ENOUGH WITH ALL THIS BLOGGING !!!

Written by Victor S.E. Moubarak

Someone asked me the other day: Why do you Blog?

I didn't have a good answer.

"Is it vanity?" I thought. "Do I really have anything important to say? And does anyone really care what I say?"

So I asked my old school friend William Shakespeare what started him writing and why did he bother. This is what he wrote:

To Blog or not to Blog
That is the question.
Whether it is nobler in the mind
To keep one’s thoughts to oneself
Than reveal them to all
On screens large and small.
And by doing such
Suffer the slings and arrows
Of outrageous readers
Who’d rather Block you
Than read your feeble Tweeters.
Or to bravely face your qualms
And courageously Blog on
Regardless of your audience
Be it great or be it small;
Just Blog on into eternity
And have yourself a ball!

So there you have it. I'm blogging and having a ball!

The Perfect Wedding Present that Nearly Went Astray

Written by Sue Elvis

The Perfect Wedding Present might also make the Perfect Mother's Day Gift...

Last year was the Year of the Wedding. My daughter Felicity married her beloved, Graham at our parish church, in October 2011. There were many decisions to make as we planned their special day including...

What should we give the bride and groom as a wedding gift?

Felicity and Graham live in Perth on the west coast of Australia. We live on the east coast. There is a lot of Australia between us. Felicity and Graham had to travel by plane to come home and be married in the parish where Felicity grew up. 

So I wanted their wedding present to be...

small enough to fit easily into their luggage and

light enough not to affect their luggage weight allowance.

I wanted it to be something that was very special, preferably hand-made just for them,

and something they could use for the rest of their lives.

I wanted to give them something beautiful, even exquisite 

and it had to have some religious significance.

I thought and thought and then I thought of my friend Anne. I visited her online shop. All Beautiful Catholic Beads and soon I'd decided the perfect wedding gift would be two sets of Anne's hand-made Rosary beads.

I emailed Anne and we discussed possibilities and then I waited... 

and soon I received an email: "Hi Sue, I have just finished the Rosary beads..." and there were some photos attached...

For Felicity, Anne had made...

 The Sunburst of Guadalupe

in golden stones and crystals.

And for Graham

a man's set

in matching warm, brown colours.

Felicity and Graham were married on the 29th October at St Michael's

and later, at the reception we gave them our wedding gift

and they were so delighted with their Rosary beads, hand-made just for them by Anne, and blessed by our parish priest. May Felicity and Graham pray many Rosaries on their beads... May God shower them with blessings... May they have a long and joyful life together...

Felicity and Graham set off back to Perth several days after their wedding. They packed their bags and drove to the airport and caught their plane and, somehow the Rosary beads got left behind.

I parcelled up the beads plus a few other wedding gifts and posted them off to the newly married couple. A few days went by, several weeks went by... I became anxious. What if the Rosary beads were lost in the post?

Finally, I received a message from Felicity: "At last, the parcel has arrived, Mum! You addressed it to Perth, New South Wales... not Perth, Western Australia. You probably confused the mailman."

Perth, New South Wales? Wouldn't that be nice. If Perth was in New South Wales we'd all live a whole lot closer to each other.

Thank you, Anne for making our wedding gift so special. The Rosary beads were PERFECT!

Anne's Rosary beads, Tenners and religious jewellery are works of art. 

If you visit her blog All Beautiful Catholic Beads, You will be able to see Anne's latest creations. Perhaps she has a work of art that might make the perfect mother's day gift for your very special mother.

Please share my stories on my blog Sue Elvis Writes.

FREE BOOK - Father Ignatius Teaches

My latest book FATHER IGNATIUS TEACHES is now available for you to download FREE from HERE.

Please feel free to copy it and distribute it to your family and friends. Or tell others about it on your Blogs.

KINDLE Version is available HERE.

Thank you. God bless.

EASTER - Lies and Realities

As we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord let us remember that this particular event gave rise to many speculations and rumours all those years ago, and indeed over the years since then.

Let’s consider the facts as we know them.

A man claiming to be the Son of God was crucified and died a most horrible death.

After His death, His followers claimed that He rose from the dead as He had said He would.

Now let’s look at the rumours and the conspiracy theories.

It is possible that Christ’s disciples and followers stole and hid the body of Jesus to perpetuate the story that He is the Son of God and that His Father raised Him from the dead.

But if that were the case; what benefit is there to them to disseminate this story knowing full well that it is a lie? Why suffer persecution, imprisonment, torture and death for something you know to be false? Would you do that?

The other theory is that the Jews, the Sadducees or Pharisees, removed the body in order to stop any beliefs that Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God.

But if that were the case; then why not produce the body once the disciples said that Jesus rose from the dead and invalidate the story of the Resurrection right from the start? Isn't that what one would expect in such circumstances?

Another hypothesis is that Christ never died at all. He just lost consciousness or was in a coma, and He woke up once again and walked out of the tomb.

But the Romans were very thorough people. They made sure that those crucified were indeed dead by breaking their legs whilst hanging there. They did not do so to Jesus because when they checked He was already dead. Even so, they did pierce His side with a spear just to make sure.

And then; there is of course the fact:

Christ died on the Cross and rose from the dead.

There are times when a light turns on in your head and you see something clearly for the first time and understand something new you’d never realized before.

Father Ignatius was a studious type of person spending many hours reading the Bible as well as many books on theology, ancient history and similar subjects which would soon send any lesser head spinning widely.

One evening he retired to the room he called “my meditation corner” and after reciting the Rosary he started reading the Bible and cross-referencing certain passages with other books to better understand what God is teaching through His Word.

One passage in particular caught his interest. After Christ’s death and burial, we are told that Mary Magdalene visited the tomb and found the stone rolled away from the entrance. She ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple and told them what she had seen. Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb. When Simon Peter got in and went inside he noticed the linen wrappings lying there, but the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded and lying to the side.

There it was, in the Gospel of John Chapter 20 Verse 7.

Father Ignatius puzzled about this for a moment or two. He’d read that chapter many times and nothing specific occurred to him. But this time, as if a small voice buzzing in his head, he kept wondering the significance of what he had read.

“Why are we told that the cloth which covered Jesus’ head was folded and lying to the side? What’s so important about that?” Father Ignatius asked himself.

Yet somehow, John thought it important enough to mention it. Why?

Father Ignatius checked the other three Gospels but they did not mention this fact. “But why did John consider it so significant to point it out” he wondered silently.

After hours of searching other books and checking on ancient traditions he came upon something he’d never known before.

In ancient Hebrew tradition the folded napkin was symbolic between the master of the house and his servant.

When the servant set the dinner table he made sure that everything was perfectly set out as the master wished and then he would wait out of sight until the master finished eating.

The servant would not clear the table until the master had finished.

When the master finished his meal he would wipe his fingers and mouth with the napkin and then toss the napkin on the table.

The servant would then clear the table, because in those days a tossed napkin meant “I’ve finished.”

However … and this is the significant bit which Father Ignatius discovered for himself, if the master left the table but neatly folded the napkin and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not touch the table.

Because the folded napkin meant “I’m coming back!”

“He’s coming back …” mumbled Father Ignatius in wonderment.

That’s what John was trying to tell us in his Gospel.

More Father Ignatius stories HERE.

Easter

A BLESSED AND HAPPY EASTER

TO ALL OUR READERS AND CONTRIBUTORS

MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES ALWAYS

How do you Homeschool while Suffering... Loss?

Written by Mary Therese

A few years ago, our life fell apart. Two children within two months were displaced from our family. The situations were totally unexpected and beyond shocking.

I have had some people say, behind our backs, there was more to the situation: they got what they deserved. Really horrible comments, that although I say them here, I had to let go of. I didn’t want to let the thoughts go, but I did it for my relationship with God, my husband, my welfare and to show an example to our children. Lastly we realised we were gaining His blessings by letting these comments wash over us.

I personally wouldn’t judge a situation unless I have personally been involved and have very intimate knowledge. There is only one judge, God. We will all stand before Him for our own personal judgement.

So how do you homeschool in the suffering, when you are still in shock, when your heart aches so much, when your world is torn apart?

For us, we limped along for a while, but we also knew our other children were deserving of our attention. We concentrated on what we had instead of what we didn’t have. It was very simple.

My initial response was I understand Jesus’ Agony in the garden. I went through each of the sorrowful mysteries and I could easily align myself to each one. It is in this set of mysteries that I discovered The Cross, how I must carry my Cross and how God gave this Cross especially to me and this family. I was to be thankful for this Cross. He chose me. That’s easy to do, isn’t it?

I now understand the saying, the Cross brings you closer to God. Well it certainly does, but you also need to constantly bring yourself back to ‘this Cross is mine’. I will carry it and not just carry it, but carry it with Joy and Happiness. God really helps when you do.

This was my first window of light. Yes, I still fall down and say why... but then I get up and keep walking along the journey. It’s often the interior voice of Mary that soothes me and encourages me.

So years down the track, there is lots of wisdom gained.

There is still hurt and unresolved pain. But there is love and many blessings have been gained.

We moved forward one foot at a time, just gently and with much prayer.

I learnt eventually to say very little to outsiders, because they can misconstrue your words.

I learnt that we were the gossip of the parish.  I / we turned the other cheek.

Forgiveness? This has been interesting. How can you forgive the people surrounding the events of the lives of two adorable children? Well for a long time I tried but couldn’t. I wanted these people punished. I wanted God to take complete control and sweep down with His fire and brimstone. But... the realisation came that in forgiving, God can do so much more. He can begin the process of repair of relationships and reunite us all if we forgive. That took a long time and many, many layers of forgiveness.

So what did we do to homeschool in the agony? After all this rambling, we recognised Jesus’ Agony. I united myself with Mary’s agony. We picked ourselves up and continued to Follow Christ. We got on with life, moving forward, but never forgetting our treasured children.

Like an onion, we forgave in layers. We are still forgiving in layers. Things will crop up and we will need to handle it, and overcome it, and ask Jesus to help us forgive.

We handed our children over spiritually to God every day: 3, 4, 5 times a day.

We all talked and laughed and forged new relationships with each other and God.

Although these children are greatly missed in our family circle, many blessings have flowed from doing God’s will in very difficult times.  

I would say one of the biggest things was to seek good counsel. Speak with a good spiritual director, seek confession and keep your eyes totally fixed on Our Lord.

It’s not important what others think of you. The most important thing is your relationship with God, your husband and your other children. Everything else will flow from there. 

This is how we as a large family are getting through a suffering and remain homeschooling.