Finnianism #1999

Me:  "Wait, Finnian, your shirt is inside out."

Finnian:  "Oh, are you going to turn it outside in?"

Ben Who?

Finnian has a wonderful imagination and enjoys pretending that he is a saint, a knight, or a soldier.  A few weeks ago, the following conversation took place:

Me: "Who are you?"

Finnian: "I'm Ben Who."

Me: "You mean Ben Hur?"

Finnian: "No, I'm Ben Who."

Me: "Finnian, there is no such person as Ben Who.  There is a Ben Hur."

Finnian: "I'm Ben Who!"

Catherine: "Mommy, Finnian's right. He is pretending to be Ben Who.  We watch the CCC Ben Hur in Spanish and his name is pronounced Ben Who."

Note:  I apologize for not knowing how to spell the pronunciation of Ben Hur in Spanish.

Sometimes...

Sometimes, it's nice to take a little time to speak with a friend.  Especially one that also has rambunctious little children around when you are speaking with her.  Thank you, Shelly!  I needed the laughs.  "Peeled ice cream to make ice cream cake" sounds delicious!

Update:  The actual stories...laughter is the best medicine.

It's Snowing!

I am putting our youngest down for a nap.  The children are exclaiming, "It's snowing!"  I am assuming that it will turn to rain and we will not see more than a dusting of white fluffy stuff, if anything.  We have had a beautiful, warm, sunny winter with most afternoons spent outside.  The children have enjoyed the weather, but they were recently lamenting the fact that they had not seen any snow this season.  I reminded them that snow has been known to fall (not really stick) in March and April.  Their squeals of delight make me happy that it is doing so this month.

My Little Bishop

On Wednesday, we enjoyed watching the FSSP Seminary Chapel Consecration.  Yesterday afternoon, the children were playing outside when I saw Finnian walking towards the sliding glass door with one of our child-size brooms.  As soon as he reached the door, he raised the broom up and banged on the door with the handle.  I immediately opened the door, swept him up in my arms and said, "My little Bishop are you asking for the door to be opened?  If you are, it's better not to use the broom handle on the glass.  Bishop Bruskewitz knocked on wood."   He laughed, happy to know that I understood what he was doing.

Watch the FSSP Seminary Chapel Consecration this Morning

We will be watching the Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary Chapel Consecration on EWTN, starting at 8:00 a.m. this morning.  EWTN will be airing the Chapel Consecration live from Denton, Nebraska.  You can watch it online by visiting this webpage, clicking "Watch Live", and then selecting how you want to watch it.  According to EWTN, the Chapel Consecration and Mass will be celebrated in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in the presence of Cardinal Levada.

The children are hoping to see a glimpse of our pastor, who is in Nebraska for the consecration.

March Picture Book Basket

I know that there are other things, besides St. Patrick's feast day, that happen during March (and a few of the books below reflect that); however, since we are part Irish, we enjoy immersing ourselves in the delightful, and sometimes sad, Irish picture books that are available on our shelves and at the the library.  Some of the picture books that we will be reading this month are listed below.

Fin M'Coul: The Giant of Knockmany Hill by Tomie de Paola
My boys really like this Irish folktale in which Finn outwits his giant rival, Cucullin, with help from his wife Oonagh.

Good Saint Joseph by Father Lovasik, S.V.D.* (March 19)

Father Lovasik chronicles St. Joseph's life as the foster father of Jesus in simple and easy to understand words.  He also shares some short prayers that can be said to the Holy Family, and why St. Joseph is the protector of families and the protector of the Church.

Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie de Paola

My children love Jamie O'Rourke and I like that they can learn from his mistakes.  When Jamie's wife injures her back, lazy Jamie has to figure out a way to feed himself.  He catches a leprechaun and that's when his troubles begin.

Tomie de Paola's Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka is equally appealing to my children and will also be read this month.

Katie's Wish by Barbara Shook Hazen
Katie wishes that potatoes would disappear.  Shortly afterwards, the Irish potato famine begins and Katie feels guilty for her wish.  She is eventually sent to America and learns that her wish did not bring about the potato famine.

My Path to Heaven: A Young Person's Guide to the Faith by Geoffrey Bliss, S.J.*

Fr. Geoffrey Bliss, S.J. has provided children with an excellent Ignatian retreat.  The details in the black and white illustrations grab the attention of more than one of my children.

Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie de Paola* (March 17)

If you have a son named after St. Patrick, this book should be part of your home library.  My Patrick saw it on Our Lady of Victory's table at a homeschool conference a couple of years ago and proudly exclaimed, "Look, Mommy, it's Patrick.  He's my saint."

Saint Ciaran: The Tale of a Saint of Ireland by Gary D. Schmidt (March 5)








Saint Patrick by Ann Tompert (March 17)

Ann Tompert presents a simple biography of Saint Patrick's life and fills it with factual information.






Saint Patrick and the Peddler by Margaret Hodges
A kind and thoughtful young peddler, who is experiencing hunger due to the potato famine, is visited by St. Patrick in his dreams.  When he finally listens to what St. Patrick is telling him, his life is changed.
I enjoyed the little bit of history that Margaret Hodges shared regarding St. Patrick's life and the story behind the inspiration for the book almost as much as the story itself.  We will be reading this book again.

Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi (March 19)

Leo Politi tells the story of the return of the swallows to Mission San Juan Capistrano through the eyes of a young boy, Juan.  Juan is sad when the swallows leave San Juan Capistrano.  Julian, the mission gardener and bell ringer, comforts him by sharing that the swallows return each year on St. Joseph's Day, March 19.  Delighted by what Julian shares Juan makes a small garden, hoping that at least one family of swallows will make their nest there when they return.

St. Patrick's Day in the Morning by Eve Bunting

St. Patrick's Day in the Morning is a favorite March read-aloud in our home.  Young Jamie wakes up early to prove that he is not too small to March in the annual St. Patrick's Day parade.  Jan Brett's illustrations enrich this wonderful story even more.

The St. Patrick's Day Shillelagh by Janet Nolan

Before immigrating to the United States from Ireland, Fergus carved himself a shillelagh from his favorite blackthorn tree.  Thanks in part to the shillelagh, his story is retold by one of his descendants each St. Patrick's Day.

That's What Leprechauns Do by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully*

This book is new to us, but I could not pass it up after noticing the author and the illustrator.  As three mischievous leprechauns attempt to dig up their pot of gold and place it at the end of the rainbow, they can't help but pull some comical pranks.

Tim O'Toole and the Wee Folk by Gerald McDermott*
We have not read this book before, but it sounds really good.  Tim and his wife are really poor.  He goes looking for work and finds some wee folk instead.
Update:  My children immediately recognized this story, as a slight variation of one in a Faith and Freedom reading book.  They liked how the author took the story and adapted it into a cute Irish tale.

Suffering and Love

On Sunday, our pastor gave an excellent sermon on suffering.  He drove his sermon home with a final nail in the bulletin by including a quote from Archbishop Fulton Sheen on suffering and love.

     The lesson of the Crucifix is that pain is never to be isolated or separated from love. The Crucifix does not mean pain; it means sacrifice. In other words, it tells us, first, pain is sacrifice without love; and secondly, that sacrifice is pain with love.  Firstly, pain is sacrifice without love. The Crucifixion is not a glorification of pain as pain. The Christian attitude of mortification has sometimes been misrepresented as idealizing pain, as if God were more pleased with us when we suffered than when we rejoiced. No! Pain in itself has no sanctifying influence! The natural effect of pain is to individualize us, center our thoughts on ourselves and make our infirmity the excuse for every comfort and attention. All the afflictions of the body, such as penance, mortification, have no tendency in themselves to make men better. They often tend to make a man worse. When pain is divorced from love, it leads a man to wish others were as he is; it makes him cruel, hateful, and bitter. When pain is unsanctified by affection, it scars, burns up all our finer sensibilities of the soul, and leaves the soul fierce and brutal. Pain as pain, then is not an ideal: it is a curse when separated from love, for rather than making one’s soul better, it makes it worse by scorching it.

     Now let us turn to the other side of the picture. Pain is not to be denied; it is not to be escaped. It is to be met with love and made a sacrifice. Analyze your own experience, and do not your heart and mind say that love is capable of overruling, in some way, your natural feelings about pain; that some things which otherwise might be painful are a joy to you when you find they benefit others. Love, in other words, can transmute pain and make it sacrifice, which is always a joy. If you lose a sum of money, is not your loss softened by the discovery that it was found by some very poor person whom you loved? If your head is racked with pain, your body wasted and worn from long vigils at the bedside of your child, is not the pain softened by the thought that through your love and devotion, the child was nursed back to health again? You could never have felt the joy, nor had the faintest idea of what your love was, if that sacrifice had been denied you. But if your love were absent, then the sacrifice would have been a pain, vexation, and annoyance.

     The truth gradually emerges that our highest happiness consists in the feeling that another’s good is purchased by our sacrifice; that the reason why pain is bitter is because we have no one to love and for whom we might suffer. Love is the only force in the world which can make pain bearable, and it makes it more than bearable by transforming it into sacrifice. If the dross of pain can be transmuted into the gold of sacrifice by the alchemy of love, then it follows the deeper our love, the less the sense of pain and the keener our joy of sacrifice. But there is no love greater than the love of Him Who laid down His life for His friends. Hence, the more intensely we love His holy purposes, the more zealous we are for His kingdom, the more devoted we are to the greater glory of our Lord and Savior, the more we will rejoice in any sacrifice that will bring even a single soul to His Sacred Heart.

The Eternal Galilean

Thanks to this quote, I finally figured out what I am readingfor Lent.

Lenten Discipline

GUIDE TO MAKING A SPIRITUALLY PROFITABLE LENT IN

PREPARATION FOR THE PROPER CELEBRATION OF EASTER

The Lenten discipline consists of three separate parts:

1. Corporal or External Fast, including the abstinence from certain foods, drinks, and amusements, i.e. music, and parties during Lent.

These points of fast should be stressed today especially with the mania for entertainment besetting our society;

2. Spiritual or Internal Fast which consists of abstinence from all evil----sin.

Saint John Chrysostom taught that the "value of fasting consists not so much in abstinence from food but rather in withdrawal from sinful practices."

And Saint Basil the Great explains: "Turning away from all wickedness means keeping our tongue in check, restraining our anger, suppressing evil desires, and avoiding all gossiping and swearing. To abstain from these things----herein lies the true value of fast!"

3. Spiritual Change achieved by the practice of virtues and good works must be the main objective of our fasting.

The Fathers of the Church insisted that during Lent the faithful attend the Lenten church services and daily Mass.

In the course of the centuries, our fasting discipline has undergone numerous and radical changes. Today, unfortunately, the observance of Lent is but mere formalism, reduced to abstinence on certain days and without any stress on one's spiritual growth or the amending of one's life style.

It is urgent that we return to the pristine spirit of the Great Fast which is so badly needed in our materialistic world.

Read the rest, including suggested practices, at Catholic Tradition. 
We will try to add these practices to some of our other Lenten traditions.