January 2016 - Devout Mom

I had the good fortune of being able to spend some quality time with my mom and dad for the past few days. During this time my father and I were talking about our struggles and how we face them. You put one foot in front of the other.

We also talked about how most of us try to control things around us but in the grand scheme of things we really do not have that much control. We just have to do what we need to do and put our faith in a higher power.

I have been told by people time and time again to trust God. To let go and let God or turn it over to God. I honestly didn’t get it. I would say ‘OK God here are my issues now you deal with it and let me trust you’ but is that what I really did? No. I just didn’t get it and I couldn’t figure it out.

A few things that I think can help us all with this are;

Wake up a few minutes early in the morning and thank God for all that we have. Then we can let him know the struggles we are facing or are going to be facing and try to go on.

2. Go about our day. Get what we need to get done, done. When our struggles enter our mind we can take a minute, realize how we are thinking and say a simple pray. God, I trust in you.

3. End each day by saying thank you to God for all he did for us during the day. If we can’t seem to think about what he has done for us we can ask him to help us be more open the following day.

4. Repeat

Eventually I think the idea of letting go and letting God will get easier, or at least that is what I hope for.

May each of you be guided today in learning how to let go and give it up to God.

A great prayer that I think goes perfectly with this is;

The Serenity Prayer

author Reinhold Niebuhr

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Last night at my CFM class we were talking about how before Vatican II Catholic Churches were packed with people. Since Vatican II many churches are lucky to be even half full. Attendance at church is down drastically. There was a discussion that many blamed it on Vatican II.

I know that in the 20th century we cannot blame Vatican II for the low attendance rate. I have three young children and I see that many sports have practices and games on Sundays. Birthday parties are being thrown on Sundays and Saturday nights. Sundays have no longer been classified as a church day to many.

We as parents are the ones who should put God back in first place. We can either chose to take a stance and say no to practice and games on Sundays or make it a point to get to Saturday evening mass. If we are not there for games on Sunday then the people who make the schedules will have to stop because there will be no kids to play. Yet, we don’t. We are not teaching our kids that God should be first. We are teaching them that being the best at sports is more important. Our priorities are getting messed up. We would rather go to a party than spend an hour in church. We have to just say no.

I want my children to know that we have everything thanks to God and that the least we can do is give him an hour of our time on Sundays or Saturday evenings to say thank you. They are being taught to be altar servers at church because it is the volunteering of all of us that keeps the church going. When my daughter has received her communion I will once again volunteer to be a Eucharistic Minister and show them that mommy volunteers too.

Together we can help make the churches full again!

Month: January 2016

Four Steps to Let Go and Give It to God

One Reason Catholic Church Attendance May Be Low