All Saints Day!!!!!

It is one thing to abrogate the obligation for a Holy Day of Obligation for certain reasons. It is another to move the Holy Day to a Sunday so that all can celebrate it. And while I might not agree with either of these options in general, what is happening this year is an outrage.

 

So the Holy Day obligation, All Saints Day, is abrogated because it falls on a Saturday. However, just because the obligation is gone doesn't mean the Holy Day is eliminated! Try to find a Saturday morning Mass this year in order to celebrate the Solemnity. We finally found one over 60 miles away-but the only reason they are having Mass is that it is 1st Saturday-laudable in itself, but it should be because of All Saints Day.

 

And to take the cake, this past Sunday at Mass they had a 2nd collection for All Saints Day (because there would be no Mass on All Saints Day to take up the collection.) So what exactly is the collection for?

 

I could make more comments, but I think the facts speak for themselves!

 

Oremus pro invicem!

My youngest daughter claims that the 3 most exciting material things are, "horses, guns and IV's".

Now to another rosary meditation;

The Nativity:

Joy to the world! The Savior is born!

The King is born alone in a stable, and He will die among thieves. But today is for joy.

God's love for us does not stop even to give us His only Son. God had asked Abraham for his only son as a test, but did not take him.

God gives Christ to us freely. We know how we treated this gift 2000 years ago. What about today? Do I give back what I have been given? How do I treat the gift of the Holy Eucharist?

Mother of our Savior, take us to your Son to worship and adore Him.

More Rosary

Since the beginning of September we have processed 6 hogs, the latest being this morning. Only 1/2 of them being our own. We know how to do it, so we help out friends when we can. But boy, I think we are a little tried of doing pigs, especially in this warmer weather.

But onto the next mystery of the rosary:

The Visitation

Mary is not pretentious or proud. Immediately after being told that she will be the mother of the Messiah, she goes to assist and to serve her cousin who is pregnant with John the Baptist.

The Mother of God serves. Her Son, the Divine Son, serves also-even unto death on a cross.

How do I serve? Does my position of authority at home and at work make me a servant or a tyrant?

O Mother of my Savior, help me to serve God and those in need for love of Him.

Oremus pro invicem!

The Holy Rosary-Meditations

Several years ago (more than 10) I used to pray the rosary on my commute home from work in the car. Distraction was king.

 

I decided to write out for myself some simple meditations for each mystery so I had something to grasp while I fought the distractions.

 

Over the next several days/weeks I will reproduce those scribbles here, one mystery at a time. They are nothing special, but they helped me then (and now) to focus on the mystery at hand.

 

 (I have nothing for the Luminous mysteries as these predate that time.) So here is the first.

 

1. The Annunciation 

 

Fiat - Be it done unto me according to thy word!

 

Total self-giving and commitment from a 14 year-old Jewish girl.

 

How is my commitment? To my marriage? To my children? To giving my time in prayer and works to God?

 

Can I commit my love and all of myself to God?

 

O Mary, conceived without sin, help me to accept God's will in my life and dedicate myself to Him.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Holy Matrimony

We are (and have been) in a crisis concerning marriage for many years, but the crisis is peaking. Yet at this critical time some bishops are seriously considering weakening the sacrament and institution of marriage in the Holy Catholic Church instead of standing firm and proclaiming the beautiful truth about faithful marriage.

Recall that only ONE bishop in all of Catholic England would stand for Truth in the time of Henry VIII. Do we have any courageous bishops today?

1. There is no mercy without Truth! Mercy is given to those who are sorrowful, not those who  persisting in sinful living.

2. There has been a proposal that divorced and remarried couples could come and be blessed at Mass instead of receiving Holy Communion. I wonder; my catechism said if you are not in the state of grace (and are in fact persisting in mortal sin), such a blessing has no efficacy.

3. Instead of making the obtainment of annulments easier (as some are proposing-further weakening the sacrament), why isn't the proposal made that uncatechized and/or immature couples would not be allowed to be married .... and then make a major and continuing effort to catechize the faithful on marriage.

4. Admittedly there are those whose spouse had abandoned them and their children. While no one wants another to suffer, we must realize suffering joined with Christ brings salvation. Yet some bishops would deny the innocent spouse the opportunity to further sanctify their life and join their suffering with that of our Lord, offering all for the offending spouse. This may be hard, but our Lord was clear that all of us must take up our cross. No cross - no crown!

5. The proposals which are being floated and discussed will make troubled marriages collapse all the sooner because their will be little incentive not to seek an easy annulment or 'regularize' a second marriage.

6. I just don't understand why the Church would help the forces of the evil one further destroy the domestic church. This is big and could rend the Church apart.

There is suffering; there is injustice; there is struggle. But if you believe in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, you must believe His promises. His promises involve the cross. His teachings are not always easy, but if we have faith and follow Christ, true, lasting joy will be ours.

We bring people to the fullness of Communion by giving everything we have and teaching the Truth-with gentleness and understanding (if not for the grace of God, there go I), not by making excuses and diluting the Truth.  Only the Truth will set us free.

Oremus pro invicem!

Busy week. We finally got all the peanuts harvest and put into "trees". Of course the first bunch is already dry and ready to separate the peanuts from the hay. But it will have to wait.

The sorghum was suddenly ready. I didn't think we had enough to bring to the farmer up the road to press, (drought, then tons of rain, then drought again, didn't produce the big stocks. For a while I thought we had lost the crop) so I looked for an alternative way to get a little syrup out of our best stocks.

What we did is take our best sorghum stocks and chop them up. We boiled the stocks in water to boil the syrup out. Then we removed the stocks and boiled the syrup down like one normally does. So far it is working well, but we have a ways to go.

Also getting everything in shape for our annual fall square dance, complete with pig roast. Our pig has been getting plenty of milk and should be great by the time its ready to harvest.

Oremus pro invicem!

The Daughters of St. Paul have a new digital magazine (I think the first issue was in August). They contacted me to write an article for the latest issue. Check out the whole magazine here.

Oremus pro invicem!

Sam and her pigs

This is what she has been doing all day!

So, what did I do? Did the front and rear brakes on the mini-van after a 30 mile trip to get a T47 socket-who would've thought? Anyway, brakes got finished just at the downpour started.

Oremus pro invicem!

Update: It looks like Sam (Samantha) had at least 14 piglets last night. Once again she's done a great job.

New pigs coming as I write. It doesn't seem she wants us to watch. I stay out there watching and watching ..... nothing. I turn my back for 1 minute and out pops another one.

**********************************

 

I haven't lost any weight in 3 or 4 years. However, in the last 40 days or so Mrs. Curley has lost some 20 pounds. She's worked hard and looks really healthy.

 

In the past 40 days or so, 3 people have commented to me that it looks like I have lost weight; no one has made the same comment to Mrs. Curley.

 

I guess she just continues to make me look good!

 

 

Oremus pro invicem