Shots of My Thursday Morning

I’m currently at my desk, and I’ve been spending the past five or ten minutes contemplating the best way to collect my random thoughts into a brief (ha ha) and interesting blog post. After all, today’s the first day this week where I have more freedom and less tasks–but this week’s tasks have all gone so well! My first day of tutoring the co-op class on Tuesday was just delightful; I loved every minute and it went by so quickly!

The only hairy moments were when I drained every grain of sand in the hourglass in getting there thanks to a wreck and a horribly backed-up interstate. Fortunately, a hero helped me to re-route and get there on time 🙂 Slightly stressful, but good life experience. (Oh, and the other hairy moment was when I was asked by one girl, on lunch-break, if I believed in Santa. I gaped at her for ten seconds and then whipped together a safe reply about St. Nicholas and slippers. I might have to ask for a pay raise if this keeps up.)

Once I got back home in the afternoon, the rest of Tuesday involved an eye appointment (in which I discovered my nearsightedness has remained the same, but my astigmatism has moved) and a music rehearsal. Needless to say . . . I was exhausted by the end of it all! I slept in until 8:30 on Wednesday morning.

Thus refreshed, I spent yesterday cleaning and getting things in order. Planning for class had taken up most of my brain cells,  to where I kept pushing back nagging domestic qualms such as, How much longer are you going to wait to scrub the shower floor? and That’s the thirty-fifth speck on the bedroom carpet. Vacuum, anyone? Yesterday, I shook, wiped, scrubbed, dusted and vacuumed all those qualms away. Again, I was slightly exhausted by the end of it, but it was nothing that a baked sweet potato and a few episodes of Little Men couldn’t cure. (We Donellan ladies have discovered Little Men on Amazon prime, and it’s become our latest “girls’ night” treat. It’s honestly quite good, especially the middle episodes of Season One. I was really impressed by “Emancipation”!)

But anyway . . . now to today. I hooked up my webcam, turned it around, and snapped some candid (by which I mean grainy and badly lit) shots of the current state of my desk and bedroom surroundings.

Pictured above are the items currently spread on my desk. A calendar, my phone (with its cracked and perpetually smudged screen), a notepad on which I’ve just copied the Latin lyrics to “Silent Night,” a yellow sticky note pad in which I’d written alternate lyrics of the same hymn yesterday, one of my beloved colored Sharpie pens, and the wrapper for the yarn I got for Christmas.

By the way . . . “Silent Night” in Latin is my new love. (I found it on this site.)

This is the view directly above my computer screen. A conglomeration of items . . . books, statues, pencils, etc.. The two holy cards you see were both secret Kris Kringle gifts (from Lena).

And here are the top-shelf books. Lots of good things. But you know what I would love to add to this collection one day? Lewis’ Space Trilogy. I haven’t read those books in so long! I rummaged just now and found an excerpt I’d typed up from Perelandra almost two years ago.

{The Green Lady}: “‘And this, O Piebald, is the glory and wonder you have made me see; that it is I, I myself, who turn from the good expected to the given good. Out of my own heart I do it. One can conceive a heart which did not; which clung to the good it had first thought of and turned the good which was given it into no good.’

“‘I don’t see the wonder and the glory of it,’ said Ransom.

“. . . ‘I thought’ she said, ‘that I was carried in the will of Him I love, but now I see that I walk with it. I thought that the good things He sent me drew me into them as the waves lift the islands; but now I see that it is I who plunge into them with my own legs and arms, as when we go swimming . . . How has He made me so separate from Himself? How did it enter His mind to conceive such a thing?’

I would feel better about ordering the trilogy from the library if I didn’t have a stalled stack of books on the living room fireplace right now. Sigh.

Here is my bed and nightstand, with a brief look at my youngest sister’s half of the room. On my bedspread is my newest crocheting project (a baby blanket), which I started yesterday. So far, I’ve been using double crochet and cluster stitches. Yeah . . . I’m not nearly so savvy as to actually be able to read a pattern. I just rather make them up as I go along. However, this project occasioned me to sit down this morning and search Most economical crochet stitch on the internet. I was helpfully informed that larger stitches with more “air” use less yarn. (Somehow I was expecting the reverse.) Ah-ha! So I might be incorporating some even larger stitches later on. Also on the bed are a few of my Christmas letters, which I was reading through last night for the pleasure of it 🙂

On my nightstand, one can spy the hot pink “Girl Power” alarm clock I’ve had since I was 7 or 8 years old (it’s mildly embarrassing if I actually stop to think about it [which is never], but why spend money on a new one if it still works?), a telephone, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and some prayer books, including my Bible and Missal.

Here’s the wall to the right of my desk. There’s the painting of St. Faustina I received the night of my Confirmation from dear friends; the top of my high school diploma; and my two wall calendars (FSSP and Beach Theme).

And a little Christmas cheer, tied to the doorknob. 🙂

By the way, my hope is to get some pictures of our Christmas decorations posted before Christmastide is ended. They are so lovely (probably so lovely that pictures won’t do them justice)! I need to go and grab hold of the DSLR and see what happens . . .

But that’s for another time! For now, have a very blessed Thursday, which happens to be the feast of St. Hyginus, Pope and Martyr!

My Favorite Spiritual Weapons for the Catholic Home

I know . . . I already quoted this fabulous excerpt from The Screwtape Letters last year, but . . . it’s just too rich not to dive into again 🙂 Here’s the context I gave back then, followed by the quote itself:

The scenario? His nephew Wormwood’s “patient” has recently fallen in love with a young lady; Screwtape is so demonically disgusted and repelled by her that one can only begin to guess at her virtue.

And then, as if proclaiming his hatred of her to Wormwood were not enough, he goes on to describe her home with equal, and surprising, loathing:

“Then, of course, he [the patient] gets to know this woman’s family and whole circle. Could you not see that the very house she lives in is one that he ought never to have entered? The whole place reeks of that deadly odour. The very gardener, though he has only been there five years, is beginning to acquire it. Even guests, after a weekend visit, carry some of the smell away with them. The dog and the cat are tainted with it. And a house full of the impenetrable mystery. We are certain (it is a matter of first principles) that each member of the family must in some way be making capital out of the others–but we can’t find out how. They guard as jealously as the Enemy Himself the secret of what really lies behind this pretence of disinterested love. The whole house and garden is one vast obscenity. It bears a sickening resemblance to the description one human writer made of Heaven: ‘the regions where there is only life and therefore all that is not music is silence.’”

In that post, I excitedly went on about how this was the perfect description of a Catholic home, particularly in terms of war and battleground:

Family life, by itself, is hard; family life that strives for holiness is even harder. It requires a deeply Sacramental way of living; it needs constant cooperation with God’s grace; it requires starting over every morning, family prayer, mutual charity and unfailing forgiveness, sacrifice, respect, authentic chastity and openness to life, and a real, unbending secession from the perversions in our society. As difficult as these things are, they are precisely what make the Catholic home the last battleground, the final stand in the war between Heaven and Hell–they are precisely what will help to win it for Christ the King.

And later on that year, I wrote an article about how to make your own little sanctuary, which worked nicely (I thought, anyway) with the analogy of the Catholic home being a church in miniature.

But in terms of the Catholic home being a battleground? Recently I’ve been mulling over a list of my favorite spiritual weapons inside the Catholic home–and why they’re my favorites.

But first, why all this talk of spiritual weapons? Because the Catholic family, along with the entire Church, is at war: war against the pervasive spirit of the world . . .  war against the flesh and our concupiscence and all our fallen tendencies . . . and war against the devil, who prowls like a roaring lion, seeking to devour us. It’s a threefold war and the direst we’ll ever be in.

However, the interesting thing is that our particular battlefield in the home is usually littered with shoes, dirty clothes, toys, sibling arguments, and drinking straws that weren’t thrown away. Which can be slightly annoying, enlightening, distracting, or exhausting, depending on the day. (Or maybe all of these are present every day. You decide which.)

And while all these home-y paraphernalia can be avenues for grace, especially in how one deals with them (yes, even the drinking straws) . . . it’s really good to have reminders of the actual transcendent nature of the supernatural battle we’re fighting as Catholic families on our battlefield of a few hundred or few thousand square feet of carpet and matchbox cars. (And matchbox cars are just not transcendent . . . I’m sorry.)

Many of these “reminders” are sacramentals . . . and they are truly necessary for the Catholic home, as both reminders and weapons in this battle!

Permit me to tell a story before I go any further . . .

Once upon a time, a young person visiting our old house commented to me and my sister (I could only have been about thirteen), “Um, you know, it would be kind of hard for you if you decided to change your faith while living here.”

While he was most likely left a little agnostically uncomfortable by the unabashed Catholic-ness of our home, (“My heavenly days, they’ve even got a crucifix in the guest bathroom, and a saint calendar on their pantry door”), you could easily translate his statement into, “Um, you know, it would be kind of hard for you if you decided to stop fighting the war while living here.”

After all, all this dear fellow could see was sacramentals. Ev-ery-where. However, what he didn’t realize was that he was speaking to soldiers and commenting on how, because of the presence of so many weapons, it would be hard for us to change our battle-oriented minds to any other persuasion as long as we were in our Catholic home.

And although he probably didn’t realize it, he was eloquently witnessing to a very important truth. Whether you look at the Catholic home as a church in miniature, or as a battleground, the appearance of your home has to witness to who you are. This is where sacramentals, along with our orthodox lifestyles, can come into very effective play.

Now . . . before I continue gushing on about my favorite sacramentals, in the context of spiritual battle in the Catholic family, I think should clearly define what a sacramental is. To this end, I shall resort to the ever-helpful Fish Eaters:

{A} sacramental is a sacred sign that signifies effects obtained through the Church’s intercession. While all of the seven Sacraments are Christ-instituted and always do exactly what they signify ex opere operato (“from the deed done”), sacramentals are usually Church-instituted (though some are Christ-instituted). They work through the power and prayers of the Church (ex opere operantis Ecclesiae) and, subjectively, ex opere operantis, that is, through the pious disposition of the one using them. Sacramentals drive away evil spirit, and when piously used, remit venial sin and prepare the soul for grace.

Sacramentals can be material things (blessed objects, such as scapulars, Rosaries, Crucifxes, medals,  Holy Water, etc.) or actions (the Sign of the Cross, genuflection, prayers, the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday, etc.). Note that only a priest has the power to bless an object and make it a sacramental. Lay Catholics are free to bless objects, even using the prayers priests use — and we do so often in blessing our children, blessing meals, blessing Advent wreaths or Mary Gardens, etc. — but our blessings act as “mere” pleas to God. Priests alone have been given the power to bless with a guarantee, as it were, and it is they and they alone who can take a new Crucifix or Rosary and turn them into sacramentals with the power and prayers of the entire Church behind them.

Now, without further ado, here are my five personal favorite spiritual weapons/sacramentals for the Catholic home:

1. Blessed Crucifixes ~ The Sign of the Cross
   

To be even more precise, a crucifix above each doorway, or in every room . . . don’t hold back!

I joined the crucifix and the Sign of the Cross together for my first item, because looking on the crucifix should always inspire us to make the Sign of the Cross . . . often!

The need for multiple crucifixes in the Catholic home, and the need for making the Sign of the Cross frequently, really needs no explanation . . . but I’ll leave it to St. Jean Marie Vianney to explain anyway 🙂

“The Sign of the Cross is the most terrible weapon against the devil. For this reason, the Church displays images of the cross so that we can have it continually in front of our minds to recall to us just what our souls are worth and what they cost Jesus Christ. For the same reason, the Church wants us to make the Sign of the Cross ourselves at every  juncture of the day: when we go to bed, when we awaken during the night, when we get up, when we begin any action, and above all when we’re tempted . . . .

“Fill your children, my dear brethren, with the greatest respect for the Cross, and always have a blessed cross on yourselves. Respect for the Cross will protect you against the Devil, from the vengeance of heaven, and from all danger.”

-from his Sermons

As Catholic families, we need to have the Cross fixed in front of our eyes every day. The Crucifix unfailingly reminds us that, in our daily battles, It is our only hope, our only victory.

2. Blessed Images of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts.

The blessed images of the King and Queen of the Universe strengthen the combating Catholic family. What soldier wouldn’t lift his head and firm up his heart at the sight of the banners of his Lord and Lady? What group of besieged fighters wouldn’t rally to their King’s and Queen’s flag?

The blessed images of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts are weapons of encouragement, strength, and morale for the Catholic family. The Two Hearts are the banners around which we gather to renew our daily strength, in good times and in bad.

They’re the emblems of our hope; they are the two Rays of light that penetrate into our vale of tears. No Catholic home should be without them!

The Church, the Spouse of Christ, is born from His broken Heart, which is the gate made in the side of the ark for the salvation of all mankind. Out of that door grace flows incessantly as from a sevenfold stream, that we may wash our soiled robes in the blood of the Lamb.

–from the Hymn for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (RCDM, pg. 723)

Mary was created immaculate, and therefore the grace of God streamed into her soul without check or hindrance. Her sinlessness, her heavenly purity, directed every action, every movement to God. Her Heart was the pattern and model of all virtues, of all purity.  “Blessed are the pure in heart!”

-from the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (RCDM, pg. 1373)

 

3. Blessed Statues

Please tell me you’re obsessed with familiar with Lord of the Rings? 🙂

Towards the end of the film The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn (a king in exile), while riding down the River Anduin with the remaining Fellowship members, looks up and beholds the Argonath: two towering monuments carved into the shape of old kings, bordering each side of the river. They mark the entrance into the realm of his people.

Upon seeing them, involuntary awe filters across Aragorn’s face. “My kin,” he whispers. And only the next day, he fights an unexpected, brutal battle on the shores of the same river with valor and courage.

In my humble (Tolkien-infested) opinion, this is a perfect depiction of what religious statues do for the Catholic family.

Every Catholic family should keep blessed statues of the saints in their homes for veneration and contemplation. These statues are battle monuments–or, to be more correct, monuments of victory. The saints are our heroes, the soldiers who have gone before us, bravely, and who have been victors in this great spiritual battle, whether they were young or old, man or woman, priest, religious or lay person.

Being able to look on something as concrete and lifelike as a religious statue reminds us that the Blessed in Heaven were truly flesh and blood, and at the resurrection of the dead, they will be again.

Nothing says it better than the 1962 Missal:

One of the joys of eternal salvation will be the ravishing society of all the other citizens of heaven, who are now praying for us to join them.

Yet we should remember that when we beg for “some part and fellowship” with the Apostles and Martyrs, that we are accepting to share also in their labors, sufferings, and combats–in their daily offertory.

(Image from EWTN Religious Catalogue)

4. Holy Water

Holy water is a must-have in the Catholic home. My parents bless themselves and my siblings each night with holy water (which we obtain from our parish), and although we have numerous lovely holy water fonts around our house (I think a total of four or five . . .), we try to make sure that at least the one in our living room actually has holy water in it. (I know, I know . . . a holy water font with holy water actually in it? What an idea!)

We try to remember to bless ourselves when we’re leaving home, or coming back, or when we’re in special need of grace. (Yes . . . those moments.)

St. Teresa of Avila stated emphatically:

I know by frequent experience that there is nothing that puts the demons to flight like holy water . . . As for me, my soul is conscious of a special and most distinct consolation whenever I take it. Indeed, I feel almost always a certain refreshing that I cannot describe, together with an inward joy that comforts my whole soul.

5. The Rosary

I do hope you felt this one coming 😉

Yes, there are abundant reasons for the Catholic family to pray the rosary together . . . and so many things that make it seem almost impossible to pray together on a regular basis!

But let’s not forget . . .

The rosary is the scourge of the devil. (Pope Adrian VI)

The rosary is a treasure of graces. (Pope Paul V)

The rosary is the most powerful weapon to touch the heart of Jesus, Our Redeemer, Who so loves His Mother. (St. Louis de Montfort.)

The rosary is the weapon. (St. Padre Pio)

I think that says enough in itself 🙂 Every Catholic home should have this great prayer, this great sacramental, in its armory.

So, if as Lucia dos Santos revealed, “the final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family,” let’s not hesitate to secure our homes and families with these (and many other) powerful weapons, and to use them with frequency, zeal and devotion. Let’s not forget that our homes are the battlefield, and that we have an urgent mission to spread that “deadly odor” of grace near and far, until it drives all evil things away and opens the door for Love Incarnate to enter in.