Sunday, September 29, 2013

Grace-filled wedding day

I am about to collapse into a week-long coma, but before I do, here is a snapshot of the family after my daughter's nuptial mass yesterday. It was a dream.



Thank you for all your prayers and well-wishes, and I will post the official photos once we get them from the photographer!




54 comments:

  1. Too funny! I literally just sent you an email asking for photos! Should've rechecked the feed.

    Congratulations! It looks as though you enjoyed a grace-filled, beautiful day! I love the gowns! Ooh, la la, mother of the bride! That's probably one of the best MOB gowns I've seen.

    Your church looks like a real, classic Catholic church, too, like mine, which has the 1970s, Protestant style. :-(

    More photos, please!

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  2. Beautiful, Leila! Blessings to all.

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  3. Stunning. Thank-you for sharing :)

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  4. Who's the hot lady next to the bride? ;) That is one beautiful family and one blessed day. Congrats!!

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  5. congrats!! your family is ever expanding! enjoy!

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  6. Dean is fine! :) Oh and the Bride and Mother of the Bride!

    Her dress is stunning!

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  7. Beautiful! Can I just say that you do not look old enough to have a daughter old enough to be married... but must be all that joy radiating from you!

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  8. What a great pic. The oldest of EIGHT! I love it. Just think how different this family picture will look when/if the baby gets married. All the grandchildren. All the spouses. You won't all fit in the frame!

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  9. What a beautiful, happy family! Many heartfelt congratulations to the newly-weds and you and Dan!

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  10. When I look at days such as this, I can see how well Catholicism works as a worldview. You really can't ask for more. I guess my biggest gripe with it is its intolerance of any other worldview. You could ask the question: if we have a worldview that we know works, why consider those that probably don't work as well?

    That is the attitude of most of the commenters on this site. The answer to me is that the Catholic worldview is based on imaginary concepts. So even though it works, it is not grounded in reality and therefore cannot be a worldview for anyone interested in the real truth about life and this world in which we live.

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    1. Why do you say it's not grounded in reality? It's my reality. :) Honestly, each day life comes with choices and there are right ways and wrong ways, selfish answers and selfless alike. It is up to us to persevere and choose the path which promotes the Goodness, Truth, and Beauty of God. If we do this, we will live joyful and fruitful lives with purpose and fulfillment. The reason we look around and see pain and suffering everywhere we look is partly due to us choosing the more selfish path. This could be minimized by the world choosing Catholicism (freely). The Church proposes, not imposes, so it is up to each of us to begin seeking to follow God's will for our lives.

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  11. Thank you all! And Bill, you have the Truth, do you? ;)

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  12. My truth is simple. No supernatural. No way. No how. You did a great job raising a great family. But it all was by natural means. No divine intervention was needed.

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  13. Okay, Bill. :) You have your "truth" and I have mine. :) They are mutually exclusive and contradictory, so one of us is very, very wrong.

    "The modern habit of saying, 'Every man has a different philosophy; this is my philosophy and it suits me'--the habit of saying this is mere weak mindedness. A cosmic philosophy is not constructed to fit a man; a cosmic philosophy is constructed to fit a cosmos. A man can no more possess a private religion than he can possess a private sun and moon." -- G. K. Chesterton

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  14. By the way… if you knew me, you'd know that I couldn't raise this brood without supernatural aid every single day. Trust me on this! This I know. :)

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  15. I'm not sure if Bill can be taken seriously or WANTS to be taken seriously. Perhaps he's playing a game, positing that the truth is such and such, as he perceives Catholics to be making claims, thus aiming to UNMASK our own little game (as he perceives it). But he gives hardly any reasoned arguments. He doesn't seem to be very interested in engaging in arguments. He likes to judge and condemn Catholics, however, something he simultaneously accuses Catholics and the Church of.

    So I'm not sure why he should be engaged? Bill, are you willing and interested in engaging arguments about truth?

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  16. Bill, are you willing and interested in engaging arguments about truth?

    Only if you resolve to use reason and logic and not resort to the metaphysical.

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  17. The modern habit of saying, 'Every man has a different philosophy; this is my philosophy and it suits me'--the habit of saying this is mere weak mindedness.

    Argh! That's the kind of attitude that makes people think that there is only one truth, their truth. And just about everyone who says that is wrong.

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  18. But Bill, I'm still struggling to understand by what reasonable and logical argument you come to the conclusion that God does not exist?! We're all for logic and reason around here, but of course it applies both ways.

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  19. if you knew me, you'd know that I couldn't raise this brood without supernatural aid every single day.

    That is humility. It's one of the virtues that come from living a good Christian life. The truth, by my worldview, is that it is all your doing. But, since your worldview is working so well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

    Then all you have to do is learn and teach tolerance of other worldviews.

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  20. Congratulations! My youngest sister-in-law was also married this weekend up in the valley. You couldn't have asked for better weather.

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  21. First I thought " Wow, what a gorgeous bride. Leila must be taking the picture. Wait, why is Dean standing next to the bridesmaid? No Wait.....! Cecilia says your dress is almost as amazing as you. All look great , even the littles ones are chin up and sharp as a tac. Congratulations on the epic milestone and achievement. You guys are so so rich! May Gods Archangels forever watch over your flock.

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  22. And Bill, why don't you give that big brain a rest before you have a meltdown and radiation leak and they end up having to evacuate the neighbor. I mean really, today?

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  23. I'm still struggling to understand by what reasonable and logical argument you come to the conclusion that God does not exist?!

    This is what you have to do. Look at the whole of life from the Big Bang to the present and go through the whole sequence twice. First, assume that there is such a thing as the supernatural and that the God of the Bible does really exist. Then go through the whole thing again with the assumption that there is no supernatural and that everything has a natural explanation. Compare the two and pick the one that makes the most sense. You will find that, while there appears to be an intelligence behind things like the laws of nature, that intelligence does not match the God described in the Bible. Call the Biblical character "God" and the intelligence "Nature" and it becomes obvious that Nature exists but God does not.

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  24. Bill - what makes your "truth" right and the truth that the Catholic Church has proclaimed (often under intense persecution) for 2,000+ years wrong? I think the burden to show proof is on you!

    Also, Bill, come home! Allow yourself to fall into the merciful arms of God, and He will embrace you at once. I pray that you will come home to the Catholic Church. I think in one comment on a different post you said you were happier when you were in the Church. Put aside your "world view" and come to know Christ, because I believe if you come to know Him, you will love Him, and you will be happy again. He waits for you. Come home!

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  25. Leila,
    Congratulations! What an exciting time for your family. What a nice looking family too. The picture turned out great! I pray the God will bless your daughters marriage.

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  26. Lovely! What is in your daughter's bouquet? Amazing details on her wedding gown- congrats to all. And that church - gorgeous art/architectural detail.

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  27. Chris,

    I agree. Not today. My bad.

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  28. Sorry Bill, I tried really hard, but couldn't detect a logical argument or reasoning in your response to me, just declarations. I admit I'm really dense, so perhaps you can help me out what I missed?

    I will be able to comment again tomorrow as I am off now to spend time with the family. Perhaps we should have this discussion on a separate thread, too, not the one celebrating Leila's daughter's wedding.

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  29. Sebastian,

    We are not going to change our respective worldviews no matter what thread we argue on. I merely was pointing out that when you look at the photo, one thing it shows is that the Catholic worldview works quite well. It begs the question: if it works so well, why consider any other? But, as we know, there are others that work as well that conflict with this one. They, too deserve to be respected.

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  30. How on earth do you get all your kids (I'm thinking of mainly the little ones) to look at the camera and smile at the same time???? What a great shot! You all look great!

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  31. Very nice.
    Let the sacrificing begin!

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  32. So happy for you and your beautiful family!!! Come on, grandbabies! :)

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  33. Congratulations to you and your family! Special prayers being said for the beautiful bride and her handsome groom! May God Bless them and the whole family!

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  34. Hi Bill
    I agree with most all of your points (I dropped back into the bubble, after an absence, to read the last thread), and appreciate your honesty and intention. However, in this thread Leila is sharing about her daughter's wedding day. Can we just rejoice with her without jumping on another opportunity to present opposing viewpoints?

    I don't want to shush you or be disrespectful, but Leila is gracious in allowing people (like ourselves) who have very different ideas than she does to express our thoughts (other blogs will boot you right off if you say one challenging thing). Maybe we can return the favor by celebrating this wonderful event in her life.

    Best to you.

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  35. Johanne, when you first commented I was so thrilled to see you back and meant to mention that. Your second comment here has motivated me to take the "Yay, Johanne is here!" out of my head and into my keyboard. :)

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  36. Simply beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

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  37. Johanne,

    Sorry. I got side tracked. The main intent of my first comment was to say that the photo of Leila's family is proof positive that Catholicism works as a worldview. I should have just left it at that. But, since I don't believe in the supernatural, I had to open my big mouth and say something to the effect that, even though it works, it is not based on reality. That's where I shot myself in the foot. I should have left it as what I thought was a complement but I said too much.

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  38. What a lovely family! Congratulations, Leila! That picture is pure joy.

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  39. Beautiful! My dad is one of 10...it is so fun looking through the family photos at each wedding progressively adding more and more people...the latest wedding, my cousin's, had my grandma, my dad and his 9 siblings, their spouses, 40 of their children, 15 or so of their children's spouses and 25 children from those marriages so far! I imagine your family photos will look much the same as the years go on. Congratulations.

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  40. Best of luck to you and your big family. And best of luck to the bride and groom too!

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  41. What a beautiful photo! Congratulations to your whole family :)

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  42. Congrats! What a beautiful family! Pictures like this really make me smile. God Bless!

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  43. Congratulations! Your whole family looks beautiful and happy! God bless the newly married couple!

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  44. I like the dress. Leila, you are proof the MOB doesn't mean frumpy. Okay, the week is over, so I'm looking forward to more posts. Please come out of your pretend coma and write more.

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  45. Yeah Leila, quit faking this exhaustion thing and get back to work. We need more wedding details and photos please.
    I love the end of today's gospel. It makes me feel privileged and just stupid lucky .

    "Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
    For I say to you,
    many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

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  46. You guys are cracking me up. Okay, I'll try to return to the blog world! And Chris, amen on that last part.

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  47. Hi,

    I've had a religious experience. Whenever I start overthinking things, I just say "Jesus, I trust in you" and my mind experiences a sense of perfect peace. I won't be playing the devil's advocate anymore.

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  48. Bill, that is beautiful. God is with you. I am grateful to Him for being the Hound of Heaven, and tracking you down once again… I know anyone who reads this will be praying for you.

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  49. That is great Bill! I have been praying for you. That is a great, short prayer. "Jesus, I trust in you". God bless!

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  50. Thank you Mike and Leila. One of the downsides to opting for a small family is that I don't have any grandchildren yet. I'm sure my time could be better spent with them than with the New Atheists. Had my life had the meaning and purpose that being a grandpa would bring, I might not have found myself in that situation.

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