I get a daily email from Father Ron Rolheiser, priest and writer, whose column sometimes appears in The Catholic Moment, the newspaper of the Lafayette Diocese. Loved this quote in a recent email newsletter from him. It’s especially compelling for parents :):

“It is safe to trust, to let our loved ones be free, because a power beyond us loves them more than we do and ultimately takes care of their safety.”

As a parent of young boys, I don’t have to worry about letting them be free quite yet, but that day does give me pause. I can’t imagine sending them off on their own!

You can read more from his column on this topic here.

So my anxious waiting brought forth fruit yesterday in the form of our new pope: Pope Francis! As I mentioned yesterday, I am so excited this time around as I am about to enter the church right at the same time we have a new leader of the church.

Over the last 24 hours, I’ve been reading whatever I can on him and I so look forward to his leadership. Pope Francis brings with him a focus on simplicity and humility which I absolutely love. I personally struggle with humility and how wonderful it is to have a such a role model to emulate.

Simplicity is also something I am working on. Over the past year, I have slowly tried to simplify my life in subtle ways. Removing fruitless ambition, being content with what I have, giving away when I want to get, being grateful for the normalcy of a day and dialing back the busy-ness of my life as much as possible to be more quiet, internal and prayerful.

I have never been a person about the material things in life and I struggle to relate to others who are so outside-focused. I never cared much for stylish clothes (I still own — and wear — clothes I had in college!), jewelry (I have worn the same simple gold earrings most days of my adult life :)), make-up or nice cars. I would instead prefer if I am going to splurge to do so on travel. The joys of my life are being outdoors in nature, prayer, Mass, reading, spending time with my family, and whenever possible traveling (though that doesn’t happen much these days). I used to be focused on climbing the entrepreneurial ladder, but I have let that go and decided to follow God’s lead. How much more peaceful it is :).

My choice of St. Therese of Lisieux as my confirmation saint is also furthering me on this path, as her way of life is known as “the little way” and she focuses on small tasks in honor of God. Another wonderful role model.

I love the reports that Pope Francis lives in a humble abode, takes public transportation, cooks his own meals. What an incredible and rare example for such a materialistic world. I’ve also heard him compared to Mother Teresa in his simplicity and focus on the poorest of the poor. They say he is not a charismatic speaker or personality, but neither was Mother Teresa. Too often it’s the charismatic ones who get us into trouble 🙂 — a good speaker does not necessarily make a good person.

Taking the name of Francis of Assisi is also inspiring. Another saint of simplicity, poverty, focusing on the simplest of things, a love of nature and animals.

I look forward to learning more about our new pope and watching how he leads the church. Consider me a faithful follower now and “officially” as of Easter :).

As I have embraced the Catholic faith with much enthusiasm, I want my kids to embrace it too. So I’ve been working over the last several months to work the faith into their daily lives.

I want to be sure that I don’t make it a “have to” for them so that they grow to resent it or want to get away from it. I welcome ideas from moms and dads out there about how you inspire your kids in the faith and make it something positive that they embrace.

Here is what I have done at home thus far and please share any suggestions for what you do with your kids:

• Nightly prayer before bed
• Make the sign of the cross on their foreheads as their “blessing” before bed and they do it for me as well. It’s become a lovely little tradition :).
• Nightly work in some sort of Bible story or information from a Catholic kids book (may be about a saint or a Bible story).
• Occasionally say one decade of the rosary for one of their friends who needs help or their recently passed Grandma. This needs to become at least weekly, I think.
• Attend Mass weekly.
• Attend religious education weekly.
• Talk more about the importance of helping others and regularly try to engage them in an activity where we are donating/giving to others in need.
• Hung crucifixes in both of their rooms.
• Recently had a visit from one of our parish priests where  he blessed us, the house and the dog ;-).

Other ideas I’d like to do but really haven’t yet:

• Have a weekly family meeting where we say a prayer together and discuss tasks for the week, concerns, etc.
• Once a month, instead of eating out, have PB&J at home and donate the money we saved to an organization we all choose.
• Put a portion of any gift money or allowance money they receive into a charitable giving fund which they can donate to the organization of their choice.
• Possibly take my almost 9 year old to Adoration for 5-10 minutes at first.

What else can I do to make this a positive experience? I truly appreciate your feedback and thoughts either here or on Twitter where I post at @ACatholicNewbie.

As we begin 2013, I find it the right time to begin to more consciously make an effort to eliminate bad habits and add new, productive habits into my life. I’ve spent the last year learning about Catholicism (barely scratching the surface!) but at least I’m informed enough now to have an idea of what changes I need to make to better my life.

So I thought I’d share with you, in the hopes you’ll share with me, my 2013 religious resolutions! In yesterday’s blog post, I talked about ways I will try to stick to these habits and how the structure of the church helps me in creating a routine that will become a part of my daily life. I plan to work on these resolutions slowly, focusing on one at a time until I feel like I’ve got that one adopted fairly well. Here we go…

My 2013 Religious Resolutions:

• Pray the Rosary weekly. Also, pray a decade of the Rosary with my children weekly dedicated to someone in need or their recently deceased grandmother as a way to remember and honor her.
• Spend an hour of adoration weekly in the Blessed Sacrament chapel or at Eucharistic Adoration when available.
• Read the Bible daily and begin to explore Lectio Divino (a conscious reflecting of Biblical texts)
• Blog at least 5 times per week on my Catholic Newbie blog.
• Begin to work Christian meditation/contemplation into my routine (not sure how much yet)
• Keep my body healthy by practicing moderation (not over indulging) in eating and by exercising my body 2-3 times weekly.
• Once I am able (when I become fully Catholic), attend Reconciliation monthly.
• Begin introducing my oldest son (8) to Adoration time.
• Donate the amount we would spend on eating out for one meal monthly to our family’s choice of charity and have PB&J that night instead :).
• Volunteer at a local charity one day per month.
• Increase my tithing and donate more of my money to charitable organizations.
• Engage my children in more charitable and volunteer activities.
• Attend Mass weekly (I pretty much have this one down already :))
• Be courageous in following God’s will.
• Pray at least 2 Liturgy of the Hours daily.
• Continue reading daily the Read the Catechism in a Year email.
• Take one silent retreat this year.
• Remember to see Christ in every one.
• Get up earlier!

OK, so that’s a long list! Yikes! But these are all things I really want to work on. I think the key is to focus on one at a time so as not to get overwhelmed and do the best I can.

What are your Religious Resolutions for the New Year? Please share them and help hold me accountable to these!