Sweetness and Light

The Measuring Stick

Reposted from my 2008 column at Catholic Mom. I thought this would be nice for a mid-Lenten pick-me-up!

Too many times I have fallen in to the trap of pulling out the Measuring Stick! 

You know the one.  The one that compares your life, your children, your home school, your faith to others.  How do we measure up, we might ask ourselves???  Are we doing enough, well enough, faithfully enough, lovingly enough, blah blah blah!  This can be an all-too-easy pattern to fall in to and we must stop ourselves in our tracks, slap our hands, and put that stick AWAY!!

It's a little bit like driving in the fast lane, but going too slow.  People keep passing you.  Do you pull over, or speed up and try to keep up?  What if you've got your signal on to get over but no one will let you in?  They are so busy trying to keep up themselves that they don't even notice you...

For those of us who choose home education as a vocation alongside being a wife and mother, we are very good at trying to keep up with what everyone else is doing and we sometimes fail to notice when it's time to take a step back and look at the big picture.  Sometimes it's imperative to get over into the slow lane so we can catch our breath, and just BE....with our children and our family.  And this is NOT the time to bring out the measuring stick either!  Our "measuring up" should be left to God and what we are doing everyday to bring Him and his Blessed Mother into our lives to keep us on track!  And how about inviting some of those Saints in for a little tea and reflection time as well.

If you're feeling like you haven't got it all together like you may think others do, then it's probably time to turn off the computer, forget about checking email throughout the day, and disconnect for a little while so you can just chill with your kids.  Fact of the matter is, you are doing God's work every day, period!!!  Only HE can know if you're doing it well enough, lovingly enough, faithfully enough! 

My personal pledge is not to try and measure up, except to what He wants me to do.  I am asking Our Loving Mother to please bring me closer to Him who is all good and loving and forgiving of little 'ole me when I feel the urge to whip out my stick!

"That He might be made known."

I only want to be obedient to Him, maker of all good things.  To find joy in the day to day happenings in our life, not to what others might think. 

"Upon my servants and my handmaids I will pour out a portion of my spirit."

Well, this is good news to me as truly I depend on the Holy Spirit for guidance and I will gladly accept my portion.  Hopefully with His help I can manage to portion out the better parts of ME to my family and discard the rest!  As His servant and handmaid I can only trust in His grace and that of His loving and most gracious Mother.

If you are needing a little sojourn into the slow lane, but feel guilty about it because we just finished up with a large and enjoyable break for Christmas, ponder these ideas and see if any of them will stick (but leave the measuring stick in the closet):

Remember all the fun games you played over Christmas break??  All the baking and crafts???  Well, you don't have to abandon that frame of mind to keep it all going!  Why not have a baking day every week during these longer winter days, there's nothing like the smell of something yummy baking to bring everyone's spirits around a bit!  Combine the baking timer on the clock to your Read-Alouds!  I'll bet three to four picture books could be read during those minutes ticking away! 

What about a weekly arts and crafts time while listening to stories on the CD player, or combine that with your music appreciation time. There are so many lovely classical CD's you could listen to during this creative time.  The kids will truly look forward to it, especially if you can plan ahead a little bit and have some art trays ready to go!  It's still the perfect time for knitting and crochet projects too!  Even the littlest can learn finger knitting, it's pretty cool!

Games anyone???  We had a blast with our new Settlers of Catan and Clue games over our break, we can't get enough of these ones!!  Evenings by the fire playing a family game together is a wonderful way to perfect ourselves in His sight!  He loves our domestic churches and would only encourage family game night, any day or night of the week!

The long and short of it here is this: Winter is long, winter is cold (unless you live in the South Pacific somewhere) and winter is a time for solace and turning inward.  Just like a little hibernating chipmunk, it is okay in His eyes to let your heart beat a little slower, maybe a LOT slower and snuggle down deeper into that cozy nest.   

I'm certainly not advocating abandoning all your lovely new years goals and resolutions that you have made, just keep them all in perspective.  Keep them within reach and keep the measuring stick hidden away, far, far away. 

You are perfect in his sight, and holy, and blessed. 

"May the God of peace himself make us perfectly holy and may we entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."

I wish you many blessed un-measured days of peace and perfection! And prayers for your remaining Lenten journey to the Cross of Our Lord and His Resurrection! 

Keeping the Company of the Saints

I take much inspiration from the Saints.  I enjoy reading several different Saint-of-the-day and "lives of the Saints" type books regularly.  I have a great devotion and love of St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Monica, St. Gianna Molla, and St. Anne (my middle namesake) and of course the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of all the Angels and Saints.  Personally I find so much comfort and solace in their lives as they were human and lived in a corrupt and fallen world just as we do today.  When I read about a particular Saint and become inspired by their example, it creates an enthusiasm and energy within me to share it with my family and to enter more deeply in praying for others through these blessed people.  I also find that if I miss a few days of readings that my focus seems to shift into a more hurried and unfettered approach to my day, rather than a prayerful examination of the day or week ahead.  I love this quote from my newest Liturgical Year resource, The Year and Our Children by Mary Reed Newland, previously out-of-print:

"The Saints, Our Lord, and Our Lady are our teachers, and they teach us in many delightful and beautiful ways.  We should invite them into our homes every day of the year, joining our prayers to theirs, asking them to pray with us, now and then (when we have the time) creating a happy custom with which to celebrate their feasts.  We are not without calculation in this matter.  We look for profit and gain.  A man is known by the company he keeps."

This really hits home with me. "A man is known by the company he keeps." So, what company are you keeping these days???  Are you clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, tending the sick??  As mothers (and especially SAH mothers) this is *the* vocation isn't it?? 

Are you looking to a secular medium to gain perspective and affirmation?? 

On top of it add home education and we are also entering into a grand discipleship with our children and their path heavenward.  This discipleship I take very seriously and my secret weapon is teaching and celebrating the lives of the Saints that pepper our Liturgical Year calendars.  We have a duty and obligation as put forth by the Magisterium to be first and foremost the educators of our children, so this would naturally follow that the Liturgical Year is pretty important in the eyes of the Church, therefore it is important for my Domestic Church as well. 

Now, how to live out the beauty of the liturgical year in the Domestic Church?  For our family, it means bringing the lives of the Saints into our homes on a regular basis and joining our prayers with theirs, sometimes begging, sometimes asking a mere intention for those less fortunate or hurting.  But they are truly company and we dress up our days with feasting their presence in our lives.  The mere thought of an approaching Feast sets a different tone within the family and gives them a longing and joy to keep the company of these fine souls that God created to go before us into his divine Kingdom. 

Our current liturgical season is Ordinary Time.  This is such a beautiful time before Advent and the beginning of the new Church calendar, and in my mind really sets the tone for Catholics.  Ordinary Time gives us the basis with which we need in order to prepare for the higher times in the Liturgical Year such as Christmas and Easter.  I love how Catholic Culture defines Ordinary Time:

"The rhythm of the liturgical seasons reflects the rhythm of life - with its celebrations of anniversaries and its seasons of quiet growth and maturing."

Isn't that just perfect and beautiful??  It's clearly a cue for me to take this idea and encourage it to blossom and grow within our family as we mature in our faith together. 

We are currently celebrating the month of the Holy Rosary for October and this gives us a lead in to renew our devotion to this beautiful and prayerful time with Our Lord and his Mother.  If you've fallen away from saying your Rosary, I implore you to start small with this powerful prayer and begin with a decade each day.  Pretty soon, you'll truly start to notice the graces in which our Sweet Mother can bestow upon you, it truly is remarkable. 

From A Moment With Mary:  "The Rosary is both meditation and supplication. Insistent prayer to the Mother of God is based on confidence that her maternal intercession can obtain all things from the heart of her Son. She is “all-powerful by grace,” to use the bold expression, which needs to be properly understood, of Blessed Bartolo Longo in his Supplication to Our Lady. This is a conviction which, beginning with the Gospel, has grown ever more firm in the experience of the Christian people.

The supreme poet Dante expresses it marvelously in the lines sung by Saint Bernard: “Lady, thou art so great and so powerful, that whoever desires grace yet does not turn to thee, would have his desire fly without wings.”

When in the Rosary we plead with Mary, the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1:35), she intercedes for us before the Father who filled her with grace, and before the Son born of her womb, praying with us and for us."

This is so beautiful and I have to fully agree with Dante and St. Bernard, “that whoever desires grace yet does not turn to thee, would have his desire fly without wings.” 

St. Augustine says, “If they, why not I? – If these men and women could become saints, why cannot I with the help of him who is all-powerful?”  He also says in his Confessions: “My desire now was not to be more sure of You, but more steadfast in You.”

I personally feel that desiring to be more steadfast in the Lord by living and breathing the liturgical year can lead to sainthood, this is what I desire for my dear children, we are keeping the company of the Saints as often as possible! 

Admittedly, it can be difficult surrounding ourselves with the Saints.  We seem to somehow become less or displaced within our own sins, but this is all the more reason to immerse our focus on the Saint’s lives and to bury ourselves in Our Lady’s mantle, the safest haven for solace and comfort.

We have been enjoying many wonderful Saints throughout the month (and year).  As month's end approaches we can also renew the “company we are keeping” by celebrating the wonderful Feast of All Saints Day on November 1^st.  To me this is the pinnacle or climax of our Autumn celebrations in Ordinary Time and gives us pause before we head into the season of Advent.

Some wonderful sources for your perusal:

• Catholic Culture
• Catholic Tradition
• Loretto Cottage Novenas sponsored by Cottage Blessings
• Saint of the Day
• Mary Vitamin sponsored by Castle of the Immaculate
• A Moment with Mary Reflections
• Catholic Mosaic and the soon to be released Christmas Mosaic by Cay Gibson

Starting Small, or Baby Steps to Keepng the Company of the Saints:

1. Identify Saints to be celebrated for each week and find a reading about them (check links above online, or here's a lovely recent post on choosing Saint's books)

2. Locate a holy card or image, statue of Saint and a candle (or several candles)

3. Designate a prayer table or area in your home for setting up your display (kitchen table works great for us)

4. Plan one activity to start:  Mass, cake, tea, craft, special meal or truly, any combination of these, for the Saints, the skies the limit, but remember to start small

5. Plan to say a prayer or begin a Novena to the Saint (or Mary) to be celebrated

These are the very basic and simple ways to begin keeping the company of the Saints.  When celebrating keep in mind the meaning a Saint may have for your family (namesake of a child or parent) then you will celebrate accordingly.  Some days it's grand and royal, some days more casual and low-key, remember, we're striving for action, not marathons or keeping UP with the Jones' :) You're on a path heavenward, keep it simple!

My next piece of advice, Just Do It!!  I know a little corny, but hey if Nike can get it to work, then why not for celebrating the Saints :)  Play special music during your celebration, encourage respect and reverence for the occaision.  Light a candle or several and begin with a prayer, "Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in them a spirit of love."  Follow with your reading for that Saint and any other special prayers.  Do your craft or have your treats.  Always finish with a prayer asking the celebrated Saint to intercede for your family and any other intentions.  It will be wonderful and you will love it as much as your dear children!!  You will be creating a tapestry of love for your children and yourselves and you will find delight in asking these Holy people into your home.  It will be the best company you keep!  I Promise!!

Many blessings in ALL your Saintly celebrations! This post is lovingly dedicated to my special friend in ALL THINGS SAINTLY, dear Alice at Cottage Blessings :)

"Pocket of Glow"

A favorite blog that I visit Chez Ouiz has this lovely post about a Pocket of Glow in her home, and I just loved it, so I started thinking about our house and where we live and WHAT pray tell is MY "Pocket of Glow" and here is what I came up with:

Isn't is lovely...it's the view out my bedroom slider door and this is what my dh and I see most every evening before we retire....a little "Pocket of Heaven" more like it, thanks so much for the inspiration Ouiz!!

It Was Surreal, 4Real!

To say that I had a "good time" at the First Ever 4Real Conference would be an understatement for sure!  It was truly surreal!  To gather with a group of ladies (and a few gents) in a setting that was so warm and welcoming and friendly was a true delight. 

The hospitality of my generous hostess was beyond gracious and we made a fast friendship that will be in my heart for always (thanks MC)!  Elizabeth Foss and her family were a joy to finally meet and she is as warm and giving as you would expect from a mother of eight!  Oh, and they have a REALLY BIG (and friendly) DOG!!  Meeting all my other Conference partners and co-speakers was equally delightful and to finally put their names to their lovely faces was fantastic!  It is a trip I will not forget anytime soon. 

Unbeknownst to Moi until just before speaking I found out that I was to be recorded and let's just say that put just a little more jitter into my already nervous self!  But to be able to speak to women who have the same passion for home education as myself put me instantly at ease.  (Let's hope it turns out OK). 

Please keep checking in with this thread to find out more on availability to purchase these keepsake DVD's from all the wonderful speakers! 

Without further ado, I bring you the 4Real ladies:

Back row - Theresa from Lapazfarm, MaryChris (4Real Conference planner extraordinaire :) Elizabeth, Moi, Front row- Janette (4Real Forums Designer) Dawn from By Sun and Candlelight!!  Oh and don't miss Baby Karoline! 

What a privilege to be able to spend time with these beautiful and talented and warmhearted women, I was honored to be considered part of the core speaking team with them!!

Here's a few more ladies:

Ruth Tucker from Just Another Day in Paradise!

Theresa and I WELL before our talks!

Dawn and I, and in the background right behind Dawn's left shoulder is adorable Jordon from Cheerios and Fingerpaints!!  I wish I could have had a photo op with ALL the beautiful ladies I was SO privileged to meet, but their well wishes and thank you's will always be imprinted on my heart, thank you all so much for YOUR inspiration and encouragement, it was a huge blessing for me to be a part of this terrific 1st 4Real Conference!  Enjoy!

The Habits of Highly Effective Homeschool Bloggers

Taking my cue from the ever "highly effective" Alice at Cottage Blessings, I thought I'd share my own list of 7 Highly Effective Homeschool Blogging Habits that make Sweetness and Light worthwhile :) Thanks to Trinity Prep School for encouraging all of us to take a look at why we blog!!

1) Blog because you LOVE to write: This is one of the main reasons I started to blog. It's a joy to write and stretches my creativity, even if my posts are not all that creative.

2) Blog because you never know who you might bring into the Catholic Church because of a post: I love reading and writing about the Saints and I feel they are helpful in inspiring others to see the church through a person's life!

3) Blog because you're children are SO precious you know the only way to record what's going on is through the medium of the computer right now (I know I can't journal, scrapbook, take a zillion pictures, homeschool, cook, clean, play, be a wife and keep my sanity if I try to do it ALL)

4) Blog because the Lord and his Blessed Mother put it on my heart to share myself with others who might be interested in a peek at my and my family's life.

5) Blog because it's a living and learning journal, just like our school is a living and learning school

6) Blog because it's a thing just for ME sometimes: This is probably the ONLY thing I do right now for ME, which is the way I think it should be right now :)

7) Blog because it inspires others to blog and THAT inspires ME!

Well, I'd love your thoughts on these habits/ideas!! I am constantly inspired and moved by so many homeschool blogs out there and appreciate all your visits here. May God bless you in your day!!

Grateful for Motherhood

Don't miss this beautiful post at Babylove about motherhood and being grateful, it echoes my own heart, but that I don't have time to elaborate on amongst the boxes, Enjoy!! I am grateful for friends like Rebecca to bring it all into perspective :-)!

In The Eyes of Mary

Topic:  Humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Quote:  St. Bernardine of Siena; "The Blessed Virgin had always the majesty of God, and her own nothingness, present to her mind."  St. Alphonsus di Liguori, The Glories of Mary, 466.

Meditation:  "On another occaision Our Lord showed St. Bridget two ladies.  The one was all pomp and vanity: 'She,' He said, 'is Pride; but the other one whom thou seest with her head bent down, courteous towards all, having God alone in her mind, and considering herself as no one, is Humility, her name is Mary.'"  St. Alphonsus di Liguori, The Glories of Mary, 469.

Resolution:  I will try to practice 'courteousness towards all' in the manner of the Blessed Virign Mary.  By my courteous behavior, I will practice the humility of the Blessed Mother.

If you haven't started receiving your Mary Vitamins yet, here is just a snippet of what I receive in my inbox everyday, sometimes twice daily!!

I thought this was a particularly appropriate quote, meditation, and resolution for a lenten reflection. (HT: to Helen)  May God Bless You in Your Day!

The Saints of Lent

When we think of the Communion of Saints and how they reflect the liturgical year there are certain ones that just seem to come alive during Advent while preparing for the birth of Our Lord.  For me, it is entirely the case during Lent that our spiritual connection to the celebrated Saints seem to lead our way to the cross.  There are the obvious ones, St. Patrick, St. Joseph, Sts. Perpetua & Felicity, St. John Baptiste de la Salle, St. John of God, St. Isidore of Seville, St. Francis of Paola, and St. Frances of Rome.  These (and others) are highlighted on our parish liturgical calenders, in the Magnificat, as well as given special mention by our parish priests.  But what about the more obscure pious men and women who made it heroically through the pearly gates with merits worthy of sainthood??

I'd like to showcase a few of the "less-celebrated," though "no less Saintly" people who flank the calendar with the above mentioned. Please email or share in the comments others I may miss, they are all worthy of mention and there are so many.

Saint Colette was a saint chosen by God to bring the religious back to the strict observance of the rules of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare.  At seventeen Colette joined the Franciscan Order and lived as a hermit for 8 years.  At the end of her hermitage she had a vision of St. Francis who charged her to restore the Poor Clares to their original integrity.  Like Francis and Clare, Colette devoted her life to Christ crucified and spent every Friday in meditation and prayer on the Passion.  She foretold her own death and after receiving the Sacrament of the Sick died in her convent at Ghent, Flanders.  This is her prayer:

Blessed be the hour in which our Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, was born.  Blessed be the Holy Spirit by whom he was conceived.  Blessed by the glorious Virgin Mary of whom the God-man was born.

May the Lord hear our prayers by the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary and by the remembrance of the most sacred hour in which the God-man was born, that all our desires may be accomplished for your glory and our salvation.

O good Jesus! O Jesus Redeemer, do not abandon us nor punish us as our sins deserve, but hear our humble prayer and grant what we ask, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and for the glory of your holy name. Amen.  ~Colette~

Her Feast day was March 6th.  She was canonized in 1807. 

(Voices of the Saints, Bert Ghezzi)

Saint Theresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart became a Carmelite nun at the convent of St. Teresa of Avila in Florence, Italy.  Her birth name was Anna Marie, but she took the name Theresa Margaret and wanted also to be called "of the Sacred Heart" in order to express her desire to return God's love with all her strength.  "Yes, my God," she resolved, "know that no other longing have I than to be a victim of your Sacred Heart, entirely consumed as a holocaust in the furnace of your holy love."  As a witness to her nearness to God and her love for others she compiled her Maxims on Christian relationships and told of how she felt one should conduct themselves:

Let us do everything for love and, remembering that love longs for love alone, nothing can appear hard to us.

If the actions of our neighbors have a hundred sides, we ought always to look at them on the best side.

When an action is blameworthy, we should strive to see the good intentions back of it.

Her short five years as a Carmelite nun ended in her death at the age of twenty-three.  Her Feast day in March 11th.  She was canonized in 1934.  (Voices of the Saints, Bert Ghezzi)

Saint Braulio is a seventh century saint and was a protege of St. Isidore.  Braulio was entrusted to the editing of Isidore's works and reportedly completed some of his unfinished works.  Not to mention his own works which many have given us a clear picture of the type of saint he was.  Braulio was also an eloquent preacher and tried to convince brother Frominian from resigning his office as abbot: 

"...There is not a single occupation that is without its dangers.  Who will guide the ship if the pilot quits his post?  Who will guard against the wolves if the shepherd does not watch?...You must hate the sins not the people.  Even though tribulation brings more than we can endure, let us not be afraid as if we were resisting with our own strength.  We must pray with the apostle that God give us 'the way out with the temptation', that we may be able to withstand, for Christ is both our courage and our counsel, 'without him we can do nothing', and 'with him we can do all things'." (Voices of the Saints, Bert Ghezzi)

The Patron of Aragon, Braulio died in 650 and his Feast day is March 26th.

Saint Gemma Galgani is considered the 'Italian counterpart' to St. Therese of Lisieux.  She was a "prayer warrior" of her time and she had many visions of Christ.  She was plagued by chronic illness which led to her failure to become a Passionist nun.  She apparently had a stigmata that is controversial, but at the same time as their appearance she would be granted unusual graces.  She died young at the age of 25 in 1903. 

Her Feast day is April 11th.  She was canonized in 1940.  (Voices of the Saints, Bert Ghezzi)

Saint Mary of Egypt a fifth century saint was a witness of repentance, intercession and grace.  She led a very tawdry life that was transformed by the Blessed Mother's intercession.  People identified with her because they felt that if God could forgive her lowly ways, then no sin was too great for God's mercy.  Her story is very interesting indeed, she was able to enter the church after much prayerful repentance and at Our Lady's guidance.

Her Feast day is April 2nd.

I hope that this little glimpse into the lives of these individuals has given you more food for thought during your lenten journey.  I always find some of the more obscure Saints to be quite powerful in their intercessory ways as they are often overlooked.  Of course God overlooks no one, Thanks Be to God, for that.  May you enjoy some Saintly inspirations as you travel on your Way to the Cross.

 

Beautiful Meditation For Today

These thoughts from the beautful Mary Vitamin group.  Also, more discussion at her blog, Castle of the Immaculate.

Quote:  “Who can sufficiently abase himself before thee, and weep for the want of love to love thee rightly, thee whom the Word so loved eternally?”  Father Faber, Bethlehem, 57.

Meditation:  Our Lady has been exalted by God Himself. He chose Her for His earthly dwelling place and created Her, the instrument through which the Word entered the center of human history:

“The Incarnation lies at the bottom of all sciences, and is their ultimate explanation. It is the secret beauty in all arts. It is the completeness of all true philosophies. It is the point of arrival and departure to all history.”  Father Faber, Bethlehem, 51.

Thanks for this beautiful meditation, so appropriate for a Saturday.  May you all be blessed by Mary's graces today and always, To Jesus Through Mary++ 

A Little Kindness In Your Day

I thought this was a beautiful post over at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton blog, with great links to more spiritual nourishment, something we can all use a little more of.  The whole site is truly beautiful and is a spiritual retreat in itself, great job and thanks for such beauty in the writings you share!  Here is a little snippet:

"The poet Wordsworth once wrote that the "best portion of a good man's life" is "his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love." In his famous Canticle of Charity (Corinthians, Chapter 13) Saint Paul named it as one of the foremost daughters of charity: "Charity...is kind," he wrote.

Kindness is like a beautiful jewel carefully and beautifully wrapped. For to the gem of charity it adds a most attractive packaging of gentleness and considerateness. Kindness is, therefore, an overflow of a thoughtful and selfless love into a realm of speech and action. It is indeed a God-like quality."

The forgotten virtue: Kindness.

I hope you find some kindness in your day!

Have You Had Your Vitamins Today?

Thanks to Cottage Blessings and this post, I now have a new "vitamin" for every day!  This is a beautiful way to start your day in a prayerful and loving way, devoting your actions to Our Most Blessed Lady of Grace.  Please spend some time with Mary every day as you will see how many graces will begin to flow into your life.  It's the best vitamin I've ever taken.  "Let it be done to me according to thy will."   May Mary bless your day as she has mine. 

Eyes Wide Open?

We should live each day with a gentleness, a vigor, and a keeness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come.

_Helen Keller

This pretty much sums it up for me!  Have a great day.