Feast Day: St. Matthew, Apostle

I love these portraits of St. Matthew that show a very old man listening (in rapt attention) to a very young, child-like, Angel ... tradition has it that this is how St. Matthew was able to write his gospel.  I also have always liked that Jesus called Matthew ... a tax collector and despised by his people ... and Matthew changed his life and followed the Lord!  How cool is that?

Today, we made individual chocolate, to-die-for, cakes in order that we could send one in to our favorite priest named Matthew!  Happy feast day, dear Fr. Z.

St. Matthew, pray that we may too realize the incorruptible treasures of heaven over the seduction of earthly possessions.  St. Matthew, pray for us!

 

Home Blessings and Gratitude

For all who have asked, we are settling in nicely to our new home. We are loving the lake environment and can't wait to see the changing seasons, plants and wildlife which we'll be able to play with for years to come ...

We're planning out our gardens and living outside as much as possible, marveling at the difference in environment from a northern Virginia town-home subdivision to a home near a lake, packed with deciduous tress, evergreens and lovely plantings all round.

Tonight, our favorite priest came and blessed our home -- using a large aspergillum to bless every corner inside and out (including the attic, the screened porch and the boxes still stacked in the garage). He even threw in a confession session so we were purged inside and out! We fed him a great meal (prepared by dh who is, truth be told, a much better cook than I) and then took a lovely evening stroll down to the lake and chatted about his upcoming trip to Chile (where he'll go to visit the shrine of St. Teresa of the Andes, arriving on her feast day in time to con-celebrate mass at the shrine!).

All of this brings me back to our new Pastor's sermon on Sunday ... based on St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians (2Cor 12:7-10) where St. Paul talks about contentment and gratitude:

"Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and constraints, for the sake of Christ"

Father Taylor talked about being grateful for all that God has given -- the good, the bad and the ugly. That we should be content and not always grasping for more. This is something I do need to work on ... something that became very clear this past year of "hardships and persecutions" in trying to sell and buy houses. Father challenged us to daily, before noon, think of three things to thank God for.

Here are my three from this morning:

1. for my family, especially my dh who loves me even when I'm not very lovable


2. for Hilltop Farm and the beauty of God's creation right outside our front door


3. for the challenges that I'll face today ... which will only serve to make me stronger if I turn them over to God's mercy and love

So what three things are you grateful for?