Self-Examination and Discovery

As we continue to navigate the ever-changing situation that the COVID-19 pandemic presents us, there are many changes we have to make, and most likely, there will be many more to come.  Personally, I relocated most of the essential materials from my office at St. Ambrose to my home this week.  I am lucky in that most of my job can be done remotely, and those things that can’t be done remotely could be completed quickly with a visit to the office once a week.  In the process of deciding what should come with me and what should stay, I had to do some examination of my work habits.

I am, by nature, a creature of habit.  I had luckily built in a lot of the framework I would have needed to switch to working remotely long ago, and I had migrated a lot of my computer files to a portable machine earlier this year.  My weeks are very structured when it comes to what must be done each day.  This has been helpful in keeping up with what day it is in general and I haven’t experienced too much sense of one day bleeding into another and forgetting where I am in the week.

So, for me, the switch to working from home didn’t come with too many hiccups, but it did come with a healthy dose of self-examination and discovery.  Where previously my brother and I had been working outside the home and our parents were holding the fort in their retirement, now “the kids” are both home all the time.  It’s been an adjustment for my dad in particular, having everyone around all the time.  But we’ve all carved out our own spaces in the house, and if we ever need to self-isolate, even in the same house, it won’t be too much of an issue to do so.

I did realize that I have to have a relatively clean and organized area to work in.  I’m not too proud to admit my room is typically pretty disorderly.  Now, with me working there, I found very quickly that I needed to clean up.  Still, I find myself glancing up to check the calendar where it is in my office and it isn’t there, because I’m not in my office.  And I’ve found that I am actually more productive if I set boundaries and expectations for myself.  For example, if I would typically put in a set number of hours in my work day, I set a timer for that long.  I allow myself to stop and take breaks, go outside for a walk around the neighborhood, but the hours must get done, not to mention all those tasks that I am able to do remotely.

It is definitely an exercise in discipline, but I think I will come out the other side of this situation with a more streamlined approach to my daily work.  And of course, prayer is a part of my days each and every day.  I ask for strength and perseverance to get through each day and to maintain my focus.  So far, I’ve been successful.

If you have recently shifted your work situation or environment, have you made any discoveries about yourself you didn’t realize before?  How are you making the best of your current situation?

Shelter in Place? Sounds Familiar...

As of early this afternoon, 36 states have issued “Shelter in Place” orders in some counties, and in some cases statewide.  Utah’s Summit County is among them, and according to stories that ran on the local news on Tuesday, Governor Herbert hasn’t ruled out a statewide order.  As a former teacher who was in the classroom in this post-Columbine era of school shootings, Shelter in Place sounds very familiar to me.  It’s what we called a soft lockdown.  Continue with activities in the classroom, just don’t let anyone leave or go outside.

These statewide orders are similar.  It comes down to staying home unless it is absolutely necessary for you to go out.  What would this mean for us as Catholics?  Public celebrations of the Mass are already suspended.  It would mean, if enforced, that we might not be able to go to our churches, even individually, for private prayer, as is the case in Summit County.

It means that our Domestic Church – our churches in our own homes consisting of us, the people of God – would need to be stronger than ever.  One can engage in private prayer anywhere at any time.  Don’t be discouraged.  Take heart, and pray for God to be our shelter during this time of uncertainty.

Laetare? and Alternatives to "Happy Birthday Twice"

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is almost here.  This Sunday is known as Laetare Sunday.  It is the middle of Lent, and we’re halfway through our journey toward the commemoration of Jesus’ resurrection at Easter.  Rejoice!

Wait, what?  Rejoice?  How can we rejoice these days?  We can’t go to Mass on Sunday with the rest of our parish.  We have to practice social distancing, and in some cases self-isolation and quarantine.  AND we just had an earthquake yesterday!  What is there to be joyful about?

Rejoice in the fact that this, too, shall pass.  Rejoice in the fact that God loves you.  Rejoice in the fact that you can still pray, even if it is in isolation.  Rejoice in the fact that so many of our priests continue to pray daily for us, and they seek ways to keep us connected to our faith and our parish communities.

If you are struggling to think of things to be thankful for at this time, try to come up with at least three things.  They can be small things.  Thank God for the rain.  Thank God for the medical professionals who are working to help those who are sick.  Thank God for this time to grow closer to Him through silence and contemplation.  He is waiting for you, always.  Go to Him in prayer.

(Last week’s blog never got posted due to the situation being in a state of flux.  Please find it below.)

In the current situation of hyper-vigilance due to the coronavirus, the CDC is reminding all of us to wash our hands.  Having worked in a daycare previously, I became well-versed in the CDC guidelines for proper handwashing.  Part of the guidelines indicates to scrub hands for 20 seconds – “about as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice”.  Alternatives include “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” or the ABCs (once).  All of these is great to use with your younger kids, but what about for us as adults?

I’ve seen several posts floating around on Facebook with alternatives to “Happy Birthday twice”.  Some suggest excerpts from musicals, others bits of popular songs.  I even saw a Youtube video posted by our Episcopalian brothers and sisters suggesting “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” – what they call the doxology.

I have a suggestion for us Catholics, which is especially relevant right now during Lent.  Try singing either of the settings of the Kyrie we use at St. Ambrose.  Both are about twenty seconds in length if you repeat each phrase (i.e., Kyrie twice, Christe twice, Kyrie twice).

Above all, remember:  Keep Calm and Wash Your Hands

Struggling with Lenten Resolutions

It is a typical Catholic practice to give something up for Lent.  I try to make a commitment to add something as well as giving something up.  This year, I haven’t struggled as much with what I have decided to give up as I have with what I have decided to add, and it is because “life” insists on getting in the way.

Of course, I have to tell myself, that it is a matter of priorities.  Health and sleep are higher priorities than adding something to my routine each day, but am I letting my obsessive-compulsive tendencies get the better of me?  Am I trying to do too much?  Do I need to scale it back?  I have to be honest with myself when trying to answer these questions and make a decision one way or the other.  And I’m not sure what my answer is yet.

Struggling with Lenten resolutions is a good thing, I think.  It helps us realize that we aren’t superhuman.  We are prone to failure, but we can always keep trying.

The Tricky Math of Lent

Happy Lent!  We started this year’s observance of the season yesterday with many a reference to the forty-day nature of the period.  But if you actually count the days from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday, you end up with forty-seven days.  So, how do you square that with what you’ve heard your whole life?

Well, there is a lot of biblical significance to the number forty.  It rained for forty days and forty nights when the Flood came.  The Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years after their captivity in Egypt.  Jesus went into the desert for forty days prior to beginning his public ministry.  And he spent forty days with his disciples after his resurrection.  So, forty just seems like the appropriate number to ascribe to the period of Lent.

Some scholars argue that one shouldn’t count the Sundays of Lent as actually Lent, because each Sunday is a commemoration of the Resurrection itself, and yes, that does make it add up to forty days.  Another way to look at it is to consider the Triduum and Easter Sunday outside of the period of Lent, as well as the days following Ash Wednesday.  After all, we haven’t gotten to the first week of Lent yet.  These are just warm up days.  And once we get to Holy Thursday, it’s a completely different feeling than the rest of the liturgical season.

But, no matter what “counts” and what doesn’t, it is important to keep a spirit of preparation throughout this time leading up to Easter.  There aren’t really “cheat” days.  We aren’t on a diet (unless of course we’ve given up candy, soda, or dessert for Lent).  Even on days you consider to be outside the period of Lent, remember to keep preparing for the big event:  Easter.

A Reminder When Life Creeps Up on You

I am not a parent, but I was a teacher, and I have had the experience of encountering kiddos I taught several years after they had left my class.  I may have taught them when they were tiny, and now, they are teenagers, or, in the case of those I worked with when they were in high school, they are adults now.  I have experienced something similar with people I went to school with.  In my mind, the kids who were in fourth or fifth grade when I graduated from eighth grade are perpetually fourth or fifth graders.  That is, until I see them again at Basement Dweller reunions, and then I think, oh yeah, I grew up, so they did too.

At these times, it’s tempting for me to think, oh geez, I’m OLD!  But then I have to take a step back and get some perspective.  I spent almost three years working at the same school as my former sixth grade homeroom teacher.  What must it have been like for her, seeing me in faculty meetings “all grown up”?  In the words of a song by the band They Might Be Giants:  “Time is marching on, and time… is still marching on!”

And because time is a pesky thing like that, life can have a tendency to creep up on us.  Before we know it, a whole month has gone by, or even a whole year.  Our experience of time can also be relative.  A week may seem to drag on and on endlessly, only for us to look back at the end of a month, and think, where did it go?

As I look toward the end of this month, next week, I’m having this feeling of “Wait, where did February go?”  Looking toward the future, I think, May is so far away, but it’s not!  It’s only two or so months away.  We’re running out of time to get ready for my brother’s wedding at the end of May.  I’m running out of time to get my RCIA candidate ready to complete his initiation by Easter in a month and a half.  WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

If you want to think of something really mind-bendingly weird, consider how God might experience the passage of time.  God is eternal.  He has always been and He will always be.  Yet, He cares for each one of us, even though our lifetimes must be less than a blink of an eye to Him.  Take a moment today to thank God for His constant care for you.

Tell the Truth Until It Feels Good

I once heard someone say that to tell people to give until it hurts was not good advice.  This person argued that one should tell people to give until it feels good.  I think the same can be said for being open and honest with people.  If you go around pretending to be someone you’re not, you may end up disappointing people because you didn’t live up to their expectations of you, whether warranted or not.  And when you disappoint people you may wind up feeling disappointed in yourself.  And then, it could turn into a cycle of disappointment, and nobody would be very happy.

That doesn’t sound like a very pleasant way to live, does it?  What if you changed the situation from the very beginning?  If you are honest with others when they ask you questions, yes, you may disappoint them at first, and that may not feel very good.  But they will learn more about you through your honesty.  They will learn what they can expect from you.  They will most likely respect you more for being open than for pretending to be something or someone you are not.  In the long run, you will develop stronger relationships because you build trust through honesty.

I have often had people say to me, “Why don’t you do things a different way?” or “Why don’t you try changing x about yourself?”  My answer is simple:  because that’s not me.  If I change something about myself to make people like me better, that is no way to live.  I would be living a lie, disappointing myself, and making myself miserable.  Not to mention, when I am no longer able to keep up the charade, I am going to let people down who think I fit the mold of what I have pretended to be.

So, tell the truth, be open, be candid.  You will gather a group of people around you who know the real you and respect you for who you are.  And I doubt you will miss those who may have liked you for a mere appearance anyway.