Out of the Mouths of Babes...

While praying the Angelus this morning, Olivia said the following in response to "The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary:"


And she deceived the Holy Ghost"

ummm....good try Olivia, but not quite!

Santa's Beard

Naomi wore an adorable dress on Sunday to Mass.  It's red velvet with sparkles on it and white fur on all the edges.  She came to show me after she got dressed and the following conversation ensued:

Me: Naomi, you look like Santa Claus!
Naomi: No, I'm not!  I don't have a beard!!!
Me: Oh....how about if we take Daddy's beard and put it on you.  Then you'll really look like Santa Claus!
Naomi: No Mommy!  I'm not a boy!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday morning Naomi and Timmy woke up just before 6am as usual.  In an effort to buy a little more time to sleep, we told Naomi to go to the playroom and play with Timmy.  Having just decorated our Christmas tree the day before, she said "Can I go look at the Christmas tree?!"  I said, "Not right now...if you go out there, then Timmy will follow you and he'll touch all the ornaments."  Naomi said, "But Mommy, I'm not a rascal!  I won't touch!"

The Significance of the Three Masses of Christmas

I found this very interesting and never knew this before so I thought I would share it!


"The Three Feasts of the Nativity
When we celebrate Christmas we are commemorating the three nativities of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the reason for the three Masses celebrated on this day. The first is the eternal begetting of God the Son from all eternity within the mystery of the Blessed Trinity by the Father, “You are My Son. Today I have begotten You.” This first nativity was before the seven days of Creation, when everything was darkness. This is why the first Mass is at midnight to recall the darkness that prevailed during that first eternal birth of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
The second nativity, or birth, of the Second Person of the Trinity is commemorated on Christmas day when He became man, born of the Virgin Mary, in Bethlehem. For the world, the darkness was beginning to be dispelled. This is why the second Mass is celebrated at dawn when the dawn is beginning to dispel the darkness.
The third nativity of Christ is when He is born in our souls, through His in-dwelling, when man, through grace, becomes enlightened. Thus the third Mass is celebrated during the day when the sun is bright. For man is truly enlightened when he has Christ in his soul.
The first nativity reminds us of the Spirit of poverty, the Spirit that tells us that all the things God created is His, to be used for His glory and not for man’s enjoyment. Even man was to use himself for the glory of God. This represents the six days of creation. If Adam, being the head of creation, had observed the spirit of poverty and used all of creation for the glory of God, then he would have entered into the Sabbath, God’s rest… i.e. eternal happiness. But Adam messed up everything. And the consequence: the whole of mankind could not enter God’s rest.
The second nativity reminds us of the Spirit of chastity. That Spirit reminds us to give up all physical comforts, pleasure and conveniences. And Christ in the manger is a clear example of this. It is a continuous reminder that true happiness can only be found in God and that we are on earth to seek God. All the rest will come with that find. True rest can only be found in God.
The third nativity reminds us of the Spirit of obedience. It is only when we can say, “Not my will but Your will be done,” can Christ be born in our souls. The apostolic commission at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel reiterates this, reminding us of the role of the Church and the men of the Church: “… teach all My commands and how to observe them.”
Christmas reminds us of one lesson. Christ was born to die. For us the message is clear. We are born to die to oneself. And to die to oneself means reaching a point in our lives when we no longer do our own will but the will of the Father in heaven. This is to lose one’s life in order to find it. If we have learned the lessons of the first nativity, if we have learned the lesson of the second nativity, our reward is the third nativity, when Christ is born in our souls….indeed our eternal Christmas. This is truly a Merry Christmas.
— Fr. Odon de Castro, Bo. San Isidro, Magalang, Pampanga, Philippines"

Taken from Catholic Culture

How do we become a saint...

This talk was excellent!  The priest speaks about how all we have to do to become a saint is do our duty.  This duty is different for each person depending on their state in life.  We all do have two duties in common.  Prayer and Penance.  We are required to do both each day.  He recommends 3 Hail Marys morning and night, the Rosary and meditation for starters.  Penance can be in any form, but must be performed every day.

The talk is only 14 minutes long and makes for a very well spent 14 minutes!

Feast of St. Nicholas!

A few days late, but here are some pictures of our St. Nicholas day!  The kids all put their shoes out in front of the fireplace the night before St. Nicholas Feast.  They woke up to their shoes filled with tootsie rolls, a Crunch bar, and a new wooden (read: non destructible!) Nativity Set that I purchased on clearance at the Dominican Shrine on our pilgrimage, and "St. Nicholas" chocolate coins!

Look how determined Timmy is to get that chocolate bar open!

 

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Happy Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, empress of the Americas!  

We celebrated today with a few activities.  (This feast conveniently falls in letter G week as well!)

We read The Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie dePaola

We also made our own tilmas using this image and paper dolls from this website.

Timmy had a Tilma too, but I couldn't get him to wear it for the photo!

We're planning to have enchiladas for dinner tonight with corn and rice to round out a Mexican day :-) 

Dear Lady of Guadalupe, please pray for the salvation of America and an end to Abortion!