Dog Visitor

I normally don't post emails but my oldest son sent this to me and I thought it was too cute.
First it reminds me of our golden (my baby) that we had to put to sleep a year ago this past Christmas because of bone cancer. I can, also, relate to it because my youngest rarely slept his entire first year.

An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard.I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of. He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head; he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.

The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour.
This continued off and on for several weeks.

Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is
and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar:
'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep.
Can I come with him tomorrow?'

Happy Saint Cyril and Methodius Day

Father,
You brought the light of the gospel to the Slavic nations
through Saint Cyril and his brother Saint Methodius.
Open our hearts to understand your teaching and help
us to become one in faith and praise.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

~ Morning prayer, Christian Prayer book

Sleep, Glorious Sleep

Yeah!! Tomorrow I don't have to be anywhere until 5:00 pm mass. That means I don't have to set the alarm and can sleep in past 5:00 am. Most weekends I have to schedule things or run errands that I can't do during the week. That means having to set an alarm even if it isn't as early as I usually get up. I have a plethora of school work but I can sleep in. Life is good!! Funny what we get excited about as we grow older. Or maybe I really need to get a life!!

Snow Day

Whoo hoo, snow day today! As luck would have it, though, I had just stepped into the shower and started washing my hair when my husband yelled to me that my school was on the school closings on TV. I was taking my shower earlier than usual because my school district rarely closes. Since Christmas break my 1 hour drive each way has been taking 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours unless the roads are completely dry. The way the morning was shaping up I figured that 2 hours was optimistic. I needed to be at school on time beause our Catholic Schools week mass was first thing and I was a Eucharistic Minister. We were having the mass today because it's the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas and he is our patron saint. I must say I was disappointed about not having the mass but the auxiliary Bishop that was to have the mass graciously agreed to have it tomorrow. Since I was already up and showered I dressed, put in a load of laundry and headed off to mass at my parish. The roads and freeway had not been plowed so the going was really slow. The 25 minute drive took 1 hour 15 minutes. My sons and husband said I was crazy for driving in to mass. Well let's see, I've lived in an all male household the past 20 some years and I teach teenagers. Crazy? I'm just saying...... Besides when we had the big snow storm on Friday night a couple weeks ago my oldest son drove through that to Buffalo and back to go to the Sabres game!! Like mother, like son?

Happy Feast Day St Thomas Aquinas

Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas

Grant me, O Lord my God,

a mind to know you,

a heart to seek you,

wisdom to find you,

conduct pleasing to you,

faithful perseverance in waiting for you,

and a hope of finally embracing you.Amen.

St. Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of the high school where I teach. We were supposed to have our Catholic Schools Week mass this morning with one of our Auxiliary Bishops presiding. Alas, with the weather it didn't happen. I was looking forward to it but better to be safe. Scary to think of all those teenage drivers on the road. Phew!!

My Sunday Adventures

Today on the way to church for 10:00 am mass (choir at 10 and sacristan at 12) the freeway was a mess from the predicted snow that we had overnight. Only 2 of the 3 lanes were passable. You would think that they had enough time to get plows and salt trucks out, but no!! Is this weather something new around here?!! And just let me say, some people should put their cars in the garage when the first snow falls and keep them there until spring!!
At my sacristan mass 2 servers and 1 Eucharistic minister didn't make it but at least they had let us know ahead of time that they couldn't find subs. Our pastor emeritus who was supposed to have the mass also didn't make it both for health reasons and weather. Our pastor had to come over to say mass even though he is in pain from a herniated disc. Both of these priests need our prayers. Since our pastor is the only priest at our parish we have been having a lot of visiting priests since the week before Christmas. This last month in particular has reminded us that there is a real need for more priestly vocations.

The Sunday after Chrostmas high winds provided an adventure. I was sacristan for 8:00 am mass and left the house a little after 6:30 am because I had to stop for gas. At the gas station I had to hold tight to my door when I was opening it to keep it from being whipped away by the winds. Driving on the freeway with an SUV was a little tricky, trying to fight the wind. As I got closer to my parish the thought crossed my mind that this past fall when we had high winds our parish along with the surrounding area had no power for 3 days. As I turneed down the street that my parish is on I was relieved to see houses with outdoor christmas lights as well as inside lights shining brightly. That is until I was a block away from the church. The entire block around and including the church was completely dark. No power. It was still pitch black and not looking to brighten anytime soon because of heavy cloud cover. I went inside but stood in the hallway leading to the church since it was too dark to go any further. Since we were having a visiting priest I hated to call the pastor but it was his decision as to what to do. He called the power company and they told him that we had no power (No, really?!!). We called back and forth to each other deciding what to do, - would people show up, would we have ministers, lectors, communion service or mass, etc. As it turned out it did get light enough that with the candles lit we could go into the church. The ushers told people to sit up front so that they could hear and see better. Since 8:00 am mass is mostly elderly we didn't use the gift table so that nothing was in the aisle. I flipped some of the light switches on before mass started so that if the power came on we would know. The power did come on just as the lector started the first reading so I went back in to the sacristy and turned the rest of the lights on. The rest of mass went on as usual.
Sometimes I think God has a sense of humor and just tries to keep us on our toes!!

Arctic Freeze

Finally the arctic temperature is supposed to let up somewhat tomorrow. The high is predicted at 23 degrees ( a regular heat wave). However we are supposed to get a lot of snow. Give me the snow over the below zero temperatures any day. My drive time to school each day this past week and a half has turned into an hour and a half to two hours anyway. Even though we haven't had much snow, the little we did have turned into icy conditions with the cold temperatures.

Our superintendent said she wouldn't cancel school unless it was minus 18 so Thursday even though a lot of other schools were off, including the district I live in , off to school I went. Our building has glass windows and doors at the end of each wing so with the wind the classrooms at the end of the wings(the ones I'm in) are freezing. I wore a zip up front sweatshirt over my sweater!! On Friday it was even colder and school was called off.

I could see God's hand in this. Friday my husband was to go into the hospital for some minor outpatient surgery and needed someone to drive him because of the anesthesia. Since my son doesn't have classes on Friday he was going to take his dad. I normally would have taken a personal day but because it was the last day 0f midterms and of the grading period, I had to have all grades posted by Tuesday 8:00 am. That meant I would have to pick up the completed midterms Friday and because of the timing of my husband being released and the long drive to school that would have been impossible. Thankfully with school being called off I was able to be there.

Actually I love winter just not the bitter cold. The city I teach in is in the snowbelt and normally gets a lot of snow. A couple years ago we had vey little snow up through January, neither here or in Niagara Falls, NY where my older son was in college. One day in January it started snowing about midmorning and didn't quit. My son called me to let me know it was snowing there and I told him it was snowing here as well. He was disappointed because he thought he was going to be the first to have snow. After school I called him to tell him I had just scraped about 3 inches of snow off of my car but actually enjoyed it because it was the first time this season. He said he did too and felt the same way. I then said we probably should keep this conversation to ourselves or somebody might have us committed!!!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! May everyone have a new year full of health, prosperity and God's blessing.

Mary, Mother of God - Solemnity

Father,

source of light in every age, the

virgin onceived and bore your Son

who is called Wonderful God, Prince of Peace.

May her prayer, the gify of a mother's love,

be your people's joy through all ages.

May her response, born of a humble heart,

draw your Spirit to rest on your people.

Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

~Morning prayer - LOH~

Belated Merry Christmas

What a week!! Last day of school, Friday Dec. 19th, finally!! Went straight home to do laundry and pack. We had to be at the airport on Saturday morning at 7:30 am for a 9:00 am flight. Bryan spent the night with us so we just had to pick up my oldest son and his girlfriend. At the airport we find out the flight is delayed until 10:30 am. Oh well at least it's on the way there.
We were headed for Las Vegas. Not my idea of a great vacation destination but since Bryan just turned 21, he was on cloud nine. In his words, Las Vegas is the adults Disneyland!
When we started planning this trip, for Bryan's birthday, my husband made return plane reservations for the redeye at 11:30 pm on Christmas day. WHAT? No way, I said, I want to be back home for Christmas. Four days is more than enough in Las Vegas. Besides, I want to be at my own parish for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! I'm in the choir and we were singing at 10:00 pm mass Christmas Eve and 10:00 am mass Christmas Day. On Christmas day I was to be sacristan at two masses and Eucharistic Minister at one mass. Yes, I definitely needed to be back home by Christmas Eve. So with grumbling from my family, reservations were made for my return flight at 11:00 am on Christmas Eve. After all, I would be spendig time with them until I left and they would be home a day and a half later.
Our time in Las Vegas was mainly spent gambling and eating. Bryan was on a mission to see every casino in Vegas. Big brother did his best to tell him which casino's were nicer since he had been there before, but to no avail. It was his first time and he had to see for himself. I am not much of a gambler so spent most of my time at the penny machines. This earned me the nickname grandma! Nice family, I have!
In Vegas it doesn't even seem like it's Christmas. It's not just the lack of snow, at least by the time we got there. The only decorations are a few real Christmas trees in some of the hotel lobbies but for the most part any Christmas trees around the casinos were a bunch of gold sphere shapes "glued " together in the shape of a tree. It was really unnerving walking through a casino, with all the bright lights, ding - ding from slot machines and heariing Adeste Fideles over the sound system. Bryan mentioned the word surreal several times.
Finally it was Chritmas Eve and I got up early, showered, packed and was ready to go home. My husband checked his phone and there was an automated message from the airline telling us to call the airline and check on the flight. After waiting on hold for fifteen minutes, we decided it was probably a delayed flight and not knowing for how long, I probably should head for the airport. We took the cell phone, still on hold, with us. Just as we got to the cab stand in front of the hotel, the airline reservationist answered. My flight wasn't delayed, it was cancelled. WHAT? The next flight that they could put me on was at 3:15 pm. Today? No, tomorrow. But I need to be back home today!!! Sorry! I ended up on the redeye with the rest of my family.
Back up to the hotel room and unpack. After some tears, a call back to my parish to let them know I needed someone to cover for me as sacristan and Eucharistic minister, I resigned myself to the fact I wouldn't be home for Christmas. I was homesick for my parish, my spiritual family.
Actually, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself, though I tried to be in a good mood for my family. After all, it wasn't their fault. No need to ruin their vacation.
When I finally got home, I was trying to catch up on reading the blogs that I follow. I was reading Adoro's blog for Christmas day and it really hit home. How selfish was I being. Christmas day for our Savior was one of hardship. Who am I to complain? Adoro you really should be a homilist!
We are all home safe and sound. I am thankful.
Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.

Twelve days of Christmas

I don't forward many emails but I received this one at school the other day. The story may not be true but I thought the symbolism was something to think about.

In England from 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of the church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So the next time you hear the Christmas Carol of the Twelve Days of Christmas may you remember those who were so creative in finding ways to teach the children the foundations of our faith.

Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone

Happy 21st Birthday Bryan

Wow, it's hard to believe that it has already been 21 years since you came into this world . When people tell you that children grow up fast, they weren't kidding. The years have flown! It seems just yesterday that Dad was talking to you,telling you not to make us go to the hospital until he had his coffee and read the paper and to please be born within a reasonable time. This was after spending 18 hours in labor and going through 3 shifts of nurses with your brother. Gee, poor Dad! But you listened to Dad, probably one of the few times in your life, and we didn't have to head to the hospital until 7:00 am and you were born a few minutes before 1:00 pm.

When they laid you in my arms you alternately cried and tried to put your fist in your mouth, obviously hungry. That didn't change much when you went home, you were trying to drink 8 ozs. of formula when most newborns drink 2 ozs.

Maybe that was the reason you cried most of the 1st year - and didn't sleep, you were hungry!!

The nurses in the nursery absolutely loved you because you liked to be held and rocked. You have always been so affectionate and loving. After that first year you were a happy child, always laughing and you had the most wonderful laugh.

Always the jokester, it was hard to stay mad at you. As I was giving you a "stern talking to" you would usually come up with some quip that would make me start laughing. So much for disciplining!

As you got older that sense of humor turned into telling me stories with a straight face. Then when I believed you, you would laugh and tell me how gullible I am.

Well baby boy it's been a wonderful 21 years and I'm looking forward to many more. You are truly a gift from God and I am happy He gave you to me. There's nothing better than being a mom. I love you very much!!

Listen Up

StoryCorps, a nonprofit organization that honors and celebrates lives through listening, has declared today as the first National Day of Listening. Here is their press release:

StoryCorps is declaring November 28, 2008 the first annual National Day of Listening.
This holiday season, ask the people around you about their lives — it could be your grandmother, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood. By listening to their stories, you will be telling them that they matter and they won’t ever be forgotten. It may be the most meaningful time you spend this year.

It made me think about how many times some people want to tell you their story but we are thinking about what we need to do or where we need to be and are only half way listening. How many interesting stories do we miss? How much of our own personal history do we not know?

I know I wish I would have listened more. When I was younger and when I was raising my sons I was to busy and distracted to listen to my parents and relatives. Now that I'm older and would love to hear these stories, my parents are deceased and I'm an only child. I still have cousins to share stories about general family history but no siblings to share and remember more of my personal history.

During this busy season and beyond, let us try to listen more, really listen, to relatives, people at church, neighbors and others that we see on a regular basis. Maybe we will learn something really interesting and maybe we will make someone feel special.

Both sound great to me.