Jesus is the Reason for the Season

Chemai's new arrival!

(I am due on the 17th of January - so not far away now!)

Wishing everyone a Blessed Christmas, one filled with God's grace and peace. May this beautiful image of this little baby (Chemai's beautiful, healthy blessing that they have now taken home to their family, just in time for the Eve of Christmas), remind us once again of the true meaning of Christmas - that the Christ Child, "God with Us" - "Emmanuel" is the reason for this holy season.

I also want to thank all those who have prayed for my son Joseph, who had a croup attack the night before last, it seriously looked as though he would need to go to hospital. I had posted for prayers over at 4Real and had not gotten back to update before it was closed for Sunday and then after that for the coming Christmas Eve and Day. Those prayers were powerful! We were able to keep him home by steaming the bathroom and get him through to the next morning. I gave him all his natural treatments for the next day but really expected another possible rough night, last night.....but not a peep or stir out of him....never seen it before like that - so a big hug and kiss to all those praying for his recovery!

The Feast of the Expectation of Our Lady...

"Send victory like a dew, you heavens, and let the clouds rain down the just. Let the earth open for salvation to spring up" (Is 45:8).

~The Antiphon for the Feast of the Expectation of Our Lady.

I feel very tearful.

Of the good sort.

I was visiting Jackie's blog over in England, Catholic Mom of 10 and saw her recommendation to visit a new blog called The Expectation of Our Lady but what really drew me in was the beautiful image above and the reminder that December the 18th (yesterday, two hours ago...I have middle-of-the-night-insomnia at present..) was this beautiful feast, "The Expectation of Our Lady."

I cannot say how grateful I am to know this. I know that St Gratian's feast was yesterday, the day Chemai had her ceasarian scheduled - his name meaning 'son of thankfulness' which seemed so appropriate to her but THIS beautiful feast? What a revelation!

Chemai's maternal expectation had been drawn out with great suffering and trials over four months but with great faith in God to draw greater good and many blessings from everything and I really saw that faith and resignation.

When I think of Our Lady's expectation on this day - when she would have been travelling under difficult circumstances, heavily pregnant with the Lord, cold weather, a donkey's back.. and yet to experience all the hardships of finding a place to give birth to the Christ Child I could just weep at the connections there will be for Chemai to ponder upon when I tell her of yesterday's feast.

And here is the blessed news....

To everyone who has prayed so ardently for Chemai for the last 4 months or in time for her ceasarian, here is the news!

Prayers for Chemai & Augustine...

I am writing this posting 8pm on the 17th (here in Australia) and tomorrow morning, any time after 8.30am, Chemai will finally met her Augustine Gerard after a most arduous journey for both of them.

Little Augustine almost made his entrance at 22weeks - too early for survival and he threatened to, many times after that.

They have both been carried in prayer and by sacrifices, offered by so many people, here in Australia but also overseas, particularly through the power-thread of support at 4 Real - if you have the time, follow this extrodinary thread of love, encouragement and PRAYER!

It has has deeply affected me, the way so many dear people have reached out in love and made an extrodinary difference.

And so tomorrow 6.30pm US time (on their 17th) 9.30am Aus daylight savings time and 8.30am our time (non daylight savings) - prayers would be gratefully appreciated, asking that all goes well for both mum and bubs with the ceasar and that I will be able to post some beautiful photos, showing everyone, the fruit of many, many prayers over the last 4 months.

Under Her Miraculous Starry Mantle...

I dedicated my blog to Our Lady of Guadalupe and specifically named it, “Under Her Starry Mantle” and I felt compelled to do this as I am deeply affected every time I read the dialogue of love between Our Lady and Juan, between mother and child. Of course, she is referring to us all as well – we are all her ‘littlest ones’ that she wishes to cradle in her mantle.

The traditional Mexican shawl cloth for the women is a ‘rebozo’ and one of it’s main purposes was to carry the infant child – this is exactly how Our Blessed Mother wishes to carry us!

It suggests the closest of intimacy, the complete, the loving dependence of a young child to a mother - to sleep contentedly there, to feed tenderly there, to be as close as we possibly can to our mother, to hear her very heartbeat, her rhythmic breathing and her natural motherly frangrance – as mothers we know so well how precious this age is and what it does to our hearts and souls, so we get a real insight into what Our Lady is really saying to us all.

Mary’s mantle is no ordinary mantle – it is a ‘starry’ one. But these are not the random placement of stars for decoration but a true and perfect reflection of the constellations in the sky at the time Our Lady appeared to Juan Deigo but in reverse – as if Mary herself was looking down from the heavens through this veil of stars to earth.

Here's a quote that explains that better:

" The Virgin's mantle is covered with stars which stunningly and accurately map out various constellations as might be seen in the Mexican sky. Even more remarkably, this "star map" on the mantle is in reverse: providing a view of the constellations from beyond them, as would be seen looking through them towards the earth. The constellations are consistent with what astronomers believe was in the sky above Mexico City the day the Image was formed, December 12, 1531."

But the trouble is I am NOT doing any justice to the ongoing, minute and perfect scientific discoveries in this layout of stars and so I highly recommend that you read this article written by Robert A. Sungenis who has done a masterful job in explaining it all – even if you do not have time to read now, save it to your computer and read it when you have time, it will deepen your understanding of why this mantle is truly miraculous.

One thing I would like to mention is the placement of some of the major constellations either on the mantle, partly on the mantle or where they would be on Our Lady’s face or body if the constellation pattern had been continued all over the complete image.

And so I quote a small part of Robert’s article:

“ At the top is the Corona Borealis (the Borean Crown), which would appear on the head of Our Lady, appropriately signifying her royalty as the queen of heaven (Ap 12:1). Below the crown is Virgo, near Our Lady’s heart, showing her purity and virginity (Lk 1:35). Leo the lion, identifying with Christ as the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Ap 5:5), is near her abdomen, representing her virgin conception of the Christ child. Our Lady is wearing a black band, which is the symbol of pregnancy in Indian culture. Regulus, meaning royalty, is Leo’s brightest star and symbolizes Christ’s kingship (Ap 12:5). Coma Berenices is the tuft of Leo’s tail. Near the bottom is Gemini, the twins, placed near her two legs and symbolize the birth of Christ (Gn 49:10).”

I highly recommend two books to deepen your knowledge and love for this most beautiful of all Mary’s images – since it is her own self-portrait – a portrait that tells us exactly who she is and what she is to us.

The Handbook on Guadalupe that explains this image in depth including the constellations I have mentioned today.

The other book is Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest of Darkness - I never tire of reading and re-reading this incredible story, starting with Cortez and ending with Our Lady of Guadalupe, it is probably my most favourite book ever.

I just wish to finish with repeating the words I never tire of reading or hearing:

"Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within the fold of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything."

LIGHTS! On the feast of St Lucy

We started a tradition last year, to visit the Christmas lights on our side of the city on the feast of St Lucy - her name of course, means "Light." We were really itching before this point to visit all the beautiful displays but we patiently waited for this night to make the rememberance of this beautiful saint to be associated with the lights of Christmas.

Oh, yes - there's a 'bump' in this picture - me at 35weeks to the day! Dh took this shot while my youngest and I were looking at the lights - and there I am again, "barefoot and pregnant"! I feel so completely heavy at this stage, this little baby cannot come soon enough - but I don't have a history of that, so I must patiently wait....

Our first stop off was at a Uniting Church that does a magnificent display of lights that these poor, poor photos, just don't justice to it! Their focus is the true meaning of Christmas with nativity scenes everywhere!

Then we went and visited the street that won the best lights in a street in the whole of our city - once again these poor photos are but bare little snippets of the real effect and awe this cul-de-sac creates. Every house in this street is beautifully decorated and my littlest could not stop the "Oh! Wow!!" every few seconds.

This scene was so peaceful and serene with Our Lady and the crib nestled amoung the beautiful ground lights...

At the end of the street was some Aussie christmas lights, with kangaroos and koalas. We drove home singing 'Santa Lucia' at the top of our lungs and I am so tired now, I am really ready for bed, hence my further delay on a posting for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Happy feast day, St Lucy!

Happy Feast Day!

The wonderful feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe has just come and gone and I so much want to blog and express some of my feelings on it all but I've had two hectic days!

God willing tomorrow, I will - especially since my blog is dedicated to Our Lady under this title and image.

As you know, my blog is "Under Her Starry Mantle" and I would like to talk more about that miraculous starry mantle...

Until then, may the Blessed Mother fold you in her mantle and bless you all abundantly!

The Feast of the Translation of the Holy House of Loreto

Happy Feast Day!

I love this feast as I have great devotion to the sacramental of blessed oil that comes from the shrine itself - the blessed olive oil that burns continuously in the lamps in the house where Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived. The most blessed home on this earth.

I was told by an elderly lady who had travelled Europe and visited many shrines that this Loreto oil is of a particular exorcism nature and that certainly comes as no surprise to me as so many devil-crushing events took place in this humble home. The chief exorcist of Rome, Fr Gabrielle Armorth has sent people who are close to being freed from the devil, to this shrine for the final liberation.

I believe it is the home originally owned by Sts Joachim and Anne and that the Immaculate Conception took place in his hallowed spot. The Annunciation - the Incarnation itself - God made Man - the long prayed for, sighed for, longed for event in the whole of mankind's history. The daily dwelling of God for the majority of His life on earth was in this home and of His Blessed Mother and the just St Joseph.

I remember reading once a quote from St Louis de Montfort that had said that the daily activities of Our Lady in this home were more meritorious than all the efforts of the saints combined- they took place in this home. It seems astounding, but Mary never refused God in ANY way, her glory was only a complete reflection of the Glory of God, and that is why we venerate her, she is God's solitary creation that never said in any way, "I will not serve" for we all do, even in our smallest daily falls and transgressions. No, her words to the Angel Gabriel was, "I am the handmaid of the Lord." and it was only this year I discovered the correct understanding of the word 'handmaid' in the time it was written - slave of the Lord! She was lovingly in unison with God's will at all times, like a faithful slave of love.

We didn't get to feast as I would have liked to as it was a busy day filled with chiropractic visits, plumbers visiting the home and other things but I did bless each member of the house with this oil and talked to the children about this miraculous house and it's importance. My 5 year old son who has been facinated with the story of Adam and Eve and Satan entering the garden, since we started our Jesse Tree readings, was very happy to find out that Satan's crushing under that heel had started in this home.

**I have to stop at this point and share a little of this darling son's interest in what he had heard in the second Jesse Tree reading. We were visiting a Catholic book shop in our city late last week and this little boy had found a holy card with St Michael the Archangel on it, he had picked it out for his younger brother who is named after this saint and he sidled up to the lady at the counter and pulled out the card and said to her, "Is this snake, Satan?" He was pointing to the snake at St Michael's feast.....their minds just keep ticking, don't they?**

Here is a simply beautiful website dedicated to the Holy House with all it's historical information and it should cover the scientific discovery of the matching of the stones of both Shrines and other miraculous evidence of the authenticity of the Holy House, amoungst many other things, well worth a visit, there are prayers and devotions on this site as well if you are looking for some for the feast.

Here is a book I bought earlier this year: The Holy House of Loreto that might interested someone wishing to read more on the home.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception & other blessed things...

Yesterday, we celebrated the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, we all went to confession and early morning Mass to start the day. The Mary Mantle was placed over the Christ Candle which will now stay there until Christmas Eve. We had blueberry, flower shaped miniture cakes as a special treat. The day before (7th) we had celebrated the birth of our youngest blessing. He was born on the Eve of the Immaculate Conception at 9pm - he turned 3 this day. In the year he was born, it was the 150th anniversary of the proclaimation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, so we see this as a great blessing for this boy, indeed.

I had a very devote friend who told us, "Being born on the Eve of a great feast is something special." He then went on to quote Frank Duff the founder of the Legion of Mary own words, as to why, but I can't remember his beautiful words now....Frank Duff had founded the Legion of Mary on the Eve of Our Lady's Birthday.

Happy Birthday, my darling, blessed boy!

We have been using Illuminated Ink's beautiful craft kit for the Jesse Tree but unfortuantely it does not have a mobile for every Jesse Tree image, the very first symbol I had to design and make - The Creation symbol - and until now I have had to make another but there is no craft for day 9 - Canaan, the Promised Land of Blessings - which is represented in The Advent Jesse Tree book as a bunch of grapes.

Yet in Geraldine's book, she does not have a story for this entry into Canaan but a double story for Moses instead, so it can get very confusing....anyway, I have decided to make the grapes and read the section from the book that does recognise this symbol. So I wanted to make a three-dimentional cluster of grapes and here is the step-by step procedure for anyone wanting to do something similar.

I didn't have any green or purple cardboard, if I had of, I could have skipped this more laborious process of covering the white cardboard with coloured paper....

Cuts were made into the grapes so that they could be slipped into each other.

Here is the finished product, I just threaded a needle with green thread and threaded it through the top to create the loop to hang.

The green grape leaves were bent slightly in the middle and slipped either side of the top of the grape.

Here is a better look at how the grape leaves were slipped in with the grapes.

Here it is below with some glitter to enhance it further.

This morning is the feast of St Juan Diego (9th) the visionary who received the visit from Our Lady of Guadalupe who presented him with the image of herself on his tilma, it was this event that brought about the biggest mass conversion in the history of mankind.

I'd love to talk more about this most blessed story but hope to do so more fully on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the 12th.

So naturally, I have nine symbols on our Jesse Tree at present!

Here is a close up shot of the newest editions - Jacob's ladder - Joseph's colourful coat - The burning bush of Moses - The grapes from Canaan. This tree is becoming more and more colourful as the days pass by!

Feast of Saint Nicholas

Oh, the happy anticipation of five little faces at this sight! This year I found these great bags (meant to be for gift-giving bottles of alcohol!) but we found a lovely use for them in the form of St Nicholas stockings.

The children awoke to the golden bags with golden coins inside that remind us of the merciful deed of St Nicholas when he 'ransomed free' the three daughters who had no dowries and were to be sold into a far less than savoury life.

St Nicholas is that beautiful beacon or reminder to all christians the importance of corporal works of mercy as on judgement day we will hear the voice of Our Saviour ask us, "When did we feed the hungry, care for the sick, visit those in prison....?" For what we have done unto the least of His brethern, we have surely done unto Him.

Advent is a time to re-evaluate those important truths and find new ways to live them in our own lives and where we cannot do these things in person for whatever the reason, we can ALWAYS pray, pray for those in need.

The children were read a beautiful quote, that was on the ledge where the bags were hanging. A beautiful quote that Tolkien wrote to one of his sons:

“ Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament.... There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves upon earth, and more than that: Death: by the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the complete surrender of all, and yet by the taste [or foretaste] of which alone can give you what you what you seek in your earthly relationships [love, faithfulness, joy] be maintained, or take on the complexity of reality, of eternal endurance, which every man's heart desires. " [Letters p.53-54].

We once again, enjoyed the making of the traditional Speculatius biscuits, using the recipe from Cooking with Christ, with their sweet, spicy smell and taste.

I had bought a St Nicholas cutter and the St Nicholas paper the year before from the St Nicholas Center and so here is how they turned out - needless to say, they didn't last long!

We had our St Nicholas reading laid out and we thoroughly enjoyed the stories, especially from our new addition to the St Nicholas collection - Demi's The Legend of Saint Nicholas. What a wonder-worker this saint was and in true fashion to Jesus' promise that his followers would do even greater things in His Name (by His power.)

We are enjoying our daily Jesse Tree readings and craft making. We have added 3 more to the tree since the last photo - Abraham's symbol of camel and rider. Abraham's test, with the ram in the thorn bush. Jacob's ladder and dream.

Jesse Tree has started...

This year I purchased from Illuminated Inks, their Jesse Tree kit and their O Antiphons.

They are beautiful.

Upon opening them, I noticed that they do not have the complete sets as we would know it so I plan to improvise where I have to (and don't I love improvising - I do!) The very first symbol - Creation - had to be created by me as their kit started with the second symbol - Apple/Adam&Eve - So I though about what could we make that was three dimentional to make the rest of the kit for Creation? I thought, 'we have to have the world' but as we are reading Geraldine McCaughrean's excellent Advent reading book, I noticed the old man is carving a Star and Sun for the first image.

It dawned on me to create the space around the world complete with moon and stars and so this is how the finished Creation image looked.

Ok...we really did improvise and used a bit of 'poetic licence' in emphasising how important Australia is from our mind set, but if the truth be known, it just saved time!!!

Unfortunately I can be very impatient with arts and crafts but the children LOVE the time and detail, so cutting out minute stars was right up their alley, thank goodness - we make a great team in that sense.

The two great books I am using this year with our Jesse Tree journey are The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean and The Advent Jesse Tree by Dean Meador Lambert. Both excellent resources that I purchased only recently at my book look.

I started by reading the story from Geraldine's book, very engaging for the children and they already are very fond of the inquisitive boy who visits the church to 'annoy' the Jesse Tree carver.

Then I move on and use the other book which has a lovely written explaination of the event as well as scripture quotes to read and look up, a prayer and most importantly (the children love this bit) questions to ask them!

I've just been so pleasantly surprised by my 5 year old's interaction with it all. The day we read about Adam and Eve's story from Geraldine's book he learnt a new word, 'Satan' (he kept coming back to me asking, "What's his name again? The snake?") he knows who the devil was but it was a new connection for him, the word satan. He was chattering all day about satan, the apple, Adam and Eve and God. He found a rubber life-sized snake in his wanderings and it was with him all day as he sat happily on the floor as I was schooling the children, re-enacting the events he had just heard about.

And really that is what it is all about - the children making a real connection with these stories as we make our way through salvation history to 'Emmanuel'.

My youngest at almost 3, is NATURALLY facinated with these creations, but he has shown great restraint so far, only removing them once from the tree or maybe that's because I am keeping a pretty eagle eye on them all!

I hope they all make it safely through to the end of December, I need to ask our guardian angels to 'stand guard' around this ancestory tree of the Lord.

Advent/Christmas Music to Soothe the Soul

Image Source

I have to confess, I do not have a big collection but the two I have, I really, really LOVE.

It would be nice to add a CD per season and if I were to look for another, definately a gregorian chant CD with specific Advent/Christmas Chants would be what I'd like.

Here the the two I can really recommend and I think I've tried to give links that enable you to hear a little of each track, I've given an Australian and US link for these CD's as well.

THE BIRTH OF JESUS - John Michael Talbot

John is a very well known music artist and this CD is quite spectacular, it is a CD that I'd like to play mainly in the later part of Advent as Christmas draws closer and closer.

US Amazon link to The Birth of Jesus

(can listen to the tracks here)

Mustard Seed link to The Birth of Jesus for Australia

- this price is HALF PRICE, so great buying!

CELTIC CHRISTMAS - Eden's Bridge

This hauntingly beautiful CD is just so meditative and soul-touching. I have just started to play it this morning, good to school with, having it as gentle, soothing background music. It is a CD that you will never tire of hearing.

US link to Celtic Christmas

(listen to the tracks here)

Australian Koorong link to Celtic Christmas

(listen to the tracks here)

- this is where I first purchased my copy many years ago...

Do you have any favourites to share? Please leave them in my comments box, I'd love to check them out!

First Sunday of Advent and Christmas Cards

Our first night lighting the the Advent Candle of 'Hope'.

THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT : HOPE

The first candle of Advent is the candle of Hope. We light this candle to remind us that our hope is in Jesus and to watch for His return.

Light the first candle.

Let us pray : Loving God, we thank You for the hope You give us. As we worship You this morning draw out of us the darkness of the world, and fill us with the light of hope. Help us to prepare our hearts for the Lord's coming. We ask in the name of the One born in Bethlehem. Amen.

It then comes at no surprise the timing of the release of Pope Benedict XIV's latest encyclical 'Spe Salvi’ Saved by Hope, on the feast of St Andrew (30.11.07) just before the first Sunday of Advent, where HOPE is the focus of our preparation. Here is a link explaining the message of this newest blessing (Spe Salvi) to the Christian World.

The children really enjoyed this first night, in the dark with this one candle, lighting our room. Dh had blessed the wreath and said the first prayer as it was lit.

I had found an excellent site that I then used then to read a beautiful sermon for the day, scripture readings, prayers, psalms and information of the wreath and the First Sunday of Advent, I highly recommend this website for excellent information all in one spot and is worth exploring. This is my online reading of the Bible for all the scripture reading references.

Tomorrow morning I will focus on getting the lists ready for christmas card giving. I found these beautiful cards from Portico in Sydney and had them posted up.

I just love the richness of the image and the it's blessed verse on the front of the card.

This beautiful, illumination manuscript Christmas Card was also being sold singlely and due to their expense, I bought only two, but I just had to share the image ~ isn't it beautiful?

Aahh, the beauty, the richness, the blessedness of Christmas!

Stir Up Sunday and the Christ Candle

I was greatly inspired by this thread at 4Real and so finally felt confident to work further on the Christ Candle. Using a sharp knife and a watermelon baller (yes, you read right!) I carved out a 'christmas cave' at the base of the candle for the Christ Child. The little Christ Child is a 'glow in the dark' figurine.

The top of the candle has a white ribbon with silver stars on it. I also used one of the spare stars that I have used on the Mary mantle, as the Christmas Star at Bethlehem at the top of the candle. I had a paper, silver doily with lovely patterns around the outside to line the 'christmas cave' for the Christ Child to lie in.

Here are the bits and pieces I used to create the Christ Candle's decorations.

I nice close up shot of the Christ Candle, I did initially have the star lower down, but when I went to sit it in the Christ Child stand in the middle of the Advent wreath, the gold bar came across at that point, so I moved it up onto the ribbon itself.

Here is the Mary mantle, that goes over the Christ candle on the feast of the Immaculate Conception 8th of December. The mantle represents the spotless and immaculate womb in which the the Christ Child was nestled, spotless and immaculate from the time Mary was conceived in the womb of St Anne.

I had bought some beautiful, blue, sheer, christmas material with white hollys on it. Then I used the white ribbon with the silver stars, as a rim around the bottom and on one side, I made the letter 'M' with it. Then I put 12 stars (significant symbol of Our Lady's queenship) on the M and rim.

Here is what it looks like over the Christ Candle, it is sheer enough just to faintly see the Candle through it.

A complete shot of our wreath completely finished and ready to be lit tonight, being the first Sunday of Advent.

We are also busy making our Jesse tree symbols and hope to show pictures of our handiwork in the days to come....

The first Sunday of Advent is also Stir-Up Sunday where puddings, christmas cakes and the like are traditionally made and we have certainly been busy!

This year we had a wish only to gift give to others, by giving our christmas cooking, namely our favourite christmas cake - Dark Chocolate and Port Christmas Cake - YUMMY!

I remember an aunty saying to me a couple of Christmases ago, that the best gift given was a little, homemade christmas cake, stating it gave them great enjoyment over the christmas season and so I have decided to gift give in this way permanently in the future.

This of course, required me to slowly squirrel away the ingredients for them, so I've been keeping them in a big, plastic box and keeping it under our bed.

I went to Dollars and Cents and made a lovely discovery! Christmas Tins of three different sizes to keep the christmas cakes in. It enables me to store them securely over the next few weeks, as I re-open each cake, each week and pour a little more port over them.

Of course it is nice to give the cakes in these beautiful tins, so that my loved ones can also store the cake safely as they slowly (or maybe not so slow..) make their way through it!

At CakeDeco down in Melbourne I ordered the cake tins to fit the gift-giving tins. I bought four tins in fact, so that I could make our own cake with the 23cm sized tin (the biggest one.)

Here is my first batch, I was able to use the mixture meant for a 23cm sized cake to make these three.

Here the Dark Chocolate and Port Christmas Cake recipe, it has become 'MY' recipe, that I make with great love and enjoyment. I had suggested that anyone interested in the recipe, leave me their email address but Mary was so good to track down an online version, from the Better Homes and Gardens website - thank you Mary! (I love your beautiful Jesse Tree, BTW!)

The recipe comes from the Australian 'Better Homes and Gardens'. I look forward to each year in November when they release their christmas cooking edition, they always have wonderful recipes with the most beautiful, inspiring photos. I never throw the copies out and so my collection is growing...