Happy Columbus Day!

Gone are the days of huge Columbus parades and big celebrations of the day of our nation’s discovery. Christopher Columbus has a rich history in the Catholic Church we may not realize. EWTN on Christopher Columbus

Many schools no longer have this day off and many historians temper any discussion of Christopher Columbus’ journey across the Atlantic with an effort to recognize the harm early settlers caused to native populations.

Getting the history straight is important, especially in regard to remembering those who died at the hands of those who came to North America only for the purpose of selfish gain. However, those realities often then overtake the heroics and bravery of those who came only to discover.

Such was Christopher Columbus. At the time he sailed, despite what we may have been taught, many scientists actually knew the world was round. But it is unlikely anyone in Europe knew there was a great big continent sitting out in the Atlantic Ocean waiting to be found! Columbus’ voyage changed the world as they knew it.

I heard about discovery and exploration this morning at Mass. Father talked of the reality that we may think there is nothing left to discover. Maybe we think all the good stuff is gone, he wondered.

Then came his challenge – discover your faith! Discover Jesus! The undiscovered country is your very soul.

This was echoed in the meditation offered in The Magnificat. Fr. Bede Jarrett, +1934, says as much.

“The Kingdom of God, therefore, is something that the individual from the age of reason to the end of life has to be continually realizing for himself. He has to be continually hammering away at the truths of faith, endeavoring to get more meaning out of them, to find in them the help and guidance that daily life continually demands.”

Keep challenging yourself and learn a bit more – every day – about your faith, Jesus and just how much He loves you. Find out more about angels or miracles or a new saint. Challenge yourself to a rosary, a novena or Daily Mass.

Fr. Jarrett continues, “I must make it personal to myself – chew it, digest it, form out of it the sinews of my spiritual being.”

Our dear St. Therese had her own feast day on October 1, my confirmation saint St. Francis of Assisi has his own feast day today (cake and ice cream has been planned for dessert!), and Our Lady of the Rosary is on Friday. I am sorry I didn’t post on the Little Flower’s feast day as I had planned but I was having fun with my family – it was a feast day in our house after all!

It can be hard to remember all these feast days but I encourage you to try. Let’s admit it, being a Catholic can sometimes be seen as boring and difficult. What with all those “Thou Shalt Not…”, Mass on Sunday, Confession (!), no meat on Fridays and watching what we say, watch and do – who wants to be a Catholic?

I do – and you as well. Putting aside my sarcasm, being a Catholic can be perceived as boring and difficult to those outside of our homes, our churches and our culture (yes, there is such a thing as Catholic culture). But, from inside my happy home and looking out from the pew through beautiful stained glass windows I am reminded that the world desperately needs the color, joy and celebrations that being Catholic can bring.

So, pull out your planner or calendar and pick your favorite saints and feast days to celebrate with good fun, a family excursion or game night. Start with the patron saint names of the members of the family or maybe remember baptismal days. You don’t need a meal that is worthy of pinterest but maybe just a shout out at dinner to that saint to keep their watchful, prayerful eye on your family. Do something a bit ‘extra’ as a reminder to yourself that our faith is full of reasons to celebrate.

If your spouse or kids ask why the extra dessert or special meal or walk in a park tell them that being a Catholic makes you happy and when you are happy you want those around you to be happy as well!

How do you find any time to pray?

I was asked this question recently and didn’t know how to answer. I just do I said, but over the past few weeks I have been giving it a lot of thought.

I know my prayer time has changed over time. When I had mostly little kids – the older kids, and the toddlers and the nursing baby my prayers were mostly urgent pleas for patience – RIGHT NOW!

I said drowsy prayers and rosaries as I nursed and relied on the words of my Mom and the nuns who taught me – “Your guardian angel will finish your prayers if you fall asleep before finishing them.”

For a few years, back then, my prayers were all offered along with Daily Mass at St. Michael’s in Baltimore. I was able to go most mornings and returned home afterwards – not remembering to pray again until I fell into bed. Matt and I would say our evening prayers holding hands as we fell asleep tired from another hard day: his work, my homeschooling and both of us raising our increasingly larger family.

Now, my prayer time can be more committed. No more babies (sigh) so I am able to set aside time each day. Many days again back at Daily Mass (sometimes with my kids, sometimes alone). I make time alone in my room for at least 15 minutes (sometimes with the readings of the day, sometimes just with the Bible). And again as Matt and I fall asleep – holding hands while praying both from our hearts and from our memory.

Prayers from our memory are all those we know without any effort – the Our Father, the Hail Mary, St. Michael’s, Magnificat, etc. When asked to pray for someone via an email these quickly come to mind. These are the ones that make up our family’s bedtime prayers.

Prayers from our heart are those we say from deep within – prayers of joy when good news arrives “Thank You Jesus for a healthy baby”, prayers of sadness, “Lord, please watch over and protect those injured in the accident…” and so on.

These words prayed from our heart have the chance become one long conversation with Jesus, His Mother or our Father, God; all day long. We tell them how we feel, how much we love them and our fears, anger and, yes, our hopes and expectations.

These are the prayers I say most often. I stopped listening to radio while driving years ago. It was part of my Lenten sacrifice that soon became my habit. Now, as I drive I talk to Jesus. Most often out loud. This is my version of “pray without ceasing” St. Paul talks about.

I have asked God to turn all of my random thoughts, worries and concerns into prayers to Him; and I know He has. I see butterflies (or hummingbirds, or stars or flowers or small babies or….) I say “thank you” to the Lord who sent them my way. I get a call of concern from my son at college and ask God to listen in and send His grace and strength. When I encounter a young Mom withe a crying child at the grocery story, much like I was once, I pray a prayer of patience for her.

In other words, if you worry about making time to pray, first remember to give God permission to see your every encounter, read your every thought, overhear each of your conversations and inspire you with every step and action you take. Tell Him He has your permission – fully and heart felt – to turn everything you do as a small prayer back to Him.

Of course, we know He already does this as He is omnipotent and omniscient! But when we actually open the doors of heart and mind to Him, telling Him “Come right in! Please, take over my entire life and everything I do and say!”, prayer becomes a whole different thing.

How do I pray? With every breath in I ask for His mercy and forgiveness and with every breath out I thank Him for his grace and power. And, sometimes, I even remember to say that out loud.

How do you pray?

Earlier this week (both Monday and Tuesday), Jesus was blunt. In speaking with the Pharisees, He didn’t mince his words, “woe to you…”.

Jesus’ public rant fills Matthew 23 as He tells the Pharisees exactly how He feels about their hypocrisy, duplicity and pathetic attempts to please God through their actions rather by their love and mercy towards others.

Woe and woe and more woe to those Pharisees! Jesus is clearly telling them great sorrow and distress is headed their way unless they change their behavior. Jesus was giving them both a ‘woe’ and a ‘Whoa! Hey, cut it out!’  

During the homily, the priest wondered aloud what did Jesus’ reprimand sound like? Did Jesus wag his finger at them and speak his ‘woe’ harshly? Or perhaps, He was more gentle, warning them with a sorrowful ‘woe’; a warning so to speak that if they didn’t stop (whoa!), then condemnation was headed their way.

Both approaches can be affective, both will fulfill work of mercy that asks us to let the sinner know the sin they are committing. But, they aren’t the same and are only effective if used in the proper context.

We know this important difference as parents. We shout the “whoa!” as our young one heads toward the road, and we speak a more gentle ‘whoa’ to our older teens struggling with peer pressure. Both are said firmly and without compromise. Both are said to help our children avoid harm or worse. But they are delivered differently.

“WHOA! Stay out the street!” Woe could be headed your way by means of a car!”, we shout as the younger one head down the driveway.

“Whoa, stand firm in your faith when you start deciding which movie to go see. Woe will come by way of sin if you don’t guard your eyes and soul.”, we remind the older one as we stand in the driveway and watch them head off.

It’s important not to confuse the two when it comes to our family. A whisper won’t stop the toddler from running and yelling at the teen won’t remind them to follow Jesus.

After all, Jesus speaks both of those to us. Out of love He reminds us of the woe coming our way from persistent sin while at the same time He gives us the grace and self-control necessary to say ‘whoa’ to ourselves. Sometimes it a shout from the Sunday gospel and sometimes it is a whisper during prayer. We need to be listening for both.

Today’s first reading is from Ekeziel 37 where the valley of dry bones is brought back to life by the preaching of Ekeziel.

“So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath. Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”  I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.”

Fridays is often the day I can feel as I am nothing but dry bones. I have nothing left to give, I’m all used up by the demands of being a wife, mother, homeschooler, Catholic. From folding laundry to chauffeuring to bending my knees in prayer and more – I am done!

But, still I must go on; life continues onto Saturday, Sunday and then another Monday. The question remains how do I keep going?

Ekeziel was able to raise up a vast multitude with the words God gave him. He prophesied not once but twice and the bones were lifted and then filled with new breath and they lived!

For me this is the reminder to make sure I am taking some time throughout the day to pray, reading the Bible (perhaps just a psalm or the gospel of the day). By doing this I am taking time to restore myself and remind myself of God’s enduring love.

Most recently, I have been reciting Ps. 23 to myself – you know that one – ‘the Lord is my shepherd’…I am drawn especially to the verse, “even though I walk through the dark valley, I fear no evil”. Lately it seems that we’ve had more dark valleys than green pastures at my house but I keep walking.

When you are in the midst of a dark valley it can be hard to remember that you are walking through it – you aren’t camping!  And you are not alone as Jesus is there (along with good friends and family). Dark valleys in life are inevitable because this is a fallen world but we are not alone and as long as we keep hold of Jesus’ hand we will reach those promised pastures.