Unopened Gifts

I went to confession yesterday, not because I was troubled by anything in particular, but simply because I am trying to get in the habit of going to confession more regularly. Actually, I wasn't really planning on going at all, but when my husband came home he told me that he had made a point of getting home early enough so that I could go to church. Thanks love!

I always feel so much better after confession. Being a convert to Catholicism, I haven't gone to confession more than a handful of times, but so far, each time I go I am given exactly what I need. It really is an amazing gift.

As a Protestant Christian, I always viewed The Catholic practice of "going to confession" as another road block that the Church had placed between the people and God. I confessed my sins to God in prayer and through corporate confession as a part of the church services I attended. Of course, God forgives sins when we confess them in these circumstances, but to have a priest, and God through him, listen, look one in the eye, and say the words of absolution is to experience forgiveness in a much more personal, nurturing way.

The priest who heard my confession stated that penance should be a gift, not a punishment. This statement started me thinking about all the gifts God gives me that I just don't bother opening. If there were packages on the table each morning, packages wrapped in brilliant papers with elegant bows, I would never be able to walk by and resist the urge to open them. Yet how easy is it to talk myself out of opening the gifts of daily prayer, Eucharist, confession, and trust that God places before me each day?

Family Rosary

In May, in honor of Mary, our family started praying a decade of the rosary each night. At the time, our son was not quite two and I had trouble finding a rosary for a child of that age, so I made one for him.

I started by tracing some shapes onto card stock and cut them out - on cross, one larger circle, and ten smaller circles. I mounted the cross on yellow construction paper, the larger circle on red, and each of the smaller circles on blue. Then I added stickers from Dollar Tree (thank you Lacy at Catholic Icing!). The cross has a painting of the Holy Trinity, the large red circle a painting of Jesus praying, and each blue circle a picture of Mary. I also wrote the name of the prayer for each bead on the back, just in case. Then I laminated each shape with clear contact paper, punched two hole in each circle and strung them together using yarn.

As we tuck my now two year old son into bed each night, after his story, we say a decade if the rosary. He is still learning to cross himself and has just started "reciting" the Hail Mary ("God" and "now" are ver clear!). The other night, in true toddler fashion, he asked to say the rosary again and again. How can I refuse to let him pray? So we said three decades. If he keeps it up, we may be able to work up to a full decade far sooner than I thought!

It is really nice to pray as a family. It provides a calm focus in what can be a tantrum-filled time. It reminds my husband and I to slow down and tap into God's peace instead of giving onto frustration when our lively little boy is resisting bedtime!

Joshua and the Battle of Jericho

We started doing family devotions each evening in February.  I wanted to do the same story for a month to help my son, then 19 months, catch on to what we were doing.  I also wanted to pick a story that would be easy to act out.  I got some Bible story books at the Dollar Store a few months ago, and Joshua and the Battle of Jericho seemed to fit with my sons current interest in building blocks.

So,  devotional time began.

We started each night by taking out our "Bible Box" which contained the little book and my son's set of alphabet blocks.  Then we would build a tower to represent Jericho.  The book talked about Joshua being strong, so we'd show our muscles.  When the story mentioned Jericho, we pointed to the tower we had built.  For six days the Israelites marched around Jericho, so we blew on our imaginary trumpets six times.  For the seventh day we blew our trumpets one final time, pseudo-shouted "Yeah God!" and my son knocked over the tower.  We ended each night with a simple prayer asking God to help us be strong and follow his commands like Joshua and then we'd clean up the blocks and start our bedtime routine.

To begin with, my son didn't really understand what we were doing, and more than a few times Jericho was knocked down a little early.  But he really liked blowing his imaginary trumpet and by the end of the month, he was "reading" the story to us, complete with trumpet blasts, "Yeah!" and knocking down Jericho at the end,  each action on the appropriate page of the book.  It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

We did keep reading the story through the start of March rather than switching to another story for just a week before starting our lenten devotion - the Lenten Cross.

Lenten Cross

We have started trying to do a short family devotion time each evening. Somehow it is easier to be consistent for our son's sake; we have never managed to follow through regularly on our plans for regular couples devotions.

For Lent, our evening devotions are centered around our Lenten Cross. I made the cross and symbols last year, using the Domestic Church post. I made the cross from a piece of foam board and bought a package of craft foam at the Dollar Store. Then I drew the symbols on the foam, cut them out, and added hook and loop tape with hot glue. I put corresponding tape on the cross. Our son was less than a year old then, so we didn't get too far with the cross.

This year, we have kept up with the cross. It is helpful that Sundays aren't included in the cross, so we have used Sundays to "catch up" as necessary. With a toddler, it has been hard to do the nightly Bible readings for each symbol. Some of them are too lengthy and the Bible itself is too attractive a distraction for my little one's curiosity.

So, my craft this year is making books for each week. I bought these darling blank books through Bare Books. I looked at the stories for each week to find a theme. The second week of Lent, for example, is Forgiveness as the week includes the Israelites wandering in the desert and Jonah. I wrote a brief description of forgiveness, how are called to live, and a challenge for the week.  We read these, but I'm hoping our family will grow into these ideas in the coming years.

 The main part of the book is a summary of the bible story for each symbol, a simple illustration, and a piece of hook and loop to hold the symbol until we are ready to add it to the cross.

 The last page is a simple prayer incorporating the week's theme to close our devotional time.



My son loves re-arranging the symbols on the cross each night, taking the new symbol out of the book, and saying "Amen!" repeatedly when we are done. I've had to add a lot more glue and repair Noah's Ark since toddlers don't do much of anything gently!

Prayers of Gratitude

A simple way to pray as a couple is just to express gratitude for each other.  We like to pray right before falling asleep; somehow it's easier to pray with another person in the dark.  Start with something simple - like "Thank you Lord for ________." Maybe other petitions will follow, maybe not.  But it is a great feeling to know that your spouse is grateful for you, and to express your own gratitude to God in your love's hearing!

How do you and your spouse pray?

Sacrament of Matrimony

"By reason of  their state in life and of their order, [Christian spouses] have their own special gifts in the People of God." This grace proper to the sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect the couple's love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity.  By this grace they "help one another to attain holiness in their married life and in welcoming and educating their children." from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1641.

My husband and I have always found joy and strength in thinking of our marriage as a sacrament.  We wed with a mixed-marriage in the eyes of the Church; my husband is a cradle Catholic and I was a devote Protestant.  Sacramental marriage was a new, and very appealing, concept to me.

We were also agreed that faith would be an important part of our marriage.  We wanted to share prayers and devotions on a regular basis.  Now, four years later, the desire to have a vibrant faith-life is strong, but life keeps getting in the way.  We pray together, sometimes.  We read the Bible together, sometimes.

In searching the web for devotional inspiration, I have found many amazing blogs focused on the Catholic Family, and I thought I'd seek and share ideas for the Catholic Marriage, ways to help each other attain holiness as well as welcoming and educating children.

Please post your comments, ideas, and practices so that together we can support the sacrament of marriage!