June 30, 2014

Happy Birthday Merry!

 Happy 10th Birthday, Merry!


Pontifical High Mass

 Sam and Frodo had the blessed privilege to serve for a Pontifical High Mass, the Highest of High Masses, celebrated by our Bishop.  Sam was the book bearer and Frodo was a torch bearer.





Feast of the Sacred Heart

12 Promises of the Sacred Heart
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. I will establish peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the hour of their death.
5. I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source of an infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
9. I will bless the homes where an image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored.
10. I will give to devotees of My Heart the power of Touching the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who propagate this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be effaced.
12. The all-powerful love of My Heart will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the 
First Friday of nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under my 
displeasure, nor without receiving their Sacraments; My Heart shall be their assured refuge at that last hour. 

 In honor of the Sacred Heart, we celebrated a High Mass with our children's choir with a potluck to follow.

I love the little things, like this for instance. I went to Costco and was just going to pick up a cake and there was one with Sacred Heart Red and Immaculate Heart Blue flowers.  Sweet!

A Little of My Weird World

 I've got a climber.  And a climber that loves to get into things, the more messier the more joy.... in this case BUTTER.
 The dishes were done.... nearly to the ceiling, it happens sometimes.  Don't be scared or alarmed, sometimes they also get put away.

The black caps are ripe.  Frodo brought these in. The other day Pippin brought ONE in. Thinking this a lovely tribute to the love for one's mother I promptly ate it, only to be informed he found the first black cap by the dumpster.  Oh. My. Thank you, dear.

Happy Anniversary to Us

 On the Feast of John the Baptist, we celebrated our 19th anniversary. There happened to be a High Mass that day prior to the TLM Society meeting so we were able to receive an anniversary blessing from Fr. Zuhlsdorf (Fr. Z).
This is a lovely little local church that is absolutely beautiful.  It will begin the TLM on Sundays starting July 6th at 7:30 am!  Deo Gratias!

June 29, 2014

Corpus Christi 2

Recognize in this bread what hung on the cross, and in this chalice what flowed from His side... whatever was in many and varied ways announced beforehand in the sacrifices of the Old Testament pertains to this one Sacrifice which is revealed in the New Testament.
St. Augustine

 Since we celebrated our TLM Corpus Christi Mass and Procession on the actual Feast Day on the Thursday, some of our choir headed down to the ceremony at St. John Cantius in Chicago.
 After running (not litereally) into a bike race that caused us to find a detour in the wrong direction ... thanks to 2 policemen who don't know their way around town  .... we arrived at the train station with 2 minutes to spare.  I think my husband enjoys it when I call in a panic and say, "Where am I?"  He's getting really good at setting me back on course when I tell him, "We are at a corner with a church."  Really, I think he enjoys this because it happens frequently and he still takes me out to dinner.

 Taking a seat upstairs in the train. This was the first picked seats. We began a case of, "We've never been on a train, we must try every seat on board til we find just the right one."
 Miss G came along with us, which added an extra bit o' fun.
 Frodo was very intrigued....
 .... especially with what he thought were monkey bars.  The children also got a kick out of the "Lavatory".


 This was about the 4th or 5th seat.

 When the ticket man came around I told him that the 4 children were mine to which he nodded up and down, "And they are all under 11?"  To which 3 rode free and only Sam and I needed tickets.  I made sure to say a Hail Mary for his kindness.
 Really, life doesn't get much more exciting than riding a train and finding out that you can also turn your seat around. Really, we tried it all ("we" did not include me, I sat in 1 seat the whole time)

 Having rarely been in a city the size of Chicago, my children found railroad crossing bars on the sidewalks rather humorous.
 I have promptly forgotten what the major landmarks are (it is the church in the background, not the shell station sign that I'm referring to)
 This is the largest church in North America, if I remember correctly, but we thought it was the Church of the Weeping Angels.  (for any Dr. Who fans out there.... bow ties are also cool)

 We arrived at the train station in Chicago with about 20 minutes to get us to the Church.
 Ooohhh... an escalator.  The boys decided we needed one of these in our house.
 Oooohh... a rotating door... don't ask how many times Frodo went around... I'm not sure.
 Miss G trying to get a limo driver to give us a ride at cab prices!
 It took us a while to get a cab because *blush* we were standing hailing cabs in the "drop off" lane.  Ok, so we aren't city people.  In the end we found a cab that was large enough for all 6 of us. I was glad, that is for sure.
 It is totally alright for anywhere to smell like chocolate!
 We're getting there!


 I will admit, I was prepared not to be amazed since I've seen many churches over the years in my travels but I was blown away with extreme delight when I walked into the church.  Absolutely gorgeous.  The story of this parish is well worth a listen to (HERE) !  Just goes to show Faith goes a very long ways.
 We had the blessed privilege to sit in the SECOND ROW. It was splendid, the choir was magnificent!
 Following Mass was a beautiful Eucharistic Procession. My pictures will show little justice so you can view their pictures from a previous year HERE.

 This is Altar One, at each altar there was a Gospel sung, Tantum Ergo, Benediction and all knelt on the rough pavement. It was beautiful.  We processed to 4 Altars and then back inside to the High Altar.  It was truly incredible.














 There were 3 choir lofts!

 A relic of a piece of Saint Padre Pio's cloth that he wore to cover the stigmata.

 The absolutely gorgeous Infant of Prague.

 The hand-carved confessions were gorgeous and they were all around the Church.  So were altars. It must have been like Heaven when all the altars he Masses going on at the same time. The only place I ever saw that happen was in Rome.  The main Mass was being said and other priests were saying private Masses at the various altars. How many graces!
 A wonderful statue of St. Padre Pio (I know "Padre" really isn't necessary but it just goes... you know?)
 We could not help but climb the stairs to the main choir loft.
 I thought I was going to faint but I had to take the picture.  I'm not a heights kind of person.

 We spoke with their charming organist for a while and he directed us to the little museum off to the side of the choir loft.
 NUN DOLLS!  I'm so disappointed the picture is so blurry. I'm a doll person there is no doubt but nun dolls are exquisite!
 Hand transcripted chant... in giant format.
 Monstrances.
 An incredible Nativity Set.
 An exquisite monstrance and stole!

 Now these were beautiful, cute, darling, very much "I want one"  replicas.



 The boys were intrigued by the the altar cards that matched the ones we have at our parish.

 A gorgeous gonfalon.
 A picture of Our Lady that is called "the Madonna of Chicago" I believe.

 The small organ that is used for Vespers. At the end of our visit they sang Vespers. I wish we had been able to stay for the whole thing as their chanting was absolutely beautiful! It was definitely a piece of Heaven.

 More relics!

 Another fascinating pulpit.
 St. Cecilia.
 St. Peter, just like the one in Rome! With the same foot rubbed off!
 The children with St. John Cantius.
 Another "weeping" angel.  (I know, we are odd)
 This was one of those days that goes down as an epic of life.
 The place we did not eat for lunch (but found the sign comical)
 The place we did go for lunch

 Enough to make one dizzy!

Nothing like ending a beautiful day with a beautiful sunset! God is so Good!