A New Years, a New Opportunity

My sister once told me that she has four major reflective moments each year to assess how she is as a human being: the beginning of Lent, her birthday, the beginning of Advent, and New Years.  Tomorrow will be New Year's Eve.  How are you and your family?

Growing up, my parents encouraged us kids to participate in "giving things up" during Lent, but not before thinking about what we did with our time.  This taught me that reflection is necessary before action (or resolution).  As I grew older, this practice transitioned into making New Year's resolutions, something I continue to this day.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

Help your children cultivate that sense of self-reflection.  Encourage them to think about how they are and who they would like to be; how they spend their time and how they would like to grow.  Here are some practical tips to help you do that.

Be specific
"I will be awesome" is a great resolution...if you want to fail.  Instead, think of specific areas in your life and encourage your children to do the same.  What do you do (or don't do) that you want to change (or start to do)?  Try something challenging but doable.

Use this format

• I will _________.  I plan to do this by __________.
  
      OR
• I will not __________.  Instead, I will _________.

Example A (for adults): I will spend more time with my family.  I plan to do this by silencing my phone during dinner.
Example B (for children): I will not watch 2 hours of TV a day.  Instead, I will play my musical instrument, read, and play with my Legos.

Start with yourself
You can't pass on what yourself don't already practice.  Before encouraging reflection in your children, take sometime when you 're alone (even if it's in the restroom) and be with yourself and with God.  Have you had something peculating for months that you think would be a good resolution?  Is there a glaring area of need for balance in your life?  Or maybe this will be the year when you finally do XYZ.  If you don't try, it won't happen.  Try something challenging, but doable.

Encourage your children
Guide your children through a similar process as mentioned above.  Help them think about their own lives, how they treat their family and friends, how the spend their time, how much screen time they have, etc.  As with yourself, encourage them to try something challenging but doable.

Share your resolution
Maybe your resolution will be to be more forthcoming in your relationships: "I will share my resolution with my family.  I plan to do this by printing the resolution out and giving it to my family so they can hold me accountable."  Sounds like a great plan.

But seriously, if you keep your resolution to yourself, it'll be tough to keep.  As the old saying goes, "When shared, joys are multiplied and burdens are divided."

...And may you and your family have a Happy New Year!  See you in 2012!

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image Credit: jeff_golden
Image Credit: Carlos Maya

Website Wednesday: Pray.nd.edu

This is how it looks

Continuing our series of looking at websites on Wednesday, we turn our gaze to a website focused on praying through the daily mass readings: Pray.nd.edu.  Run by the University of Notre Dame, my alma mater, "Pray" includes different content every day, centered around the Gospel for that particular day.  Each day, you find the text for the Gospel, a brief reflection written by someone connected to the University, and a prayer.

One of the strengths of this website is the sheer number of contributors.  Tapping into the vast resource of Notre Dame students, alums, and friends, Pray has featured past Notre Dame football stars, current students, priests and religious, and of course alumni.  Hearing from many different individuals keeps the site fresh.  There are "as many ways [to God] as there are people," as Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) once said.  The different perspectives allow us to see God with new eyes.

Let's take a look at a few of the other parts of the site.

Seasonal Sections
During Advent and Lent, "Pray" features videos for each week of the season.  Each video includes a well thought out, well delivered ~5 minute reflection on a particular aspect that shines forth in that week's mass readings.  I particularly enjoyed the one for the 2nd week of Advent:


Free Online Prayer Cards
Ever hit a patch where you don't know how you want to pray, don't feel like you have time to pray, and need to pray something short and meaningful?  So do I.  The prayer card section on the Pray website is an incredible resource for people in that spot.  Each prayer card is a PDF that can be printed out, cut, and folded up to fit in your wallet.  Here's an example of one of the prayers, a prayer for healing (PDF):

Prayer for Healing

Dear Jesus, we turn to you in this 

time of illness. Ease our worry 

and sorrow with your gentle love. 

Gift us with the strength to accept 

this burden. Lord, we place our 

worries in your hands. We place 

our sick under your care and ask 

that you restore your loved one 

to health again. Above all, grant 

us the grace to acknowledge your 

will and know that whatever you 

do, you do for the love of us.

Adapted from Missionary 

Oblates of Mary Immaculate 

Faith Videos for You

Looking at the world through a faith perspective requires some support and some challenge.  Tender, Strong, and True is a video series that tries to do just that.  With a wide range of relevant topics (starting and maintaining prayer, living faith at work, not being stressed), this video series is a real gem for anyone looking for help and guidance.

A great resource for Catholics on the go (they'll send you daily emails) or Catholics not on the go (watching videos), Pray.nd.edu can help you grow closer to God day by day.

If you have a website you recommend, leave a comment or send Isaac an email:

Christmas Mass Schedule

As you may have noticed, things have slowed down a bit in the blog. We will pick it back up a few days after Christmas. Until then, here's the Christmas Mass schedule for St. Mark in Vienna,VA.

Saturday, December 24*:
• 8PM
• 10PM
Sunday, December 25:
• 9AM
• 11AM

* there is Mass at 3:45PM and 6PM, but you need a ticket to enter, by order of the fire marshall.

Merry Christmas!

What the Star in the Christmas story can teach us

Here is a beautiful musical reflection on the significance of one star in the Christmas story.



How are we chosen to shine the light and show the way to Jesus?

Christmas Carol at Family Movie Night - Friday December 16

On Friday, December 16 you and your family are invited to view A Christmas Carol.  The film is part of the family movie night series and will start at 7PM.  Based on Charles Dicken's classic, this version is the 1984 iteration starting George C. Scott (snippet below).



You're invited to bring cookies to share and there will be some complimentary refreshments.

First Penance

Jesus brings us mercy and forgiveness

On Saturday, December 10 over 100 St. Mark children celebrated First Penance.  In the moments and days afterward, I asked them how they felt and their responses were somewhere between “good!” and “awesome!” Everyone likes to be forgiven, even second graders!

Grace permeates the moments surrounding this and other Sacraments, even when the moments don’t feel graceful. For example, these very same students minutes before Penance were on pins and needles, nervously going through the Penance dialogue and examination of conscience as they waited in line (some for 45 minutes). But when the time came and they found themselves moving from the front of the line to the priest, they were ready. God’s life, love, and mercy are shared in this Sacrament, which each child felt “good” or “awesome” about. God was there in the preparation before, the celebration of, and the peace found after Penance, bringing forth new life and joy.

These children remind us that the feeling coming from confession trumps the anxiety leading up to that moment, and that forgiveness of sins is both possible and important. May their witness be an example to us all!

Active Waiting

A little more from our friend Henri Nouwen:

Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory. We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God's footsteps.

Waiting for God is an active, alert - yes, joyful - waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.

image credit: CmdrFire

Penance 101

As we gear up for our First Penance celebration (and the parish-wide Advent Penance celebration), it's time to brush up on why we go to confession.  Take a look at this 5 minute video to review why in the world we should go to confession instead of only asking God for forgiveness on our own.



Where do you need healing?  Where is God calling you to new life?  Is there something you did that's weighing you down?

Solemnity of Immaculate Conception - Mass Schedule

Tomorrow, December 8 is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.  Come and celebrate at St. Mark in Vienna.  Here is our mass schedule:

• Wednesday, December 7:  Vigil Mass at 7:30pm
• Thursday, December 8: 6:15am, 9:15am, 5:30pm and 7:30 pm

Website Wednesday: CatholicMom.com

This is how it looks using Google Chrome

Reviving a Wednesday theme, let's take a look at a great Catholic website for all parents that will help you include faith in your life.  CatholicMom.com is for more than just moms.  Click around the menu long enough and you'll soon realize there's something for everyone: Mom, Dad, teachers, catechists, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.

One of the strengths of the website is that it's updated with regularity.  If there's something going on in the Catholic Church, odds are there's an article, activity, or idea to incorporate it into your family.  You can see from the screen shot that there's a section on Advent.  And for the Immaculate Conception, they have a short article explaining history and some of our beliefs about the day.

Digging a little deeper, here are a few of the sections I'd like to highlight that are useful.

Sunday Gospel Activities
Encourage your children to learn about the Good News at home by utilizing one of the activities present in CatholicMom's incredible collection.  Organized by month and then by Sunday, the Sunday Gospel Activities provide something for many ages.  Your child is in the coloring phase?  There's a weekly coloring page (PDF). Kids love word searches?  They've got the word search (PDF) market covered.  Simple crossword?  You bet (PDF).  There are even what they call "mass worksheets" for children ages 7-10 (PDF) and 11-14 (PDF) to help them get more from that weekend's liturgy.  I wouldn't recommend coming to mass to fill these out, but still these can be great for getting ready for mass or processing afterward.

Movie Reviews
Multimedia play a big role in the life of children in the 21st century.  But as with anything we're exposed to, we need to be aware of what that media does to us and to our children.  CatholicMom's provides a tiny section on movie reviews that will review newly released DVDs as well as films still in the theaters.  Past reviews include the re-release of Dumbo, Super 8, and The Help.  While not updated with every movie that comes out, movie reviews do come in from time to time and appear on the front page of the main website.

(If you're very interested in other good film review sites, Catholic News Services reviews films as does a Christian website called Decent Films.)

Blog
Probably the greatest strong of the website is the blog that's updated every day.  It also happens to be the front page of the website.  A variety of articles will educate and entertain you, providing you helpful articles for parents and some opportunities to grow in your own faith.  Since that's along the same lines with what I hope to provide here on the blog, you should definitely check them out!

A hub for all things Catholic, CatholicMom is a solid resource for you and your family.

If you have a website you recommend, leave a comment or send Isaac an email:

Prayer as Seeking Depth

Prayer: elusive but important

Raise your hand if you struggle with prayer.  Now that all our hands are raised, where do we go from here?  (You can put your hands down.)

Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, is an author of many spiritual articles and books (his most famous/best selling being The Holy Longing).  This Advent, he is writing a four-part series on prayer.  Below is an excerpt from part 1 called "Prayer as Seeking Depth."

In our more reflective moments we sense the importance of prayer; yet, we struggle to pray. Sustained, deep prayer doesn't come easy for us. Why?

First of all, we struggle to make time for prayer. Prayer doesn't accomplish anything practical for us, it's a waste of time in terms of tending to the pressures and tasks of daily life, and so we hesitate to go there. Coupled with this, we find it hard to trust that prayer actually works and brings about something real in our lives. Beyond that, we struggle to concentrate when we try to pray. Once we do settle in to pray, we soon feel ourselves overwhelmed by daydreams, unfinished conversations, half-forgotten melodies, heartaches, agendas, and the impending tasks that face us as soon as we get up from our place of prayer. Finally, we struggle to pray because we really don't know how to pray. We might be familiar with various forms of prayer, from devotional prayers to different kinds of meditation, but we generally lack the confidence to believe that our own particular way of praying, with all its distractions and missteps, is prayer in the deep sense. 

 Interest piqued?  Read the rest on his website.

Part two can be found here.

image credit: mojoey

Something Hardly Noticeable: Advent Reflection from Henri Nouwen

To prepare us for, or to continue reflecting on, the second Sunday of Advent, below is a reflection on the working of God by Henri Nouwen.  You can sign up to receive daily reflection similar to this at HenriNouwen.org

Something Hardly Noticeable

"A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him . . ." (Isa.11:1-2)

These words from last night's liturgy have stayed with me during the day. Our salvation comes from something small, tender, and vulnerable, something hardly noticeable. God, who is the Creator of the Universe, comes to us in smallness, weakness, and hiddenness.

I find this a hopeful message. Somehow, I keep expecting loud and impressive events to convince me and others of God's saving power; but over and over again I am reminded that spectacles, power plays, and big events are the ways of the world. Our temptation is to be distracted by them and made blind to the "shoot that shall sprout from the stump."

When I have no eyes for the small signs of God's presence - the smile of a baby, the carefree play of children, the words of encouragement and gestures of love offered by friends - I will always remain tempted to despair.

The small child of Bethlehem, the unknown young man of Nazareth, the rejected preacher, the naked man on the cross, he asks for my full attention. The work of our salvation takes place in the midst of a world that continues to shout, scream, and overwhelm us with its claims and promises. But the promise is hidden in the shoot that sprouts from the stump, a shoot that hardly anyone notices.

Image Credit: Peter Renshaw


iGracias! - A Latin American Journal (December 2, 1981) © Henri J.M. Nouwen. Published by HarperCollins.