Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

Checking in from my mostly computerless existence...hope you are all doing well and are virus-free. All is going along nicely in our little corner of nowhere, HM is pleased with the current Princess situation, so there hasn't been much to post about.

I was rather stunned to find this nice little article about today's Feast Day on the mainstream AOL feed. How in the world did that make it past the editors?!? ;)

I am very likely NOT going to make it to Mass today, as I am drowning in snot and Dayquil here with the equally slimy Little Boy, so please pray for me - I'll be watching Mass on EWTN, as is my usual fall-back position. Frankly, I've been doing that a lot in recent weeks. Otherwise, I am eagerly awaiting the big snowstorm we're supposed to get...aside from the daily kid taxi service, I've got nowhere to go, and nothing else going on, and plenty of groceries and firewood. So bring it on!!!

Got Stock? (As in St. SIMON?!?)

Hahaha....

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and the Feast of the Scapular of Mt. Carmel. On this day in 1251, our Blessed Mother appeared to St. Simon Stock and presented him with the scapular and promises special favors and protection to those who wear the scapular.

I've had to fight to wear mine each time I've had a baby or any other sort of minor surgery - the best was my knee arthroscopy about 4 years ago. My good Irish Catholic orthopaedic surgeon, who is a quiet, sweet and soft-spoken man, told the OR nurse to back off when she got testy with me for refusing to remove it (in case of emergency breathing issues under anaesthesia, they want a clear shot at your throat). He then very reverently removed it and wrapped it around my wrist, lacing it through my fingers so that it rested in my palm, and crossed my forehead. As usual, I got a little verkelmpt. But for the first time since they rolled me into the OR, I felt completely relaxed, at peace, and ready to go under.

The (very Americanized)young Indian anaesthesiologist was intrigued by all of this, and asked me what "it" was, and what it meant. I told him the deal and he said "That's really beautiful! I've never heard of that and I've never seen one of those before Cool!" and then to his colleague, "Man, I never knew you were such a religious guy, that's great!"

So wear your scapular - don't be shy - there's so much to be gained for your own soul, and for Team Rome! Here's mine:

It's the Cross of the Crusaders....quite fitting, when one lives in the DOR, really. :)

The Princess wears Our Lady of Lourdes/Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, the Beloved carries - but does not wear - his Confirmation name saint, St. Jude (a natural choice, given who his bride is...) and our Little Therese has the Holy Face, which was blessed at the EWTN 25th Anniversary celebration in Birmingham by the late Alfonso Cardinal Lopez-Trujillo, who led the Pontifical Council for the Family. She ran up to him as he crossed the street and asked him to bless it, he bent down, took it in his hand, blessed her and beamed at her and said "it is so beeeaauuutiful! And so are you, precious little one!" Again, I was verklempt.

So....that's ours. What does yours look like? And if you don't have one, why not? Spend the $5 for this wonderful devotional - keep it tucked in close, and if you're asked, hey - you might just reach into a heart or two.

Johannestag 2009

Yep, it's Johannestag - the feast of St. John the Baptist (and the Boy's second anniversary of his baptism...how can that be?!?) - so we had a mini-bonfire (Johannesfeuer) and cooked hotdogs and s'mores out on the patio on one of the first truly GORGEOUS summer evenings here in the middle of nowhere.

Thank the Lord...for sending John ahead of his cousin and for instituting the Sacrament that washes away original sin...thanks for sending us the Boy....

...and praise God, summer's finally here!

Helo Mom #25 - A trend?

Our dear Athlete is coming to Mass with us tomorrow for the second time in three weeks. We are heading to Grandma's for dinner afterwards, so that may be the draw, but hey...it's progress.

When he joined us two weekends ago, he said that was the first time he's actually paid attention to a [homily] in a long time. (And it wasn't even the one good homilist we have around here saying Mass...sheesh!) He also liked the fact that we were done in an hour, whereas his Methodist service typically lasts for around two hours, then there's the social donut and coffee component for another hour thereafter.

This seems odd....I mean, they only believe in two of the seven Sacraments, they believe that faith is all it takes to get to Heaven...what the heck do they have to talk about for that long? They do sing better than we do, though, I'll give 'em that.

Anyway, I think the Princess is kinda happy he's been joining us, because a fair number of their schoolmates attend and can see that they are "together"...at church and not at a kegger or in someone's back seat. I also sense some gladness on the Athlete's part, both for the respectable "together" time as well as the fact that he can lock eyes with anyone he catches "admiring" her from the pews. Apparently he noticed several young knaves last time, and pushed one into a locker on that following Monday morning at school for doing too much peering and not enough praying.

Ahhh.....young love.....

HeloMom out.

(P.S.: No "Passion Sunday" comments. Naughty Little Therese took care of that already.)

Joy to the Wii!

1. Joy to the Wii!

The box just came

We'll ne-ver be the same!

.

Beloved can't inst-a-all it

He's gonna blow a ci-ir-cuit

.

Because he's got no skills...

...I hope that Geek Squad bills

I ho-OPE, I ho-o-ope

that Geek. Squad. Bills.

.

[Additional verses to follow after dawn tomorrow...]

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But now for something far more serious and heartfelt:

Have a very Blessed and Merry Christmas, everyone!

Are we there yet?

I will post a new Helo Mom update in a day or two (I know, I know...but Larry, Kasia & I will enjoy it!). All is relatively well.

Just got back from watching my 11 y/o perform in the public school's "Winter Concert" that had not one Christmas carol. Songs about snow, "the longest night," hot chocolate, and the only C-word-containing song: Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. I wanted to bang my head against the chair ahead of me and get out of there as fast as possible.

We're at 10 days until the Feast of the Incarnation. This is the first year since I married my Beloved in 1993 that we are going Santa-free. The Boy is too young, and sadly, middle school has put the lingering hopes to rest for our Little Therese. (I keep thinking of St. Therese describing her "last" childhood Christmas Eve in Story of a Soul, and its depiction in the recent Therese movie). It's kinda like that.

In many ways, it's a relief. Less ridiculous hiding stuff int he house, last minute late-night wrapping, scrambling, sneaking about, and silly overspending on toys that don't hold interest past a month. We have a respite for another year or so, then we're back at it with the Boy - and the girls are thrilled at the prospect of being big sister Santas. I will let them do it all...and just foot the bill. And that's just fine. I can't abide the crush, the crowds, even the online shopping is getting annoying. That part, I won't miss. But there are a few other things that I do like, and I do miss.

We have a small, table-top tree for the first time ever....in a family room with a 12-ft. ceiling. It's that Boy. He climbs like a monkey and he's got snake-like long fingers that are into everything. Child-locks, schmild-locks. You get the picture. We knew the temptation would be too much for him to bear, and we were right. We have the tree up and blockaded, but it doesn't stop him from trying to climb up from beneath and behind the table, chewing on the cord that he knows leads to the lights....ahhh, boys! Similarly, most of my regular decorations, like my large, beautifully painted ceramic nativity scene, are not Boy-proof and are remaining in boxes this year. I have 5 Nativity scenes - the Waterford will be the only one out, because I can fit it on the mantel where it's safe. I am a Christmas decorating diva...and all my neat stuff has to take a year (at least) off.

It's a transitional year for Christmas here by the brook. Now, Christmas morning is going to be a pure gift-exchange extravaganza - not as many surprises, none of the childhood wonderment. And I am going to miss that part - a lot.

If I could, I'd rather spend these upcoming days as follows: read, pray more, watch old movies and EWTN specials, listen to the all-Christmas-music XM channels, bake, and cocoon. But the world doesn't let me. Another concert, 2 basketball games, and a wrestling match to get through this week...and then Friday's my last day at the office, which is bittersweet for me.

So I'm in a mini-funk, and it's mostly because I can't wait for the secular, stressful side of Christmas to be over.

It will get better once the kids are out of school and we have a nice, 2 week long CHRISTMAS - not "Winter" - vacation.

Hurry up, O Antiphons! Hurry, Baby Jesus! I need to think about You more and the world less...nothing restores the "wonderment" of Christmastide more than that.

Amazing Cover....

....of one of my all-time favorite songs.



I'll always have my little '80's tender spot for Hall & Oates, but Brian McKnight just NAILS this song! (Apparently, H&O gave him high marks for this rendition as well).


Back to my break - the eyes have had it....and I've gotta get to Mass!

Christ the King

Well, one of my favorite Masses of the year and I ended up staying home with the Boy, who is feverish and blowing snot rockets. So I had to settle for watching Mass on EWTN, which even on a bad day is better than most Masses I've attended since moving to the DOR.

My love of this particular feast day was solidified by the good Augustinian fathers in San Diego, who did it up right. They processed in with a crown of thorns, which was placed next to the altar on a red velvet pillow, wearing their most striking red vestments. A surprising majority of parishioners wore red, too, including our little family. The homily was always excellent, with a meditation on the four "end considerations," discussion of the juxtaposition of the cruel crown our King was forced to wear, displayed on the luxurient fabric of worldly kings, and a solemn reminder about the finality of Christ's mission in the flesh...and then a hint of the beginning coming after today's end, with Advent just around the corner. Outstanding stuff.

Thanks to Fr. Tony and Fr. Tom out there in North Park for solidifying the importance and beauty of this Feast in my mind and in my heart with their devotion to this day, their excellent homilies, and learned counsel. I miss everything about my former parish and hometown.

All Saints Day

Hope you all enjoy the Feast of All Saints today, and that you pick or are picked by a new Saint of the Year to read and meditate on.

It's also a great time to hit your local Catholic bookstore or Amazon.com and treat yourself to a nice Lives of the Saints tome or set.

I own these for the bedside table - Volume One was the key to my reversion from my hedonistic '80's days.

We were also given the four volume Butlers Lives of the Saints by our Little Flower's godfather. There are numerous versions for children, too. Whichever one(s) you choose, I believe it's a must-have for your home library for readers of all ages and stages.

EWTN has a great resource for all you aspiring hagiographers out there - here's a link to their Saints directory - you can look them up by letter or by calendar, and you get a nice bio and location of the saint's shrine, if applicable. Just think of it as All Saints, all the time!

Who are you pairing up with this year?

Digitribute - Dia De Los Muertos

Thanks, Stephanie - this means more than I can say...

"Eddie" is my beloved grandma, who died last yeat just after her 90th birthday. I was too pregnant to travel to her funeral, which crushed me. She taught me how to play cards when I was very young, and she patiently allowed me to beat the snot out of her every Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and summer vacation for about 20 years. (We never got to get serious about bridge, though, because we didn't have sufficient numbers of partners). I was a social butterfly and party animal in high school and college, but all invites were turned down if Grandma was in town. When we interred her ashes last summer, my b-i-l, a marble and stone guy, made her a little casket just so we could place a mini bottle of Jim Beam, a crossword puzzle, and a deck of well worn cards in with her. I was the only one in the family who knew of those last wishes - and I made damn sure I honored those promises I made to her as a teenager.

What saddens me most about her death was that she fell away from the Faith during WWII and was too angry to come back, even as the end approached. My biological grandfather left her, my mom, and uncle for a French field nurse he met while overseas during the war. Instead of reuniting with her husband at the end of the war, she received divorce papers instead. She remarried in the early 1950's and had two more sons with Bob, my late grandpa. Her parish priest "excommunicated" her (I know, I know...) and would not allow her to set foot in the church. Annulments were expensive and near-impossible to obtain back then. She spent the rest of her life angry and feeling not good enough/unwanted by the Church, which was a terrible blow to the family. My great-grandmother's family was an extremely devout French-Canadian family (parishioners of Ste Anne de Beaupre for over 100 years until she married and emigrated to the USA), and my great-grandmother was devastated by what transpired, both the divorce and the subsequent, less-than charitable treatment of my grandmother. She ensured that my mom and her brothers attended Catholic school and brought them to Mass each week so she could pray for my grandma while simultaneously glaring daggers at that parish priest in the southwest suburbs of Chicago.

So please offer a prayer for Eddie and the peaceful repose of her soul at Mass on Sunday, and for her mother, my great-grandma Anna Trudeau Linton, who kept the Faith alive in the family.

And again, Stephanie...THANK YOU!!!

The Feast of St. Bruno

Today is the Feast Day of St. Bruno, a revered educator at Rheims who eventually fled to the hills of France and founded La Grande Chartreuse, a.k.a., the Carthusian order. One of his former students, Pope Urban II, dragged him back to Rome to be an advisor on the reformation of the clergy, but Bruno soon asked to be released. Pope Urban II offered him a Bishopric to keep him close by, but Bruno declined and headed back to the hills, this time in Italy. He died on this date in 1101.
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The essential rule of St. Bruno (I don't know if it's an official "rule" or not) is that life should be lived as a prayer, preferably in quiet and solitude. This is what the Carthusians have been doing in groups of like-minded bretheren for nearly 1000 years. Hmmmm....today may be a good day to watch "Into Great Silence" again in honor of St. Bruno and his order, come to think of it. If you haven't yet seen this film, put it on your short list for a quiet weekend viewing. It's incredible.


Statue of St. Bruno from St. Peter's Basilica - he has his own dedicated transept area...you could spend a month in Vatican City and not see enough.

St. Faustina

Really, this first week of October is Catholic Saints All-Star week!

Today is the feast day of the holy mystic who brough us the Divine Mercy devotion, Sister M. Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament, a young, meek, physically weak Polish nun who was a spiritual powerhouse. Like St. Therese, she was committed to the salvation of souls, and received Divine inspiration from our Lord...
From her diary on February 22, 1931:

“In the evening, when I was in my cell, I saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand [was] raised in the gesture of blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From beneath the garment, slightly drawn aside at the breast, there were emanating two large rays, one red, the other pale...After a while, Jesus said to me, Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You (page 47).

I want this image…to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the feast of my Mercy (page 49).”

“By means of this Image I shall be granting many graces to souls” (page 570).

Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet right at your computer - see link at sidebar!

St. Francis of Assisi

Late night out tonight, so I'm a little past the proper date, but it was 4 years ago today that we were in Assisi for the feast day of St. Francis.

Some of the banners from the various city-states
A Sister nurse looking across the piazza at the festivities from the hospital window
My dear girlies at the top of a "shortcut" to the nearest gelato shoppe
It was beautiful, moving, and best of all, my girls got to experience a 900+ year tradition, walk the same streets that St. Francis and Sta. Chiara (St. Clare) did, and they absorbed a lifetime of love and respect for their faith in 10 days.

La vida e bella!

P.S./Afterthought: I wonder how Fr. Francis Mary Stone (former EWTN personality) is feeling, how he is doing, and what his life is like on this first feast day of his namesake since he left the order. That whole mess still really saddens me...

St. Therese of Lisieux

Isn't she beautiful?

Today is her feast day. Most people who read this blog already know all about her, but even so, click on this link for a brief description of her life. Her parents will be beatified later this month. What a family!

Exactly four years ago today, I began reading her autobiography, Story of a Soul. I was in a villa we rented in Tuscany, on vacation with the Beloved and girls, fighting off jet lag. I finished the first half in one night, and the rest the night after. To me, her story and message was about more than just exemplifying saintliness and perfect submission of one's will to God's will; it was about growing up. Letting go of your own selfishness, immaturity, and self-centeredness. Something I'm still working on at 40, and something I'm trying to impart to my girls as they are coming of age.

We bought the recently released movie, Therese, which may not be an earth-shattering, award winning masterpiece, but it is beautifully done and great for families - and girls at this age. I recommend it, and of course, I recommend Story of a Soul (the image below is from Tan Books).

St. Therese pray for us, send us flowers of your wisdom from heaven!

Non-goose Michaelmas

No goose to be had around here, so I made one of the easiest, cheapest, yummiest crockpot dinners tonight...

Brookside Bistro proudly presents....

Crockpot Chicken, with its companion leftover recipe, Chicken Pastina (con Verdure, if you want to get fancy.)

Kasia - you can do this one!

Here's why I love making this meal - aside from being VERY yummy:

whole, fresh chicken = $5
broth = $1
soup mix = $1.50
pastina = $2.50
veggies = $2.00

So we've spent about $11.00 and change to feed our family of 4.25 (he's still little!) for two nights. Not bad, and they love it!

I slammed out some homemade bread, too - felt the urge to knead today - and topped off the experience with some honey butter. Oh yeeaaaahhhh....

Happy Michaelmas!

Today is the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, or Michaelmas, as our friends across the pond will tell you, and one of my favorite feast days of the year. Let's face it - St. Michael is a rockstar - he cast Satan into Hell!

I pray the shorter, modern Prayer to St. Michael each week at Mass for a variety of reasons, both general and personal requests for intercession, as well as praying privately as I sort out the day during bedtime prayers.

It seems like I've been pestering him a lot more in recent years - certainly since 9/11/01 and the onset of the war, the ever-increasing number of child predator cases on the news, and a spate of unsavory characters we've come across in our professional and personal lives - pretty much any time I'm confronted with inexplicably evil people or situations. My oldest told me recently that she's been praying to St. Michael since her problems began with the wretched female bullies she's [still] contending with at school. So today we're saying the prayer as a family, and I've posted it in Latin down in the kitchen for the girls to decipher during breakfast:


Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.


Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in praelio. Contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur. Tuque princeps militiae caelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo divina virtute in infernum detrude. Amen.


Some Michaelmas trivia: Michaelmas daisies (asters, really) are named due to their ability to thrive in the autumn/Michaelmas season weather...quite pretty in the fall garden:
Michaelmas is also known as "Goose Day" - it is an Elizabethan tradition to eat goose on Michaelmas, as she received good news of a successful battle while eating goose on Michaelmas - and thus many "Goose Fairs" took and still take place on this date in England. It is also a traditional date to pay quarterly rents, and for school and Court terms to begin.

And finally, legend says not to eat blackberries (another hardy fall plant) after Michaelmas, as the brambles of the blackberry bush are where Satan landed - and bled - when St. Michael cast him out and he fell to Earth.

On that note....time to wake the girls. Have a great day!

What would you do?

One day to go...

Can you imagine what must have gone through the minds of the women ....

.... when they came upon this?

If you've ever lost a loved one or endured a profound, life altering tragedy, don't you dream (by day or night) of the "what if's" and imagine what it would be like if you could bring the person back, what life would be like if the tragedy had never occurred?

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Imagine the practical side of you confronted with the inexplicable miracle that you dreamed of, but did not dare let yourself believe. What those holy women must have thought, and how they must have felt!

The open tomb is the open door to eternity. It's the miracle of Easter, and the promise of our lives to come.

Hope you all have a wonderful, blessed Easter - I'll be away until next Thursday and will undoubtedly regale you with more earthly tales and far shallower thoughts then!

"We are sinners"

Well, the first Sunday of Lent and already I am falling short of my own expectations...

However, I do find encouragement with the Little Professor, age 10. As we were rushing out for the late Mass today, she stopped dead in her tracks and said "I forgot something...don't leave!!!" She came down with a few crumpled-up dollars in her fist and we asked what it was for. "Oh, it's just some of my money. I don't need it." Exactly $2.50. Her .$50/day ice cream or cookie lunch snack habit that we 1) did not know she had, and 2) gave up without saying a word about it. When I suggested we grab dinner on the way home, she was horrified, because I'd suggested that dining out might be one of the things we forego as a family. Bad Mommy!

Meanwhile, the eldest was kicking herself for eating a hamburger on her ski trip on Friday, the beloved was smirking in shame for having his "girly" flavored creamer in his coffee and work, and I....have managed to do one or the other of my 40 minute exercises, but not both. And I ate some verboten stuff because I just flat-out forgot myself.

Like I always tell myself, it's all about practicing. The 10 year old is my own little Therese in so many ways.

Lenten meme

1. What's been your best Lenten-effort-idea ever?

40 days, 40 minutes of prayer each day, and 40 minutes of exercise each day. Body & Soul

2. And your worst?

Avoiding Sugar.

3. What good Lenten advice would you share?

Be an example not by showing the suffering on your face, but by relishing the challenges and following through on what you set yourself to accomplish.

4. And what will feature this year?

I am going to try my 40-40-40 regimen again this year. (See #1)

Tagging anyone who did not succeed in their Lenten regimen last year!

Ash Wednesday

Hope you all have an enriching, purposeful Lent!

Please remember to say a quick prayer for all the poor souls killed (nearly 50 at last count)overnight in the tornadoes in the South....