We Cannot Live Without The Mass

So says Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Denver.

And yet, what did I hear on Sunday? A pointed homily, starting with a joke. For every good Catholic knows that a homily must start with a joke, otherwise how could we pay attention? And every mass must begin and end with A Praise the Lord greeting, with a joke to close mass at the final blessing.

As if!

And Archbishop Chaput would agree with me. He said {We should } strive for liturgies that are reverent and beautiful, and that point our hearts and minds to things above.

So, what did I hear in the homily? I heard that the mass is about people. The priest said that the mass was about the people. That it is nice to pray and to pay attention to what happens at the altar (I think the priest meant the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass here; the consecration, when we receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord, under the appearance of bread and wine)...yes these are nice, we were told, but we need to be friendly, to talk to our brothers and sisters, to get to know people in the church. This is what church is about..not prayer or the niceness of what happens at the altar.

And so we were exhorted to wander around, to meet and greet, to talk, to chat, to laugh, to be noisy, to focus on people.

Liturgy is both the source of the Church’s mission and its goal, explained Archbishop Chaput. The reason we evangelize is in order to bring people into communion with the living God in the Eucharistic liturgy. And this experience of communion with God, in turn, impels us to evangelize.

Hmm. The opposite of what was preached Sunday. If one can call a joke, a pointed remark looking at certain members of the congregation, at those who don't shout out Praise The Lord and who kneel for communion and kneel in the pews in reflection after ..if this, followed by meet and greet your neighbour, can be called preaching, then this preaching seems contrary to all that Archbishop Chaput, indeed all that Pope Benedict XVI, has had to say about liturgy.

If the Liturgy appears first of all as the workshop for our activity, then what is essential is being forgotten: God. For the Liturgy is not about us, but about God. Forgetting about God is the most imminent danger of our age. As against this, the Liturgy should be setting up a sign of God's presence.

Yet what is happening, if the habit of forgetting about God makes itself at home in the Liturgy itself, and if in the Liturgy we are only thinking of ourselves? In any and every liturgical reform, and every liturgical celebration, the primacy of God should be kept in view first and foremost. (Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger, as quoted in Benedict XVI and liturgical reform)

Worship first, then evangelization. Evangelization through liturgy and formation. God first, worship first and this love then attracts others and goes out to others.

Perhaps logic and rhetoric should be taught in seminaries, if they are not already. For it seems to me that the homily mentioned above,contained a fallacy of logic.

There was a false dichotomy created, a dichotomy between praying at Mass, caring about liturgy and caring for people. As though the two states are related in an opposite fashion ie if one cares about prayer and liturgy in mass then one doesn't care about people, hasn't a friendly word for a fellow parishioner.

This is bunk, pure and honest garbage. There is no dichotomy between care for liturgy and care for people.

We need to recover the intrinsic and inseparable connection between liturgy and evangelization. Liturgy is both the source of the Church’s mission and its goal. This was the teaching of Christ and the practice of the early Church. And it was reaffirmed by Vatican II....life lived from the Eucharist and for the Eucharist. This should be the foundation not only for our thinking about the liturgy but for our pastoral strategies as well....we cannot look at the liturgy as something distinct from our mission. Our worship of God in the Mass is meant to be an act of adoration, submission and thanksgiving. It’s also meant to be loving acceptance of our vocation as disciples. That’s why every Eucharistic liturgy ends on a missionary note -- we are sent out, commissioned to share the treasure we have discovered with everyone we meet.(Archbishop Chaput again)

When we look at the lives of the Saints, we see that prayer and love of God led to love of neighbour, that prayer and adoration and contemplation preceded social justice and action and that these , prayer and liturgy and social activism and good old fashioned works of charity, existed alongside each other. Were, in fact, are, in fact, co-existent.

The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows. For the aim and object of apostolic works is that all who are made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of his Church, to take part in the sacrifice, and to eat the Lord's Supper.(Sacrosanctum Concilium)

We cannot live without the mass, as Archbishop Chaput said. We need our prayers, the sacred liturgy, our holy priests, good catechesis (not exercises in feeling good)..and we need to share this with others. Our interior life forms our external life…for, if faith without works is dead, surely works without faith, without the underpinning of prayer, without our hearts and mind being lifted to God in sacred liturgy, are dead too…are do-goodism and me-centred.

A speaker at mass , asking for donations to the Sacrificial Offering, said that we need money for parish events and that if we invite people to our barbecues and our carols and our social functions, they will eventually come to church. But, you know what? There are many, many people who come for social functions who will not come regularly to Sunday mass. They feel good about themselves and so they think that church is about a social life, feeling good, and they don’t need to go to mass.

How do we turn this around? If we make our churches about social activities, then this is the response we get..people attending the social functions, the me-centred big event liturgies but not people who attend mass week in and week out. They see no need for God, for mass, for religion, in their every day life..apart from the social calendar.

If, however, our liturgy sets us apart, inspires us, makes us shine with Love, makes our parishes vibrant with prayer, then others will see a difference. There will be a difference in our worship, in how we act, in how we show what we believe…and then the church is not just another church competing with social functions but a living, growing community of faith..in worship and then in action.

This being different attracts others. Not endless cups of tea and chatting in church…but prayer, a prayer life permeating all that we do. Starting with sacred liturgy and good catechesis, and extending to our morning teas, our women’s groups, our young men’s group, our youth group.

You know, if the the message in church is nothing more than Oprah dressed up in (vague) Christian language. then given a choice, most people would rather listen to Oprah. Or Dr Phil. At least they are up-front about what they're doing. And you aren't exhorted to give money.

And statistics prove this to be true. A large mega-church in Australia, with good social activities, also has a fairly high turn around figure with regard to members. The average member lasting six years, before moving on.

So, we don't want our parishes to go this way, away from sacred liturgy and to consumer style religion.

Statistics, also, prove the reverse to be true ie that sacred liturgy and prayer, attracts people, young people, and encourages vocations.

The most successful institutes in terms of attracting and retaining new members at this time are those that follow a more traditional style of religious life in which members live together in community and participate in daily Eucharist, pray the Divine office, and engage in devotional practices together. They also wear a religious habit, work together in common apostolates, and are explicit about their fidelity to the Church and the teachings of the Magisterium. All of these characteristics are especially attractive to the young people.Booming Traditional Religious Orders

Lex orendi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.

The rule of prayer is the rule of belief, and consequently the rule of life.

Walk where you walk

Friday morning at work, work with children, I sat at a table drawing freehand maps of countries participating in the World Cup for the children to colour. I chatted to the children as we worked . And I remembered years of homeschooling. Sitting with my kids and drawing and telling stories and often teaching, incidentally, about life.

Nearly every story has a moral. Nearly every moment can be a teachable moment, a term coined by educator John Holt on the 1960s.

Friday morning was no exception. While drawing, while looking through the Childcraft Atlas with the children at work, while the children coloured, we talked about lessons from life.

I had occasion to intervene in not-so-nice play. A group of girls near to the drawing table were organising a dance ... And being incredibly bitchy, excluding another girl. (They start this Mean Girls behaviour so young!).

I warned the group that exclusion was a form of bullying. Having recently done an anti bullying unit with the whole group of children at work. I issued a warning, in my best firm but friendly teacher voice , that all people had a right to be included in the dance group or the group could be disbanded . I gave the girls five minutes to sort this out... And , as the clock ticked on, it became obvious that the choice was made . To continue to exclude and thus to disband the group.

So the girls drifted off to other activities and one little girl, a seven year old who had been excluded, sat at the drawing table. Another child passed her the map of Africa that I had drawn. So she could colour and hopefully take her mind off her exclusion

This little dark haired girl sat there colouring, head down, tears streaming down her face. Other children started to notice. And I started to talk, to tell my story , to teach life.

"D" I said " Dont let them win. Don't let those girls see you cry, see that they hurt you. That's what they wanted to do. You can't let them win. You hold your head up high, you wipe away your tears, you colour in, you look them in the eye. You are special. You are better than that. They can't hurt you unless you let them."

Other children coloured and others slowly put down their felt pens . They all listened . As I shared.

I talked about how I have, just this week, been the recipient of mean behaviour. How others could be mean but I wouldn't let them get to me. How I am keeping on, pulling up my socks, smiling, never letting them see my hurt. Never letting them win.

Another little girl, another little boy, chimed in with stories of how other kids had tried to be mean to them but how they had looked the bullies in the eye and not let the bullies hurt them inside.

There were little nods and murmurs at the table.

And D took the tissue I offered. She wiped her eyes. She looked up at me, grabbed a

yellow felt pen with a brave smile, a thank you smile, and coloured. Head held high.

You know, while at the doctor's surgery later on Friday, I read the section The Gift of the Self-Dedication of Christ, in the Holy Father's book Heart of the Christian Life. I thought about D. I thought about the mean way others, particularly one other, have treated me this week. I did some soul searching..what do I do to receive this behaviour. Am I mean in return? Am I too much of a bitch, really, deep down? Am I a victim, a doormat? When is nice too nice?

And, I remembered that we are never alone in this journey. As cliched as that may sound. I remembered that others can walk with us when we feel pain. Others can help. As I hope I helped D.

I was reminded that Jesus Christ is there, with us. I thought of receiving Him in the Eucharist and then of conversion, conversion of our hearts each time we come to receive Communion.

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, we will...carry the Lord Jesus in spirit..We will immerse Him, so to speak, in the daily routine of our lives, so that he may walk where we walk and live where we live. ( Heart of the Christian Life).

Jesus with us, walking where we walk. Especially in times of sadness or sorrow or bewilderment ( you know, that how the #%#% did I get here feeling).

Then, today, I watched Toy Story 3, with my kids and some of my Kumon students, students receiving awards for being above grade level. I watched Toy Story 3 crying, crying, at

the passages one must go through, the transitions, the changes. Saying goodbye to friends, to family.How life changes even when you don't want it to.

Two sons cried with me.

And I thought, how lucky am I, that I have spent years with children, still spend years with children, my own and those children with whom I work. Lucky to see life through children's eyes, to be close to emotions, to share life, to talk life. To learn and to teach. To serve, for to be a parent, to be a teacher, both vocations, means also to serve.

In my sadness, over mean behaviour, I can also be strong. Be tough. Smile. Be happy for what it is that I have. Be happy to serve, even if it means that in serving I hurt.

Lastly, two other aspects are part of service. No one is closer to his master than the servant who has access to the most private dimensions of his life. In this sense, "to serve" means closeness, it requires familiarity.....To serve means to draw near, but above all it also means obedience.The servant is under the word:"not my will, but thine, be done."...What Jesus predicted to Peter also always applies:"You will be taken where you do not want to go." This letting oneself be guided where one does not want to be led is an essential dimension of our service, and it is exactly what makes us free. In this being guided, which can be contrary to our ideas and plans, we experience something new - the wealth of God's love. (Heart of the Christian Life: To Stand Before You and to Serve)

I hope I helped D. As D, and my children, and other children, have helped me. As I experience that wealth of which the Pope speaks. God's love.

BrImful of Asha

Do you know that song by Cornerstone?

Well it's a brimful of Asha on the 45 ...

And the song goes on to say....With singing and dancing and dancing and dancing.....

I am changing this to.... And eating and eating and eating .... Although last night I couldn't eat...and today I had caramel mudcake and caramello chocolate for breakfast.

A brimful of comfort eaters.

Yes, it is that how do you deal with emotions post again.

By eating. The song goes on.... Everyone needs a bosom to lean on...

Yeah we do. But hopefully it is not food .

Workouts as a bosom to lean on sounds better...for stress relief and for health and to push away that growing fat.

I have been enjoying my FIRM workouts... And praying at mass. Because prayer and penance provide more than a bosom to lean on...

But stop that eating and eating and eating and then not eating cycle. Okay?

The Heart

I know nothing about education except this: that the greatest and most important difficulty known to human beings seems to lie in that area which deals with how to bring up children and how to educate them. Michel De Montaigne ( 1533-92)

And so begins the book The Film Club - a memoir of a father and son, growing together. The father, David Gilmour, a film critic, allowed his son Jesse to drop out of school at Year Ten, with two provisos.. that Jesse not do drugs and that Jesse watch three films a week with his father, the film critic father , three films of the father's choice...with discussion.

Reviewers of the book wrote...

A heartfelt portrait of how...in the midst of a family's confusion and ire, there is sometimes nothing so welcome as a movie...

..Gilmour's experience suggests that what really counts, for parent and child, is simply being together.

I read this book as a parent on the last legs, so to speak, of her official homeschooling adventure. Only two of the seven sons are now official homeschoolers, the other five having moved into university and work or both.

And next year, there will be only one official, registered homeschooler..Anthony, as Thomas will be at university too.

I read The Film Club, this book, and contemplate our family's homeschooling, unschooling adventure.

I think it is true to say that this adventure has been based on books and movies amd on discussion..And on simply being together, through many moves, financial troubles, sickness, miscarriages, babies, toddlers, volunteer work, Mum's conversion to Catholicism, ire, arguments..joy, laughter, a weird sense of dark humour and sarcasm, a healthy dash of cynicism, fun,music, outings, people , friends.....masses and prayers, visiting priests and religious..technology.. work...and those books, movies and discussion.

For all of our life has become our education, our learning, and has made our family, as individuals and as a whole. who it is that we are today.

Someone told my son Jonathon recently that it was good for him to be away from his mother's presence and out of his shell..and yet, when I feel full of self doubt and ponder my inadequacies as a strong mum, Jonathon tells me heatedly, determinedly, that there is no shell, he is not disempowered by my strength of character but has a strong character himself. We all do, mum, he says, we Westenbergs are all determined and hard headed .

Yes, I see that who I am, with faults and failings, has also been part of the children's education. We have not separated life and family and learning but thrown it all together, in a seemngly ad hoc way, to create a smorgasbord of education. people who love books, music, movies, talking, people..and their faith.

There is no dichotomy between education and family life.

Eucharistic spirituality must be the interior motor of every activity, and no dichotomy is acceptable between faith and life in their [ the lay person's] mission of spreading the spirit of Christianity in the world.

So I read this morning in Heart of the Christian Life: Thoughts on Holy Mass ( Pope Benedict XVI).

Can I draw some parallels here?

There is no dichotomy betwen faith and life..we adore Christ, we receive Him and , after adoration, as we are filled with Christ's love, we take Him within us, share Him, to our communites..so, we love and live and spend time with our children and take this love into our activity, passions, our interests, our little interest driven explorations, our education.

Just as parenting, and unschooling, are not based on activity and busyness first but instead based on life and love and then, almost organically, a curriculum and learning emerges..Just as love is the centre of the unschooling form of learning..so, too, as the Holy Father says, we base our faith on love and adoration and, yes, acceptance of doctrines ( for, a church bulletin message was wrong; let me tell you, faith, yes, is built on love and trust but the Faith also involves an acceptance of doctrines, of Church teachings, based on this love..and not on feelings). Our parishes are not based on activity first, on lunches and jokes and clapping first, but on the Eucharist, the love of God for us, on adoration and contemplation..and then, the active life of the parish emerges...from the worship, not preceding the worship or instead of the worship.

Undivided love toward God and neighbour is founded upon the mystery of the Eucharist, celebrated and adored. Heart of the Christian Life.

People have sometimes asked me how to homeschool, how to unschool. And people at church have sometimes asked me how I get my teens and older sons to mass, to live their faith.

I don't.

What?

I don't homeschool as an addition to our life as a family, I spend time with my kids, I share books with my kids, we watch movies, we talk non stop. And thus our unschooling education has emerged from these activities, has grown an education, covering outcomes in a real, relevant, manner.

I don't make the kids live their faith. I couldn't could I? But we live our Faith, I live my Faith, my struggles and joys, we go to mass together, we experience beauty.

The saint is the person who is so fascinated by the beauty of God and by his perfect truth as to be progressively transformed by it. Heart of the Christian Life

The heart of Jesus reaches out to us.

The heart of my family's unschooling rests on this, on the Eucharist; and on the heart of the parent; the heart of the parent reaches out for the child, to make the child a priority, to do what is in the best interest of the family and the child.

Education in real life, for real life, with books and movies and talking.

With Faith.

With the Eucharist, the Bread of Life.

Let us pray to her, our holy Mother, so that she may help is to open our entire being, always more, to Christ's presence; so that she may help us to follow him faithfully, day after day, on the streets of our life. Heart of the Christian Life

Confirmations

Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the "sacraments of Christian initiation," whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For "by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed." Catechism of the Catholic Church 1285

This week we celebrated some anniversaries of the day that (some) of the kids received the sacrament of Confirmation.

Monday was Thomas', Anthony"s, Alexander's Confirmation anniversary...yes, these three were all confirmed on the same day. We celebrated with Indian takeaway...

Wednesday was Jonathon's Confirmation anniversary..and this was celebrated on Thursday (yeah, we have that sort of life!) with pizza.

My rag doll from Singapore...no, no, it is not a voodoo doll! I promise!

Retreating

A mini retreat. In Singapore. Time away, for a Kumon conference. Every child above grade level...inspiring, to give children the tools of study skills, to help them achieve and thus feel good about their learning.

And experiencing the treats of Singapore..Mass and Benediction at the Church of St Peter and St Paul; First Saturday Mass at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd; fish cooked in bamboo leaves; shops and palm trees and humidity and pungent smells..and clean streets...and Singapore Slings.

So why do I say this is a mini retreat?

It is because I find that every lttle foray out of my usual routine, my life as a working homeschooling mum, is a mini retreat. I am forced to have time to myself..to think..to read ( ah, Breath, Tim Winton took my breath away)...to pray more..to contemplate in prayer..especially on that long flight.

It is not that my daily bread of work,volunteer stuff, homeschooling, mass, kids, housework, family, friends, is terrble. The reverse is in fact true.

But, because I live in a constant rush, I like this rush you know, so I tend to live my holidays and conferences in a blur of activity too. When I am forced to sit, to be on my own, while travelling alone and in a hotel room on my own ( eighteenth floor! great views!)..when this is forced upon me, I grab the time. Thus, a conference and time away becomes a spiritual retreat.

While retreating in Singapore, I am thinking about my life..about giving up ...in this case for God.

As someone pointed out to me, life as-I-know-it can be a lesson in expropriation. Now, I have only previously understood this term in legal terms ie the process of taking over the property of another, by any means, legal or not.

But expropriation in my life, as it was described to me, and as I reflect on my actions and on my words and activities, this expropriation means more of a giving up. Giving up for God. A voluntary renunciation..or, at least an act that becomes voluntary even though it was n0t originally of one's choice.

This voluntary expropriation, this emptying of self, creates peace in the soul ... it is not a means of removing all suffering; however, peace in the soul is the foundation of an interior life, an interior life of prayer...to paraphrase St Basil.

So, in emptying myself, I give up something for God. And I ponder on what else I may be called to give up, what else I should, of my own will, give up...and the limits, if any, of this renunciation.

Or should I give up all that I do not wish to give up; all that I grasp and clutch ; do I empty self completely..for a higher intention?

As I said in our group discussion at the conference today, to a Kumon staff member, who laughed and nodded in wry agreement..why do I have to go away , go overseas, to sort out my Kumon centre..and parts of my life?

Kenosis. ( If you are like me, you read ketosis and thought of the Atkins Diet!)

But kenosis . Self emptying. And Phillipians 2:5-11 was shared with me as a example of this self emptying, of this kenosis. St Paul writes..."He emptied himself.."

Or, as St Francis, wrote.." There is the great paradox of our journey; that by letting go we gain, by losing we find."

And so, after a night of dancing at the Equinox Nightclub ( seventy first floor of the Raffles Convention Centre! Great views of Singapore), and of drinking and talking in the City Bar and singing along with the pianist and singer ( Total Eclipse of the Heart! Bonnie Tyler)..so I end my mini retreat with thoughts on expropriation and of kenosis. Is God calling me to give up some things voluntarily? Should I empty myself, for a greater intention? ( And, after all the drinking..can I type straight?).

It is definitely a total eclipse of the heart, for His Love and His purpose.
But will I remember this, on my return to "normal" life?

Turn around bright eyes.....

What Do You Do Thursdays?

What do you do Thursdays?

This morning, at six thirty, I picked up a friend . We went to mass, at the Tyburn Priory.

This is the last First Thursday for the Year of the Priest and will be our final opportunity to receive the plenary indulgence offered by Pope Benedict XVI for this year.

We pray for priests, in this Year for Priests.

But we don't have to stop there. We don't have to stop here and now, as the Year for Priests draws to a close. We can continue to devote the first Thursday of the month to this intention... to attend mass and pray before the Blessed Sacrament, for priests and religious.

And for vocations to the priesthood and to religious life.

So what do you do Thursdays?

Keep the first Thursday of the month for prayer for priests and religious?


THURSDAY CONSECRATION PRAYER

O my Beloved Jesus, I give and consecrate to Thee this Thursday and all the Thursdays of my life,in praise of the adorable Mystery of Thy Body and Blood, and in thanksgiving for that of the Priesthood.

Moved by Thy Holy Spirit, and full of confidence in the help of Thy Most Holy Mother, the Virgin Mary, Mother of Priests, I resolve to live each Thursday for the rest of my days here below in adoration and in reparation for priests and religious and, especially, for those who do not adore Thee, for those who are most wounded in their souls, and for those who are exposed to the attacks of the powers of darkness.

I want to remain before Thy Eucharistic Face for them and in their place; I want to draw near, in their name, to Thy open Heart, ever-flowing with the Blood and the Water that purify, heal, and sanctify all souls, but, first of all, those of Thy priests and Thy religious.

Let each Thursday find me close to the Sacrament of Thy Body and Blood, in adoration and reparation for the sake of all Thy priests and religious. Make me an entirely Eucharistic soul, according to the desires of Thy Sacred Heart and the designs of Thy merciful goodness upon my life. I desire nothing else. I want to love Thee more each day; I want to be the faithful adorer of Thy Eucharistic Face and the consoling friend of Thy Sacred Heart hidden in the tabernacles of the world, where it beats, wounded by love, forgotten, forsaken, and waiting for the adoration and for the love of even one priest.

Amen.

Is Catholic Unschooling Worth it?

Catholic Unschooling Learning and living together as a family. Children. adults, we are all natural learners. We unschoolers acknowledge that learning can happen at any age and that a person will be most motivated to learn when he needs to know or use what he is learning.

In Catholic unschooling, we avoid fear and over use of coercion....fear is a bad incentive for learning...while Love is the best incentive of all.

In St Anthony's teaching on prayer we perceive one of the specific traits of the Franciscan theology that he founded: namely the role assigned to divine love which enters into the sphere of the affections, of the will and of the heart, and which is also the source from which flows a spiritual knowledge that surpasses all other knowledge. In fact, it is in loving that we come to know.

Anthony writes further: "Charity is the soul of faith, it gives it life; without love, faith dies" (Sermones Dominicales et Festivi II, Messagero, Padua 1979, p. 37).Pope Benedict XVI General Audience,10 February 2010, on Saint Anthony of Padua

We have seen the role of Love in Catholic philosophy and theology. We see the role of Love in nature and in nurture. Since grace builds on nature, what is true in nature provides a firm foundation for our life as Catholics.

Unschooling can be as simple as not doing school. It can be as complex as treating each family member with respect, and respecting personal choices, choices in relation to education and food and TV, for example.

While the term unschooling can seem rather nebulous, there is a common thread in all the lives of Catholic unschoolers. Trust.

Trust in God and His Church. Trust in the family.Trusting that the child is born with a desire to learn. And that he will learn. Trust that learning is everywhere, all the time, that one never stops learning.

So, after years of Catholic unschooling, can I answer the question is it worth it? Worth the being different, the concerns about academics or lack thereof, worth the time and discussion and worth the mental arguing with one self, worth having to defend the different educational choice to others ( family, friends, Education Dept, priests, acquaintances, that man at the doctor's surgery, the woman at the morning tea, other more traditional homeschoolers..), worth the daily effort, the mess, the noise, the cluttered house and mum's cluttered mind, worth spending nearly all your time with your kids, worth the self control required of parents, the sharing, the living your life as an open book for your kids to read?

Catholic unschooling is very worth it.

Why?

Because of relationship.

That list above, the list of is it worth it, means time has been spent. Spent together. Not always qualtity time, in the nice mummy-and-daddy-sit-together-and-read-stories-to-children in our twenty minutes before bed quality time. Not fairy book family time. Not Brady Bunch quality time . But quantity time, messy, real life, every day, day in and day out quantity and quality time . Spent together doing chores, working, reading, arguing, praying....

Especially praying. Prayer really is the foundation of Catholic Unschooling. Our Faith is one of relationship, relationship with the Triune God. As a priest pointed out to me yesterday, on Trinity Sunday, we worship God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We see the relationship between the three persons in one God. As Fr said, relationship between God, with God, with our neighbour, with ourselves.

The divine persons are relative to one another. Because it does not divide the divine unity, the real distinction of the persons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to one another: "In the relational names of the persons the Father is related to the Son, the Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to both. While they are called three persons in view of their relations, we believe in one nature or substance." Indeed "everything (in them) is one where there is no opposition of relationship." "Because of that unity the Father is wholly in the Son and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Son." Catechism of the Catholic Church 255

As we live our Faith, as we pray at mass together, we share Love and thus we are formed by our Faith and our Love..and we share this with our families (For, as another priest pointed out in his homily yesterday morning, the mass is not a feel good exercise; we adore God, we receive Him and then we take His Love to others..)..and so relationship becomes the key to Catholic unschooling.

Therefore, Catholic unschooling is definitely worth it, simply because of relationship.

Our family has experienced some less than pleasant stuff recently ( hassles never come in dribs or drabs do they??) but I see that, as things happen to us, our family pulls together and is stronger rather than being a family that falls apart.

We might yell ( and swear) at each other but then we laugh and unite against the common problem!

That is the fruit, I think, of years of living and learning together, spending time together, respecting each other as people, not setting up adversarial relationships over chores or school but, in our imperfections and disagreements, keeping the lines of communication open. And always hanging together and praying at Mass together

Catholic unschooling is SO worth it, so worth the being different, the criticism from others, the worries about lack of academics, the worries about too much screen time...keep up the prayers and the talking and the simply seeking joy together and the rest follows. Over years. Over time.

It is not easy. But it is also not hard. We have the sacraments to help us. We have faith and love and time. And that prayer.

It is significant that precisely in and through prayer, man comes to discover in a very simple and yet profound way his own unique subjectivity: in prayer the human "I" more easily perceives the depth of what it means to be a person. This is also true of the family, which is not only the basic "cell" of society, but also possesses a particular subjectivity of its own. This subjectivity finds its first and fundamental confirmation, and is strengthened, precisely when the members of the family meet in the common invocation: "Our Father". Prayer increases the strength and spiritual unity of the family, helping the family to partake of God's own "strength". In the solemn nuptial blessing during the Rite of Marriage, the celebrant calls upon the Lord in these words: "Pour out upon them the grace of the Holy Spirit so that by your love poured into their hearts they will remain faithful in the marriage covenant". This "visitation" of the Holy Spirit gives rise to the inner strength of families, as well as the power capable of uniting them in love and truth. Pope John Paul II Letter to Families, Gratissimum Sane

What works in Catholic unschooling is this relationship with God and with family..and that unschooling is not a school at all. Unschooling is education in homes, in parks at the library. on the computer, with friends, in groups, on your own , on the trampoline, with video games and movies, via volunteer work and service..with mass and prayer and talking...and crying..and laughing.

There is much suffering because there is so very little love in homes and in family life. We have no time for our children, we have no time for each other; there is no time to enjoy each other. Mother Teresa

Catholic unschoolers have this time, by the sheer fact that days are not eaten up by school. Even busy, working, ADD mothers like me have time, via Catholic unschooling, time to be there for the family.

It is worth it.

The Visitation

And here is a table blessing, for the feast of the Visitation, today, May 31.

Praying this with the family before a (typically late, after work, typically thrown together, maybe macaroni cheese or Pasta Alfredo) dinner tonight...

We remember today the visiting of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth and the wonderful prayer of the Magnificat.

Reading Having begotten God in her womb, the Virgin hastened to Elizabeth, whose child understood the greeting and rejoiced with leapings as with songs, crying to the Mother of God:
Rejoice, O flower of unwithering stem! Rejoice, O gift of an incorruptible fruit! Rejoice, O fountain of the source of life, the lover of humanity! Rejoice, O Mother of the Son of God the Father! Rejoice, O field, a harvest of mercy! Rejoice, O banquet, a feast of purity! Rejoice, O flower, a meadow of delights! Rejoice, O guide, the harbor of souls! Rejoice, O acceptable incense of prayers! Rejoice, O purification of the universe! Rejoice, O goodness of God toward the dead! Rejoice, O boldness of dead toward God! Rejoice, O unwedded bride! (Akathist Hymn)

Responsory Verse: When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, she said: Response: "Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"

The Lord's Prayer

Blessing Blessed be you, God of mercy and compassion, for you inspired Mary, the humble maiden of Nazareth, to visit her cousin Elizabeth and to assist her in her earthly needs. Help us, that following Mary's example we may remain always open to the needs and sufferings of others. Strengthen us with the nourishment of this meal, and bring us one day to love's eternal feast in your kingdom. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer Source: Table Blessings: Mealtime Prayers Throughout the Year by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette, Ave Maria Press, 1994

On Community

On community within our parishes...

Christ is truly present among us in the Eucharist. His presence is not static. It is a dynamic presence that grasps us, to make us his own, to make us assimilate him. Christ draws us to himself, he makes us come out of ourselves to make us all one with him. In this way, he also integrates us in the communities of brothers and sisters, and communion with the Lord is always also communion with our brothers and sisters. And we see the beauty of this communion that the Blessed Eucharist gives us....Pope Benedict XVI , Heart of the Christian Life

On Pornography

A great article from First Things...

Recently, National Review Online ran an anonymous and widely discussed essay called “Getting Serious About Pornography.” Its author, a mother of five, detailed and deplored pornography’s role as she saw it in the destruction of her marriage. The result was an outpouring of impassioned e-mail—including from some people exploring their own use of pornography and its impact on their own lives. As one military man put it with unusual candor in a particularly poignant (also anonymous) e-mail to the editor:

I absolutely agree it is damaging. It damages my respect for my wife, and she has done nothing to deserve that damage. It damages my self-esteem and respect for myself, because I know it is not helpful to our life, to our marriage, to our love. . . . It reduces my satisfaction in a wonderful woman. It makes me yearn for things that I should not want. It is disruptive to my inner peace. I don’t like myself when I’m looking at porn. I don’t like the way I feel about myself when I’m looking at porn. . . . But I can only do without it about six months. . . . It has been an endless cycle.

Our Lady Help of Christians, Pray for Us!

Today's solemnity is of Our Lady Help of Christians, patroness of Australia.

Some of us prayed this morning at a solemn, reverent Mass, one inspiring us to remember that awe , the awe, the fear of the Lord, the awe of being in God's presence.

Helping me to remember to pray for those I love, for those I am upset with, for those who are angry with me, for those I disappoint with my behaviour.

For, in life, a problem or a situation is rarely always the fault of others. Experience, my past, my childhood, my adulthood, has taught me that. In my life, in three different situations that are boiling over, concurrently, well, I can see where I have made things worse. Where I have failed. Particularly in my vocation.

And so I have prayed this CONSECRATION OF ONESELF TO JESUS CHRIST,WISDOM INCARNATE,THROUGH THE HANDS OF MARY by St. Louis De Montfort - True Devotion to Mary.

We need the prayers of Our Lady. We need the Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we need to pray at mass as we did this morning. We need to remember the sacred in the mass, sacredness in word, in deed, in prayer, in liturgy.

As this article states, when quoting Cardinal Pell... In praying to the omnipotent God at mass, George Pell contends, it is not appropriate to "talk in the same way we do at a barbecue". Fresh Embrace of Everlasting Salvation, The Australian

No, it is not appropriate. Neither is it appropriate to have jokes within our worship, within our Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Or liturgical dancers. Or people parading around, doing this, doing that, helping here in the liturgy, dancing in a Gospel procession, showing off our national costumes and flags, talking about did you see I was asked to do x...didn't she read well, weren't those kids lovely, me, me all about me and men and not about God.

How do we lift our hearts to the Lord, how do we revere and worship Him, with colloquial terms? With jokes? Or, within noisy masses, with half dressed dancers, celebrating Pentecost.

Pentecost, as we were reminded at a dignified celebration of the Mass last night, is not about people and cultures and the talking in tongues. It is not about creating a false community for show, .... as Fr said, Community cannot be built by ourselves but comes first from communion with God.

And Pentecost is not about outlandish liturgies with watered down doctrine. To describe one of the masses I heard about, a mass where people laughed and enjoyed the "entertainment", but where people looked blank, when asked, what was the homily about, what did you learn, what did you come away with? And said oh it was just beautiful. No mention of God, of worship.

Just beautiful to celebrate each other?? Yet to create cultural rifts where there were none - so this is my table for the Pentecost lunch, why do the Sri Lankans have more tables than us? ( You have to ask??) , Can't we be near the Portugese not the Indonesians? And so on...

Is this how we celebrate the universality of the Church? With farcical liturgies and masses and farcical, showy community lunches afterwards - lunches more concerned about me and my culture than about mixing as a parish, as a community, a community rich in prayer and then in fellowship ?

Pentecost , as Fr said, in our solemn celebration last night, not during the circus show of an earlier celebration, Pentecost is a feast of the universal Church which commemorates the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, fifty days after the Resurrection of Christ,.

On the day of Pentecost when the seven weeks of Easter had come to an end, Christ's Passover is fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person: of his fullness, Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in abundance ( Catechism of the Catholic Church, 731).

The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. This joint mission henceforth brings Christ's faithful to share in his communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit prepares men and goes out to them with his grace, in order to draw them to Christ. The Spirit manifests the risen Lord to them, recalls his word to them and opens their minds to the understanding of his Death and Resurrection. He makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in the Eucharist, in order to reconcile them, to bring them into communion with God, that they may "bear much fruit." ( CCC 237)

It is only when we are drawn into communion with God that we can then bear much fruit in the Church, in our parish, in our community.

And, oh, God, I fail here many times. I sit at Mass and find it hard to pray right now. I look at a situation, at someone sitting close to me who is angry, who won't look at me during the sign of peace, and I know my sins, my failings. I lose my temper and am short woth someone. I bear little fruit because I fail to draw near to God.

Therefore, on this day, Our Lady Help of Christians, I ask Our Lady to pray for those I love, for the Church I love, for those in the Church, in our parishes. For priests and for religious. For my family and friends.

I (attempt) to draw close to God.

Because this need to draw close to God, to be drawn close to Him by the Holy Spirit, is why we need solemn, sacred, set apart liturgy.

We need masses that reassert the doctrines, the teachings of the Church with the celebration of the Eucharist according to rubrics. We experience the mystery of Christ in the Eucharist. We come away, full of God's love and with Jesus with us. Our hearts, minds, souls are filled...to describe how I felt as my spirits were lifted at last night's and this morning's celebration of Holy Mass.

It is not about our feelings, what you like or I like in liturgy. It is about Christ and His Church.

We need the prayers of Our Lady. I need the prayers of Our Lady. Our Church, our parish, our priests and religious , our families need the prayer of Our Lady.

Sub tuum praesidium We fly to thy patronage

An ancient prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the oldest known version of which is found on an Egyptian papyrus from the 3rd century. And I have taken it from my missal, where it is included as a closing prayer after the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.

Re St Matthias

We remembered St Matthias on Friday. At two Masses.

In two homilies, we were reminded that St Matthias was called to serve . As we are all called to serve . The priesthood of all believers.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that all people, lay and clergy and religious, have vocations. Have a role to play in the Church, in showing the world the love of Christ.

Bishop Elliott, the main celebrant of Friday night's Mass for Priests in the Year for Priests, reminded us that priests need us, the laity, the faithful . Priests and religious need our prayers.

But we need our priests and religious. We need their example, their teaching, their guidance, their prayers, their masses.

In encouraging us in our vocations in the world, as Christian laypeople, in our roles in the Church, it is also helpful to remember the distinctions between laity and the clergy and religious.

Both masses on Friday were masses that were set apart Set apart? By this I mean there was a sense of the sacred. Yes, the laity had a role to play , for want of a better term, but in each instance, the role was not contrived. There was no sense of someone orchestrating parts of the mass, fiddling with rubrics, to add a bit here and a bit there, a layperson here and a layperson there. (Does this sound a bit like Old MacDonald?)

These were no "circuses", no man centered masses. But masses where the Eucharist, the worship of God, the reception of Our Lord in the Eucharist, was central, was paramount.

As it should be. For receiving and adoring are part of our main focus of Mass, not doing , not everyone playing a role, not jokes, not people. Not "look at my daugher serving"; nor " weren't those Prep kids so cute with their song and liturgical movement."

As cute as they may be, as well ( or as poorly!!) as my sons may serve mass, my sons , and others, are not the central focus. It is not about us. It's about God.

When we are drawn closer to God, when we know our Faith and know God's love, then we live our Faith. We worship as a community and thus community is built. We receive God's Graces in the sacraments, we hear His voice in the silence, the white spaces of our Mass. And hopefully there is time for this silence, this reflection. Hopefully the masses we attend are not filled with words. Words. Words. People entertaining us. Extraneous actions or jokes.

When we worship as a community, with a sense of awe of being in His presence and receiving Him and His Graces, then we can go out and share. Share our love, our smiles, our compassion, our empathy, our listening ear, our friendliness, our cultures, our Faith, over cups of tea and lunches and suppers . Within our parish communities. In our workplace. With our families. In our every day lives.

As St Matthias was called, so are we, too, called. And we need to pray for those who are called in an extra way, to be priests and religious.

We are called to worship and then to share Christ's love. We are called as God's people.

We remember that we are not to clericalize the laity, to paraphrase the Holy Father.

We are not to make the mass about us but about God.

Particularly as we come close to Pentecost, and reflect on the Holy Spirit leading the Church, through the hierarchy and then through you and me.

With Persuasion

Tonight we watched the BBC version of Jane Austen's Persuasion.

I have never really warmed to Anne, the main character. She is niceness personified, almost to the point of being sickly sweet and colourless and bland; yet when Anne decides to throw caution to the wind, she is guilty of that heinous , to me, sin, of letting-the-man-know-what-you-think, know of your love, too readily.

And wth a PDA to boot!

What would you do, upon receiving a letter, such a letter as Anne received from Captain Wentworth, "Such a letter was not to be soon recovered from. . . . Every moment rather brought fresh agitation. It was an overpowering happiness."

When meeting with the Captain by chance, unlike Anne, who proclains her love by word and deed, I would have covered my emotions with too many, wild and woolly words. Wow, fancy seeing you. Sooo glad to see you, can't tell you how much that letter made me smile, hey nice hair, isn't it a great day, let's walk.

And then, without the expression of emotion( or the PDA!) we would proceed to the gravel walk, as did Anne and her Captain.

To what end, I do not know!

While we Austen fans know that Anne and the Captain walked to love and marriage .

"There they exchanged again those feelings and those promises which had once before seemed to secure everything, but which had been followed by so many, many years of division and estrangement. There they returned again into the past, more exquisitely happy, perhaps, in their re-union, than when it had been first projected; more tender, more tried, more fixed in a knowledge of each other's character, truth, and attachment; more equal to act, more justified in acting."

You just have to love Austen!

And this blog, Austen Quote of the day .

The Winner Takes It All

Yes, that song from Abba! But don't worry, this is more of a musing, laughing at self post than a sad, poor me post.

Laughing at self?

Yes, because just as one rocks along, posts happy thoughts... then...

The gods may throw a dice

Their minds as cold as ice

..and things change...just a bit. Suddenly you are not as carefree as you thought you were the day before!

It's simple and it's plain

Why should I complain.

So, no complaining. Laughing at myself. Remembering it is good to have these little things to offer up, to pray for others,. for special intentions.

Tonight, after St Anthony mass and many prayers, I tried to snatch and capture that carefree I capture the castle feeling ( great book and movie by Dodie Smith)...and made Pasta With Garlic Sauce and Vienna bread for dinner-with-Dr-Who (and the kids ).

Nice! And yum!

The game is on again

Feelin' happy

Sitting at the hairdresser and feeling good. Feeling happy

Why?

Not wanting to analyze too much but I feel well.
Back to normal-for-me after a lingering bout of sickness .

The absence of sickness is what makes me feel good. I'm eating better. I'm trying to get to bed at a more reasonable hour . I'm doing tough workouts again....okay, I only have time for those short HIIT workouts but they are high impact, advanced , puke in a bucket, endorphin producing workouts!

I'm not giving in. I'm not giving up. I'm taking my vitamins . I'm praying the psalms . I'm feeling good about stuff.

I had my nails painted red on Wed. I thought I was going to die in one short workout circuit yesterday bur I pushed and felt great .My endurance is improving . I loved my kickboxing today . I'm at the hairdresser; haven't been here since last year ; having some foils (streaks) done.

And it was first Thursday yesterday . Prayed for priests and religious. First Friday today. Mass and devotions.

Had a good laugh yesterday , at Women's Group and through texting.
I am getting more Jillian Michaels workouts for Mother's Day. Woo hoo!

I am shallow. I know.

And the hairdresser just came to me and said my foils are turning out really light, do I mind? No, who cares a change is as good as a holiday! And I lost a kg this week in my never ending weight loss adventure!

To quote James Brown ,"I feel good."

Daybook Autumn 2010

I haven't done a Daybook for a long while, but have enjoyed reading the Daybooks of others, on their blogs, so here goes....

One of my favourite things. . . my workouts. I am feeling better..so back to eating healthy and to tougher workouts to lose 5kg. What workouts? Jillian Michaels' ...especially her ones that are high impact, strength, interval, good for time crunched people. I love feeling better and pushing myself with puke-in-a-bucket workouts! What healthy eating? Rules (Secrets of a Former Fat Girl) and a "normal" eating plan ( The Ten Commandments of Losing Weight)

Outside my window. . .A sunny autumn day. Washing on the line. I can see the small green capsicums on the bush near the dining room window. On the weekend, I made home made pizza, with fresh herbs and capsicum picked from our little, little garden!

I am reading. . . Breath by Tim Winton, on loan..and The Associate by John Grisham. In my reading pile I also have The Cardinal, Lessons From Blackberry Inn, another book on loan from a friend ( the title currently eludes me), and the diet books above ( re-reading).

I am thinking. . .about this article by Cardinal Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, on the dangers of pornography. Excellent article. "The claim that pornography "enriches" relationships mocks those whose marriages and families it has destroyed."

I am thankful for. . . really nice weather. Cold mornings and evenings but pleasant, sunny days. Made our weekend, with my father in law visiting, a success. We didn't have to stand at the Welcome Wall in Darling Harbour , with umbrellas, in rain...

From the learning rooms. . . it is Harry Potter week! So, Anthony is writing a mini Harry Potter inspired essay... And I got my essay back, the one on Christian Leadership, the one I felt unsure about because I did it At The Last Minute and Late At Night. I received full marks. Woo hoo!

From the kitchen. . .Thomas is making cupcakes for Harry Potter week - we are decorating them with jelly beans..as in Bertie Bott's All Flavour Beans. I am going to put a split pea and vegetable soup in the crockpot for dinner, to have after work tonight. While watching last night's Dr Who.

I am wearing. . . well, I am still in the workout clothes I wore to 7am mass. After mass, I cleaned up my bedroom, re-organised a cupboard there, got breakfast for my father in law and, finally did a workout. Then went straight into my day ( yes, I ate breakfast at 9.30 am but I am really trying to get back into the habit of breakfast, no matter how late!). So, haven't got around to changing yet!

I am creating. . . our May bulletin board. Pics of Luke ( birthday May 21), an icon of Mary, Our Lady, for the month of May, and a Harry Potter poster. Of course.

I am going. . .to Melbourne for two days, in two weeks. Dh is in Melbourne for work; I am joining him for the last two days of his trip.

I am hearing. . .actually, the house is pretty quiet. Thomas is talking. Greg, Anthony and I are typing away at the computer. It is a quiet house and quiet morning today.

Around the house. . .I hope to find time on the weekend to clean exhaust fans and air conditioning vents. And to start tackling some of the re-organisation projects I have in mind. But time is precious and I get very few big bursts of time..so we will see!

I am praying for... priests, religious and for vocations. It was the first Sunday of the month yesterday and we have the first Thursday this week. Aiming to imitate the mothers of Lu and continue to dedicate prayers .

A few plans for the rest of the week. . . . Spanish class tomorrow..need to find a good resource! Work and more work. Helping a friend pack while kids play games. Watching Dr Who and Numbers and Harry Potter. Doctors' appointments. Maybe the hairdresser. First Friday mass and devotions. Eggs for dinner tomorrow night; Thai Vegetable Soup Wednesday night; who knows the rest of the week??

Here are some pictures that I am sharing..

Spiritual Motherhood for Priests

I shared this on Facebook, as a reminder of the First Sunday of the month and of the commitment our Women's Group in our parish has made, a commitment to pray for priests and for religious and for vocations. Vocations especially from our parish.

But, you know, we all need this reminder. And this,well, inspiring article needs to be kept for my own, personal, future reference, here on "the blog."

As I say to my kids, "It ain't real until it's blogged!"

Understanding the Vocation of Spiritual Motherhood of Priests

I sat listening to the chairman of pastoral planning for the archdiocese describing upcoming changes that we could expect in our parishes due to the advancing age of our priests and the still inadequate number of new vocations to the priesthood. The question confronting us and most dioceses is: How will we do it with fewer priests, raise up more active lay participation within the parish? While empowering the laity in their call to transform the secular sphere and to support priests by their active participation in parishes in areas not requiring ordination remain important elements in invigorating the Church, another rather unheard of and specific initiative has been proposed by the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy. On December 8, 2007, in a little known document entitled Adoration, Reparation, Spiritual Motherhood for Priests, Cladio Cardinal Hummes, the Prefect for the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy, proposed fighting this spiritual crisis with a “spiritual endeavor.” He suggests forming and facilitating the vocation of spiritual motherhood for priests- spiritually mature women willing to offer their lives and pray at the Cross for priests and the priesthood.

Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring

From St Catherine of Sienna, Doctor of the Church. Feast day today, April 29.

Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.

It is true, isn't it? Sometimes, our lives need much endurance; circumstances teach us perseverance; we live through esxperiences and learn that there is a light at the end of the tunnel; we find joy via endurance and prayer.

Even in tough times.

As a Kumon Supervisor, I often share with my parents that the time to stop Kumon study is not when it is tough, or when a child makes a fuss about homework. The time to stop is when study is easy; when a child has learned that if you commit and persevere you achieve. And you feel good about yourself. It was a worthwhile experience, a worthwhile achievement after all.

As a parent, I often share with my kids, young adults and teens alike, that sometimes it is better to just commit. It may be hard, it may be tough, but there are joy and smiles even in endurance.

In my vocation, I can see that endurance, with prayer, has its own rewards. I try not to sweat the small stuff. I try to just walk on, looking for and sharing smiles, remembering that hard times don't last forever..there is always good and bad.

I can choose to look at the good.

To a brave man, good and bad luck are like his right and left hand. He uses both.

St Catherine again.

Tonight the kids are cooking dinner. Thursdays are hectic for me! They are making Italian food (Spaghetti and Meatballs) in honour of St Catherine.

St. Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, although she never had any formal education. St, Catherine's letters, and a treatise called "a dialogue" are considered among the most brilliant writings in the history of the Catholic Church. Catholic Online

No formal education? Hope for we homeschooling unschoolers!

For housewives

We made bread yesterday, a cottage loaf sprinkled with a dash of parmesan and paprika.

For St Zita, patron saints of housewives. St. Zita spent her life from age 12 until her death at age 60 as a servant in the household of the Sagrati family. Zita believed that "A servant is not pious if she is not industrious; work-shy piety in people of our position is sham piety." One morning, when she had inadvertently over-stayed in church praying until sunrise, she hurried home to find the bread dough already prepared for the oven. She questioned every one, but no one would admit preparing the bread. It was soon evident that no human hands had shaped the loaves. A delicious fragrance surrounded them, and Zita became aware that angels had been at work while she prayed.

Patron of housewives? Would you say that I am a housewife?

The dictionary to hand defines a housewife as a married woman who manages her own household.

Well, that definitely describes a whole part of my life!

And it makes me think of Mary, Our Lady, praying and working. And loving.

If you put all the love of all the mothers into one heart it still would not equal the love of the Heart of Mary for her children. St Louis Mary de Montfort.