Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Fear not, Little Flock

Most churches aren't as small as ours, but this motto works for the smallest church- the domestic Church, the family. Even if one has 12 kids, that is still a pretty small church. Fear not, little flock! You are a church; the Lord said, whenever there are 2 or more gathered in my name, I am with you! So beginning the day as a domestic church and calling upon God to sanctify the day will help remind the family that they are a church.

We are now lighting a candle to place in the icon corner for evening prayer- not very earth-shattering, but this does change the space of our living room into a holy place. Of course, it gives the 3 year old something to look forward to at the end of prayer- he gets to blow out the candle.

It is strange to write  into cyberspace, knowing that at this point no one is reading. Perhaps that is how prayer is. God usually isn't loud in His dialog with us. We pray to heaven and sometimes feel as if no one is listening, but He is.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Faithfulness NOT Success

St Theresa of Calcutta famously said that God wants "faithfulness, not success." What beautiful words- but now we know that she was living through many, many dark nights of the soul with very little consolation from God. I suppose that makes her even a greater example for us. She did the right thing even though she might have wanted to just pull the covers over her head and sleep in.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

The beheading of Saint John the Baptist- a good day to start a new blog?

...as cousin of Jesus, it is not a surprise that the Church has given St John the Baptist two feast days- his birthday and his death. Tomorrow is the feast of his death, a day that made our Lord cry. We Byzantine Catholics commemorate the day by only eating from bowls (get out your Bible if you are curious as to why).

I was going to start this blog on the Assumption of our Lady, a happy and triumphant day. I got around to starting on the beheading of St John the Baptist. I am afraid that this does not bode well for the content of this blog; I pray that I will remain charitable and worthy of the name of Christian.