Life with the......

A day in the life of... An answer to those who asked how Unschooling looks for families with teens.

5.44 am Mobile phone alarm beeps. I jump out of bed  to grab the phone and switch off the alarm because  I can't bear the noise and don't want it to wake the family. Then, because it's cold and wet, and because I went to bed at midnight doing work for Kumon, I take my phone back to bed with me for ten minutes. I say a few Hail Marys.

6.05 am Doing a Taebo workout in my room. Time for a half hour workout today... Total Body Blast, kickboxing and light weights. Go Billy Blanks!

6.40 am Getting dressed for work at OOSH. I lay my uniform and jeans and Converse  out the night
before so I don't have to think in the morning. Because I took those ten minutes in bed there is no time now to wash and dry my hair so I put it in pigtails.

6.50 am Leave  for work... Running a bit late.

7.00-9.30 am Work as a co-ordinator at an out of school hours care centre. Set up dominoes and tristar games and pet portraits, chat to children and parents and staff, do paperwork, plan afternoon activities.

While at home, builders arrive to fix the termite damage in our rental home. Jonathon and Alexander in Madrid for WYD (lucky things!) and Greg is home for a week before going to the US for postulancy and novitiate. So Greg, Anthony, Thomas get up, workout, tidy, talk, pray, breakfast, computer, errands

9.40 am Home from work, talk to a Kumon parent on the phone, say hi to builders and sons, check email on my phone. Anthony makes a pot of tea and we try to find a quiet builder free area to talk. Can Anthony's friend come over? Will Greg proofread Anny's report on Sir Robert Menzies? We all talk, look up movies online, go on Facebook, Thomas writes a blogpost.Anthony puts on a load of laundry and we laugh at how much less washing we have with two away.

About that report. A couple of weeks back it came to me that we were inadvertently studying Australian history this year ( see my post on Inadvertent Homeschooling). With trips and outings and books that came our way. So I suggested to Anthony that he write a report on a famous person in Australian history.. And this he finished yesterday.

About that blog post. A long discussion in Melbourne , about writing and commitment and self discipline and a friend's blog, encouraged
Thomas'  blog, Life as a student.

10.10 I go to finally wash that hair, reading a bit of Merton's Seven Storey Mountain  ( that modern spiritual classic) and the beginning of Run Your Butt Off (an introduction to running as a workout and sport) on the way. Anthony and Greg play a video game with Anthony's friend , David. Then David and Anthony play some piano.

10,55 Say goodbye to the builders... They should be finished this weekend and painters in next week! Yay! Kids drop me off to my eye specialist appointment and they head off to the shopping mall. In the waiting room I start to blog, watch the news, read parts of the aforementioned books. This is my rest! Or at least how I look at it... Not boring waiting time!

I look at my To Do list... Is there anything I can do while in the waiting room? I pray the prayer on the holy card I use as a bookmark.

I download some songs on ITunes and field another call from a Kumon parent. While the boys visit the shops and library.

Does it seem like I am filling in time??

I pray for the pilgrims in Madrid.. That plenary indulgence you know!

1.20  pm Finally texting Greg to pick me up... Waited two hours for a six minute consult!

1.49 At the food court for lunch. Lentil beetroot fetta salad! Anthony and his friend play with Bucky Balls, beads with which they make creations. Greg goes to the orthodontist and Thomas to work as an assistant at a nearby Kumon centre. I talk, text, catch up on email. With a skim chai latte!

2.53 pm Rushing to work, late again. Anthony with his friend David at home, playing games and music and reading. Greg will take Anthony to piano lessons at 5pm while I plan indoor activities for the kids at OOSH on this rainy, windy day.

6.05 Walking in the rain, waiting for my lift home from work. Then we leave a car for Thomas at his work, so he can drive to youth group in our parish after work. Home to say hi to dh, home early from work interstate in Canberra. Anthony tells me about music lessons. Builders have finished and gone! I dry my hair and we go to mass in our parish and Anthony then to meet Thomas at youth group.

We talk about St Louis of Anjou, the first Franciscan bishop. And hear from our pilgrims in Spain... It's amazing!

I get to pray the Morning and Evening prayers of the Office before and after mass ( yay! But hangs head in shame re catch up). Then home to pick up dh ... Just we three, Gerry, Greg and I for dinner, some time to chat before Greg goes away.

Where shall we eat?

8.44 At a local Thai restaurant. Thomas and Anny still at youth group. Hearing all about WYD from pilgrims and about studies in the US from Greg.

9.48 Meet T and A at McDonalds for coffee and chat about youth group. Still cold. Pouring rain.

Discuss tomorrow's plans.

Discuss items in the newspaper.

And talk about writing. And blogs. And personal culpability. And mental health problems.

10.48 pm Home . Very , very cold. Anthony does more laundry. I tidy up. We pray and get ready for bed. I make a To Do list for tomorrow, adding the many things I didn't do today.

An early night.. We were going to watch an episode of Numbers (Maths and crime!) but we are oh so tired  after a busy week... So bed and reading for us all ( and blogging for me!)

It's Strewsday!

And so.. Why not visit theUnschooling Catholics blog?

And do some strewing yourself.....strewing conversation, as I talk about in the post above.

Love and commitment

Love and commitment

You know, when you read those How To Keep Your Marriage Alive books, the one thing they tell you to do is communicate.

You know, when you read those How To Keep Your Teenager Close books, the one thing they tell you to do is communicate.

But.. Well... sometimes communication just doesn't cut it.

Sometimes you don't even like each other that much.. At the moment. And the thought of communicating , of working on the relationship, is almost like pulling teeth.

Actually, you would rather have your teeth pulled than work on this together.

And, you know, that's okay.

Because, contrary to the advice in the popular self books, communication is not the most important tool in the relationship box.

Commitment is the most important tool.

Serious commitment.

Seriously.

It's when we make a commitment to a relationship, be it marriage, parenting, that special friend, it's at the moment of commitment that we hold in our hands the most effective tool for the development of the relationship.

For love is commitment. 

We commit to that relationship .. Regardless. There will be problems, there will be times when you annoy or hurt each other, when you feel all is lost, when you want the other to leave or the teen to grow up and away or the friend not to call or text.

In these times, it is your commitment to the relationship that makes a difference. 

Commitment makes a difference to you. Because you don't give up on the relationship. Even when you want to.

And commitment makes a big difference to the other. The spouse, the teen, the friend. That know , deep inside, even when they don't consciously recall it, even when all seems lost, they know that, in spite of hard and horrible times, there will be good times and that you will be there for them . Always.

"The future starts today, not tomorrow." 
— Blessed John Paul II

It does. It starts today with relationships built on commitment.

A poverty of culture

A poverty of culture.

I'm quoting British PM David Cameron here.

His phrase, in reference to the British riots and to a loss of a sense of right and wrong, of values, has been our driving-in-the-car discussion.

Because, sadly, I see this poverty of culture with many children. They are materially comfortable but culturally, aesthetically, spiritually poor.

Their dreams have been reduced to good grades, being good at sport, looking cool, getting the latest technology, reality TV and one day having a good job and a nice house.

And they are starved. They have a vacuum within, a vacuum they try to fill with things, with activities, with fun, with friends.

Our culture has let them down. We have sunk, many times, to the lowest common denominator in our entertainment, in our books, our television watching, to whet our baser appetites for more. As in that Merton quote.

We have dumbed down our curriculum. Made it politically correct. Taking away all the study of beauty, of art or of poetry, any study of art and poetry for their own right, to reduce it to study for outcomes. Be introduced to genre. Learn to write an exposition. Learn an art
technique, study the theme of revolution in poetry...not poetry for enjoyment. Watch what amounts to political propaganda for religion. And
do all this to achieve the outcome, to fit our current ideologies , not to see the beauty of the written word or of the artwork. Not for enjoyment. But for utilitarian purposes.

The same could be be said of the Christian world or of the Church. In an effort to be relevant, the Church has lost its sense of the sacred in many places and in some liturgies. Christian art and Christian music is often banal and pop culture driven. The children , the young people
don't come to church, to worship, in an atmosphere that inspires awe. They come to be entertained, to see friends, because they should .
And when that fails they often leave. They don't see anything in Church that the world can't offer.

And don't give me the old tired statement that children nowadays aren't interested in the sacred, in beauty, in being brought out of themselves and their utilitarian media and consumer driven culture.

I work with kids. And when, for example, instead of self-centred morning news at OOSH, I introduce discussion on a staff member's trip tp World Youth Day and Spain, are the children bored? To the contrary. They tell me what they know of Spain, they ask questions, we discuss
the Spanish culture.

Or they look at the artwork on my IPad when I take it in for use on "lazy day". Who's that? Mary. A painting by Raphael. Who's he? An artist.
And they are interested. They look at the colours, at other paintings.

And the children in catechism class show a similar interest and thirst. Not for the curriculum of "niceness" but for something that inspires. We talk about WYD, we look up Spain on the map, we discuss Spanish food and icons. I talk about St Ignatius of Loyola and St Mary of the Cross, recent feast days, and the boys' eyes light up when they hear about St Ignatius being a soldier. They ask questions about what he
read to make him want to be a priest, about why Jesuits often had to smuggle into England to say mass during the Reformation and post-
Reformation, they ask about living a life for something and not giving up. "Oh, like when you told us fortitude! " Yes, when we talked about
the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Wow, they remember. They understand. They have a thirst for real knowledge, for visions, for dreams, for the
sacred, for things outside of themselves or out of the ordinary.

After Mass on Sunday night, a mother came to me with her son, I said hello as I teach this little boy in Catechism. She said yes, all he
could do during mass was keep pointing me out, telling his mum the things he had learned in class. Now, I am not saying this because I think it is admirable for children to talk in mass. Or because I want you to think I am the world's best teacher. I am sharing because this incident illustrates my point. That these children can understand beauty and the sacred, can be interested in that which is good and true.

We just have to feed them the right stuff. Give them the beauty. Encourage awe. Give them a sense of the sacred. The truth. The higher
purpose.

We have to create a culture of value. Not a poverty of culture.

Thomas Merton was converted to a life for God in part by the beauty of sacred art. Surely our children deserve the same opportunity for conversion?

Ruby Strewsday

Strewsday

Faith is hosting a regular Tuesday Strewsday. Sharing that with which we have strewn our children's paths.

Okay, I know it's not Tuesday. I know I'm late. It's been that kind of a week.

And because it's been that kind of a week I have been at wit's end, trying to think what exactly it is that I, that we, have strewn this week.

Ummm...

Then it came to me.

I may not have been doing a great deal of visible, intentional strewing for my homeschooler, for the family, but I have been strewing myself. My life.

In my interactions. My discussions. My silences. My actions. My life of attempted consistency, of trying , of striving to be faithful, of going to Mass, praying the Divine Office, sharing the liturgical year, going to work, household chores, workouts, reading, work at home, writing..

In the end, it is who I am and what I do that speak volumes to my children. Especially to young adults and teens . Who look beyond the rhetoric and the public persona to the real mother.

"...the most effective educational method is not the word of instruction but the living example without which all words remain useless. " from "Woman" , page six, Edith Stein (St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)

Why go to adoration?

Someone asked me why I go to Eucharistic Adoration. And how a seemingly ADD, doing sort of person can sit and kneel, silently, in adoration.

"We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pitch of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible, in order to cater to them with the products of our factories and printing presses and movie studios and all the rest." Thomas Merton, Seven Storey Mountain

And yet, when I sit in adoration of Our Lord, in church , I am drawn apart from this tension. I am with God.

So this is my answer.

In Adoration, I am taken out of self, away from desire. I am with God.

A bit of a through-the -Stargate -experience, for those fans of the science fiction television series Stargate. For I am out of my world, my noisy busy world, and I feel alone with God. Sometimes praying. Sometimes just being. Sometimes laying down all my thoughts and prayers and concerns for others, for this busy world .

"To visit the Blessed Sacrament is . . . a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, and a duty of adoration toward Christ our Lord." (CCC 1418)

Inadvertent Homeschooling

Inadvertent Homeschooling 

Inadvertent. Not resulting from deliberate planning. 

There are times when our Homeschooling looks almost unintentional. Inadvertent even. 

Where learning and activities and themes just seem to happen, to arise from the dust and, like a Phoenix, to  arise in glory. 

I call this inadvertent Homeschooling. Where themes and connections appear to happen almost inadvertently...without deliberate planning. Just by being and doing.

The old maxim fail to plan, plan to fail does not consistently apply in Homeschooling. There are times, many times, many seasons, where deliberately choosing not to plan but to mosey along is the right path. Leads to learning.

And to our inadvertent themes.

Not themes of work planned and implemented and tweaked as we go.

But themes that must happen...so that one day, filling out our journal or log, talking, thinking about an outing or a book, we realize that there has been a theme and connection in our life and learning. Looks good on paper. Our thematic learning. Post and not pre-programmed. Recognized and written in our log after the fact.

Like our Australian unit this year.

Who knew we were going to get into Australian history?

Yet, looking back on the months so far of 2011, I see a theme, placed inadvertently amongst a visit to the King Tut museum, to trips to Melbourne, amidst some Maths and Physics and Latin and debates on liturgy. 

We moved house. In the unpacking, Anthony rediscovered the My Story books, novels set in differing periods of Australian history. I began to find these left on a chair or a sofa, as he reread .

Looking for a post Easter activity, I remembered a reasonably local museum. So off we traipsed and learned about local Australian history and geography.

Awhile later, we were discussing church architecture and Anthony mentioned that he had wanted to visit the crypt of St Mary's Cathedral. Another outing, this time just we two, And a visit to the crypt told the story of colonial Sydney. Which made me drag out our copies of The Pictorial History of the Catholic Church in Australia.

Then, I found a leaflet about the Rocks Discovery Museum...the early settlement of Sydney Town. With wandering around the Rocks and Sydney Harbour and pancakes for lunch to follow.

Now if someone asks what-we-are-doing-for-school, we can say Australian history. Inadvertently.

Who knew that 2011 would involve Homeschooling with Australian history?

We deliberately failed to plan but no, we haven't failed. We have learned. We have had fun. 

Again. 

The learning inadvertent to life and fun. 

Fitness. Highs. Lows.

Fitness Highs and Lows

July Highs

1. Did copious weights workouts. Kelley Coffey-Myers 30 Minutes to Fitness Weights and Jari Love's Get Extremely Ripped, split onto the two thirty minute workouts. When work is busy and I am short of time...I need thirty minute workouts. But tough, effective ones. These two are great, especially for biceps and pecs and both are active so get your heart rate up for a cardio effect (think Body Pump classes).

2. Read some stuff on the whys of eating....parts of the Don't Go Hungry For Life book, parts of Losing It In France, parts of Intuitve Eating.

What is intuitive eating?

"It is free of obsession. It acknowledges that our compulsions are due to biochemical or emotional reasons and any over- or under-eating is a clue to begin looking further as an opportunity for learning."

3. I went to a dinner dance on Saturday night and I ate all three courses but only half of everything...it's okay, others at the table liked my leftovers! Half my pumpkin soup, half the fish and vegetables, half the caramel apple tart. And practiced some moderation with alcohol! Woo hoo!

July Lows

1. I put on some kilos. Yes, that little, horrible, sneaky weight trip. I realize that for me it's not enough to try to be intuitive, to be honest ....less intuition and more self discipline seem to be the ticket here. I mean, the feel good stuff is good is but I need plans and action. I'm just that kind of person. Hence my moderation at the dinner dance (see above) and my moderation all weekend. Go girl!

2. Not enough cardio. In line with the above, I realized that I need more cardio. Tough love. The last two days I have been doing those walking and jogging workouts, 45 minutes. I kind of like those endorphins and I need that cardio to lose that weight. Your mileage may vary but this works for me. And changing it up.

3. I hate my body. There, I said it. Not following a plan makes me feel fat, and makes me actually fat...those kilos I mentioned above. My skinny jeans fit but I look fat in them. My abs have gone to hell. See what happens when I don't watch what I eat...whereas two days of cardio and A Plan make me feel less fat... Sure I haven't lost weight yet, weight loss is slow for me, I know I am always in this for life and I am not after fast weight loss or a perfect body...but I feel more in control with that sensible eating plan. An "I've got this covered" feeling!

So there you have it. My July fitness post.

I've brushed myself off, thinking positively, dragged out some old mottoes, created some new.

"I've lost 40 kg in the last, a few kgs now won't be hard." No, that one doesn't work anymore. Makes.me feel like a failure.

" I take care of myself." Yes, that's a new one but a good one. A reminder when I want to turn to food.

" What I want most, WIWM." Yep, that still works. I really want to be healthier, look better in my clothes, not avoid the mirror when I'm wearing my skinny jeans or getting dressed.

" It's not an option INO." From Secrets of a Former Fat Girl. And, yes, it's not an option to drop the plan, I'm not like other people who can eat or not eat and not worry. I have a history of eating disorders so their eating and exercise habits are not an option for me.

And - " I don't do that any more." No, I don't. Or I tell myself I don't. Don't eat emotionally, for example. Don't expect perfection. Don't make it too hard or too easy on myself.

I don't.

Do you have any July fitness highs and lows?

Two Days..or..What do unschoolers do with their days?

Two Days

"I will attempt, day by day, to break my will into pieces. I want to do God's Holy Will, not my own!" – St. Gabriel Possenti

And there are times, daily times, ordinary times, when doing God's will is doing just that...just the ordinary.

Unschooling this week has been ordinary and far from ordinary.

And I strive to balance my paid work, that which I do for the good of the family, with my work as a mother of young adults and a Homeschooling mother, responsible for an unschooling fifteen year old. Because although we might not be doing school we are educating. And kids, homeschooled kids, even home schooled teens, need time.

So, I try to break my will into pieces. And enjoy our unschooling days.

Two different days.

One a day of outings...upon my return from morning work, we discuss the saint for the day and the day's events. Let's go to the city!

I take my iPad for I know that I have work for Kumon. The kids read... talk... and listen to music in the car. We walk through Hyde Park, heads down, hoods on, hands in pockets, slumped against the rain. We split up..two of us to a bookstore, two to look at clothes, one to wander on his own. I check out perfumes on the way..

I work , sitting amongst books at the bookstore. I have a long telephone conference call. I look briefly at two books with a son and we all gather again for lunch in a food court. And discussion.

It is this discussion that educates. Be it on our morning, our books, our thoughts, our food.

Before we rush home. Me to afternoon work and some of the kids to finish decorating our Hat Cake.

And our outings close with Mass and the St Anthony novena.

The next day is different. More at home.

Perhaps more ordinary.

But unschooling is never really ordinary.

I work morning and afternoon shifts. One son works. One son teaches guitar in the evening, to students at their house and to his younger brother and a friend at our house. Another son takes the youngest and friends to drama class, and picks them up again. I teach Catechism to year two in the local school...and so results a discussion on the beatitudes and on being nice, that ubiquitous nice. Over coffee with a visitor.

And card games. And writing. And reading. And junk mail delivery. And mum cooks a late dinner after work, to have over episodes of Merlin with a friend.

Two days. Different. But oriented towards the day by day. That is what makes a life. An education. Day by day. Little by little.

Do unschoolers set goals?

Do unschoolers set goals?

That has been our discussion at the Unschooling Catholics blog and email list. Check out our post on BHAGs and on living and learning alongside, leaning on that truck.

You know, sometimes we set goals or share visions and dreams. Sometimes we set ourselves targets and deadlines. And sometimes we fly by the seat of our pants.

I think both are valid.

They just suit different seasons of life.

Always being goal oriented can mean that we feel a trifle driven.

Now, driven can be good. Can keep us focused on that vision, can keep us on the straight and narrow so to speak.

Sometimes, however, we can concentrate so much on the goal that we lose sight of the passes, the twists, the turns, the cracks in the pavement along the way.

So maybe it is okay to have a goal yet to hold that goal loosely in our palm and be open to the little moments in life... The nudging of the Holy Spirit, the interruption, that teachable moment, seeing God in our daily interactions and serving Him with joy in our daily tasks.

And sometimes setting aside those tasks to follow the moment.. The sudden passion for a movie, a book, an urge to cook with mum, to go to the park or for a walk..

I often call this learning by osmosis. Goal or vision in mind but the how-to of achieving that goal is immersed in the living a good life. A life worth living. Good and bad. All things working for the good of those who love the Lord (to paraphrase St Paul).

Chatting to friends at dinner last night , we came upon goals, lofty goals, in homeschooling. And I said that while people may not want to read a book about my homeschooling (Battle Hymn of the Elephant Mother?) or want to pay money to hear me speak about my homeschooling method (in a nut shell - prayer and hang out together)... While this may be too simple to fill a homeschooling tome, nevertheless my goal in Unschooling has been to give the kids a good childhood. And knowing that the rest will follow.

A good childhood. A Swallows and Amazons , a Chalet School childhood.

Adventures. Freedom. Nature. Play and more play. Community. Mixed ages. Learning through interests and life. Faith. The tools of learning. Books. Time. Masterly inactivity on the part of mum. Hanging out together. Friends and family. Prayer. Knowledge shared over cups of tea and books and in museums and art galleries and bookshops and discussing movies and after Mass or over those rosary beads.

A time for focused formal study and much more time for exploration and hanging out and for play.

It paints a rosy picture, doesn't it? And while things may not always be rosy, the goal of a good childhood, while learning in a family focused environment , is always lingering n my mind. Helping me to make a choice, to pull up my socks mentally when things are less than rosy and work towards joy. And learning. And prayer.

That's why this unschooler believes in goals.... loose, flowing goals. With a strong dash of determination, commitment and perseverance.

Sprinkled liberally with prayer and thus steeped with liturgy and devotions.

St. Jane Frances de Chantal...The great method of prayer is to have none. If in going to prayer one can form in oneself a pure capacity for receiving the spirit of God, that will suffice for all method.

The Little Way

It is no coincidence that the Catholic unschooling book, the one to which I am a contributor, is called A Little Way of Homeschooling.

No coincidence at all.

Because our lives as wives and mothers, as Christians, are often made up of that little way. Serving God in little ways. And often without recognition. Often, too, with disapproval and criticism.

And homeschooling, unschooling, trusting in the child and his learning, in the rich home environment, in the Holy Spirit can appear to be the most little way of all.

Seemingly nothing.

Yet everything.

Living a vocation and giving our all to Our Lord. With love and trust.

And it comes with a cost.

And with love.

St Therese of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church, wrote of assisting an arthritic nun in the community:

"Finally we reached the refectory without mishap; and here other difficulties arose. I had to seat Sister St Pierre and I had to act skilfully in order not to hurt her; then I had to turn back her sleeves (again in a certain way), and afterward I was free to leave. With her poor cripple's hands she was trying to manage with her bread as well as she could. I soon noticed this, and, each evening, I did not leave her until after I had rendered her this little service. As she had not asked for this, she was very much touched by my attention, and it was by this means that I gained her entire good graces.."

This is not a sentimental love, a love that says words but is based on self. This is love enacted, by paying attention to a person, honouring that person, honouring that God loves that person.

This is the way God loves us.

And how can we show our love for God and others? We can offer up all that we have and do. We can make small sacrifices for the sake of others...we wives and mothers can offer sacrifices and do penance for our family , for their souls, for their vocations, their chastity, their lives.

Those little things. That little way.

St Therese said again.."Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love."

Every little sacrifice.

Sacrifice?

Penance?

How does that work?

Penance has not only have a sanctifying effect on us as individuals ( to restrain the inordinate inclinations of self-love, as St Alphonsus Liguori wrote), but also on the Church as a whole. The more our life is patterned after the life of our Our Lord and Saviour, whose act of redemption entailed the greatest sacrifice, well, the more we will make up what is lacking in the body of Christ. As Saint Paul tells us ( Colossians 1:24).

But you know it is sometimes those little sacrifices that loom the biggest. That appear to be most hard.

I can get a rosy , aren't I so good, feeling from a big sacrifice...but the little every day sacrifices can seem so hard.

A penance, a sacrifice, offered in love for another can appear to be seemingly small...like giving up milk in one's cup of tea. And praying for the other.

Yet who knew that one would crave a cup of tea with milk. Who knew that one would find this sacrifice so hard, that it would be a true penance and a true occasion for prayer...and for learning about one's weakness.

Makes one think of St Therese and her little way. Only it doesn't seem to be so little any more.

The little way of loving and serving Our Lord and thus our families.

Yes, Minister?

Our family is fond of the writings of G.K. Chesterton. Both his fiction (for example, those Father Brown stories) and his non fiction ( one of my favorites is What Is Wrong With The World?).

Chesterton was a convert to Catholicism and sometimes I can relate to his experiences. When sitting in the pew recently, one of his experiences, his quotes, on conversion, came to mind.

Chesterton wrote of the process of exploring and learning about the Catholic Faith.... that while this process is most enjoyable, it is "easier than joining the Catholic Church and much easier than trying to live the Catholic life."

What?

Well, it is just that when one becomes a Catholic, one starts to live within parish communities. One starts to experience liturgy in a variety of parishes and one starts to see the human frailties. This can be the beauty of Catholicism, acceptance of us all, warts and all. The Church is both divine and human, and so it cannot deviate from Truth., even though it may be made up of people who stray in human nature.

Why, then, did Chesterton's quote spring to mind in church?

I could see the human straying, in liturgy, in not seeking to understand the Church's teaching.

With regard to laity, not priests. Although the laity have not been formed correctly in this regard by their pastors.

You know, the priesthood of believers means that we all share in the ministry, the prayer, the role of the Church. No one denies this principle.

But how sad it is to see laity trying to replace or emulate or compete with the role of the ordained priesthood.

We all have roles to play. The role of the laity, however, is different to the role of the priest.

And not all priests or lay people understand this. They talk about ministry... Ministry of Holy Communion ( forgetting that these are Extraordinary Ministers and not to be there as an automatic occurrence), the Ministry of Music , of Lectors and, yes, of Collectors (handing out the baskets at the collection time is a ministry? Yes, or so it is said in some parishes).

Or we see Acolytes who try to take on the priest's role, cleaning sacred vessels while ignoring the concelebrating priest, deciding to hold a Communion service because Father has been delayed.

Acolytes are not mini priests.

Neither are parish committee members or chairpersons. We do not need what amounts to a second homily from the committee member, exhorting us to be a family, to grow in faith.

These misconceptions can make it more difficult than it should be, to sit in the pew and pray...and thus I sympathise with G. K. Chesterton's thoughts.

To put the record straight, this is not a matter of criticism. It is just an upholding of Church teaching.

To put the record straight, this is not a matter of personal taste in liturgy but a matter of incorrect understanding of the teaching of the Church on the role of the laity, especially in liturgy. An incorrect teaching or lack of knowledge of the documents of Vatican II and of ensuing documents.

But don't take my word for it. Read Christifideles Laici, Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Exhortation, written in 1987.

"In the same Synod Assembly ( the Synod of Bishops, 1987) , however, a critical judgment was voiced along with these positive elements, about a too-indiscriminate use of the word "ministry", the confusion and the equating of the common priesthood and the ministerial priesthood, the lack of observance of ecclesiastical laws and norms, the arbitrary interpretation of the concept of "supply", the tendency towards a "clericalization" of the lay faithful and the risk of creating, in reality, an ecclesial structure of parallel service to that

founded on the Sacrament of Orders."

Definitely post Vatican II. And defining the distinct but important roles of the laity ( the common priesthood) and the ministerial priesthood. A warning against making lay people into mini priests, a warning against bandying around the word ministry, lest the word and the role be devalued. A warning because, let's face it, if we, the laity, do everything except the consecration during the .liturgy, then our role in temporal affairs, that is to say, bringing the Gospel to the world, is devalued. It may be seen as unimportant unless it has a religious title. Whereas you and I both know that often it is that living and sharing the Gospel in our every day life, in the workplace, that is very effective in spreading the Good News.

And a warning because when this happens, then the role of the priest or of the religious brother is devalued, too. If lay people take communion to the sick , as a standard practice and not when a brother or priest is unavailable or busy, if lay people take over the liturgy or the Communion Service as standard practice, if those and other activities are undertaken as a matter of course and not when needed, if these are seen as ordinary and not extraordinary, then what encouragement is there for a young man to enter the religious life and/or priesthood? He may feel a call but see that this call can perhaps be fulfilled in many lay ministries and at seemingly less cost to self

These roles may initially be undertaken to help with the so-called vocation crisis but in the end they become one way to perpetuate the vocation crisis.

"Precisely to overcome these dangers the Synod Fathers have insisted on the necessity to express with greater clarity, and with a more precise terminology, both the unity of the Church's mission in which all the baptized participate, and the substantial diversity of the ministry of Pastors which is rooted in the Sacrament of Orders, all the while respecting the other ministries, offices and roles in the Church, which are rooted in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. In the first place, then, it is necessary that in acknowledging and in conferring various ministries, offices and roles on the lay faithful, the Pastors exercise the maximum care to institute them on the basis of Baptism in which these tasks are rooted. It is also necessary that Pastors guard against a facile yet abusive recourse to a presumed "situation of emergency" or to "supply by necessity", where objectively this does not exist or where alternative possibilities could exist through better pastoral planning. " Christifideles Laici again.

That old fallacy....

There is a fallacy making the rounds, being perpetuated yet again.

Really, as Belloc said in Survivals and New Arrivals, there are no new fallacies. No new heresies. Just old ones, the same ones, wrapped in slightly different tissue paper, in slightly different words, but essentially the same heresies...the same errors.

Just when we think it is safe to pray at mass in peace, to receive Our Lord with reverence and grace, so we can "meet the Lord in all His love for us, ... are ready to respond, especially in the care we give to the poorest and those most in need, those closest to the Heart of our Saviour."(Archbishop

Nichols)..well, then we hear that same old heresy arise again.

Which one ?

You know, the one about the ancient Church. That the liturgy or practices of the ancient Church are those to which we should return today.

Which completely denies the living tradition of the Church, denies the Church's wisdom and authority, the Church's experience throughout history, Divine Revelation.

81 "Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit."

"And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching."

82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence."

83...Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological, disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local churches over time. These are the particular forms, adapted to different places and times, in which the great Tradition is expressed. In the light of Tradition, these traditions can be retained, modified or even abandoned under the guidance of the Church's Magisterium. Catechism of the Catholic Church

So when I hear that the correct posture for receiving Holy Communion is on the hand, with the example of the early Church used as a supposedly definitive argument, I cringe.

Not because I want to enter into a debate about posture for receiving Holy Communion or reverence in reception...this has already been discussed by the Church and shared on this blog before...no, I cringe because of the fallacious argument. And because of the use of the word proper.

And I cringe because I hate to see poor argument. I mean, the proponents of a return to early practices in the Church deny the living tradition described in the CCC. And I note that those using the argument of the early Church as being definitive and for their own particular preference, are selective about which practices to which they wish to return.

Hmmm.

"The "early church" arguments offered would be more persuasive if those who invoke them were more consistent in applying the principle. For example, one never hears of a liturgist urging a return to bread and water fasts, public penance for adultery, and other strict ascetical practices common in the early Church. Thus the "more traditional than thou" arguments for liturgical changes, which ignore the past several centuries of development in Catholic doctrine and liturgical practice, seem unconvincing." ( See more discussion here)

When one discusses the teaching of the Church , particularly in a public setting and when representing the Church, or in a teaching position or within a homily, then it is important that one does not rely on personal preference and on fallacious argument. Lest others be lead astray. Or scandalized, when they find the errors in argument and that, in fact, some teachings of the Church are not what they were lead to believe, that the Emperor is not wearing any clothes.

"Therefore my own tastes, my own preferences, my own personality, my own view of ecclesiology, are marginal, of little importance, when it comes to the celebration of the Mass. We don vestments to minimise our personal preferences, not to express or emphasise them."(Archbishop Nichols, again).

Costly Grace

"John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.'" (Jn 1:29)

I was inspired during the homily this morning.

Inspired because as Father preached on the the feast of St John the Baptist, preached on this saint's humility and poverty, a humility and poverty akin to the humility and poverty of St Francis and of the Franciscan way of life, the words of the homily and the words of Sacred Scripture pierced my every day thinking, my holiday mode.

Behold the Lamb of God, he who takes away the sin of the world.

As Father said, this should be our call to the world, we should raise up our voices, even in a seeming wilderness, and cry out...here, here is Jesus, the Lamb of God. Here is why we come to mass. Not for warm fuzzy feelings or out of a sense of duty or to socialize, but for love.

And this is what our lives should proclaim to the world. That Jesus is the Lamb of God, that He died for love of us.

Father's challenge is this, the challenge if the Gospel, the challenge of the Christian way of life.

Relationship with Our Lord, He who died for us, should mean a transformation. Of self, of family, of culture.

There is no gap between Catholicism and evangelism . To be Catholic, to be a Christian, is to live a life showing the Lamb of God to others.

Simply to confess a belief in a Catholic view of Christ is to take a counter-cultural position which demands apologetics and explanation. Demands love and forgiveness.

And fidelity.

Now, is this always easy?

No.

But did St John the Baptist count the cost?

Again, to quote the homily heard this morning, ...no, no counting of cost but a heroic call to cry the Gosepl by word and deed , even at cost of life.

That dying to self, if not necessarily a physical death.

This is the challenge. The cost. For I want to be me. To not give up those parts of me that I hold dear.

God's grace can sometimes come with a cost.A joy, a grace a love, yes. But.. He loves, He gives, He calls.

(The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer) "Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace."

Costly grace. So that my life, and yours, echoes the cry of St John the Baptist...look, look, here is Jesus, the Lamb of God, come let us adore, come let us follow, let us live.

Nice and Bland.

"If mankind forgets God this is also because Jesus is often reduced to the status of a wise man, and His divinity is diminished if not denied outright. This way of thinking makes it impossible to comprehend the radical novelty of Christianity ,.."

So the Holy Father said, recently.

And so I have seen, recently.

When Jesus is seen as a nice man, a wise man, a prophet who came to teach us to be our own versions of nice, then Christianity is reduced to a laundry list of to dos.. Be nice to your neighbour, help a friend, don't judge , don't criticise.

We miss the challenge, the radical call to reason and to love, to relationship, to worship.

And Christianity then becomes another self help organization... As in the style of the self help books I perused last weekend at Dymocks...Ten Steps to A Better You, Be The Best You Can Be, Your Best Life Ever.

Or.. Create Your Own Miracle in Forty Days.

And.. Lose Weight, Be Happier and Have More Energy in 10 Days.

As one son said, I am surprised that it can't be done in one week..

If Jesus is seen as just another teacher, then not only is God missed and bypassed but so, too, is bypassed any real challenge to love and to know.

These are replaced by that bland, beige niceness... That niceness that makes salvation hard, to paraphrase C. S. Lewis again. (I'm alright , Jack. I'm nice without God)

We do our children a disservice, too, when we water down Christ and His Church and her teachings. If, in an effort to be relevant, we swab clean our terms and our teaching, if we don't share the hard stuff .

Take a recent lesson for Catechism class. On the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Fortitude? Wisdom? And the ilk?

No, the teacher's manual spoke of gifts the children could supposedly understand. Sharing. Helping another.

I'm sorry but sharing as a gift of the Holy Spirit just makes Christianity look like yet another set of classroom rules... We help one another. We share. We respect other people's property. Ad infinitum. Chanted daily. Pointed to when misdemeanors occur. Watered down. Wishy washy. Almost meaningless.

And misses God and the Holy Spirit all together.

"Jesus wants us to be nice to others."

Bypassing the challenge to relationship, to knowledge.

And don't tell me that children today can't understand the faith, have no need of challenge.

In a secular world, one in which they grow up all too fast, there is a need for a real, attractive alternative. Something that makes them stop and think. Something outside themselves and the dumbed down curriculum.

So today I introduced the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Including Awe and Wonder, or Fear of the Lord. We had flashcards. We had meanings in one or two words or small phrases. We played a game showing visible and invisible gifts. We broke into groups and the seven and eight year olds got it... They illustrated, by picture and in words, their group's gift.

No bypassing God.

No watered down terminology.

No lukewarm list of beige, unfeeling niceness.

But a call, a challenge, to think and to know.

And eventually to love.

And no moralistic therapeutic deism..." a watered-down faith that portrays God as a “divine therapist” whose chief goal is to boost young people’s self-esteem".

An Unschooling vignette

A vignette of an unschooling week?

What have we done? Well I have been sick and working and getting exhausted so that curtails everything!

Anthony has spent some time at university with his brothers, typically reading in the university library while they have been in class. The head librarian told me she loves my boys because they all love to read, especially poetry. ( What a nice thing to say!)

We are watching one Harry Potter movie a week, in preparation for the new Harry Potter movie which comes out on July 13. My, how young were the actors for Hermione and Ron and Harry in the first movie!

We are eagerly watching the Dr Who series each week. Amy pregnant? Does Rory trust the Dr??

And we quite like the Sarah Jane Chronicles, a spin off from Dr Who and my Mother's Day present...an episode a night....

Anrhony has been picking up the books from the My Story series.. We own the whole set, novels in Australian history, he has read some but he saw the set on the shelf and decided to read his way though.

Mondays, Anthony has two friends over for gaming before we go to my Kumon centre and this week because I was sick I gave them money to walk to the fish and chips shop and buy chips and potato scallops for lunch. A real treat!

We have been praying the St Anthony novena and going to masses and Anthony has been serving. On Tuesday I had to go to the doctor and do Kumon banking so we met another homeschool family for coffee.

Weekly stuff is drama class , piano class and son Alexander teaches guitar on Wed nights to Anthony and one of his friends.

Jonathon, Alexander and Thomas are on university study break, exams next week.

We had a friar over for coffee and a chat. Anthony wrote an essay on St Bonaventure because when we were in Melbourne and talking to a friar Anthony's knowledge on the saint was woeful ( a Franciscan! A Doctor of the Church! One of my favourite saints! Gasp!) so I said "Good practice for uni one day.. Do some research, write 1000 words on the saint some time". He finally got around to it and one of his brothers read it, said great info but needed an introduction and conclusion. So we talked about these and a hook .

Anthony has also done some Kumon Maths while his brothers have been studying. And hung out with them and played games and did junk mail delivery. We have talked about booking excursions for homeschoolers to an Australian museum and to a cemetery after I booked an excursion for the OOSH kids (my other job not the Kumon one) to tour McDonalds.

And at OOSH I taught a few little girls to knit, they are knitting scarves for teddies. I brought home their knitting so I could do a few lines at night and speed up the knitting progress. This sparked memories in my sons and we all laughed and talked about when they were little and I taught them to knit and they knitted scarves and jackets for teddies and belts and gun holsters for themselves and how they thought knitting grew by itself over night as I would surreptitiously knit a few lines for them myself each night... just as with the kids at work!

Thomas is baking bread today, they are all helping me with work for my Kumon centre and will work for me at Kumon tonight. This week I have been in cooking mode..something about me being sick makes me want to cook, even though I don't feel like eating. Or maybe it just winter? I've made Pasta Carbonara, Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding, Apple Pie, Fettucine with a fresh tomato sauce, Apple Cake....

Currently listening to chant, in honour of St Ephrem, Doctor of the Church, composer of poetry and hymns.

So that's been our Unschooling week! Although I have asked Anthony today to please ( for Mummy!) look at his Saxon Physics and some Latin and Anthony,Thomas and Alexander have enrolled in the Macquaurie University Winter Language School for a week of Introduction to Coptic. And I found an amazing recipe for a lemon cake using lemons we grew in our tree-in-a -pot and we made this fantastic cake for the Ascension !

Solemn Novena to Saint Anthony of Padua

Go over to the Moment By Moment blog, the blog for the MI Australia for the prayers for the solemn novena.

St Anthony is a special saint for our family. Okay, he helps us find lost things. But more than that, the saint is an example of love and of faithfulness.

All our sons have Anthony as one of their names.

We pray the weekly novena to St Anthony in the Tuesday night St Anthony mass in our parish, a parish under the care of the Conventual Franciscans.

And our little unschooling homeschool is called St Anthony's Academy.

Liturgy as catechesis

" If one modifies the liturgy, however, instead of making the liturgy "more meaningful" one runs the risk of changing the meaning altogether and of despoiling the wealth already contained within the sacred liturgy."

So I am quoting myself. Pathetic I know. But a quote from one of my recent essays, for the Liturgy and Life unit.

And why am I quoting myself? Not because I am fabulous (satirical laugh) but because the quote came to mind. Because it's June.

There are quite a few solemnities this June. Including the Ascension, Pentecost, Corpus Christi.

I have seen a tendency in some parishes to add activities to the sacred liturgy in an attempt to make the feast or solemnity and thus the liturgy more meaningful .

Dancing girls. Liturgical dance and movement. For example.

Now, I am not going to write a diatribe against these activities. A look at the General Instructions to the Roman Missal lets one know what is allowed and when and how.

At these times, however, I do ponder the meaning of sacred liturgy.

The beauty, the splendor, the rubrics of the liturgy clearly describe each feast or solemnity. Be it by the colour of vestments et al, denoting the feast or by the prayers of the Collect, for example.

The liturgy itself, with rubrics carefully followed, with care paid to music and to liturgical arts, is catechesis. No need to add to the liturgy to give it extra meaning. Better to follow the prayers, the rite, with reverence and due consideration and thus raise the faithful's hearts and minds towards the deep meaning of the solemnity, to an understanding of the feast, to an understanding of the Church's teaching and so to a closer relationship with Our Lord.

This is catechesis in action. I know. From experience.

As a new Catholic in the 1990s, I attended Mass in the Extraordinary Form and over the course of time learned about the saints, about the solemnities and their significance, about the Eucharist... and so I was drawn closer and closer to Christ and to a deeper understanding of my faith, heart, mind, body and soul.

And this catechesis is not restricted to Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Of course not!

As the CCC says : 1074 "The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the font from which all her power flows."It is therefore the privileged place for catechizing the People of God. "Catechesis is intrinsically linked with the whole of liturgical and sacramental activity, for it is in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness for the transformation of men."

It is in the sacraments that Jesus Christ works in fullness. To transform the faithful. Not in activities that change the focus , in small or large ways, from Christ, from prayer, from the solemnity, in the name of so-called education or community.

Another Fitness Post

Weight: Two kilos gone. Two. In one week. Is there something wrong? Should I worry? Can I not self sabotage? Look out skinny jeans..here I come!

Food Epiphany: 1. Alcohol can fit into a calorie controlled diet. Just sayin'. In case you were worried.

2. There is an argument for counting calories carefully and not estimating all the time. And for not eating too little...duh, Leonie! Avoiding the eating too few calories trap has taken me awhile. See Calorie Queens .

General: Good quote..."After decades in this field, I can honestly say that most, if not all, of the disordered eaters I have known or worked with are excellent caretakers of others and poor caretakers of themselves." The Rules of Normal Eating.

Fitness: Battling a cough and cold and this is reflected in workouts.

Sat: The FIRM Cardio Workout with the accompanying weighted gloves. A kickboxing inspired workout with some nice plank work for abs at the end. Pulls a lot of punches (pun intended!) in twenty minutes.

Sun: Dance With Julianne. A sweaty dance workout, really works your abs and makes you feel like you are dancing in a music clip. Contemporary. Forty minutes. Intermediate level. Good workout, choreographed by Jen Galardi, a fave dance fitness instructor of mine. Julianne looks a bit like a Barbie doll and over uses the word sexy and with my headache I could not, would not, shake my head and hair as she did...but the cardio was fun and my body was worked.

Mon: Leslie Sansone Walk Away Your Waistline. Gosh, I chose this because Monday was not a good day for me and I needed a mindless workout. But I loved the ab belt. You really suck in your abs and the weighted handles provide some upper body toning when you do the arm movements while walking with Leslie and her "pals." 3 miles 45 minutes.

Tues: Too much coughing. Too busy. No workout. Grr. I hate giving in.

Wed: Today. The other twenty minute FIRM Ignite workout ( see last week). I've done this before, but it was harder today...that cough and cold! Major coughing fit after but it was too cool a workout to ignore. Cardio, then cardio bursts with intervals of weights, followed by cardio and an ab toning cool down/stretch. Burpees with weighted squats!

Okay,that's fitness today in a nut shell. For those of you who asked...you know who you are, my fellow fitness friends..

Fitness today

Fitness today

Workout: The FIRM Ignite Calorie Burn

Food epiphany: 1. Sometimes I can eat calorie controlled junk instead of dinner. Really. No guilt.

2 it's good to eat breakfast ( muesli and low fat yogurt) even if it's at 10,30 am.

3. From Nice Girls Finish Fat - one doesn't always have to be perfect, do everything well.

General: I lost over a kg this week. With cardio ( mostly Just Sweat), calorie awareness and mindfulness.

The FIRM Ignite workout is two workouts, each roughly twenty minutes. You can do one or both workouts and , to my mind, are the FIRM's answer to the very popular Jillian Michaels' twenty minute workouts. High intensity cardio bursts with strength training intervals.

I like these workouts. The two instructors, Emily and Rebekah, are encouraging. Since the strength training is not done at lightening speed, I can actually go a bit heavier than I can with Jillian. I used 3 kgs.

There are cardio bursts, each athletic and each eight seconds. Four in a row, with twelve second recovery moves in between, before the next strength training or cardio or standing abs.

Today I fell flat on my face, doing the big boy push ups and tricep kickbacks with weights, in Rebekah's Interval Blast The workout fairy must have had a good laugh!

And the morning glories, with bicep curl and overhead press...well let's just say a core and balance challenge for this mum of seven!

I'd rate the workouts high intermediate or low advanced. Not killer. But good. One could make it easier with low impact and lighter weights. Or harder with even more energy and heavier weights.

And twenty minutes on time challenged days is super...good calorie burn intervals equal the burn of slower, steady rate cardio.

And fun! The fun factor, you know, is pretty important to me.

So, another fitness post! Check in next week for an update....