Parents Prayer

My husband went to a Catholic Men's conference recently, where Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers gave some great insight on the role and perceptions of fathers in our society. Maybe I can talk my husband into doing a guest post some time about it. Anyway, Deacon Harold talked about praying before going on the internet and placing Holy Cards around your computer monitor. Our oldest daughter and I went shopping for some Holy Cards just for this purpose and she picked out several really good ones. This prayer is one is one of my favorites that was on the back of a picture of the Holy Family:

Most Loving Father, the example of parenthood, teach us what to give and what to withhold. Show us when to reprove and when to praise. Make us gentle and considerate yet firm and watchful. Keep us from weak indulgence, or from great severity. Give us the courage to be disliked sometimes by our children, when we must do necessary things which are displeasing in their eyes. Give us the imagination to enter into their world in order to understand and guide them. Give us all the virtues we need to lead them by word and example in the path of righteousness. Amen.

Their Dad Took Them Grocery Shopping

I love my husband. He really is a kid at heart, so it is always interesting when he goes grocery shopping, with or without the kids. Yesterday, he took them to buy cookies (guess I need to make more desserts or something :) ). This is what they came back with (and some cookies too which were all gone before I could take a picture):

I'm not even going to write about yogurt in a long plastic bag because it's beyond me right now, but something interesting we noticed about the popsicles after lunch today was that they were "slow-melt". What is that supposed to mean? It's no fun to have popsicles unless they are dripping all over and attracting ants! Seriously, isn't that what popsicles are all about? Making a mess while enjoying some good old-fashioned cold sugar? I guess not anymore.

Immediately, of course, I thought what makes them "slow melt"? My dear husband said it was gelatin, which is what it said on the front of the box, but being the inquiring mom I am, I decided to look at the ingredient list. Lo and behold I found "ice structuring protein" (warning :) wikipedia link) as the last ingredient. Those food people should at least try to hide it in the middle of the ingredient list. Geeks like me are not fooled by trickery on the front of the package.

Anyway, I'll leave it to you to search out ice structuring protein outside of wikipedia "information" if you are so inclined to do so. I for one am going to go for old fashioned ice cream with old-fashioned ingredients. Maybe we should pull out that ice cream maker Grandma and Grandpa bought for us and make our own!

That's my girl:

Litany of the Love of God

I love this prayer I received from a beloved priest a few years ago:

LITANY OF THE LOVE OF GOD
(Composed by His Holiness, Pope Pius VI)

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.
Thou Who art Infinite Love, Have mercy on us.
Thou Who didst first love me, Have mercy on us.
Thou Who commandest me to love Thee, Have mercy on us.

With all my heart, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
With all my soul, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
With all my mind, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
With all my strength, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
Above all possessions and honors, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
Above all pleasures and enjoyments, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
More than myself, and everything belonging to me,
I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
More than all my relatives and friends, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
More than all men and angels, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
Above all created things in heaven or on earth,
I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
Only for thyself, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
Because Thou art the sovereign Good, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
Because Thou art infinitely worthy of being loved,
I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
Because Thou art infinitely perfect, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
Even hadst Thou not promised me heaven,
I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
Even hadst Thou not menaced me with hell,
I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
Even shouldst Thou try me by want and misfortune,
I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
In wealth and in poverty, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
In prosperity and in adversity, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
In health and in sickness, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
In life and in death, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
In time and in eternity, I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
In union with that love wherewith all the saints and all the angels love Thee in heaven,
I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
In union with that love wherewith the Blessed Virgin Mary loveth Thee,
I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.
In union with that infinite love wherewith Thou lovest Thyself eternally,
I LOVE THEE, O MY GOD.


Prayer

My God, Who dost possess in incomprehensible abundance all that is perfect and worthy of love, annihilate in me all guilty, sensual, and undue love for creatures. Kindle in my heart the pure fire of Thy love, so that I may love nothing but Thee or in Thee, until being entirely consumed by holy love of Thee, I may go to love Thee eternally with the elect in heaven, the country of pure love. Amen.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my dad, to my father-in-law, to my husband, to our grandpas and to all the priests out there serving us as spiritual fathers. I love you all and am so thankful for each and every one of you! Thank you God for giving us all life and each other to bring us closer to You, our Heavenly Father.

In honor of all the dads out there, this is still my all time favorite evah Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn film scene of a dad telling it like it is (although now I disagree with Spencer Tracy's assertion that "the only thing that matters is what they feel" simply because life and love is about so much more than just a feeling):




Have a blessed Father's Day!

I Heart Flowers

What in the world is going on?

Wow, for the past month or so we have been completely immersed in our immediate surroundings, so we have been kind of clueless about all that is going on around the world and even in our own community. In this instance, I believe it was a grace for us. I do believe that sometimes things like that can distract us from the bigger picture God is trying to show us, while other times, God is teaching us to focus on Him in our immediate surroundings. In fact, at this point the only thing that keeps me putting one foot in front of the other is that "All is grace". This does not mean that we sit idly by and watch the world fall apart.

We see as though in a mirrror and everything is distorted in this world, but He is really here, within us, around us, through us, among us. May we let Him guide us to where He wants us; may we be open to His call for action or to His call to stay where we are. Please don't ever lose faith that He is here with us and will lead us through the fire, around the fire, into the fire, wherever we will be open to receiving and knowing His Love for us. God is faithful and will not abandon us.

Go visit Jesus in the tabernacle somewhere today. Thank Him for bleeding to save us, for dying to reconcile us. I love You Jesus, thank You for loving me and for loving all of us. Have Mercy on us. Jesus, I trust in You. Jesus, I trust in You. Jesus, I trust in You. In Your Holy Name I pray, Amen.