Skip to main content

My big fail for the Year of Faith

It's the Year of Faith, as proclaimed by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI....and thus far, I've failed.

I keep telling myself I'll read that book on spirituality that I started and put down...or that I'll get to Fr. Barron's videos. Maybe spend a bit more time in prayer, especially at night. The Catechism is coming into my inbox every day in readable chunks; as of yet, I've not opened those emails.

So, yeah. Pretty much a fail.

It's like getting halfway through Lent and realizing you've been munching on chocolate every day. Or it's Christmas morning and none of the windows on your Advent calendar ever got opened.

It's not like I NEVER pray. Or that I don't spend time reading a lot of spiritual stuff, but most of that is for work, and I don't think that counts. I teach religious ed., but that's for the kids I teach, not for me. I know that I have not made a concerted effort to really dig into my spiritual life, and that's a fail.

Thankfully, one of my favorite spiritual writers, Henri Nouwen, reminds me that I really haven't failed: “Theological formation is the gradual and often painful discovery of God's incomprehensibility. You can be competent in many things, but you cannot be competent in God.” Now, this isn't an excuse to sit back and say, "Oh, there's no way I can get good at this, so I'll just quit where I'm at and call it good." It is, however, a terrific reminder that I am not going to be perfect at this spiritual life, this friendship with the Divine, this mystery of Love, but I'm going to keep at it. After all, I'm not striving for competency; I'm striving for sainthood.

Time to pick myself up, strap on my Rosary bracelet, and get to work.
Labels:

Comments

  1. I'm doing the Catechism thing and saving them so I can do it again. Start when you can.

    I was also going to read all the Vatican II documents ... I copied them into a word processing document .... I've been on page 20 of 514 since Dec 15.

    And I was going to do a Fr Barron video every day .... then once a week .... and it's been .... a while since I watched one ... but they're still there and I'll get to them ... just a bit slower.

    Our church has started a lending library of Catholic CD's by Lighthouse Media. And I've been slowly working through those as I drive around.

    Keep going. Most of the year's still ahead!

    Jan Farmer

    ReplyDelete

  2. I did start a book on the Catechism this weekend, and I'm trying!!! to do evening prayers daily. Keep chuggin' along!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love comments, even if you don't agree, but please don't leave anonymous posts. A well-mannered reader leaves a name!

Popular posts from this blog

Trying to "end run" God

If you're a football fan, you know what an end run is. From Merriam-Webster:
a football play in which the ballcarrier attempts to run wide around the end of the line We try to "end run" God a lot. I do. I figure I know better. I've got this - no need to worry the Big Guy about such a trivial thing.

Of course, it never works.

Like the puppy above, when we try and evade the tough obstacle (even though we KNOW we will eventually have to do it), we end up - well, off in the bushes.

But oh! How I wished my way worked. I'd love to take a flying leap and land smoothly and gracefully. People would be in awe, as if watching Simone Biles nail a balance beam routine that no one else would even attempt. I would shyly look down and blush - just lightly - and acknowledge (But humbly! Oh so humbly!) my achievement.

But no: I am the one pulling myself out of the bushes, scratches all over my legs and twigs in my hair. I'd hear that gentle but loving voice of God saying, &quo…
Post a Comment
Read more

So close to Jesus

This past Sunday, at Mass, Dear Husband and I had the great good fortune of having a dad, toddler and infant sit next to us in the front pew.

"Good fortune?" you say. Sounds horrible. Kids are so distracting. Put 'em in the nursery.

Nope. We sit up in the front pew, and always invite parents with young kids to come and sit with us. Having raised 5 hyper kids, we can pretty much ignore anything, plus kids do much better when they can see what's going on.

I have to admit, I wanted the toddler to act up a bit so I could whisper to the dad, "I'll watch the baby if you have to take him out."

Instead, we saw something rather remarkable.

Oh, the toddler (not quite 2) was a toddler. He was a bit anty. He wasn't quite sure that he liked seeing his mommy in front, cantoring, where he couldn't get to her. He whined and fussed a bit.

But during the Consecration, his enormous blue eyes locked onto the priest. That baby boy saw Jesus up there. You could just…
Post a Comment
Read more

Fading Into Friday

It's been a long week. Monday was just ... bad. I ticked off our IT guy at work by opening up one of those d*%$ emails that as soon as you click on it, you think, "Oops." So I trotted over to his office, and he promptly yelled at me. Like I was a child. Or stupid. Or a stupid child.

This was after I found out that every imaginable driving route from my home to office and back home again is under construction. Can't get there from her. Orange barrels. Must as well sleep in the office.
This, combined with the fact that I am now the ONLY person on the planet who stills checks their blind spot before changing lanes, makes me want to quit my job and go live in a yurt.

Our health insurance company sent us these gloom and doom letters that Dear Hubby and I HAD to go online and fill out a health assessment NOW or OUR INSURANCE WOULD BE CANCELLED!!! They were SERIOUS! So, I went online Wednesday. Their system was down for maintenance.

Tried again yesterday. I swear I could n…
Post a Comment
Read more