Thursday, October 27, 2011

I'm not exactly sure how to deal with this...

I'm trying to be a Catholic Mom.  No, I'm trying to be a GOOD Catholic Mom.  Some days, I'm just not sure how to go about this monumental task.

I mean, there are tons of resources out there that tell you how to be a Good Catholic Mom.  Some of these make me feel vastly inadequate.  Some of them, when I find them, seem to resonate with me and make sense and I bookmark them on my computer and hope to be able to find them again when I need them.  (Oh, and I'm totally unorganized and can never find anything when I want it.)  But, and it's a BIG BUT - How do I be a GOOD Catholic Mom? 

I'm a cradle Catholic.  I should know ALL this stuff, right? 

I had the "uber" Catholic Mom who was the Church Lady.  (I love you, Mom, more than anything, but as a Mom you drove us nuts with church, even though I strive to be like you, now!) 

But I feel really dumb and lacking when I don't know something that's going on in church or even the prayers that our congegration adds to the Rosary.  I learned the Rosary as Apostles' Creed, Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.  The parish I grew up never said the rosary before Mass.  The only time we said the Rosary was during Lent.  Now, in our parish that we joined about 4 years ago, they say the Rosary before every Mass.  No matter what time we leave the house, we always get to church in the middle of it.  It's taken me Four LONG Years, but I finally figured out that the prayer that is added by the Glory Be is the Fatima Prayer. Huh?  That's not in my Catholic Book of Prayers.  I still don't know the prayer that they put at the end of the Rosary.

Maybe the crux of the problem is that I'm such an introvert that I don't ask anyone.  Honestly, shouldn't I know this stuff?  But, I never learned any of this.

Now, how am I supposed to teach a Catechism class for 7th graders when I'm not an "uber" Catholic?  I didn't grow up in a household where the family said the rosary together every night (and there are families like that in my parish. I strive to be like them.) How am I supposed to teach them when I don't know everything I need to know?

Hmmmmmmmmmm,  guess I need to take a deep breath, tell Satan to take a step back, and that I'll learn it as I go - all the while, being honest with the kids that they might know more than I do and I'm just trying to give them a way to continue to learn it.

2 comments:

  1. Just pray to the Holy Spirit every day and be happy with you've said or not said and with you've taught or learned that day.

    Go to the Mary Foundation and get a free rosary CD--it will help you with all of that, and especially when you are busy with littles all the time, it's nice to just listen while you work or listen while driving.

    http://www.catholicity.com/cds/
    order the free CD--I love it and it's how I taught myself the rosary!!

    Nice to "meet" you, you ARE a wonderful Catholic mama!! Even more so, because you don't think you are!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jamie Jo - Thank you for the encouragement.

    I've got some great CD's from Holy Heroes that do all the Mysteries and explain each step along each Mystery.

    I guess that sometimes I just need to remember that Jesus only encourages and Satan discourages (hmmm, read that yesterday and maybe that was your blog? not that I'll be able to find the post and give anyone credit) and I need to work each day to drive Satan out.

    I know that every step I try to take towards Jesus, Satan and his minions are working to distract me and push me two steps back.

    I need to go work on this week's lesson plans. I have a cute idea to teach the Fruits of the Spirit. (OK, I think it's cute, I'm still guessing with my 7th graders.)

    p.s. This is very embarassing but I can't post comments on my own blog - must figure that out. Guess something I need to learn now that I am new to blogdom.

    ReplyDelete

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