Lena {JOYfilledfamily}

Motto & Word of the Year ~ 2014

January 8, 2014 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Motto, New Year, Peace, Weekends with Chesterton, Word of the Year 5 Comments

My word of the year is PEACE. I seek the peace that encompasses simplicity, contentment, thanksgiving, appreciation, patience, tranquility of the soul, and conformity to God’s Holy will. I seek peace not as the world gives.

There are many reflections that I will be mediating on this year to help me grow in peace. G.K. Chesterton offers great reflections on contentment.

Content ought to mean in English, as it does in French, being pleased; placidly, perhaps, but still positively pleased. Being contented with bread and cheese ought not to mean not caring what you eat. It ought to mean caring for bread and cheese; handling and enjoying the cubic content of the bread and cheese and adding it to your own…

True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare. The absence of this digestive talent is what makes so cold and incredible the tales of so many people who say they have been “through” things; when it is evident that they have come out on the other side quite unchanged. A man might have gone “through” a plum pudding as a bullet might go through a plum pudding; it depends on the size of the pudding–and the man. But the awful and sacred question is “Has the pudding been through him?” Has he tasted, appreciated, and absorbed the solid pudding, with its three dimensions and its three thousand tastes and smells? Can he offer himself to the eyes of men as one who has cubically conquered and contained a pudding?

In the same way we may ask of those who profess to have passed through trivial or tragic experiences whether they have absorbed the content of them; whether they licked up such living water as there was. It is a pertinent question in connection with many modern problems.

~ G.K. Chesterton (The Contented Man)

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2014 Motto

These words are imprinted on my heart. Perfection is not sought. My goal is only to move closer to Him and do His will.

Printable 2014 Motto

Printable G.K. Chesterton Quote

select fit to sheet

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Word of the Year Posts

2013 – NOW | 2012 – Pray | 2011 – Charity (LOVE)

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Linking up with Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things for Weekends with Chesterton...

Epiphany 2014

January 6, 2014 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: 01 January, 01 January Saints, Epiphany Of Our Lord 1 Comment

O my Jesus, while I beg You to reveal Yourself to the world, I also beseech You to reveal Yourself more and more to my poor soul. Let Your star shine for me today, and point out to me the road which leads directly to You! May this day be a real Epiphany for me, a new manifestation to my mind and heart of Your great Majesty. He who knows You more, loves You more, O Lord; and I want to know You solely in order to love You, to give myself to You with ever greater generosity.

~Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, OCD

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Omnes de Saba venient
aurum et thus deferentes
et laudem Domino annuntiantes.
Alleluja.

Dad marked the lintel of the two main entries into our home with the Epiphany Chalk Blessing on the feast of The Epiphany of Our Lord.

All they from Saba will come,
bringing gold and frankincense,
and announcing the praise of the Lord.
Alleluia.

~Gradual for The Feast of the Epiphany. Isaiah 60:6

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Epiphany Chalk Blessing

The lintel of the main door of the house is marked with blessed chalk by the father of the household in the following manner:

20+C+M+B+14 (the suffix of the current year) while saying the following prayer:

The Three Wise Men
C Caspar
M Melchior
B & Balthasaar, followed the star of God’s Son who became Man
20 Two-thousand
14 and fourteen years ago
+ May Christ
+ Bless our home
+ and remain with us
+ through the new year.

Almighty God, incline Thine ear. Bless us and all who are gathered here. Send Thy holy angel who will defend us, and fill with grace all who dwell here. Amen

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2013 | 2012

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….O Blessed parents of the Infant Jesus, Mary and Joseph,we humbly and earnestly implore you to beg for us, at the crib of your Infant Son, that like Him and as His true and faithful followers, we may love to live in true humility, disengagement from creatures, contempt of the world and it’s vanities, constant recollection of the holy presence of God, fervour and fidelity in all of our duties, and in the practice of the tenderest charity to all persons. May we never blush at the humility of the crib, nor at the poverty and simplicity of Bethlehem. May we ever rejoice at our happy lot as children of the true Church; ever in tender charity look with a compassionate eye on those who live but for this world; and continually pray that all may come to bless, to praise and to love the Saviour, who comes to redeem them…Amen

~Excerpt from the Litany from Christmas to Epiphany, taken from the MC & LMC Prayer Book.

2014 Patron Saint

December 28, 2013 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: 01 January, New Year, Patron Saint, St. Leo the Great 1 Comment

On the occasion of the New Year 1935 Saint Maria Faustina made this entry in her spiritual Diary: "Jesus likes to intervene in the smallest details of our life. And He often fulfills secret wishes of mine that I sometimes hide from Him, although I know that from Him nothing can be hidden. There is a custom among us of drawing by lot on New Year’s Day, special patrons for ourselves for the whole year…” ~ Saint Maria Faustina

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We are discerning a major family opportunity and felt it only fitting to enlist the intercession of a new patron saint. We opted to select one saint for the family this year.

Our 2014 Patron Saint is…St. Leo the Great.

We used the Saint’s Name Generator.

Family Patron Saints from 2010 I 2011 I 2012 I 2013.

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"Short and fleeting are the joys of this world’s pleasures which endeavors to turn aside from the path of life those who are called to eternity. The faithful and religious spirit, therefore, must desire the things which are heavenly, and being eager for the Divine promises, lift itself to the love of the incorruptible Good and the hope of the true Light." ~ St. Leo the Great

Merry Christmas

December 25, 2013 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Christmas, Christmas Card 5 Comments

Prayers for a Christmas & New Year filled with His peace.

Love, JOYfilledfamily

O Antiphons ~ EROCRAS

December 16, 2013 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: 12 December, Advent, O Antiphons 1 Comment

repost from 2012

The seven “O Antiphons” (also called the “Greater Antiphons” or “Major Antiphons”) are prayers that come from the Breviary’s Vespers during the Octave before Christmas Eve, a time which is called the “Golden Nights.” Each Antiphon begins with “O” and addresses Jesus with a unique title which comes from the prophecies of Isaias and Micheas (Micah), and whose initials, when read backwards, form an acrostic for the Latin “Ero Cras” which means “Tomorrow I come.” ~ Fisheaters

17 Dec. O Sapientia – Wisdom

O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodidisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviter disponensque omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

O Wisdom, who came from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: come, and teach us the way of prudence.

18 Dec. O Adonai – Lord

O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel, qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti, et ei in Sina legem dedisti: veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento..

O Lord and Ruler the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: come, and redeem us with outstretched arms.

19 Dec. O Radix Jesse – Root

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, iam noli tardare.

O Root of Jesse, that stands for an ensign of the people, before whom the kings keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: come, to deliver us, and tarry not.

20 Dec. O Clavis David – Key

O clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel: qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris.

O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: come, and lead forth the captive who sits in the shadows from his prison.

21 Dec. O Oriens – Dawn

O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae, et sol iustitiae: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris et umbra mortis.

O dawn of the east, brightness of light eternal, and sun of justice: come, and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

22 Dec. O Rex Gentium – King

O Rex gentium, et desideratus earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum: veni, et salva hominem, quem de limo formasti.

O King of the gentiles and their desired One, the cornerstone that makes both one: come, and deliver man, whom you formed out of the dust of the earth.

23 Dec. O Emmanuel – Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster, exspectatio gentium, et Salvator earum: veni ad salvandum nos Domine Deus noster.

O Emmanuel, God with us, our King and lawgiver, the expected of the nations and their Savior: come to save us, O Lord our God.

Ero Cras

Take the first letters of each of the titles, starting with the last and working back to the first. You spell: EROCRAS or “ero cras… I will be (there) tomorrow”.