Christmas is Not Over Yet

I'd been at the table working on sorting bills, trying to get ready for the work week to come, because most of the house is not yet up. Honestly, I felt the drag of life and not the joy of the season. My husband even warned me, "Don't let yourself get stressed today, I don't want you Marthaing." It might have been more effective if I wasn't at the time, hunting for an outfit for my youngest in the laundry. Someone had jumped the line for the dryer. He took three to mass and I was to supervise those who watched it at home. My heart felt lost, tired and like I didn't want to even get started. I decided to let people sleep. We'd have mass when everyone woke.

Scrolling through and deleting emails, checking my notes and notifications, I heard the familiar strains of "In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" from the other room. Paul had come down and turned on the mass by himself. It requires the right remote and accessing Youtube and finding the mass. I still struggle because I don't get if I use the Xbox or the cable or what. I couldn't believe it. Here was my twelve year old son, turning on the mass without me having said a word. His heart knew, today was Sunday, today we watch the mass. He'd found it on his own,

With this little little action, Paul reminded me, Christmas is not over yet.

We sat for the beginning and he stopped. He went upstairs to get dressed for the day. He came back with stuffed animals. He brings them with him to watch tv or play video games when his brothers and sisters aren't with him.

I went and woke the house so they could get ready, and we could have mass. They came. Grumbling, sleepy, some still in pj's but they came. We watched the whole mass, and some who hadn't gone, drifted in and out...and all I could think was, "And a little child shall lead them."

Let us go and adore Him. Oh come oh come Emmanuel.

A GOOD DISCOURSE CONFERENCE JANUARY 22, 23 and 24th

We began creating this conference as the result of a nag in the heart, over the loss of community that should be and for a multitude of reasons, isn't. Four women met virtually to discuss the ideas, and our goals with the conference. We needed a name and came upon the quote, "A Good Discourse is that from which nothing can be retrenched without cutting into the quick." It was attributed to Saint Francis de Sales, patron saint of Writers and Doctor of the Church. We shortened it to "A Good Discourse," and thought how perfect and carried on. Seeking speakers to delve deeper into how we could forge a "good discourse" amongst the community of Catholic writers, one of our potential speakers researched and found, the quote to be misattributed to the saint. Saint Francis de Sales said plenty of things about governing one's words, and about writing and witnessing, but "a good discourse" wasn't one of them. Now we faced a decision. Change the name or own the error.

Thus the name stuck, but with proper attribution and thanks to Erin Arlinghaus for the research! What will our conference cover? 1) The Call to Universal Witness (there is no off time). 2) Fraternal Correction (what it is and isn't)

3) Gossip/Slander/Calumny 4) Strategies for Talking about Hard Stuff (panel). 5) Humility: How to be a light put on a pedestal and yet humble. 6) Humor 7) Community, remembering always our audience.

The Conference "A Good Discourse," isn't a traditional writers' conference. We won't be discussing pitches or formats or how to improve your writing as a craft or 1,000 writing prompts for when the well runs dry. We will be (hopefully), preparing writers' hearts for the ministry of writing itself.

Think of it as a retreat for writers who are Catholic about being Catholic first, last and always, with the written and spoken word. It means being couragous --when you say something that is hard, it means being willing to bear the cost, it means being humble, when you've said something wrong, it means being truthful, but always with charity. These are hard things, and all of us have memories of when we've done this poorly, and all of us know, when we've done well, it wasn't us, but the Holy Spirit that worked through us.

The goal of this conference, is to see faces, to help foster fellowship and prayer across the spectrum of Catholic writers in all things. Hoping you'll join us at the conference. (It's virtual and it's free). Here's where you can find out more: https://agooddiscourse.wixsite.com/mysite

New Year's Resolutions

 I make them, I make too many of them, and I forget which ones I'm keeping.  This blog is where I put things I hope to remember but the thing is, no one ever goes back to read older blog posts, not even the authors.   So writing it here preserves good intentions, but does not help with reality unless one really anchors it in reality.   

So my blog is my honesty place; like a scale but for all of life, where goals will be weighed, measured and probably found wanting.  

I am editing a book, and that is taking a lot of time.  I tell myself, editing is writing, but must admit, I prefer the creating to the process of refining --so this is taking a lot of mental discipline.  

I also want to get into better shape. That too will take discpline.   I have to learn to love the process here too, and not merely the result.  

The last goal, is organization --not my strong suit, which again, is a habbit of mental discipline. 

So the goals are becoming more disciplined --as reflected in writing, exercise and organizing habbits, and my spiritual objective for the year is adoration, once a week for an hour.  I need to plot when that will happen (I'm thinking Wednesdays), and set it as part of the schedule.    It needs to happen. 

Happy New Year!  I will post I think Friday Reflections, on how it's going.   
This is Day 1.