A little slice of joy

A reader writes:

I wanted to pass this video along as just a beautiful and lighthearted distillation of the joy found in ordinary Catholic family life. Our good friends, the parents of the gorgeous little girls in this video, have prayerfully accepted a life of material want for the sake of the Church and for their family life. Michael, the father, is an exquisitely gifted guitarist and musician, yet has left his pursuit of worldly glory in order to nurture his children, spend time with them, and offer his presence daily in their lives. He is the music director for a local parish and teaches part-time at a nearby university, but his vocation as husband and father remains his primary focus. And it shows in this raucous, fun-crazy, prayer-loving, full-of-joy family!

They have five children – Michael, Mara Faustina, Catherine Sophia, Felicity, and Anastasia. The children have grown to love the Eucharist so much that Catey (#3, and the hilarious, wild one in the video), wept tears of joy upon receiving her first communion this past May. In preparation, she would spend hours in prayer and adoration, filling her little forget-me-not blue journal with love letters to Jesus.

Felicity, the six-year-old, is something of a little prodigy and wrote this adorably endearing song – words and melody – all on her own. It showcases, I think, the richness and lightness and purity of Joy – singing a little melody and dancing with her sisters, I feel like little Felicity is letting us witness what Chesterton calls “the gigantic secret of the Christian”. They even built a pond in their backyard, dedicated to Mary, in order to have a spot to say family rosaries outside in the evening. In between doing cartwheels with a guitar, they pause to pray with zero disconnect – it is fluid and natural and real and alive, a sweet snapshot of something beautiful!

The father, Mike, produced and recorded the song – Felicity sings with her sisters, Mara and Catey, as back-ups. The babies – their little Anastasia and our wee one, Vivian, make for some scrumptious cameos. Their uncle Brian shot the video on his i-phone, and the rest is history.

A slice of summer, as it’s meant to be

Behold!

I love how technology is allowing everybody to be their own media producer and busting up the monopolistic stranglehold of corporations. Very Chestertonian.