Thinking about
this issue’s theme, which is family and the home, specifically the Holy Family at Nazareth. I’ve been pondering how family can be the first place we encounter love. In a family community, we’re known intimately, living day in and day out with each other. There’s lots of opportunity to grow in patience and understanding. The freedom that comes from unconditional love is what allows us to grow in virtue. We can make homes in our hearts for the people we love, giving them that sacred space to flourish. United to the hidden love of the Holy Family, our homes become places where we can encounter each other, and ultimately, Christ.
Reading
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, which I got from my suitemates for my 20th birthday. I especially enjoyed the part where the creature explains his side of the story! It continually shocks me that Shelley was only 19 when she finished writing it. For Christmas, I got a book of poetry by Sally Read called Dawn of This Hunger, which I plan to read over and over again. I’m also a chronic re-reader of my favorite comfort books, so I went through three books in the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace. This series follows the main character, Betsy Ray, and her friends, as they grow up in southern Minnesota in the early 1900s, and it’s largely based on the life of the author. We have a few huge family history books that chronicle the lives of my ancestors, starting from the mid-1600s to the 1990s. One of them has my maternal great-grandmother’s life story. She grew up in Sleepy Eye, MN in the early 1900s, and so reading the books in the Betsy series has helped me read between the lines and imagine what my great-grandma’s life could have been like! Lastly, I’ve been slowly reading through Pope St. John Paul II’s On the Dignity and Vocation of Women, which I got for my birthday and have been loving so far!
Observing
pieces of art on the walls of my home. We have a gentle, powerful image of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary by Charles Bosseron Chambers. My family is consecrated to these Hearts, and I know that I always have a home in them. We also have a family icon with our patron saints surrounding the Holy Family that my siblings and I commissioned as a gift for our parents’ 30th wedding anniversary. In gilded jewel tones, St. Pio, St. Michael, St. Benedict, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Thérèse stand around the throne of the Blessed Virgin, as she holds the Baby Jesus on her lap, with St. Joseph behind her. These saints are a part of our family, and it’s comforting knowing that they’re praying for us!
Praying
the Liturgy of the Hours with music. I find that when I’m getting flustered or stressed throughout the day, coming back to singing the Psalms grounds me. It’s such ancient prayer, and the physical component of singing and playing the piano connects me to the present moment. I love how the Psalms express what’s in my heart, even though they’re from so long ago!
Listening to
my favorite Christmas album, This Winter’s Eve by Sarah Hart. My mom always played it growing up, and I (gasp!) used to not like it. I think I preferred to listen to classic Christmas songs, where I knew all the words and could sing along. This album is all new (as of 2011 ha!) Christmas songs, with beautiful, joyful lyrics and arrangements that take us from Advent to Epiphany. Somewhere in high school, I started to love it. I’m not entirely sure what changed, but I know that now, that album means that it’s Christmastime at home. I especially love the song “Prayer for This House”, which starts off the album. The lyrics are from a poem by Louis Untermeyer, and I want to leave you with a few of my favorite lines:
