Saturday Thoughts from a Busy Week

Wedding Thoughts

While I am running around town with the children, my wife will be attending the wedding shower for a young woman who has served as a babysitter for the Noisykids. We are happy for her, and her fiance is a good man, but her marriage means that she will be moving on to other more challenging events in her life.

I haven't spoken to her father yet, but I would share this thought with him, one that will put it all in perspective: he is not losing a daughter, I am losing a babsitter!

11th Birthday Celebration

Wednesday and Thursday were two days to celebrate the birthday of my 11 year old son. He is the youngest of the Michigan Children; he moved to Texas when he was less than 4 months old.

We went to a Mexican restaurant on Wednesday and had dessert on Thursday at home. The dining room was decorated with dogs suspended from the ceiling - Histor the Wise has pictures here. My son really likes dogs, which leads to the next part of this blog:

Getting a Dog

An Australian Sheepdog, no less.

It has no tail, and it is rather furry, so it looks as if we have a bear living with us.

Day #33, Final Day of Total Consecration according to Saint Louis De Montfort

Today I will pray the prayer of Total Consecration to Jesus. This marks the 4th time over the past 20 years that I have given all that I have, all that I have merited(not much) to Jesus through His Immaculate Mother. My biggest motivation for doing this has been my recent health problems, which I mention here and here, to point out a few blog entries.

As one of my partners in the Air Force put it, I am hearing the 'footsteps' coming up behind me; the past few months have made me start to realize that my time on earth is limited, and that all I do from this day onward must be pleasing to God. Therefore, I believe that repeating this consecration is in order. I am working on being better prepared for death by being better prepared for life.

Here is the prayer I will be praying:


Consecration to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, through the Blessed Virgin Mary

O Eternal and incarnate Wisdom! 0 sweetest and most adorable Jesus! True God and true man, only Son of the Eternal Father, and of Mary, always virgin! I adore Thee profoundly in the bosom and splendors of Thy Father during eternity; and I adore Thee also in the virginal bosom of Mary, Thy most worthy Mother, in the time of Thine incarnation.

I give Thee thanks for that Thou hast annihilated Thyself, taking the form of a slave in order to rescue me from the cruel slavery of the devil. I praise and glorify Thee for that Thou hast been pleased to submit Thyself to Mary, Thy holy Mother, in all things, in order to make me Thy faithful slave through her. But, alas! Ungrateful and faithless as I have been, I have not kept the promises which I made so solemnly to Thee in my Baptism; I have not fulfilled my obligations; I do not deserve to be called Thy child, nor yet Thy slave; and as there is nothing in me which does not merit Thine anger and Thy repulse, I dare not come by myself before Thy most holy and august Majesty. It is on this account that I have recourse to the intercession of Thy most holy Mother, whom Thou hast given me for a mediatrix with Thee. It is through her that I hope to obtain of Thee contrition, the pardon of my sins, and the acquisition and preservation of wisdom.

Hail, then, 0 immaculate Mary, living tabernacle of the Divinity, where the Eternal Wisdom willed to be hidden and to be adored by angels and by men! Hail, 0 Queen of Heaven and earth, to whose empire everything is subject which is under God. Hail, 0 sure refuge of sinners, whose mercy fails no one. Hear the desires which I have of the Divine Wisdom; and for that end receive the vows and offerings which in my lowliness I present to thee.

I, dadwithnoisykids, a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in thy hands the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before.

In the presence of all the heavenly court I choose thee this day for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God in time and in eternity.

Receive, 0 benignant Virgin, this little offering of my slavery, in honor of, and in union with, that subjection which the Eternal Wisdom deigned to have to thy maternity; in homage to the power which both of you have over this poor sinner, and in thanksgiving for the privileges with which the Holy Trinity has favored thee. I declare that I wish henceforth, as thy true slave, to seek thy honor and to obey thee in all things.

O admirable Mother, present me to thy dear Son as His eternal slave, so that as He has redeemed me by thee, by thee He may receive me! 0 Mother of mercy, grant me the grace to obtain the true Wisdom of God; and for that end receive me among those whom thou lovest and teachest, whom thou leadest, nourishest and protectest as thy children and thy slaves.

0 faithful Virgin, make me in all things so perfect a disciple, imitator and slave of the Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ thy Son, that I may attain, by thine intercession and by thine example, to the fullness of His age on earth and of His glory in Heaven. Amen.


[Electronic Signature] dadwithnoisykids
April 28, 2007


Interesting Articles

I found this article on the Catholic Dads Blog. It shows how men are meant to serve our families, our spouses, and society in general. Our salvation comes through us working for the good of man and for the greater glory of God.

Here is a note about a cardiothoracic surgeon who apparently did just that. I never knew this about him. One of the first cardiothoracic procedures I did as a fellow was a re-do Rastelli procedure.