Family Card Game

Here are a couple pictures of a family card game. As you can see everyone who comes along and wants to play is allowed. Problem is the only game the cat wants to play is "Go Fish.".

We love family game nights. The real problem is we get so busy sometimes we don't have them enough.
The cat is definitely part of the family and has to be everywhere everyone else is, but his favorite place to be is by my son.  When Josh is away camping with the scouts the cat will hang out by his room and wimper.

Saint Patrick

I love the story of Saint Patrick. My son and I watched a movie about his life last year. It was very good.
It is interesting that Saint Patrick is actually Scottish, born in Scotland. He was captured by Irish during a raid and made a slave, forced to herd and tend sheep. When he was taken Ireland was a land of the pagan Druids. During this time he learned the language and the customs of the people living there.

This was a very hard time for St. Patrick. I am sure he longed to be home, to go back to his family.
He turned to God in prayer. He wrote, "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have 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 dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."

At 20 he escaped after having  a dream that told him to leave Ireland and take a ship home. At first the sailors did not want to take him but he knew it was God's will. He prayed. God opened the sailors hearts to allow Patrick on the ship.

After returning home Patrick had another dream to return to Ireland and walk among them. After studying and becoming a priest and then bishop, Patrick returned to Ireland and preached for 40 years converting many to Christianity and performing many miracles.

He used the shamrock to teach the concept of the Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, just as the shamrock is one leaf, three parts so is God, one God but three Persons. I have followed his example and used the shamrock with my son, also.

Saint Patrick died March 17, 461.

Patrick was very obedient to God. May we use his example and do the same, be obedient and draw closer to the God who loves and cares so deeply for us.

Bells

Okay, the other day at Mass during the Eucharistic prayer bells were being rung.  They ring them every Sunday as far as I can tell.  At least ways, at our church. I don't think every church does anymore. I think I always had an incling of what they meant but was never really sure. So, I decided to look up the answer today and see why they are rung. I went to two different places. I found answer at Padre Pio.org and Catholic Answers.com.

For the most part every one agreed that the history of  bells being rung during the time of Latin Mass was to alert the congregation that the consecration was taking place. In other words, the Holy Spirit was doing His work through the priest of changing the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Back in the time of the Latin mass and pre-Vatican II the priest had his back to the congregation and spoke quieter and so it was difficult for everyone to know what was going on. When I think about it,  we are so used today to the priest facing us and mostly microphones so the priest can be heard. I'm not sure if we remember that there was a time when we didn't have the technology we have today and people needed to use other means to alert people to what was going on. I, also, read that many times the churches were very crowded and there weren't pews or enough pews for every one and not everyone could see what was going on. Again, the bells would alert people to the happening event.
One other reason I read on Catholic Answers for the ringing of the bells was it would also alert people who were out in the fields, not at mass, to what was happening. This would give them the reminder to pray and their need for Jesus.
So, why do still use the bells? Well, they are still a good way to keep us focused and remind us of what is happening. It is so easy for our minds to wander.

I find it interesting they are rung three times, in reference to the Trinity.