Late-night confession

So, it is after 11 p.m., and that is late for me. I am just back from chaperoning a middle school dance. That is, I sat in one corner of the gym and made sure the kids didn't go outside or into the dark foyer which could be a haven for God-knows-what.

It was fun, really. I visited with other moms and watched the kids try to do all the latest dances. I learned about current fashion (not found at Target) and watched the kids interact with their iPhones.

These phones are essential accessories. The kids danced with them, they took pictures. The phones glowed through their pockets. It is something that just didn't exist when I was a kid and middle school dances were about feeling awkward and wondering if anyone would ask you to dance.

Well, my kids aren't getting an iPhone anytime soon. I have written about this before in another forum, but I don't see any rewards in a virtual reality.  It is a new paradigm and one that all parents need to take seriously. I need to take it more seriously and figure out how to guide my kids to engage the whole phone culture in a healthy way. Right now, we are just avoiding it, and we cannot do that forever.

What these phones allow is a completely unsupervised world in which tweens operate, in which they bully, gossip and can ultimately hurt one another. The operative word here is unsupervised, and tweens are at an age where supervision is mandatory. They are at a crossroads, and they need someone there with them to serve as guides.

I am doing that to the best of my ability, but I wonder sometimes if I am failing miserably because I don't truly understand the modern world. And I wonder how to make God relevant to my kids when the Wobble (dance),  the latest movie and the current tween drama are their reality. Yes, we say a decade of the Rosary daily.Yes, we go to Mass weekly ( or more). But there is so much noise in the world right now, I wonder if anyone could hear God, even if He raised his voice.

Maybe if God would text the kids, they could hear Him.

Fourth confession: Station wagon or Van

Jan. 14, 2013

Yesterday we recognized the Baptism of the Lord, and the homily asked the question: Do you, like John the Baptist, recognize Christ for who he is or do you walk past him in your daily life without seeing him?
I thought of all the people in my life: my husband, my children, their friends, my neighbors, the children at the hospital where I work and my elderly relatives. I felt relatively sure that I see Christ in the people around me.
But when we walked out to the car, I learned that my vision isn't as clear as I thought. Before I continue this story, I should tell you that we have three old cars: two green station wagons and one maroon van. Most of the time, we drive one of the station wagons.
So, we are walking out to the car, and my husband is holding the umbrella because it is raining. I'm following him because he has the umbrella, but I cannot see our car. No matter how hard I look, I can't find it. Finally, I ask him, "Where in the third row did you park?"
He points straight ahead: "It's right there."
And he was right. The maroon van was right in front of me. I didn't see it because I was looking for a station wagon. How many times in my life do I not see what I am looking for, when it is right in front of me, because it doesn't look the way I think it should?
It's a sobering question. 

Third confession

Dec. 31, 2012

Happy New Year's Eve! Despite a major gap since my last entry, I am resuming this blog. Is it a New Year's resolution? Not really. I'm a writer, and the blog seems to be the venue of the day for writing.  Besides, living the Christian life in today's world is such a challenge that writing about it is cathartic.

In this Year of Faith, which just began, the Catholic Bishops of the United States have called for a nationwide effort to advance a movement for Life, Marriage, and Religious Liberty through prayer, penance, and sacrifice. Catholics across the nation are being encouraged to pray for rebuilding a culture favorable to life and marriage and for increased protections of religious liberty.

The bishops have asked families to pray a daily Rosary - yes daily - to fast and abstain from meat on Fridays and to participate in a monthly Eucharistic holy hour at their parishes. So I talked to the kids about what part of that they thought we could actually commit to for a YEAR, given the demands of homework, housework, and extracurricular activities  including basketball, Boy Scouts, youth group, etc.

Here is our version of this plan, altered to take our time constraints into account: a daily decade of the Rosary, abstaining from meat on Fridays and some kind of participation Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, yet to be determined. Neither child is 14 yet, so fasting is not required, and they are both growing so much they really need to eat.

I could definitely fast on Fridays although I'm sure it would make me grouchy.  And meatless Fridays were part of our life when we were homeschooling. I have simply gotten lazy and just cook whatever is available on Fridays or pick up a pizza at Little Caesars. The daily decade of the Rosary? Something else that used to be part of our lives when we homeschooled and had so much TIME.

So, this movement by the Bishops is actually making me re-set my priorities on prayer and my focus on God, rather than just getting through the day. I see it as a good thing.

What about you, readers? How will you live the Year of Faith? As you can see, my family doesn't feel completely up to the challenge, but any increase in prayer is a good thing. It would encourage me to hear what you plan to do, and it would make me more accountable to meeting my goals, as well. Happy New Year!

Second Confession

Nothing is worth doing that is not worth doing badly. So, I will continue blogging.

Perhaps I should have called this Confessions of a Busy Catholic. With a full-time job and two kids in school, I'm not sure when I thought I would have time for this. But I'll forge ahead.

Yesterday, I went to Mass on my lunch break. My job is not terribly busy. In fact, I sometimes have a little extra time on my hands, yet I still find it hard to drag myself out to noon Mass.

First, I often give in to the temptation to eat lunch too close to Mass time, thus counting myself out of receiving the Eucharist.

Then, I think how inconvenient it is to walk to my car and drive away from campus (I work on a secure campus.).

The next challenge is finding a parking spot in a seedy part of town that caters to bonding companies and small law offices. Of course I need to have change for the parking meter and be willing to walk 4-6 blocks to the chapel inside St. Peters.

Really, after all the martyrs went through, the fact that I give in to these challenges sometimes is quite humbling. But yesterday, I didn't. Yesterday, I went to Mass and I had the pleasure of hearing the gospel about forgiving 70 times 7.

And I finally got it; I understood the message of forgiveness. How the one who is forgiven much loves much. And I realized that I have to forgive those who injure me because God forgives me when I injure him. And I injure him whenever I sin, although he has blessed me so abundantly. That realization was worth the inconvenience of getting out on a gray, cold day and finding a parking meter so I could walk to Mass at St. Peter's.

It was worth the inconvenience for the blessing of drawing close to God in the middle of America, where we are often too distracted by our IPODs and American Idol to pay attention to the most important thing.

First Confession

I am having a heck of a time figuring out how to post photos on this blog. So, first things first -- I am not all that web-savvy. Still, I will blog forth.

A clarification -- Practical Catholic means living a faithful Catholic life while living a regular life of working, paying bills and raising kids. We are not close to perfect, but we do our best.


Take yesterday, for example: Son threw a kid's flashlight at Daughter, hitting her on the head, where she had previously bumped it on the ceiling while jumping down the stairs. These are basically good kids who rarely get into trouble. Son received some Fatherly discipline. And I off-handedly said, "He can go to confession with me; I was planning to go anyway and he's a little overdue." My husband said he was overdue, as well.

The next thing I knew, all four of us were in the station wagon headed to Confession. I can't remember the last time the whole family went, but it was good. A great exercise for Lent and I reminded the kids in the car that confession is not about feeling guilty; it's about receiving the forgiveness of Christ. It is also a great exercise in humility. I always feel better afterward and the kids said that they did, too.

Today, Sunday, I took Daughter to the Mohter-Daughter program our diocese puts on for girls ages 10-12 about God's plan for growing up and becoming, well, a woman. I don't think it was truly new information for her but I think it was good for her to see that all the other girls her age are having those issues and questions, as well.

Son got to go to a Knights of Columbus function wtih his dad (An appreciation dinner for the religious sisters in our diocese) and help with the dishes, etc. Now, we are getting to jump into the very busy-ness of the week. Maybe sometime this week I will figure out how to post pix, etc.