Called to Love

"Our hope is that the winter of humanity will gradually be transformed to the bursting forth of love, for it is to this that we are called." --Jean Vanier

Secret Genius of Catholic Motherhood

      I have a restless yearning.  It follows me, leads me, is ever-present with me.  It is that Catholic moms come to a fuller understanding of who they are.
      I have a hunch that the vocation of Catholic motherhood is yet to be rightly understood, that it is like a jet sitting on the runway.  Catholic moms are living out the Gospel simply and quietly, and yet so much more powerfully than most people on earth.  Their deep levels of sacrifice and their unique conformity with Christ are like the leaven--unseen, calling no attention to themselves, yet powerfully impacting the whole Body of Christ.
     The Church is aware that she does not yet appreciate the vocation of motherhood for all its Christological significance.  She says that the various roles of the laity, including motherhood, are not yet understood: “The Council considers the condition of the laity. . . a reality destined to find in Jesus Christ the fullness of its meaning” (Christifideles Laici).  In other words, meaning of the roles of the laity are not yet fully appreciated, and only one day will be when they are comprehended in light of Christ.
    The Church goes on to say that the role of mothers is just waiting to be revealed: We need to engage in “the task of bringing full dignity to the conjugal life and the experience of motherhood.  Today new possibilities are open to women for a deeper understanding and a richer realization of human and Christian values implied in the conjugal life and the experience of motherhood" (Ibid).
    My prayer is for Catholic moms discover the secret genius, the unspoken brilliance of motherhood.  Only then will our vocation be launched, set forth into the Church and world.

Our Christmas Miracle

     Some people experience great manifestations of God's love and power on Christmas.
     In our family, this year's Christmas miracle was this:

Snowman poop.
Ron got this as a gift for Sebastian on the Feast of St. Nicholas on Dec. 6.  Sebastian had found it in his shoes, placed by the door next to his sisters' and brother's shoes, alongside a few other pieces of candy.
The miracle is that Sebastian has neither eaten all the "poop" nor lost the "poop."  He carries it around faithfully, never leaving it out of his sight for more than a few minutes.  Who knew that this little vile of happiness would so capture a young boy's heart.  Would that, one day, he would hold his love for God so dearly!

Blessed Christmas

Unplugged and Off the Grid

   Unplugged, unreachable.  It was heaven.  I got to be at Christ in the Desert monastery in Abiquiu, New Mexico last week.
   Jake had asked to go on a week-long retreat, discerning his vocation.  Ron and I said yes, and then had to figure out how to pull it off!  It turned out that I went with him, while Ron finished work and took care of the other kids.  Then Mary joined us for the last few days.
    Such beauty.
    It is a holy place.

I'm on a mission

     I am on a mission.  It's a motherly mission.  I am on a mission to be a vital part of the kingdom of God through my vocation as a mother, to see my six children get to heaven, and to help them find their ways of flourishing in God's kingdom.     

    Today, my oldest son and I are driving to Christ in the Desert Monastery in Abiquiu, New Mexico. We are going to be with the Benedictines who live a radical faith--prayer that begins at 4:30 am, silence, and fasting.  

    I pray that, in the holy presence of this community, sharing for a few days in their life that gets to the root ("radical" means "from the "root") of Christ's life, that I will be purified, strengthened, and emboldened to live out God's dream for me and my family.  

Real Faith

   Real Christian faith is summed up in these words of Ignatius of Antioch:
"Let us . . . see who can be the more wronged, the more cheated, the more rejected, in order that no weed of the devil might be found among you, but that with complete purity and self-control you may abide in Christ Jesus physically and spiritually."  (Letter to the Church at Ephesus, 10)

The Mother of Maximillian Kolbe

     One of my favorite women in history is the mother of St. Maximilian Kolbe.  
     When Maximillian was young, he was a terrible boy.  His mother was constantly annoyed with him.  One day, exasperated, she exclaimed, “What will become of you?”  This bothered Maximillian, and he ran to the nearby church and prayed before an image of the Blessed Virgin.  Maximillian is reported to have said: "That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both."
From that point on, he straightened up his life.  He became a Franciscan only a year later, and lived a life of purity.  Several years after that, he was martyred in the death camp of Auschwitz during World War II, volunteering to take the place of a layman and father who was going to be killed by the Nazis.
When I am exasperated by my children, I think, "God can work with anything, even my sighs and exclamations of frustration."  I love this woman.  Intercede for me, Mother of Maximillian!  

Nuts!

   Yesterday, we took our dog, Charlie, to get neutered.  Poor guy!  We were all feeling sorry for him, and talking about him at dinner.
   I was not all that hungry, so I just had a small bowl of pistachios while the rest of the family was eating lasagna.  Sebastian demanded to have some of my pistachios.  Then Annie begged for some of my pistachios.  Then Leigh found the whole bag and plopped it on the dinner table.  The family was cracking away at the pistachios as we talked.
    Sebastian started to cry, and he showed me has fingernail which broke (probably due to opening the pistachios).  Clare got her fingernail clippers and brought them to us.  I cut Sebastian's hanging fingernail. Then, while I was at it, I cut all his nails.
   Our family continued to eat and talk, and I was in the middle of a big story when the kids pointed at Sebastian.  I stopped, looked at him, and he was trying to clip the pistachios with the fingernail clippers.
   Ron said, "Don't clip your nuts!  Only Charlie is getting his nuts clipped today!" We laughed till we cried.  A nice way to end the day (unless you're Charlie).