Don Bosco, Snakes and the Rosary

Today is the feast of St John Bosco. One of the Church's beloved saints for boys. Don Bosco as he was better known, had great devotion to Our Lady and attributes her intercession to all his success with his boys and apostolic work in general.

Don Bosco was a dreamer, like Joseph in the Old Testament. His dreams were a special charism. Charism's are given to holy people only in order to be of spiritual service to another. He dreamt mainly of his boys that he raised. Like the Cure of Ars and Padre Pio, he was a reader of hearts in the confessional and through his dreams. With this charism he saved many souls of the boys he loved.

There is a great TAN publication that contains many of these dreams that inspire and encourage us today. 40 Dreams of St John Bosco is a book I highly recommend for read-alouds with your children, particularly the boys. This is a book I would have relished as a child, I know!

I want to share with you one of his stories with some great pictures from Australia, taken in the Northern Territory a couple of years ago. They are just perfect for this story, I'm sure the children will 'ooh and aah' over them!

The Snake and the Rosary

I want to tell you a dream I had some nights ago, most probably on the eve of the Assumption. I dreamed that I was at my brother's home at Castelnuovo d' Asti with all my boys. While they were at play, a total stranger came up to me and asked me to go with him. He took me to a meadow alongside the playground and pointed to a huge, ugly snake, over twenty feet long, coiled in the grass.

Frightened, I wanted to run off, but the stranger held me back. "Get closer and take a good look," he said.

"What?" I gasped. "Don't you realize that the monster could spring on me and gobble me up in no time?"

"Don't be afraid! Nothing of the sort will happen; just come with me."

"Nothing doing! I'm not crazy!"

"Then stay where you are," the stranger replied. And he went to fetch a rope.

"Take this end," he said on his return, "and grip it tightly with both hands. I'll hold the other end, and we'll let it dangle over the snake."

"And then?"

"Then we'll snap it across its back."

"You must be crazy; the snake will leap up and tear us to pieces."

Go on! Click it up to full size and give yourself a fright!

"No, it won't. Leave that to me."

"Count me out! I have no intention to risk my life for a thrill of this kind!"

Again I tried to run away, but the stranger once more assured me that I had nothing to fear, because the snake would do me no harm. He talked so persuasively that I stayed on and agreed to his plan.

He went around to the other side of the monster. We stretched the rope and then snapped it across the snake's back. The monster immediately sparang up and struck at the rope, but as it did so, it ensnared itself as in a noose.

"Hold on!" the stranger shouted. "Don't let go!" He ran to a nearby pear tree and tied his end of the rope to it. Then he came to me and tied his end of the rope to it. Then he came to me and tied my end to the iron grating of a window in the house.

The snake kept furiously struggling to free itself, writhing, thrashing and flailing about. In its fury, it tore itself to pieces, scattering its flesh over the area, till it was slashed to a mere skeleton.

The stranger then untied the rope and coiled it up, "Now watch very carefully!" he said as he put it into a box and closed it. By this time the boys had swarmed about me. Within a few moments he opened the box. We looked in and were astounded to see the rope shaped into the words Ave Maria - "Hail Mary."

"How did that happen?" I asked.

"The snake," the man replied, "is a symbol of the devil, whereas the rope stands for Ave Maria, or rather, the Rosary, a succession of Hail Marys with which we can strike, conquer and destroy all of Hell's demons."

What followed is even stranger and more amazing....

Now, while taking with that stranger about the rope, the snake and what they symbolized, I turned around and saw boys picking up scraps of snake meat and eating them. "What are you doing?" I shouted. "Are you mad? That meat is poisonous."

"It's delicious!" They replied.

And yet no sooner had they swallowed it than they would crumple to the ground, and their bodies would swell and harden like stone. I was helpless, because, despite this, more and more boys kept eating that meat. I shouted and yelled at them, and even slapped and punched them, to keep them from eating, but in vain. For every one who crumpled to the ground, another took his place.

Then I called the clerics and told them to go amoung the boys and do all they could to make them stop eating that meat. My order was ineffective; worse yet, some clerics themselves began to eat it and they too fell to the ground.

Nearly out of my mind at seeing so many boys lying about me in such a pitiful state, I turned to the stranger.

"What does this mean?" I asked. "These boys know that this meat will kill them, yet they eat it. Why?"

"Because 'the sensual man does not perceive the things that are of God!' That's why!" He answered.

"But isn't there some way of saving these boys?"

"Yes, there is."

"What?"

"Anvil and hammer."

"Anvil and hammer? What for?"

"To put the boys back in shape."

"You mean I am to put them on an avil and strike them with the hammer?"

"Look," the stranger said, "this whole thing is a symbol. The hammer symbolizes Confession, and the anvil symbolizes Holy Communion. These are the remedies you must use."

I went to work and found the treatment very effective, but not for all. While most boys were restored to life and recovered, a few did not, because their Confessions were bad.

{The poisonous meat of that monstrous snake might well symbolize scandal which destroys one's faith, or immoral, irreligious readings. Likewise, what else might disobedience, collapsing, swelling up and hardening signify but pride, obstinacy and love of sin?

The prayers and sacrifices of the just must first ask that God's grace warm hardened hearts and soften them, so that the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist may exercise their divine efficacy...Thus the hammer's blows and the anvil's support will both bring about the cure of an elcer-ridden but now docile heart. As the sparks fly, the heart is reconditioned.}

Happy Feast Day!

2008 with St Anne revisited

I was getting closer to finishing my Tuesdays with St Anne late last year but I thought it best to stop over the advent period in order to focus on the enormous task of it's preparation and living of it.

My last St Anne posting was the first half of the story of St Anne de'Auray so I thought it best to link back to it for my first posting so as to refresh on the story to date before continuing on with it.

St Anne has blessed me enormously last year, in my own life and many people I know who have called upon her. I have heard some beautiful stories connected to her - prayers answered.

I am still marvelling over how St Anne lifted me up at my lowest point last year when I thought my heart virus was going to carry me away after fighting that thought while struggling physically for many weeks. On that day...no....at that moment, when I cracked and caved, a parcel arrived in the post, two in fact. A box full of Good St Anne booklets....and a beautiful icon of Our Lady holding the Child Jesus with St Anne and St Joachim. (you can see the icon in my Tuesdays with St Anne picture) It had been travelling in the mail for 3 months, all way down from Canada sent by a dear lady from the 4 Real forum, Mary Mary.

In all the moments of that icon's journey across the globe and there are alot of moments in 3 months, it arrived at THAT moment. I will never forget that, ever.

The chaplet of St Anne has been my primary prayer offered to her and it is one of the Church's best little chaplets. The reason being, it can be recited fairly quickly (taking in consideration the busy lives of so many mums!) and it also encompasses simple prayers and words that don't require the necessity of having the prayers of the chaplet on paper nearby.

To recap on it's recitation, it is an Our Father, followed by five Hail Marys, this is repeated another two times (3 rounds all up) and between each Hail Mary you say, "Jesus, Mary and St Anne, please grant......." depending on your particular intention. The first section is dedicated in honour of Jesus, the second in honour of Our Lady, the third in order of St Anne.

Christ Be With Me (The Deer's Cry)

I have finally learnt the complete nine stanza's of St Patrick's breastplate in the last couple of weeks. It is a prayer that is giving me great joy each day, to be able to recite it for each person I love in the home. To pray it for myself, frail creature I am, and in need of daily strength. I can feel this prayer's strength. It is a prayer that imparts peace - peace is the word that keeps coming to mind, peace and power. Because it is powerful. I see this prayer as a deliverance prayer where we cry out to God to be delievered from all evil and even from our own weak selves, our own fallen human nature.

The prayer changes theme at each stanza. A theme of the Trinity. A theme of angels and saints and of holiness and it's power. A theme of the beauty of God's awesome creation. A theme of His continual love and guidance being around us always. A theme of protection against the weakness and sins emanating from our own hearts and of those wishing to harm us in any way. A theme of protection from all conceivable evil and tragedy. The theme of the Holy Name of Christ. An ending theme, once again of the Trinity....

I am teaching my children this prayer at present. They have learnt the first two and half stanzas and the last two so far. It will be their daily morning prayer.

When I was a child my mother taught me Little White Guest and Night is Falling Dear Mother and the Prayer for Priests. They were long, poetical prayers that I still say to this day, every day. So I know how important this prayer can be to my children's lives till the day they die.

I wanted to finish by sharing with you, a most beautiful song that has been adapted from the St Patrick's Breastplate or Deer's Cry, as it is sometimes referred to. It is rousing and soul stirring. I printed up the lyrics for it and sung along. Though closing your eyes and listening to it in peace and quiet is just as moving.

May it bless you today.

Herb preparation in my kitchen

Here is what my herbs and my preparation with them, looks like in the kitchen. I have my canisters for each dried herb, I store them in the pantry. I also have a lovely, bright ceramic and wood cabinet I use for storing smaller amounts of each herb for quick access each day. Then I have a large brewing tea pot and a smaller one, plus a handy little teastick!

The herb cabinet has ten drawers, in them are the 10 herbs I use the most:

Stinging Nettle
Comfrey
Herb Robert
Horsetail
Gotu Kola
Ladies Mantle
Hawthorn berries
Chaste Tree berries
Small flowered willow herb
King of Bitters

I have more herbs but they are not ones I use daily, mainly for acute situations.

Looking down on each nob, I have taped the name of each herb, because I can't rely on my memory for anything, anymore!

Adding this herbal cabinet to my kitchen has streamlined my access to them, especially when early mornings are very busy. When I am brewing a pot of herbs, it is usually a few in the pot - anything up to five herbs or so. When you use more than one herb at a time, it creates a synergistic effect. (Used especially of drugs or muscles that work together so the total effect is greater than the sum of the two (or more.))

When I first saw this cabinet, I thought "the herbs!" ....then I started to really think hard about it all. Timber's are usually impregnanted with varnishes/stains or anti-pest solutions. Not always, but you can't be sure. We bought a handsome kitchen cabinet and it was made with that same Asian timber and influence. I had to contact the company about what products had been used on them previously, before re-covering it with a new varnish made of natural ingredients, it was then I discovered that they had only used a natural, beeswax solution.

Not wanting to let go the herb idea, I wondered how I could be cautious with this yet still have something that would help me in quickly getting my brews together each day. Then I thought I could stretch glad-wrap over the top of each draw. Maybe that would prove just as difficult..lifting the wrap each time, but it hasn't, which is great.

So it is still far easier to lift the wrap, take a pinch and cover again and open the next drawer to repeat rather than open bigger cannisters, that also take up alot of room on the kitchen top when they are all lined up together. The wrap also helps in protecting the quality of the herbs, in a sealed environment.

This is the size of my bigger cannisters, you can see how just one of them takes up a lot of space compared to the herb cabinet.

Here are my brewing tools. I bought them from the tea center in my city. There is the large, icon concepts 1 litre, double walled tea pot on the right. It is perfect for brewing for myself or for the whole family. When I brew for myself, I will often drink a few cups in the day. If it is for the children, it will give them all a cup.

It is made of glass and stainless steel. I am very fussy what these pots are made of, I don't want any leaching of plastics or metals into the brews. This was a quality buy for life. It is double walled, it helps it stay warm, longer and allows me to handle it a little more freely as it boiling hot to touch the outer glass wall.

Then on the left there is a 1 litre, Euroline stainless steel teapot it is a smaller one I use mainly for my husband or if I want to brew a small amount. The reason I've bought this for dh is I am limiting both myself and him by previously sharing the main brew. I don't want to put in herbs that are more traditional herbs for a woman, an example would be Ladies Mantle.

Also, the Small Flowered Willow herb is the revered herb for the prostrate, though in dh's case, I use it as a preventive or a prophylactic. Dh is doing alot of shift work which includes a sprinkling of overnight shifts. I make sure that he has a cup or more before he leaves at night and that he has a fresh brew when he arrives home in the morning, before going to bed.

I like to add into his brew, herbs that a specific to endurance, all round rejuvenation and while many people talk of the headiness and hangerover headaches of night shift, it has not affected dh in that way. Maybe the herbs have played a part in this.

The last little gaget is a Gamilia teastick made of stainless steel. It's brilliant, you just load up the compartment with herbs/teas (take into consideration the herbs swell, don't need to fill it too much) and shut down the sliding lid and sit it into your cup to infuse.

I have chamomile in the picture above. Often I have an aunty visit who only drinks chamomile tea and since I have the loose, dried flowers only, I would find myself brewing a pot even though she was wanting only a cup of it. Now I have my solution, tea for one! This will be handy at other times as well, for us or guests.

Brewing up those delightful flowers, if only you could smell it, the gentle smell of chamomile!

I hope to blog regularly about my love of herbs, but I thought this was a good starting place since brewing herbal teas is a big part of my life with herbs and trying to improve the health of myself and my family - naturally.

I have many herbal books, I love them all. But if I had to choose just one - what I believe to be the best, the most comprehsive, packed with the most practical advice, it would be Isabell Shipard's book, How to Use Herbs in My Daily Life.


It is a big, thick book and it stands head and shoulders above all the rest I have or seen. You can buy from Isabell's site, she posts around the world, accepting paypal or credit. Remember too, our dollar has collapsed under the US dollar and anything bought from Australia is almost half the price of the US dollar, good value for overseas customers!

My Blogging Plans for 2009

Doesn't this little girl look sweet in her new 1st birthday dress?
A Happy New Year to everyone!

I've been out of action with a bad virus in the early new year and then into serious planning for a MUCH BETTER start to our schooling year than the last one.

I've done much soul searching with this new year, as it is so natural to do at this time of the year. In fact I agree with G. K. Chesterton when he says:

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul”
My thoughts and resolutions don't feel so much like new year pie crust promises as some have been in the past, maybe because I had such a hard time with many different trials last year. The things needing to change in my life are glaringly obvious.
The big change for the year was going back to daily Mass for the whole family. I look at it as the cornerstone to all my other planned changes. This is where I will receive the grace to 'follow through.'
I have more definite thoughts on what I would like to blog about as well. Here is a list of them but only God knows if they all come to fruition.
1. Complete my 'Tuesdays with St Anne' (starting again next Tuesday) St Anne has been so incredibly good to me and to those I have remembered in prayer. I love her chaplet dearly and St Anne's oil is an important sacramental in our home. My one big intention I give to St Anne this year is my sister Carmen, that she may have a baby after 7 years of marriage and infertility. Any prayers you may offer for her are greatly appreciated.
2. I love G K Chesterton and his quotes, his profound and witty thoughts. He is greatly needed, more than ever in this world we live in. His writings are timeless. I'd love to blog in a regular way about them, a different topic each posting...
3. I'd definitely like to chat more about my great love of God's pharmacy on earth - herbs. I love them with a passion and raise my children with that love. I try to share it with as many people who may be interested or open. Herbs are powerful, they are effective. They are also gentle to our bodies. They are not expensive in these uncertain financial times and spiralling health costs and I reckon they are better than health insurance any day! I share and use them readily with those I love, my husband, my children. I want to share with others the herbs I particularly love. What their benefits are. How I use them in the practical sense.
4. I'd love to post more about the title of Our Lady to whom this blog is dedicated to - Our Lady of Guadalupe. Strangly enough when I am busting to share from my heart, all my thoughts, what I've read and learnt, I feel something welling up inside of me saying, "How can I do justice to this?" It sort of deflates me a bit. It is true, how CAN I do justice, but I see now, it is stopping me from talking about Our Lady of Guadalupe as I wish to. So I'm going to try to work past that mental block this year!
5. I've also been toying with the idea of getting that camera rolling on movie and taping some short tutorials on beading and quilting and putting up here in a post or two (though I am no expert on anything, it's just that it is thanks to one lady who spent a little time with me, who got me going with quilting - she is no expert either, just good old, woman to woman sharing!)
6. I have completely fallen in love with St Patrick's Breastplate. I've just learnt it off by heart, even though my brain felt like mush when I first started reciting it daily. But when you say it at least 8 times a day, you pick it up!! I'm teaching my children now. We will incorporate it into our schooling life. I hope to buy some good books on the prayer. It is a prayer for life for me - it has given me great peace as I pray it for my children. I can just see myself saying it 50 times a day as an old grandmother, with grandchildren to pray for as well! LOL~! I pray it for people in urgent need of prayer, it is a beautiful prayer for that. I want to share it with others.  It is a prayer that grabbed at my heart and soul immediately.
So there are my blogging hopes for the year.
My blessed baby girl turned one on the 17th. Here she is, she's learnt how to funny noises if she blows on the palm of her hand against her face.
I love this below and had to photograph it. My precious girl clinging to my skirt, resting against my leg, it doesn't get more beautiful than that.