Wednesdays with Jesus

Among the innumerable gifts we are thankful for, I am particularly grateful for the privilege of assisting at Holy Mass. The Holy Eucharist is the unbloody re-enactment of Calvary, and it is THE best sacrifice we can ever offer to our Almighty Father because Jesus is the Unblemished Lamb. Therefore, more than any other prayer or act of worship, there is invaluable merits available to anyone who assists / attends Holy Mass each time. As in all spiritual things, it has been such a challenge for us to go to daily Mass; and the number of occasions we would go during the week just gradually dwindled until we could only get ourselves to Sunday Mass (except First Fridays and First Saturdays). A couple of weeks ago, however, by an act of God's grace, we were able to restart going everyday again! And I'm sure Our Lady's powerful intercession has had a lot to do with it.

Another very special gift we receive as Catholics, is the grace of Eucharistic Adoration. How truly humbled we should feel to be able to go and worship Jesus in the Eucharist where He, Himself, deigns to be truly present - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. This act of Eucharistic adoration is referred to as a "foretaste of Heaven" where, if we do get to experience beatific vision, we will be adoring our Lord with Our Lady and all the angels and saints!

In a previous blogpost I mentioned that Wednesdays are our free days from schooling where the day is normally reserved for extra-curricular activities, or any other errands / tasks that need to be completed. So far, Wednesdays are such a necessity for us (moreso for me!) because it provides a good break in the middle of a busy week - perfect for getting recharged and regaining my bearings; and for the kids, a chance to keep interest levels up via other activities. However it still felt like we could be making better use of our school-free Wednesdays.

We used to go to adoration on a regular basis for a while (every Saturday evenings when we are able to go as a family), but we took ourselves off the roster shortly before Max's birth - for obvious reasons, and we have not gone back on it just yet. The other night, however, we were talking about restoring our weekly holy hour, and suddenly we got a light bulb moment, surely an inspiration from the Holy Spirit: Wednesdays!!

Today was our first "Wednesday with Jesus" and it naturally took a lot of effort, but we got there, and we were very happy when we did. After their afternoon nap, the kids and I picked hubby up from his city office and from there we went straight to the Perpetual Adoration Chapel. We were a little late, so we didn't quite make ONE whole hour. We had dinner (packed from home) at the community room and then from there we proceeded to attend the 7:10 Wednesday night Mass in honour of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. It is our fervent hope that we can make this a practice every week.

Drawing from the past, we will undoubtedly be experiencing snags and bumps along the way; but for now we shall choose to be happy and enjoy the journey. How truly great it feels to be back: to daily Mass and to having reestablished our holy hour through our "Wednesdays with Jesus." In the midst of the endless challenges God allows us to go through, it is so great to find time to show some gratitude to our good Lord. And by the countless unmerited blessings He lavishes on us continuously, this is certainly the least we can do.

O memoriale mortis Domini
Panis vivus vitam praestans homini
Praesta meae menti de te vivere
Et te illi semper dulce sapere.

(excerpted from Adoro Te Devote by St Thomas Aquinas)

Benedictus Jesus in sanctissimo altaris Sacramento!

Narnia Fever

Earlier in the year, my eldest sister and her son, Patrick, visited and stayed with us for about a week and a half from Melbourne. Because we had spoken about it previously, hubby took Patrick and the two boys to the movies to watch Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The movie was part of a sequel, but we've never seen any of the prequels, so we hired the old ones. And we enjoyed them immensely: the enthralling plot, excellent special effects, exciting scenes, lovable characters and breathtaking landscape made for a truly engaging cinematic experience, both for the young and the old.

Well, apart from the wonderment experienced from watching the movies, it seems our household has officially caught Narnia fever. Our kids have been swept up in it for quite some time now. They cannot stop talking about the characters, role-playing, reenacting particular scenes, etc. In fact they've each assumed a character in the movie, i.e. Webster is Peter, Roadrunner is Edmund, Curlytop is Susan, Brighteyes is Lucy, and even Bobbles is referred to as Prince Caspian! For a time, LL got into it, too and coming home from the office, he would bring back some Turkish delight for the kids, but only 'til they got tired of the sticky stuff. :)

Being the opportunist that I am (well, at least when it comes to the kids' learning), I just could not pass this opportunity up to milk some sort of benefit out of it. So we reviewed the movies and discussed how the self-sacrificial love by Aslan, his death and coming back to life and the events in the land of Narnia thereafter was an analogy to Christ's Passion, Death, Resurrection and the redemption available to His disciples who persevere in following Him. It was also a noteworthy parallel that the witch, all dressed in pure white and offering treats is much like Satan who always presents himself looking like a good, harmless being, constantly luring us into a sinful life with sugarcoated temptations.

Also, I thought I'd strike while the proverbial iron is hot, and take advantage of this phase; so I jumped online and ordered Narnia books! I found a handsome leatherbound blue "Chronicles of Narnia" hardback book and several "I Can Read" - Level 2 versions of the different chapters of the story for our developing readers. I was also very happy to have found a 7-volume Chronicles of Narnia full colour boxed set which were equally attractive to our Narnia enthusiasts. Great addition to our growing library, indeed. When our books finally arrived the kids beamed with wide-eyed amazement. Days later the children are still reading them, and the books are a constant feature in read-alouds by the bigger to the littler kids. Besides, I don't think a book report or two and some reading comprehension exercises would do my students any harm, do you?

Whilst we normally refuse to let secular movies have too much of an impact on our kids, Narnia is one of a few exceptions. And, just like most movies that come out of Hollywood, I was initially skeptical and hesitant about letting them get caught up in it at all. But having seen the movies, and having appreciated the parallelism it had to our Christian tenets, we have become quite tolerant and even supportive of this Narnia preoccupation that the children currently have. Besides, like everything when the novelty wears off, I'm sure this will be another one they'll eventually get over or outgrow. For now, we will take comfort in the fact that the Narnia movies/stories are at least clean for little eyes and harmless for little hearts.

Reprimand and rebuke should be accepted as healing remedies for vice and as conducive to good health. From this it is clear that those who pretend to be tolerant because they wish to flatter -- those who thus fail to correct sinners -- actually cause them to suffer supreme loss and plot the destruction of that life which is their true life. - St Basil the Great

Don't you long to shout to those youths who are bustling around you: Fools! Leave those worldly things that shackle the heart - and very often degrade it - leave all that and come with us in search of Love! - St Josemaria Escriva