The Annunciation.

Nine months before the birth of our Saviour, the Angel Gabriel appeared to a young Jewish woman, who was alone in the quiet of the day. He announced God’s plan of salvation to her and then waited for her response.

Can you imagine what must have been going through this young girl’s mind? Not only the ‘practical’ questions about what would take place and how it would happen. But also the implications this would have for the situation she now found herself in as a betrothed woman; and what it would mean for her family.

Mary’s role was pivotal to the whole plan. Her Yes was a gift to all mankind. The whole of creation must have held its breath – waiting and hoping for her answer to be Yes. It must have let out a collective sigh of relief when that one simple word was forthcoming. Two thousand years later we are still benefiting from that gracious answer.

We know that at the moment of the Annunciation Mary was commissioned by God to bring Jesus into the world. And in a certain sense God extends that same invitation to us.  Like Mary we have a choice, we can say Yes or No. Again, like Mary, our answer holds eternal consequences not only for ourselves but for those God has entrusted to us.

For Mary, this visitation comes as something completely unexpected. God disrupts the daily course of her life, overturning its settled rhythms and conventional expectations and drops this “bombshell” into her lap. She, like all of us, must learn to walk by faith, trusting in God, that he will somehow work it out.

To live this lovely feast day within the family there are a number of things you can do. Why not bake a lovely angel cake or the more traditional plum loaf which was very popular in England. It started in Tichborne in Hampshire, when on the feast of the Annunciation flour would be blessed and distributed to the poor and needy. Often it would be  baked  into a plum loaf.

Or you could take a leaf out of the Swedish people’s book and cook waffles. Apparently this is the national dish of the day when celebrating the feast of the Annunciation because today marks the day when there was some confusion over a pronunciation: “varfrudagen” which means Our Lady’s Day and “vaffeldagen” meaning waffle day! So over time the tradition has been to always have waffles on this feast day. Sounds good to me!

St. Joseph.

The feast of St. Joseph is a wonderful day to celebrate the transformation of a humble carpenter into one of the greatest saints the world has ever known.

Everything we know about St. Joseph comes from Scripture; it is from these words that we can begin to build a picture of the kind of man St. Joseph was.

The Gospel writers Matthew and Luke seem to have two differing accounts of Joseph’s genealogy. 
However, both agree that his descent was from the House of David. This was confirmed when the angel appeared to him and greets him as “son of David,” a title also used for Jesus.

We know from the Gospel of St. Matthew (13:55) that Joseph was a carpenter, or at least the original word used in the Gospels is ‘tekton’ which means “craftsman” or “artisan”; so he may have built houses and done other work as well; we have to assume he was quite clever with his hands.

It appears that Joseph was not a man of  wealth. When Jesus was taken up to the temple to be circumcised, Joseph  only presented the poor man’s offering of two turtle doves to be sacrificed and not the specified lamb. However, when Mary and he were looking for lodgings in Bethlehem he went to the hotels and hostels looking for a place to stay, and we have to assume he had the money to pay for them, so they were not destitute either.

We see in his handling of Mary when he discovers she is with child a kind, gentle and compassionate response to her situation. Even though he is very distressed he chooses not to shame her in public, but
 to put her away quietly so that no harm comes to her, knowing that a woman caught in adultery would most likely have to face being stoned to death.

After discovering what he assumes is Mary’s betrayal, we see St. Joseph responding to a dream. An angel appears to him and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife.

I find two things interesting about this. The first is, how many of us would respond to a dream? So often we shrug them off. Admittedly they may disturb us – but would we act on them? The second is Joseph’s complete lack of hesitation; straight away he goes and takes Mary as his wife. Now if St. Joseph noticed his wife was pregnant, you can be sure the rest of the village was gossiping about it. In the face of what you feel would be heavy criticism, Joseph acted courageously and brought her into his own home, thereby giving his future son legal recognition .

Even though the gospels reveal very little about this man that God chose to take care of his son, we can see from his actions that St. Joseph was a God-fearing man. He always acted on what he felt he 
was being asked to do. He protected his family in times of adversity, when Herod was out to kill his son. He moved them to an area of safety when he felt they were still in danger. He created a home and a livelihood to provide for them.

St. Joseph took his role as foster-father to the Christ child seriously. He taught Jesus his own trade; we know this from Mark 6:3 when the Pharisees speak of Jesus as the “carpenter”. Jesus is also well versed in his Scriptures, think of the time when his parents found him in the temple talking and listening to the elders and they were amazed at his knowledge. All these things begin to build up a picture to the type of man Joseph was.

Tradition teaches us that St. Joseph had died before Jesus’ public ministry had started. This is for two reasons: there is no mention of him at the wedding feast at Cana or in any other gospel story about Jesus’s public ministry, and when Jesus is dying on the cross he entrusts his Mother Mary into his apostle John’s care. This would not have happened if she had had a husband or other children to take 
care of her.

St. Joseph is a man for our times. If ever there was a need for a good role model for our sons, St. Joseph fill this spot. His example of courage, obedience, love and wisdom illustrates a few of his most admirable attributes. Let us encourage all of our young people to seek to follow his example.

St.Patrick.

St. Patrick of Ireland – whose feast we celebrate today – is one of the world’s best known saints.

He was born around 385, perhaps in Scotland, near Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britain.

When he was about fourteen, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland to live among the Druids and pagans, tending and herding sheep.

During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He later wrote:

The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was roused, so that, in a single day, I said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before the dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow, ice or rain.

When Patrick was twenty he had a dream which told him to go to the coast. Sure that God was telling him to leave Ireland he ran away and made his way to the Irish coast. There he found some sailors who were willing to take him back to Britain, where he was reunited with his family.

Once more Patrick was inspired by a dream in which he heard the  people of Ireland were calling out to him:

We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more. 

He began his studies for the priesthood and was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years.

Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop. He then returned to Ireland to bring the Gospel to the Irish people.

There are many legends surrounding St.Patrick. One of these tells of his meeting with a chieftain called Dichu who wanted to kill him. When  Dichu  raised his arm to bring down the fatal blow, his arm stiffened and he couldn’t move. It was only when he agreed to befriend Patrick that his arm returned to normal.

Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, winning many converts. He gathered disciples around him and they went out and preached and won many further conversions.

Maybe one of the most famous teachings that Patrick was renowned for was his teaching on the Trinity – using a simple shamrock to explain it.

Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity on hearing Patrick’s message.

Patrick spent forty years preaching and converting the Irish. Many witnessed the miracles attributed to him. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering, he died in Saul on March 17th 461.

For those with Irish ancestors, today is a great day of celebration. There will be many people wearing green and proudly sporting shamrocks.

To celebrate the feast of St.Patrick, why not get out a green tablecloth and cook up a Irish stew.

Family Prayer!

"A family that prays together stays together”, or so the saying goes. Now I don’t know if that is true but I do know that families who pray together are more likely to have a richer and more abundant family life.

Praying as a family is not without its challenges. Nevertheless, it is an important aspect of parenting
 that should not be overlooked. Prayer is very simply allowing a conversation with God. Something
we can do anywhere with anyone and in whatever way we want. This does not have to be formulaic –
 although routines and rhythms can be important. It is just learning to talk to God throughout the day while we go about our daily life. God wants to be in the minute details of our lives, nothing is too large or too small for our loving Father to bend his ear to.

Teaching children to pray can help them to develop a very personal relationship with God and this is what he wants. Starting early is the key to a lifetime of prayer. If children have been prayed with from the earliest moments of their lives they are more likely to continue the habit into their adult life.

Parents can bless their child while he or she is still in the womb, praying for their child: a simple sign of the cross made on the mum’s tummy morning and night is a good habit to start. Then when the child is born praying for that little one becomes easy. Though I am a great believer that faith must also be taught and not just caught, praying is one of those aspects that if children see their parents praying they are more likely to develop a prayer life.

Praying with young children must be age and ‘stage’ appropriate.  Expecting them to kneel quietly while we say a full rosary is not likely to happen and often leads to frustration on the side of both parties. Sometimes all you need is saying an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and asking God for any specific intention you may have, ending with a prayer for protection (maybe an ‘Angel of God my guardian dear’ type of prayer). As children grow bible stories can become part of the prayer routine.

When our children were older, on the advice of some wise nuns, we started to pray a shortened version of the rosary, saying only three Hail Marys in honour of the Trinity; this worked well for our family.

I know families who pray a decade of the rosary every night Monday to Friday so that by the end of 
the week they have completed a whole mystery. Others pray freely for whatever is current in the news or for specific needs at that time. I think the way in which you pray is not quite so important as the 
fact that you do pray.

Praying in thanksgiving before each mealtime is another simple way in which we can introduce prayer into our families. This teaches children that we do not rely solely on our own capabilities to provide for ourselves but that we believe that God in his abundance has provided for our needs and 
we thank him for that. We also follow his example, throughout Scripture: when Jesus is about to feed
 the multitudes he stops and gives thanks to God.

Blessing the children just before they go to bed has been a very powerful bond for our family. Each night as they kiss us good night my husband blesses his children with a simple sign of the cross on their foreheads. Even now as adults, they still come to their Father to receive his blessing. This has been a great source of grace for us as a family.

Many families achieve morning prayers, this is something I have never been able to manage as life was just a frenzied mix of chaos. However I know for the families who do it, it is a great opportunity to start the day with God asking his protection and blessing on everyone before they all go out the door. This can help strengthen and encourage everyone especially if there are challenges that you know someone might face in the day.

In times of trial and sadness a family can huddle together and draw strength from each other asking God to come into their situation. Praying for those who are sick or dying can bring great solace to our hurting hearts.

Creating a family altar within the home is a beautiful gesture. This can be as simple as a side-table, or mantle piece. A nice statue or picture of the Holy Family, a crucifix, some candles, a bible and some prayer books. This little space becomes a very special attraction in your home.  Gathering together as 
often as you can around this  little altar, may have a profound, and far reaching effect on your family. Just as we want the best for our children by providing nutritious food, adequate clothing, a good education etc, we also want them to have a relationship with God. We want him to bless our families, and those that we love. Incorporating prayers into our family's daily routines is a way of expressing this desire.

The pictures above are from Pinterest where you will find a wealth of ideas for praying with your children.