St. Therese Novena--Day 3

JMJ

~ Day Three ~

Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of divine love.
V. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray: O God, who have instructed the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit; grant that by the gift of the same Spirit, we may be ever truly wise and rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Acts of Faith, Hope, and Love: O my God! I believe in Thee: strengthen my faith. All my hopes are in Thee: do Thou secure them. I love Thee: teach me to love Thee daily more and more.

The Act of Contrition: O my God! I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance , and to amend my life. Amen.

Third Day

Dear Little Flower, make all things lead me to heaven and God, Whether I look at the sun, the moon, the stars and the vast expanse in which they float, or whether I look at the flowers of the field, the trees of the forest, the beauties of the earth so full of color and so glorious, may they speak to me of the love and power of God; may they all sing His praises in my ear. Like you may I daily love Him more and more in return for His gifts. Teach me often to deny myself in my dealings with others, that I may offer to Jesus many little sacrifices. Intercede for us all the days of our life, but especially during this Novena and obtain for us from God the graces and favors we ask through your intercession. Amen.

Thought for the day: The Use of God’s Gifts. How much benefit have I received from the beauties of nature, bestowed in such abundance. How they raise me to Him who placed such wonders in this land of exile which is only to last a day. O sparkling nature, if I did not see God in you, you would be naught but a great tomb. With your little hand which caresses Mary, You sustain the universe and bestow life; and You think of me, O Jesus my little King. I do not wish creatures to have one atom of my love. I wish to give all to Jesus, since He has shown me that He alone is perfect happiness.

Concluding Prayer Prayed Each Day:
O Lord, You have said: Unless you become as little children you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven; grant us, we beg You, so to follow, in humility and simplicity of heart, the footsteps of the Virgin blessed Thérèse, that we may attain to an everlasting reward. Amen.

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, pray for us.

St. Therese Novena--Day 2

~ Day Two ~

Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of divine love.
V. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray: O God, who have instructed the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit; grant that by the gift of the same Spirit, we may be ever truly wise and rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Acts of Faith, Hope, and Love: O my God! I believe in Thee: strengthen my faith. All my hopes are in Thee: do Thou secure them. I love Thee: teach me to love Thee daily more and more.

The Act of Contrition: O my God! I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance , and to amend my life. Amen.

Second Day

O dear little Saint, now that you see the crucified Jesus in heaven, still bearing the wounds caused by sin, you know still more clearly than you did upon earth the value of souls, and the priceless worth of that Precious Blood which He shed to save them. As I am one of those children for whom Christ died, obtain for me all the graces I need in order to profit by that Precious Blood. Use your great power with our divine Lord and pray for me.

Intercede for us all the days of our life, but especially during this Novena and obtain for us from God the graces and favors we ask through your intercession. Amen.

Thought for the day: Sin. The only grace I ask, O Jesus, is never to offend Thee. By love and not by fear, does a soul avoid committing the least fault. Yes, even if I have on my conscience every possible crime, I should lose none of my confidence; my heart breaking with sorrow, I should go and throw myself into the arms of my Savior. The remembrance of my faults humbles me and makes me afraid to rely on my own strength, which is nothing but weakness.

Concluding Prayer Prayed Each Day:
O Lord, You have said: Unless you become as little children you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven; grant us, we beg You, so to follow, in humility and simplicity of heart, the footsteps of the Virgin blessed Thérèse, that we may attain to an everlasting reward. Amen.

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, pray for us.

St. Therese Novena--Day 1

JMJ

Well, I almost missed the boat, again! I can never remember to start novenas in time to say them in anticipation of a feast. If it were not for Jessica, an old friend of Craig's, I would have missed this one, too! Actually, I am so late it getting this said myself, that I am not even going to try to pretend that I had this ready to post. I am snatching this, almost in its entirety, from Jessica's blog, Shower of Roses. Please, visit her blog! She is an amazing home-schooling mother who blesses us with her insights into great activities for homeschooling and developing a great spiritual family life that is centered around the Liturgical year.

Twenty-four 'Glory Be's’ Novena to St. Therese.

Here is the little story that is attached to this novena:

"Father Putigan, a Jesuit priest, began the Novena to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus on December 3, 1925, asking the glorious Saint for one great favour. For nine days, he recited the “Glory Be” 24 times thanking the Holy Trinity for the favours and Graces showered on Saint Therese during the 24 years that she lived on this earth. The good father asked Saint Therese that as a sign that his novena was being heard, he would receive from someone a freshly plucked rose. On the third day of the novena, an unknown person sought out Father Putigan and presented him with a beautiful rose. Father Putigan began the second novena on December 24 of the same year, and as a sign, asked for a white rose. On the fourth day of this novena, one of the Sister-nurses brought him a white rose, saying, “Saint Therese sent you this.” Amazed the priest asked “where did you get this?” “I was in the chapel,” said the Sister, “and as I was leaving, I passed the alter above which hangs the beautiful picture of Saint Therese. This rose fell at my feet. I wanted to put it back in the bouquet, but a thought came to me that you should have it."

Here is how the Twenty-four 'Glory Be's Novena to St. Therese is prayed:

The Glory Be is said 24 times each day for nine days, in thanksgiving for all the blessings and favors given to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus during the 24 years of her life. Start the novena each day with this prayer:

“Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, I thank You for all the blessings and favors You have showered upon the soul of Your servant Therese of the Child Jesus, during the 24 years she spent here on earth, and in consideration of the merits of this, Your most beloved Saint, I beseech You to grant me this favor, if it is in accordance with Your most Holy Will and is not an obstacle to my salvation.”

After this prayer, follow with the 24 Glory Be’s, between each of which should be included this short prayer”

“Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, pray for us.”

The Little Flower Novena

Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of divine love.
V. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray: O God, who have instructed the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit; grant that by the gift of the same Spirit, we may be ever truly wise and rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Acts of Faith, Hope, and Love: O my God! I believe in Thee: strengthen my faith.
All my hopes are in Thee: do Thou secure them.
I love Thee: teach me to love Thee daily more and more.

The Act of Contrition: O my God! I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance , and to amend my life. Amen.

First Day

St. Thérèse, privileged Little Flower of Jesus and Mary, I approach you with childlike confidence and deep humility. I lay before you my desires, and beg that through your intercession they may be realized. Did you not promise to spend your heaven doing good upon earth? Grant me according to this promise the favors I am asking from you.

Intercede for us all the days of our life, but specially during this Novena and obtain for us from God the graces and favors we ask through your intercession. Amen.

Thought for the day: Confidence in God. We can never have too much confidence in the good God who is so powerful and so merciful. We obtain from Him as much as we hope for. If you are nothing, do you forget that Jesus is everything? You have only to lose your nothingness in His Infinity and think only of loving Him.

Concluding Prayer Prayed Each Day:
O Lord, You have said: Unless you become as little children you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven; grant us, we beg You, so to follow, in humility and simplicity of heart, the footsteps of the Virgin blessed Thérèse, that we may attain to an everlasting reward. Amen.

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, pray for us.

First Day of Atrium

JMJ

Joseph and Aine started their Atrium class last week. Joseph is excited about class. He loves going to Atrium, as showcased in this picture:



But he wasn't really running like that because he was that wound-up about class. For Joseph, this is old-hat, but for Aine, this day was the paramount of all days. She FINALLY gets to go to school with Joseph. She wanted to go in with Joseph every class last year and now she is FINALLY able to go. But did that quicken her pace at breakfast?



No. I am doing her hair at the table because everyone else is ready to go and she is STILL chewing her oatmeal. At least she looked a bit more excited for this one:



We tried to get them to stand next to each other so we could get a photo, but they won't stay close enough to get them both in a shot. And this is what it looked like when we told them to hold hands.



they finally did smile.



But they weren't really standing close enough to get a good picture of them both. So I told them to hug each other.



I couldn't believe they went for it! It was one of the cutest things I've seen in a long time. One of those little moments that makes a mother's heart swell with appreciated for her children. I thought, "they really LIKE each other!" Usually one of them is being ornery and just won't cooperate--which I don't blame they for. There were certainly days when I didn't want to hug my siblings, but that didn't mean I loved them less. Kids will be kids and you can't MAKE them act in a certain way. I didn't expect them want to hug each other and pose for a picture when they were all excited for their first day of school. But today, they just hugged each other and said, "Cheeeeeeeeeeese!" Or "Teeeeeeease!" in Aine's case.



I think Aine was a little overwhelmed by Joseph, but he was pretty gentle and they seemed to have a great time getting their picture taken.



If you ask them, as I did, "How was class? What did you do?" The answer is almost always the same. "I did some works." And that is about all I can get out of them. They love the class and DO a lot, but when you try to get them to talk about it, you just get, "I did some works." I think it is a good thing for them to have their class, that is all their own. If they don't feel the need to explain their morning to me, that is just fine. I can tell they worked hard and loved it. There is a peace about them after Atrium.

A family Portait

JMJ



Well, here we all are.  This is the best one of about 20 shots.  My friend Jill, who is a photographer herself, took this photo (and the 19 others) of us after Craig took pictures of her little Sam's baptism.  It was a really nice day and there was a little playground there, so by the time we both got our kids gathered for a photo, they all looked a little worse for the wear.  Oh well, at least no one is crying! 

St. Padre Pio

JMJ

Today is St. Padre Pio's Feast day. What an amazing saint! How inspiring that he is a modern saint; someone from our own time and culture (I know, he was Italian, but he lived in THIS modern era). If you don't know anything about him and don't have time to read anything, there is a beautiful movie called The Miracle Man that I HIGHLY recommend.

My Mother-in-Law sent out this prayer by Padre Pio today that I have never seen before, but I love it already. Thanks for sending it, Mom Spiering! This prayer is exactly what I have been needing. With the start of classes for the kids, the kitchen remodeling, the house getting messier and messier and I work harder and harder to get organized before the baby arrives . . . life is getting pretty overwhelming. Oh, and Joseph is going through a nasty phase of disobedience. It is almost guaranteed that if he is not in our sight, he is doing something he KNOWS he is not supposed to do, like jumping on the furniture. I don't mean just jumping on the bed or couch, but jumping from the couch to the end table to the top of the woodstove and all around the room. Then when we try to punish him, he cries and yells and runs in the other direction, or sits in a different chair than we told him to go to. . . He does everything he can to disobey. And while I am dealing with him, Henry is often climbing on things that he shouldn't, or in the toilet because I accidentally left the bathroom door open, or putting permanent markers in his mouth. I know, I KNOW there shouldn't be any markers in his reach, but I just can't keep up. And Aine won't feed herself so I (or Craig) end up staying at the table with her an extra 20 min. at least, just to feed her every bite and make sure she eats. While with Aine at the table, Joseph and Henry are all too often into mischief. I know, especially with Henry, he isn't deliberately trying to drive his mother batty, but intentional or not, it is having the same effect.

Anyway, sorry about the grumbling session! My whole point in saying all this is I need to pray more! This prayer is the answer to this mother's prayers. I know it is a prayer for after communion, and I never make it daily mass, but it works to remind me to make a spiritual communion every day that I don't physically receive Our Lord. I know the more I pray, the more strength I will have and the more likely I will be to actually make the effort (extraordinary effort!) to go to daily mass. Sometimes, all we need to do is pray, even just one prayer, and God showers all the graces we need to persevere in prayer--and THAT brings us closer to Him, enabling us to do all things through Christ, who strengthens us.

Padre Pio, Pray for us! Please intercede on our behalf, that we may become like Christ in all things.

A PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

by Saint Padre Pio, OFM Cap.

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.

Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company.

Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.

Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I wish it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love.

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes, death, judgement, eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches. I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!

Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You.

Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.

Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love.

Stay with me, Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation, because I do not merit it, but, the gift of Your Presence, oh yes, I ask this of You!

Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for. Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.

With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity.

Amen

Pirates!

A few weeks ago the kids all wanted to get dressed up in capes and pirates costumes.  Craig not only helped them put on their attire, but he joined in the fun. 



Joseph made everyone swords out of his "construction set".
 














They all marched over to the Dragon (an over-sized pillow in the living room) and . . .
 


slew it with mighty thrusts of their swords.





Henry is such a Ham!  He is at the age where he lights up for the camera. 



The triumphant victory march:





And back to slay another dragon:





Aine running to catch up, so as not to miss the battle . . . note the boys reclining on the couch; I think she already missed it!



Even with impaired vision, she goes head-on into the lair:



So, Grandma and Grandpa Spiering, if you are ever wondering if your pirate costume gift gets used, the answer is YES!



A natural Dragon slayer!

The "New" Kitchen

JMJ

We were fortunate enough to be given some wooden cabinets to replace our old decrepit ones in the kitchen. We have been storing them in the basement for about a year and we finally decided to take the plunge and install the new (to us) cabinets along with new counter tops. If anyone reading this has not been to our house before, let me explain a bit of the kitchen. The cabinets used to be white. I suppose, technically, they would still be called white, but they were so dingy that--even right after I had cleaned them--they still looked old. Though the cabinets were white, the counter tops were a creamy tan color, along with the appliances. I suppose if you had to get tan appliances and had white cabinets (or the reverse) the only way to unite them is to get tan counters? the floor is linoleum sticky tiles that look like fake green marble mosaic. Sooooo, even if everything was in good condition (which it wasn't) the color scheme was dated, to say the least. Oh, and the counter tops didn't completely cover the dishwasher, so we have been supplementing with a couple of boards. Oh, and the cabinets don't go completely to the wall, so it is good sized kitchen without adequate cabinets space. We had a shelf and a free standing cabinet against the wall, but by the time we had stuff on all those shelves the kitchen looked so cluttered that it actually gave me a headache if I thought about it too much. But there was hope: the cabinets in the basement. And finally that hope has become a reality.

Here is the kitchen before:

And Here is after the cabinets are all in--Please excuse the clutter on the counters; we hadn't fully moved back into the kitchen when this photo was taken:

I can't believe that that cabinets fit the kitchen like a glove, with a bit of finagling and A LOT of worry and mind crunching. We now have cabinets from wall to wall on two sides of the kitchen. There is still plenty to do. In fact, since the picture was taken, we have painted the walls, filled in the space above the stove, and reinstalled the light above the sink. We still have to stain the upper cabinet to the left of the sink, finish sanding a few spots and touch up the paint, paint the window frame, and add trim around the tops of the cabinets. Oh yes, and there is one more section of counter top to go in to the left of the frig; we thought it would be easier to paint without it installed because there is no cabinets going under it--we will stow the trash can and recycling under it. The floor still needs to be done, but that is a project for another day. For now, we have a fully functioning kitchen that does not give one a headache if you look at it too long! :) A HUGE thanks to our friend John who had the know-how to help us install these ourselves, and to Ron for helping with the installation. Craig, John and Ron pulled out all the old cabinets and installed the necessary lower cabinets and counters tops for us to have a functioning kitchen, all in one night!

It is amazing what gets covered in old houses. once the cabinets were out, you could see several layers of kitchen decor. The walls were a deep clover green at one time; I guess that explains the green flooring, though I don't think the greens actually match well.

And there are remnants of a hideous wall paper all in 70's browns that was a print of pastas, onions, and vegtables. I am SO glad that is not what was on the walls when we bought the house!

John came back another day to help with the upper cabinets. And a huge thank you to my Dad for spending a week with us and finishing a lot of the remaining work in the kitchen. Thank you to my Sister and Brother-in-Law for coming over and helping get all the painting done. Thanks to Ben especially for sacrificing his neck and painting the ceiling! I will post pictures of the new paint color soon.