourself once faced with the responsibility of providing the necessities of life for Jesus and Mary. Look down with fatherly compassion upon me in my anxiety over my present inability to support my family. Please help me to find gainful employment very soon, so that this heavy burden of concern will be lifted from my heart and that I am soon able to provide for those whom God has entrusted to my care. Help us to guard against bitterness and discouragement, so that we may emerge from this trial spiritually enriched and with even greater blessings from God. Amen.

Ite ad Joseph!

Do not hesitate:

Go to Joseph!

“Some Saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with particular efficacy in certain needs, but not in others; but our holy patron St. Joseph has the power to assist us in all cases, in every necessity, in every undertaking.”  ~ St. Thomas Aquinas

Simple Woman Simple Monday

 What I'm hearing... Not much. Dan's in his office tapping away on the computer (but I can't hear the taps from here). Dawsey is sleeping in his guard dog perch next to the window on top of the couch (but he's not snoring at the moment). So, yeah. The empty nest life. It's very quiet here. Not the deeply muffled silence of the snowy days a week or two ago, I'm happy to report, but the brighter silence of  early early spring. May be trickster spring just teasing us, of course -- but it's been lovely. We've had a week of fifties and sixties here in Iowa, and lots of sunshine. (smilesmile) But there's no denying that winter is most likely not finished with us yet! It's all good, though. St. Teresa of Avila -- who taught about proper mind framing centuries before Jordan Peterson showed up -- tells us "there is no such thing as bad weather; all weather is good because it's God's." So I'm resigned; it's fine -- even if it does snow again before bona fide spring, snowy silence in March really is actually the priming for bird song and new leaves tingling to life outside. I begin to think I can actually feel that tingling. Sometimes the expectation is as good as the fruition. Almost.

What I'm wearing... My old tried and true grey skirt -- that is looking very raggedy in its old age. (I'm hunting for a new one. Exactly like this one. Which has been harder to find than you'd think!) And another comfy go-to, my old aqua corduroy blouse. And little grey sneakers. (And aqua-colored cheaters on top of my head. Probably perched up there crookedly.)

What I'm reading... Actually nothing! Crazy enough. I have the Sermons of St. Francis DeSales  and Thoughts of St. Augustine sitting by my reading chair and a healthy brain book on my bedside table, but I've been too busy to do much reading. We've been getting the house ready for Dominic and his girls to move in with us in less than two weeks from today! (Oh, my aching back!)

What I'm thinking... Dan and I have been devoting a lot of thought and talking about our big-picture goals for the next 25 years -- from now to meeting God face to face, iykwim. Retirement. Where do we want to place our priorities? Our stuff? Our time? Our selves? How much do we want to travel? Can we work out that goal financially? Realistically? Or would we rather stay mostly planted here at the homestead and spend more of our time building a secondary business for retirement? Or write a book together? Or what? The answer? We don't know yet. Probably all of the above, divvied out in percentages yet to be worked out.

From the kitchen...We found something new to facilitate our Lenten fasting diet: individual serving size packets of flavored tuna! Who'd have thought? Five years ago I would have walked right on by, seriously! Ounce for ounce, they're not a good buy if you're preparing tuna sandwiches for more than two people, but if you're like us -- and there are only two of you and you prefer different seasonings -- and have wasted way too many half bowls of tuna salad lost in the back of the fridge -- or if you just want a very easy and portable lunch for one, we highly recommend this new way of looking at an old Lenten stand-by.

Nice thing is that these packets are easily small enough to work for the ancillary smaller meals of Lent, and they are a good source of protein -- if not perfectly paleo, given some of the varieties have added corn syrup, sugar, corn starch, and the like (Not all, though! Be sure to read the ingredients if you have a strict diet.). Taste-wise, though, this tuna is more than passable, with flavors that I would never have thought to add myself, from chipotle to ranch to sun-dried tomato basil (and many more!). After so many years of preparing tuna the old fashioned way (the one and only way around here -- with dill pickle relish, mayo, S&P), these are practically gourmet. And they are easy easy easy! We found three brands doing this now at our local W-mart: Star-kist, Chicken of the Sea, and Bumblebee. They're all good, but we like Bumblebee best for consistency and range of interesting varieties -- and Bumblebee comes with the cutest little fold-up spork inside each package! (I'm saving them for the grandkids to use just because they fun!) Most are about a dollar a packet, expensive if you're feeding a family of twelve -- but a great deal for only one or two Lenten fasters!

Around the house... Piles of stuff that we know we'll never use again that we think the kids might want. Children's books, home-school books and supplies, craft supplies, linens... We had our first "free-for-all" yesterday, and Ben and Michelle came by and took a trunkful of stuff off our hands. I figure we do this a couple more times as we unload rooms in the Great Davis Downsizing Attempt -- and give the rest to Goodwill. By the time the kids and our boarder girls, etc,, have picked through everything, I'm guessing there won't be much worthy of the trouble of a yard sale...

Plans for the week... New chalk door design before St. Patrick's Day... Get Louis and Cathy to come get the bedroom furniture they wanted... Pare down my wardrobe and all the stuff in the tops of our master bedroom closets in preparation for new carpet in there shortly... Get back in a better writing groove again... Work on Sr. Antonia's literature studies... Clean the grout in the downstairs tilework (ugh)...

Picture thought for the day... And a question: If you were going to build a sunroom, would you want it all high-white and bright, or mostly warm woods and cozy, or a combination? (I'm still deciding! If you're wondering why -- go back a couple days to "Five Random" where I mentioned that we're buying an RV and looking to possibly build an RV shelter with bonus rooms.)

High white and bright.

Mostly wood and cozy.

A little both. I'm leaning this way. But the one thing I know
is that I want big picture windows like this -- and these exact
book shelves underneath!

They Called Him the Dumb Ox

Little did they know.

There is a popular story told of St. Thomas  It seems that our St. Thomas was often so rapt in contemplation of higher things that he seemed unfocused on the world around him. In an effort to shake him out of his reverie one time, his fellow monks, laughing and smirking amongst themselves, cried, “Look! Out the window! There is a flying cow!” Well, St. Thomas startled, got up from his chair and went to the window to look -- which made the tricksters all burst into laughter. But, St. Thomas stopped that mid-chuckle when he instantly replied, “I would rather believe in a flying cow than a lying monk!”

Picture Source

One of only thirty-three Doctors of the Church and the author of the definitive Catholic work of Catholic doctrine, the Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas was one of the greatest thinkers to walk the earth, but he was a man of sweetest simplicity and goodness. It is said his final Confession was like that of a five-year-old, its nature was so innocent and simple.  G. K. Chesterton wrote, “There is not a single occasion on which he indulged in a sneer. His curiously simple character, his lucid but laborious intellect, could not be better summed up than by saying he did not know how to sneer.”

You can't help but marvel at the soaring intellect of this man. It would seem, wouldn't it, that his highest honor was to have been proclaimed a Doctor of the Church? But I think -- no, I am certain -- that in Heaven, his greatest achievement had nothing to do with his intelligence or his writings; it's his great humility and charity that sets him apart.  In this famous Epistle, St. Paul laid out our spiritual priorities very clearly: And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.

 The way our pastor explained this made so much sense I wanted to share it. He said that, in heaven, we no longer require faith because we see God, face to face; all that we have believed in our lifetime is right there for us to see ourselves; we no longer need hope because that hope for heaven has been achieved; but the charity we have practiced during our lifetime remains there in our souls. We take it to heaven with us.

The fact of our intelligence or our good intentions or happy outlook don't win us the crown, but our good works, offered properly, do. The fruit of St. Thomas' writings benefit the world until the end of time, but it is his charity on earth that he wears as a crown in eternity. A good thing to know if you're like most of us, lacking the brains of this "Dumb Ox."

St. Thomas, patron of Catholic Schools, please pray for the children and teachers of all our Catholic schools.  As you intercede for their progress in their studies, bless them all the more with the example of your holy charity. Help us all to imitate your goodness and humility, to do all we can toward the greater honor and glory of God, and to grow in the practice of charity.  Amen.

William inj 2011

  If I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.  And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Happy name day to all the Thomases out there -- and a special greeting to all Catholic School Teachers!

And happy name day William Thomas!

Here's a coloring page for the day.  Just click and print!

And here is Tantum Ergo Sacramentum, Gregorian Chant style. 

Did you know that it was written by St. Thomas?

William Thomas now. 2021
Still a cutie patootie --
and a true child of his patron,
St. Thomas!

(Repost from 2011)