Archive for July, 2007:
Summorum Pontificum!
In the words of Father Z . . .
“Thanks be to Pope Benedict, who has given back to the Church and the world a great gift.”
Amen!
MOTU PROPRIO “SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM” in English
LETTER FROM POPE TO BISHOPS ON “SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM”
EXPLANATORY NOTE ON MOTU PROPRIO “SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM”
Subscribe to the comments for this postWhy “family-centered”?
At first glance it might seem obvious why I am always using the term “family-centered”. After all I’m a wife and mother, and whatever else I do my family is my primary vocation and first priority. My life, my faith, my children’s education, all meant to be “family-centered”.
I don’t claim it as my original term or idea, rather it was the theme that always came to mind and seemed to fit. But I had often felt there was a deeper spiritual aspect that I wasn’t quite touching. One that I instinctively “knew” but couldn’t quite put into words. That is until I read an article last summer that spelled it out clearly. It was an article about bishops, their role and sadly even their dysfunction, but it wasn’t those things that got my attention, rather it was this paragraph:
“There is a temptation to view the expressions of the truths of our faith as metaphors or figures of speech. But this is a capital mistake. For example, when we hear the statement that “the Church is the body of Christ,” we may be tempted to ultra-spiritualize it and turn it into a nice saying rather than recognize it as a profound revelation of our status as members who have been incorporated (literally em-bodied) into Christ and living in him. Likewise, when we say that the Church is a family, we mean it quite literally. The Church is not a reflection of the reality that is ‘family’ –quite the opposite. The family is a reflection of the reality that is the Church. We must always bear in mind that spiritual realities are more real, not less real, than physical or natural realities. In Christ we are more truly connected, more truly in communion with people than we are with our own family members.”
Ah! There it is. The deepest, truest meaning why the term “family-centered” can and should apply to everyone –married, single or religious. We are a family and we are united in a very real way. Now that’s a truly beautiful thing to contemplate.
Thank you Father - I couldn’t have said it better myself!
My son the carpenter
This is my son Kyle. 
Yes, I know he’s cute.
Yes, he has a girlfriend.
Yes, she’s a good Catholic girl.
Kyle is in his second year of school learning cabinet making. He is doing a fabulous job.
Here’s what he has made so far:
I am very proud.
Catching up
That seemed to be my theme for June and still is for this first week of July.
Conference season is almost over - I have a month and half break until the last one - so now I am playing catch up. Orders, phone calls, e-mails. . .and that’s just the business stuff. There’s also laundry, cleaning, sewing and bill paying I need to tend to.
All in good time - I can only do so much at once.
The Expo was a big disappointment in attendee numbers and sales. My talk went well but because they had advertised it on the wrong day a lot of people missed it. Fortunately I was able to tape it and it’s now available on CD from Family-Centered Press. They don’t tape the “vendor workshops” at the Expo so if you want a copy it’s only available through our site.
On the up side I did get to spend a good bit of time with Margot from Hillside Education.
That was a lot of fun and really made the weekend for me.
And I finally got a picture with Deb who I have known online and through conferences for years. Deb is an incredible mom of some special needs kids. Her enthusiasm and commitment truly inspire me.
I also had a chance to shop which I rarely do at conferences. I’ll review some of the titles I got in another post - after I’ve had a chance to get a good look at them.
And lastly discovered an interesting side effect of traveling with a baby. She gets used to her morning stroller walk and insists on it daily - even if it’s done inside the house!
