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

 Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him,
"Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
He replied, "What do you wish me to do for you?"
They answered him, "Grant that in your glory
we may sit one at your right and the other at your left."
Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the cup that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
They said to him, "We can."
Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared."
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.
Jesus summoned them and said to them,
"You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles
lord it over them,
and their great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Think

“When we had our children, our ideas changed somewhat. From then on we lived only for them. They made all our happiness, and we would not have found it except in them. Nothing any longer cost us anything; the world was no longer a burden to us. As for me, my children were my great compensation, so that I wished to have many in order to bring them up for Heaven.…” ~Blessed Zelie Martin

Pray

Sweet Jesus, help me to remember that the things of this life are fleeting. Jockeying for position, trying to be first, worrying about status and stature here is truly a waste of precious time. Give me the wisdom and the grace to look for opportunities to serve instead.

Act

Plan a few hours some time this week to simply enjoy the company of your children. No burdens. No grand expectations. Just a simple setting for soaking in the good--the great compensation-- that they are. Jot a note or two to ponder later. How best to serve the least of these? What love language do they speak? 

And I beg your grace as I squeak my own prayer request in this morning. I have a dear local friend who will deliver her ninth baby today. It could get a little tricky. Please, please keep her in your prayers!

Needle & thREAD

Today I'm posting needle & thREAD because, remarkably enough this week, I've actually sewn a little. Sewing tends to frustrate me and it takes too much patience for me to stick with it. But, my mom wants me to make this tiered skirt and I'm pretty sure she is intent on me finishing it. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll get a chunk of time and finish it. As of now though, I leave you with a picture of a work in progress.

 

Now for the reading part. Recently, I read Joy in the Ordinary. I'm going to admit I was skeptical. It was about a girl who wanted to become a nun, really? I didn't want to read about some girl that wanted to become a nun. I will say though, this book is well worth anyone's time. Joyce wants to become a nun, badly--almost to the point where she's forcing herself. When she comes to the realization that she won't be able to stay at the convent because it's truly not her vocation, her life gets turned around in remarkable ways and she finds out who she's really meant to be. This book left me very happy,but also a little bit sad that we can't all find our own Dominics. I'm pretty sure they don't exist. That issue aside though, I can't wait for a sequel to this book.

While I was sewing a tiered skirt and reading Joy in the Ordinary, Katie and Mom were busy making a picnic blouse and reading Caddie Woodlawn. 

 

~~~~

Does autumn call you into your sewing space? Are you thinking flannel pjs or cozy quilts? Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

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:-)

The Undivided Heart

So, I wrote 1300 words on this topic and this chapter. I poured out my guts. I bared my soul. I really laid it all out there. And when I uploaded the picture, just before hitting "post," I deleted the whole thing. All of it. All the links. All the well-organized thoughts. I just wrote 1300 words on why I need to step away from blogging and it disappeared into cyberspace. Gotta wonder if there's some sort of meaning in all of that.

Anyway, my neck hurts and my hands hurt and I'm tired. There's no chance I'm reconstructing that post any time soon. Good night:-). 

I will mention that I linked to Kate's thoughts extensively. Those links are worth taking a few moments to re-create. 

And here's the picture. Makes more sense with the post. The totally-deleted-cannot-be-retrieved post.

{Oh, and needle & thREADers, Mary Beth will be here in the morning with a post for you.}

~ ~ ~

Are you thinking about the mission of motherhood, too? I'm going to join The Nester for 31 Days. I'm going to host a 31 day "retreat"here  to remind myself (and anyone who wants to come along) of the mission of motherhood and matrimony. If you want to do your own 31 Days on anything you choose, head here and join! If you want to retreat from the noise of the 'net for a month and focus your own sweet home and family, grab a “Remind Myself of the Mission” button and curl up with a candle, your Bible, and this good book! Let me know your thoughts below. We can help each other hear His mission. 

Click here for the whole series.

"B" is for Baking Blackberry-Blueberry Butterfly Pie with Our Besties

8 cups of berries 
1/2 to 1 cup sugar
3 tbl corn starch 
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
1 tbl lemon juice
Zest from 1 lemon -- optional, but makes it so good!
2 tbl unsalted butter cut in bits
Milk as needed

2 refrigerated prepared pie crusts

Instructions:

1/ Heat oven to 450
2/ Gently toss berries with sugar, cornstarch, salt, spices, lemon juice, and zest.
3/ Pile into rolled out dough -- making the pile a little higher in the center.
4/ Dot with the butter
5/ Cover with the top crust
6/ Seal edges with fork or fingers
7/ Place pie on baking sheet -- to catch drips
8/ Brush top of pie with milk and sprinkle with sugar
9/ Cut 3-4 slits in top of crust -- to allow steam to escape
10/ Bake for 10 minutes at 450
11/ Reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 40-50 minutes or until golden brown
12/ Cool on rack before serving warm or at room temperature

All pictures, the recipe, and the warm afternoon of baking generously and graciously providing by my friend Megan and her daughter Katie. Note, Sarah had three outfit changes during the course of baking pie. Megan is all patience with a girl's need for the perfect dress. In the end, she provided a dress with butterflies!

God willing, I'll be back later with an update to the plans for C week and perhaps a bit more on those 31 Days to Remind Myself of the Mission.

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 

Mark 10:17-30

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,
knelt down before him, and asked him,
"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good?
No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
you shall not defraud;
honor your father and your mother."
He replied and said to him,
"Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth."
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
"You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
At that statement his face fell,
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
"How hard it is for those who have wealth
to enter the kingdom of God!"
The disciples were amazed at his words.
So Jesus again said to them in reply,
"Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
"Then who can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said,
"For human beings it is impossible, but not for God.
All things are possible for God."
Peter began to say to him,
"We have given up everything and followed you."
Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come."

Think

"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty, than the person who has nothing to eat." Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Pray

May your grace, O Lord, we pray, at all times go before us and follow after and make us always determined to carry out good work. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reign with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. 

~Collect from today's Mass.

Act

"During this Year of Faith may we, like the man in today's Gospel, have the courage to ask the Lord what more can we do, especially for the poor, the lonely, the sick and the suffering, so as to be witnesses and heirs to the eternal life God promises." ~Benedict XVI