Hope everyone is staying cool and despite the heat, managing to find respite in a shady corner with a cool drink...and maybe knitting a few rows!!!! Our shawls are all so unique...the colors and patterns we choose and the hands that make them. The miracle of creativity is that each of us brings something beautiful to the world, something no one else has to offer.  

"What is the rainbow? Sunlight turned back to our eye through drops of falling rain. What sign could be more simple? And yet what sign could be more perfect?"
               Charles Kingsley... from "God's Covenant"

I hope everyone had the pleasure of seeing this beautiful rainbow this afternoon!

"There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick it up in your hands and weave it into cloth that feels like life itself."
                        John Gregory Brown

A heartfelt thank you to God our Father for the fathers who gave us life and love!

 "Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born."  Dale Turner

As you begin to knit your shawl think of it as a new form of beauty waiting to be born, a gift of comfort and hope for someone,, a new dream of creating something beautiful.

The last meeting for the 2011-2012 season of our knitting ministry

Today's meeting was our last gathering until September. Our time together was filled with prayer, laughter, stories and of course .. knitting. We are truly a blessed ministry...may God watch over us and keep us safe as we spend the summer months enjoying the gifts that Mother Nature brings to our beautiful New England. The poem below sums it up perfectly. See you all in September. Keep checking back...I will still be posting on our blog in the hopes that we find some new knitters to welcome in the Fall!

For flowers that bloom about our feet
for tender grass, so fresh and sweet
For song of bird and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see
Father in Heaven, we thank Thee!
          Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 6th Sunday of Easter

Mother's Day

Gospel reading John 15: 9-17
"Love one another as I have loved you"...True love is self-giving for the sake of another...
isn't that what our ministry is all about? Knitting all of God's love into our shawls so that someone can be wrapped with a big warm hug from Him?
Happy Mother's today to all of our knitters and wrappers who also give unconditional love to their families.

May 6, 2012 - The Fifth Sunday of Easter

"Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on it's own, unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me."
Gospel reading - John 15:1-8
Before you begin knitting, look at your needles, your yarn, your stitches....think of the needles as God's hands, strong and comforting, guiding  your hands... together  you are creating a vine that branches out into something beautiful. Without God's hands holding yours while you are knitting your shawls, they are just threads woven together without purpose.

April 29, 2012, fourth Sunday of Easter

The Lord tends his flock like a shepherd
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to His heart
He gently leads those that have young.
Isaiah 40:11
    As you knit, realize that your arms are not only the receivers of comfort and security, but they are givers of these blessings as well.
      From: Soul Retreats for Moms

This is the opening prayer that Marti read at our April meeting...a lovely, joyful prayer to begin your knitting. 

Falling in Love
Attributed to Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ (1907-1991)

Nothing is more practical than finding God,
than falling in love.
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in Love
and it will decide everything.

week of April 15, 2012

The blog will not be posted this week because of some technical difficulties with the server....our next ministry meeting will be on May 19 ....this will be the last meeting until September. Hope to see you there!

Easter Sunday,2012

Good morning and Happy Easter to all of our ministry members!


 On Easter Day the lilies bloom,
triumphant, risen from their tomb
their bulbs have undergone rebirth
born from the silence of the earth
symbolically to tell all men,
that Christ the Savior, lives again
        June Masters Bacher
from: Refresh my Heart in Spring

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

Good morning....as we approach the end of our Lenten journey, take time to sit with your knitting ...place your palm branch close by and reflect on the days that are coming....the sufferings of Christ, the suffering of the people that are wrapped in our shawls...our own personal suffering and troubles. This lovely quotation from Louisa May Alcott is so appropriate for thoughtful and mindful knitting: "Sometimes, when we least expect it, a small cross proves a lovely crown."         

March 25, 2012 - 5th Sunday of Lent

As our Lenten journey continues, let us also see our knitting as our own personal journey...each stitch, each row draws us ever closer to the completion of our shawl and ever closer to God.  

"When you give of yourself, you receive more than you give"...Antoine De Saint-Exupery

March 20, 2012

My apologies...the blog was not posted Sunday,  but I thought this quote would be appropriate for our knitting ministry and our continuing journey through Lent...Happy first day of spring to our knitters and wrappers!

 "Happy are they who make daily progress and who consider not what they did yesterday but what advance they can make today."

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Today's readings focus on anger and forgiveness and how to respond and react in humility and love. I thought this poem would be a wonderful way to begin your knitting this week.
               Dwell on the Gladness

Life is too short to dwell on my sorrows
to harbor my grudges in bitter tomorrows
Life is too short to dwell on my pain
to play and replay some vengeful refrain
Life is too sweet to waste precious minutes
in nursing resentment, self-righteousness in it
Then, let me not dwell on life's sorrow and sadness
Oh Lord, let me think of life's blessings, with gladness.
                                      by Nancy Neff Dostie
                                      from "Keepsakes"the Salesian Collection

Sunday, March 4, 2012

This is such a lovely poem...perfect for our ministry and what we share with others

We leave His mark on each kind deed
that we bestow on those in need
We leave His mark when we show we care
for a lonely soul who has known despair

We leave His mark on each bright day
that we have chosen to pave the way
We sing the praises of heaven above
as we spread the joys of hope and love
    by Catherine Janssen
   (from Keepsakes, The Salesian Collection)

Sunday, February 26,2012

The First Sunday of Lent...from today's responsorial psalm:
"Make known to me your way Lord, teach me your paths"

Is your ministry part of God's plan and path for your life? As you walk with Jesus during these days of Lent, ask Him to guide your needles and hands, so you may continue to knit and bring comfort to others with your shawls.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

"Blessed is the one who has regard for the lowly and the poor" Psalms 41:2-3

When you take up  your knitting in these last days before Lent, reflect on the following: "Giving is a joy, if we do it in the right spirit. It all depends on whether we think of it as "what can I spare" or as "what can I share?"
                        Esther Burkholder...Quiet Whispers from God's Heart

Sunday, February 5, 2012

"This is the exactly the place God means me to be, in the place I am capable of filling; there is no mistake. My life is in  the proper setting"
Anna Robertson Brown

This is a lovely thought...as you knit, reflect on it, know that you are doing exactly what God wants you to do at that moment.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

A little humor to brighten up a cold winter day..keep those needles clicking!
                                         
                                                 A Knitter's Prayer   
 God grant me the serenity to accept the yarn I cannot return  the courage to change the yarn I can and the receipt to know the difference