The Meaning of Bees

What could it mean, on a symbolic level, when thousands of bees swarm the White House as the president is trying to exit?

Bees, in traditional Catholic symbolism, are actually representative of a sublime good, the Catholic Church. This is because their society is hierarchical and their workmanship orderly , as well as under the headship of a queen.

So if bees represent the Church, what might this occurrence mean for Obama?

Novena to the Holy Ghost

The Novena to the Holy Ghost was to have been started the day after Ascension Thursday, nine days before Pentecost Sunday. In the ancient Catholic tradition, we imitate the apostles who persevered in prayer for nine days (the first novena) after the Ascension of Jesus, for the coming of His promised Paraclete at the first Pentecost. The word Paraclete is from the Greek, meaning Consoler and Advocate. The word Pentecost comes from the Latin meaning "fiftieth day," as in the fiftieth day after Easter Sunday. Therefore Pentecost falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter, and is also called Whitsunday.
In the Novena, the faithful ask each day for the blessing of the Holy Ghost, in particular each of the His Seven Gifts: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.
Although I was duly reminded on Friday by the facebook page of the Insitute of Christ the King, I didn't get my head wrapped around the concept fast enough. It consists of a long series of prayers each night and I need a little time to psyche myself up and enlist my husband and family! So I haven't succeeded in praying all of the Novena, but I do manage to slip in the lovely Prayer to the Holy Ghost pretty often, only because I have it memorized:

Come Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of thy faithful, enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. O God, Who did instruct the hearts of Thy faithful by the light of the Holy Ghost, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Yeah, I'm blogging

Sometimes I just really want to have a blog....Although facebook has filled much of the need to communicate with friends, sometimes I want something different. I don't know. I've tried this many times before...we'll see how it goes :-)

What do I want to blog about? Well, I hope this blog won't be "me me me," but who am I kidding? I don't know much about anything else....

Sometimes I want to share things I find on the internet, like these sites that sell cute, modest swimdresses...

Sometimes I want to talk about being the mother of a large family, from my 18-year-old son down to my 4-year-old son (not to mention my 25-weeks-in-utero son;-).

Sometimes I want to talk about being a wife for 19 years to a really tall, really smart guy whose interests don't often coincide with mine (sigh). For example, at this moment he is researching gunpowder for his .45 because he wants to learn how to reload (?!) Yah.

Sometimes I want to talk about the amazing, life-giving waters of the Catholic faith, without which my life would be like a desolate patch of dirt rather than this rich garden teeming with all sorts of flowers (children) I have no idea how to tend, vegetables (self-improvement, sacrifices) I have no intention of eating voluntarily, and weeds (my own sins and failings)!

Sometimes I want to talk about the political and social craziness going on in the world today, because I find it fascinating, like a train wreck.

Sometimes I just want help, quite honestly. Help with dealing with everyday life.

For now, I am going to leave this boring Blogger template. (Is it just me, or are the dots on this "Dots" template mostly invisible?) Someday I hope to give the blog a little more personality.

And I will try to liven it up with some pictures now and then, too :-) but not this time, because I've been trying to upload some pictures for 15 minutes and it's not working out....