Catholic – Margery Frisch

Try Something New

I like to keep my life in balance – mind, body, spirit and I am grateful to God every day for the ability to practice those things that keep it so. You can imagine, then, how out of balance I felt recently, when a serious fall derailed my running for a month. I moped about for a while, bought a workout video, to keep moving until I could run again…then I stopped to consider…maybe it’s not just the inability to run that’s put me out of balance. Maybe it’s time to look more deeply into my other practices, to see what else might be off kilter.

Do you ever find that, every now and then, your prayer life switches to auto-pilot? You’re going along, going through the motions, but really getting nowhere? Fortunately, Lent comes along just in the nick of time. Lent is a call to conversion; its calls us to wake up, shake off the winter lethargy and get to work.

The great thing about a new routine is the enthusiasm and renewed energy it brings with it. The workout video I purchased was just what I needed – a change of routine; and it got my looking into other routine changes in other areas of my life.

I began to seek out new reflections and meditations to better aid me in reading the daily scriptures. It got me searching for new prayers that will lead me into deeper contemplation. I’m even looking critically at my usual Lenten routines to see how I might do better, how I might make it a more meaningful and fruitful Lenten journey.

Do you give things up for Lent? Is there a purpose to it, a spiritual benefit? Not a ‘what’s in it for me,’ but ‘what’s in it for others?’ This year I’ve decided that everything I do, or refrain from doing; everything I say, or refrain from saying, will be done for the sake of others; for the wellbeing of others. As I write this I’m thinking my husband might be the greatest beneficiary of all my Lenten promises, but that’s really not a bad thing, is it?

Let’s shake things up this Lent, let’s get creative for the benefit of others. Let’s fast – from anger, from hurtful gossip, from impatience. Let’s give generously – of our time, our abundance; let’s give smiles and compliments and kind words and hugs. Let’s pray without ceasing – as we drive, walk, prepare dinner, clean the house. Try something new this Lent, shake things up and it will bring new enthusiasm to your spiritual practices, I guarantee it.

Who Are You?

No seriously, who are you? Do you know? I was first a daughter and sister, then eventually sister-in-law, aunt, then came wife, mother, and in the wink of an eye mother-in-law, now happily grandmother! But who am I? I don’t think of myself as a writer, but I write. I laugh if called an athlete, but I run. I sing but I’m not a singer…I bring this up because sometimes I sit in church and wonder who I am and what I’m called to do. I hope I’m not alone in this.

I envy people who know, have always known, what they want to be; what they want to do in this life. Of all the jobs I’ve taken on, the one I feel I did well, the one I poured my heart and soul into was my role as mother. Not housewife, not cook, I was no June Cleaver and I think that stereo-type left a lot of women feeling inadequate. I talked myself (and lots of other women) out of such feelings with the columns I wrote when my kids were little. I’d take my kids to the park; we’d walk to the library; I’d sit on the floor and play with them; I’d sit on the floor and read to them. When naptime came, I didn’t scurry around cleaning or preparing dinner, as I was supposed to – I wrote at my electric typewriter – about feeling inadequate and disorganized and the women who read my column would laugh at my words and feel a little better about themselves as a result. I guess at that time, that’s what I was called to do. But our roles change as time goes on. I’m still a mother, but in a different capacity. Part of me does not feel the things that I do, the busyness of my days, defines who I am. And a lot of people might feel the same, but sit down in church sometime and contemplate this. What do you do? The women of our parish who weekly get together to do ‘Prayers and Squares,’ have a talent for sewing and create not just beautiful quilts, but awareness in us of those who are sick and in need of our prayers. And the joy they bring to those recipients of their handiwork cannot be measured. Does that not define, in part, who these women are?

Those in our church who raise funds for various organizations and the needs of others (the Knights of Columbus, the CWL and Catholic Charities most especially), have an energy and a passion that certainly defines them. Some tirelessly make meals for those in need; others put together groceries to give out in emergency situations. But it’s not just the assembling of food, there’s the purchasing, the carting of these foods, the hauling of these heavy bags. I marvel at you, because all of these things certainly define who you are…committed and caring, in mercy and justice. So, the next time you feel uncertain of who you are and what you are called to do, sit in church and contemplate those things that make up your day. You’ll be surprised to find the Lord is whispering in your ear and leading you to serve…in the direction of your talents.