What percentage of parents, teachers, catechists, and program directors do you think spend an hour each week in solitude, prayer, and contemplation?
How many spend an hour per day?
When was the last time you did?
It is our hope that all of you can give an answer that falls on the short side of the last week- or can at least recall the last time without much difficulty.
We know, however, that unfortunately it doesn’t always work that way, especially when busy caring for children all week. Getting to Mass on Sunday can feel like all the spiritual hours we have to invest. That might not even seem that refreshing to our spiritual lives if some of the children we care for during the week are our own and they need a lot of assistance during Mass!
Many of us have been told not to worry about if we don’t feel the graces received during Mass when distracted by small children, and there is certainly truth to that. The same can be said for periods of prayer that seem dry or uninspired. Solitude doesn’t always lead to the silence of contemplation. Frustration in prayer can lead us to give up too soon. To drag our feet- and in some cases the feet of many small children- to Mass without ever really entering into the sacrifice itself.
Imagine instead, if we could regularly enter willingly into prayer, solitude, and contemplation with an open heart to what may come and how we might feel about it. We can let ourselves be something of a blank slate. We can sit down with our friend without worrying about the end result or feelings.
As catechists and parents, we literally signed up to evangelize and share Jesus with others. How can we do that if we aren’t spending time with him and building our own relationship?
For the next four weeks, we are going to discuss a kind of spiritual self care for teachers, parents, and others in formation roles. Spiritual self care isn’t something we do for ourselves, it's something we let the Holy Spirit do for us. That doesn’t mean, however, that we don’t need to make an appointment- the same as we would for our fingers or hair. These appointments can be with Jesus in front of the Blessed Sacrament, or we can invite the Holy Spirit right into our hearts at home.
We are going to draw inspiration from quotes by one of Heidi’s spiritual mentors, Servant of God Catherine Doherty. Specifically her titles, In the Footprints of Loneliness and Living the Gospel Without Compromise.
Catherine Doherty lived a life of both deep hardship and radical love. She was a prolific writer, deeply spiritual, and tenacious as all get out. If you want to learn a bit more about Catherine, her cause, and her writing you can explore the links below throughout this week.
More importantly, however, is that you enter into these first days of Advent by making time for solitude, prayer, contemplation, and especially the Eucharistic Sacrifice. These four modes are like a self care appointment with Jesus.
Let’s put them on the calendar.
Please know that we are praying with you!
Tim & Heidi |
