a spiritual bouquet

*NOTE* In this post, I will be using the real names of a school and person.

For those who are unaware, the homeschooling movement is sweeping the nation. Approximately 1.5 million kids were homeschooled in 2007, and this number has continued to grow. Many, though not all, homeschool for religious reasons. Many books and curricula are available for the homeschooling mother, as well as accredited schools that their children can receive diplomas from.

One such school is Mother of Divine Grace Academy, MODG for short. Based in Ojai, California, the school was founded by Laura Berquist in 1995 for Catholic homeschooling mothers. Currently, over 3,500 students are enrolled, from multiple countries and most, if not all 50 states.

For those who did not know, I graduated from this school. I know Mrs. Berquist well, as well as several of her children. And because of this, I have a plea to make for the Berquist family.

Laura's husband, Marcus, has been struggling with a severe illness for about the last six months. He had to return to the hospital about a week ago, and received a verdict - he has a fungal lung infection and days, maybe weeks, if he's lucky months, left to live. The whole family, which is involved in the running of MODG, is working extremely hard to continue business as normal.

I would like to offer them as many prayers as I can, both for his healing, a peaceful death, and strength for the family. In the Catholic Church, when these prayers are bundled together like I'm trying to do, we call it a spiritual bouquet. See, each prayer or sacrifice is like a spiritual flower, and a bunch of flowers is a bouquet.

If you would like to contribute to this bouquet, please comment and tell what you're doing - if you're fasting, giving a donation to a charity in their honor, saying an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy, just an intercessory prayer...just state what you are going to do for the family.

I truly hope that you'll prayerfully consider helping the Berquist family with your prayers. May God bless you.

-enna