The inaugurated the MGLs as a Religious Institute of Diocesan Right.

Last weekend The Missionaries of Gods Love attained the inaugurated the MGLs as a Religious Institute of Diocesan Right. It has been a long process and although we were unable to be there, we were there in spirit. 
This Blog post says it all.
http://www.acountrypriest.com/the-mgls-big-day/

Receiving Jesus on our knees

I was reading through Cathnews today and I saw this article.
I immediately opened it as its area of discussion with another friend. I am in favour of this, but in our modern Catholic world I can see resistance.

The Vatican cardinal in charge of the Mass wants to the faithful to go back to the practice of receiving communion on the tongue while kneeling, reports the Australian.

The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Spanish Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, said such a "sign of adoration needs to be recovered".
"I think the entire church needs to receive communion while kneeling," said the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
"It is to simply know that we are before God himself and that he came to us and that we are undeserving," he told the Catholic News Agency during a visit to Peru last week.
"If we trivialise communion, we trivialise everything, and we cannot lose a moment as important as that of receiving communion, of recognising the real presence of Christ."
The cardinal said Catholics who received communion while standing should make "a genuflection or profound bow".

Blessed

Today I feel very Blessed to be Catholic and to be witness to The Beatification Of Pope John Paul II.
I have looked back over Dermots and My life together. JPII was Pope when we were Married. He is on our Papal Blessing. He was the Pope when all our children were Baptised and He has been a big part of our Life. He was and is a great evangeliser. He created this Merciful Feast day. The many moves he made in world peace, reconciliation,,  and the encyclicals he wrote. So much vision.

It has been amazing watching his Beatification tonight-AEST, and to be part of todays Divine Mercy feast day on this particular day was touching.
I remember the crowd at WYD08, when Our Holy Father -Pope Benedict XVI mentioned JPII name. It was electric. He wanted youth to be able to celebrate there Faith, so WYDs were born.
I am looking forward to Brids Journey to the next WYD.

So the day we have all been waiting for has arrived. As said in the commentary of EWTNs coverage. It was like an extension of JPIIs funeral. The crowds roared and clapped. It sent tingles up and down my arms, knowing all the little connections-. knowing he was so ill, waiting with the world in his final hours watching and crying at his Funeral Mass on TV, and waiting for the news that he was on his way to Sainthood. We all knew anyway. 6 years already. He had something special about him- Gods love to share with every and the Holy Spirit.

Blessed John Paul II pray for us.

wordless wednesday

Outside St Marys 17th October.

All Souls day

Last evening Brid prepared and read the Litany of Saints, and she added some of our special names as well. That was a special time.
This morning, we joined our parish community at Mass. In preparation for this month, we have been writing down all our deceased family & friends on a sheet of paper, to take to Mass with us..  I sometimes have memory failure of those I would like to pray for, but today we were organised. It was nice to view this list before and at appropriate times to prompt our prayers.
Apart from these people dear to us, on our list, we will be especially praying for people in need this month. aussiecoffeeshop and I must have been on the same wave length when we were preparing our posts.
Our parish priest again put together a homily, that spoke to me. At one point, he spoke of the 'Book of the Dead', he has in the parish office and how he needs to write final details of a persons live. He spoke of how he used to dread it, now he calls it his book of hope, as he scans the pages of the people in the book, and remembers there life and the families.
God Bless you all today.

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

The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart

Last Friday evening we went along to a lovely celebration for the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart. We attended their Mass to observe and prayer as they Renewed  their vows, in their native tongue. As this is an order From Vietnam, some 120 Sisters, will be Renewing there vows, in Vietnam, on the same date 20th August.
They arrived in our dioceses a couple of years ago, and have touched the hearts of many.
There was a great turn out from all areas of our Diocese and beyond. This included Priests, Brothers and other Religious Sisters.
It was lovely to witness this ceremony and to watch a community come together for Celebration.
Here is a small article about them.

It was a Jubilee Celebration...and more

I have been wrestling with posting this for a couple of weeks now. I may still take it down.

Recently, we were present at a Jubilee Mass for 3 priests in our dioceses. One of these priests had been very much part of our lives and was present at Brids’ Holy Communion and Confirmation. So we wanted to be there for him.

There was a buzz in the Cathedral and it was great to be present. Many of our Diocesian priests had assembled to celebrate with their brothers.

Everything was just right until Dermot said ‘there are people outside with posters’, the next thing we saw was posters being carried down the aisle of the church. It was a protest against the actions of a Priest. These were victims of abuse. It was a horrible sinking feeling to realise this was happening. I was moved to tears for our Priests and felt uncomfortable in this situation. It took the shine off the celebration that should have been special for these three men of God.

Our Bishop looked saddened and tired at the public protest. He has been under fire for a very long time. These wounded men did not leave and made their presence felt. As a church is a public space, there was no way to move them on.

Our Bishop under the circumstances did not give a Homily, but instead instruction to us all to not antagonise in anyway. His words were very clever as He was directing his words to everyone present.

Although it was a very upsetting, the people assembled to celebrate the Jubilee, sang and prayed like angels. It was an amazing atmosphere, but on of confusion as well. Brid was very upset by all of this. She really didn’t understand. It was the first time she had been exposed to this type of situation.

On reflection, although this was a difficult situation to be involved in, it was also a time of being gentle and kind to these wounded people. I viewed several priests talking to them afterwards and I felt upset for both parties, but I was not moved to talk to them, ‘what would I say that hadn’t already been said’. All I knew was that I wanted to get our daughter into a safe environment to gently talk her through it. My thoughts were not with the victims at that time, but it didn’t take long for my feelings to change and feel sorrow for there grief.

As I stated in the beginning I have been tossing around this post, as I know my words may offend, or they may not reflect the way others may see this situation. This is purely my reflection on a situation that we found ourselves in, and how I have struggled to write on it.

suffering and reflection

"Even suffering is part of the truth of our life. Thus, trying to
shield the youngest from every difficulty and experience of
suffering, we risk creating, despite our good intentions, fragile
persons of little generosity:
The capacity to love, in fact, corresponds to the capacity to suffer,
and to suffer together." Benedict XVI".

I found this passage today written by Our Holy Father, and it really spoke to me. Thanks Maria.
As we struggle through the map of our daily life, with Brids' older siblings. I wonder has the suffering and turmoils been hurtful to her. I pray often that she is surrounded by Gods' protection and held always in his loving arms through this all.
She is a very resilient young lady and often her words are far beyond her years. God truly has her under his wing. Not that I didn't know that, but he reveals to us often in ways we don't expect.
Praise God.

Precious gift

Today Brid & I finally attended Latin Mass for the first time in months. It is celebrated every 1st Tuesday of the month, at our local Cathedral. Various reasons has prevented us from attending.
Today was a special day.
As I had said previously, we are slowly making connections in our new parish.
Two dear ladies from our parish spoke to us after Mass. They are both very sweet women. One of the ladies, remembers us from when we had our older ones at the local Catholic school. In fact, my eldest dd was in her eldest grand childs class. So the connection is there.
She is always concerned for us. How are you settling in??
The other dear lady, had a book in her hand, and began explaining it to me. I was very interested as it was reflecting on the wounds of Jesus. Then she placed it into my hand, and said 'I want you to have it. I know you need it'. I was so touched by her generous heart and how she was spirit lead in her gesture.
And here I am thinking, we are not fitting in. Will we ever fit in here?
Why do I worry, God has little angels around to do his work, like these women. God Bless them.

Oh by the way, the little book is called " By his wounds you are healed."

Praise God In this day.

What is the season of Lent like for us.

The first week of Lent- we are in the midst of the Wilderness with Our Lord- our own desert.

We have set up our prayer spaces. One for the school area and one in our sitting room.
We spend a lot of time in this room, as we have minimalised our TV usage. That in itself is hard.
People ask, did you see this.... and we say no.... we don't watch it.... it reminds me of the school hard pressure, when I was asked did you watch blah blah last night?..... Its very freeing.

We are running a Lenten group from our home together, this year. We have in the past participated in seperate male & female groups, but it can make Lent very busy, and its nice to faciliate this group together. So a Sacred space in our sitting room will be a focal point in this Lenten journey.


Apart from Lent, The Lord is showing us the way, in our new parish. Brid is alter serving, we are making contributions with music, and other roles we have always played in the church. He is leading us gently into this parish, and we need to Trust his ways.

We are learning the ways other parishes and priests celebrate Lent and the seasons of the year.
I have to keep my mouth zipped often, as I learn the way I once knew, was just that one way.

Come Follow me and I will make you fishers of men..

This weeks Gospel reading talks about Following Jesus now just as we are . Leaving our old life and following him into his will for us.

This in itself can be hard to do, especially in this day and age of job insecurity, but we are called to do just that. Trust and follow him.

He didn't say it would be easy, but he would bless us for our obedience.

So everytime we say our Yes, we are obeying his plan for us. We are leaving our old ways, and embracing the will of God.

Just like Our Lady, at the Annunication, she knew this would be a big ask, but in her obedience, she did his will, just as we must do.

So I just Love this reading, because it is a reminder in trusting, obeying and waiting for what comes next.

We have had a very hard journey over the last few years, but it makes it easier knowing God has it all in hand, and we only need to Trust in him.

So as the song goes... Come follow me and will make you become fishers of people, light of the world, salt of the earth, so pick up you cross and follow me....

We are Back

Hi everyone, We are back after a very beautiful peacefilled 8 days emersed in Gods 'Love.
Summer School of Evangelisation (SSE10), Run by the Disciples Of Jesus Covenant Community, was very local for us. It really is on our backdoor.
We arrived last Sunday and re emerged back into the 'world', this Sunday just gone.
It was the largest Summer School that they had run at Tocal.
We were fed well with Gods' great love and peace.
Lectures and Seminars daily during the week, childrens 'ministry for all the kids, Sessions specific to youth. A lovely married couple gave a very special witness about Being Men of God , and Women of God. They touched on areas which are hard to talk about issues and also issues our mainstream youth, don't hear about. Modesty was a big one. Understanding the male psyche was another. Very exciting to see it discussed and people flocked to this series of talks.
One of the priests was blessed enough to go with Harvest tours to Jerusaleum, and he shared his experience as well as he discussed the Man of the Shroud. Very inspiring.
The evening sessions were filled with witness talks, praise & worship, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament every night, reconcilation opportunities, prayer team for individual prayer and at the end of every night was the Divine office. Morning prayer began at 7 after an hours' adoration.
The Rosary is prayed daily and is of course well supported.
It was an extremely hot week, and it was hard to keep cool, but the pool in the afternoon was a great relief. The lecture rooms were air conditioned for the first time.
This community has several ministries underpinning it., including Missionaries of Gods' Love - for Brothers, Sisters- about 11 in total, ( they have 2 houses, 1 in Canberra and 1 in Melbourne)and Priests. They all undertake studies in Melbourne. The Priest presiding of our SSE10 has his community base in Darwin.
The Brothers come from all over Asia Pacific area. At least 8 come to Tocal. They are all in the process of Studying for Priesthood.
There is a Youth Mission Team-YMT, that ministers to the youth in the schools and as well runs youth groups and weekend retreats for youth. They also keep in contact with the youth they meet, and great friendships are made, which are life changing.
There is also support for the singles and young adults as well as everyone, who becomes a covenant member.
Mass is of course Daily, and as it is a charasmatic community, then so is Mass. Great reverance is attained and much discernment goes into the whole week.
Brid had an awesome time, in Childrens' ministry and she was involved with a girls' share group for the first time. she 'LOVed' it and they called themselves St Joan Of Arc- they visited the Chapel every day to put flowers in front of the alter. The best thing about this little group, is that all of them will be ready to move to the nextlevel all together- so they will be able to support and grow together.
Our family has been nourished, supported and encouraged by this beautiful loving community for over 5 years now.
We will go again, God willing next year. Each year, you give yourself to god that little bit more, and he blesses you abundantly.

Our Holy Fathers' Homily

We have just read Our Holy Fathers 'Homily, It was very touching.
This is the link

I really liked the last paragraph. ...................Lord Jesus, born in Bethlehem, Come to us. Enter within me. Transform me. Renew me. Change me, change us all from stone and wood into living people, in whom your love is made present and the world is transformed. Amen.

Have a Blessed and Holy Christmas time.

FRIDAY

On Fridays, we have always finished our school week with Mass. In the last few months we have discovered Latin Mass. I find it very peaceful and moving. When I first heard about it, my internal barriers came up. You see, I am charasmatic my nature. I enjoy singing and clapping and praising God in a very open way. I love praise music like Planetshakers, Third Day, Rebecca St James. etc...
I belief that God has been bringing me on a journey with him over the last few years. I began discovering Our Lord again some 12 years ago and since then he has led me on an amazing journey with him. Part of this is that its OK to just 'Be still' and adore him internally in the Mass- This is best achieved in a Latin Mass.
I then started thinking, how does this all fit together. Easy, just "Let me(Jesus) lead you". I suppose it is all about Trust. Trusting God has my journey mapped out, which I know in my head, but in reflection I can now see it. So on Fridays we go to either a Latin or an 'English' mass- a Brid calls it, depending on whether we go to Sydney, with friends or stay here in 'Our Town'. Either way its OK because each has its own individual beauty.
The days we stay in 'Our Town', we go and do something special together, and the days we go to Sydney we enjoy lots of other homeschoolers company.

Huntington house

Once a year sometime, we are asked as a family to join with some other families and spend the weekend at the beach at Terrigal, at a huge 13 bedroomed house, owned by the Christian Brothers'. We love it, whether it is raining, freezing, hot or blowing a gale, its just the fun of being there and enjoying each others company.
This year we took Brid & Kristie with us. It was a great weekend. We swam in the unpatrolled beach, had coffee down the street, shared our meal on the Saturday evening together. We go to Mass at The Lady Star of the Sea together at 10am. We crawl out of bed with just enough time to get organised for Mass.
We always have a BBq for Lunch and as it was so hot for Spring, we had swims as well. We usually leave at the last minute because it is so relaxing, and as we have shared our lives with this group for 11years now, we have a general catch up.
Some weekends we say the rosary sometimes not, but we always have great conversation especially about the happenings in our churches- especially this year with WYD just been and gone.
Well it was another great one and especially as we got to spend time with Kristie and Brid together. Precious times.