Saint Bridgid

Tomorrow Wednesday is Saint Bridgid, so I decided to publish this post in advance.

I have looked at the story of the saint and I will make up a story of the childhood of Saint Bridgid, telling her how father envisioned her sanctity in a vision, how when she was little she was so generous that gave all her mother's butter to the poor one day, and afterwards the butter appeared again, and also how desiring to be consecrated to God and not to marry, though she had many suitors because of her beauty, she asked God for an infirmity and her wish was granted, with an eye that become swollen right away. Some years after at the ceremony of her consecration, her eye became right again and she was as beautiful, pure and radiant as she had been before.

This is a viedo of the gaelic song Ode to Bridgid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqN3XAqoFDg

Ode to Bridgid

Gabhaim molta Brighde, Iníon í le hÉireann,

Iníon le gach tír í, molaiimís go léir í

Lóchrann geal na Laighneach, soils’ ar feadh na tire,

Ceann ar óigheacht Éireann, ceann na mban ar mine

Tig an geimhreadh dian dubh, gearra lena géire,

Ach ar lá le Brighde, gar duinn Earrach Éireann , molaiimís go léir í.

 (Translation)

I sing loudly the praises of Bridget, she it is who is a daughter not just of Ireland, but of all the countries of the world.

A shining lantern of Lenster, a flame throughout the land, leader of the women of Ireland, one of the finest women ever.

The hard dark winter comes, short and sharp, but once Bridget’s day appears, Ireland’s Spring is not far behind and in all the countries of the world.

anonymous Irish Gaelic song, 1900

Poem 

Far above enthroned in glory
Sweetest saint of Erin's isle
See thy children kneel before thee,
Turn on us a mother's smile
Sweet St Brigid, Erin's children
Far and near on land and sea
Mid the world and in the cloister
Fondly turn with love to thee
Sweet St Brigid soothe the mourner
Shield the weary tempted soul
Sweet St Brigid guide thy children
To their bright and happy home.

St. Brigids Oaten Bread
1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 3/4 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt., 3 tablespoons butter in small pieces, 3/4 cup uncooked oatmeal flakes. 1 egg, 1/2 cup buttermilk
1.heat oven to 425 degrees. 2. grease baking sheet. 3.combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in bowl and mix. 4.Add butter bits and cut in with knife until mixture is crumbly. 5.add oats and toss to combine. 6.in other bowl beat egg with buttermilk. 7.make a well in the dry ingredients. Pour in the egg mixture and mix with a fork until crumbs hold together. Make dough into ball and transfer to floured surface. Knead 20-25 times. Add flour if sticky.
8.pat dough into 8-inch round and transfer to baking sheet. 9.score a deep cross into the bread but do not cut it through 10.bake 15-20 minutes till brown.

Movement

We are going tomorrow to see two farm houses, for us to live when our town house sells, I am looking forward to seeing them and to see if they are a possibility for our family.



Mr. Apple's Family by Jean McDevitt

It has been a long time that I am thinking about a farm, and in the past some comments of people that know me have detered me to keep pursuing it. They would say I am not that kind a girl to be farming, I would miss the socialization of being in town, i am not cut up for the job, etc.....but suddenly it occurred to me that this is not the first time this happens, people who love me also doubted I would be doing good in studying a college degree in science, or marrying and having a family, and yet, did I listen to them then? No, I studied Organic Chemistry, and I married and had a family, God's willing, is his voice that I should listen to, and not the doubts or molds of the world. So this time i am confident about this step and to do our best in moving to the country.

Last weekend, our town parish was blessed with the visit of somebody very special Monsignor McGarty, I did not know about his position or rank, but his ways were so wise and bold in delivering the message, that no matter who he had been in social status, his uniquennes and value shone right through the congregation. He spoke about Nineveh and its wicked ways, and we were reflected in our little town, and our unrepented ways. He spoke about deliverance and of the call of Jonah, and we felt the call of God to repent, the big distance between our lifes and the life that God wants for us. This is the movement that my soul took in last Sunday, and it is the movement that hopefully would occur before every Mass, so to produce our sincere offerings to the altar.

Monsignor Mc.Garty ended with a verse of Saint Bernard, which I was very impressed with. I am trying to find it so I can copy it below. He talked about prayer and the effect of it in our lives, he told us about the nuns in Saint Joseph, how now that they are retired they have more time to pray! and how this life of prayer, not asking for things, but of communion with God, has changed them into beautiful creatures, that one longs to be around to.

Mr. Apple's Family by Jean McDevitt

I know that my heart is in conflict, some of the teachings I am following are forbidden in the Catholic Church for being away from spiritual revelation of God, yet how can I repent if I do not see the lies behind them, I just see the Truth in them? I ask for intercessory prayers, that Truth would be revealed to me and the Holy Spirit would lead me to repentance or in the other hand that my eyes would cease to be blind and that I will be granted  courage to keep holding these seemingly opposing views.

Will

"We have nothing of our own but our will.

It is the only thing which God has so placed in our own power

that we can make an offering of it to Him"

The Cure D'Ars

I read this some time ago and at first I did not understand. Some time later an occurrence happened in my life that shed some light to this thought:

There was a time in my life where an acquaintance started to become a friend, and my feelings for that male friend started to intensify, as we were spending time together and sharing our thoughts on life and the world in general. Those feelings gained control over my mind in such a way, that I could say it was like falling in love, the thoughts about this friend occupied all the time my head and it came to pass that they also started to have an effect on my will. I was one night sitting at the sofa, praying fervently to God about it, asking for help not to act upon these feelings and to remain faithful to my husband. As fervent as it was the prayer, and sincere in my admittance of powerlessness, as other times in my life had been, it came then too an answer. The phone rang, and a woman called Faith asked for an uneventful matter. I hang up the phone shortly and came back to my sofa, when suddenly I realized that the answer was exactly there, it has been given to me in such a phone call, it was FAITH. I had to remain having faith in God and in his deliverance.

Nonetheless, later on, I did act upon my feelings, and though the faithfulness in my marriage remained intact as far as actions go, I cannot say so in matters of thinking and feeling, and just by the Grace of God my actions did not end up in adultery.

Finally in my life I was able to understand King David in his turmoils and suffering, where previously I had disdain, having a hard time believing God could be friend to someone that was in so much of a mess, I had now symphathy and understanding, and my heart went out to his life events and his repentances.

So in the subject of Faith, and Faithfulness, how we keep intact the contract with our spouses in a way that is faithful in its ample sense, a faithfulness that comes from the willing-heart and not from the head in its dry law-giving? How we keep loving God and his commandments out of love and not out of duty, duty which at the end produces emprisonment of the souls, phariseism and dryness of hearts? How we can make an offering of our will to God in love?

Wedding of our cousins this last summer.

New Year Revision

We have been doing an experiment for the last half of the year, regarding our family and our environment, and it is time now to observe the results of the experiment.

We are living in town, (not yet in our dream homestead!) amidst neigbors of varied beliefs and cultural habits, and since last June we have been open to them and their lifestyles, because it did not seem right to protect me from people that were different, because ultimately we are all sinners, and why one sinner would be more rightly held than the others?

I have seen recently a video about sexual sin and homosexuality that while opposing homosexual marriage firmly, it also puts down the barriers between THEM and US, because we are all guilty of some sort of sin.

I believed that love for our neighbor should be strong to go over the barriers of difference in religious and cultural beliefs, and that the exercise of this duty of love, which starts with our spouse and goes towards brothers and sisters in Christ, spills out to all the nations, and eventually we would carry the burdens of everybody we encounter with christian joy.

Now, while still holding the above as true, I also have to recognize that the effects of being involved with the larger community has had an impact in our lifes, and not just positive.

We had noticed an increase in disrespect from our children, in general, and also in particular aspects like they cannot sit at the regular 50 minutes Mass without complaining, while before they were contentedly sitting through the Traditional Mass for hour and a half. The unity of husband and wife in marriage, well, is more separated than united, as we feel stranged from each other and carry resentments towards each other. My working for outside endevours, as much worthy as they seem to me, have left the house in disorder, I cannot tend to the laundry anymore, with clothes spilling all over the room, my meals are far from thoughtful, many  times burnt,  and I start to also resent my home because all the disorder in it. It seems that if we continue in this direction we may end up working in jobs outside the home, children in public school and getting a divorce!

Now why this is so, if our values did not change? I think there are mysterious ways that things happen, and eventhough i cannot know the whys, it is obvious to me that the exposure to the larger community erodes the beliefs one holds inwardly, and perhaps unconsciously, it starts to change them until it might be to late to go back. Romans 1 and 2 comes to mind as a possible explanation of this shift in thought patterns, and also the verses were we are admonished to be among believers, comparing the light with the darkness. Frodo, eventhough he had a lot of purity in his heart, was changed by the ring.

So, unless we acquire a pure heart unable to be corrupted, I have to admit that it is not such great idea to be open to the large currents of thoughts, nay the people that sustain them, and that it is of utmost importance to be in the company of believers to feed each other from the Water of Life. Not for nothing did the old saying say: "Divide and Conquer". We shall be united, in our marriages, in our congregations, in our love for God.

So for this New Year, we are putting our house for sale again, and trusting God to lead us to homesteading, to do His Work amidst his children.