I have two posts "in the works" and have had for a while now. But I'm just not online hardly at all. The reason why? The "electronic idol" has been unplugged. We're going on a few months now, and it's been great (I confess to popping in a DVD into my CD/DVD on the computer to help a cranky kid wake up from a nap). The kids are playing Connect Four right now and I'm waiting for my daughter's bus to come, so I thought I'd remember my blog.
Life After Television: Teaching Our Children to Play Again
By Lisa Workman
Studies have made the news again regarding television and our children. What are they saying? Too much television is not good for our kids. The very presence of a television in your child’s room can be a determining factor in how well your kids do academically. Kids today are continuing to be “plugged in.”
What is the solution? Limit television viewing. Move the TV out of you kids’ rooms. Be involved in what they are watching.
Okay. We move the television into a common and give our kids time limits. Now what? A comment I hear often when people ask me about the Tokens for TV program is, what do my kids do now? Our kids are so used to being plugged in, they don’t know what to do. They’re bored.
It doesn’t matter if your children are 6 or 16, the answer is the same. It’s time to teach our kids how to play again. Having a time for quiet and play are important life skills. How else will their imagination start working on its own again?
Start with the following ideas to help your kids in their unplugged play:
Play a game. Dig our your board games. Checkers, Chess, Monopoly and Sorry! Are all great games.
Dig out the playing cards. Go Fish, Old Maid, War… There are even other specific card games such as Uno out there. You can also teach your children how to play solitaire.
Be a bookworm. Go to the library in your home or your community. Scour the thrift shops and yard sales. Be a part of a book exchange. There are also some great audio books available at the library. You can also purchase audio books at thrift stores, department stores and online.
Hands-on fun. Bring out the clay or play dough. Your teenagers may roll their eyes at this one too, but you would be surprised at how they will sit down and keep themselves entertained with this one. (And you don’t have to go out and buy your dough – have them help you make a batch. A recipe is included below.)
Build something. LEGO’s, Lincoln Logs and K’nex. How many of our kids still have these in the back of their closet? Don’t have these construction pieces? Try creating structures using toothpicks and connecting them together with green peas. Sounds funny, but it works! As the structures dry they become sturdier and you can keep them around for awhile.
Go outdoors. Outdoor games like marbles, jacks, hopscotch not only occupy your kids, they will also strengthen coordination skills. Too hot or cold out? The garage, basement and/or kitchen floors will work fine too.
Become an outdoor artist. Buy a tub of colored chalk from the local discount store and give your kids a theme to create their own masterpieces on your front or back sidewalks. Take pictures of them for your family album.
Are these new ideas? Of course not. But when our kids are given a choice of any of these “offline” activities or the chance to plug in to their TV or games, what are they going to choose? When you unplug your kids, they will learn how to play again simply because they have nothing else to do. They will find other activities to keep themselves entertained.
Be prepared for a little bit of whining or frustration on your kids’ part. It’s normal. It’s so much easier to sit in front of a screen with mindless entertainment. It won’t take long and your kids will be able to find other things to do instead of plugging in and tuning the world out.
Lisa Workman is the author of Tokens for TV: A Sensible Approach to Balancing Television, Video Game and Computer Activities. How much time does your child spend “plugged in” to some sort of electronic device? Get your FREE worksheet at www.tvtokens.com.
There are many variations of homemade play dough. The Internet or any kid’s craft book are great resources if you would like more ideas. There are edible versions as well (less clean up!). The following recipe contains items commonly found in most kitchens.
UNCOOKED SALT DOUGH
Ingredients:
3 cups of flour
1/4 cup of salt
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
1 cup of water
food coloring (liquid is best)
Instructions:
1. Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Add water and oil slowly.
3. Add desired amount of food coloring.
4. Store dough in air tight container.
Add water (a little at a time) if dough is too stiff. If dough is too sticky, add more flour.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Vigil of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Well, time for one of my sporadic posts. I checked my email today and it hit me how little I've been on here. I am just too weak to spend all that much time on the internet and not end up wasting a lot of time. So although I'm going to keep this blog up, and I'm going to write on it when I can, I will probably never have a very active blog.
As I'm looking into the traditional third order of Carmel, this feast is doubly special to me this year. I was enrolled in the Scapular by a dear friend when I was still at the Novus Ordo. As was typical with any traditional devotions, I had heard nothing about it and didn't really see what the big deal was, but since I was enrolled on the feast of the Assumption when I made my total consecration to Our Lady, I figured it wouldn't hurt to wear it. But it annoyed me tremedously. I could not find clothing other then turtlenecks that "the thing" (as I called it) did not manage to come out of, babies loved to get little fingers and toes stuck in it, and the wool itched at first. I figured it was a devotion in the sense that other kinds of scapulars or medals might be and didn't really understand the unique place it held. I had read something in the little piece of paper enclosed that if you took your scapular off it was like renouncing the faith or something, so I left it on...most of the time.
Shortly after we began to attend the TLM, a parishoner gave me a small book and a audio tape on the Brown Scapular. I was amazed at what a beauitful gift Mary had given us, how unique it was, and how...proven...it was. And I was horrified at how casually and almost contempuously I had worn it, and how close I had come to taking it off!
So although I also want to take advantage of this feast day to post a link to a site about a little known Carmelite saint who has earned a place among my favorites, St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart, I also want to provide some links to information about the Brown Scapular, so curious non-Catholics can read and Catholics can see what a great gift Our Lady has given us.
The Rosary, Brown Scapular, and the Sabbantine Privilage
St. Dominic's prophecy, Fatima, and the Scapular
The Brown Scapular of Mt. Carmel
As I'm looking into the traditional third order of Carmel, this feast is doubly special to me this year. I was enrolled in the Scapular by a dear friend when I was still at the Novus Ordo. As was typical with any traditional devotions, I had heard nothing about it and didn't really see what the big deal was, but since I was enrolled on the feast of the Assumption when I made my total consecration to Our Lady, I figured it wouldn't hurt to wear it. But it annoyed me tremedously. I could not find clothing other then turtlenecks that "the thing" (as I called it) did not manage to come out of, babies loved to get little fingers and toes stuck in it, and the wool itched at first. I figured it was a devotion in the sense that other kinds of scapulars or medals might be and didn't really understand the unique place it held. I had read something in the little piece of paper enclosed that if you took your scapular off it was like renouncing the faith or something, so I left it on...most of the time.
Shortly after we began to attend the TLM, a parishoner gave me a small book and a audio tape on the Brown Scapular. I was amazed at what a beauitful gift Mary had given us, how unique it was, and how...proven...it was. And I was horrified at how casually and almost contempuously I had worn it, and how close I had come to taking it off!
So although I also want to take advantage of this feast day to post a link to a site about a little known Carmelite saint who has earned a place among my favorites, St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart, I also want to provide some links to information about the Brown Scapular, so curious non-Catholics can read and Catholics can see what a great gift Our Lady has given us.
The Rosary, Brown Scapular, and the Sabbantine Privilage
St. Dominic's prophecy, Fatima, and the Scapular
The Brown Scapular of Mt. Carmel
Friday, June 5, 2009
12 Million Rosary Crusade
I want to do my humble little part to get out the word about the 12 million Rosary Crusade, started by His Excellency Bishop Fellay. In addition to the 12 million (5-decade) Rosaries, he is also asking the priests and faithful to promote the 5 First Saturdays and the message of Fatima, particularly the reparation and sacrifice through our daily duties. Since in our family's thought on it First Fridays and First Saturdays are inexorably intertwined, our family has made the commitment to:
1. Make praying our family Rosary the number one priority in the evenings
2. Faithfully commit to making the Five First Saturdays and the Nine First Fridays
3. Try to at least do at least partial abstinence on Wednesdays and Saturdays (preferably total abstinence ) and look for other penances we could offer up to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts.
Here is information on First Friday devotions (As a side note, a thank you to Catholic Tradition for including this blog in their links!) . Fr. Crosiet's book "Devotion to the Sacred Heart" which can be read here or purchased at TAN or Amazon, is THE book on the devotion and one of the better books period on love of Jesus and the path to sanctity. For those who wish to make a Holy Hour on Thursday or Friday like St. Margaret Mary and many other saints can find the Holy Hour as practiced by St. Gemma here.
Fatima is the great Marian apparition of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. To read about Our Lady's requests including the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart and the Five First Saturdays devotion, check out the Fatima Network. This link goes to "The Requests" section of the website, but the entire website is worth reading, especially for those who are new to traditional Catholicism, want to know more about Fatima in general, or think or have heard that Fatima is over, that the 3rd Secret has been revealed, that Russia has been consecrated, etc.
May St. Margaret Mary and Blessed Francisco and Jacinta pray to obtain for us us their love for Jesus and Mary and their horror for sin.
1. Make praying our family Rosary the number one priority in the evenings
2. Faithfully commit to making the Five First Saturdays and the Nine First Fridays
3. Try to at least do at least partial abstinence on Wednesdays and Saturdays (preferably total abstinence ) and look for other penances we could offer up to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts.
Here is information on First Friday devotions (As a side note, a thank you to Catholic Tradition for including this blog in their links!) . Fr. Crosiet's book "Devotion to the Sacred Heart" which can be read here or purchased at TAN or Amazon, is THE book on the devotion and one of the better books period on love of Jesus and the path to sanctity. For those who wish to make a Holy Hour on Thursday or Friday like St. Margaret Mary and many other saints can find the Holy Hour as practiced by St. Gemma here.
Fatima is the great Marian apparition of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. To read about Our Lady's requests including the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart and the Five First Saturdays devotion, check out the Fatima Network. This link goes to "The Requests" section of the website, but the entire website is worth reading, especially for those who are new to traditional Catholicism, want to know more about Fatima in general, or think or have heard that Fatima is over, that the 3rd Secret has been revealed, that Russia has been consecrated, etc.
May St. Margaret Mary and Blessed Francisco and Jacinta pray to obtain for us us their love for Jesus and Mary and their horror for sin.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Pentecost Sunday
Happy and blessed Feast of Pentecost! I want to try to do a little each day, because I miss writing. I'm not promising anything though. It seems like every time I get on the computer, I just honestly have something better I need to be doing. I do now, as a matter of fact, but I'm holding a baby and am stuck in a chair, so might as well type). I'm not as quick of a worker anymore, I need more rest, and I can no longer multitask due to the cognitive issues (anyone who has fibro/CFIDS or knows someone with it knows what I mean). That means that my daily duties take much longer.
Phillip will be six months old on the 13th. I can't believe it! He already has two teeth and is getting a third. He seems very precocious as far as milestones go, which is such a blessing. With every child, I worry about development since Gianna- with Phillip, where I had to stay on meds during the pregnancy, I worried more.
The weight loss from his birth isn't going so good (says I as I eat my banana pudding ice cream...oh, man....just get me some Resier's Hot Buttered Rum and banana pudding ice cream...can anyone guess which one of the seven deadly sins I tend to fall into?). Seriously I have to lose weight, so this will be my last bowl for a while *sniff sniff*
Although, I think I am working out aerobically. Experts recommend aerobic exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes at least 3 times a week, and anaerobic exercise (weight lifting, etc.). Here is my workout routine:
Loading a 15.5 lb, 30 lb, 40 lb., 50 lb, and 62 lb. child into the car. Two, sometimes three of these need physical help. The car is an average of 20 feet from my door and this takes about five minutes.
Repeat procedure when we arrive at the church. Pick up the 15 lb. weight and the 30 lb. weight. 30 lb. weight is clumsy and frequently stumbles because he won't look where he is going. Enter church
Genuflect and kneel. Wrestle with 50 lb. child and 30 lb. child for the length of a Low Mass- sometimes more so, sometimes less. Repeat move from kneeling to standing to sitting a minimum of 10 times. Work on flexibility when the toddler drops the missal over the pew between the pew and the cry room window, when I have to stretch my leg to keep one child trapped in the pew while I grab the other, or when I have to stop my autistic daughter from bolting out the door while nursing the baby because there wasn't a Mass offered at the side altar today like there was yesterday adn that threw her routine off and then cover her mouth when she screams until I can take her to the bathroom, calm her down, and repeat procedure. Go up for Communion, with 30 lb. weight and 50 lb. weight, recieve, return to cry room, repeat kneel, stand, sit about five more times, then go forward again after Mass to light a candle with each kid, then load up diaper bag, put ten pound weight over shoulder (slight exaggeration), put 15 lb. one in 5 lb. car seat, walk to car, strap all the kids in, and collapse in driver's seat.
I'm sweating at the end of it. My heart rate is up. I'm very frequently sore afterwards. I say it qualifies. I bet you anything a doctor couldn't do it. When it's a High Mass, with all the standing, sitting, and kneeling and genuflecting I could sell it as a workout video. ;) (They're usually very well-behaved; I just have a baby, a toddler, and an autistic child which feels like having toddler twins)
And I wouldn't give it up for anything. As long as I am still physically capable, I pray for the grace to keep it up. I've grown more in four months (we were going to daily Mass intermittently the last six weeks of my pregnancy with Phillip and after his birth, but it was only at 8 weeks postpartum we started going regularly daily). I didn't think the experiment (that was what it was) would have such amazing results.
I didn't think I had the energy. I don't have any less, and often more, from going. I didn't think I could get up that early. I still don't like it, but it's doable. I didn't think the kids would enjoy it, that it would burn them out. They love it. Not in a "fun" way, but they get upset when we miss it. The effects have transformed our family.
Amazing, huh? Well, I essentially reinvented the wheel- I'm not the first one to discover this. But I thought I had every reason in the world not to go- distance, money, time, energy, health, kids- and all those reasons have just seemed more reaosns TO go.
I'd love to write more about this, but I've got to go to bed if I'm going to Mass tomorrow.
Phillip will be six months old on the 13th. I can't believe it! He already has two teeth and is getting a third. He seems very precocious as far as milestones go, which is such a blessing. With every child, I worry about development since Gianna- with Phillip, where I had to stay on meds during the pregnancy, I worried more.
The weight loss from his birth isn't going so good (says I as I eat my banana pudding ice cream...oh, man....just get me some Resier's Hot Buttered Rum and banana pudding ice cream...can anyone guess which one of the seven deadly sins I tend to fall into?). Seriously I have to lose weight, so this will be my last bowl for a while *sniff sniff*
Although, I think I am working out aerobically. Experts recommend aerobic exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes at least 3 times a week, and anaerobic exercise (weight lifting, etc.). Here is my workout routine:
Loading a 15.5 lb, 30 lb, 40 lb., 50 lb, and 62 lb. child into the car. Two, sometimes three of these need physical help. The car is an average of 20 feet from my door and this takes about five minutes.
Repeat procedure when we arrive at the church. Pick up the 15 lb. weight and the 30 lb. weight. 30 lb. weight is clumsy and frequently stumbles because he won't look where he is going. Enter church
Genuflect and kneel. Wrestle with 50 lb. child and 30 lb. child for the length of a Low Mass- sometimes more so, sometimes less. Repeat move from kneeling to standing to sitting a minimum of 10 times. Work on flexibility when the toddler drops the missal over the pew between the pew and the cry room window, when I have to stretch my leg to keep one child trapped in the pew while I grab the other, or when I have to stop my autistic daughter from bolting out the door while nursing the baby because there wasn't a Mass offered at the side altar today like there was yesterday adn that threw her routine off and then cover her mouth when she screams until I can take her to the bathroom, calm her down, and repeat procedure. Go up for Communion, with 30 lb. weight and 50 lb. weight, recieve, return to cry room, repeat kneel, stand, sit about five more times, then go forward again after Mass to light a candle with each kid, then load up diaper bag, put ten pound weight over shoulder (slight exaggeration), put 15 lb. one in 5 lb. car seat, walk to car, strap all the kids in, and collapse in driver's seat.
I'm sweating at the end of it. My heart rate is up. I'm very frequently sore afterwards. I say it qualifies. I bet you anything a doctor couldn't do it. When it's a High Mass, with all the standing, sitting, and kneeling and genuflecting I could sell it as a workout video. ;) (They're usually very well-behaved; I just have a baby, a toddler, and an autistic child which feels like having toddler twins)
And I wouldn't give it up for anything. As long as I am still physically capable, I pray for the grace to keep it up. I've grown more in four months (we were going to daily Mass intermittently the last six weeks of my pregnancy with Phillip and after his birth, but it was only at 8 weeks postpartum we started going regularly daily). I didn't think the experiment (that was what it was) would have such amazing results.
I didn't think I had the energy. I don't have any less, and often more, from going. I didn't think I could get up that early. I still don't like it, but it's doable. I didn't think the kids would enjoy it, that it would burn them out. They love it. Not in a "fun" way, but they get upset when we miss it. The effects have transformed our family.
Amazing, huh? Well, I essentially reinvented the wheel- I'm not the first one to discover this. But I thought I had every reason in the world not to go- distance, money, time, energy, health, kids- and all those reasons have just seemed more reaosns TO go.
I'd love to write more about this, but I've got to go to bed if I'm going to Mass tomorrow.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Contemplation and motherhood
I haven't posted for a long time, I know. I haven't given up the computer for Lent, but we started going to daily Mass, which has been a wonderful grace and blessing for our family. But the time I formerly used for writing is the time I'm now using for Mass. Time much better spent, but as I'm up with a sick baby I thought it was a great time to update.
Phillip is 3 months old now...I can't believe it! He is just an adorable little guy, and so alert. He's got a nasty cold now that I pray doesn't go to his lungs, but other then that he is doing well.
My rheumatoid arthritis factor came back positive, the only thing that was keeping them from diagnosing me with RA, giving another condition to add to my list. I'm actually glad, because all the treatment I can't get for my fibromyalgia (which has been the more painful condition) will now be covered under the RA, such as seeing a rheumatologist and physical therapy, even though I am in no more pain then before. :) Actually, I think I've had it for two years- my sed rate has been elevated and the joint pain I've had is very typical of RA, but like my mom, who has a severe case, I don't swell much and I don't get red. She didn't even start swelling until the last five or so years, and she's had it most of my life.
Anyways, enough about boring stuff. Lately I've been really drawn to praying more, reading more about mental prayer and contemplation. I'm re-reading St. Theresa of Avila, and I'm actually understanding her for the first time! The other times, it's been like reading Latin- no, I know more Latin then I understood of her life. :)
On this great site that reprints Catholic pamphlets, I found "Mother and Mystic at home" about this mother who had ten children, and through her prayer journaling, had a deep contemplative life. It's beautiful, and such an inspiration. I used to prayer journal, and I need to get back to it. Not only does it help you focus when your mind is wandering, but it keeps a record of your spiritual life so you can see what resolutions you've made, what graces God has given you that you need to be grateful for, and what answers and lights you have recieved, so when you face a similar trial, you can look back on what God has given you in the past. I have this bad habit of throwing away journals when I fill them; I have this paranoia about me dying and people then reading my journal and thinking that I really did think all these bad things about them or I really was that miserable, since I tend to journal more in bad times than good. My last one I really wish I hadn't, because it contained my feelings and prayers after my "Act of Offering to Merciful Love" , my enrollment in the "Knights of the Cross", my parish mission resolutions- all sorts of stuff I now wish I could look back on. I've only kept one journal, and that is my record of the three or four days when I struggled with leaving Wicca and coming back to Christianity after my falling away. I'll write about that experience and post it on here at some point in the hopes that it will be useful to someone. God has truly exercised so much mercy in my behalf.
Phillip is 3 months old now...I can't believe it! He is just an adorable little guy, and so alert. He's got a nasty cold now that I pray doesn't go to his lungs, but other then that he is doing well.
My rheumatoid arthritis factor came back positive, the only thing that was keeping them from diagnosing me with RA, giving another condition to add to my list. I'm actually glad, because all the treatment I can't get for my fibromyalgia (which has been the more painful condition) will now be covered under the RA, such as seeing a rheumatologist and physical therapy, even though I am in no more pain then before. :) Actually, I think I've had it for two years- my sed rate has been elevated and the joint pain I've had is very typical of RA, but like my mom, who has a severe case, I don't swell much and I don't get red. She didn't even start swelling until the last five or so years, and she's had it most of my life.
Anyways, enough about boring stuff. Lately I've been really drawn to praying more, reading more about mental prayer and contemplation. I'm re-reading St. Theresa of Avila, and I'm actually understanding her for the first time! The other times, it's been like reading Latin- no, I know more Latin then I understood of her life. :)
On this great site that reprints Catholic pamphlets, I found "Mother and Mystic at home" about this mother who had ten children, and through her prayer journaling, had a deep contemplative life. It's beautiful, and such an inspiration. I used to prayer journal, and I need to get back to it. Not only does it help you focus when your mind is wandering, but it keeps a record of your spiritual life so you can see what resolutions you've made, what graces God has given you that you need to be grateful for, and what answers and lights you have recieved, so when you face a similar trial, you can look back on what God has given you in the past. I have this bad habit of throwing away journals when I fill them; I have this paranoia about me dying and people then reading my journal and thinking that I really did think all these bad things about them or I really was that miserable, since I tend to journal more in bad times than good. My last one I really wish I hadn't, because it contained my feelings and prayers after my "Act of Offering to Merciful Love" , my enrollment in the "Knights of the Cross", my parish mission resolutions- all sorts of stuff I now wish I could look back on. I've only kept one journal, and that is my record of the three or four days when I struggled with leaving Wicca and coming back to Christianity after my falling away. I'll write about that experience and post it on here at some point in the hopes that it will be useful to someone. God has truly exercised so much mercy in my behalf.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
St. Therese and homemaking
"Later, at fourteen, after her "conversion" (as she called it), she thought of religious life chiefly as a means of saving souls. For this reason she toyed with the idea of joining a congregation of missionary sisters, but the hope of saving more souls through mortification and self-sacrifice made her decide to shut herself up in Carmel. She told me the reason for this decision herself: it was to suffer more, and in that way win more souls to Jesus. She considered it harder for human nature to work without ever seeing the fruit of one's labors, to toil on without encouragement or any kind of relief. She said the hardest work of all was to work on oneself in order to gain self-mastery. So it was this living death, which was more lucrative in souls won, that she decided to embrace, wishing, as she said herself, "to become a prisoner as soon as possible, in order to bring people the beauties of heaven."
~Sister Genevieve of St. Theresa and of the Holy Face, O.C.D (Celine Martin), quoted in "St. Therese of Lisieux by those who knew her- Testimonies from the process of beautification"
The Church has taught us that St. Therese's "little way" is imitiable by all the faithful, in all vocations. I think it has a special call for those of us who are homemakers. Our day is filled full of the little sacrifices that St. Therese offered up to Our Lord to show her love and to save souls- the interruption of a child when we're doing something, a broken night's sleep, the repetitive housework tasks, and all the little things that go into making up a homemaker's day.
I read this passage above a few days ago when re-reading one of my favorite reads, "St. Therese by those who knew her".
As a homemaker, you rarely get rewards, at least the immediate gratification rewards and encouragement that the world values. At best, your vocation is viewed by most as "a nice option", many are indifferent, and many are actively hostile. There is no paycheck, no vacation time, no true days off, and the floor will need vaccumed again probably 30 minutes after you finished.
That is not to say there are not many rewards, and not daily encouragement for those who know where to seek it- just like there is in any vocation. But the further our society goes from the Catholic ideal, the more "hermit-like" you can find yourself being out of necessity. I know the larger our family has got, the less we find pleasure in the "typical" forms of entertainment. You move away from more artifical stuff and find yourself embracing more of what really refreshes the soul- good times with friends, the simple pleasures of a quiet (quiet being a relative term) evening and a book, some special time with your husband just snuggling- and less of the malls and concerts and movies and all the other things that seem to make and break our society. Something about the whole process of becoming closer to God, about trying to really live a Catholic family makes all the usual entertainments seem like cotton candy when you were hoping for a good meal. And in that sense, the home and the cloister have a lot in common.
"She said the hardest work of all was to work on oneself in order to gain self-mastery". When you are a mother, a wife, a homeschooler, a housekeeper, and the various other tasks a homemaker takes on, as well as your own spiritual life and walk, you better gain self-mastery, or you will be living in misery and chaos! More and more, I find books and sermons talking about fighting a battle, conquring your vices, avoiding temptation, and mortification more and more relevant, because I am fighting a battle every day. My daily tasks make it extremely evident how far I am from sanctity.
St. Therese said why she willingly chose the cloister instead of a more active order- "it was more lucrative for souls won". She was to go on to be declared, along with St. Francis Xavier, the patron saint of missionaries. The home, too, can be more lucrative for souls won. Sometimes people who have embraced feminist ideals and are trying to combine them with Christianity tell women "What about our duty to be light adn salt to the world?" "What about outside apostolates?" "What about evangelization?" There are many misconceptions and errors in this thinking, but one of the biggest ones, if not the biggest one, is teh concept that the hidden life cannot win souls.
A mother cannot go preach the Gospel to distant lands or teach theology in a seminary. But she can preach the Gospel to her little ones around the breakfast table. She can teach theology to the homeschooled First Communicant or the teen trying to discern a vocation. She can offer up the "flowers" that St. Therese offered to our Lord, the "nothings" of the hidden life, of the sacrifices that come when you set yourself to work on self-mastery both for your sanctification and the sanctification of your family. "To please God and to save sinners"- starting with ourselves!
~Sister Genevieve of St. Theresa and of the Holy Face, O.C.D (Celine Martin), quoted in "St. Therese of Lisieux by those who knew her- Testimonies from the process of beautification"
The Church has taught us that St. Therese's "little way" is imitiable by all the faithful, in all vocations. I think it has a special call for those of us who are homemakers. Our day is filled full of the little sacrifices that St. Therese offered up to Our Lord to show her love and to save souls- the interruption of a child when we're doing something, a broken night's sleep, the repetitive housework tasks, and all the little things that go into making up a homemaker's day.
I read this passage above a few days ago when re-reading one of my favorite reads, "St. Therese by those who knew her".
As a homemaker, you rarely get rewards, at least the immediate gratification rewards and encouragement that the world values. At best, your vocation is viewed by most as "a nice option", many are indifferent, and many are actively hostile. There is no paycheck, no vacation time, no true days off, and the floor will need vaccumed again probably 30 minutes after you finished.
That is not to say there are not many rewards, and not daily encouragement for those who know where to seek it- just like there is in any vocation. But the further our society goes from the Catholic ideal, the more "hermit-like" you can find yourself being out of necessity. I know the larger our family has got, the less we find pleasure in the "typical" forms of entertainment. You move away from more artifical stuff and find yourself embracing more of what really refreshes the soul- good times with friends, the simple pleasures of a quiet (quiet being a relative term) evening and a book, some special time with your husband just snuggling- and less of the malls and concerts and movies and all the other things that seem to make and break our society. Something about the whole process of becoming closer to God, about trying to really live a Catholic family makes all the usual entertainments seem like cotton candy when you were hoping for a good meal. And in that sense, the home and the cloister have a lot in common.
"She said the hardest work of all was to work on oneself in order to gain self-mastery". When you are a mother, a wife, a homeschooler, a housekeeper, and the various other tasks a homemaker takes on, as well as your own spiritual life and walk, you better gain self-mastery, or you will be living in misery and chaos! More and more, I find books and sermons talking about fighting a battle, conquring your vices, avoiding temptation, and mortification more and more relevant, because I am fighting a battle every day. My daily tasks make it extremely evident how far I am from sanctity.
St. Therese said why she willingly chose the cloister instead of a more active order- "it was more lucrative for souls won". She was to go on to be declared, along with St. Francis Xavier, the patron saint of missionaries. The home, too, can be more lucrative for souls won. Sometimes people who have embraced feminist ideals and are trying to combine them with Christianity tell women "What about our duty to be light adn salt to the world?" "What about outside apostolates?" "What about evangelization?" There are many misconceptions and errors in this thinking, but one of the biggest ones, if not the biggest one, is teh concept that the hidden life cannot win souls.
A mother cannot go preach the Gospel to distant lands or teach theology in a seminary. But she can preach the Gospel to her little ones around the breakfast table. She can teach theology to the homeschooled First Communicant or the teen trying to discern a vocation. She can offer up the "flowers" that St. Therese offered to our Lord, the "nothings" of the hidden life, of the sacrifices that come when you set yourself to work on self-mastery both for your sanctification and the sanctification of your family. "To please God and to save sinners"- starting with ourselves!
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