A poetic list

Our old friend realtor, the one who helped us find this acreage almost 7 years ago, has contacted us recently saying acreages such as ours are in demand. He knows we have talked off and on about selling this property and living in town. With the kids rapidly leaving home I will soon be left with three and in another year just two girls at home, and the benefits of living close to everything--church, park, store, etc--are obvious.

Not to Numbers Six and Seven. They presented me with a list the other day, a long list, a long and poetic list. Some of the items on the list were predictable. Some were breathtakingly poetic.

This morning as I said the Rosary, God sent me another of his gorgeous dawn postcards. May God help us in making a decision that is a happy one for the future of our family life.

Wonderful film!

We received it for Christmas and have watched it in installments. Tears streamed from my eyes last night as the beautiful final scene filled the screen. We were all watching it, from Husband and Number Four to Number Seven, and we were all delighted in it.

I don't think I knew much about Saint Philip Neri beforehand although his name is so very familiar.  He is not a great saint of great accomplishments or great written treaties. He did not travel and his intellect did not shine above others. 

What was great about him? His immense charity, his humble love for all who encountered him, poor and rich alike, wealthy merchants or nobles, murderers and pariahs, all were targets of his deep love and charity. He also had the ability to use great humor in all he did--all smiled and laughed around him! He lived in a hard time for the church and his unusual confraternity was investigated by the Curia more than once, only to disarm the pope completely when faced with his deep love for others and total trust in God's Providence.

The film was made for Italian TV and the production is very good. We loved the actors and the costumes. An impressive details is w they managed to gather such similar -looking actors to portrays the child and grown up versions of his followers, it is almost as if they started the film when they were children and waited ten years to continue, so similar they were. 

Distributed in the USA by Ignatius Press, available anywhere, we bought it on Amazon.


Note: I read the other reviews on Amazon and am very respectful of them and recommend their reading. Perhaps because we had such a wonderful time watching it as a family, and perhaps because we already know real facts are changed in films about saints, I still give it 4 stars. The film does show Christian love in many beautiful ways and we live in a world so thirsty for that. After the film we read a brief account of his life online and were further enriched.

Petition

Friend Fr. B. A. sent this. Important stuff! I posted it on Facebook also, after signing it. I think every citizen in America should be interested in signing this.


His Eminence, Cardinal-elect Dolan, President of the USCCB, together with his brother bishops, is asking that every Catholic take the time to join in the fight for religious liberty and freedom on conscience.

The following from the USCCB website:

"Never before has federal law forced citizens to purchase what violates their deeply held beliefs and ethical convictions. But now the Administration is forcing us to act as if pregnancy were a disease to be prevented at all costs. For many Americans that means choosing between violating our consciences and forgoing health care -- literally an unconscionable dilemma.

"Our country's longstanding laws protecting conscience rights must now apply fully to the implementation of health care reform. For that we need more than rule-making, we need a law.

"The bishops are urging Congress to support the "Respect for Rights of Conscience Act" in light of the new HHS rule and the "unprecedented threat to religious freedom" it poses.

"Please CLICK HERE to join your voice with theirs and with the many organizations -- Catholic and non-Catholic -- who are fighting for religious liberty and conscience rights."

Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas

What a saint to be named after...! Today Number Four chooses a restaurant for the celebrations of the feast of his patron saint. 

From Catholic News Agency:

When most people think of St. Thomas Aquinas, they think of the Summa Theologica, however the saint wrote much more than the one thick book in his short lifetime.
Thomas was born in Italy to a well-connected, wealthy family who sent him to be educated by the monks at the abbey of Monte Cassino. The boy was quite astute, and surprised his preceptor by asking, “What is God?”
Eventually the young Aquinas chose to enter the Dominican order. His family, however, did not approve of his action, and took such drastic steps such as having him detained by relatives who were soldiers and sending an impure woman to tempt him.  The saint was able to overcome the temptation and was eventually able to pursue his vocation.
He made his profession and was sent to Cologne to study and it was there where he was ordained a priest.  His tutor and mentor was Albert the Great, but despite Albert’s greatness, Aquinas surpassed him in wisdom and knowledge. It was also during this time that Thomas earned his nickname the “Dumb Ox” because he was rather silent, and also quite large.
Aquinas was then sent to Paris, where he earned his doctorate at the age of 31. He spent the rest of his life studying, praying, teaching, writing and traveling. Aquinas is said to have been able to dictate to more than one scribe at a time. Thus, of all the works attributed to him, not all of them were written in his own, which explains the 60 works he produced in less than 50 years.
He died on March 7, 1274 and was canonized by John XXII on July 18, 1323 - less than 50 years after his death.
St. Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of Catholic universities, colleges, and schools. 

Science class

The kids love Mrs. J.'s class at the library! They are learning carbon chemistry this semester, using this wonderful curriculum.

What I will do on my 50th birthday!

Tickets here!

Republican Response to the State of the Union Address

I liked it.