Reach Paradise: Epiphany Meme

Michael over at Reach Paradise has a great Epiphany meme asking about which place you would most like to be:

• The visit of the Magi
• The baptism in the Jordan
• The miracle at Cana

I have been thinking about this for days.  How cool it would be to witness or be a part of any of those moments in our Lord's life.  But I keep coming back to wanting to be there at the visit of the Magi.  And the reason why is because I would love to be there with the Holy Family, to see St. Joseph, St. Mary, and our Lord as an infant.  It would be an honor to be there in the presence of Our Lord and Our Lady and watch St. Joseph care for his family.  This is the only place of the three where St. Joseph is, and he holds a special place in my heart.

Thanks Michael for this meme, and thanks for being my prayer partner this year.  I am blessed by your friendship.

Now, go participate in this meme by leaving a comment at Reach Paradise saying which place you would want to go back and see live, if you could!!

And especially go participate in this meme if you feel like Advent/Christmas/Epiphany came and went too fast this year!  Our Christmas tree is actually still up, but sadly, we will be putting it all away today.

Why I Love Jesus

Mary at The Beautiful Gate has tagged me for a meme of Why I Love Jesus. I admit at first I was excited to be tagged but then when I started to try to think of 5 reasons why I love Jesus, I kept stumbling at what to say because my love is so inadequate compared to the Love of Christ. “I love Him because He loves me” seemed a selfish thing for me to say at first. But in reality, this is the truth and where it all begins:

+JMJ+

Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent His only Son into the world so that we might have life through Him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.

We love because He first loved us.

~ 1 John 4: 8-12; 19

My love is only meaningful WITHIN His Love. My love is not to be compared to His Love but to be known within His Love, safe, secure, strong, and beautiful. Outside of the Love of Jesus Christ, my love is deceptive. Five reasons I love Jesus:

1. His Love never fails, even when mine does.
2. He is my Savior. Even though sin condemns me, He is mighty to save me.
3. He gives me Mary as my Mother. Mary is teaching me to receive the graces of wisdom and true humility through her Magnificat, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord….” and through the beautiful way she silently “ponders and keeps these things in her heart.”
4. He has rescued me from darkness and He will never abandon me.
5. He speaks to me through all my senses –

I love Jesus because I hear Him speak to me through His Holy Word at Mass, through the gentle voice of encouragement from family and friends, in hearing my husband laugh, and in hearing Him speak directly to me through His beautiful creation of music.

I love Jesus because I see His great Love for me and for all the world as I see through the eyes of faith how He bleeds and dies for us on the Cross and in His mighty and powerful Resurrection. I love Him in seeing my husband love and care for our children and in his care for his students and in the work of his hands. I love how He reveals His Love by beautiful works of creation, like sunsets and mountains and powerful thunderstorms. I love to see Him in the love of mother and father for their children and in a priest’s care for his flock. I love Him and how He moves me to compassion and great love for those whom I see suffering.

I love Jesus as I taste His great Love for me in the Eucharist. I love Him in the taste of the gifts He gives us in good food and drink.

I love Jesus and His great Sacrifice and Love for me as I receive Him and His touch on my tongue at communion. I love Him in the touch of Holy water to my hands and forehead and heart. I love Him in the loving touch of my husband. I love Him in the hugs and kisses of my children. I love Him in feeling rain fall on my face or in the wind blowing all around but knowing that He is my anchor. I love Him in how He gives me the ability to touch others to bring comfort and strength.

I love Him in the smell of a thunderstorm or rain coming, in the smell of incense at Mass or Adoration, in the memories evoked of His providence and Love upon smelling certain scents.

Thank You Jesus.

If you read this and are inspired to share your reasons for loving Jesus, just put a note in the comments of where you have it posted and I will link it here.

God Bless you and have a wonderful week.

Encouragement from Friends

It has been quite the week! We were traveling last weekend and did not get home until Tuesday evening, so it felt as though the week was half over before we actually got started. Needless to say, we did not get a lot of homeschooling done this week. We tried on Wednesday and it was an unmitigated disaster! I had been planning on posting all kinds of stuff about our homeschool, but after this week decided that we really don't have it all together and maybe we never will.

Despite being perpetually undone/works in progress/not quite there yet, God is good and He is right here along with us, encouraging us as we go, even when we fall flat, or when we mess up. We may have to do a homeschool starting do-over (even though technically we started last week). Things are so different this year. Last year we ordered our books the beginning of June, we started a whole 2 weeks earlier than the local public schools, and we had our Family Rule set, schedules organized. This year, we didn't order the curriculum until the week before we needed it, we started almost 2 weeks AFTER the local public school (still do not feel like we have officially started yet), we are living in a new home, I can't even find our calendar anymore, and we still have a lot of unpacking to do. Whew! And now there are two children to homeschool instead of one. God, help me to trust You and Your grace to get us back on track. Thank You for always being here to guide us and for never abandoning us. Help me in my discouragement, and thank You for friends to help me along the way. In Your Name, Amen.

Oh yes! About friends, what this post is supposed to be about ;) . Through all this, I have been a little discouraged about blogging and kind of running into a wall about if I should continue or not, but God has provided several things these past few weeks to encourage me to continue blogging.

One is Mary333 over at The Beautiful Gate recommended this blog as a new blog to come check out! There have been quite a few more visitors coming here this week and I so appreciate you coming by to see this blog! Thanks so much Mary for your kindness. Check out her blog too. It is one of my favorites, along with her other blogs which you will see links to when you go visit her. And while you're at it, check out another new blog Crooked Halo as well. She was also recommended by Mary333. I look forward to visiting her blog even more in the future.

Another thing that happened is Vincenzo tagged me for my very first meme! I must admit that I was kind of feeling left out of all these meme things going on in the blogosphere, so I am thankful for being tagged finally! Vincenzo is a lot of fun, and I love to read his blogs Sancte Pater and Amentior that he does with swissmiss and Cathy_of_Alex. This is a food meme, and I'm working on it, so look for my answers coming up!

Thank you friends for the encouragement. God Bless!