Journey to The Father 2011

On July 15th - 17th, I went to Journey to The Father near Cornwall, Ontario. I was able to go with two friends from our church, Julia and Victoria. We had a great time! Part way to Cornwall we met up with our chaperon and then from her house we drove to meet the bus that would take us the rest of the way. Journey to The Father is a Catholic retreat. This is its 11th year! There has been up to 550 people there for this weekend retreat. It was a wonderful experience. I could really feel God at work in this place. I highly recommend looking into it.

The church that was here burned down many years ago and is now a historic site. They have since rebuilt a new church next to it. The old church is called "The Ruins"
Victoria & Julia

Our chaperon Leslie

Eating lunch

Our view from the lunch tables

Skits

With my friend Rosemary

Music Saturday morning in the ruins

self portrait!!

the view from the front... it's pretty big!

Everyone from our bus

The theme of the weekend was -

Patient, Kind and Merciful

A Week Of Joy And Sadness

40 days of Lent officially started on Ash Wednesday. Andy's funeral that day made Lent seem more real. Dying to ourselves. Alive in Christ! Our church had an Ash Wednesday Mass in the evening. Dad was travelling from Windsor to Toronto that night. He stopped at the cathedral in London for Mass. We are glad to have him home!

My cousin Mary (blue coat) called on Thursday to see if I could visit on Friday. We spent most of the day together and then had supper with Aunt Gwen, Uncle Robin, Mary and Leah. It's great to have them here. Dad picked me up on his way home from Toronto... well kinda on the way home...



Mom, Shawn and I are part of an initiative in our Parish to get the children, youth and young adult ministries planted with a solid base. Shawn and I were at a youth leader and youth workshop in the city last night. We met some great people there. It was nice to hear different ideas and what works in the nearby Parishes. Dad's head of the Property Committee at church. The plans are moving forward to address the office and rectory needs and the washrooms in the church.These are big building projects that they are hoping to have completed by the fall.

We all miss having little Alexia at our house during the week... Please pray for her Mom, Leah, as she is due to have another baby in the next week or so.

Daffodils, that come before the swallow dares, and take the winds of March with beauty.

- William Shakespeare

Our crazy life!

Over the last few weeks our family has been sick on and off with Mom being the worst. This weekend it was my turn! Mom and Dad are a bit under the weather as well. So it's a nice quiet weekend here. We have had a few different things going on that I wanted to share with you all...

Life with Alexia is wonderful. She is very cute and always seems to have a new thing to show us! She is very smart for her age....

Her first time coloring (at our house)

Saying "hi" to Clare

Outside with her buddy, Ralph

Wednesday we had a large snowfall all day and part of the night. We ended up getting close to 10 inch. at our house!

My friend Tannis lent me a book last week called "Arms Of Love". What a wonderful book! It was truly inspiring. It's a book about two people who are very different. She is a lovely young Christian lady who is a photo journalist. He works at the same TV station and uses any woman he wants... until she comes along! It's about courtship from a Catholic perspective. He does come to the Lord and changes his life completely....

A good read

Big news!!! My Aunt Gwen, Uncle Robin, cousins Mary and Leah moved to the area last week! Nathan is in school near Toronto and Natalie is in the U.S. for music school. My Uncle was a pastor in the Guelph area for 11 years. They were out west before that. He took a job as pastor of Cedarview Alliance church in Barrhaven. They won't have a house for at least a month so right now they are living with my Grandparents across the road from us. I will tell you guys more as the story unfolds...

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Enjoy the sunshine!

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

John 14:27

God's Promise

Yesterday we got a lot of rain throughout the course of the day. Just before supper the rain stopped, the clouds opened , the sun started to shine and the most beautiful rainbow came out right through our woods.

I was reminded once again of God's promise to Noah and his sons that "never again shall all living things be destroyed by the waters of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to devastate the earth."

8. God spoke as follows to Noah and his sons,

9. I am now establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants to come,

10. and with every living creature that was with you: birds, cattle and every wild animal with you; everything that came out of the ark, every living thing on earth.

11. And I shall maintain my covenant with you: that never again shall all living things be destroyed by the waters of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to devastate the earth.

12. And this, God said, "is the sign of the covenant which I now make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come"

13. I now set my bow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

14. When I gather the clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds,

15. I shall recall the covenant between myself and you and every living creature, in a word all living things, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all living things.

16. When the bow is in the clouds I shall see it and call to mind the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth, that is, all living things.'

17. That, God told Noah, 'is the sign of the covenant I have established between myself and all living things on earth.'

Genesis 9: 9-17

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:28

Our family was blessed last night to watch a 200 min. long movie about Don Carlo Gnocchi (no-kee) a wonderful priest who did so much during WW2 in the front lines during the war with the soldiers and afterward starting a home for all the children who had lost their parents or been otherwise affected. He was a wonderful godly man and it was a blessing for our family to be able to see this film. We highly recommend it!

I have enclosed an short article about Don Carlo Gnocchi that explains more about his life...

Don Carlo was an Italian priest who desired to serve as a military chaplain. Before having the honor, he encouraged young men to enlist during World War II. Even though the Italian army was currently controlled by the Fascist regime, he believed that fighting for one's country was a way of defending the weak. He rightly saw war as an opportunity to make better men because war allows men to practice heroic virtue. Eventually he was given a post with the Alpine regiment fighting in Albania. While he was serving on the front lines he witnessed countless young men sacrificing their lives for commanders who did not value life and who were ultimately fighting for an unjust cause.



When Don Carlo returned to his hometown he was dismayed that all the boys he had been teaching had decided to follow his lead and join the military. He had no choice but to re-enlist and serve alongside these young men (now fighting under German command) on the frigid Russian front. 68,000 troops were sent to Russia and only 7,000 returned. Some were lost to the fighting, but most were lost to the extreme cold.


The most difficult task Don Gnocchi had to undertake began after the war ended. He traveled throughout Italy to personally console the families of his fallen friends and give them any letters or belongings that he had been entrusted with. In his journeys he realized that the real war was not over. The real war was being fought in the lives of the victims. With so many men gone, many families were left with no one to care for them. Among the needy were a large number of children who had lost limbs because of land mines placed in the Italian countryside. Without fathers to support them, these children had no futures, and their special needs surpassed the abilities of the orphanages to care for them.



Don Carlo had no money and no plan, but he put his trust in God and began gathering all these children. He started by opening up the rectory to disabled children but he required more help and better facilities to sustain the growth and adequately care for the orphans. It took the support of many generous people and powerful Church leaders to provide the housing, food and medical attention that these poor mutilati needed.


Don Carlo's story is unique because he not only provided for the physical care of the orphans, he championed the Catholic theology of redemptive suffering and taught the children how to live it. When we offer up our suffering for others, we offer it for those we love and for the weakest people in society. Don Carlo showed his children that even the weakest of people can unite their suffering to the suffering of Christ on the cross. When they do this they are participating in the life of Christ and helping Him with His work on earth and in the Church.

The Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation for disabled children is well-respected and continues to thrive in Italy today. It has expanded its care to elderly people who are unable take care of themselves and for terminal cancer patients. On January 17th, 2009 a miracle attributed to Venerable Don Carlo Gnocchi was promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI and he was beatified on October 25th, 2009.

I took this article from a website that I found - many thanks to the author