a little break

taking some time off to meditate on the Passion. Death. and Suffering of Our Lord.

praying for all of you.

“i have many distractions, but as soon as i am aware of them, i pray for those people the thought of whom is diverting my attention. in this way, they reap the benefit of my distractions.” ~st. therese of lisieux

saddened by all of the purple.

“our joy depends on the Cross, and our Lord would not enter into His glory save by the way of bitterness. He leads you by the same path as the Saints.” ~st. vincent de paul

longing to hear that alleluia again.

“if we endure all things patiently and with gladness, thinking on the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, and bearing all for the love of Him: herein is our perfect joy.” ~st. francis of assisi

hoping to taste some of that joy on sunday.

“the Blessed Eucharist is the perfect Sacrament of the Lord’s Passion, since it contains Christ Himself .” ~st. thomas aquinas

wondering where these 40 days went and perhaps being too scrupulous about all of my miserable failures.

“but since all your satisfactions and penances are too small and deficient to atone for so many sins, unite them to those of your Saviour Jesus lifted upon the Cross, receive His Divine Blood as it flows from His wounds, and offer It up to appease Divine Justice.” ~st. peter julian eymard

and wishing you a very blessed Easter in advance.

“remember not former things and look not on things of old. behold I do new things and now they shall spring forth. (43:18)

I am He that blot out thy iniquities.  for My own sake I will not remember them. (43:25)

but He was wounded for our iniquities: He was bruised for our sins.

the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.

and by His bruises. we are healed (53:5)” ~isaias.

 AMEN!

“prayer ascends and mercy descends. high as are the heavens and low as is the earth, God hears the voice of man.” ~st. augustine.

the bee’s knees

you’re probably familiar with this phrase, but if you aren’t, it means “excellent, of the highest quality.” and if you want to get technical, there is an explanation here. anyway, there are, at the end of this seemingly long week, quite a few thing that i think are the bee’s knees. here is my list:

-reading the adventures of tom sawyer-with a southern(?) accent

–this movie, which i watched with one of my sister-in-laws-who is patiently waiting for me to make her this dish. please say bourguignon a few times. i love the way it rolls off of the tongue. forgive me if you wish you were french after watching this film the way i did. and no, i am not excited to make the dish because the recipe happens to call for wine.

–this idea-but don’t watch the little dance number by the bees if the thought of bees dancing provocatively offends you.

-seed packets for our own honey bee friendly garden

-fresh air, after a few days of being in the middle of so many different fires. i don’t want to say “wake up californians! could this be a chastisement…???” but there. i just did.

-the yummy combination of wine/popsicles that i am really starting to love. my brother-in-law-thanks d-just gave me a new idea-watermelon flavored jolly ranchers with midori. i am a temperant woman, but after the week i’ve had i thought i deserved two glasses. (it was cheap wine). and it was friday nite.

– michael’s sale on stamps and art supplies-i saved $30.00 yesterday on some good stuff!

 

-progress on: my cloth grocery bags. i am using recycled linen curtains and vintage sheets. i have 4 finished bags. and 3 more cut out. is it terrible that they are so pretty that i hate to think of using them for just grocery bags? i am using one of them as a purse for now. and: 2 handmade gifts are just about completed and almost ready to be sent off. a “dolly carrier” for my girl is all done except for a button and some elastic. and i have doll plans in my head-almost ready for paper-got to get sewing on them asap.

 

-the HUGE bag of vintage-y lace-y, frilly, cotton-y goodness given to me by my mother-in-law. i have plans for some head coverings for mass with some of the lace….forgive my giddiness, but i am in love with the beautiful, austere way that women look when their heads are covered…but it’s ok if you don’t. i disliked it for years too. the veils always slipped off, they looked “old-fashioned” etc. but it was when i set MY pride aside-and read st. paul’s words-that i just knew-it needed to be done. there is an informative-though not catholic-article explaining many feelings/ideas that are similar to mine here.

– these words from st. augustine, who happens to be one of my FAVORITE saints, so much so that my littlest one bears his name for a middle name….

“Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But here is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you. Look below you. Note it. Read it. God, Whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that? Why heaven and earth SHOUT at you: “God made me!”

i am reading his confessions right now, and am looking forward to reading his city of God  next, so i might be jotting down some more of his wisdom in the days ahead. anyhow, i guess i should get off of here. i ate a hostess twinkie (gross, i know). and we are out of milk, but i am extremely thirsty, so i guess it’ll be a glass of cold water for me. i cannot believe we are going thru 2 gallons of milk a week. if we had room i’d invest in a cow. i wonder what the people at the law office next door would think? would they think it was the bees knees…..