bits and bants vol. 12

prayer is it, people

Ah, we’ve reached the, “I’ll definitely have time for *insert great idea here* when it’s summer and I’m not doing school anymore,” era. Substack is included in my lists of many great ideas, just above exercise everyday.

There was a slight kerfuffle on Catholic twitter this week when some bishop said something about Eucharistic adoration being passive, and it turned out to be a slight misquote, and furor and rage etc. exploded. I’m assuming because I’m not on Twitter. I’m just surmising that the whole conversation became very exhausting and extremely predictable in what was said and by whom. My main point is that it got me thinking about what power I have as a mother, and what I would tell my kids about prayer and what it means to have given or passed on the faith to my kids. Because I know it may be hard to tell, but a bishop’s main job is to guide and inspire souls in his care. Kind of similar to the role of a mother. So as I was thinking to myself, “Wow, if I were bishop…” I quickly realized that I do have a role and responsibility in teaching and guiding souls.

It basically boils down to this; if I let my kids grow up without ever taking to heart that to be a Catholic, to be a Christian, it is imperative to pray then I will not have passed on the faith. It’s as simple as that. Any elementary school of any persuasion can teach children that doing good things is nice. That being nice is good. If our current social landscape is any indication of the future, I know that my children will be bombarded day in and day out by every form of media that good actions are necessary to save the world! I actually don’t even want to begin to contemplate what AI will throw into the mix of action and inaction by the time my children are adults. #comelordjesus

But where else and what else tells us to pray? What place but the Church tells us that it is possible and necessary to have an intimate relationship with the God who created us? Where else but the Catholic Church is it possible to physically worship and adore the Body of Christ wholly present with us in the same room? What program reaches to the inner most heart of person and speaks?

The Catholic faith is deep and wide. People are created with their own will and freedom, and although we are all oriented and searching for God, I can’t force my kids to get there. I can’t even teach them everything there is to know about the Faith. But when we look around at what makes someone a Catholic, I think we can say that prayer may be the most important common denominator. We know what bad people of faith look like, and I think we would all bet that their prayer lives are probably garbage. Prayer is what changes hearts, it’s what changes actions, it’s what changes lives. To say anything otherwise to anyone in our spiritual care is gravely wrong.

For the entirety of my life as a Catholic I have felt strongly that the Church has to begin showing people what it has that no one else in the world has. We live in a postmodern world of until luxury and indulgence. If there is a program or a charity or self-help way of doing something, it is out there. What the world cannot bring is peace. The world does not offer our souls rest. The world does not offer utopia if everyone just did the right thing and put their good thoughts into action. Only the Church through Christ offers us another way. Only the Church offers real answers. And many times those answers aren’t the ones we see boldly written in words, but are the answers that are only found in silent, non-productive, non-activist prayer. Prayer is the difference. If we can offer our children the exposure and experience of prayer that is the greatest way we can hand down the faith.

bants:

• My, the internet has been letting me down. I’ve been busy, so I’ve missed some, but do you think I miss everything? If you answered, “No way.” you would be correct.

• I’m sorry but I’m just really obsessed with paint colours lately and I’ve decided that I just have to continue embracing my love of bold colour/give some of my friends panic attacks and paint my house crazy colours. I have never felt the need for a bright green library more than when I saw this picture.

• I love Madonna House and thus obviously loved this delightful look at tea time and making time to feast.

reading, watching, what have you:

• Summer is here and the tv watching is light because the outdoors becomes conducive to human life again. I was out walking until almost 9:00pm last night and it wasn’t even near sunset. Also, my garden needs weeding 24/7 apparently. Plus playoffs are still on all the time. I want to institute a summer movie watching schedule with my kids that includes all classics all the time, and they are leery. But we watched Rear Window to kick it off, and that was a hit with all of them!

• I did finish Marvellous Mrs. Maisel last week and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the finale episode when the entire fifth season was making me pretty rage-y. The final episode was everything we liked most about the entire show without the repeated storylines and bemoaning the moral failings of the main characters. I would love to have a sit down interview/therapy session with Amy Sherman-Palladino over her thoughts about womanhood, motherhood, and female relationships because I really want to draw together a coherent philosophy but I can’t pigeon hole her one way or another on so much. Literally could write a short novella on those thoughts concerning MMM and Gilmore Girls.

• I read Happy Place, the latest rom-com from rom-com icon Emily Henry and found it pretty annoying. I’m a tough sell on rom-coms generally, but when I shared a couple thoughts on instagram about the book a lot of people agreed with me on this one. Would recommend Book Lovers by Emily Henry anytime though!

Ok, that’s all I’ve got. We’ve got another busy weekend ahead with friends and I’ve got to maybe start thinking about what I’m going to feed them. I would welcome all good salad recipes that feed a crowd. I’m trying a pasta salad recipe out this weekend, and I’ll report back.

with mosquito bites and love,

christy