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 :).

In one of my RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults/classes to join the Catholic church) classes this morning, our facilitator asked in reference to one of the scripture readings of today “What had cultivated our call to Catholicism?”  The scripture referred to the parable of the fig tree that after three years had not produced fruit. It was given one more year, with lots of cultivation, just as we, too, are given second chances by God but must produce “fruit” in order to be saved.

That got me to thinking… While I definitely do feel “called” due to the complete change in my beliefs in the last year or so, it made me realize a lot of things have led me to this point all through my life.

So what “cultivated” Catholicism in me? What prepared me to fully jump in with both feet at the age of 38? Here’s a list of some of the things that come to mind over my life:

• My father and his parents (my grandparents), who have always been religious, and made sure I was baptized and exposed to religion, waiting until the time I was ready to accept it.  They were consistent and steady without being pushy.
• Wonderful role models like my grandparents (same as above) and in-laws who demonstrated humility, unending kindness, simplicity, gratitude, generosity and love.
• The former priest down the road and his family who took me to a Christian church with them every Sunday during my middle school years.
• A longtime friend who always unknowingly provided a word of encouragement from a distance at so many times when I needed and the sense of acceptance and support provided.
• A father who gave me confidence and belief in myself.
• A supporting husband who introduced me to Catholicism and the fond memories it evokes in him — and now the joy it gives me.
• The many wonderful people on my recent journey to Catholicism who’ve answered my many questions, lent an ear, discussed my concerns, and provided support, reassurance and prayers!

This is just a start but today’s question  showed me that perhaps God is starting to put all the puzzle pieces of my life together. Perhaps he’s been working on me for quite some time and decided now was the time in my life to call me to him after all the preparation work he’s done. I still have a long road ahead toward continual conversion of my way of life to better conform to Jesus’ example but I’ve come quite a long way already… I don’t see why I can’t go ahead and finish the marathon one day.

This Lent, the big issue I am struggling with or rather striving toward, is greater control over mind and body: Denying that which earthly things desire in favor for that which my soul — and the Holy Spirit — desires. Wow, what a task!

After reading “The Story of a Soul” by Saint Therese of Lisieux, I have adopted the technique of trying to gain more control over small things first… I’ll get to the bigger things later :). She made every act of her life a way to glorify God whether it was holding her tongue with a fellow Sister whom her body/mind found disagreeable or denying herself a small pleasure.

I never quite understood the “giving up” part of Lent until this year. Why exactly did I need to give up soda during Lent? I always thought of it as a sacrifice really, but I think I missed the mark. The “giving up” of something is really about mastering self-control over what your body and mind want. With control, over time, you develop the capacity to follow the Spirit instead of giving into the whims of the body.

This Lent I’ve tried to work on denying myself little by little during everyday life, and, yes, food comes into play a lot for me. I’ve decided not just to abstain from meat on Fridays but to fast every Friday. For me, that means 3 small meals a day (like a PBJ, a scrambled egg or a waffle) with no snacking in between. The Church defines fasting as one main meal and two smaller meals that together do not equal more than the main meal.

I’ve started to enjoy watching myself grow hungry and seeing my ability to control my desire to head to the pantry for a Girl Scout cookie, and, let me tell you, sometimes that’s quite a fight! Saint Therese took great joy in her denials of self and I hope I can develop that capacity for joy in denial over time.

While food can be an obvious way to develop these muscles of self-control, because it is tangible and you can physically feel the result of your control, there are plenty of other ways to work on this, as well.

For example, I am really trying to work on complaining and when that desire to complain pops in my head to stop and examine why it is that I need someone else to hear this negative thought. It must come down to pride, wanting someone else to feel/think something about me and how much I have done or how wonderful I am to have suffered, right?

The Church, in fact, teaches that when fasting or working on self-denial, you don’t boast about it or even tell others about it. The point is not to be commended for your control but rather just to build it up — no one needs to know. So if I can recognize this desire of mine, I can see it for what it is and let it pass and try to resist making the statement.

Another one is holding my tongue when I lose patience with my children. Patience is certainly one of the virtues I greatly need to work on. So it is a great struggle to control the anger and louder voice that wants to come screaming out of my mouth about a hundred times a day during daily life with two busy, active little boys.

By no stretch will I perfect any of these issues, but I hope come the end of Lent, I will have developed a little more self-control over all areas of my life by diligently being mindful during this period. I have a long road ahead of me, but that’s what the Christian life is all about isn’t it? The continual conversion of self toward becoming the saint God wants us to be…

Obedience has been the theme for me today. First, an unusual dream that seemed in an odd way to speak to obedience, then a blog post I read on Mary’s incredible obedience to the word of God and today’s 9 a.m. Liturgy of the Hours New Testament reading:

“Free your minds, then, of encumbrances; control them and put your trust in nothing but the grace that will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Do not behave in the way that you liked to before you learnt the truth, but make a habit of obedience.” — Peter, 1:13-14

This passage really spoke to me. It’s not one I’ve seen before but sums up perfectly what I’m striving for right now. I am trying to restructure my life more toward God and the path of righteousness, rid myself of the unproductive ways of life before I gained faith. I’ve slowly made some changes over the last year and have set religious resolutions for 2013 that are more strict and specific.

But the only path to success in maintaining those is obedience. It is tough, especially for us Americans, so independent minded, to be willing to follow the ways of someone/something other than ourselves and what we want.

The passage speaks of “habit” — doing the new tasks continually until they become ingrained. Instead of watching TV for another hour at night, I’m going to read the Bible. Instead of sleeping in an extra hour on Fridays, I’m going to get up and go to 6:30 mass.

It’s all about willpower and surrendering the will. I made the choice last year to give up what I thought was my dream only to realize and accept it wasn’t God’s will. I began to listen to the other ideas He had for me and I continue to be open to follow his lead, whatever it may be.

The benefit of obedience to God: peace and joy. Pretty good perks 🙂