It’s hard for me to even put into words the spiritual riches wrought for me by Catholicism. I have trouble even contemplating the depths of the treasures I have available to me and which I have only begin to mine. In addition to the vast expanse of knowledge from saints of times past and of Holy Mother Church, there have been some additions to my day-to-day life of which I am so surprised but grateful for.

There is community in Catholicism. Those of us who strive to be devout and true believers naturally attract one another, I believe. Whether you find like souls on Twitter, at Daily Mass or in Eucharistic Adoration, they are there if you keep your eye out. Be open to communicating, listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and get involved where you feel called. You will find them.

Here are just a few of the immense spiritual riches I’ve found in Catholicism that I feel so blessed to know:

Spiritual Bouquets – I’ve recently started working with a group of Catholic communication professionals — after a great gift of grace from our Mother Mary. They introduced the idea of a spiritual bouquet to me. When it’s an important day for someone — say a birthday, anniversary or something for which they need prayers — instead of offering them “physical” gifts, offer them “spiritual” gifts. Recently, this group put together a “spiritual bouquet” for someone’s birthday and each member offered up items like: a novena in their name, daily mass communion, a rosary or a series of rosaries, time spent in Eucharistic Adoration in front of our Lord, etc. Together these constituted the bouquet and were presented to this individual as their gift. Have you ever heard of anything so lovely? I am so touched and pleased at this thought of being able to support someone spiritually. Beautiful!

Prayer Groups – I’ve also found my way into a prayer group for moms with a devotion to Mary. Each day one of the members sends an email with a thought for the day, along with a link to that day’s novena prayer, and encouragement to fast if able, pray a daily rosary, offer up daily communion, etc. — all for the intention of an increase in holiness of all the families in the group. One of the members pointed out that our Mother Mary said in a vision that when praying together, the whole group merits from all the prayers. So if six rosaries are prayed you benefit from all six, not just the one you said. How blessed! If you’d be interested in joining, shoot me an email at lyn AT catholicnewbie.com and I’ll hook you up :)!

Bathing Your Work in Prayer – Another new one to me is to surround your work with prayer — whatever kind of work it may be. It can all be offered up to the Lord or Mother Mary for our gain or another soul’s gain. Ask for prayer from other Catholics when you are undergoing a particularly difficult day, pray for your fellow workers (especially for ones who would never expect it!), say a prayer before beginning work, as well as at lunch and on conclusion of the day. Sending an important email? Pray a Hail Mary and ask Mary to give you the words our Lord would have you say. You won’t believe how much more blessed your day will be and how much more smoothly it will go.

Pray for Someone You Do Not Know – Pick someone you may not personally know (pick their name out of a phone book) or choose a distant member of your family. Pray for them daily. It’s wonderful to know you are helping someone without the pride that comes along with them knowing about it. It feels so good to help other souls!

Total Consecration to Mary – I’m also doing my Total Consecration to Mary (read more here) and there are something like 1500 people going through it with me from across the world. I found this group after learning about it on the radio and am being led by Catholic author, speaker and podcaster Gary Zimak. Rather than stumbling through this alone, it’s wonderful to know so many other people are going through it with me. We may not talk or even know each other, but just the spiritual support of praying for one another is enough to lift me up.

What spiritual riches have you found in Catholicism? Please share!

I have heard many a reference to Paul’s advice in 1 Thessalonians (5:17) to “pray without ceasing.” I have often thought, as perhaps you have too as new Catholics, how in the world can I do that? After all, I’m running my own business, being a wife, mothering two active boys, grocery shopping… you get the drift of excuses, right? I can barely work in my rosary, praying at night and perhaps a lunchtime prayer.

But I think I figured it out, and it’s all tied up with redemptive suffering, which I’ve talked about in previous posts. Light Bulb moment: We can offer up our entire lives as a prayer to God!

Every morning now, I say a prayer to Mary offering her all my sacrifices, sufferings and good works for the day for her to distribute as needed since she’s the one charged with distributing her Son’s graces. I am working hard to make “little” sacrifices as I can during my day in line with St. Therese of Lisieux‘s “little way.”

Maybe that’s forgoing the cookie I want to eat (by the way, I am NOT so good at this one), accepting a humiliation from someone’s comment, reading that last story to my kids even though my eyes want to close with exhaustion, etc. Moms out there, you know there are a million little “sufferings” we can offer up each day.

Instead of just doing them, though, “offer them up” as a prayer to Almighty God. Let them work for your benefit or for another’s. Put them to good use!

And any good works you do that day — perhaps stopping to help someone or just offering a smile, earning a plenary indulgence, folding the laundry with care and love, or all small acts of charity — put those to work too.

I think perhaps this is what St. Paul means when he says “Pray without ceasing.” It would be impossible as humans, especially those of us living in the lay world, to verbally pray constantly. But who says prayer needs to be verbal? Let’s let our actions — our professional work, our family activities, our household duties, our kindness — all of it serve as a prayer to God.

By dedicating these things to God, you’re also likely to be more aware of what you’re doing and less inclined to sin. It’s a win-win!

What do you think? How do you pray without ceasing?

My family is a big fan of Superman. My boys love to dress in red capes, color pictures of the Man of Steel and watch episode after episode of the former TV show Smallville. My husband is perhaps the biggest fan and revels in the lore, the myth, the character of Superman and all he represents. After all this exposure to Superman since becoming a wife and a mother combined with my recent conversion to Catholicism, I’ve noticed quite a parallel between the story of Superman and Catholicism. I think, rightly considered, it could be a way to open wide the doors to Catholicism through this mythical superhero.

We went on opening day to see Man of Steel (of course), and in this movie particularly I see a running theme paralleling Catholicism in so many ways. To me, Superman is a Jesus-like figure. I don’t mean to say that he represents Jesus or IS Jesus, only that he is “Jesus-like,” and isn’t that what we all strive toward? Superman has it down better than most :).

If I can point out to my sons the good qualities embodied by Superman and show them those are the same qualities Jesus asked us to embody, I think I can expose my kids to the church’s teachings in a fun and interesting way — that all little boys can relate to! Even if we don’t make the connection to Jesus for them, but note how Superman never harms anyone if he can avoid it, that he accepted humiliation entirely, that he acts selflessly, we can encourage our kids — and all who love Superman — toward the path of righteousness.

Here are just a handful of the parallels I’ve noted between the Last Son of Krypton and Jesus, our Lord and our Savior, in both the movie and beyond:

• Superman is the “adopted” son of Jonathan and Martha Kent, as Jesus is the adopted son of “Joseph.”
• Superman must embody super-human qualities within a human world; Jesus IS “God” and must reconcile that to fit with our fallen human world.
• Superman never kills, although in Man of Steel he does. I didn’t care for that story choice. I think Superman would have found a better way.
• Superman offers himself up for the world at whatever personal risk; Jesus died for our sins and offered himself up to us in the form of the Eucharist until he comes again.
• Lex Luthor, while not in the new movie, is a bit like the devil. He is a great man with amazing technology at his fingertips, which could do so much good. In the show Smallville, Clark and Lex are friends at the beginning, but Lex is unable to conquer the evil within him and “falls,” becoming Superman’s — and ultimately man’s — greatest adversary.
• In the movie, Zod (the bad guy) when he returns notes that he’s been gone for 33 years (and he left when Superman was born, making Clark 33) — the same age as Jesus when he died.
• There is a scene when kids are ridiculing him and throwing things at him, and Clark accepts it with great internal struggle but with no outward signs. Jesus was humiliated, scorned and disrespected beyond imagining before being crucified and accepted it wholeheartedly. Though we do know that at the Garden of Gethsemane that he did struggle internally.
• Clark says the “S” on his suit stands for hope. Didn’t Jesus give us hope by coming in human form as God and giving us eternal life?

This monologue in the movie by his Superman’s father Jor-El moves me deeply. Take out Superman and insert Jesus as you read:

“You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They’ll race behind you; they will stumble; they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.”

Isn’t that one of the many things Jesus represents? An ideal to strive toward? How much we have stumbled, how much we have fallen, but we WILL join him in heaven one day if we persevere and he will help us get there.

There is a wonderful scene in the movie where Clark, when he doesn’t know what to do, goes to a priest. There is a shot framing him against the backdrop of Jesus in a stained glass window. I also noticed that his mother, Martha, wears a cross around her neck. One last Catholic connection that I made was that the destruction of Superman’s former world Krypton came in part due to artificial birth control techniques. Clark was the first born in centuries naturally. Perhaps that is a statement about the effects of contraception on our society’s morals and overall degradation.

It must be that there are some intentional references to Catholicism here. And just as The Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis’ works can be read with an eye toward seeing Catholicism within a mythical world, so it is here. Let us use this fictional model of the embodiment of Jesus’ virtues to inspire and encourage us — and those we know — to follow Christ. Let us strive to join him in the sun!

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In an effort to learn more about the Catholic church’s teaching on contraception, I’ve been reading a recommended book called “Good News About Sex and Marriage: Answers to Your Honest Questions About Catholic Teaching.”

As I have a boy who’s headed into the preteen years, I am starting to ponder how to frame sexuality to him in a way that is not harsh but promotes Catholic moral values. So I’m interested in this topic not just for myself but for guiding my children as well.

I am just at the beginnings of learning about this, but already I think I’ve come to quite a revelation about the teaching about sex and marriage within the Catholic church, something I wish I’d been taught as a young girl growing up.

I love the church’s whole concept of self-giving — lack of focus on self but instead on others, in every aspect of life. Let’s do for others instead of getting stuck in the mindset of what I can do to make myself happier/feel good/bring pleasure. I think this little nugget in itself makes all of life so much more meaningful and happier.

I see many people stuck in the idea of “if I just lived here, won the lottery, had this job, hadn’t made this mistake, etc., I’d be happy.” It’s not the outside that makes you happy — it’s not where you live, if you have a pool, if you make a certain amount of money, if you’re debt free; happiness is found internally by finding God. Sure, these material, physical things can give us a moment of pleasure, but it’s fleeting; find God and you find eternal joy and a remarkable tolerance to suffering and pain.

How does sexuality play into this? Think about it in those same terms — how can I make others happy? Instead of thinking about personal pleasure, it should be about how can I use this God-given gift to make a relationship more intimate and more fruitful. How can it bring us closer together? If you’re stuck in the idea of let’s do this because it feels good physically and that’s it, that’s a set up for unhappiness and loneliness.

That’s how I’d like to frame sexuality for my sons. It should be for the glory of God and that means for bringing a couple closer in marriage or for sacrificing it to God for a greater glory. I know teenage boys are so very lustful and so I wonder how that will play out. I can only suggest they ask God to take that lust and turn it into energy that can be used for good instead.

I would love to hear from other parents out there how you teach sexuality to your kids within the framework of the Catholic church without making it a total YOU CAN’T DO THIS and more of THIS IS WHY IT’S RIGHT TO DO THIS. I’d love to hear your comments.