So...how is your Year of Faith going?

Before I get started, thank you to everybody that answered my call for company on Twitter. :) I see Cam over there now, as well as some others, and I'm really having a good time with this and hope that I continue to meet more people there. Please do reply to my Tweets over there or send me a message! I'd love to talk to you.

Ok, so my increased involvement at Twitter has had a very good spiritual side effect. During the day, I'm thinking more and more about Catholic things that I see on there. Prayers, events, news items. And a few people recently mentioned the Year of Faith. That, combined with the unfolding vocation story that I mentioned in the past week or so of the young woman I follow on Twitter (@ChanningDale) that is entering a Carmelite monastery in a month, has gotten my little mind whirling. (Definitely check out her podcast for as long as it's still available, she discusses her vocation story in depth on there. You can find it on iTunes as "This Catholic Life.")

How well am I doing living out my vocation? And what have I been doing to fully embrace this special Year of Faith? Those two questions have been on my mind this week.

Mike teases me that he's glad that I sacrificed being a nun so that he could marry me. :) But how well am I doing in my vocation as a wife and mother? It's always important to evaluate that and not take it for granted that marriage is in fact a vocation, not just a lifestyle choice. I felt called to marry Mike, and we both felt strongly that we were called to welcome children into our marriage. That part was very easy, really. It's the day-to-day stuff that I know that I struggle with, as I'm sure most people do. I'm very happily married and I love my children, but am I the best wife and mother that I could be every moment of every single day? The simple answer is no.

So here is where the Year of Faith ties back in. Do I take advantage of what the Church has to offer me to boost me spiritually in my vocation? In many ways yes, but of course I could always be reaching out more. I frequent the sacraments. I pray daily. But have I done anything special this year to maximize the Year of Faith that the Church has set up for us to benefit from?

It's interesting, but as I look back on my year (the liturgical year, that is) I would say that my spiritual life has in fact been more vibrant. I've been putting more into it, and although I'm far from attaining the way of perfection :) I'm getting more out of it. And it definitely corresponds with when the Year of Faith began.

I had a particularly nice Advent this past year, and then shortly after Christmas I did the consecration to Jesus through Mary via the book 33 Days to Morning Glory. That Marian consecration, in hindsight, seems to me to have been a quiet leviathan in my spiritual life. At the time, no fireworks were shot out or anything, but when I look back I'm astounded by how much I've been ardently working on my spiritual life since then and trying harder to be more patient in my vocation as compared to before. I attribute this directly to the consecration.

I read the other day that we're approximately 6 months into the year of faith. So it seems an appropriate time to take stock.  I feel very happy in my faith life right now, but I'm not getting a halo anytime soon, I'm still very much in need of grace. So, what else could I do to grow closer to God?

I need to keep up with daily Mass as often as I can. I haven't made it yet this week, so I'm going to prioritize that tomorrow (the feast of St. Anthony of Padua!). I'd also like to start slowly (sigh) reading through some Catholic classics since I haven't read most of them. I'm terrible about deep theological reading. I have read Introduction to the Devout Life (a very accessible read) and The Story of a Soul (also lovely). But I haven't read any other major work of a saint or Church Father. This Catholic librarian needs to get busy, clearly. There are *tons* of these available for next to nothing on Kindle. I'll update you on my progress.

I'll leave you with an amusing anecdote. Right around the time Mike and I got engaged, my good friend Rose and I (who was soon to be engaged but also had nun longings like I did) decided to go on a retreat to discern whether we were in fact following God's will for our lives. We found this remote retreat place for laypeople run by a group of monks a few hours drive away. You could rent a small cabin and there was a chapel on the grounds as well. It was in the woods, so lots of time for prayerful contemplation.

Now, we're city girls. Definitely not what you would call "rustic." We did know that there was no indoor plumbing, and that the heat source was a wood burning stove. We thought we were prepared.

We arrived, filled our jug with water and proceeded to our cabin. We managed fine during the day. I don't even remember what we ate, but we had come prepared. The no running water thing was a bit of a challenge, but we persevered. I held my breath a lot in the outhouse and felt very Pioneer Woman. We went to the chapel and prayed.

Then night fell. Not having grown up in the country, I wasn't really prepared for how DARK it gets at night. Everything was fine until one of us needed to use the facilities and went out back to the outhouse with a flashlight. Discovery of a spider as large as our hands now present in the outhouse was immediately reported to the other. A mutual decision was made that further use of the outhouse simply wasn't possible. Whereupon the heavy cover of darkness became, let's just say, quite indispensable.

Next came our preparations for bed. We loaded some wood into the stove thing, got it lit, and settled in for some spiritual reading. All was well. We drifted off to sleep.

I awoke with a start, noticing that I was quite warm. I'm not sure what had happened, but it had become so hot in our cabin that I had a hard time seeing Rose on the other side of the room since the air was so wavy. I immediately pop open the windows and checked the time. It seemed like we'd been sleeping for a long time.

We'd been sleeping for maybe 30 minutes.

I woke Rose so that we could be sure and not asphxiate to death. We got the stove situation righted and tried to go back to sleep. I tossed and turned a lot.

The next day, we got up for Mass and were faced with a crisis about the spider-infested outhouse. With the light of day, we obviously had no choice but to use it, and we felt that our time in purgatory should be reduced due to our heroism.

I look back on that time with much fondness. The friends that I made after I came back from law school have been so wonderful.

I can't go on a retreat right now, but perhaps I can create a "home retreat" with some solid spiritual reading. I will let you know how things go. :) But I'm thinking spiders won't be involved this time...

Henry's contest

"Mommy, there is a big contest at school for the Year of Faith, and the winner gets to have lunch with the bishop!"

"Well that sounds very exciting. What do you have to do?"

"Make a poster showing how a priest or nun helps everybody with their faith."

Uh oh. Art work is not our strong suit. Hank has inherited my utter lack of any artistic talent whatsoever. There are unspeakable past art projects to which I still repress the memories.

"Ok, Honey. What is your idea for your poster?"

"A priest baptizing somebody."

"Oh. Well, that's actually a really great idea. Let's start a sketch."

*sketching commences*

"Hum, well Hank I'd make the priest a bit bigger. People don't generally have heads that small."

"But if I erase it'll look bad."

"Let's get a fresh sheet of paper."

*sketching continues with just a hair of whining starting to come into play*

"Well, the people are better, Honey, but the baptismal font is, well, far too large. It's bigger than the priest, he wouldn't even be able to reach the top."

*Hank scowls*

"But I won't be able to make another one that looks this good."

"Well, I think we're going to have to take our chances. And while you're at it, re-draw the baby. Right now it looks like the priest is about to toss him into the font, and we can't have that."

It was a very long evening.

A brainstorm for Year of Faith ideas

I've been pondering my Year of Faith activities for a week or so now. I just love themes. Whenever there is a theme year in the Church, or a Jubilee year, or like when JPII announced the new mysteries of the rosary, well...I just about died from excitement on that one. I LOVE stuff like this (and I *heart* John Paul II). When I first about the Year of Faith, I didn't know what to think. I was excited about a theme, but felt adrift with regard to how to celebrate it. A whole year pondering the concept of "faith?" What does that even mean?

As time went on and I heard Catholic bloggers talk about this more and more I came to a conclusion as to how I wanted to approach this special year. Apparently, this is marking the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, and so to me, the Year of Faith is a year of exploring exactly what my faith means to me. How does being Catholic shape the way I live (significantly) and can other see my faith via my actions?

To start off the year, I've started reading some Catholic non-fiction. I've been reading a lot of fiction (and I still do) but I want to have a Catholic book going at all times. Right now, I'm reading Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor: How I Discovered the Hidden Treasures of the Catholic Church on my Kindle. I love, love, love conversion story books. The stories are so personal and poignant, and it really ignites my own faith to read them. The Surprised by Truth series was *instrumental* in my reversion back to my Catholic faith in law school.

I'm really enjoying the book. The author is a former Methodist pastor who gave up his pastoral career in a gigantic church in the South to become Catholic. He was fairly indifferent to Catholics as a child, not having known very many. But he met a Catholic in divinity school and that started a long seeking process that culminated in his conversion. Good stuff.

I'm not certain what I will read next, but I will keep you posted. :) I'm volleying this with an Amish fiction title and some racing fiction. *snort*

What has everybody else started for the Year of Faith?

The Year of Faith begins!

It actually started last week, but I'm just getting my booty in gear this week. I had Children's Liturgy of the Word yesterday, and once again, it went well. I had some squirmy customers, to be sure, but on the whole it went very well. Henry wanted to light a candle afterwards, and we went for the big guns and lit one of the 7 day votives. I was feeling very Catholic and motivated following Mass yesterday.

Thus, this morning I was doing some online book browsing. Deltaflute's post this morning got me to thinking: what do I want to do for this special year? I've tried "read the Bible in 1 year" plans in the past and have always fallen off the wagon. I have some great books on Pope John Paul II I could pull out and try to get read this year. Ooh, good idea.

I also came across this title: United States Catholic Catechism for Adults. It's even available for Kindle. Has anybody read this? I've wanted to read the Catechism for some time, but it's not exactly a volume that one can easily read cover to cover. This looks like a nice spin on things. I'm quite curious about it.

The Year of Faith Approacheth

Yesterday at Mass, I was contemplating the upcoming fall liturgical season, complete with the Year of Faith set to begin in October. By October, I'm always thinking about Advent (oh, and my Advent candles shipped out though the nativity wreath is still back ordered. *narrows eyes suspiciously* It's *supposed* to be available to ship on Wednesday, we'll see) And I almost always get a special Advent devotional. But this Year of Faith business has gotten me to thinking that I could come up with a spiritual plan for the entire year.

I notice that Magnificat is putting out a Year of Faith companion that I'm interested in. Doesn't that look precious? I do love those little devotionals. Sometimes I find that I don't use them as much as I should, and other times I use them every single day. Hard to say why. Lately, I've been using my Living Faith (on my Kindle) daily so I thought I might order one of the Year of Faith companions, we'll see.

Does anybody else have special plans for the Year of Faith?

Upcoming 'Year of Faith', and a short book review

I've known about this for some time now, but it's been popping up in my head a bit more lately: the upcoming "Year of Faith" that Pope Benedict announced will take place from mid-October 2012 until late November 2013.

I like dedicated, themed things like this. It's right up my alley. So, when I first heard that there would be a new "Year of..." I got all excited. Then when I heard that it was be the "Year of Faith" I have to admit, I felt a bit deflated. I mean, doesn't that seem just a hair vague?

However, I know that oftentimes I'm too short-sighted, and I trust the pope to pave an interesting way for us. And in fact, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has written a little missive to guide us as we prepare for this upcoming year. It includes goals for the year on both the diocesan and parish level.

For me, I think that the year will be a good time to reflect on a few things.

(1) What does it mean for my life that I have faith in God? How strong is my faith? Are there things that I can do to increase my faith?

(2) What does it mean for my life that I have *our* Faith? What does my Catholic identity mean to me, and how do I reflect it to others?

Relatedly, I've been reading book 4 in the John Paul 2 High series, Undercover Papist, and it includes a lot of apologetics in the plotline. It's making me feel very proud to be Catholic. :) I highly recommend this book, as I do the whole series. In this installment, one of our main characters starts going to a large evangelical church and experiences an emotional conversion. When she renounces her Catholic faith, states that she won't be returning to John Paul 2 High, and is attending a summer Bible Camp affiliated with her new church, another one of our favorite characters signs up as a camp-goer in order to try and convince her to return to her Catholic roots. It's excellent, and may even be my favorite book in the series! The books are very reasonably priced in print from both the publisher and from Amazon, but for Kindle they are a mere $5 each! You should read them!