liturgical living // feast of the archangels

"It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels."

-Saint Augustine

Happy Feast of the Archangels! We celebrated today, with an emphasis on St. Michael only because my boys are just all about battles, dragons, and warriors right now.

I'm going to share our day in photos with little tidbits throughout. Overall, it was such a good day! The boys loved celebrating and being able to participate in the makings of today. We did some crafting, ate some yummy food, read some good books, and as you can imagine, had random battling throughout the day.

Enjoy and pray your day has been blessed and filled with goodness!

Not-a-morning-person's breakfast guide for the Feast of Michaelmas:

Apparently you can do a lot with scrambled eggs, some bacon, toast with royal purple jelly, and honey!

Not-much-of-a-crafter's guide to St. Michael armor and shield:

The boys painted some paper plates a few days ago with water paint. I pulled out a few pipe cleaners and tape to put it all together and Voila!

Armor for days!

The boys played battle for a short while which quickly turned to battle in the form of sports and exploration of nature.

They had fun though.

Oh! And we found a flower! Pretty sure this little beauty is the only flower on our entire property (Haha. Like it's a big property..but still! We have no pretties around!). I really need to figure out how to turn my black thumb, green!

A luminary for St. Michael - Craft numero dos:

 The boys were pretty excited about played with glue and for being able to make our table decor for feast!

 I have to admit, the teamwork made my heart happy and I think it made theirs happy too.

THE FEAST:

Dinner Menu:

 (a la traditions and sweet Haley over at Carrots for Michaelmas)

Roasted Chicken

Roasted Carrots with Thyme

(+ potatoes and onion)

Toast

Blackberry Cobbler

 The boys made the cobbler and were so so so proud.

 Mama made all the roasted stuff.

 But the cobbler. Oh, that cobbler! So delicious!

Our table decor was fantastic and the boys were pretty proud about this too! So thankful to Mary for giving me the idea to pull this little craft together last minute!

 Would you look at this dessert! Pioneer Woman never fails! Also, only five ingredients!

Ending the night on a note that tasted so divine was just great! 

The boys and our whole little family really enjoyed celebrating the Feast of Archangels (with an emphasis on St. Michael, for today). And, now that we celebrated two years in a row, it's a thing! Woohoo! Color me excited! Can't wait for next year!

I'm thinking we'll be able to learn more about St. Raphael and bring him into the feasting more or perhaps just solely focus on St. Raphael and St. Gabriel since I think cognitively the boys will be able to grasp their stories better. We shall see!

St. Michael the Archangel,

defend us in battle. 
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. 
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, 
and do thou, 
O Prince of the heavenly hosts, 
by the power of God, 
thrust into hell Satan, 
and all the evil spirits, 
who prowl about the world 
seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

For any and all explanations of foods chosen to celebrate this feast, head over to Haley's! She does a lovely job of sharing the history, traditions, and fun of old!

Lent: Do you wish to rise?

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

-Saint Augustine

An answer to our prayers.

Someday very soon I do want to write the story of our new home. It really is a beautiful one that we have been blessed with. So many little things happened that just showed His Hands holding and guiding us. Our home has been prayed in for years. It has been taken care of and loved by the previous owners. And, even though it was built in 1967 it is in much much better shape than so many other homes that we saw while searching. 

Lay first the foundation...

For now, I'll just grab some tidbits from our journey and say that here in the Dallas area the dirt is known for causing foundation issues even in the most newly built homes. I think it has something to do with the dryness of the soil. That aside, the home we bought actually has a solid foundation and has never had any work done prior (Yay for us!). The large majority of houses we saw had issues to varying degrees. If they didn't it was because they were built within the last 7-10 years or so.

There cannot be any other virtue...

It's crazy to think of all the damage that can be linked to a non-solid foundation. So many things can easily go wrong while building a new foundation at the start and throughout the years! There are a number of things, like: what if it wasn't built in a timely manner, was it tended to after the house was built, was it built during a good or bad season, too humid, too dry, to thick, not thick enough. All things that can be carefully managed through, but also things that can so easily alter the future of the home - from the floors all the way up to the roof. The reality of poorly built foundations has never been so visible till we started looking for our home.

Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.

-Saint Augustine

In hindsight, we are forever grateful that we did not pursue any house with major foundation issues to close, even though we know they can all easily be lived in because there are ways to mend all related issues. Honestly, we were so close to buying a home that ultimately was a structural mess because of the foundation, but with a lot of prayer and trusting, we moved on and found a home that exceeded our expectations. Prayers were answered beyond what we could have imagined!

Humility is the mother of many virtues because from it obedience, fear, reverence, patience, modesty, meekness and peace are born. He who is humble easily obeys everyone, fears to offend anyone, is at peace with everyone, is kind with all.

-St Thomas of Villanova

All this to say, it got me thinking a lot about foundations. Not only physcial, house-related ones, but also our spiritual ones.

St. Augustine and St. Thomas of Villanova share some beautiful words about humility (of course!). The foundation, our foundation needs to be firm. It needs to be tended to. It needs to be solid and withstanding so that it can remain firm in Him - no matter the weather, no matter the soil, no matter whatever conditions may come. Foundations are important and no easy task!

The more I seek to solidify my foundation in humility, I realize that humility can be grasped and grown in me little by little. Through stepping stones of service and love, my foundation can be tended to so that it may also withstand time. It's not an overnight thing. It's a work in progress. A work in progress that makes more sense in my sleepy-mama brain by keeping it simple, keeping it little, keeping it broken down by my daily tasks of love that my heart strives for.

When I see the saints sharing that humility is foundational to growing in all other virtues, it makes me look at my Lenten journey through a different lens. A lens that has helped me realize the weight this particular virtue has on all the hopes that I have for my Lenten season. The wisdom of the saints makes me realize that just like our new home was built strong and well enough to withstand time, we also have our spiritual foundation of humility that is wildly important to the structure of our wholeness in Him. If I want to rise with Him, I need to start at the bottom. Something my heart knows but doesn't remember on the day-to-day.

Little by little. Humility. Service. Love. Obedience. Fear. Reverence. Joy. Patience. Modesty. Meekness. Peace. Jesus.

St. Augustine & St. Thomas of Villanova, pray for us.

Linking up with Cari for Theme Thursday! And, thank you Abbey for the meditation prompts! I'm really enjoying your Lent-stagram project!

A Beautiful and Magnificent Gift

"Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent gift. . . .We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God's Lordship."       -St. Gregory Of Nazianzus, 4th Century AD

Such a great day was had on the day our little Linus was baptized! Filled with gift, grace, and all the other wonderful aspects of the sacrament of baptism.

To start, we were blessed to have family come join the wonderful and exciting time in our sweet son's life. This moment starts an amazing journey and we are so happy they came to celebrate it.

Papa Wooley and Nonna

Papa Ram, Nana, and Uncle Godfather

Our little family had so much to celebrate! We are so blessed to be able to call our church, home. And, not only are we blessed to call it home, but we get to share this beautiful home with our boys.

Our little family. Seph had just woken from his nap, so the little guy was a little out of it.

The lovely picture below is of our sweet Linus and his Godparents! We are so blessed to have this beautiful couple as our little one's Godparents. They are friends that we love so much. Friends that have been Christ to us in so many ways. Their beautiful faith lives have been encouraging to us and always filled with such love. We are so grateful that they will play a special role in the faith journey that lies ahead of our sweet Eli.

Godparents!

Eli and his Godfather.

Eli and his Godmother.

Throughout our lives, there are moments that we experience that are filled with so much goodness they are hard to capture into words. These moments are filled with love and sweetness. They are light and easy. There is a Presence that brings a peace that is so gentle and full. The moments captured below in photo are definitely a few of those moments. 

~~

"But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted." -Romans 6: 17

Sweet Eli was looking at his Godparents and smiling as the Deacon poured the water over his head.

"Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit." -John 3: 5

Our little one getting anointed - receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit! ...kind of a big deal.

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Matthew 28: 19-20

Dada and his boy.

"He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved..." -Mark 16: 15-16

Mama and her baby.

"...that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world."                    -Philippians 2:15

Dada, Mama, and our sweet Eli.

"That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." 1 Corinthians 6:11

~~~

So very thankful for the beautiful sacrament that truly is a magnificent gift; and for the awesome celebration that followed. All in all, a good day that we will always treasure.

For all that could not be present, thank you for the many prayers and generous gifts! You were missed but your presence was felt in the grace we experienced throughout the day.

"Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you." -St. Augustine