Murray Clan 13!!
The days are long, but the years are short!
Great article, hang in there moms!
http://mychildiloveyou.blogspot.com/2010/02/why-most-families-have-2-children.html?m=1
A message from His Emminence Cardinal Dolan
So love this....
So love Cardinal Dolan...
A Blessed Advent to You
It’s all about the kids, isn’t it?That dawned on me over the Thanksgiving weekend, when I was back in St. Louis with my family.
Besides eating . . . which I obviously relished – - and sleeping, we spent most of our time just enjoying the kids! There we sat, passing one little one to another, cooing, talking baby-talk, or laughing as the kids would do something new.
My nieces are mostly grown-up, and now the married ones are having babies! So we’ve got five of them, four and under, with two on the way. All we adults seem to do is get ready for them to arrive, wait for them, play with them, hold them, change them, feed them, get their coats back on, and tell them good-bye. Then we can’t wait for the next time we see them.
Those babies, those kids, are the center of our lives.
Which, of course, is the way it should be! Anthropologists, researching primitive cultures, tell us that they were centered on the protection and nurturing of babies, until the young grow up to have their own. Not “primitive” at all, is it? Rather “advanced”, I’d say.
I remember the old Ben Casey, M.D., TV series, which began each week, “Man-woman-birth-death-infinity.”
A culture not centered on babies and children becomes narcissistic, and soon, extinct.
Sociologists tell us, for instance, that Europe is in a “demographic winter,” since more people are dying than being born.
And I’m afraid we’re not far behind!
Babies not only
And, as Blessed John Paul II reminded us, the greatest gift one can give a child is a brother or a sister.
We men are created to become husbands and fathers; women to become wives and mothers.
True, it doesn’t always happen. Some can’t be; some (like the author) choose not to be. But, all of us would like to be! That drive is sacred, noble, natural, good. Those of us who can’t be or choose not to be usually become doting aunts, uncles, and godparents!
A culture, a society, a country, that does not protect
Now we’re in Advent. We await the baby Jesus.
All of history is dated either before or after the birth of this baby.
All existence centers on a pregnant woman, and her baby, who is our Savior.
This baby is intended to be the center of our lives.
A blessed Advent!
Happy Advent!!
Advent is a is time of preparation.
Are we doing that?
It is so easy to caught up in Christmas trees, cookies, gifts, and on and on.
It is so hard to teach your children the need of preparation when Christmas is here according to the television and the department stores.
Every year I try to build up Advent in order to prepare well for Christmas. Every year I take the teaching moments at home to try to do this. how very difficult it is especially when your children are already compiling their Christmas lists.
Let's try to educate ourselves about this very important season of waiting.
Let's try to learn more about this time of preparation.
What is Advent as liturgical mystery?
It is so easy to caught up in Christmas trees, cookies, gifts, and on and on.
It is so hard to teach your children the need of preparation when Christmas is here according to the television and the department stores.
Every year I try to build up Advent in order to prepare well for Christmas. Every year I take the teaching moments at home to try to do this. how very difficult it is especially when your children are already compiling their Christmas lists.
Let's try to educate ourselves about this very important season of waiting.
Let's try to learn more about this time of preparation.
What is Advent as liturgical mystery?
Liturgy is mystogogical. In other words,
one role of liturgy is to teach and form the faithful, to catechize us
both in and out of formal liturgical events.
If our home is a “domestic church,” then it
should look, sound, and feel like a church, especially if we live with
children. Why? Because churches are decorated and arranged for more than
ornamental purposes. The pictures, colors, structure, style, and order
of a church are all deeply catechetical. The images teach and show. The
form of the rituals are the curriculum for lessons that go unstated. The
homily is but a supplement to the vestments worn, the songs sung, and
the intentional, repetitive order of it all. Liturgy is educational in
the deepest sense.
This is not just pedagogy; this is mystagogy.
The season of Advent may be the most
educationally significant liturgical period, for countercultural
reasons. Since no one else seems to observe Advent these days —
including many Catholics — the domestic church that celebrates this
season stands out, teaching an additional lesson about the radical
exception of the Gospel. We are not of this world. We prepare for Incarnation. We do not skip over the need to wait.
Please pray for us as we pray for you.
Happy Advent!
Beautiful Prayer to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
Eucharistic Heart of Jesus,
gracious companion of our exile,
I adore Thee.
Eucharistic Heart of Jesus,
lonely Heart,
humiliated Heart,
abandoned Heart,
forgotten Heart,
despised Heart,
outraged Heart,
Heart ignored
by men,
Heart which loves
our own hearts;
Heart pleading for our love,
Heart so patient
in waiting for us,
Heart so eager
to listen to our prayers,
Heart so anxious
for our requests,
Heart, unending
source of new graces,
Heart so silent,
yet desiring to speak
to souls,
Heart, welcome refuge
of the hidden life,
Heart, teacher of the
secrets of union with God,
Heart of Him Who sleeps
but watches always,
Eucharistic Heart of Jesus,
have mercy on us.
Jesus Victim,
I desire to comfort Thee;
I unite myself to Thee;
I offer myself in
union with Thee.
I regard myself as nothing
in Thy Presence.
I long to forget myself
in order to think
only of Thee,
to be despised
and forgotten
for love of Thee.
I have no desire to be
understood or loved
by anyone but Thee.
I will keep silent in
order to
listen to Thee,
and I will
abandon myself
in order to lose
myself in Thee.
Grant that I may
thus satisfy
Thy thirst for
my salvation,
Thy burning thirst
for my holiness,
and that once purified
I may give Thee
a sincere and pure love.
I am anxious
not to tire Thee
further with waiting:
take me,
I hand myself over to Thee.
I give Thee all my actions,
my mind to be enlightened,
my heart to be directed,
my will to be stabilized,
my wretchedness
to be relieved,
my soul and body to be
nourished by Thee.
Eucharistic Heart of my Saviour,
Whose Blood is
the life of my soul,
may I myself cease to live
and Thou
alone live in me. Amen.
A Prayer for the family during the close of the year of Faith
A Family Prayer for the Year of Faith
in Jesus you call all
Christian families and homes
to be signs of living faith.
By the light of the Holy
Spirit,
and by that gift
may we grow in our
relationship with Jesus, your Son,
and be confident witnesses to
Christian hope and joy
to all we meet.
In the name of Jesus Christ
our Lord.
Amen.
NunEssential: "Inside the 'Me' Vortex"....
NunEssential: "Inside the 'Me' Vortex"....: Another great post by our former General Superior, Sr. Anne Marie Walsh. Inside the "Me" Vortex. Sometime ago, a woman named N...
Prayer for Healing the Family Tree
Prayer for Healing the Family Tree
Rev. John H. Hampsch, CMF
Heavenly Father, I come before You as Your child, in great need of your help; I have
physical health needs, emotional needs, and interpersonal needs. Many of my problems have been caused by my own failures, neglect, and sinfulness, for which I humbly begyour forgiveness, Lord. But I also ask You to forgive the sins of my ancestors whose failures have left their effects on me in the form of unwanted tendencies, behavior problems and defects in body, mind, and spirit. Heal me, Lord of all these disorders.
With Your help I sincerely forgive everyone, especially living or dead members of my
family tree, who have directly offended me or my loved ones in any way, or those whose
sins have resulted in our present sufferings or disorders. In the name of Your Divine Son, Jesus, and in the power
of His Holy Spirit, I ask You Father, to deliver me and my entire family tree from the influence of the evil one. Free all
living and dead members of my family tree, including those in adoptive relationships, and those in extended
family relationships, from ever contaminating form of bondage. By Your loving concern for us, heavenly Father, and by the shed blood of Your Precious Son, Jesus, I beg You to extend Your Blessing to me and to all my living and deceased relatives.
Heal every negative effect transmitted through all past generations, and prevent such
negative effects in future generations of my family tree. I symbolically place the cross of Jesus over the head of each person in my family tree, and between each generation; I ask you to let the cleansing blood of Jesus purify the
blood-lines in my family lineage. Set Your protective angels to encamp around us, and permit
Archangel Raphael, the patron of healing, to administer Your Divine healing
power to all of us, even in areas of genetic disability. Give special power to our family
members’ guardian angels to heal, protect, guide, and encourage each of us in all our need
s. Let your healing power be released at this very moment, and let it continue as long as your sovereignty permits.
In our family tree Lord, replace all bondage with a holy bonding in family love. And let there be an ever-deeper bonding with You, Lord, by the Holy Spirit, to Your Son, Jesus.
Let the family of the Holy Trinity pervade our family with its tender, warm, loving presence, so that our family may recognize and manifest that love in all our relationships. All of our unknown needs we include with this petition that we pray in
Jesus’ precious name.
Amen
Mary tries to fly.
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Fulton is in Martial Arts!?!
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Great job Fulton!!
What Pope Francis really said...
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/pope-francis-revolutionary-vision-article-1.1462955
I love this article. I am over the media and their attempt to determine morality and claim all of the rest of us should agree with their position. The Church will not change! EVERYONE should know that by now, whether they be Liberal, Conservative Catholic or not.
However, we are a faith founded on and by Christ. If we do not evangelize we have missed the point. His point in establishing disciples, and our commitment to follow Him and preach the Gospel.
"Truth needs to be sung rather than shouted, and he is telling the world — and particularly those who have left the Church and those who hide behind its rules instead of being liberated by them — that while we cannot compromise on truth, we must not compromise on love."
Very true Michael Coren thank you so much for your insight.
I love this article. I am over the media and their attempt to determine morality and claim all of the rest of us should agree with their position. The Church will not change! EVERYONE should know that by now, whether they be Liberal, Conservative Catholic or not.
However, we are a faith founded on and by Christ. If we do not evangelize we have missed the point. His point in establishing disciples, and our commitment to follow Him and preach the Gospel.
"Truth needs to be sung rather than shouted, and he is telling the world — and particularly those who have left the Church and those who hide behind its rules instead of being liberated by them — that while we cannot compromise on truth, we must not compromise on love."
Very true Michael Coren thank you so much for your insight.
School is back in session.
So, school is back in session in the Murray home,
and, as usual it is really tough to get back into the routine of the school year after the summer break. No one enjoys their summer more than I. Six of my children are in school this year. They are all in different grades and each of them learns the material in a manner unique to their abilities. I would love to have them all learning the same material. But, given their different levels and different learning styles I have needed to teach in a more individualized way. This type of teaching can be more stressful so I really rely on prayer, mass, and the intercession of the Saints, especially the Blessed Virgin Mary, to help us complete the daily lessons.
I have been reflecting quite a bit lately on this decision to teach my children at home. Mainly because I feel old, tired, an unsure if I will continue to be capable of teaching while maintaining my sanity. This soul searching really began after we became involved in a Co-op at my parish. It is wonderful group and I am so blessed that we got involved. While at one of the meetings for the mothers who participate in the co-op each of us introduced ourselves and mentioned how long we had been homeschooling. That question took me off guard. How long had I been homeschooling? Wow, it must be a long time because my oldest son Matthew is 24 yrs. old and we started him when he was 9 yrs old. My oldest daughter Sheila started when she was in Kindergarten and she is 20 yrs. now. Where has the time gone and how long has it been? As we went around the group with names and years etc. I really had to do the math that I fight my children to learn and enjoy on a daily basis. So, today I really can't remember most of those ladies' names. But I came to the realization that it has been over 15 yrs! That is a long time! How many teachers in a classroom today have that experience. I know that I am not the best, and each of my children could probably learn more in school than at home with a mom who struggles to maintain the house, teach each child in their grade level and serve at our parish. Since I am so divided among my children I know they could do much better from a more learned academic. So why do I do it? Especially since this homeschooling thing stresses me out on many occasions and the house becomes upset and falls apart if we do not establish order?
It occurred to me through prayer that I do it because I am convinced that it is God's will for me to be at home with my children teaching them. I don't do it because I want them to get into a great college or have a great career. I certainly hope they do. That would be a great perk. Rather, I continue to do this because I want them in heaven some day. I am convinced that I am doing my best to get them there if I keep them home and allow them to learn more about Him and the beautiful teachings of the Catholic Church. They probably could do much better receiving scholarships and pursuing their career goals while in a regular school setting. But that is not my goal for them. My husband and I want them to strive to be beautiful human beings, and learning at home may afford them more of a chance to experience that than at outside school.
During the struggles of the beginning of school year I prayed constantly to make sure to do His will. I did not want to keep my children at home if they could do well in another setting. I prayed for more resources for the children who are struggling and for more support and peace for my day. I prayed that He show me the way as I searched for peace. I believe my prayers were answered and that our Lord wants me to continue to teach my children. I did receive some great websites with excellent resources as well as support from my husband who has reinforced his desire for the children to be homeschooled He has also hs my back when my children don't listen to me because when dad comes home from work they will be punished. He is also so helpful at home which allows mean opportunity to participate in a women's group at my parish. I am so grateful for that opportunity and to have the support and love from my family. I thank God for hearing, answering, and providing the consolation I need to continue with this work. I pray for the patience to persevere. Thank you for your prayers and have a happy school year!
and, as usual it is really tough to get back into the routine of the school year after the summer break. No one enjoys their summer more than I. Six of my children are in school this year. They are all in different grades and each of them learns the material in a manner unique to their abilities. I would love to have them all learning the same material. But, given their different levels and different learning styles I have needed to teach in a more individualized way. This type of teaching can be more stressful so I really rely on prayer, mass, and the intercession of the Saints, especially the Blessed Virgin Mary, to help us complete the daily lessons.During the struggles of the beginning of school year I prayed constantly to make sure to do His will. I did not want to keep my children at home if they could do well in another setting. I prayed for more resources for the children who are struggling and for more support and peace for my day. I prayed that He show me the way as I searched for peace. I believe my prayers were answered and that our Lord wants me to continue to teach my children. I did receive some great websites with excellent resources as well as support from my husband who has reinforced his desire for the children to be homeschooled He has also hs my back when my children don't listen to me because when dad comes home from work they will be punished. He is also so helpful at home which allows mean opportunity to participate in a women's group at my parish. I am so grateful for that opportunity and to have the support and love from my family. I thank God for hearing, answering, and providing the consolation I need to continue with this work. I pray for the patience to persevere. Thank you for your prayers and have a happy school year!
Matthew and Bishop Barber
Such a love!!
It seems as though we blinked and she is now almost five months.... where did the time go!
She is eating as if she has always been doing it, no problems getting used to the spoon or the cereal. I guess I put this off too long, she is ready to move on. Even though mom may not be.
Mary is the light of the family, as her name indicates she is the "wished for" child.
Such a precious gift. Thank you God for your goodness! Such a love!!
What is Marriage?
Caryll Houselander explains it best when she said:
Until there is nothing we see or touch that is not charged with wonder
for us, though it is something as familiar as the bread on the table.
And there is nothing that we do, though it be no more than filling a
glass with water for a child, which does not sweep the loveliness of
God's sacramental plan through our thoughts, like a great wave of grace
washing them clean from sin and the sorrow that is inseparable from it.
Then we can increase joy through compassion, even where there is
incurable suffering, for if we even want to put on Christ's personality
we shall radiate his light, and he is the light which shines in
darkness, which darkness cannot overcome.
In matrimony, it is the bride and bridegroom who give one another the grace of the sacrament; and it goes on, as they grow together in one another's love, a gradual increase of joy, which nothing, ultimately, can take away from them. In a sense they are one another's priests, because their life is a lifelong giving and taking of Christ's life. Everything in their lives has a quality of miracle; all their words of compassion or forgiveness are in a sense little absolutions; their union a communion with Christ. Every breaking of bread at their table, a remembrance and more than a remembrance of him.
Human marriage is only a symbol, a shadow of the marriage of Christ with his Church, of the continual growing together in creative love, of the daily transformation of everything that so much as touches the hem of his garment; and it is we who are the Church!
By our baptism we are bidden to the marriage feast where water is changed to wine. Cana is an image of our Christ-life on earth, but Christ is not only a guest; he is the Bridegroom with whom we must rejoice, who desires for everyone who loves him "that my joy may be yours, and the measure of your joy may be filled up" (Jn 15:11).
I love this!
We must grow in wisdom, as Christ did, by deepening our understanding of the sacramental life through the very substance of every day.
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In matrimony, it is the bride and bridegroom who give one another the grace of the sacrament; and it goes on, as they grow together in one another's love, a gradual increase of joy, which nothing, ultimately, can take away from them. In a sense they are one another's priests, because their life is a lifelong giving and taking of Christ's life. Everything in their lives has a quality of miracle; all their words of compassion or forgiveness are in a sense little absolutions; their union a communion with Christ. Every breaking of bread at their table, a remembrance and more than a remembrance of him.
Human marriage is only a symbol, a shadow of the marriage of Christ with his Church, of the continual growing together in creative love, of the daily transformation of everything that so much as touches the hem of his garment; and it is we who are the Church!
By our baptism we are bidden to the marriage feast where water is changed to wine. Cana is an image of our Christ-life on earth, but Christ is not only a guest; he is the Bridegroom with whom we must rejoice, who desires for everyone who loves him "that my joy may be yours, and the measure of your joy may be filled up" (Jn 15:11).
I love this!
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