Here is the "best of the year" video created by Sheila as a review of 2012.
Enjoy!!!
Murray Clan 13!!
A very Murray Christmas!!
A very Merry Christmas to you all from the Murray family. We hope and pray for many blessings to you and your family this beautiful season and in the new year to come.
Here is the "best of the year" video created by Sheila as a review of 2012.
Here is the "best of the year" video created by Sheila as a review of 2012.
Stephen's Nativity Scene.
Stephen created this nativity scene with toys and things around the house. He is very creative and very much into the true meaning of Christmas. Joe and I especially appreciate the Wise man played by an Imaginext castle figure riding a dinosaur instead of a camel. It is so precious and totally Stephen I had to share it. God Bless you all!!
Happy Birthday Thomas!!!
Thomas turned 13yrs. old on Dec. 20, 2012. He is now a teenager!! He looks so grown up, especially with his new glasses!
Happy Birthday John!!
John Mary turned 3 yrs. old on Dec. 12, 2012!! How very exciting!! The time just flew by and John is now a little boy!
Happy Advent!
We are in the midst of Advent in this year of Faith. I must say Advent is always such a struggle for me and my family. We get caught up in the trappings of the culture with the worries of shopping, baking and buying. Slowing down, praying, examining my conscience, and seeking our Lord earnestly is so important and I beseech our Lord daily to help me place my priorities in right order.
Yesterday's Gospel reading was the story of the paralytic whose friends lowered him down from the roof in order to get close to Jesus since the house and surrounding area were packed with people. Our Lord praised them for their faith, and I believe the men carrying their friend were praised by Jesus as well given their dedication to their friend's needs. They wanted the best for their him and they were willing to climb on the roof and tear it open in order to help their friend to walk again. They had faith in Jesus' power to heal and the strength to complete the task despite the questions and cynicism of the Pharisees.
I recently read a meditation in the Magnificat by Frank Capra the director of the well-loved film "It's a wonderful life." This truly defines friendship, faith and trust and I want to share it with you:
"It's a Wonderful Life wasn't made for the oh-so bored critics, or the oh-so jaded literati. It was my kind of film for my kind of people. A film to tell the weary the disheartened, and the disillusioned; the wino, the junkie, the prostitute, those behind prison walls and those behind Iron Curtains that no man is a failure. To show those born slow of foot or slow of mind, those oldest sisters condemned to spinsterhood and those oldest sons condemned to unschooled toil, that each man's life touches so many other lives. And that if he isn't around it would leave an awful hole.
A film that said to the downtrodden, the pushed around, the pauper, 'Heads up, fella. No man is poor who has one friend. Three friends and your filthy rich!'
A film that expressed its love for the homeless and the loveless; for her whose cross is heavy and him whose touch is ashes; for the Magdalenes stoned by hypocrites, and afflicted Lazaruses with only dogs to lick their sores.
I wanted it to shout to the abandoned grandfathers staring vacantly in nursing homes, to the always-interviewed but seldom- adopted half-breed orphans, to the paupers who refuse to die while medical vultures wait to snatch their hearts and livers, and those who take cobalt treatments and whistle - I wanted to shout, 'You are the salt of the earth. And It's a Wonderful Life is my memorial to you."
In this culture of death, where the handicapped and unborn are seen as burdens without a quality of life worthy to exist, Frank Capra's film and his quote speak of the importance of every human being. Our Lord knew of the dignity of the paralytic made in the image and likeness of God. His friends knew of the importance of this man's life which touched so many other lives and is a story still recalled 2000 years after it's occurrence. Our family knows as well of the unique gifts every member of the family contributes to the family as a whole as well as the outer community. Although most people would consider Claire's quality of life below what anyone should endure and therefore relieving her of all suffering and existence may be the compassionate thing to do. We would disagree, her suffering has made her family and friends much more patient and tolerant of struggles, we are stronger in our desire to help her through her suffering and we do it from a need to make her life comfortable given all she has gone through.
Her suffering has forced us to go outside of ourselves in order to give of ourselves to help her with whatever she may need Even if that meant tearing open a roof to have her healed. Because without Claire in our family there would be an "awful hole." Without her presence we may have remained in our selfishness and need for comfortable living.
Happy Advent and let us continue to build a culture of life.!
Yesterday's Gospel reading was the story of the paralytic whose friends lowered him down from the roof in order to get close to Jesus since the house and surrounding area were packed with people. Our Lord praised them for their faith, and I believe the men carrying their friend were praised by Jesus as well given their dedication to their friend's needs. They wanted the best for their him and they were willing to climb on the roof and tear it open in order to help their friend to walk again. They had faith in Jesus' power to heal and the strength to complete the task despite the questions and cynicism of the Pharisees.
I recently read a meditation in the Magnificat by Frank Capra the director of the well-loved film "It's a wonderful life." This truly defines friendship, faith and trust and I want to share it with you:
"It's a Wonderful Life wasn't made for the oh-so bored critics, or the oh-so jaded literati. It was my kind of film for my kind of people. A film to tell the weary the disheartened, and the disillusioned; the wino, the junkie, the prostitute, those behind prison walls and those behind Iron Curtains that no man is a failure. To show those born slow of foot or slow of mind, those oldest sisters condemned to spinsterhood and those oldest sons condemned to unschooled toil, that each man's life touches so many other lives. And that if he isn't around it would leave an awful hole.
A film that said to the downtrodden, the pushed around, the pauper, 'Heads up, fella. No man is poor who has one friend. Three friends and your filthy rich!'
A film that expressed its love for the homeless and the loveless; for her whose cross is heavy and him whose touch is ashes; for the Magdalenes stoned by hypocrites, and afflicted Lazaruses with only dogs to lick their sores.
I wanted it to shout to the abandoned grandfathers staring vacantly in nursing homes, to the always-interviewed but seldom- adopted half-breed orphans, to the paupers who refuse to die while medical vultures wait to snatch their hearts and livers, and those who take cobalt treatments and whistle - I wanted to shout, 'You are the salt of the earth. And It's a Wonderful Life is my memorial to you."
In this culture of death, where the handicapped and unborn are seen as burdens without a quality of life worthy to exist, Frank Capra's film and his quote speak of the importance of every human being. Our Lord knew of the dignity of the paralytic made in the image and likeness of God. His friends knew of the importance of this man's life which touched so many other lives and is a story still recalled 2000 years after it's occurrence. Our family knows as well of the unique gifts every member of the family contributes to the family as a whole as well as the outer community. Although most people would consider Claire's quality of life below what anyone should endure and therefore relieving her of all suffering and existence may be the compassionate thing to do. We would disagree, her suffering has made her family and friends much more patient and tolerant of struggles, we are stronger in our desire to help her through her suffering and we do it from a need to make her life comfortable given all she has gone through.
Her suffering has forced us to go outside of ourselves in order to give of ourselves to help her with whatever she may need Even if that meant tearing open a roof to have her healed. Because without Claire in our family there would be an "awful hole." Without her presence we may have remained in our selfishness and need for comfortable living.
Happy Advent and let us continue to build a culture of life.!
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