Lord, Hear Our Prayer

The internet is a formidable force for bringing the comfort and consolation and hope of the Lord to all of us. It can be an incredibily powerful medium for community. There is an unfathomable resource for prayer here. We have on the 'net the privilege of praying for people and of being witness to the miracles brought forth when fervent, faith-filled people pray for one another.

Let's be that community of hope and faith for one another.

How about this idea? What if I pop in here every weekend, share Sunday's gospel and talk a wee bit about how we can live it and pray it in our homes? And then you tell me how we can pray for you that week? Deal?

{And please, do return and let us know how prayer is bearing fruit.} 

Gospel 

 Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,
and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region
of Ituraea and Trachonitis,
and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

Think

For this reason, Advent is synonymous with hope:  not the vain waiting for a faceless god, but concrete and certain trust in the return of him who has already visited us, of the "Spouse" who with his blood has sealed with humanity a pact that is an eternal covenant. It is a hope that stimulates vigilance, the characteristic virtue of this special liturgical season. Vigilance in prayer, fostered by a loving expectation; vigilance in the dynamics of concrete charity, aware that the Kingdom of God comes close whenever men learn to live as brothers.

~Blessed Pope John Paul II

Pray

God, help me to remember Advent is synonymous with hope. As I am preparing for your coming, help me to be helpful, happy, and Holy to everyone around me. Help me to keep hope of your coming alive in my home and in the world around me. 

Act

Remember that Advent is a little Lent. Consider carefully fasting during the remainder of the season.

Giveaway Winners

I'm happy to announce the winners of the giveaways this month, To celebrate the Solemnity.

The good folks at St. Luke's Brush are offering this darling St. Kateri doll.

The winner of the Saint Kateri Doll is Sarah:

Sarah said...

If our new baby is a girl, she'll be Kateri, so I think I might pick her! But my God daughter is Zita, so I am thrilled to see her in the line up as well! Such beautiful dolls!

Congratulations Sarah, please send me an email so I can let the folks at St. Luke's Brush know where to send your beautiful stocking stuffer.

Sweet Ruth of Loreto Rosaries is offering a lovely set of earrings.

The winner of the Miraculous Medal Earrings is Suzanne:

Suzanne said...

Beautiful! I think I have found what my daughter is getting in her stocking, as soon as I can make up my mind :) The St. Anne necklace is particularly beautiful. Thanks for introducing us to this beautiful jewelery.

Congratulations Suzanne, please send me an email so I can let Ruth know where to send your earrings.

needle & thREAD

I actually have more drapes to show you, but I think I'll wait until after Christmas, when the decorations have been boxed and returned to their shelves. For now, I'm pretty tickled to tell you about an old project, now finished. Last year, in late November, Deborah at Whipstitch offered me an opportunity to take her online quilting class. I knew how busy this time of year is and I knew it was carzy to commit to a class, but I also knew the phenomenal teacher Deborah has been to me. I jumped at the chance.

I worked hard to keep up and I completed all the squares. Deborah encouraged me to back and bind and finish, lest my quilt forever decorate the shelf in my sewing room. It taunted me from that shelf all year. Then, in a wonderful moment of serendipitous happy, my very first sewing teacher, my friend, Cari, swept it into her competent hands. A week later, she brought it back, quilted and bound.

I love this quilt. Love it. I love how happy it looks. I love how much I fussed over every single piece of fabric sewn into it. I love how when I ask for help, the love of friends magnifies anything I can do alone. 

So that's the sewing for the week. We're actually talking about my recent reading in yesterday's post. Lots of people leaving me more reading to do. And I'm dreaming CSAs (at least I did last night).

{I have real pictures on my real camera. Alas, I cannot find the cord. So, more Instagram. My New Year's resolution is to become a real photographer. More on that next week, I think. For now, thanks for your patience with iPhone pictures.}

So what's happening out there in needle and thread world? Are you working on Christmas presents? Christmas decorations? Winter jammies? Do tell.  

Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post or your specific Flickr photo and not your main blog URL or Flickr Photostream. Please be sure and link to your current needle and thREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and thREAD post from a previous week. If you don't have a blog, please post a photo to the needle & thREAD group at Flickr. 

       Include a link back to this post in your blog post or on your flickr photo page so that others who may want to join the needle and thREAD fun can find us! Feel free to grab a button here (in one of several colors) so that you can use the button to link:-)

Thoughts on Knitting and Farming and Life in General

I am certainly the slowest knitter ever. A year and a half ago, when I first learned to knit, I was actually pretty quick. I learned to knit at the beginning of Lent and had three (or maybe four) shrugs knit and blocked and ready Easter morning. Spring faded into summer and whatever autoimmune process causes muscle and joints to slow and ache seized mine with a vengeance. I thought rest would help. I reluctantly stopped knitting at all, waiting for the pain to go away. It never did. So, I began to knit again.

Slowly. Very slowly.

I picked up a sweater for Katie, begun by Mary Beth. Katie had outgrown it. Thanksgiving weekend, I finished it for Karoline. Then I picked up a sweater for Sarah, begun by me, just before I stopped knitting. I thanked heavens for a pattern already begun that had the same number of stitches in the neck of her former size as the neck of her current size. 

And so it goes, slowly. very slowly. All my yarn for next year is stashed. I have no need of yarn because it lasts me a long, long while. My skills are still very much at the beginner level. Still, I want to knit.

I want to sew.

I want to garden.

I want to can. 

I want to make things come to life (in a manner of speaking) by moving myself into them. And it think such movement might be critical to my wellbeing.

I read a wonderful book last weekend. I started reading as I lifted it from the box and I couldn't put it down. It won't be everyone's idea of wonderful, but I found it to be a very satisfying read. The Dirty Life is the story of a Harvard-educated travel writer who  interviews an organic farmer about his connection to the local food movement and ends up falling in love. With him, with the food, and with the work. Together, they begin to farm on an abandoned acreage in upstate New York. The amount of work they do is astonishing. The author, Kristin Kimball, doesn't romanticize the experience. It's messy and hard and fraught with all kinds of challenges. Somehow, though, it seems so satisfying: an entire life made by moving one's body and mind into work. 

I found myself wanting to ask so many questions. Did you ever get the ramshackle house cleaned up? Did he ever make you the promised bed? Who did all that work when you were pregnant? How did you do all that work with a nursing baby? The blog offers a little more insight into the day-to-day world of running a CSA that provides its members a full diet: produce, eggs, meat, dairy, even sweetener. It doesn't, however, answer all my questions. My hunch is she's too busy fully living life to write about it in daily detail.

I will never be a farmer. I've often wanted to be, ever since I was a little girl. In all my imaginings, I lived a rural life.  I am, however, the wife of a very good man who doesn't much like dirt. He works hard to provide a pretty clean life in suburbia. Our kids are thriving here. I love him for it.

So, how does that translate? Contentment with suburban life and the desire to get dirty and work with one's hands in every aspect of living? I have no idea. Today, it will be warm. I'm going to plant more tulip bulbs in the front bed. And then, I'll just keep slowly knitting and think on it.

For more Yarn Along, please visit Ginny.

Lord, Hear Our Prayer

The internet is a formidable force for bringing the comfort and consolation and hope of the Lord to all of us. It can be an incredibily powerful medium for community. There is an unfathomable resource for prayer here. We have on the 'net the privilege of praying for people and of being witness to the miracles brought forth when fervent, faith-filled people pray for one another.

Let's be that community of hope and faith for one another.

How about this idea? What if I pop in here every weekend, share Sunday's gospel and talk a wee bit about how we can live it and pray it in our homes? And then you tell me how we can pray for you that week? Deal?

{And please, do return and let us know how prayer is bearing fruit.} 

Gospel 

Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Jesus said to his disciples:
"There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.

"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life,
and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man."

Think

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art. ~St. Francis de Sales

Pray

God, I want this Advent to be about learning to love better. Help me to wait, watching. Let me guard my heart from all the modern carousing the culture begs of me during these days before Christmas. Let me stand firm against the temptation to succumb to the anxieties of my to-do lists. God, give me the strength to be vigilant and help me dedicate this advent to becoming a master of the art of love.

Act

Decide now. When will it be? Fifteen minutes every day, by yourself, between now and Christmas. Fifteen minutes to be still and know God. Fifteen minutes to love Him with your whole heart and listen to His lessons of love. Let this Advent be the beginning of the habit.

{Adding my own intentions here this week. Please pray for two dear friends--both battling breast cancer--who face major surgery this week. And please pray for an intention held close in my heart.}