Notre Dame Commencement

As many of you have heard, Our Lady's University is honoring a President whose views are anti everything the Church stands for on Life issues. This is a video made by students who want to prayerfully protest this weekend's commencement activities.




I know that some of you may disagree, but this is the equivalent of NOW inviting President Bush to speak at their convention. It is antithetical to everything they believe. There would be protests all over the place. Pro-choice followers believe that they have a right to choose, but what is that choice? They never complete that sentence, because they know what the end of it means, the end of a life. They know deep in their soul that that choice is a selfish choice. Many times, they see no other option, because of a lack of hope. We, as a nation, have turned away from the one thing that brings us hope by choosing to separate ourselves with a choice. A choice that many now fight for because of their own lack of hope.

Let us pray that many eyes will see the real reason behind this protest, it is not political, it is about life.

Mass-In-Sanity

Recently Jeremiah and I have decided to make attending daily mass a higher priority in our lives, knowing we could both benefit from the sacramental graces, especially as the children's reasoning skills become more fine tuned.

But, simply walking into daily mass with four young children is a commotion in itself, before ever braving the dreaded monotonous homily or the solemn silences of the consecration with a two year old whose attention span is fitting of his age and a five year old who is certain his command carries the force of a king, or at least enough to dictate every action of his distracted little brother. And then there is Luci, with whom the slightest glance from the grandmothers behind us excites squeals, jumps and echoing growls. Which in turn, enraptures big sister to the point of awkwardly dragging both baby and mom to the ground in an embrace that is as desperate as it is clumsy.

Therefore, fully aware of our potential notoriety, and perhaps because of our fixation on its possibility, we entered mass the other day with our mission firmly in our minds, to get in, restrain arms, legs and mouths and get out. As we made our way past the Holy Water fount, we realized our eldest two were headed for the pivotal front row, a row given to the saints, those who are declared such by all observers because their children behaved so well during mass or those who are pushed into sanctity by the extreme humility required to gather one's pride along with the children after they have drawn the attention of an entire church. Either way, this day we felt our sanctification could come through less public means, and so a tip-toed chase down the isle began.

Only moments later, having safely secured a pew in the back, we realized, due to the serene atmosphere around us, the absence of our two year old. Retracing our steps, he was found in the place we so hastily left him, by the Holy Water fount, and in typical two year old form, was eager to continue the activity which had captivated him for the past two minutes, having discovered the hand in the form of a cup, is much more effective for blessing oneself with Holy Water than only a few daintily dipped fingers.

With renewed vigor and an awareness of the battle yet to come, I suppressed my laughter and escorted our son, holy water still rolling off his saturated bangs, to our pew discreetly tucked in the corner.

Confident that the theory of leading by example is true, and hopeful in the effects produced by large quantities of holy water, Jeremiah and I stationed ourselves between children and stared actively at the priest as he processed down the isle, when a sudden echoing thud caused us to turn in bewilderment towards our oldest daughter. We watched in amazement as she held on to the pew in front of us, leaned back until her arms were fully extended then slammed herself, with great determination, back into the pew. Fearing the entire church would soon notice our four year old's convulsions, we flattened her into her seat in a hope to discern what had possessed her to act in such a way, and if the explanation were not that simple, then to at least discern what she might have been thinking. Upon investigation, we realized she had gently propped her book up on the back of the pew in front of us, and was proceeding to conduct an experiment to determine the exact velocity her body needed to reach in order to dislodge the book and send it flying.

Refusing to be bested by childhood curiosities, we are continuing in our pursuit of sanctifying grace, and the humility necessary to make the best use of it, and so, you, Our Larger Lot, can expect more installments of Mass-In-Sanity.

Check Out our Papa!

The Vatican has a new Youtube site, http://www.youtube.com/vatican.

I love our Church, presenting the Universal Truth, that transcends time, location, culture and even technology.

Confession

Overheard from the back seat while driving yesterday...

Isabelle: "Peter, what is confession?"

Peter: "It's when you go into the little room and tell the priest all the mean things you did to your kids."

We'd had a pretty rough morning...

A Monk and a Baby

Recently, well around 7 weeks ago, Jenny Lynn and I took Luciana to the Cistercian Abbey here in Irving where a good friend of mine made temporary vows. Br. Anthony Bigney(formerly known as Ryan) and I have been great friends for the last few years as he taught at a local catholic school and was a great Core Member for another church my youth group did retreats and other events with. He has been in the monastery for the last year and professed his vows in August to commit to living there for another 3 years.

Lucy with Br. Anthony right after receiving his black scapular.

Immediately following the Mass he was able to take a 5 day leave away from the Monastery during which we were able to take in a Texas Ranger's game 5 rows behind homeplate.
Other than his love for the Brewers and National League Baseball, we get along great. The game was horrible and the beer was expensive, but the conversation was quite interesting, as we have chosen two very different vocations and it was great to catch up. I ask that we all continue to pray for young men that have chosen a higher calling to commit to serving His church.

You can keep up with the Monastery and Abbey here.

Hey, I think I know this Guy!

Although, I never thought I would see him on a cooking video!

Check out the Asian Burgers clip

http://gracebeforemeals.com/videos.php

Baptism...

Luciana Maria Ellis was Baptized into the Church on August 23, 2008

With Aunt Ju Ju and Uncle Philip-pie as her God parents,

And almost all of her family watching. (We missed the rest of you!)

And Big Sis was there to examine the water and oil

And Doodle-Dan as the camera man

The Greatest Gift...

Pope John Paul II once wrote, "the greatest gift a parent can give their child is a sibling."

I can not help but think of what a wise and holy man he was as I was looking at the unmistakable joy on our children's faces as they hold their new sister.

Nor can we ignore the immense pleasure they receive from just being near her, especially when this is the first thing they do in the morning.

Thank you Lord, for all of our children, and the blessing of siblings!

Mass

The children have begun celebrating mass in the living room. It is a very ecumenical affair, as all the jungle animals agreed to invite the horses, sheep and cows, as well as the cars including the tractors and dump trucks.

I believe the day pictured, a monkey celebrated mass.

Mass usually begins with the Angelus, at least the first two lines. The celebration then continues with the blessing before meals, followed by an extremely hasty distribution of communion, which is necessary because big brother has been still for his 10 minute limit and is aching to bring about a devastating natural disaster.

Tornadoes seems to be as fascinating as pump jacks.

Prayers

One can learn a lot praying with children...

After blessing our lunch, Isabelle and I begin an intense three year old discussion.


Izzie: "Jesus died on da cross?"

Mommy: "Yes, for all of us."

Izzie: "And den he say, 'It's Time!' (for us to die) And so we go get our shoes on and we go die..." (sigh)... "but it okay, He has toys is heaven" (big smile).

1. Shoes are extremely important


2. Even death is made better by toys

Two years ago, while thanking Jesus for various things during our bed time prayers, Peter thanked Him for our new baby. A little over a week later, we learned our family had in fact grown by one, our little Daniel.


Yesterday he thank our Lord for our two houses, we will let you know in a little over a week what happens.

He also thanked our Lord for our two cats, and although very large, I think Joe only counts as one cat.

Perhaps the cat needs to precede the house?