Connie Rossini's Blog, page 17

Growing in detachment for Lent

Lenten Cloth in the Museum Gherdeina (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

 

Lent is the perfect time for growing in detachment. Since I am focusing on detachment all this year, Lent provides the opportunity to take a further step.

Since January 1, I have been practicing lifting my thoughts to God as soon as I experience any pleasure. You can Contemplative Homeschool.

I’m in the final stages of writing Trusting God with St. Therese

The tomb of St. Therese in the basilica dedicated to her in Lisieux, France.

 

This week I began bribing my kids to help me finish my book. They each start with $1, and lose 5¢ each time they interrupt me with discipline problems or goofing around during school hours. We’re doing lots of worksheets right now!

I wrote my final chapter of Trusting God with St. Therese on Tuesday. Now I’m doing some final rewriting and editing. i hope to send it out to a few Beta readers in about two weeks. Then there will be one more round of editing and final formatting before I make it available to select book reviewers.

If you have sent me an email lately and haven’t heard back right away, please know that I am not ignoring you. I am just really focused on my book until this stage is complete. I will try to reply to as soon as I can.

In the meantime, here are some links related to Trusting God with St. Therese that you might have missed.

I have 4 Pinterest Boards related to my book:

Trusting God with St. Therese" />Contemplative Homeschool.

Sing the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary with children

Portrait of Charlotte of France by Clouet.

 

Back in Advent, Dan and I sang The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came as part of our Evening Prayer. It struck me how perfect this hymn was for teaching children about the Annunciation. I conceived the idea (yes, that’s a pun) of teaching children the meaning of the mysteries of the Rosary through song. Here it was I came up with for the Joyful Mysteries.

My primary goal in our Contemplative Homeschool is to teach our children how to grow in union with God. Christian meditation is a vital part of that process, teaching all of us to listen to God’s voice in the Scriptures, and to ponder His character in order to love Him better.

The Rosary provides a bridge between the vocal prayers we learn as children and more mature mental prayer. Through the Rosary, we meditate on the most important mysteries of our faith.

Many people have created ways to share the Rosary with children. In Singing the Rosary, I have the following goals:

leading children to see the Rosary as a means of meditation, so they are not just trying to concentrate on the words of the vocal prayersteaching them in detail about each of the mysteries, so they have plenty to meditate onlimiting the number of prayer repetitions until they understand what the Rosary is for

I was well into adulthood before I heard a priest say that we were not supposed to think about the words of the Our Father, Hail Mary, etc. in the Rosary. My reaction was, Huh?  I had been praying the Rosary virtually all my life, but had never learned to meditate on the mysteries. I want to make sure my kids don’t have the same experience.

Before Singing the Rosary with children, you may want to watch a video clip about each of the mysteries. Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth provides an easy way to do this. You can watch five minutes of the story for each of the five joyful mysteries and discuss them afterwards. This will remind your children, in case they have forgotten, what each mystery is about.

I  encourage you to use Kevin Vost’s book, Contemplative Homeschool.

Finding God in children’s literature

Last year I did a series of three posts on Finding God in children’s literature, starting with my favorite, Contemplative Homeschool.

Seeking the face of God in prayer

The Face of Christ by Claude Mellan (Wikipedia). He is the One our hearts seek.

 

Early versions of the new constitutions for the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites defined OCDS members in part as those who “”seek the face of God in prayer” in order to be of service the Church and the world. I love this imagery. Seeking the face of God is the most important aspect of Christian prayer. It separates prayer from eastern meditation techniques and self-seeking under the guise of holiness.

Pope Francis is fond of reminding us that the Christian life is an encounter with Christ. As important as morality is, it cannot take central place. Even such fundamentals as protecting human life and supporting traditional marriage cannot stand alone. Atheists can be pro-life. Muslims can support the traditional family. But only Christians truly encounter Christ.

Created, redeemed, and destined for love

The Apostle John summed up the Gospel in this manner: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Gospel begins with God’s love for us. God’s love is at the center of the Christian life.

God created us out of the abundance of His love. When we sinned, He sent God the Son to redeem us. By believing in Jesus, we can come to share in God’s eternal love in Heaven. This is what Christianity is all about.

Notice how Christianity is distinguished from every other religion and philosophy in history. Many religions and creeds speak about the importance of living a moral life. Judaism teaches people to follow the commandments. Other religions might emphasize kindness to one’s neighbors. Only Christianity centers on God becoming man in order to redeem us.

Hide not Your face

One of my favorite passages of Scripture says:

O Lord, hear my voice when I call;
have mercy and answer.
Of You my heart has spoken: “Seek His face.”
It is Your face, O Lord, that I seek; hide not Your face.

This is Psalm 27:7-8, as quoted in the Liturgy of the Hours. It is the essence of prayer.

But why would God ever hide His face from us? Doesn’t He want us to find Him?

Yesterday, my older two boys and I were reading The Creed in Slow Motion by Msgr. Ronald Knox. We are studying the phrase from the Apostles Creed “His only Son.” Fr. Knox proposed an analogy for his audience of school girls that I think we can all learn from.

Hiding from God

Fr. Knox said that when Adam and Eve sinned, it was as though they were children playing hide-and-seek with God. They hid from God, and He, being the adult in the game, called out “Where are you?” Of course, God knew where they were. They were hiding, because of their sin. He found them and restored them to grace.

Then it was God’s turn to hide. Man had to seek Him. But like an adult still playing the game, God gave man clues to where He could be found. He kept saying throughout the Old Testament, “You’re getting warmer.”

God repeated this to the magi as they followed the star to Bethlehem. At last, they looked on the face of God, the face of the Child Jesus.

The Child Jesus. The Holy Face. Sort of reminds you of St. Therese, doesn’t it?

Why is God hiding?

God may hide His face from us for many reasons. The first reason is our sin. Actually, when we sin, we hide our faces from God. If we wish to see God face to face, we must abandon sin. The sooner we put aside even venial sin, the sooner God will admit us to His presence in Heaven.

So when we pray, “Hide not your face,” we pray that He will protect us from falling into sin.

God also hides His face from us so that we realize how much we need Him. Sometimes we experience darkness in prayer that makes us long for God’s presence. We learn that nothing can satisfy us but Him. Through prayer we can can be purged of our sins and attachments so that we can bypass Purgatory.

Sometimes God hides His face to teach us trust. He wants us to persevere, even when we fear no one hears our prayers. He wants to lead us through loneliness and hopelessness to perfect confidence in Him.

Jesus is the face of God. In prayer we seek to know Him and to love Him. The more pure our seeking, the more real our prayer. The more we focus on ourselves, the longer it takes to see His face.

Let us seek to encounter Christ today by setting aside time for prayer.

Connie Rossini

Other posts you may likeContemplative Homeschool.

Lessons from St. Teresa’s bookmark

Lately I’ve been blogging a lot about St. Therese, mostly because I’m writing a book about her. Each day I am immersed in her Little Way. But I haven’t forgotten the other Carmelite saints. Last year I wrote Contemplative Homeschool.

Is there a magic bullet to holiness?

 

I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for a magic bullet to bring me closer to God. Let’s be honest: the Christian life can be a slog. Day in, day out, struggling against sin and making little measurable progress. I’m always looking for the secret to help me reach sanctity faster. But is there one?

St. Therese asked herself this same question. She sought a fast way to climb the ladder to Heaven, as it were. The Little Way of Spiritual Childhood was her discovery. She said that if she made herself little, Jesus could lift her up in His arms. His arms would be her elevator to help her advance quickly.

Why am I still not a saint?

But there is a catch. As much as we might think the Little Way means Jesus does all the work for us, we still have to strive against ourselves. The Little Way is not magic. We can’t just say a few words and be instant saints.

This is challenging. When I first committed myself to daily mental prayer, I thought I had found the magic bullet. After all, St. John of the Cross said that people who devote themselves to prayer “very soon” enter the dark night of the senses and the illuminative way.

But I have been praying faithfully for over twenty years now, and I’m still not there. What gives?

Last year I discovered St. Therese’s doctrine of trust. Well, really rediscovered it, because I had heard it many times. I just hadn’t lived it well. I thought trust was the thing that would make me an instant saint. It hasn’t happened yet.

I’m now realizing that I need to get back to detachment as well. John and Therese both assume detachment in their doctrines. And detachment is decidedly not magic. It’s hard work.

The Christian life is a marriage of God and the soul

God is too good to make me a saint without my participation. He respects me too much. He gave me a mind and a heart so that I could use them to come close to Him. He made them good, they were damaged by sin, and He redeemed them on the cross. Now He wants to sanctify them completely.

As parents, we know that our goal is to help our children grow into self-sufficient adults. We can’t do everything for them. And God does not do everything for us. And yet, in one way, He does.

God gives us the will to follow Him. He gives us the strength. He forgives us when we fail. He carries us when we can’t carry ourselves. Then He rewards us as though we’ve done it all.

But He will not tolerate our laziness. He won’t accept our excuses for not trying. He will not overlook unrepentant sin. He will not pry away our attachments against our will.

God wants to form a partnership with us. He wants us to be His Bride. God and the soul must work together. In other words, God will only sanctify as much of my heart and mind that I willingly give Him.

So, I must struggle against sin, peacefully, in His joy and love. I must be willing to accept His forgiveness. I must be willing to follow His lead. And I must be willing to wait, no matter how long it takes.

Love is better than magic.

Connie Rossini

 

Other posts you may likeContemplative Homeschool.

Sainthood is accessible!

Are you feeling a little down in your spiritual life? Are you frustrated with yourself for failing too often? Does it seem like holiness must be for other people–for the few that God has especially blessed?

This post from my archives is perfect for you: Contemplative Homeschool.

Pizza and disordered attachments

Can’t pizza lead you towards God? (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

 

On Sunday I made pizza for supper. Herbed crust, thick, garlicky sauce, uncured pepperoni, black olives, and two cheeses. Is your mouth watering yet? Is pizza among your disordered attachments?

As you may know, I’m focusing on being more truly detached from everything except God this year. Before you read the rest of this post, you may want to read or review these:

Contemplative Homeschool.

Is your heart open to God?

As I mentioned last week, for my Friday posts I am now highlighting some of my older content you may not have seen. The first real post I wrote for Contemplative Homeschool was Contemplative Homeschool.