7 Quick Takes

Thoughts from my Kindle:

1.  From Mary, Help of Christians:
"We have also the testimony of one of the greatest thinkers and Protestant philosophers, Leibnitz, for the claim that the veneration and invocation of the saints is founded in reason, on Holy Scripture, and on the tradition of the Church.  He writes:  'Because we justly expect great advantage by uniting our prayers with those of our brethren here on earth, I can not understand how it can be called a crime if a person invokes the intercession of a glorified soul, or an angel.  If it be really idolatry or a detestable cult to invoke the saints and the angels to intercede for us with God, I do not comprehend how Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, Ambrose, and others, who were hitherto considered saints, can be absolved from idolatry or superstition.  To continue in such a practice would indeed not be a small defect in the Fathers, such as is inherent in human nature -- it would be an enormous public crime.'"

2.  From The Divine Office
"Must the person know the meaning of the words read?  No such knowledge is necessary, for God hears the prayer of the ignorant and illiterate and of the babes.  To the chief priests and scribes, who hearing the children crying out the Saviour's praise in the temple, Christ said  "Yea, have you not read  'out of the mouths of infants and sucklings thou hast perfected praise'" (St. Matth. xxi.  15-16)."

My mother in law once said of my infant, "She's too little to pray."  And I responded, "Who can say how much or how little the soul of a baptized baby is able to pray, before it learns to speak."  I'm not at all sure that my babies don't speak to God in words He understands before they speak to me in words I understand.  And Edward J. Quigley seems to be certain that God hears that mispronounced Our Father as the child begins to speak.

3.   From The Divine Office : giving advice on the fruitful recitation of the Divine Office:
To propose some particular intention before the recitation of the Hours begins, and to renew it during the recitation is an excellent means of guarding against distractions and mechanical routine.  It sustains during the prayer the fervour with which it was begun.  St. Bonaventure said to priests  "Give great attention to the signs (i.e., to the directions about kneeling, standing, sign of cross, etc.), greater attention to the words, and the greatest attention to the (particular) intention."


4.    From The Divine Office, giving a translation of the prayer for use before beginning the Divine Office:
Open Thou, O Lord, my mouth to bless Thy holy name;  cleanse my heart from vain, evil and wandering thoughts; enlighten my understanding, inflame my will, so that I may worthily, attentively, and devoutly recite this Office and deserve to be heard in the presence of Thy Divine Majesty.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.
O Lord, in union with that divine intention wherewith Thou whilst here on earth didst Thyself praise God, I offer these Hours to Thee.
I think this might be a good response to the question Jen posed about learning to love the psalms.

5.   From The Divine Office
St. Bonaventure recommended that at each Hour some thought of the mysteries of the life and death of Christ should be held in mind.  Thus, Matins, the night office, might be offered up in honour of the birth and infancy of Christ; Lauds, in honour of his resurrection;  Terce, in honour of the coming of the Holy Ghost;  None, in memory of Christ's death;  Vespers, in thanksgiving for the Eucharist.

6.   From The Divine Office 
Deus in adjutorium meum intende.
Domine ad adjuvandum me festina.  
These words, the opening words of Psalm 69, were always and everywhere used by the monks of old, says Cassian, who called this short prayer the formula of piety, the continual prayer.  The Church repeats it often in her Office.  St. John Climacus says it is the great cry of petition for help to triumph over our invisible enemy, who wishes to distract us and to mar our prayer.  It should be said with humility and with confidence in God.  In repeating these holy words we make the sign of the Cross;  for, all grace comes from the sacrifice of the Cross;  and besides, it is a holy and ancient practice to begin all good works with the sacred sign.

7.     From The Divine Office 
The verse which serves at the antiphon text contains the fundamental thought of the psalm to which it is sung and indicates the point of view from which it is to be understood.  In other words, it gives the key to the liturgical and mystical meaning of the psalm, with regard to the feast on which it occurs.

Enjoying my little ones

1.  Last night, my husband had to work late, so I needed to get the babies ready for bed.  Miraculously, they were both peaceful through dinner and bathtime and putting on diapers and pajamas and snacktime.  Then it was time to actually put them to sleep ... first Linus, then Lucy.  Linus resisted.  What he wanted, you see, was for me to take him to bed and nurse him to sleep before gingerly transferring him to his crib.  But I can't do that and watch Lucy at the same time.

This could have been a disaster of epic proportions, complete with two screaming babies.  My husband might have been greeted by a screaming infant and a NAKED screaming toddler (she has recently learned how to remove her clothes), but that's not the way it happened.  When  Lucy finished her snack, she picked up her babydoll, climbed up onto the couch, arranged a blanket over her legs, and lay down, sucking her fingers, while I paced with Linus.  We were thus when my husband arrived home.  He took Lucy and put her to sleep, and Linus finally got what he wanted.

2.  This morning at breakfast, Lucy heard my husbands stomach rumble a little bit, and said, "Beep.  'Lo."  She thought it sounded like one of our cell phones vibrating.

3.  Linus has made up a couple of his own games.  His version of making funny faces is to tilt his head to one side or the other and smile (Mama is then supposed to imitate).  This is somewhat challenging for him when he is sitting upright unsupported; it's funny to watch him gingerly leaning his head over to initiate his game and trying not to knock himself over at the same time.


4.  Linus likes to play peekaboo with me while nursing.  He reaches up to grasp my chin and push my face away so that then I can look back at him.  Over, and over, and over ...  He did that lasts night until he fell asleep.

5.  When Lucy spills water on the floor (not an infrequent occurrence, since she demands a drink of water in her toy teacups twenty or thirty times a day) she says "Wet!" and then demands a "Tow' " to wipe it up.

6.  The other day, Linus was jumping in his jumperoo, and Lucy stood next to him and jumped, too.  This made Linus giggle, which was exactly the right sort of encouragement for Lucy, who is a ham, so they continued to make each other laugh for a good fifteen or twenty minutes, while I stood by and basked in the cuteness.

7.  So why are all these moments of grace?  Because part of my vocation as a mother of little ones (and part of being pro-life) is being joyful and enjoying them.  And because I need to thank some guardian angels for averting disasters of epic proportions.

7 Quick Takes

1.  I saw this on Fr. Z earlier today, and it looks like a good idea.  Remember, a bishop is responsible for the care of all the souls in his diocese; he is the shepherd.  Remember also, that although God gives him special graces appropriate to his office, the bishop is still a frail and fallible human being.  Remember furthermore that our fight is against principalities and powers, etc.  The fallen angels hate and work against bishops even more than the rest of us.  Whether you think he's doing a great job, or you think there are a couple things he could do better, your bishop needs your prayers.  This website organizes people to pray a rosary for their local bishop (or any other bishop).  Just sign up, and they will send you an email reminder of the day you promised to pray for your bishop.  Check out Rosary for the Bishop.  I think it's pretty cool.

 2.  I took this picture after Lucy had fallen asleep on the couch snuggling with her daddy.  She's holding a tiny icon.  It has a magnet on the back, and it is usually on the refrigerator, but on this particular day it captured her attention and she wanted to hold it and look at it.  She fell asleep holding that little icon, and she looked so sweet that I took a picture.  When she woke up she saw it in her hand and said "Ooh!" and carried it around a while longer.

3.  My old camera was on its last legs, so we used some money we were given as a Christmas present to buy a new camera.  I think the dark corners on the upper left and lower right of the picture above were caused by the lens cover not opening completely.  I'm delighted with the new camera.  This is one of the pictures I took trying out the new camera.  In this picture I was testing its ability to focus very, very close to the subject.  What better to photograph than my wedding and engagement rings?

4.  Lucy has recently become a very helpful little girl.  She puts dirty clothes into the hamper.  At bathtime, after getting undressed and putting her clothes into the hamper, she takes her shoes and toddles (in nothing but a diaper) to the other end of the house to go put her shoes under her bed.  She also brings toys to Linus when he gets bored and starts to fuss; I only had to explain to her once that she should hold the toy by his hand instead of trying to shove it into his mouth!

5.  Linus also likes to "help" with laundry.  He is very entertained if I fold laundry on top of him.  It doesn't result in the most neatly folded laundry ever (although, to be honest, I wasn't going to be winning any laundry-folding contests anyway), but it does result in folded laundry (which is better than wadded up in a laundry basket) and a happy baby.

6.  Lucy has been steadily acquiring new words.  When she finishes with a meal and I ask if she wants to drink any more milk she says, "Away!"  When she sees her brother bouncing in the jumperoo she says, "Juh, juh, juh," and bounces herself.  Chair comes out "choo" (it took me almost a week to figure out what that word meant!), and she refers to the rocking chair as "rock-oo" -- her first two-syllable word (that is, two different syllables).

7.  But when I walk into the room and Lucy says "MAMA!" several times with great enthusiasm, my heart melts.  Aren't babies wonderful?

Have a great weekend and go visit Conversion Diary for more quick takes!

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 14)

1.  I read an article in the local newspaper sometime in the last few weeks about "math anxiety."  It talked about people who label themselves as bad at math, the social acceptability of that label, and the fact that anxiety very effectively shuts off the parts of the brain needed to do math.  This article had several interesting points, but one in particular resurfaced the other day when I read another article in Parents Magazine.  According to the article in the newspaper the foundational skill that people with math anxiety struggle with is quickly identifying which number is greater than the other.  According to the article in Parents, the game UNO reinforces this concept, and children who play UNO do better in math than those who don't.  (Now I'm thinking about the rules of the game and wondering how exactly it does this ...?)

2.  Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter has been posting about teaching reading.  One of the things she emphasizes is the use of good books and high quality literature.  This reminds me of my experience learning music.  I started with Suzuki piano, which uses real classical music from the best composers right from the beginning.  I find the "music" offered in most method books repulsive, similar to reading exercises in many beginning readers.  There was a valuable link to turn of the century children's literature in the comments of this post.

3.  A recipe for an apple dessert that I must try:  Scalloped Apples Dessert in the Slow Cooker.  This looks really tasty, and really easy.

4.  I stumbled upon a fantastic list of lunch ideas at Charming the Birds from the Trees.  I'll have to try some of these.

5.  One of the things I've been pondering in the last few weeks is what, beyond political activism, does it mean to be pro-life?  I've come to a few conclusions.  Does anyone else have thoughts on the subject?

6.  I've also been considering the relationship between generosity and gentleness.

7.  Have a great weekend, everyone.  Be sure to visit Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes posts.

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 13)

I'm a little late posting this, and even later posting several other things, so here are all the things I meant to write about this week.

1.  Yarn Along.
Since my baby surprise jacket is stalled for the moment, I've been working on a crocheted blanket that I started several years ago and never finished.  The baby surprise jacket promises to be back in the works very soon, so I will post pictures of both on Wednesday.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}
2. If I had brought my camera with me to Mass on Ascension Thursday, I would have taken a picture of the {pretty} new floor of the sanctuary of the Dominican Nuns' chapel in Lockport, LA.  The last time I was there it was still a work in progress, and now it is all finished and everything is back in its place.  It looks wonderful.

3.  Speaking of which, I was really {happy} that we managed to find a place to assist at Ascension Thursday Mass on Ascension Thursday (as opposed to Ascension Thursday Sunday, which is what it will be tomorrow at our usual parish church).  Deo gratias.

4.  {Funny}  My baby has recently taken to clapping her hands when we say grace before and after meals (her father and I put our hands together).  That's almost the idea, my girl!

5.  {Real} (but also happy!)  My little girl can now walk if I hold only one of her hands.  She will be walking on her own any day now!

6.  One thing I actually did manage to write a post about was being pro-life.  You all might be interested.

7.  I also had a few things to say about chapel veils.  In case you didn't know, women were required by canon law to cover their heads in church (not just during Mass, but anytime they entered a church) from the time of Pope Linus (the second pope) up until the new Code of Canon Law in 1983.  It is a truly ancient custom, and one shared by our Eastern brethren.  Perhaps we are impoverished by its loss.  Perhaps it should be recovered.

Have a great weekend, and be sure to stop by Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes posts.

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 12)

I'm short on time today, so I'm going to share with you my seven favorite posts of the last week.

1.  The Reasonably Clean Bathroom.  After we get moved into our new place over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to get a handle on this and establish a routine that works.

2.  Everything you'll ever need to know about makeup.  As a non-makeup-wearer, and having never been happy with the results of my attempts at applying makeup, I found this very interesting.  I was inspired to add moisturizer to my grocery list.

3.  Handcrafted Candy for Easter.  Jessica's candies turned out beautiful.  Maybe someday I'll try my hand and candy-making.


4.  Yarn Along.  I love this hat.  I'm currently knitting mittens (which has required learning to do about half a dozen things I've never tried before), but maybe next I'll try my hand at a hat.


5.  Bluebells in the Rain.  Such beautiful pictures.


6.  {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}.  Good idea.  After we are settled, I'll join in.


7.  Like Mother Like Daughter.  So cute!


Have a great weekend.
7 Quick Takes is hosted at Conversion Diary.

7Quick Takes (vol. 11)

1.  I just notice that this will be my one hundredth post.  Yay!

2.  My baby loves books.  I set her down next to a box full of toys, and instead of playing with the toys she crawls right over to the bookshelf to go pull books off the shelf and look at them.

3.  On a related note, she's also learning to turn the pages so that she can look at what's inside her board books and not just the pictures on the covers.  This often leads to frustration because she hasn't yet figured out that they only open one direction, so many of her attempts to open books simply result in the book flipping over.

4.  Also, not satisfied with simply looking at her board books on the bottom shelf, she pulls up to look at the books on the top shelf (which are wedged in very tightly to prevent her pulling them off and chewing on them).

5.  The garbage truck just woke the same sweet baby from her nap after only 45 minutes.  Alas, I was not able to get her to go back to sleep.  I'm praying to her guardian angel for some help with another nap later.  I'd prefer not to have an exhausted baby to take care of all afternoon and evening.

6.  I'm finding my Lenten reading so helpful and interesting that I'm thinking about continuing it as a more permanent habit.  I particularly like to arrive at Sunday Mass having already read the Gospel of the day and some sermons from the Church Fathers on the passage.  I find it helps me to focus on the liturgy even if I'm busy trying to keep an active baby relatively quiet.

7.  Tomorrow is Passion Sunday!  Easter is two weeks away!

7 Quick Takes (vol. 11)

1.  This Lent I am eating oatmeal for breakfast instead of my usual cold cereal out of a box.  After nearly gagging on the first morning, I've decided to eat it cold, with plenty of milk, and I'm planning to forgo adding any sugar to it.  I think on Easter morning I'll be celebrating with some sort of very sugary, no-redeeming-nutritional-value cereal.

2.  I'm also reading the propers for daily Mass, the explanation of the stational churches in the back of my Fr. Lasance Missal, and the Matins readings of the day (which are generally a sermon on the Gospel of the day).  If I get a chance, I am planning to also read the week's selections from The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers.  I also have two or three other things on standby if I should somehow have enormous amounts of time for reading.

3.  For next year, I'd like to figure out a family devotion of some sort, particularly for the children.  I haven't yet decided what.  I've seen several ideas, but nothing that really jumped out at me.  Right now I'm leaning toward a Jesus Tree because we really enjoyed the Jesse Tree during advent.  Hopefully this year I can get the preparation done.

4.  It's a bright, sunny, beautiful day outside, and there's an owl hooting somewhere.  Maybe it's something else that just sounds like an owl to me.  I don't really know that much about bird calls.  A brief search turned up no similar bird calls.

5.  Tomorrow being the second Saturday of this month, there is an extraordinary form Mass in town tomorrow morning.  I plan to go and take my little girl.  My husband can't come because he works on Saturdays.

6.  Daylight saving time is going to make getting to our usual 7 a. m.  Sunday Mass particularly difficult this week.  I'm not fond of daylight saving time; I like to have sunlight in the morning.

7.  I'm debating whether to go wake up the baby.  She stayed up late last night and slept late this morning, which is not a pattern I'd like to continue.  On the other hand, directly interfering with her sleep habits usually backfires.  I'll be waking her up to go to Mass tomorrow and Sunday, which should help to reset her clock ...
I guess I'll let her sleep as long as she wants.

7 Quick Takes hosted at Conversion Diary

7Quick Takes (vol. 10)

The Carnival season is in full swing around here, so let me tell you about it.

1.  King cakes actually refer to Epiphany, which is when they begin to be available in the local bakeries.  The king cake celebrates when the tree kings come to worship the infant King.  There is a tiny plastic baby hidden inside the cake.  Presumably for legal reasons, the bakeries put the doll inside the box, but not inside the cake, so you have to hide it yourself.

2.  Strawberries are also in season around here, so here's one way I enjoy my king cake:

3.  As my husband would point out, traditional king cakes are not filled.  They are just a sweet bread with colored sugar on top.

4.  While we haven't been to any parades yet, there were several last weekend, with more this weekend and Monday and Tuesday.  If I manage to get my camera to a parade, I'll post pictures.  

5.  There are actually two reasons to put your hands up as the floats are going by at a Mardi Gras parade.  People throw things from the floats:  beads, cups, doubloons, stuffed toys, and other random things.  Sometimes these things are thrown rather hard, so you put your hands up to catch things, but also to protect your face.

6.  Safety rule:  Don't bend down to pick up a doubloon while the float is going by; people around you are paying attention to the things still being thrown from the float, and your hand may get stepped on.  If you want it, put your foot on it and wait until the float has passed to pick it up.

7.  For those of you who may have heard otherwise, most of the parades are family-friendly fun.  In fact, the people who end up with the most beads and other trinkets at the end of it are under 12; the men on the floats love to throw things to kids.

Betty Beguiles is hosting 7 Quick Takes this week.

7Quick Takes (vol. 9)

7 prayer intentions that are close to my heart and I ought to pray for more often.

1.  For all those in Purgatory whose friends and relatives decided to just assume that they are in Heaven, instead of praying for them.
2.  For the unity of all Christians in the fullness of the Faith.
3.  For good, zealous, and holy priests.
4.  For my husband, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, and so on ...
5.  For a happy death.
6.  For a more widespread devotion to and appreciation of the liturgy (particularly the treasures of the traditional form).
7.  That I may never have a child die unbaptized.

God you know the prayers that are in my heart even as you hear the prayers that are on my lips.  Connect them, I beg you, when I forget.  Amen.

7 Quick takes hosted at Conversion Diary

7Quick Takes (vol. 8)

1.  We went on a long trip in the car at Christmas, to visit my family who lives far away, and discovered that the baby sleeps in her car seat.  Deo gratias!  She also smiled and waved at nearly everyone we met

Hotel rooms and other unfamiliar places?  Now that's an entirely different story ...

2.  At eight months old, my baby girl now has her first tooth!  We seem to have reached a lull in the teething crankiness, but I expect the second tooth will not be far behind.

3.  In other baby news, she can now get an O shaped cereal bit into her mouth by herself, occasionally.  She does it, not by using a pincer grasp, but by getting it to stick to the end of her index finger, which she then puts into her mouth

.

4.  She also loves her Daddy.  No matter how grumpy she's been for me, the moment he walks in the door in the evening she is all smiles (at least for 30 seconds).  And she wants to be just like him; if he's eating a banana, she wants some too, even though she hates bananas.

5.  I've been having some success getting caught up with housework after several weeks of neglect.  Maybe next time things get overwhelming I will be smart enough to remember that the project needs to start with prayer.

6.  This is awesome.  But it makes me wonder.  I have a headline in my head:

Mom Risks Life to Save Child

Isn't that what parents are supposed to do?  Isn't that what is natural for a mother to do?  But because this child wasn't yet born, this woman's doctors advised her not to protect it.  Because this child wasn't yet born, the story is news. What a weird, messed up world we live in!

7.  Abigail has two thought provoking posts on suffering in preparation for Lent.  I'm afraid I needed that reminder about eight weeks ago, when the morning sickness hit.  On the other hand, there are trials every day.

7 Quick takes hosted at Conversion Diary

7Quick Takes (vol. 7)

I've been writing a series of posts about the story of my conversion to Catholicism.  They are written in bite size chunks, partly because that was the way it happened -- a little at a time --and partly because I have a short attention span.  If you are interested, you can read the beginning of the story here.

Because I'm in conversion mode, here are 7 reasons the Catholic Church is attractive:

1.  The Catholic Church is the only church which upholds the Gospel teaching on divorce and remarraige.  How can anyone claim to teach the Gospel faith who does not uphold something Christ made so abundantly clear?

2.  The Communion of the Saints.  Who wouldn't want all the holy men and women who have gone before us and who now stand before the throne of God to pray for them?

3.  The Catholic Church is not afraid of having things involved in prayer (pictures, rosaries, statues, chaplets, crucifixes) which is a great help to someone with a wandering mind (and a wiggling infant).

4.  In a similar vein:  Catholic churches are decorated with many things to look at, all of which are designed to draw the mind and heart to God.  I cannot imagine trying to entertain an infant in a whitewashed box.  My baby loves the statues.

5.  History makes it pretty clear that the Catholic Church is the only one which dates from the time of Christ.  All other Christian denominations point to a founder.  The Catholic Church points only to Christ and his Apostles.

6.  Confession.  We're all sinners.  Having a representative of Christ with the authority to forgive sins with the certainty of a Sacrament is pretty awesome.

7.  Diversity.  There is a place for everyone within the Catholic Church.  There are devotions, saints, and manuals of prayer to suit every type of personality and every level of education.  

7 Quick Takes hosted at Conversion Diary

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 6)

1.  I've been thinking about the reasonableness of the Catholic Faith.  It is interesting that the healthy way to live is also often the moral way to live.  For example:  it has been recently in the news that "the pill" is a carcinogen on a level with things like asbestos and cigarette smoke.  If you've been leading a moral life according to the teachings of the Catholic Church, then you've got nothing to worry about, because you haven't been using any form of artificial "birth control."

2.  I threw together a dinner last night that my husband and I really liked.

Anne's Jambalaya with Beans

In a large skillet combine 1 cup white rice, 2 cups water, 2 cups pinto beans (a little more than one can), 1 14.5-oz. can crushed tomatoes, 1 small onion (chopped), 1/2 pound smoked sausage (chopped), and 2 teaspoons Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.  Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered until rice is done, about 15 minutes.

3.  I've been talking about images again, so here's another picture from the dining room.



4.  My baby has been watching me eat, which caused me to realize that I have some bad habits, and that I'm lacking some good ones.  Yesterday was a pretty good day;  I haven't had peanut butter or crackers all day, and I said the grace before meals out loud before breakfast.

5.  This is horrifying.  Rutgers University Professor Helen Fisher, of the Center for Human Evolution Studies was on the Joy Behar show and described having lots of children as littering.

6.  Happy feast day to all the Elizabeths out there!  Today is the traditional feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary.  In only 24 years she was a wife, a mother, a widow, and finally wore the habit of a third order Franciscan.

7.  It's time to go attend to my baby.  My monastic bell is fussing.  My little vox Dei is calling.

More Quick Takes at Conversion Diary

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 5)

1.  We celebrated Martinmas yesterday with a rehearsal dinner for my brother-in-law, who is getting married tomorrow.  Many prayers that they will have a long and happy life together. 

2.  Since I was talking about images the other day, here's one from the dining room.  It's a picture of the walk to Emmaus, which seems appropriate for the place were we eat our meals.

3.  Here is more proof that Holy Mother Church is generous:  she offers to those of the faithful who have been in the habit of saying some prayers a plenary indulgence, even if there is no priest available to give the apostolic blessing.  I like to think of myself as a reasonably well informed Catholic, but I didn't know about this one until a few days ago, and (please forgive me for repeating myself) I think everyone should know about it.

4.  In addition to being the feast of St. Martin of Tours (a Roman soldier), yesterday was also Veterans Day.  My husband, who keeps track of such things, wore a poppy in his lapel.  Let us remember and pray for all soldier and veterans, both the living and the dead. 

St. Martin of Tours, intercede for all soldiers.

5.  In the place where we lived previously, people were very conscious of the church being the house of God.  People did not have conversations inside the church before and after Mass, in fact, this silence was one of the first very obvious differences I noticed as a convert:  Protestants come into the church on Sunday morning and chat with their friends and mill about until the service starts, while Catholics come into the church, genuflect, find a place in the pews, and kneel down in silence.  Where we live now, that doesn't happen as much, and particularly after Mass, people are a lot less careful to go out of the church to chat.  I miss that silence.  It is a very noticeable testimony to the Real Presence of Christ.

6.  I really enjoyed reading this the other day, because I had already been thinking of the baby's cry as my monastic bell. 

7.  One more thing that makes me happy:  the Roman Martyrology arrived yesterday, and my husband read the day's reading after Vespers.  Yay!

In case anyone is interested, we found it at Preserving Christian Publications.

More quick takes

7 Quick Takes (vol. 4)

1.  I'm trying to remember to pray the Angelus morning, noon, and evening.  (post ideas about reminding myself)

2.  My baby has apparently decided that the carseat is a good place to poop.  Since the episode last Saturday, she has done it several more times, including one that necessitated changing a diaper in the cemetery.

3.  I love this post from Testosterhome.  I have had similar experiences recently; when I finally buckle down and clean up the clutter that has been bothering me, it makes me happy to look at it for several days.  Amazingly, this seems to spill over into every part of my life, making me generally more cheerful, patient, and mindful of things that need to be done.

4.  We had tuna salad sandwiches last night for dinner, even though it wasn't Friday.  Tonight will probably be some sort of beans and rice concoction.  When I get that perfected, I'll post my recipe for that as well.

5.  I've been thinking about good example.  How do I teach my child to pray if she doesn't see and hear me do so?  Better pray.  Out loud.  Every day.   How do I teach her to eat well?  I guess I should eat better myself.  And the list goes on.  I will be posting more about this later.

6.  Happy Name Day (yesterday), Charlotte at Waltzing Mathilda!  One of my names is also a derivative of Charles, and although my parents had no such thing in mind when naming me (I am a convert), I claim Charles Borromeo as a patron as well.

7. This is what I do while standing up rocking my baby until she falls deeply asleep enough so that I can put her in her crib.  It sure makes five minutes go by faster.

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7 Quick Takes (vol. 3)

1.  Apparently the devil has no knees.  "... there is a story that comes from the sayings of the Desert Fathers, according to which the devil was compelled by God to show himself to a certain Abba Apollo.  He looked black and ugly, with frighteningly thin limbs, but, most strikingly, he had no knees.  The inability to kneel is seen as the very essence of the diabolical"  (Cardinal Ratzinger in The Spirit of the Liturgy).  There is a wealth of Christian culture and history in this book.

2.  I've been pondering the different ways we see God at Mass.   There are images, like the crucifix and the stations of the cross.  There are symbols, like the altar and vestments.  There are sacraments:  the Eucharist and the Priesthood.  And we are each created in the image and likeness of God.

3.  I am praying for the unity of the church.  Obviously God alone can heal a rift a thousand years old, but since the conversion of hearts in the domain of grace given by almighty God, he alone can heal the rifts in the church both old and new. 

4.  Since the unexpected death of a friend a couple weeks ago, I have a new found devotion to praying for the holy souls in purgatory, and to gaining as many indulgences as I can, both partial and plenary, for their benefit.

5.  In the pursuit of holiness in everyday things, I am gradually building small prayers into my daily routine.  This week I am working on making a morning offering.

6.  Since yesterday was the feast of Ss. Simon and Jude, a second class feast, we used the china for dinner and had dessert and coffee afterward.  Here's a picture of my pretty table:



7.  I recently found some folks who explain very well the reasons for wearing a chapel veil.  It seems it is more fashionable these days to call them mantillas these days. So I ask...

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7 Quick Takes (vol. 2)

1.  I'm thinking about Holy Communion this week.  I'm cultivating anticipation and desire in preparation for the Sacrament, and I'm thinking about making a thanksgiving afterward.  I find it harder than I once did to keep the necessary recollection for the kind of thanksgiving I would like to make after Communion -- partly because I have an arm full of baby (which makes reading prayers out of a book impossible), and partly because that baby attracts the attention of others who then decide they want to talk to me.  I need a way to focus my attention.  Please comment if you have ideas.

2.  I'm praying to St. Michael the Archangel this week.  In part, I am asking St. Michael the Archangel to defend us in the battle against principalities and powers and such because of the Collect and Epistle from last Sunday. Because a friend of mine died this week I'm also praying:  "O Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the deep pit; deliver them from the lion's mouth, that hell engulf them not, that they fall not into the darkness; but let Michael, the holy standard-bearer, bring them into the holy light which Thou didst promise of old to Abraham and his seed." (from the Offertory of the Requiem Mass).

3.  Between a cold and a baby who has suddenly started sleeping like a newborn (up every three hours at night to eat), I have fallen far short of my various resolutions.  Since I seem to be almost over the cold, today I am renewing my efforts, and awaiting with great anticipation whatever new exciting thing my baby is about to do.

4.  On Sunday it will have been two years since my husband proposed on the feast of St. Raphael.  It's hard to believe it has been that long.  On the other hand, it's hard to believe that only two years ago we were living in different cities.  Life has changed a great deal for us in the last two years. 

5.  I read somewhere recently that clutter contributes to migranes.  So maybe if I could get the house clean, I would have fewer headaches.  Or maybe I just need to drink more water (which is my father-in-law's solution to every ailment).

6.  Happy thought:  My baby giggles.  Yay!

7.  Another happy thought:  My husband will be home any minute now, so it's time to take the baby to watch out the window for him.

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7 Quick Takes

1.  Out of the mouths of infants and sucklings thou hast perfected praise, becuase of thy enemies, that thou mayest destroy the enemy and avenger (Psalm 8:3).  There is a beautiful post on Praying with my Feet about the Communion of the Saints and the union of the church militant with the church suffering and the church triumphant.

2.  And I would do well to remember this when I start getting unrealistic ideas about what I expect of myself. Katherine at Evlogia says, "Humility is knowing who we are and who God is and stopping this silliness of confusing the two. And that thing that we're not doing so well? It just may be that it's not His will or maybe that we're trying to do it without Him. His Hand is outstretched. We just have to be humble enough to grab it and hang on tight."  The link above is to the original post.  It's a good one.

3.  And speaking of Evlogia, welcome home!  I am praying it won't take too long to feel like home.

4.  As for this week's goals:  I haven't prayed Compline every night, but I have more often than I was previously.  I haven't dusted yet, but I have vacuumed.

5.  St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us.

6.  Soft background music seems to have a very calming effect on my baby.  She seems to be much happier and easier to entertain when it's playing.

7.  Now I need to publish this post and go cut out the baby dress I've been meaning to sew.

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