AHG Lenten Kick-Off~Socks of Love

"I’m participating in the Keeping LOVE in LENT Blog Link-Up 2013, hosted by

Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints, Truly Rich Mom and Arma Dei: Equipping Catholic Families. We'll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Lenten sacrifices, prayer and good deeds, and how to carry them out with LOVE instead of a GRUMBLE. Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of link-up entries.”

Our American Heritage Girls troop had a great Lenten Kick-Off with Socks of Love.

This was such a fun and successful service project that I came up with for our Youth Group last year... SO it was a joy to bring it on board and introduce it to AHG:)  We were able to join forces with our Youth Group to (almost) double our almsgiving efforts this year!  
Not all of the girls in our troop observe Lenten practices but it was a great service, nonetheless.

Our local homeless shelter has an ongoing need for travel size items for their overnight guests.  The idea behind Socks of Love is to provide a clean pair of socks, filled with all of the necessary items for the shelter to give out to those who come to them in need.

• We start by collecting travel sized items and long knee/ tube socks.  Crew socks work as well (but not as well as the full knee socks). 
• Stuffing items include shampoo, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, chap stick, hand sanitizer, kleenix, sunscreen, lotion, etc.
• Like-items are then sorted into gallon ziplock bags to keep them together for better assembly line work.
• One of the socks is placed inside the other, prior to stuffing. (This makes it look like we are only stuffing one sock)  Having one inside the other also helps not to stretch the socks out too much.
• About 10-12 items fit into the long knee socks.
• 6-8 items fit into crew socks.

It's surprising how quickly we stuffed all the socks!

Some of the girls worked on writing out tags to tie around the top of the socks when stuffing was complete.

We tied off the top to prevent items from falling out and included a tag with a loving scripture verse:)

Our AHG troop stuffed a total of 57 socks!

The Youth Group stuffed 70 socks for a grand total of 127 Socks of Love all together!

The Gospel Mission received gratefully on Ash Wednesday:)

This is a great way to share *LOVE*
What service or almsgiving does your family do during Lent?

Check out the Lent reflections participating in the Keep LOVE in LENT Blog Link-Up 2013!  We'll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Lenten sacrifices, prayer, and good deeds, and how to carry them out with LOVE instead of GRUMBLE.  

Discover new Catholic Blogs to follow!

Equipping CatholicFamilies: Keep LOVE in LENT

Call Her Happy:40 Simple Lenten Activities for Kids

Lenten Love: Little Acts of Love 

Building Rocks 

Grow the Roses: Keep Love in Lent

Family At The Foot Of The Cross: Loving Service 

Catholic Homeschooling Joy: A Lenten Activity

JOY:Keep the Love in Lent

Twenty Tuesday Afternoons: Tuesday # 11: Pancake Tuesday / Keeping Love in Lent

Campfires and Cleats: Why a Failing Lent Really Isn't

Harrington Harmonies: Make a Lenten Holy Hour

A Mommy of Three:Good Deeds for Lent

Loving the Semi Country Life: Lent:special time to reflect and keep the love in lent

Written By the Finger of God: A 7 Step Lenten Plan

Mommy Bares All: Giving Up and Making Space for Love this Lent

The Irish Lassie Shop: Seek God Everywhere

Hand-Maid with Love: Living Lent, Loving Lent 

Words On Heaven: IN THE DESERT FOR 40 DAYS

On The Way Home: Keeping LOVE in Lent

Homeschooling with Joy: Keep Love in Lent

Mountain Grace: Keep Love in Lent

Eyes On Heaven: I am Choosing to Live

Joy Alive in Our Hearts:"God's Love at Work"

Life of Fortunate Chances: Love is Fun: Keeping Love in Lent

Fifth of Five: Keep the LOVE in Lent

I Blog Jesus: for Praying our Loud!

Overflow: Loving Lent with Little Ones    

This Cross I Embrace: Keep LOVE In Lent 

Sole Searching Mamma: 15 Ways to Experience a More Meaningful Lent       

St. Valentine Views

These are a few of our St. Valentine views!

We have the tradition of eating heart-shaped pizza for dinner...

Courtesy of our local take-and-bake!

Each child gets a Valentine poster, listing all the ways we love them.

We gather for dinner and a blessing.

A little bag of hearts goes around the table, each one with a different scripture about love written on them.  We each take turns reading the different "love" scriptures.

We are reminded of the true source of our love!

It's a special time to gather around the family table.
This year we missed "Dad" on duty at the Fire Department!

But we made the best of things, like fire families often do.

We followed our dinner with a story about St. Valentine himself…It's one of our absolute favorites! I highly recommend if you don't already have it:)

What a cherish moment captured having our oldest read to the youngers:)

These are a few of our favorite St. Valentine views!

"The rose speaks of love silently, in a language known only to the heart."

~Anonymous~

Saintly Love Quotes & Valentines for Jesus

"Love Him totally who gave himself totally for your love." ~St. Clare of Assisi~

I wanted to post some of my favorite quotes about love, from the saints, as we near St. Valentine's Day. These heroes of our faith always inspire me. This also serves as my "record keeping" to have them all compiled in one place!  I picked out a few of my favorite scriptures about love and posted them here.  

I am also posting a few more pictures of our St. Valentine decorating for the Domestic Church!  We just used heart shaped doilies from the Dollar Tree and taped google images of St. Valentine (center), The Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary.  These made nice Valentines for Jesus and a festive St. Valentine collage for our entry way.

"All my desires turned to seek all my pleasure and all my comfort in the most Blessed Sacrament of the altar.  He asked for my heart...and placed it in his adorable one, in which he showed it to me as a tiny speck consumed in this burning furnace.  Then, taking it out as a burning flame shaped like a heart, he replaced it in the place from which he had taken it." ~St. Margaret Mary Alacoque~


"We are born to love, we live to love, and we will die to love still more."~St. Joseph Cafasso~


"Give me a heart as big as the universe."~St. Frances Cabrini~


"Don't be afraid to call Our Lord by his name, Jesus, and to tell him that you love him."~St. Josemaria Escriva~


"You shall not hate any man; but some you shall admonish, and pray for others, and still others you shall love more than your own life." ~Teachings of the Twelve Apostles~


"I [God] can love you more than you can love yourself and I watch over you a thousand times more carefully than you can watch over yourself."~St. Catherine of Sienna~

"Love, and He will draw near; love, and He will dwell within you." ~St. Augustine~

"Joy is a net of love by which we catch souls." ~Mother Teresa~
More from Mother Teresa:
"It is impossible to love two people totally.  But you can love all persons in a total way if you love Jesus in them."

"Being unwanted is the worst plight that can befall a person.  The only cure is hands that are willing and ready to serve, and hearts that never stop loving."

"Love each other as Jesus loved us.  He has given nothing less than his life for us.  Therefore, we must give what is most precious in us."

"Love each other...If we are not able to accept this commandment, the entire Church of Christ will fall in on itself."

"The more one is close to God, the more one loves one's neighbor."

"When we love each other--bringing into our homes the peace, the joy and the presence of the Lord--we can conquer every evil in the world."

"Love is a ripe fruit in all seasons, and it is within everyone's reach."

"Love cannot stay buried in the heart.  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a bushel basket; instead we put it on a lamp stand so that it can illuminate the whole house."

"If we truly want to love, we must give until it hurts."

"We must fear God out of love, not love Him out of fear."~St. Francis de Sales~

"The proof of love is in the works.  Where love exists, it works great things.  But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.~Pope St. Gregory the Great~

"To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness, but the greatness of its humility."~St. John of the Cross~

"The more lofty the degree of loving union to which God destines the soul, so much more profound and persistent must be its purification."~St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross~

Don't forget to see the Catholic Icing St. Valentine Link-Up for more great ideas!

 

Let's Talk About Love

Neighbors and Friends

I've been thinking about love quite a bit lately.  Not romantic love but the love that God asks us to have for our neighbor.  You know, the Second Greatest Commandment...You shall love your neighbor as yourself?" (Matthew 22:39)
My pondering began with this profound post by Christine, followed by another beautiful post by Anne.
Then I was reminded of many of the incredible ways that Mother Teresa talks about love as we celebrated the 100th Anniversary of her birth.
I've come to realize what a barrier that our judgements (of one another) can be to love.  As Mother Teresa said:  "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
These were the words from Christine's morning reading:

"But how is this government of the tongue to be practised? The very detailing of the evils will implicitly at least suggest the remedies. Listen to an hour of conversation in any Christian company. How much of it turns, almost of necessity as it would seem, on the actions and character of others! The meaning of judging others appears to be this: the judgment seat of our Divine Lord is as it were already set up on the earth. But it is empty. It is waiting for Him. We, meanwhile, unmannerly and unbidden, keep ascending the steps, enthroning ourselves upon His seat, and anticipating and mimicking His judgment of our brethren. To put it in this way brings home to us the wretchedness of what we are doing. It will also surely assist us in endeavoring to cleanse our conversation of so much unnecessary canvassing of the motives and actions of others. Yet, for the most part we have gone far along our road in devotion and done ourselves many an irreparable mischief, before we bestow half the carefulness on the government of our tongue, which it not only deserves, but imperiously requires."

~ Rev. Frederick William Faber, Growth In Holiness,72.

We stopped to verbalize our admiration of the children in our neighborhood.  The circle of children who   enjoy playing and exploring God's world around us are made up of devout Catholics, Mormans, and Non-Denominational Christians.  On each side of these 3 faiths live 2 Hindu families that live peacefully and lovingly among us.  Personally, I feel blessed.  The children model what Jesus has taught us in Matthew 22.  They show love, friendship and compassion towards one another, without regards to their religion.  No they aren't perfect but the occasional personality conflict affords a great opportunity to talk about Matthew 22.  It serves as a good reminder to us as parents at the same time!

Mrs. G and I have a healthy relationship and mutual love for Our Lord.  Though she is not Catholic, I love her still the same.  She strives to do the work of the Lord and I respect her greatly.  I am grateful that we can discuss our differences, yet agree on seeking and giving the same love that Our Lord is asking of us.  I think this might be a rare blessing...

From the depth of my soul I am secure and blessed by our Catholic faith but also realize that as Christians, we are responsible for our love.  I admire Mother Teresa for her eyes of love.  She didn't look at race or religion when she picked the dying off the street.  She didn't question or judge their lifestyle or the reason why they lay dying.  She saw each person made in the image and likeness of God.  But this is difficult in our world lacking of Mother Teresa's.  Let's face it, this kind of love is hard to come by and live by!  Too often we see weakness in ourselves and others and we are quick to judge.  And there goes love, out the window.

One again, Mother Teresa has wise words: "Sometimes, in the church, there is a struggle when we see one another's weakness.  Unless we have trust, it is impossible to live a pure and holy life.  We must have respect for each other.  We must realize that if God chose me, he chose you, too.   If he trusts me, he trusts you, too."

Though we all know this isn't easy, love is required and our heaven depends on it.

"Be kind and loving with each other, for you cannot love Christ in his distressing disguise if you cannot love Jesus in the heart of your neighbors." 

~Mother Teresa~

I am updating this post to include a beautiful link that Anne recommended to a lovely Christian Woman named Sarah Mae and her Warm Cup of Coffee.  Her recent writing about love was absolutely perfect!  She said the words that I wish I would have said myself...Thank you, Sarah Mae.