Faith/ Catholic Archives | Page 8 of 13 |

Our Church Sign Restoration, With a Surprise Underneath

October 27, 2009 By Michael 7 Comments

Hey Friends! This is Michael here. Recently my own parish, St. Bonaventure in Plymouth, MA, commissioned me to restore our Church sign out front. The original had been done so many years ago, and it was looking worn and weathered. It definitely needed to be refinished.

The original sign’s background was painted with a heavy coat of burgandy. The Church asked for it to be all stripped, sanded and repainted, with the trim as white, the gold reguilded, and the background the blue as you see above. This blue matches the doors of our church, which is symbolic.

So anyway…..I got it home and stripped all of the paint off. What I found underneath that old paint was the most beautiful mahogany wood! As I was sanding, I was thinking what a shame it would be to paint over that gorgeous wood. I decided to take a photo of the wood, and bring it to my pastor, to try and convince him to just varnish over the wood, with the carved letters re-guilded and the white trim. He agreed, saying he loves the look of natural wood anyway, and that he trusted my judgement. I think his decision about the sign was wise, as well as trusting my judgement. ; )

I really wish I had BEFORE and AFTER photos for you all. You would appreciate the beauty that was revealed, all the more. But with the original intention of just refinishing the sign in the exact same style, repainting it burgundy, there didn’t seem to be a purpose to taking a photo before I started stripping it.

Anyway, it’s nice to have your work respected enough to be asked to provide such an important feature of the Church. It would have been a shame to paint over such beautiful wood, again. I enjoying restoring it to it’s intended beauty, and it feels good to see it there in front of the Church, as I drive by every day, and pull in every Sunday. I’m really happy with how it came out, and we hope you enjoyed seeing it, too. Thanks for letting us share it with you.

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Feast Day of Michaelmas

September 30, 2009 By Laura 2 Comments

On Tuesday, we celebrated Michaelmas, and studied this Feast Day for school. (Homeschooling, that is.)

For anyone who may not know, Sept. 29 has been the feast day established by the Roman Church, to celebrate St. Michael the Archangel, since the the 15th century. Although, Archangels Gabriel and Raphael were added to be acknowledged on this day as well, in the 20th century.

We reviewed much of what we had already known about Archangel Michael: that he is the most powerful of angels, that he was present and had great part in some of the greatest Biblical battles, and is in fact appointed “Defender of the Catholic Faith“. It is St. Michael, who is even the angel that escorts all souls to eternity!

We continued to learn the significance of Gabriel and Raphael as well, whose roles in history cannot be dismissed.

It was especially interesting to study once again, the Ranking Order and Marching Order of Angels, which is as follows:

The First Triad

Closest to the Throne

Seraphim – Continually sing God’s praises

Cherubim – Worship God

Thrones – Oversee Justice in Heaven

The Second Triad

Guard Heaven and Earth

Dominions – Assign duties to other angels

Virtues – Work Miracles

Powers – Protect us from evil

The Third Triad

Earth Duty

Principalities – Protect nations and cities

Archangels – Deliver messages from God

Angels – Guard us personally

Feasting on fat geese has long since been a tradition of the English, Scots and Celts, as have been carrot bouquets given as gifts! Eating goose did not appeal to us, and I personally don’t like carrots either, although I do eat them to be a good example. But it would have been hard for me to eat carrots, and associate it with a celebration of any kind. Thankfully, yet another traditional food has been a breakfast bread called St. Michael’s bannock, which Daddy/Michael made and we had with dinner, instead, and it was delicious!

It is very quick and easy to make, so if you would like the recipe, you can grab it HERE.

{A} also made angel cookies, using just an ordinary sugar cookie recipe.

My mother loved angels. That was her thing. So whenever I hear of, see, read about, or think of angels for any reason, I think of my mother.

Ever since we began home schooling, we have entertained the idea of naming our ‘school’. I know many homeschoolers do. While we have never encountered a real need to do so ourselves, we have heard that it can be helpful in getting a discount in purchasing home school supplies and material sometimes, as one benefit. Besides the fact that we haven’t found a reason to, and granted, we could very well be unaware of many more benefits of doing so, I also personally felt a real weight of sorts, about such a decision. Whether we needed one or not, following through and naming our school felt really important. It seemed like something we should think about long and hard, because it would have permanence, and reflect us in some way.

For at least a year, we have considered naming our school in reference to St. Michael, the Archangel. He has always been {A}’s favorite angel, and has been the focus of many projects and conversations of hers. We all, too, have been drawn to him, being able to identify with him in so many ways. For example, in defending our faith, which we must do now and then, and defending why we live as we do, which we actually don’t feel the need to do much at all, except to say our life style too mostly revolves around our faith. (Although there are COUNTLESS other reasons/perks/blessings!!)

Obviously, also, one of the leaders of our family/household’s name is Michael, and one of our boys has his namesake as well. So we are partial to the name, and all that name represents: “Who is like God.” Of course, we are all made in His likeness, but that happens to be what the name Michael actually means.

And so….because the name still seemed fitting after all of this time, for whatever reasons we may not even know of yet, and aside from the fact that we may never use it in any way, except to finally do it, we thought it would be a good day to agree as a family, and name our school:

I know, like anything angel related, as simple as cut out cookies, this name will also remind me of my mother. Not only because she loved angels, but because of the sheer JOYFUL reaction she gave me, when I told her we decided to home school the kids. She startled me, actually. She literally cheered out loud, and had tears in her eyes. So I think one way or another, she would have been happy with our school’s name as well.

If you home school, have YOU named your school? If so, would you share the name you chose with us, and the significance behind choosing your name? Also, if you know of any real benefits in naming your school that we should know of, it would be wonderful if you shared that with us as well.

We hope you all had a wonderful Michaelmas!

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St. Michael’s Bannock – Recipe

September 30, 2009 By Laura 12 Comments

If you’re looking for the perfect, traditional St. Michael’s Bannock recipe, you just found it!
We enjoy this recipe so much, and we are sure you and your family will as well.

St. Michael’s Bannock

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Mix together:

2 cups of flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cut in 2 tablespoons butter (not margarine)
1 cup buttermilk or yogurt
handful of raisins or currants

On a floured surface, knead the dough until smooth, then pat into an 8 inch round loaf, and bake on a greased cookie sheet for 40 minutes.

For a more festive look, score the dough with crosses.

Cool on a cookie rack.

May be served with butter or jam. But honestly….we ate it plain, and it was so delicious!

It also makes awesome toast in the morning. I had some this morning, with my very necessary cup of coffee, in my House of Joyful Noise mug, that I still love so much!

Now, just because it is called St. Michael’s Bannock, doesn’t mean you have to wait until next Michaelmas to make and eat it. Because if you think we’ll be doing that, you’re crazy!! We’ll just re-name it if we have to! Thanksgiving Bannock, Christmas Bannock, St. Patrick’s Day….., Easter…….

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At Long Last, Our First Day of Homeschooling – School Year 2009-2010

September 19, 2009 By Laura 8 Comments

If you’ve been following along with us, you’ll know that this first day of our homeschooling year is one we waited for. (And waited, and waited..). If you have no idea what I’m talking about, let me put it in a nutshell for you: We ordered all of our curriculum, and the bulk of it never arrived. We waited for weeks. Many calls between shipper and post offices were made. Then a big box finally arrived. a completely EMPTY box. More calls were made. New orders were placed. And we finally received all of the curriculum we needed, weeks after we wanted to begin our homeschooling year. Doesn’t that sound like it was fun? Anyway.

Needless to say, there was a LOT of excitement about beginning our new official school year! Getting this new morning routine going was a bit if a challenge for Michael and I, but the kids were ready long before we were! All we kept hearing from them was, “Are you guys ready for school YET?” lol. (Isn’t that supposed to be OUR line?)

We started the day, like we start all school days, which is with family devotion together. We most always have special intentions and the Lord’s Prayer and a Hail Mary together. We’ve also been through many devotion books already over the years-some better than others. But they all have generally included the day’s Scripture reading, and discussion. We can really get going and chat the time away, with discussion! Recently, I ordered a new Kid’s Devotion quarterly magazine that has not yet started coming. But when it does, if it’s really good, I’ll be sure to blog about it. In addition to our family devotion together, {A} has her own teen daily devotional book that she loves, and of course, uses daily.

But until our new devotion book arrives, we can come up with plenty to do ourselves! For this first day of school, we first talked a little about the year ahead, our plans, and each of us said our own special intention for our school year, to pray for together. Michael/Daddy works for himself, so he was able to join us this first day.

A friend of ours, (Mr. Bill’s daughter, if you are familiar with the stories of him here on our blog), sent us a very thoughtful package for our family. There were some gifts for the kids, a gift card to a really nice restaurant nearby for Michael and I (that I have been waiting to try some day!), and a Mass card for our family. Part of the Mass card had this beautiful, Prayer for the Family. We prayed it together, and Michael led it by reading it for us.

Michael and I had read it before, when we first received it, of course, and we loved it! It just speaks to us. So much so, that we are putting it in a lovely frame, and hanging it on our wall by some pretty ribbon.

In Devotion closing, we then prayed a decade of the rosary together.

The little ones got started in writing their names on labels, and putting them on their books.

Then we all got to the school work!

{A} has always tended to kind of do her schooling all over the place. I guess it depends on where she feels like being, and what noise levels are here or there. But she started off this year in her room (well, one of her rooms. The other is having some work done, before we take this one and re-do it! lol). When she needs helps, or needs us to correct her work, she lets us know through the school day. Aside from that, we review and grade all of her work on our own time.

Generally speaking, here’s how {A}’s daily classes will go this year:

1) Math 2) Language Arts 3) Writing (program: Writing Strands) 4) Science 5) History & Geography 6) Latin 7) Politics & Government

*Another free day of the week: Art – Drawing & Painting Class

*Fridays-Teaching the little ones a class with me. : )

The the little ones now do most of our (book) schooling in the sun room. We have a ‘school room’ where we used to school all of the time, and where we still store all of our schooling books and supplies. We used to only school in the sun room in warm seasons. But now that we have a wood stove out here, and it’s a 4 season room…….. . It’s just that the light is SO plentiful and beautiful. It’s simply a lovely place to be.

Generally speaking, here’s how the kid’s school days go, after family devotion:

{J, O & S}

1) Phonics and Reading 2) Math 3) Writing (program: Writing Strands) 4) Spelling and Vocabulary

Tues: Catechism, *Wed: Science, *Thur: Social Studies, *Fri: Introductory Sign Language

*These days classes are like bonus classes. They may get moved around, or bumped off on the occasional week because of a field trip or a big agenda day for their teachers. ; )

Art, music and PE are just things things they naturally cover in their life every day, without a real need for specified time for it, at their age right now.

One tradition we have upheld every year so far, for the first day of school, is that I take the kids school pictures. (In the school room.) This is one day, I care what they wear. On other school days, if we’ll be staying home, they can wear what they want. (And they have been known to get creative with that license!) On the rare day, they may even have school in their pajamas! (It’s a home schooling perk!)

Here’s this year’s ‘chosen’ school photos. I got several good shots of each of them, so Michael made the final choice for each of them. These school photos are just for us: for them and us to have as milestone photos of each grade’s school year, and for comparison of year to year growth shots. The teeth situation sure is different from last year!

{A}

{J}

{O}

{S}

Oh, well this photo below reminds me of one more tradition we seem to have . . . . . .

Smelling our new books! Is there anything that smells better, than a brand new book? (Well, maybe home made bread! lol)

Let me tell you how happy we are to be back in the swing of our schooling: We got our books on Thursday. We had our first day of school on Friday, September 18th, and we happily did double lessons in every subject. Today was our second day of school, and it’s SATURDAY!

Wishing you all a lots of learning and fun, this homeschooling year!

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Un-Expectations – Serving Others and Gratitude

August 19, 2009 By Laura 7 Comments

I’ve said it a zillion times before, and at least 1/2 zillion on this blog: I believe, without question, that God gives every one of us gifts. And I believe, without question, that in discovering those gifts, one is receiving a direct message from God > ‘Use them in my Name. Use them, to serve Me, by serving others.‘

I think we all know, or most of us anyway, when God is calling us to serve Him, by serving others. It’s a feeling inside. For me, it’s not something I ponder, or decide, if it is indeed a situation I am called to serve. I just know, it is. I know I have to do it. Like a whisper of the heart, that is God’s unspoken words. There is sometimes joy, sometimes not much, but always peace, in serving Him through others. And it’s enough for me, to work by His side. For I know the love and healing He will bring those who need Him, and those who turn to Him. It’s more than enough, for me.

I don’t always talk much, about when He calls me to serve Him, or how. There’s not always a need to. These kinds of things tend to put me in quiet mode. That it itself, only verifies again, that it is not my work. It is His. I am just a tool, and even one that He created.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard the UPS truck pull up. He comes every day with supplies or orders for me, just about, so it was not unusual. But the kids love to wait until the UPS man drives away (it’s a safety rule we have), open the front door, and retrieve the package(s) off the deck.

“It’s for Mama“, I heard my oldest daughter tell the little ones. She put it on the floor beside me, at my desk, and when I looked down, I was puzzled. I was trying to remember, what on earth I had ordered, that was so big. Then I tried to remember ANYTHING I was expecting around those few days. But I couldn’t recall a thing.

I looked in the corner of the box, and saw a last name. It hit me then. The realization of who it was from, made me catch my breath, and it felt like my heart hit the floor. Such unexpectation. I froze, trying to take it all in. And then I broke down and sobbed. The tears just flowed out like a river. Right in front of my children. (Somehow, they just knew I was ok. That I was just….having a moment.)

It didn’t matter what was in the box, really. I was so filled with emotion over the surprise of it all, that it was all I could handle at the time. I did open the box at the excited urging of my children, eventually, and found this gorgeous gift basket. But It took me days to find the words to explain all I felt inside. To figure out why I was struck, with such a flood of emotions, which I hadn’t quite been able to label just yet.

But in the days to follow, I was able to sort it all out, and decipher all I was feeling.

See, it was clear that the sender’s of this beautiful gift, felt the need to thank me. But I surely did not feel they owed me one, in the least. I didn’t expect that they could even be thinking of me, at this incredibly difficult time in their lives. So it was shocking, in that way, too.

But what was difficult for me, was that I didn’t feel I deserved it. I, didn’t do anything worthy, of this. Of anything. I had only done, what I knew God was calling me to do. Using the gifts He gave me, and that He expects me to use as tools, and a means to do His work.

To be able to do so…..that IS the gift, of the gift.

To be called by God.

After I had done all I knew to do to serve these people, I felt so empty inside. For I wanted SO badly to be able to do more. To give them what they truly, truly wanted. To give them what their hearts ached for, so badly. It didn’t feel like enough, and I felt lost.

I thought of the Little Drummer Boy. I feel like it seems he felt, in giving all he had to give, to the new born King. I was giving all I had, as little as it was. I hoped it was ‘something’. I prayed, in time, it would help, in any small way, to heal their broken hearts, with the grace of God.

That’s the thing. I felt helpless in not being able to do more. I was depending on Him. Our Almighty and powerful Father, who can do ALL things. It was my only consolation, because I personally couldn’t do enough.

But it was ‘something’ to these people, it seemed. I still felt unworthy of any thanks, because I wanted to give them more, and with every passing day, I thought of them, and prayed for them. Still feeling helpless. Still counting on God, to give them all they needed.

I was counting on answered prayers, with high expectations. For THEM.

I ask you to pray for them too, for whatever their needs and desires are, if it is God’s will.

I just wasn’t expecting anything, for ME. Not a thing.

But I am so very touched, by their expression of gratitude.

Thank You, Lord. Thank You, for the gifts. For working, through me. Amidst all of the swirling, worldly thoughts and deeds of my life and self, thank You for allowing my heart to hear You call. Thank You, for every opportunity to serve You, by serving others. Thank You, for using these gifts as an instrument in Your works. Thank You for considering our prayers, and for healing our hearts.

Thank You.

I have to admit….the basket itself, even EMPTY, puts a big smile on my face.

It’s a NICE basket. Isn’t it?

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