Prayers to St. Jude for the Economy

Just for the record: I do NOT think the nation is on the brink of another great depression. Let me repeat that in a positive way: Personally, I think that we, as a nation, will pull through the present economic crises.

However, for people who have lost their homes, for people who have lost or are in danger of losing their jobs, for young people (and old) who are struggling to find jobs, the crisis is very real. So let us pray for our own families and for all those who are in financial need of any kind.

In case anyone would like to join me again in praying the Novena to St. Jude, I am going to include it here again. Interestingly, it was five months ago that I posted it, but people have continued to leave comments, thanking St. Jude for favors. Sometimes someone asks us to include them in our St. Jude novena, not realizing, I think, that the post they have found is from the past...So then I start thinking, hmm, maybe I should be saying a perpetual St. Jude novena with, and for, all these people.

So today I have restructured my sidebar so that you can more quickly get to the Scripture and Prayers link, from which you can easily get to the St. Jude Novena link.

But, once again...

I am taking this novena from a book called The Catholic Family Book of Novenas, copyright 1956 by John J. Crawley & Co. with Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur. (For you who are non-Catholics, those two Latin names grant permission to publish and assurance that the prayes are approved by the Catholic Church. And a "novena" is a prayer repeated for a specified period of time, often for nine days. The repetition shows perseverance as in the parable, where Jesus said that if someone keeps knocing on the door, the master of the house will let him in just because he keeps knocking).

I am posting these prayers in good faith, assuming that the 1956 copyright has expired. If I find out that the copyright was renewed, I will remove this from my blog.

NOVENA TO ST. JUDE

INTRODUCTORY PRAYER:
Glorious Saint Jude, by those sublime prerogatives wherewith thou wast enobled in thy lifetime namely, Thy kinship with Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh and thy vocation to be an apostle, by that glory which now is thine in heaven as the reward of thy apostolic labor and thy martyrdom, obtain from me from the Giver of every good gift and every perfect gift all the graces whereof I stand in need, especially [Here mention your request.], in order to treasure up in my heart the divinely inspired doctrines which thou has transmitted to us in Thy epistle, that is to say, to build our edifice of perfection upon our most holy faith, praying by the grace of the Holy Spirit to keep ourselves in the love of God by all means, to help them that go astray, exulting thus the glory and majesty, the dominion and power of Him Who is able to keep us without sin, and to present us spotless, with exceeding joy, at the coming of our Divine Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

FIRST DAY:
O Blessed Apostle Saint Jude, who labored so zealously for the conversion of the Gentiles in many lands, and performed numerous miracles in needful and despairing cases, we invoke thee to take a special interest in us and in our needs. We feel that you understand us in a particular way. Hear our prayer and our petitions and plead for us in all our necessities especially [here mention your intentions.]. May we be patient in finding out God's Holy Will and courageous in carrying it out.

Saint Jude, pray for us!
My Jesus, mercy.

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You can find the prayers for all nine days of the St. Jude Novena by visiting the Scriptures and Prayers page.

Busy, Busy...Preparing for High School Again

Time to get ready for school!

Actually, it was probably time a while back...but I was busy moving...and busy working...and busy traveling to Joe's Air Force graduation. Of course,we did do quite a bit of our planning a few months ago. It's just a matter of pulling it all together now.

For example, I still need to sign up for Netflix. Yep, that is going to be a part of our curriculum for world history. Since Peter is visually impaired but not blind, he enjoys movies a lot. I bought a guide to help me find pertinent movies, called Learning with the Movies by Beth Holland. If you're interested in bringing the cultures of historical times to life for your student in this way, in addition to this great book, there is also a Learning with the Movies website.

We still need to get Peter signed up with Hadley School for the Blind for their English Skills correspondence course. He will get the lessons on cassette...and then, of course, write or type his work.

For science, we bought Biology 101, also from Timberdoodle. It's a Christian program presented on DVDs. They say this about the course:

"Biology 101 is best for students who:
1. Would benefit from an overview before an intense biology study.
2. Struggle with textbook learning but readily learn via discussions.
3. Are not college-bound but need the basics of biology."
BUT, they go on to say: "With initiative, Biology 101 can also be used as a fullblown accredited biology course. Towards that end a printable PDF file with a 12-page Course Accreditation Program booklet is included on disc 4." We plan to make it into a "fullblown accredited biology course", because Peter definitely plans to go to college in a few years.

Once again, I am so grateful for the new (well, "newer") made-for-homeschoolers' math programs, called Teaching Textbooks. I would recommend these for everyone, but they do work particularly well for my son, as he can do the lesson from the book, using his video magnifier...after listening to the author present the lesson in real voice. While the lesson is being presented, he can watch the numbers, using his computer's screen magnification software.

For Religion, I plan on using the apologetics CDs by John Martignoni of Bible Christian Society, discussing them with him and having him write some appropriate papers. Since I have not yet listened to all of the CDs yet myself, this will be a learning process for both of us, and I will see what we think as we go along, remaining open to adding other resources as well.

The only thing left to work out for this year is what would be best for him to use to improve his Braille skills. He can read just about anything in Braille, but quite slowly. Because he can read print with his video magnifier and with computer magnification, and because he has excellent auditory comprehension, Braille has not been our primary focus the past few years. But I've been encouraged that it would benefit him in the future to become more proficient in Braille...which of course is why we taught him Braille in the first place. So I need to decide whether I will braille selections for him myself with the software and his Braille embosser; or whether we will have him just practice reading Braille books; or whether we should sign him up for a course with Hadley School for the Blind.

If you are a homeschooler, and you, too, are getting ready to begin schooling...well, I was going to wish you well...and I do; however, I'll bet you already have all your plans in place! If so, this tortoise will catch up with you when you stop for your nap.

A Proud Family

Last week all eight of us met in Alabama. The five of us in Maryland drove down in our fifteen year old minivan. (Thank you, God, for another safe trip!) Paul and his new guide dog "Chicago" flew from Northern Kentucky to Atlanta on a buddy pass, which Mary got from an airline friend. (Thanks, Kelly.) Mary picked Paul up at the Atlanta airport and they drove to Montgomery together.

We all came to attend Joe's graduation from Basic Officer's Training at Maxwell Air Force Base. We had a wonderful time being all together. And we are all very proud of Joe's success in qualifying for the program; his perseverance in getting through the very rigorous twelve weeks' training; and his commitment to serve his country.

Thank You for Your Prayers

My father is improving.

Thank you, and God bless.