Casey alerted us this morning with so much barking. Only to see momma deer trailed by her two young ones. She has already changed to her winter color. These moments I see them as grace filled ones. A time to know and pray in thankfulness for the gift of God’s Love. Oh I’m sure many have the thought that it’s just nature passing by and there is no logical reason that the hand of God would be providing this delightful picture of deer occasionally making their presence seen. Even I had a notion that a neighbor is feeding them knowing that he is a hunter, would provide the easy explanation. With that thought it would explain the many times we have seen them recently. But how easy it is to justify why we see things. Never once thinking that it’s just possible to be in a spot to witness it in the first place.

We don’t always look outside the windows in our busy day. We often are pre-occupied with worries of some sort. So many things that would keep us from seeing what God wants us to see and hear. If a neighbor is feeding them and they pass through, the odds of seeing them are just that, one in a million chances. When I think back to last year at this time, logically the sightings would have been plentiful if that were the case.

So by these thoughts of mine, I look at the Divine hand in it and see that he provides a unique answer and the delight of my heart. The Beloved has a way of touching us with His grace and for me part of the longing of my heart is to see deer as well as see Him. What a blessing to have both.

Prayers To The Child Mary And To Sts. Joachim And Ann

 

SALUTATION

Hail, Infant Mary,
full of grace,
the Lord is with thee,
blessed art thou forever,
and blessed are thy holy parents Joachim and Ann,
of whom thou wast miraculously born.

Mother of God,
intercede for us.

ANTHEM

We fly to thy patronage,
holy and amiable Child Mary,
despise not our prayers in our necessities,
but deliver us from all dangers,
glorious and blessed Virgin.

V. Pray for us, holy Child Mary.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us Pray:

O almighty and merciful God,
Who through the cooperation of the Holy Ghost,
didst prepare the body and soul
of the Immaculate Infant Mary
that she might be the worthy Mother of Thy Son,
and didst preserve her from all stain,
grant that we who venerate with all our hearts
her most holy childhood,
may be freed,
through her merits and intercession,
from all uncleanness of mind and body,
and be able to imitate her perfect humility,
obedience and charity.
Through Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

I have had the good fortune of being given a cd from Marguerites cousin Paul by Robert Kochis called May The Angels Welcome You. and one by Daniel O’Donnell. It’s beautiful to listen to. I haven’t quite worn it out yet that’s how much I have been playing it. My collection is mostly of John Michael Talbot, Vince Ambrosetti, The Monks of Weston Priory, Father Pat, Josh Groban, Tony Melendez, Interior Castle, and the all time Catholic Classics, Mark Forrest, and many Gregorian Chants and I’ve missed a few that are not in my field of vision at the moment. So when I received a new one by an entirely different singer, of course then it has become the most popular for listening pleasure. Amazing what music and a wonderful voice can do to a soul. Except hearing a deep male voice somehow stirs the heart and soul, go figure on that.

Even when I hear mens voices when talking to people on the phone and hearing those deep particular ones, I sit in absolute amazement at the beauty of their voice. I always wondered why I love the sound of a male voice even in song. If I knew a singer who sang at that particular level then I could use them as an example of what the deep sound is. Well anyway that’s my particular fixation with voices and singing, one could say they sound absolutely masculine. I was thinking about people who have been in my life, and truth to tell none spoke with that type of masculine voice. Not even men I dated and now I wonder where on earth did I ever get this love of a particular deep tone. Sigh, one of these days something will give and I will see why I love deep sounding mens voices. I went to check on youtube by checking tenors and baritone singers and didn’t even come up with one close enough, even the bass are too low and deep. So I will continue that ultimate search then.

Original – Prayer to St. Michael

“O Glorious Prince of the heavenly host, St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the battle and in the terrible warfare that we are waging against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the evil spirits. Come to the aid of man, whom Almighty God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of Satan.

“Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in Heaven. That cruel, ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.

“These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where the See of Holy Peter and the Chair of Truth has been set up as the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be.

“Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly find mercy in the sight of the Lord; and vanquishing the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.
V. Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.
R. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered the root of David.
V. Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.
R. As we have hoped in Thee.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto Thee.

Let us pray.
O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as supplicants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin Immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious St. Michael the Archangel, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all the other unclean spirits who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of souls. Amen.”

Roman Raccolta, July 23, 1898, supplement approved July 31, 1902,
London: Burnes, Oates & Washbourne Ltd., 1935, 12th edition.

My dad came downstairs to get me to let me know there was deer on the front lawn, nursing. I grabbed my camera and these three pictures were all I could get. Believe me we were very quiet, but as soon as I took this first shot from the kitchen window, the feeding quickly ended. And the oddest thing happened while we watched, they turned directly toward the house. Unfortunately while my camera was processing this picture, I couldn’t take the next one with them staring. It was awesome to see God’s creatures. These were the quickest pictures I’ve ever taken and they came out a bit blurry but they still look good.

I wonder if I took a picture of the trees at the grotto while it was in video mode if it would have captured the dancing leaves last week. Unfortunately it wasn’t on while we were doing the Rosary, but there were three witnesses to what was going on and they saw it. Now that would have been quite something wonderful to have captured on film. I love these moments when God’s presence is known. Even when the deer show up.

Last night after leaving the prayer cenacle, Mike and I were discussing a few things. Who generally goes to Shrines? Is is mainly Catholics that go or are there Christians of other denominations and non-believers that go as well. The world at large has a huge faith system in varying degrees and ways. Yet we both came to the conclusion that even if something big did happen would people convert and change their hearts because of it.

Just thinking about this, look at the many times we have disasters and rebuild, but out of it all does it strengthen our faith when we come through it. Or do we continually cry about the fact that we were inconvenienced. If a sign showed up tomorrow would people believe or just go about their routine as if it was nothing. It makes me wonder how truly hardened our hearts are in the first place. The many acts of kindness we perform does not guarantee it will change peoples hearts or soften them to the love of God. What would it truly take for people to open their hearts and place God first in their life and believe in his presence.

There are days when thinking Jesus’ coming couldn’t be quick enough, when people are given opportunities time after time to come back to him and change. We are all called to conversion, and even then when we have been converted we are called to go deeper. The many opportunities we are given and fail to respond to the call to change our ways, only shows God how rooted we are in evil.

Why have these thoughts come to the surface in the first place. It is the coming Hurricane that at times we tend to think of God’s Wrath in an area that refuses to change. How many times does it take to rebuild in material ways before it sinks in that we need to change in other ways. Change begins at home and that is within each of us. Where is our priority first of all. If God is the first on the list then you have done well. But when he is placed at the bottom and everything else above Him, it’s time to rethink and to change the order.

Well it was back to work today, but remembrance of the last few days have made the start of my work week most pleasant. Tuesday was a day of chores and bush trimming. I even dug a bit around the pond and cut some picker bushes. It will be a slow going project but hopefully the result will have lovely effects. Monday night at the Cenacle people were asked if anyone was free on Wednesday, I said I was. So that had a few of us going on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem, Conn where we stopped at the Church of the Nativity, but found it closed. From there we went to the Abbey of Regina Laudis and to the Shrine of Lourdes of Litchfield in Litchfield, Conn. It was such a beautiful day. I am glad that I said I would go, it was nice not having to drive for a change. The picture below is from the front of the building on the top of the hill where the Montfort Missionaries live as well as where Retreatants stay. It is a beautiful building, one that I mentioned to Diana, who overseas so much, I told her I was going to move in kiddingly. She asked if I could cook. Imaging that, I could go and become the cook to a residence. It is beautiful and in the fall I’m sure it is even lovelier. This picture is on the way down the hill where the Stations of the Cross are located. That was quite a walk up, but on the way there are many placed benches to rest on for those who need to rest. The way down has railings to keep one from speed walking, like I did. I did manage to take a picture of each station.
This is the lovely Grotto made up of all stone, it is a beautiful replica.
These lovely people from left to right are Marguerite, Paul and Jeannette. They are the ones who formed this pilgrimage and Paul was the driver. My dad and Marguerite were in grade school together. They recently lost two class mates just after having a class reunion too. My dad didn’t go since he doesn’t always feel too well.
We did have a lovely moment when reciting the Rosary, it was a moment of witnessing the power of our Heavenly Family. They saw an extraordinary moment that I have seen many a time while walking and have seen it myself on numerous occasions. So in a way Our Lord had a moment give me something wonderful that others saw as well. Marguerite is very devoted to Our Lady and she feels it was our Lady at that moment. I wonder if that is what is possible as well those many times the same thing has happened to me alone. But that too is for moments of discernment, because I have always seen it as coming from God and no one else. Interesting.

The prayer Cenacle last night turned out beautifully. We had literally a full house at Marguerites. She had turned her home into Mary’s house of prayer. We meet there on Monday evenings to pray the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet.

After I had started my job, my monday evenings were postponed until I figured out how to manage time after work. Basically it was the supper time and clean up that made for a late time. So now on Mondays it’s no longer a meal but a nibble and back out the door to head off to meet up with the others who love to pray. It feels good to finally get back into that phase of prayer with others. Amazing as it is but we know when something is missing in our life and when it enters we know how correct it is.

Many don’t pray and most likely would scoff at the very thought of prayer, little do they know the benefits of it. Just thinking about the possibility of offering up a prayer while grocery shopping. Or shopping in general. I’m sure we all have come across situations where a child is loudly yelled at in a store. Those are the moments that instead of beating a hasty retreat to the next isle or closing off our ears we could be saying a prayer for patience, for calm in their storm. All too often we turn ourselves away in those moments rather than praying.

I don’t know why this particular scene came to mind when it came to a place where prayer is needed in our daily lives. I think it’s because we all must have encountered it at one point. And our thoughts might not be all that generous in thinking when we see or hear these things. I had to seriously think back at times I went shopping and encountered these situations and there were many and some uncalled for as well. Prayer is needed in some of the most unlikely places at moments of distress of another. I wonder if anyone really does offer up a prayer while browsing the stores or any place else for that matter. Why not work too as well as home, recreation and just about anywhere else.

But then many don’t even pray.

I felt like looking at some youtube music, but I often fail at remembering some old tyme players. So I went with the one I know the best, Josh Groban. I was thinking of posting one of two that I love. One is “When You Say You Love Me” and the other is “To Where You Are.” Those two have always touched my heart along with “The Prayer.” But when I discovered this one, there was no doubt about it it won the posting prize. There is something truly wonderful about music and song when it bears a message of love. It’s not only the words but how the music flows so peacefully. Sometimes words don’t convey but the melody does. And on rare occasions we come across one that fits perfectly. Amazing how life takes on new meaning when we are deeply in love. I look at Jesus and those eyes of his and I’m lost in their depth, even though it’s a picture that has made it’s rounds around the world. The one that survived the fire in the outdoor fireplace and I keep on my desk. The Sacred Heart of Jesus and I know he is with me.