Monday, October 5, 2009

the garden of life is the garden of the world

6 comments:

  1. Great start, Bernadette.
    Now you need to write posts. Once people on line get to know you through your blog, they will be more interested in your book.
    Click here if you would like to see my blog.

    I don't mean to suggest that my blog is the be all and end all...just that it might give you some ideas. I also have a blogroll on the side. If you scroll down and check any of them out, you will see what I think are some excellent blogs, and the kind of things they share.

    Are you on twitter yet?

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  2. Helen your blog is great to say the least. I found my password. now I am ready to work.

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  3. During my lfe tme I have been associated with the following parishes in many capacities.

    St. Francis of Assisi, St. Aloysus,St. Mother Cabrini, Providence of God, Holy Rosary, St John Cantius,St.Mary of Celle, Our Lady of the Snow,St. Nicholas Cathedral,
    St. Helens,St. Richards,St. Marks, St. Pious. and many others.

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  4. In the early 50's I made my First Holy Communion at St. Francis of Assisi, On Roosevelt st.in the south side of Chicago.Il.I was prepared by the Cordi Marian Sisters a missionary order from Mexico. They were so frendly and carng to me and my siblings. They knew that we needed much attention since our mother had just died and we had just arrived from Puerto Rico.

    On the entrance of the church there stood a statue of Jesus crucifed that captured my attention snce he was all cut up and full of blood. It made such an impression on me as a little girl that I would walk from my house which was almost a mile just to kneel and pray by the Jesus crucifed, and then I no longer felt pain for my sorrows and loss but for him. (to be continue)

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  5. With much anticipation, the Great day finally arrived, my greatest encounter with Jesus. The sisters had made me a dress and veil all dressed up I felt like a princess. My brother 10,other brother 5, and my little sister 7, we walked to the church, my brothers still throwing rocks and goofing around, but nothing or no one could remove the joy and ecstacy that I felt.

    Since there was no adult with us, one of the teachers, Sr. Soledad became my godmother for the reception of the sacrament. It wasn't until later in life when I started teaching that I reflected back on this event. I was not sad but disappointed that no one ever celebrated this the greatest of all events in my life. While I was teaching I would always make sure to teach the parents how important their participation is to the child. Even to this day I believe the true presence of God in the Eucharist and to me it was a miraculous happenning because I was not alone. He walked the mile wth us.
    There was no celebrations of any kind, not even a hug, a picture taken, or a congradulations.

    Nevertheless, what I received was a beaten by my step mother because she kept saying that I killed her pet chicken. But how could I kill anything, specially on this day, I knew that sister had told us not to kill and I felt bad I cried endlessly and she kept hitting me. It wasn't until I was forty, that my little sister confessed to me that she was sorry for lying but she was much afraid of our stepmother.

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  6. Remember why you chose the Saint you picked for Confirmation? Confirmation is a sacrament in the Catholic Church in which you publicly confirm your decision to be a catholic and are officially welcome into the church. Many years ago we would use the expression “becoming a soldier of Jesus Christ”.
    Choosing just one saint was difficult since I had a great devotion to so many. Finally I made the decision and selected St. Bernadette Soubirous, a peasant girl from Lourdes, France. At the age of fourteen she began to have visions of a lady, who told her that she was the “Immaculate Conception”. She was drilled by the authorities, but was consistent about what she saw. Her humility was extraordinaire.
    During that time in my life my little sister and I were in a foster home in which we were suffering both physical and mental anguish. Hunger and sadness were plentiful. Reading about the story of St. Bernadette made me realize that we had much in common in many ways, she was severely poor, and later on in life she was in constant pain that she offered up to God. Her life made my life bearable as difficult as it was, for she strengthened my faith.
    I modeled my life after hers, praying and offering my sufferings to the Lord. One of the things that finally convinced me to choose her was that she did not remember her lessons, she could not memorized her prayers and therefore was kept back from receiving the sacrament of Holy Eucharist with her class. I identified with that, because when I made my first Holy Communion could not memorize all the prayers, but I believed with my whole heart that Jesus was present in the Eucharist.
    Later on when I became Director of Religious Education I made choosing a saint as a role model an important and elaborate part of the program and practiced that faith was more important than memorization. No child would ever be detained from receiving a sacrament because he or she could not memorize a prayer.

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