Laetare Sunday: Rejoice!

Laetare Sunday marked the mid-point of the Church's season of Lent. Vestments turned from penitential purple to joyous rose and the liturgy was filled with the theme of rejoicing. It was as though we the penitents were given a cool drink of water on our journey through the desert. Rejoice! Keep going! As Father admonished the faithful in his homily, if you have made a fruitful Lent thus far, rejoice and persevere, for you are ever closer to Easter! And if your Lent has not been as fruitful as you would hope, rejoice! You still have time and opportunity to set things right with penitential practices.

Even God's creation seems to be crying, rejoice! It is that time of year that the sun peeks out occasionally, giving a hint of the brightness and warmth of spring soon to come. But even when the clouds, the chill temperatures, the sometimes-still slushy showers would tell us we are yet mid-winter, the birds from their nests seem to shun purple and don rose as they are heard singing their own solemn Laetare hymn.

Certainly we must give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His mercy endureth forever... even amidst the long days of Lent!

In the spirit of the day St. Mary's Assumption held their Annual Laetare Dinner Theater last night, their 13th such event benefitting Queen of the Holy Rosary Academy. Mrs. Hilary Flanery directed the Queen's Players in "The Curious Savage", a comedy in two acts. And it was a wonderful evening.

Miss Jane Binsfeld was a delight in the lead role as Ethel Savage, the blue-haired matriarch and wealthy widow whose two grown children (played most convincingly by Mr. Steve Crouse and Miss Christine George) love her only for the money they hope to get from her. Mrs. Savage, though she is anything but crazy, is sent by her children to The Cloisters, a home for the mentally imbalanced, while the younger Savages hope to take possession of her fortune once she is institutionalized. The Cloisters introduces us to several endearing, if a tad out-of-touch, characters who collectively foil the money-seekers' plans, all the while keeping the audience in stitches with their individual (and oft-hilarious) foibles.  We were even surprised with an impromptu cameo role by Fr. Frank Kurtz whose own comic relief delighted the crowd while challenging the cast to remain in character.

Bravo, Queen's Players and Mrs. Flanery, and bravo too, to all those behind-the-scenes who worked tirelessly these past few months to bring us another wonderful production.

A delicious dinner, a superbly-acted play, and mingling and visiting among good friends old and new made for a most enjoyable way to spend our Laetare Sunday, and we look forward to many more annual Dinner Theaters to come.

And so, though the song birds will undoubtedly keep on singing their joyful songs, alas, it is still Lent. But we awake this morning, hopefully refueled to renew/continue/persevere in our promises and acts of penance as we consider and endure Our Lord's journey to His Cross.

As it was so aptly put in the Play program:

In a dear rout of loneliness
How life again sang sweet
When fasting arms knew banqueting
And avid eyes could feast;
And the long Lent of love was eased
For one Laetare Day.
But afterwards came Lent again:
Again the fasting way.

God bless you with a holy and fruitful Lent.... Easter draweth nigh!

Home Again

We returned to St. Louis Saturday evening after a little more than a week in Washington (state). Though it was a trip that one month ago we had no idea we would be making, to be with family to mourn and bury my dad, it was a good trip. As all visits with my family go, it was way too short.

My head is teeming with bloggables, from the passing of my dad and the funeral, to visiting with friends and extended family not seen for 20+ years, from the ever-breathtaking views of Mt. Hood and the Columbia River gorge to our youngest son turning 8 on the trip and losing a tooth in the Portland airport, from Mom's flat-out gorgeous flower garden to the book I began reading on the airplane trip out and can hardly put down (Dracula, by Bram Stoker)... and what stress and hot weather can do to a body with MS.

But on arriving home I realize regular life must resume, and so I quickly type this from my school computer while the boys take a brief play-break outside with Lucy, their buff-colored cocker spaniel that they missed for 8 days. I don't know that I'll find the time to blog about any of the above items. Regular life, homeschooling and all that goes with it, keeps my blogging to a minimum it seems, so we'll see.

But, to sum up our visit, I am more grateful for dear family and friends today than I ever have been before. Our family is truly blessed. Our Lord has taken my dad into eternity and, I think, left the rest of us closer.

I'm glad to be home, but the lump I always get when saying good-bye hasn't quite gone yet. Love you, Mom!

The Chartres Pilgrimage

If ever there was a pilgrimage that I (and my husband) would like to go on, it would be the Pilgrimage of Tradition to Chartres, France. This is a 3-day, 70-mile walking pilgrimage across France, on which this year there will be 15,000 pilgrims from all over the world, 70 of whom are Americans. They begin at Notre Dame in Paris and walk the 70 miles to the great Gothic cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres.

According to The Remnant: "This Pilgrimage dates back to the middle ages. It has been made by kings (such as King Louis XIV), Queens (such as Mary Queen of Scots), and Saints (such as Joan of Arc). The famous, the lowly, the noble and the commoner" have made the difficult walk. The website goes on to detail how the annual pilgrimage was eventually discontinued, but how that in the 1980s "several tradition-minded French Catholic laymen began again to organize the Pilgrimage. The Pilgrimage was held in honor of Mary, the Mother of God, for the purpose of the restoration of the traditional Mass and Sacraments of the Catholic Church."

In 1990, under the organization of several columnists from The Remnant, Americans began participating in the pilgrimage, and have every year since.

As much as my husband and I would like to go, it would be impossible for us considering the strenuous nature of this pilgrimage. So, what's the next best thing? Send our prayer requests with a pilgrim! One dear young lady from St. Francis deSales Oratory is taking with her on her flight to France this afternoon, the prayer requests of many of the moms from our homeschool co-op! And so I ask you, dear readers, to pray especially for this young lady, her companions, and all of the 15,000 pilgrims as they are on the road to Chartres on this Pentecost weekend. For surely they all have our best in mind and heart:

(From The Remnant): "We will also do our best to represent all Catholic Americans on the road to Chartres. America is in such desperate straights, as we all know; so we will remember our country in a special way this year, asking God to save America and give His children the grace to survive whatever persecution of all things Christian may be on the horizon."

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Empress of the Americas, pray for us!
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Rest in Peace....

Today is the funeral of a dear 31-year old mom from our homeschooling community. One week ago she collapsed while homeschooling her kids, and died immediately of what was later found to be coronary artery disease, which she was unaware of having. She leaves behind a husband and four children, ages 7 down to a baby who is not yet one year old. In just over an hour family and friends will say good-bye at a solemn high requiem Mass (where we would be but for sickness).

This is a loss that I can't fathom. I know such tragedies happen, within the will of our loving God, but it is so far beyond my scope of understanding, that I don't have adequate words to apply to it. But I do know that it has given those of us who knew her pause to consider our own mortality, to be thankful for our own families, to realize when our husbands leave for work in the morning that it could be the last time we say good-bye.

For we all share in her destiny, and in the scope of all eternity, none of us has a very long earthly existence. "Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is a vapour which appeareth for a little while, and afterwards shall vanish away. " (James 4:14-15) And hopefully, with this heightened sense of the brevity of our own earthly lives, we will renew our resolve to be ever-ready for our own eternal destiny.

And yet for all of the truth and comfort we find in our faith, my heart aches for the family enduring the loss of this young wife, mother, daughter. And so we do all that we know to do: we pray. We pray for this dear soul: Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her, may she rest in peace. We pray for her family, may they find comfort in Mary, Our Blessed Mother, who certainly bore such sorrows, and in Jesus her Son and Our Lord, who alone can give peace, which surpasses our understanding, amidst their present storm.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray or us!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Amen.

Miss H

Each year I receive several Christmas letters from friends and family. While I am not one to compose an annual update--I simply send a card and a photo--I do enjoy being on the receiving end, as it is nice to find out what's going on with those I hear from only once a year.

Today I received one I always look forward to. It was from the teacher I had in the third grade! Yes, we have kept in touch all these years. Miss H, as she was when I was 8, was but 22 years old as she taught my class, her first ever. Her letter today tells me she just turned 60 and is in the middle of her 38th year teaching third graders, with no immediate plans to retire. She still loves working with her 'little people' as she fondly refers to her students.

Thirty-eight years ago Miss H quickly became my favorite teacher. I remember her being enthusiastic, smart, inspiring (yes, you CAN write in cursive and I don't want to hear 'I can't'!!) funny and clever. She was everything this little third grader needed to be inspired to do my best in school.

When I moved on to fourth grade and beyond, we stayed in touch. In grade school I would help in her class when my other teachers would let me; in junior high and high school we sent cards to each other on birthdays. At my high school graduation she took me to dinner at one of the best restaurants in town.

When Miss H was nearing 20 years in the classroom, she decided to pursue a second career: law. She continued teaching by day, and went to school at night, completing her degree and passing the Bar somewhere around age 40. To this day she practices law and teaches third graders.

What makes this story amazing though is that in the midst of law school, Miss H was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She was hit pretty hard at times with acute disability, but she forged on in spite it of it all, and attained her goal, obviously herself practicing the 'I can do it' philosophy she preaches as a teacher.

And this leads me to the other thing that was to connect Miss H and me in life, besides our student/teacher-turned-friend relationship: about five years after Miss H was diagnosed with MS, I received the same diagnosis. An unfortunate connection, to be sure, but one that is comforting nonetheless as I watch Miss H, even from the long distance that now separates us, continue to do great things to help others, as both a teacher and a lawyer.

In both of our lives, MS has taken its toll, in different ways, but I can easily say that in this we are very similar: we have neither of us allowed the disease to hinder our spirit or our drive to attain that which we deem important in life, inasmuch as we can control these things.

Miss H is still an inspiration to me now as I endeavor to live a full life amidst the struggles a chronic condition brings. And now as I am teaching my own little third grader (and second grader), I find myself saying some of the same things to my sons, my 'little people', that she said to me, in hopes of encouraging the same love for learning that Miss H fostered in me so many years ago. I hope and pray I am as successful as she was... and still is.