Our Morning Drive to School

I thought I'd quickly tell you about our drive to school every morning. We live about four miles from the elementary school that I teach at and that our three youngest children attend. We started the year with praying this morning prayer each day:

O My Jesus, I offer You today,
All that I think and do and say.
I will try to be kind, loving, and share,
Please keep me safe in Your loving care.
Amen.

In October, we added a Hail Mary to our drive. We would take turns leading the beautiful prayer.
Sometime around December, my fifth born (8 yr. old) asked if we could pray a decade of the Rosary. She had a specific petition in mind.
Well... that started our morning (driving to school) prayer time. We each take turns leading the prayers. My four year old loves to lead the first Hail Mary and the last one too.
Over the last few weeks my husband has had to drive us to school. It was the children who invited him to pray with us. He is a covert to Catholicism and needed gentle help from the girls on saying the Hail Mary. He needed help only the first time in leading the prayer. Now, he looks forward to our morning prayers too. :)

Just wanted to share a tiny glimpse of our day. Hope you enjoyed reading. :)

Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!

Begging to Pray the Rosary...

I was going to begin this post with, "I have never experienced 9 and 10 year olds asking me... no, begging me to pray our daily decade of the Rosary quite like the enthusiastic children this year."
I am going to change my first sentence to:
I don't understand why, after all these years teaching, I am still surprised at how children respond to prayer. I should have learned by now. In fact, I should cease to be amazed because it happens every single year!
I can't though because it is just so amazing!
They begin reluctantly. Some of them do not know the prayers well. Some of them do not know the order of the prayers or what prayers to pray on each bead. Some do not want to participate or whisper the prayers when asked to lead.
And then it gradually begins to happen.
:)
They experience Jesus.
And it is our Blessed Mother's hand that leads them to Him.

They check our classroom schedule every morning and look for the 'Daily Decade'.
They watch me go to the prayer corner and reach for the (battery operated) candle. :)
They see me sit on the floor, cross-legged, and gently join me in respectful quietness.
They begin their petitions. Never for themselves. For grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles, neighbors, friends, Priests, teachers, principals, people in the news, children, babies and even an occasional request for a very loved family pet.
We begin with a mystery and continue into the decade.

My words cannot share with you the experience well enough.

This post did not end up where I planned it to go.
Hmmm.
I love to think back on each day and be able to smile. What a beautiful day!

Christ's Peace,
Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!

What a day!

Actually, this entire week has been emotionally tiring and just plain difficult. The funeral for my dear friend's daughter was Monday evening.
On Tuesday the newspaper reported that charges were filed against the driver of her vehicle. (It was her boyfriend.)
He had been drinking.
My friend was amazingly strong and beautiful Monday evening. You could just tell she was resting in Christ's arms throughout the service. I pray that she continues to feel His Presence in the days, weeks, and years to come.

I have just been unbelievably tired all week. No energy.
It is not like me to just sit. At anytime.
All I have done for the last week is tear-up and want to sleep.
My patience is at an all time low. My anger has been evident.

I pray that my children and my students do not experience any of my impatience.
I have an amazing husband who has been loving, supportive and extremely patient with me this week. I am extremely grateful.
Prayer requests:
My niece who is recovering from breast cancer surgery. Just two days ago.
Rachel (her new treatment is not going too well)... today she was playing in a huge duck, duck, goose game with 4th and 5th graders and was smiling and laughing so beautifully. (Oh my... just thinking of such an awesome sight made me smile! Thank you for that blessing!)
My dear friend and her daughter and family. And for the man who was driving the
car.
My friend Annette and her nephew. He has been living with her for awhile and will now be slowing transitioning to life with his father again.

Peace and Blessings,
Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!

Sadness and Loss...

One of my dearest friends lost her daughter early Friday morning when the car she was a passenger in left the road, went into the ditch, and hit a tree. The doctor who was called to work on her is one of my student's father. He tried with all the effort that he had.
She was too severely hurt.
She died several hours later at the hospital.

Please... we believe in the Communion of Saints, so say a prayer for Becky and her family.
So much pain and suffering.

My beautiful Heavenly Father,
Welcome Becky with open arms and embrace her family.
Hold them closely, especially over the next few days.
Let them know that you are near, help them feel your gentle touch.
Breathe onto them strength,
The kind of strength that can only come from You in a time
such as this.
Extinguish their tears and anger with your all encompassing love.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, we trust in You.
Blessed Mother Mary, be our mother too.
Amen.

Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!

St. John Vianney Prayer

I love You, O my God,and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life. I love You, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving You, than live without loving You. I love You, Lord and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally...My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to repeat it to You as often as I draw breath. Amen.

The photograph below is of our new Adoration Chapel at our Parish.

Do Whatever He Tells You!

I had an interesting day today. Well, actually I had an interesting week. (even though it is only Thursday and Friday has yet to start) It was our Diocesan Regional Professional Development Day and all of the teachers in our Diocese were required to attend. One of my sessions was called, Discipleship: Mary as a Model. It was interesting, but nothing that I had not thought of or contemplated before.

However...
How good would you be to quickly answer someone making the comment that we (in general as Catholics) place too much emphasis on Mary and need to have our entire focus be on Jesus.

Contemplate that one. Yes, I know we have websites and books on apologetics to go to in times of need. I want you to contemplate how you would reply back to someone who would make that comment. You need to know.

I was asked today why I love Our Blessed Mother so much.
When you are caught off guard it is hard to get your brain working right.
I hope that my answer led this person to contemplate her relationship with Mary.

*********
On another note, yesterday we had Reconciliation for all the children in grades 2 through 5. At the last minute...(well, the day before) one of our Priests asked us to prepare the service. Our principal is new this year and had never been to one of our Reconciliation services so she wasn't comfortable with any planning. We called the other elementary school in our system and asked them to fax us their plans for a service. Our school secretary took those plans and revised them a bit and then gave them to me.
Yikes.
I used our Religion book to write some questions for the children for the Examination of Conscience.
Well, everything went okay. For the Examination of Conscience I asked everyone to kneel and never thought of our four Priests in the front pew who had to kneel on the hard marble floor. It was a humbling experience for my class to talk afterwards about how the Priests knelt and didn't complain... when sometimes my class complains of kneeling on a padded kneeler. (and I also mentioned how the children in my class also complain of kneeling straight up and down without their backsides doing a 'half-sit' on the pew).
I saw Fr. Doug at the High School girl's basketball game tonight and asked him if I did an 'okay' job with the service. His smile told me that everything went well...but then he also added that next year he would be able to give a bit more guidance.
:)
Had I known in advance that I would be leading the Church in a service I probably would not have slept at all the night before.
But...I didn't know in advance. (Thank you my Jesus)
And...everything went well. (Thank you sooooo much my Jesus)
Plus...I slept very, very well last night. :)

Peace and Blessings,
Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!

The Rosary

I stumbled upon this website:
www.comepraytherosary.org
You may choose to pray individually or with a Church in California. There are just a few audio issues, but I found it to be a wonderful site.

How is your Lent going? This morning, Father wanted to know if we were all still smiling. :)
Every year during this time I find myself missing my parents so much. I also mourn for the extended 'family times' that I remember so well from childhood. My aunts and uncles and my nieces and nephew and I were very close. My Ma welcomed everyone to our house. The picture above is of my parents...I'm guessing right around the time I was born or into the mid 60's.
Everyone's lives right now seem so busy and well... just plain full.
Maybe it is the adult side of me remembering my childhood.
Have a beautiful Sunday evening!
Please remember to pray for Rachel. Also please add Jean to your prayers. She found out last week that she is expecting another beautiful blessing!
Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!

Catholics Come Home

Have you seen any of the CCH commercials on TV? They are beautiful. It's such a simple concept... inviting people back to Church. Leading them back to Jesus. If you haven't seen the website yet it is:
www.catholicscomehome.org
Check it out. There is something for everyone on the site.
Busy night tonight so I don't have time to write.

Oh dear, It just slipped my mind...which is completely unbelievable because it has been on my mind for the entire day--
Please, once again pray for little Rachel. Right now she is in Florida enjoying her Make a Wish, but she is in need of prayers again. I will be able to say more in a later post but in the meantime...please pray! She has gone through so much this last year.
Thank you.
Mary
Jesus, I trust in You!