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

Padre Pio

The Padre Pio dvd

Recently  I  have watched a great dvd of a Miracle worker Saint. St Pio of Pietrelcrina.  He is a remarkable modern day saint.
I purchased the dvd late last year at a homeschool camp, and left it on the shelf. Umm.. Why..? I wonder now. I was a fairly real portrayal of his life.
Recently I gave a small Pauline book to my Mum about St Padre' Pio, as she hasn't kept up with some of these 'modern day saint'. I will be passing this dvd on as well.
He was chosen by God for some amazing work and his Stigmata is well talked and queried.
I first learnt of him through the Disciples of Jesus, and have enjoyed  discussing his life with Dermot & our children.

We are all watching this dvd in small portions throught this week as part of our Religion, Geography, History etc..
 Pietrelicina is a small town in Italy, 2 hours drive from Sorrento. He was named Francesco after St Francis of Assisi. He received his gifts as a small child and announced at a young age that he wished to be a Friar.
He lived as a persecuted Priest due to his Stigmata,The gift of bilocation, wonderful confessor and the ability to have exactly thr right word of counsel. The church was sceptical about this, and it needed to be. He understood this, and offered his suffering through the crucified Lord.
Blessed John Paul II met with Padre' Pio and asked for prayers before he was even a Bishop.

He spend most of his days at a town known as San Giovanni Rotonda. It is the second visited pilgrim sight after Our Lady of Guadalupe.
We celebrate Padre Pios' feast day September 23rd.  He dies in 1968 and was canonised in 2002 by Pope John Paul II.

St Pio of Pietrelcina Pray for us.

Feast Of St Therese of Liseux or the Little Flower

She is the Saint of the little ways. I have learnt through parenting and particularly its the little ways that we see grace and Gods love.

We had grand plans for this feast day. Brid had been given a St Therese statue by her Grandma last Christmas- they share the same Patron Saint. This all came unstuck once we realised that a retreat for teen girls was on this weekend.

So before we left for our journey to join this retreat, we hurriedly place St Therese on the family dining table were flowers were waiting for her.

As St Therese is also celebrated in the old calendar on 3rd October, we will be enjoying her feast day then. .....

I first heard of her through a friend many years ago. I read her book ‘The story of a Soul’, and the story really didn’t capture my attention.  Some time later, Brid chose her as her confirmation Saint. She had many saints chosen so she prayed and asked the Saint wanting to be her Confirmation Saint to make it known to her. Brid decided to do a novena to St Therese, and nearly everyday she received a flower or a rose. On the last day, a person in a shop handed her a bunch of roses. Brid knew St Therese was the Saint for her.

So happily she added this name to her given names on her confirmation day.

Recently I read a lovely inspiring book. A little way of homeschooling – Suzie Andres. St Therese again.
Is she trying to tell me something, is this a message for me. Everywhere I go, she is there, present, waiting for me. I feel totally surrounded by her.
So today on her feast day, I took myself to Mass and I found myself attending Adoration and Benediction afterward. It was a very peaceful and calming experience. 

All day I was thinking,  “I wonder how Brid is celebrating this feast day? What is Mum doing? How are the girls and the Sisters getting on? Are they enjoying each others company.

Brid dressed up as St Therese at a Saints Party, aged 9

How did you celebrate St Therese of Liseux’ feast day.?

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.

Feast of St Mary of the Cross

Our first Australian Saint, We celebrate her Feast Day today.

Mary overcame many obstacles to follow her dream, but she never lost hope. Mary’s motto was ‘never see a need without trying to do something about it.’ Her life reveals to us a compassionate God, a God of love. Her actions acknowledged the human dignity of each person. Her life speaks to Australians, in a unique way, of the message of God’s love for all, especially for the ‘underdog’ and the ‘battler.’ She embodies all that is best in our Australian nation and its people

Saints are the heroes of the Church. Mary MacKillop may not have considered herself a saint but those around her saw her heroic qualities and began to see her as a saintly person.

Grandparents and St Anne & St Joachim

Today is a special memorial day in our church liturgical calendar.
It was in the home of Joachim and Ann where the Virgin Mary received her training to be the Mother of God. Thus, devotion to Ann and Joachim is an extension of the affection Christians have always professed toward our Blessed Mother. We, too, owe a debt of gratitude to our parents for their help in our Christian formation.
I was trying to decide how best to celebrate this day for us as a family, in this modern world.  I decided I would ask Brid if she would write to her Grandparents. She would not only write but send them a photo of her with them. She also explained in her letter why she was sending it. As St Anne and St Joachim are Jesus grandparents, she wanted to do something special for them.

Today we will say our Chaplet to St Anne and I will honour my own Grandparents.

This is me with my Grandparents and tiddles the cat, when I was a baby

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.

Divine Mercy- JESUS I TRUST IN YOU.

May God Bless you further this Sunday. Divine Mercy Sunday.
I am looking forward to the coverage of Beatification of John Paul II. What a fitting day for this to be happening.

JOHN PAUL II

Divine mercy image

St Faustina

Since attending my first Divine Mercy Feast Day many years ago now, I look forward to the Blessings that flow from it, but also the Day itself. It is a very moving day for me. JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU is something I live by, It was my first blog name and every year we start the novena with a lovely parish Priest On Good Friday. This year I was determined not to forget this Novena, so close to my heart. 

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.

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.

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.

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY

ST Patrick's day has always been a big day in the life of the O'Sullivans'. Everyone wears green to start with. We play the best Irish music. Dermot has quite a collection, and the children have always learnt to dance play swing to the music- there Irish roots.

Musicians like Christy Moore, Cheiftains, The Pogues, Danu, The Saw Doctors etc, have always been a big part of our daily life.

Today is no exception.

Today we will meet family and go out for a meal at lunch.

We have already thanked God for St Patrick today, and have asked for intercession for a great day of celebration.

I got out our shamrocks and all things Irish and placed them around the table centre piece- which is the best place for us to remember each saint, as we see it plainly at meal times.

Brid has been playing every Irish piece she knows on the piano, and I know she will dance today at our celebration meal. Because that is just her.

Today is a day, we traditionally plant sweet peas. We nuture them, and in spring they bear many flowers.

Tomorrow her Irish Dancing teacher has a great class organised for them, and I am sure it will be filled with irish fun.

So Today I hope you have a wonderful day today on this feast of St Patrick.

St Patrick pray for us.