And finally, I say I'll write a new post on the following day from my last post and more than two weeks have passed and you haven't heard from me ever since! I also said I was more organized, so you can figure that this blog's plot against me took action again and my house was messy for a good while (up until we had friends coming over last Saturday night and I HAD to clean the house! Dan helped me A LOT, God bless the man!).
I also stopped making my gryffindor scarf....... And I haven't ironed a single piece of clothe since the last post! Well, but I continued reading HP books and I actually just finished book number five this morning! But I guess I don't get bonus points for this, huh? Nope, I didn't think so!
I also started playing Candy Crush again, but I'm doing it responsibly! At least for now!
My last two weeks had some good things going on too but all the good things I was bragging about on the last post went downhill after I spilled them in here! I know failure is only natural and expected, I myself being human and all, you know! To always restart has to be the most important ability for me to acquire and to never give up hope! So here we are, on restarting mode!
But I was about to tell y'all about "the cherry on top" I mentioned on my last post! But let's change it, because I actually hate those pretend cherries on top of ice cream sundays or cakes. They taste horrible! They taste horrible but look beautiful! Deceitful little nasty things that trick young kids into your awful flavor!
Anyways, let's call it Cotton Candy, then! Not that it's my favorite sweet, but I surely enjoy it sometimes! We even got REBECCA a cotton candy machine as one of her birthday presents, hehe! Yeah, sure! Well, she does enjoy cotton candy, mind you, although she keeps calling it "ice cream"...
But without further ado, let me get to what really matters cause I'm already kinda late for lunch.
Wait, I've almost forgotten! I meant to put a disclaimer on this post! So here it goes: if you are not religious, or get annoyed by religious subjects, you may stop your reading here, if you want! I do not wish to make it through you without your fully consent, knowledge or will. So you've been warned, I won't get offended if you wish to stop here and neither you will be offended/annoyed in some degree by what I write in this post! And, sure, if you would like to read the whole post, go ahead, you are always welcomed to do so!
As I was saying, the best part for me, when I decided to have a change in how I was running my house and dealing with my schedule, it's that I committed myself to go to confession every week!
Okay, pause! I cannot postpone lunch for the kiddos anymore. I will have to stop here for a while!
Just came back! Kids and mommy had lunch then we had some fun watching leap frog on Netflix and playing with balloons and now both kids are napping! So back to blogging.
I was writing about my new resolution! You could say that is an old new resolution! Because when I was still single and living with my parents and siblings I used to go to the Opus Dei center every week and I used to go to confession weekly! Then I got married and Dan and I are living in the US, ever since! I tried at the beginning to go to confession twice a month and although our former parish priests didn't say the words exactly, I had the feeling they thought it was a little weird for me to be confessing that often!
And I know what you might be thinking: "well, it is kinda too much indeed." And I used to think the same way, believe me! I used to go to confession weekly because some people offered me this advice, but it wasn't actually of my own consideration at the time. And I know what else you might be thinking: "but what so much do you have to confess?". I believe people are not much instructed in this matter anymore so this is, actually, a common thought for many people! They think: "I'm a good person, I didn't kill anybody, I don't steal, I don't cheat on my boyfriend/girlfriend and I don't do drugs. What is to confess?". And I don't deny you one thing: you probably are not a bad person indeed! But what people fail to acknowledge is that everybody commits multiple sins everyday, even if you are a very holy person. Probably not all of them are that much serious, but they are sins, regardless.
The catholic theology of sin, if I can call it this way, it's much more complex and it's not my intention to explain it here! But I will give you some examples of not so serious sins that probably everyone commits every once in a while! Well, there is the sin against patience! And when I lack patience with my neighbor I also lack charity. There is the sin of being selfish. Selfish with my time, my money, my abilities. There is the sin against purity, chastity (although these ones are usually always serious sins, the theory says) There is the sin of laziness, the sin against temperance (self restraint). There is the sin of gossip, bullying, etc! In a big compendium, every action, thought and words that hurts in some degree your relation with God, your relations with your neighbor and your relation with yourself, it's bad, it is a sin! It can be a mortal, serious sin or it can be a venial, light sin.
When I say I used to think that it was kinda too much to go to confession every week I mean that this was what it felt like sometimes! But I would have to add that not doing it correctly was one of the reasons why! If you don't prepare yourself properly for confession, it can easily become banal, and fruitless. By preparing yourself, it's common practice that this means to pray at least for awhile trying to rethink your conduct since your last confession. BUT, many people would also add to make a daily bedtime examination of conscience. And by my own experience I say that this is so very true! Every time I kept a written record of my daily examination of conscience at the end of the day, my confession is better. The contrary is also true!
And I will tell you what made me feel that actually what Opus Dei, in my case, taught me, about going to confession frequently - as in once a week - and doing my examination of conscience is actually the best thing ever you as a catholic can do for yourself and your family, it was, of course, when I was forced to suffer from not doing it!
Since I moved to US, as I was saying, that wasn't possible anymore. And even when I've tried to got to confession at my parish, it didn't feel the same, because I was so much spoiled and used to getting practical advice and spiritual direction from an Opus Dei priest who already knew my soul. So my spiritual life went a bit downhill. And I've learned the hard way that it was so much harder to get rid of old bad habits when you don't confess so frequently and don't have spiritual direction. And I started to miss the old days!
Fortunately, we moved to a place where there are a lot of Opus Dei activities going on! But only after a year living here, it hit me: "I should start going to confession every week! I know there is a chapel where Opus Dei priests attend confessions all day long and there is barely no one in line!" What a blessing, I know!
And I have been to confession every week since then! It's been the third week in a row, now! I can't say it's been perfect, but I'm on my way to improve things (if the "blogging special turnover feature" doesn't get on my way!) ;)
And what's best, I could choose a day when Rebecca goes to MDO (school), so I only have to take care of Nico AND now every Thursday Dan, Nico and I have lunch (a picnic) together after I go to confession and before I get back home! Isn't it truly lovely??? Nico has such a blast seeing daddy in the middle of the weekday, for a change and I try to pack a yummy picnic and it is also a good change from hot meals everyday, lunch and dinner. And Dan and I almost feel like we are on a date!! (Nico is such a sweetie and doesn't bother us at all). =)
So that's my
xoxo
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