Presentation of Our Lady at the Temple

Today is a beautiful Feast day.
The Presentation of Holy Mary is the “Birthday of the Congregation”. This day celebrates the day that the parents of Our Lady brought her to the Temple at the age of three and handed her over to live there, denying any worldly temptation to distract her prayers to God. Blessed Mary Mother of our saviour Jesus Christ being part of Gods great plan and concieved without original sin prepared for her sacred mission here

The Assumption.

Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady.

On Saturday Vigil Mass, I opened the parish bulletin to see when the Mass for this Feast would be celebrated. I was so disappointed when I read 7am. This was for 3 Mass centres. 
So Sunday I began to ring a few Parishes to find a much more friendly time for us.
Our former Parish had Mass being celebrated 3 times that day.

We decided to attend the Cathedral at 12md.
We knew we would need to be there early as the parking in the streets is tight.
Brid & I met Dermot there.
There was much hussle & bussle around us, but we focused on the alter and the beautiful statue of Our Lady.
Mass began and we were delighted to hear the lovely organ and the old traditional music playing.
It was a beautiful Mass and Fathers' homily was touching to say the least.

He said those who draw close to Mary, she in turn draws them to her Son. So true isn't it.

2 years later..

Two years ago we moved to this our new home. I have previously blogged about this here. We loved our last home very much. We found the land, we found the design plan, we interviewed the builder, each of the children got to decide which room they would have. We were not locked out as they build our home. We were included and our input was valued by our builder. We grew our home and we planted and moved every piece of soil where we needed it. Brid was born in this home. It was our family home.
So when it came to making the decision to move,  it was hard, very hard. God made that decision, and it took us a while to follow that lead.
He moved us to an area that we never would have considered, but now we see why.
We have been planted among friends, we are being nurtured, and we are in turn nurturing. We were pretty broken when we arrived, but you know no one would have known from the outside. We took refuge here and God has given us new life, in the form of our own resurrection from death.
We have a very comfortable home on around half an acre. We have build and added several features that make us comfortable in our bricks and mortar. These are wonderful and we thank God for providing for us, but only part of our family is here with us.
This is our new family home and one day each of our children will see and love it, like we do. Until then we pray and look after each other.
We keep ourselves nurtured in Gods love.
Since we have been here, we have opened our home to Marriage gatherings monthly. It is growing every month and it inspires and challenges us all.
We have had may types of others gatherings, all Church related and we love opening our home to these types of get togethers.
God has Blessed us abundantly and we are forever indebted to him.
I must also say that St Joseph played a large part in our moving. He saw that our house was sold and we exchanged houses on the same day. We were told we had sold our home on a Marian Feast day. We moved in on the Feast of Transfiguration. So I have no doubt that we had divine intervention with all of this.
We are in the process of Building a Mary Garden and St Joseph is an image you see as you enter our home.

We have been here 2 years thak you Lord.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Yesterday, we celebrated The Feast of the Immaculate Conception. We got up very early, for us, and drove to the Monastery of the Holy Redeemer for 8.30am Mass. It is a 35 min drive for us through some pretty aussie farm land. There is a group of cloistered Nuns who live in the Monastery, and we knew they would be attending Mass with us.
Mass began and I had to adjust my ears to hearing these voices coming from behind a opaque glass wall. The Mass was said beautifully By Fr John. It was a very special Mass and it was lovely to celebrate Our Ladys feast day at this Monastery.
Afterwards we shared morning Coffee and yummy foods at a homeschool families home. It was great to just be able to sit and enjoy the presence of these Mums, while the children made up imaginary plays.
We were entertained at the end of our morning by Jack and the Beanstalk narrated play. It was very busy and animated. The kids had been practicing during the morning.

Love Our Lady and make her loved...

In my Mary Vitamin meditation today I read these words and they resonanted with me.
"Love moves people to speak of the one they love. We know that the Church's greatest Saints, orators and writers have spoken, written, and sung Our Lady's praises with tireless zeal and love.  But there has not been a Saint and there will never be any true devotee of Mary who does not feel a need to share his love of Our Lady with others. In big ways or small, the true devotee does all that he can to accomplish this in accord with the inspirations and talents he has received."
So Today, I will pray for the opportunity to share my love of Our Lady with others, I will be particularly careful to cultivate joyful and pleasant demeanor.
"In order to move souls to love Mary, St. Maximilian ventured to make great, self-effacing personal sacrifices. … But he went ahead undaunted, carrying on with hard work and privation. He never stopped. His love for the Immaculate would not let him rest from his feverish activity."

It was Our Lady that has drawn me ever closer to Our Lord and I will always honour her for that. It was a Statue of Our Lady I was given as a gift long before we had a family Bible, Long before an image of Jesus. It was the Rosary I first heard before I could recite The Lords prayer, It was Our lady who lend me to her Son, and I will do my best to bring honour to her at all times.
A few months ago, a sweet women send me a large Blessed Miraculous Medal, and I love wearing it.  I feel Our Lady is constantly surrouding me.
Just recently while looking at how to incorporate the Family Saints into our daily routine more effectively, I was thinking, we could do the same with Marion feasts. So we have two photo frames, one has an insert of Red (Saints),and the other an insert of Blue( Marion).

Our Lady and the Saints pray for us.

A most Special Evening

Just recently we as a Catholic community were in for a treat in the grounds of The Holy Redeemer Monastery- a cloistered order of Nuns, in the Hunter Valley.
It was the Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun, Fatima.
We were asked, as a dioceses, to gather around 6.30pm for a picnic tea in the grounds. It was a lovely gathering as many of our homeschooling families travelled from all areas of the hunter to be there.

Some of our homeschool friends

It was then time for The Rosary Procession. Several Priests lead the Procession, two homeschool boys were candle bearers and Brid was asked to carry a banner of Our Lady. The Our Lady Statue was surrounded in flowers and was totally gorgeous. Each Priest took his turn to read a scripture and a reflection on the Glotious Mysteries of the Rosary.

Its she just beautiful

The Samoan Choir sang several hymns and also 2 in there native language.
After a Reflection on The Fatima story and how it purtains to today, we were asked to gather before the Cross for Benediction. All the traditional hymns were sung and it was a very special evening enjoyed by all.
 It took me back to my childhood at another Monastery in Newcastle were I vaguely remember Rosary Processions. I pray we may further be Blessed with more regular Processions.

Ready and waiting for the Blessed Sacrament to Arrive

Peaceful service

I receive a beautiful reflection into my mailbox each day and today I read this:
It is only a small selection. I hope you enjoy the sharing.
Keep your heart in peace and let nothing trouble you, not even your faults. You must humble yourself and amend them peacefully, without being discouraged or cast down, for God's dwelling is in peace.
Hope in His goodness and redouble your confidence in proportion as your troubles increase.
To do this I must resolute to:.
 I will practice peace in God's Will. I will try to be content with my life and where the Lord has brought me. The things that happen to me are all part of His plan.
I have these words on my bedroom wall, and remember the same Mary Vitamin giving me the same feeling of peace about 2 or 3 years ago.

May God Send you peace in your heart and your actions today

Joyful Mysteries

While praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary tonight, we were all touched by part of the meditation:-     "Mary believed God's purpose for her,even though she did not always understand."
This is so very real for us at the moment, particularly with one of our children. We don't know where he is leading her or us her family. We just totally need to trust in His plan and purpose this path.
When you try to do it by yourself, and don't follow God's lead, things can fall apart or not happen, as you would want. We have learnt this last year, with our darling.
We are told in the 3rd Joyful Mystery that Jesus welcomes everyone, even those possessed by demons, those haunted by fear came and their spirits were lifted, and they felt there hearts soar. This gives me comfort, as we journey through this season of our lives.
Lastly, God makes our hearts for joy and will not let us lose treasures that truly matter. Our Joy comes from seeking Our Lord. .
This is just my Reflection on parts of the Joyful Mysteries that spoke to me.

Mary woman and mother

The last few weeks Broken Bay Dioceses has been advertising its latest e-conference. Mary- First Disciple. I was thinking, how can I do this. I just didn't want to go somewhere and sit uncomfortably and watch a presentation on a screen. Well, I saw my regular news feature and the advertisement yet again, and after consulting my live in computer whizz- my dear hubbie, I thought why not, lets view it. Problem was we had appointments and scheduled activities.
After getting all the 'stuff', out of the way, we sat and watched the conference. It was brilliant. Fr Francis Moloney was the keynote speaker. He discussed Mary in context of the writings of the Gospels and the 1st century, he talked of the geneology and its importance, and unpacked Luke and Johns 'gospels very well.
Sr Margaret Ghosm a Maronite Sister from the order of The Holy family, discussed Eastern Icons. Fascinating.
I truly recommend viewing this while you can Mary first disciple.
Mary has played a huge part in my walk with of Faith, so I know she was pushing me today.
Ava Maria.

Rejoicing in our womenhood

Last weekend I attended the 2^nd SISTERHOOD weekend in Sydney. It is underpinned by the Disciples of Jesus –Canberra branch, and it was an amazing weekend. The focus being Rejoicing, Hope, Celebrate. Rejoicing in our womanhood, hoping in her humanity and celebrating her individuality. It was filled with talks, praise and worship, fellowship, confession, adoration and committment, and of course ending with Mass.
The first presenter for the Saturday was Sr Mary Madeline from the Dominician order of St Cecilia, here in Sydney. She spoke very eloquently on how we can live a life like Mary. She spoke on the virtues Mary needed to live the 'Yes' that God asked her. The hardship she would have endured and the trials she went through, in order to live her 'Yes'. Her first words where - 'Rejoice in the Lord always, surrender to his plan'. God needs our permission to work in us. She spoke about God being with us through all our difficulties.
I loved the way Sr Mary Madeline intertwined how Mary needed to Love those who did not love her Son, Mary was gentle and at peace in the way God provided for her. She was patient, in it being Gods 'timing not hers. In all this she was kind and good, looking beyond herself. Our Lady also had much Joy, just like we have much joy, we can be joyful in our hard times
How are we modelling Our Lady in our lives? Loving others, trusting in his provision, awaiting for his timing not ours, being other-centred and being true to our word. This all gives us tremendous freedom. This is a reflection, as I mediate on the role Our Lady has played in my life, particularly in this month of Mary.

Mary Our Mother

This is Our Ladys' month, I read these words today in my 'Mary Vitamin'. They really resonated with me. They are just such simple things. I know I don't get to do all the Marian things every day, so this gave me great comfort. Our Lady has played a huge part in my walk of faith. She has always been there guiding me to her Son, so this is posted in her honour.
' If we want to imitate Our Lady's true clients, we must not fail to take a part in the special veneration that the Church then pays to the heavenly Mother.'
It's time to take advantage of the graces available to me during the Month of May. I will make one small effort to do something Marian for this month, every day. Even if it is something as small as keeping a vase with one flower in front of my image of the Blessed Virgin or one extra Hail Mary a day.

Stations of the Cross at home

We missed our Lenten Stations of the Cross this week.
I looked at the clock 10.40. 15mins to drive there, I wasn't organised, and the rush would have made it too stressful. It started at 11am.
But today on the Annunciation I felt very drawn to walk the Stations.
As we were coming up to lunchtime, I suggested how about we say the Stations here at the kitchen bench. It just seemed the right thing to do- a mum preparing a meal and meditating on the Passion.
It was incredible how moving it was to speak, with feeling in our voices, and it bought several tears to our eyes and lumps in our throats. I could hear Brids' voice quivver.
Whilst I was listening or reading, I was drawn to Our Lady in the Passion of her Son. Her sorrow. Her grief. It brought me to a place of my own struggles and sorrows, but it also gave me strength in a strange way, and a new clarity on our present situation.
Amazing how a Devotion that I say often, can have a different meaning, just when it is needed.
Thank You Lord for this moment.

What a day, What a Blessing

Well I must confess that somehow or an other I got my dates mixed up and I thought today was The Annunciation.

We corrected that fairly quickly, this meaning the things we had organised for 'tomorrow' where not ready, anyway, we changed our plans, as we can as homeschoolers, and ......

Brid and I drove off early, to Church to spend sometime in Adoration and Thanksgiving. We wanted to be early so we could just be in the presence of Our Lord.
We knew we wouldn't be home for some hours, so we took some of our work to do in the car. Latin on the CD player in the car, faith reader outside the church before we walked in.

Mass was beautiful, honouring Our Lady, and Ava Maria just sounded lovely. It resonated through the whole church.

After Mass we had lunch at a little Cafe' and by chance met up with my dear Dermot. another blessed moment.

We were to meet up with a Lecturer at the University to look at Moon rocks. Louise had lovingly asked her lecturer last week if Brid could come and look at them. So after getting a park right out the front of the pathway we needed to take and finding our way along the map Louise had prepared for us, we were there.
We thought we were pretty clever, because Newcastle Uni can seem hard to get around for a stranger. We met with this lecturer, who was just so enthusiastic, but had forgotten to get the moon rocks from the safe, at the bank- I kid you not. She is one of 3 people who have these rocks- the other two are ex-presidents of the US.
All types of loops were hurdled for her to keep them in her possession.

She must of felt a little guilty, because she proceded in giving Brid and myself a very interactive seminar on The Solar System and Astronomy.

It was so interesting, but I think the best part was that Brid was just so present to hear the information. She was keen to learn but also keen to share what she knew, and boy was her recall good. It is a pet topic for Brid and one she surprised me and this lovely kind women with her knowledge.

I must admit I have gone away from there truly buzzing, with Joy for Brid and a big yes, she is learning. It was a blessing ,that after the events of our past year, I truly needed to be witness to.
What a perfect day to witness these exchanges of knowlede between these two, and the respect that they gave each other. It was definitely a moment inspired by God just for us.
Everything was just so right yesterday, the smoothness of getting our book work done, the parks right outside buildings we needed to be at, green lights all the way, and this was just 2pm.
Dermot and my Dad have been tiling our laundry area, and it was coming to completion yesterday. It looked great, another unexpected blessing. So now I have my laundry back.
I kept thinking of Our Lady's 'yes', and its affect on the world.
My Dad was in no hurry to go home, as Mum was out, so he just stayed and chatted. It was nice to talk together and just be.
Last night, at prayer group, it was beautiful to sit with other women and just be present to Our Lord and celebrate the Annunication.

So I am not sure here, who was more blessed Our Lady being honoured on this beautiful feast day of her YES, or us because our whole day was just blessed from beginning to end.
Maybe both.
I am sure we all have wonderful stories to tell of our days, but this day was special for us.

So I am in Awe of Mary's Yes, and she blesses us everyday with her Son.

HAIL HOLY QUEEN

I am a bit of a non-fiction, particularly Catholic writings, buff.

I enjoy exploring the Catholic faith, and in turn deepening my faith.

Lately I have been reading books authored by Kimberley & her husband Scott Hahn.

They are powerful books, and ones, I find very easy to read. When I started reading this particular one, I thought, 'will it be dry', but 'I can handle it if it is'. I kept reassuring myself, just in case I got disappointed, " it won't be like 'Rome Sweet Home' ", but it was an easy read for me.

My latest is 'Hail Holy Queen'- Scott Hahn.
It is brilliant.
I kept stopping Dermot from reading, his book, by saying-'Listen to this' and 'You won't believe what I just found'. Every night. It was inspiring.

I enjoyed Scott continually taking everything back to the bible and Doctrinal quotes from early Fathers of the Church. I like the fact he is a 'convert', and that he knows what others are thinking. It has given me confidence to answer the 'tricky' questions.

I enjoyed his thoughts on before he was a Catholic. I I love the richness he brings to the reader in his books.

I felt sorrow for him when he explained how he threw away his own Grandmothers beads when they were given to him after her death, and joy when he was able to explain the Assumption to his former Methodist teacher and wife, who grilled him for hours.

Soooo I have asked Dermot for another for Christmas and my birthday....., and I have placed in Dermots' to read book pile.
Have you read it? Did you like it? Did you think it inspired you?

My current read is The Genius of Womenhood- Karen Doyle- an Australian, who along with her husband Jonathon are founders and national directors for CHOICEZ Media- directed at youth.
Dermot ordered this before it was published.
I have been waiting for the right time to read it. Now is it.

TODAYS FEAST DAY

We had all intentions of attending A Feast day Mass today, But I have been unwell for a few days, and my desire became just a dream.
So unable to celebrate this feast of The Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin with Mass, as I had planned, we stayed put and prayed our Novena and The Rosary, read the Missal and began the journey of our day.


As the morning drew on I got more tired, so Brid joined me in bed to read her Advent readers- including this gem.
We are taking this one slowly, and savouring every story. We get something out of each one. Its broken up into countries.

We have another read aloud I picked up from a christian bookshop called ' One Wintry Night'- it is the story of the Bible and ties the Christmas message and Our Saviours birth within each small chapter. It is truly lovely.

To finish off our day, we wanted to watch 'The Nativity Story'. I enjoyed it, but we needed to
stop it several times for discussion points.
Also Brid was disturbed by several scenes. ie.,the soldiers violent portrayal was enough for her. Elizabeth giving birth was another talking point.
I watched this movie last year with Kristie, but this is the first time we watched it as a family.
I am pleased there were several things we needed to concentrate on, as distractions. In the Advent Lapbook guidelines, it asked for discussion on symbolism at several points of the movie. I love symbolism, so I was in my element with that. I thought it would be a good teaching tool, as we have been discussing symbols in Narnia and other popular books.
(I will post her Lapbook when it is complete.)

All in all, our day was rich in so many ways, the stories in the readers, mirrored the scripture readings, the Gospel reading, mirrored the Annunciation in the movie.

We learn so much by just being faithful to Our Lord and trusting in his desires for us. So today, I had no choice, than just be. Thank you Lord.

The month of the Rosary

Next month is the month of the Rosary. I love this month. We are getting ready by decorating our home. Something wonderful happened today, our parish secretary rang and asked us to have the Lady of the Rosary statue next week. We were going to ask anyway, so of course we jumped at this opportunity.

It is such a blessing to have her come to our home and stay the week. we make a special place of Honour for her.

I love the fact that when we pray the Rosary we reflect on the life of her son. It is so scriptural.

We have a statue of the Miraculous Mary, but to have this statue who travels through our parish is special. All the prays of the parish. I could go on.

An Update: We will receive Our Lady next week now.