Today is the feast of St. John Bosco. Today, however, Father has chosen to highlight St. Alban Roe.

Father writes, “St Alban Roe was a monk of our community when we were based at Dieulouard in Lorraine, France. We had been monks of Westminster Abbey. After being driven out by persecution we eventually restarted at Dieulouard and sent missionaries into England.. Another base at Douai in Belgium was doing the same thing. About six of their men were martyred. Sat Alban Roe is our only martyr. He was caught and imprisoned, but was allowed out in the daytime on his word of honour to return at nightfall. He ministered to many hidden Catholics in that part of London for fourteen years. He preserved his ministry by keeping his word of honour. Then government attitude returned to harsh persecution, and he and St John Reynolds, a secular priest, both old men, were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn..
I have used the readings for Week 4 Wednesday. The gospel and St Alban fit together quite well.”

Incidentally, St. Alban Roe is included on the Feast of 40 Martyrs on 25 October - the birthdate of our Louis, and the birth of our daughter Caroline (who was born 23 October!) is registered in Bury St. Edmunds! Nice neat packages God gives us sometimes!

The flock, that is. Rabid, crazy, sheep… Also known as my children. I’ve been working on a project (what else is new) that requires the house to be absolutely quiet. So today, of course, is the day that they find the recorder Papa has hidden away upstairs and today is the day that dragons must be slain in the room where Mama is working and TODAY is the day that the dog must, SIMPLY must bark himself hoarse. Isn’t it just the way? What should have taken just two minutes to accomplish has taken hours. I’m losing little bits of my mind all over the house. They know this very well because I keep telling them. There’s only one explanation… They’re trying to kill me.

Wednesday, 31 January for a Chaplet of Divine Mercy for Amy. You may remember that Amy is a young mom of four children - her eldest is only 5 years old. Just before Christmas, Amy was diagnosed with angiosarcoma - a very aggressive form of cancer. Tomorrow, she will be having surgery to remove a tumor. It is my fervent prayer that the surgeon’s hands will be guided and that Amy will make a swift and full recovery.

For today, Sunday 28th January. If you’ll look at the righthand sidebar, you’ll notice the Mass readings for each day. Often, Father will quote from one of the other scripture readings for the day and you may find it helpful to read those first.

For those homeschooling moms out there, Father has included quite a moving exercise drawn from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. It’s a keeper!

Saturday’s Homily from Father’s desk… Trust in Him more every day.

Oh, I’m in ecstasies! I just visited Maud’s website and found these mittens. Aren’t they delish? I’ll need to go to confession, I’ve never coveted anything in my life so much as these mittens.

Maud lives in Finland and is a fellow member of the Take Peace list, which is dedicated to living lives of simplicity after the example of the venerable Tasha Tudor.

Saints Timothy and Titus.

The conversion of St. Paul

The Feast of Saint Francis de Sales!

Brian brought home our portion of the produce order from the store just after midnight. I woke to the beautiful scent of fresh produce in my kitchen. Believe me, the stuff in the store has got nothing on what we have here. I’m not sure if the difference is because we stock organic as opposed to conventional. The flavour is certainly better, so it stands to reason that the scent would be better.

There was a wee little mistake in the order (it happens frequently). We received a full case of broccoli instead of a half case. What is your favorite broccoli recipe? Back to Tuesday Tucker - only today on a Wednesday… =))