Our Anniversary gift from Matthew!

Matthew had a Papal Blessing from Pope Francis for our 25th Anniversary!!!
It is so awesome!!
I miss Matthew!

Stephen the bird watcher!

We have a bird clock in our house that just started working again.
I mean, it was always able to tell time, but the birds stopped chiming years ago.
Well... they started chirping again and Stephen has been fascinated with them.
He has each time memorized and will animate each bird when the hour strikes.
Of Course we could not let this go by without filming it.
So, here is Stephen's animation of each bird.
We will have the next video of his imitating the calls in a future video.

Enjoy!

Claire's Christmas present to Matthew!

A true test of humility...

In the writing of St. Jose Maria Escriva he outlines the test of humility:

Allow me to remind you that among other evident signs of a lack of humility are:

Thinking that what you do or say is better than what others do or say
Always wanting to get your own way
Arguing when you are not right or — when you are — insisting stubbornly or with bad manners
Giving your opinion without being asked for it, when charity does not demand you to do so
Despising the point of view of others
Not being aware that all the gifts and qualities you have are on loan
Not acknowledging that you are unworthy of all honour or esteem, even the ground you are treading on or the things you own
Mentioning yourself as an example in conversation
Speaking badly about yourself, so that they may form a good opinion of you, or contradict you
Making excuses when rebuked
Hiding some humiliating faults from your director, so that he may not lose the good opinion he has of you
Hearing praise with satisfaction, or being glad that others have spoken well of you
Being hurt that others are held in greater esteem than you
Refusing to carry out menial tasks
Seeking or wanting to be singled out
Letting drop words of self-praise in conversation, or words that might show your honesty, your wit or skill, your professional prestige…
Being ashamed of not having certain possessions…

In my pursuit of holiness, and it appears I have a long way to go, I do attempt to be more humble.
St. Jose maria Escriva, pray for us.
Most Holy Mother of God, pray for us.

The Holy Family - The Domestic Church

Let us all try to imitate the Holy family within our own families:

English translation....

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
in you we contemplate
the splendour of true love,
to you we turn with trust.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
grant that our families too
may be places of communion and prayer,
authentic schools of the Gospel
and small domestic Churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
may families never again
experience violence, rejection and division:
may all who have been hurt or scandalized
find ready comfort and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
may the approaching Synod of Bishops
make us once more mindful
of the sacredness and inviolability of the family,
and its beauty in God’s plan.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
graciously hear our prayer.

A very Blessed Christmas!

Pope Francis holds the Christ Child for the manger.

Let us all remember to allow the Savior into our hearts, our homes and our world.
Please remember out family in your prayers and be assure of our prayers for you.

Guess who came to visit the Murrays!!

Thomas turns 14 yrs. old this month, crazy!!

Happy 4th Birthday John!!

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 insure survival but selflessness. When a husband and wife become a father and mother, their very lives are changed: All is now about their baby, not themselves.
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 marriage, the baby, and the family, is dying.
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?

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

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

God our Father,

in Jesus you call all Christian families and homes

to be signs of living faith.

By the light of the Holy Spirit,

lead us to be thankful for the gift of faith,

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...

Little Boy Has Unexpected Play Date With Pope Francis | Video - ABC News

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

A Mary Meme!

Mary tries to fly.

Here is Mary trying to take off, or she is doing her planks! She is such a wonderful baby. Make sure to check out the video below of her cuteness in action. She is the light of the family.

Fulton is in Martial Arts!?!

I know it is interesting to hear, but Fulton just joined Martial Arts. He is in the "Tigers" class and loving it very much!!
Great job Fulton!!

Our Lady of Lourdes

We are called to believe, above all, in the mystery of God's will for us and for our loved ones. Bernadette Soubirous responded in faith to God's will for her, even though her commitment brought with it much suffering. The story of Bernadette, and the Lesson of Lourdes is that we must always seek, and then accept, the will of God in our lives. Our greatest and most profound experience of the healing comes, not in the receiving the cure which we seek, but in submitting ourselves to the will of God - "Lord not my will, but thine be done." - Taken from the Florentine Patron Saints Collection

Prayer of the Order of Malta

Lord Jesus, Thou has seen fit to enlist me for Thy service among the Knights and Dames of St. John of Jerusalem. I humbly entreat Thee through the intercession of the Holy Virgin of Philermo, of St. John the Baptist and all the Saints to keep me faithful to the traditions of our Order. Be it mine to practice and defend the Catholic, the Apostolic, the Roman faith against the enemies of religion: be it mine to practice charity toward my neighbors, especially the poor and sick. Give me the strength I need to carry out this my resolve, forgetful of myself, learning ever from Thy Holy Gospel a spirit of deep and generous devotion, striving ever to promote God's glory, the world's peace and all that may benefit the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.

Amen

Psalm 116

How shall I make a return to the Lord
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the eyes of the Lord
is the death of his faithfull ones.
O Lord I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmade;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving
and I will call upon the name of the Lord.
My vows to the Lord I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
In the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem

The Murray Clan

Murray Clan 13!!