Blessed Feast!

Hail pious mother, holy Anna hail!

Thy name falls sweetly on the Christian's ear;

They called thee gracious, chosen to prevail

By grace throughout they heav'nward journey here.

Root of you branch, whose heav'nly blossoms sent

Wide o'er the earth the perfume of its breath;

Perennial fount, e'er spreading, never spent,

Lily of Jesse, Rose of Nazareth.

Hail mother of that Star which placid rose

Above the flood of death and sin and war;

The Mother of our Queen whom Heaven chose

Spouse of King of Kings for evermore!

Receive our supplications, mother dear,

Who was graced alone, of all mankind,

The honor to conceive, to nurse and rear

God's stainless Mother, for our joy designed.

Oh, never cease, we pray thee, to present

Before that Son and mother our desire,

The King and Queen of yonder firmament,

That happy home to which our souls aspire.

-Pere Faber

Preparing to Celebrate the Feast of St. Anne

Sometimes, a saint finds you.

And those are very, very special times, indeed. Two years ago, around this time, St. Anne found me and I will be forever grateful.   There is no saint more dear to my heart, nor more frequently invoked by me than the grandmother of our Lord. She walks beside me, whispers in my ear, and makes sure I get my laundry done! My binder of St. Anne prayers is well-worn and nearly memorized.

July 26th, the Feast of St. Anne and St. Joachim,was a Sunday last year and it found me in a beautiful new church at the baptism of my godson, John (Marisa never did blog the day--I might have to do that for her;-). And every prayer we prayed there went to Louisiana, too, where Bryce Mitchell was being baptized.

July this year finds me taking up my binder of prayers once again, not for a pregnancy this time, just for the comfort of knowing that such a dear mother is listening and praying and interceding. Tradition teaches us what we know about St. Anne and her husband, St. Joachim. I think though, that some saints come to be known even more dearly in our prayers. It is in praying with St. Anne that I have grown to love her.

I've included here for you a copy of my favorite, now very familiar prayers. There are short daily prayers, a chaplet explanation, a litany, and two different novenas. Depending on whether you want to finish on the feast or the day before, you want to start a novena on the 17th or 18th. My St. Anne chaplet broke a few weeks ago, so I do plan to spend these days of preparation for the feast repairing it. Alice Cantrell provides a lovely illustrated tutorial here, should you want to try your hand a crafting this beautiful aid to prayer. I have found that handwork that aids our prayer are the crafts that are most treasured and beneficial in our home. We don't always bead a chaplet, of course, but decorating a vase to fill with flowers next to a saint's icon, or pouring or dipping or decorating a candle to be lit on the feast are also favorite, simple, meaningful family traditions. And sometimes, there is no craft at all.

In our family, we celebrate a name day on St. Anne's feast. There was considerable argument around our dinner table when we discussed what to name our baby girl. It was settled by giving her both names: Sarah and Anne. (To this day, two of her brothers have yet to call her "Sarah." They only call her "Annie.") My mother, Mike's mother, my stepmother, and I all share Sarah's middle name. But only Sarah Anne gets the extra "e":-). And oh, how we love to celebrate Sarah Annie!

Our family looks forward to feast days with quiet, familiar joy. As a child grows, the day takes on its own traditions because the child begins to make it his own. For instance, the Feast of St. Michael around here always smells like incense and a kahlua devil's food cake baking in the oven. That has been Michael's preference for as long as I can remember. For the longest time, we had pizza on the Feast of St. Patrick because Paddy insisted on it.

St. Anne's feast will begin for me as all days do, with the Liturgy of the Hours. I'll pray the Morning Prayer and Office of Readings by myself in the quiet of the dawn. Both prayers bring me into the celebration of the feast with the universal Church. I will light a special candle, put her statue and her icon on our little prayer desk, and make sure that the children notice when they awaken. Then, it's up and out the door. The true "feast" is the Eucharist and we are fortunate to be able to go to daily Mass on feast days, where we celebrate the feast with the community of God. Father delights our children by always, always speaking about "their" saints. Usually, there is a special blessing after Mass for the name day child, as well. And there might be donuts on the way home, too;-).

Sarah Anne is just old enough that she might be able to express her preference for dinner and dessert as is our family custom. Already the lobbying has begun as certain brothers try to persuade her that her favorite dinner resembles their favorite dinner. Almost certainly, there will be chocolate for dessert. Sarah Anne is a big fan of chocolate. 

The day will end for my sweet Sarah Annie with more of that heavenly scent, this time it's St. Anne soap and lotion (as much a treat for me as for my baby). Sweet dreams, my darling girl; your heavenly grandmother continues to be so very good to us. Blessed, we are, those of us whose name means "grace."

St. Anne prayers and devotions:

Download Prayers to St Anne

Really Long Daybook...

...in which I do some catch up blogging and get reacquainted with my camera:-)

Outside My Window

Everything is in full bloom. Our Bradford Pear looks so beautiful in its white lace splendor (too bad those particular trees absolutely stink while in bloom). The cherry trees are lovely and the crabapples have my little ones looking expectantly for Mrs. Applebee. My tulips are budding and blooming, too. And...a little bird told me that the bluebells have begun to burst into color as well. There is nothing, nothing in the whole outdoors so wonderful as bluebells in Virginia.

I am Listening to
chirping birds. They are Way Loud--having some kind of rocking party in the smelly Bradford pear tree.

I am wearing

capris and a poplin blouse. Hooray for the return of the  "summer uniform!"

I am Thankful For
Mike's safe return. He didn't get home until 7AM Easter morning, after driving all night. There was a very serious accident just ahead of him on I95 and he sat and sat and sat in traffic. He's been gone two weeks. This trip was a long haul for both of us and I'm so grateful he's home at last.

I am Pondering

these words, passed on to me by a wise friend:

Child of God, what have you done up to now to help the souls around you?

You cannot be content with that passiveness, with that idleness of yours. He wants to reach others through your example, through your words, through your friendship, through your service.

-- St. Josemaria Escriva -- The Furrow #880

I am Reading
Arise From Darkness: What to do When Life Doesn't Make Sense.

I intended to finish it during Holy Week, but Holy Week ended up being very, very active, not much time for reading. So, I'm going to finish this week. This is a slow read, only because every page holds something worth stopping to think and pray on.

From the Kitchen

Let's do some menu recording here:

Holy Thursday:

Roasted lamb
roasted asparagus
haroset
rosemary potatoes
flatbread

Good Friday:
I do not even remember. I functioned on three hours sleep that day.

Holy Saturday:
Gyros made with the leftover lamb. I love this meal and every year I wonder why I don't do lamb more often.

Easter Sunday:

Beef Tenderloin
Ham
roasted asparagus
salad with roasted beets and goat cheese and pine nuts
roasted sweet potatoes
mashed potatoes
fruit salad

    bread

    chocolate cake with mint filling and mint ganache
    edible easter baskets

   ice cream bar with hot fudge, strawberries, Easter candy, whipped cream

   mocha brownies

 

I am Thinking

about silence and conversation. About boundaries and embraces. About activity and stillness.

I am Creating

a social network for kind conversation. Hmmm...those words look strange here, even to me. I wonder at the events that took me to this place. But it's true, together with my big kids (who are the resident experts on such things), and some dear friends, we're creating a place of beautiful conversation. More news and an invitation very soon.

On my iPod

The Holy Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet with St. Faustina. This is beautifully done and so appropriate for this week where our focus is in His mercy.

Towards a Real Education
Lots of nature study and watercolors in the plans. We are also going to begin a multi-age Bible study together. We're finishing up most of the purchased curriculum (grammar books, science notebooks, etc). I'm looking forward to a spring of mostly Bible study, Shakespeare, nature and art. And we'll take a literature-intensive look at Asia.

Towards Rhythm and Beauty

I love the way that the gold ALLELUIA letters sparkle on the mantel this morning. It was a long Lent. A long, fruitful Lent. Easter shines in my house today. Baskets line up on the knee wall in the kitchen. Candles and baskets grace the tables. Our book baskets brim over with the spring term: books on birds; books about Easter; bible story picture books; books on China. There is a familiar beauty in the things around me and I can see clearly--if only for the moment--how the beauty of this place supports its rhythm and how hat rhythm is the heartbeat of our lives here.

To Live the Liturgy

Wood and felt. Felt and wood. Around my living room, there is a miniature representation of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem, a table with a tiny cenacle, and another table with cross  and tomb. Over and over again, my children are drawn to the wood and felt as the gospels come alive in their hands. The liturgy lives here, in wood and felt.

This week, we are praying the Divine Mercy novena and lulling small children to sleep at night with the chaplet, sung over and over.

I am Hoping and Praying

for Christian, who gets thrown curve ball after curve ball (and he's not a big fan of baseball). We need some solid answers from doctors this week. Pediatricians, cardiologist, surgeon--I’m praying someone can figure this all out. Hmmm. this remains the same as when I first wrote it two or three weeks ago. Not good.

and for my Aunt Ida, who fell and broke her hip last. She's 92; she doesn't "bounce back." She is however, the antithesis of a sour-faced saint. She's joy personified. I think that's why she's lived so long.

for Elizabeth deHority to have the time and the strength and the peace to do the important things.

In the Garden
There are still too many weeds. I also saw peony shoots yesterday. I pruned the roses (why does this always hurt me so much?). They look very healthy and I'm looking forward to a summer full of blooms.

Around the House

The house sparkled from top to bottom yesterday (well, the basement didn't exactly sparkle, but it was much better). I worked around the clock (literally) to get it to this point. And it was no small challenge. Mike was gone. Paddy was gone. Christian and Mary Beth were sick (really sick) and so all the routines were worthless. I never realized just how much my normal routines integrate those big kids into everything we do. But I did it! Mike came home to a perfectly lovely house and after working the way he does, he deserved to be as blessed by this home as we are.

Now, to keep it this way.

On Keeping Home
At the beginning of the week I told a friend (who is a truly gifted and creative homemaker) that I wished I had a homemaking fairy to come and rescue me. In my mind, this fairy looked a bit like the Flylady logo. My friend replied that her homemaking notebooks are her fairies. I whined a bit about how my notebooks are out of date and I didn't have time to stop and update before rolling up my sleeves. Then I remembered that whole "Sharpen the Saw" principle and I stopped and made a serious list. I wrote down everything that needed to be done. I worked backwards from Easter Sunday and thought about a logical order. I committed it all to paper. And then I lived that list. Now matter what happened. No matter who got sick. No matter how tired I was. The list ruled. It probably isn't the greatest strategy for everyday life, but it was my survival strategy and in the end, my wise and beautiful friend was right: those notes are the Homemaking Fairy. This week? I'm going to work on the Homemaking Notebook. It's been far too long.

One of My Favorite Things

Bluebells. 

Sarah Annie this week

She is talking up a storm and signing right along with her speech. (Mike says it's the Italian thing; talking with her hands.) Her favorite sign these days is "outside." She's pretty insistent.  If she's inside, she's signing "outside." As it should be; the weather is just beautiful and the whole world is in bloom for her. Outside. Outside. Outside.

A Few Plans for the Rest of the Week
The bluebells are in bloom. Around here, that's all the news we need to plan our week.

A few more pictures to share:
 I have no pictures of the Basilica to share this year. We attended all the Holy Week and Easter services our neighborhood mission had to offer. All week, I reminded myself how utterly grateful I am that this mission is healthy and holy again. But I did so miss the big church. Because of the blessing of a local mission, I was able to stay home with sick children and send well ones across the street to the local elementary school gym or leave for just a few moments with well children to attend stations on the town green. I wish I could wax poetic and tell you how beautiful it was despite the lack ofa a church building. Instead, I can report that when Nicholas walked into Mass Easter morning, he exclaimed, "Man! I wish all these people would show up just once when I play basketball here!"

 




 

On the Feast of St. Joseph

Not much new here. One of the nice things about Liturgical Year Traditions is that they repeat themselves year after year. Dinner and dessert will look much the same, only the pasta will be served with Blue Crab Sauce. We will remember my grandmother and pray for her soul. And we will be ever grateful to good St. Joseph, who is unfailing in his intercessions. St. Joseph doesn't have the same surprises in store for us as he did two years ago. Still, I remind myself how good he has been to our family, how I've grown to love this papa since I learned as a child to pray for my father to St. Joseph. And, of course, I will be ever so grateful for his constant intercession on my husband's behalf, those beautiful answers to prayers I've prayed for him since I was a teenager in high school with a huge crush on the pitcher for the baseball team. Thanks, Joe! That worked out very well, indeed.:-)

The Rhythm of Lent

The weather warms slightly. It’s light outside a little later in theday. The vestments turn to purple. Fast and abstinence become oft-repeated kitchen words. My children know. They know that spring is on its way and the journey to Easter has begun.

They know because this has been their experience every late winter and early spring of their lives. They know because they live the rhythm of the Church year and there is deep and personal meaning in the repetition.Please read the rest here.