jim henson

Please pray for this sweet little girl.   She is a friend of my cousin's daughter.
On her first day of kindergarten, she passed out at school and was later diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension.

She is now in Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, too sick for the heart-lung transplant she so desperately needs.  She's been on a heart-lung bypass machine, but can not stay on it indefinitely as it will weaken the rest of her organs.  They've done surgery where the doctors have put a small hole in her heart, to relieve the pressure, but so far, efforts to wean her from the machine have been unsuccessful.

This morning she is to have further surgery to implant a Novalung, which is something normally done on adults. The hope is to strengthen her for a heart-lung transplant.

At this point, her family is praying for a miracle.  They have spoken to a Passionist priest who is officially petitioning a new candidate for beatification, Father Theodore Foley, for a miracle for Molly.

Molly's Caring Bridge site is here.  Please stop by and offer a caring word to her family.

Also, there are many fund raisers going on for Molly's family.  If you feel so moved, please choose a way to offer financial support.

• WE ARE ASKING THAT ALL CASH DONATIONS BE MADE THROUGH THIS GROUP TO AVOID TAX IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FAMILY. Checks made payable to First State Mothers of Multiples. Put Dunne family in the Memo line Send to 2615 Dartmouth Woods road, wilm, DE 19810 and I will make sure they get where they need to go. There is an EIN number available if your company matches tax deductible donations
• online AVON event and 20% of all sales will go directly to Kristen and her family. Just follow the link, click the "shop my online event" button, register to order products and use the promotional code FORMOLLY at checkout.http://kimallen.avonrepresentative.com/online_event/view.php?rep_spnsr_evnt_id=54428
• SILPADA fundraiser. www.mysilpada.com/patricia.chamberlain Please call 302.236.0818 or email trish.chamberlain@yahoo.com  and paypal trishyc0815@hotmail.com To place your order.
• MARY KAY fundraiser by Lisa Chapman -purchases can be made by visitingwww.marykay.com/lchapman5
• Tastefully Simple Fundraiser - www.tastefullysimple.com/awilliamson1  After you select your order, in your cart you will see Host Look Up. Enter Andee Williamson & it will go towards the fundraiser.
• Friendly's Family Fun Night Fundraiser for Molly Tuesday 10/19 from 5pm-9pm on Kirkwood Highway, Wilm, DE. A portion of ALL sales that will go to the Pike Creek Moms Club and in turn donated to the Dunne's
• There will be a Thirty-One Gifts fundraiser started October 15th. Stay tuned for more info

Early October is chock full of important feast days.  Today is the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels.

See that you do not despise one of these little ones,  for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.

Guardian angels are something that the Church has believed in since its beginnings. Each of us is assigned a special guardian angel to protect and strengthen us.

We are literally never alone in this world.

Today is the feast of St.Therese of Lisieux--a very special saint.

She is seen by many as a syrupy-sweet childlike (even childish) saint for whom union with God came easy. But that is far from the truth.

Carmelnet has a very insightful article on the true spirituality of St. Therese, which was a great contrast to the tendencies of her time.

First, let's talk about her Little Way.  Therese used many diminutive words in talking about her relationship with God.  She called herself a "little ball", a "little hermit", a "little boat" and a "little drop of dew".  Far from focusing on her own immaturity, her spirituality sees God as the initiator and nurturer of the relationship and director of her faith. God cares enough to start the friendship with someone as "little" as Therese. Far from approaching him as "The Great Oz", we can run to God as a happy child runs to her beloved parent.

As a very small child, at the behest of her sister, Pauline, she used good deeds as a way to approach God and grow spiritually.  As an adult, though, she rejected that form of spirituality for a more mature faith based on love alone.  "In the evening of this life, I shall appear before You with empty hands," she said, "for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works."  There is no anxiety about being "good enough" for Therese knows she is "little" and God is Love.

This love-based faith was radical and counter cultural in its time.  France was still under the affect of Jansenism which focused on original sin and God's wrath.  Having just lost the Franco-Prussian war, the image was quite tempting to many in France at the time.

Theresa, however, found that her experience of God was very different.  She learned from the scriptures and from her family that God was love.  As she grew spiritually, she realized that nothing she could do would ever be able to earn her a place in heaven or placate the angry God of the Jansenists.  Instead, she realized, God was merciful and loving, and all she had to do, was to love Him back.

In this way, she is very much a spiritual mother to Saint Faustina.

We need St. Therese's radical trust in God now more than ever.  Many, many people are turning away from the God they think they know, when really they have been taught about a Jansenistic God and not the merciful, loving God at all.

Far from being a Victorian, old fashioned saint, St. Therese is a true saint for our own time.

The picture above is of St. Therese playing St. Joan of Arc in a play she wrote and directed.  Doesn't she look like someone who would make a good friend?