Evening Prayers

This is the second post of our daily prayers routine.

For evening prayers we say:

2 - Our Father

2 - Hail Mary

2 - Glory Be

Angel of God

Prayer for a Deceased Man

Incline Thine ear, O Lord, unto our prayers, wherein we humbly pray Thee to show Thy mercy upon the soul of Thy servant Mark, whom Thou hast commanded to pass out of this world, that Thou wouldst place him in the region of peace and light, and bid him be a partaker with Thy Saints. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Seven Days of Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory

My Jesus, by the sorrows You suffered in Your agony in the garden, in Your scourging and crowning with thorns, in Your journey to Calvary, in Your crucifixion and death, have mercy on the souls in purgatory, and especially on those that are most forsaken; deliver them from the torments they endure; call them and admit them to Your most sweet embrace in paradise, where You live with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Sunday - O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech You by the Precious Blood, which Your divine Son Jesus shed in the garden, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that one which is most forsaken of all, and bring it into Your glory, where it may praise and bless You forever. Amen.

Monday - O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech your by the Precious Blood which Your divine Son Jesus shed in His cruel scourging, deliver the souls in purgatory, and among them all, especially that soul which is nearest to its entrance into Your glory, that it may soon begin to praise You and bless You forever. Amen.

Tuesday - O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech You by the Precious Blood of Your divine Son Jesus that was shed in His bitter crowning of thorns, deliver the souls in purgatory, and among them all, particularly that soul which is in the greatest need of our prayers, in order that it may not long be delayed in praising You in Your glory and blessing You forever. Amen.

Wednesday - O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech You by the Precious Blood of Your divine Son Jesus that was shed in the streets of Jerusalem while He carried on His sacred shoulders the heavy burden of the Cross, deliver the souls in purgatory and especially that one which is the richest in merits in Your sight, so that, having soon attained the high place in glory to which it is destined, it may praise You triumphantly and bless You forever. Amen.

Thursday - O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech You by the Precious Body and Blood Your divine Son Jesus, which He Himself on the night before His passion gave as meat and drink to His beloved Apostles and bequeathed to His Holy Church to be the perpetual sacrifice and life-giving nourishment of His faithful people, deliver the souls in purgatory, but most of all , that soul which was most devoted to this Mystery of infinite love, in order that it may praise You therefore, together with Your divine Son and the Holy Ghost in Your glory forever. Amen.

Friday - O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech You by the Precious Blood which Jesus Your divine Son did shed this day upon the tree of the cross, especially from His sacred hands and feet, deliver the souls in purgatory, and particularly that soul for whom I am most bound to pray, in order that I may not be the cause which hinders You from admitting it quickly from the possession of Your glory where it may praise You and bless You forevermore. Amen.

Saturday - O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech You by the Precious Blood which gushed forth from the sacred side of Your divine Son Jesus in the presence and to the great sorrow of His most holy Mother, deliver the souls in purgatory and among them all especially that soul which has been most devout to this noble Lady, that it may come quickly into Your glory, there to praise You in her and her in You through all the ages. Amen.

After the daily prayer, then we pray:

1- Our Father

1 - Hail Mary

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Merciful Father, hear our prayers and console us. As we renew our faith in Your Son, whom You raised from the dead, strengthen our hope that all our departed brothers and sisters will share in His resurrection, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Family Prayer

God made us a family,

We need one another,

We love one another,

We forgive one another,

We work together,

We play together,

We worship together,

Together we use God's word,

Together we grow in Christ,

Together we love all men,

Together we serve our God,

Together we hope for heaven.

These are our hopes and ideals

Help us to attain them, O God

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Renewal of the Family to the Sacred Heart

Oh sweet Savior, kneeling humbly at Thy feet we renew the consecration of our family to Thy Divine Heart. Be forever our King. We have full and complete confidence in Thee. May Thy spirit fill our thoughts, our desires, our words, and our works. Bless our undertakings, take part in joys, our trials, and our labors. Grant to us to know Thee better, love Thee more, and serve Thee without fail. From one pole of the earth to the other may the cry resound "Beloved, blessed and gloried, be everywhere and forever the triumphant Heart of Jesus." Amen.

Then we name our patron saints -

St. Blase - pray for us.

St. Stephen - pray for us.

St. Cormac - pray for us.

St. Theodoric - pray for us.

St. Isidore - pray for us.

St. Gianna - pray for us.

St. Joseph - pray for us.

Blessed Virgin Mary - pray for us.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. (three times)

Eternal rest grant unto Mark O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Then we say 5 decades of the rosary for a special intention. After the rosary we say a prayer for after the rosary, the Memorare, and the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. Then we are done.

When a Picture Says it All

Morning Prayers

I thought you would like to know our daily prayer routine. This post will be about the morning prayers we say every morning. I think we only miss one or two mornings a month, so its pretty much routine.

First we start off with the morning offering prayer I learned when I was young.

Oh my Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day. For all the intentions of Thy Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all our associates and especially for the Holy Father, the Pope, and the Catholic Church. And especially for...

at this point we would start with the youngest and ask who they are praying for during the day. I started this so that the boys would remember who they are praying for - and I can use it against them during the day. "You aren't helping Uncle Mark very much by being naughty."

Then we say:

1 - Our Father

3 - Hail Marys

1 - Glory Be

Angel of God prayer

Prayer for a Deceased Man

Incline Thine ear, O Lord, unto our prayers, wherein we humbly pray Thee to show Thy mercy upon the soul of Thy servant Mark, whom Thou hast commanded to pass out of this world, that Thou wouldst place him in the region of peace and light, and bid him be a partaker with Thy Saints. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for Priests - which is listed at the bottom of the blog

Now we would say whatever the monthly prayers are. Blase usually reads the monthly prayers.

Stephen's job is to read the Saint of the Day -

St. (fill in the blank) -Pray for us.

3 - Most Sacred Heart of Jesus - Have mercy on us.

Eternal rest grant unto Mark, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon.

May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.

Stephen also tells Cormac what the liturgical feast day color is.

Cormac's job is to switch the altar lace color to that day's feast color.

Rex's job is to lead one decade of the rosary. We pick someone or a group of someones to pray for the whole month.

Then we say our Blessing before Meals. Then we say the prayer of St. Gertrude the Great - for releasing 1000 souls from purgatory or 1000 sinners repent.

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus. In union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, for those in my home and within my family. Amen.

Then we say one Hail Mary for a family or someone who has lost someone through death.

We try to say the St. Gertrude the Great prayer and the Hail Mary at every meal.

Then we can eat and start our day. The only time we eat before all of this is if Darren is home and I am sleeping in. Then we wait until all of us are present. During the week, the boys and I will say all these prayers (10-15 minutes worth) before we eat.

It's Opening Day!

The moon is up.

It’s getting late.

Let’s get ready to celebrate.

It’s opening day!!

Pull on the long underwear.

Put on the camo.

Get yourself set to shoot some ammo-

It’s opening day!

Now, some are sleeping

And some are dreaming.

Some are fussing

And some are freezing.

Some are snoring.

Some are not.

But you both wish

to give a shout.

It’s opening day!

Ooooo yes, its rifle season!

Some like a bow

And some like a gun.

Some would rather

You’d use none.

They might use an arrow,

Or a bullet that flies.

But it don’t matter

As long as the deer dies.

It’s opening day!

Deer to the left.

Deer to the right.

(Doe, doe, buck, BOOM!)

Everybody’s eatin’ vension tonight!

(Doe, doe, buck, BOOM!)

Now all around the woods

In one big line,

Totin’ our gun and

Lookin’ so fine.

It’s opening day!

Hop into bed.

Turn out the light.

You can dream you got

That buck tonight.

It’s opening day!!

(Hush, hush)

It’s rifle season!!

(you wake this baby and I’ll….)

It’s opening day!

(shhhhhhhhhhhhhh)

Good night.

Better luck next time.

Poem created by one tired mommy in the writing style of Sandra Boynton and her book "Pajama Time". Today was Blase's first and last U.P. Opening Day. It's a "state holiday" in these necka da woods. No deer today. I suppose the neighbors got them all.

All Saints

We had some friends over today for a late All Saints Day party. We dressed up last minute and pulled it off. I made Gianna's outfit last night and her veil this morning.

Cormac as St. Patrick for the 3rd year in a row, Blase as St. Lawrence again, Brech as St. George, Gianna as St. Rita, Stephen as St. Andrew, Rex as St. Gerard.

A sweet St. Rita - just for Grandma!

Its Snow Wonder

Go Ask Your Mother

SHOWING AT 6 PM

CHECKLIST:

Basement clean - check

Bathroom touched up - check

Beds made, rooms picked up - check, check, check

Living rooms in pristine order - check

Kitchen counters cleared - check

Kitchen and dining room floors mopped - check

School books put away or hidden inside the desk - check

Everything seems to be in order except this:

CLEAN CLOTHES

and this:

DIRTY CLOTHES

What to do with two baskets of clean clothes and two baskets of dirty clothes when there is no time to fold or wash/dry/fold all these clothes?! I KNOW - GO ASK YOUR MOTHER!

Mother's advice - take them with you in the van.

Dirty clothes on the left, clean clothes on the right.

My children have proof that I have indeed LOST my mind. The speechless look on Blase's face when he was asked to put the baskets in the van was PRICELESS. We normally don't take our dirty or clean clothes with us when we go to town for supper. There is always a first right??

For the record - I have one smart mom. My dad also thought of the same idea. Who knew my parents could think of such epic ideas. They should set up a lemonade stand like Lucy on Charlie Brown and make some cash on the side for all their great ideas. Just sayin'.....

Note to Grandpa

Rex was calling to tell you it's a beautiful night. We are off to bed. Night Grandpa.

Two Homes

You may think you know what this post will be about, but you are wrong.

I have two homes.

I have an April, 1978 home and a December, 1978 home.

One home was built with love and care. The other home was built with love and care.

One home holds the earthly treasures of my family. The other home treasures my family.

One home is made of sticks and stones. The other home is made of flesh, bone, and a soul.

I have thought a lot about both homes over the past month.

When you sell a house things get turned upside down. Boxes that you normally overlook get shoved into an attic or a crawl space. Piles that gathered 6 months worth of dust get dusted off and finally put away. We do all of this so that someone else will come into our home, see it, and want to buy the place. Why don't we do that any other time?? Why is good enough any other day, good enough?

When company comes over you can pick up that pile of papers and hide them in a drawer or closet. You cannot really do that when movers are coming to your house to pack all your piles into boxes. You tend to want to find some organizational peace among all that madness so that you can find it again when you move to your new home.

If you have been to our house you know that I am an organizational freak. Heavy on freak. Most everything has a place and that THING better be in its place most of the time. I'm not a clean freak, just an organizational freak. I don't mind fingerprints on the windows, juice splatters on the floor for a day, clean laundry in the basket, or toys all over. I do mind books thrown on the couch when there is a basket for them 5 feet away. I do mind dirty socks and shirts on the bedroom floor when there is a hamper in EVERY closet. I do mind coats and hats littering the coat room when there are hooks on the wall labeled with everyone's name and picture (in case you don't know how to read your name yet). Everything from dresser drawers to toy totes are labeled. Do you need to borrow a 3T boy's shirt while you are here? Give me 3 minutes and I could find one for you. Need a box of crayons? I could send you to a closet and you could find them yourself because everything is labeled.

This brings me to my other house. Me. I am not as much of an organizational freak with myself as I am with my sticks and stones home. As a faithful, practicing Catholic I make it a point to go to confession once every two months or sooner. When you go to confession you examine your conscience to find the faults you have committed. There are some sins that just jump out at you. They are like a big red couch in the living room - you can't miss them. Others are harder to see because you have either downplayed their importance or you grown accustomed to seeing them. They are like those boxes I moved to the attic. I don't see them because they are always there. I don't mind them because they are really not bothering anything.

When I started moving boxes and going through piles I began to feel like this move was suppose to teach me something. The obvious answer is that it is teaching me to stay in one spot for more than four years. The obvious answer was not to real answer that kept whispering in my ear. I kept feeling like this was a spiritual lesson. I cleaned this house from top to bottom. I even cleaned the attic before I moved things in there. I looked through boxes and piles to sort through important items and long forgotten junk. I put away books we weren't using and gave away those once upon a time treasures that had gathered more than their fair share of dust. With every box and pile I felt like I was cleaning the wrong home.

Examining your conscience is like walking through every room and seeing what is really in there. For many years I have treated my soul no different than I have treated my sticks and stones home. I have looked through the boxes.. When company comes I have hid the ugly piles. Instead of tackling my weaknesses I have held on to them hoping that I will some day find the time to deal with them. That's no different than all those boxes of things waiting for a purpose in my attic right now.

This spiritual lesson I am learning is that I need to dig a little deeper in my soul. I need to clean the spider webs, dust off the shelves, and mop the floors in my soul. I cleaned my sticks and stones home so that someone would want to buy it. I wanted them to feel comfortable in my home so that they would want to stay. How often do I try to make my soul Christ friendly? I want Our Lord to come into my soul, see the beauty, and stay. Yet when He comes I clean only what is visible on the outside. How many times have you opened someone's drawers to see what they are hiding? Our Lord sees all. He does not need to open the drawers in my soul to see that I am hiding my weaknesses from the rest of you. He knows that I yell at my kids. He knows that I am prone to anger more than peace when I am grumpy. He knows the people in my life that I cannot stand and why I cannot stand them. Do you know all of that? I may be able to hid things from you, but I cannot hide them from God.

Who would have thought that moving could be such a spiritual experience? Next time you head to confession - look for a pile or a box in your soul that has been long forgotten or overlooked. Pray for me as I spiritually clean my soul with as much dedication as I clean my sticks and stones home.

Pumpkin Party

Late, late one Halloween night we decided to carve pumpkins.

We decided that Baby Girl was safest far, far from the excitement.

Yummy pumpkin goodness.

Handfuls and handfuls of slimy gross pumpkin insides.

Blase's finished product

Stephen had a little creative help from his dad.

This pumpkin's name is Holy. It is suppose to scare away all the evil spirits.

One big eye, one little eye - looks like me.

They are both looking the same way.

Notice the two small pumpkin teeth??

SPOOKY