Our Lady and Mothers Day

This month is my favourite month of the liturgical year. I remember being told, this month we honour Mary, the mother of Jesus. I wanted to know more.
I was a pretty green Catholic at the time.
I learnt that the liturgical colour was blue.

We started saying the Rosary daily in May in honour of Our Lady.
My Mum bought me a statue of The Miraculous Mary.

So much as changed since then. BUT I still love this month and Still honour Our Lady.
Late last year we added significant words to our liturgical celebrations. So this Month we have Mary- painted blue. Grace will follow soon. Our family and homeschool alters are covered and draped in blue material.

This weekend in Australia, we as a nation celebrate Mothers' day. We will get together with our family. Dermot and Brid will be cooking. Brid will get my Dad involved.
I will sit and chat with my Mum while the men and children serve us.

This was not quite the way it was done when I was younger, but when Dermot & I married, we started new traditions. One of these is that one birthdays and special days that person is served all day.

When I was younger we would give Mum her presents and we would have Bacon N Eggs- which Mum would cook. Then she would relax while we cleaned up. We would drive to see both my Dads Mum and my Mums' Mum. It was always a lovely day. We would buy Carnations on Friday for both my Nannas. It was a simple day and one we are getting back to. 

So I look forward to Sunday and the time I will spend with my Mum and our family.
May God Bless you this weekend.

  

My Nanna- Rest in Peace

Today is the Anniversary of the Death of my beloved Nanna. She was the most wonderful Nanna in the entire world, but her life was cut short. She suffered from Asthma and was not controlled very well. She developed emotional Asthma after her Dad died, when she was a teen.
She was born on Goulburn, NSW in the 1920s of Irish stock. Brogan was the family name. Her mum and Dad were Lillian and Bryan Brogan. Nanna  had 5 brothers and sisters. Her elder sister is still alive today. She is 92, making her my great Aunt..
The family settled in Maitland, eventually, a rich farming country in the Hunter Valley in the 40s. Her Parents owned a Baker shop and my Great Grandmother was reknown for her cooking, she was brilliant. They left Maitland after the second Flood in the 50s, around 1958. Nanna and her Husband, Arthur Sullivan, settled in a suburb of Newcastle, NSW called Mayfield. My great grandmother moved in with them in the late 60s.
         So my Nanna was the women who taught me my faith and surrounded me in The love of Mother Mary. She would whisper the Rosary as I settle to sleep.
She was gentle but was stern if you got her mad- which I did often. I stayed at Nannas frequently to go to Mass and to help out with her mothers nursing care -Nanna Brogan was the reason I am a Nurse. Nanna Brogan required a lot of care and my Nanna Sullivan was a little breathless with her Asthma, so I just helped bath and groom her. Nanna Brogan And I sat and had breakfast together -drinking from our saucers!!!
I was very close to both my Grandmothers, but Nanna Sullivan and I would go to town- Mayfield, and the city-Newcastle to pay the bills and do her part of the Shopping on the Bus. My other Nanna would wave us off at the gate and in her later years from the window.
I was in the UK getting Dermot his Visa to travel to Australia to Emigrate when we got the word from my employer. ( We had no Phone). It happened very quickly, Nanna was in Hospital for a Cataract operation, and had a fatal Asthma attack, the night beforehand.
I didn't go to Nannas funeral. Mum suggested I stay in the UK, as we were at a delicate time in Dermots Visa application.
I was,  and we all, were devasted when she died. She was the glue in our family. Everyone came to see Nanna. Everyone loved her.
Something changed the day she died.
Nanna said to me before I left for my big adventure to Europe and the UK. " I won't see you again". I fobbed it off. "Yes you will Nanna". Nanna was in her 60s. Not that old.
Dermot never met her, obviously the children never met her, but she is in all our hearts. I have made sure of that.

I MISS HER AND I WILL ALWAYS HAVE HER CLOSE IN MY HEART. My sweet Nanna. I LOVE YOU.
May You be resting in the Peace of Our Saviour Jesus.