December | 2020 | Paroxysm of Giggles / Critical Mass

When I adhere to it, I really am loving my quiet morning routine. After getting ready for the day and having some breakfast, I sit down for some spiritual reading time. This morning I continued reading in Pope Benedict’s Infancy Narratives, concerning John the Baptist.

Music helps to influence your emotions, so while I tend to listen to upbeat music when getting ready (this morning, it was classic Christmas tunes), when I’m reading in the morning, I like to switch over to something more … churchy. This morning I put on some Gregorian chant.

The best mornings were the mornings that I got to go to morning Mass on my way in to work. We would gather at 6:30 am in the Day Chapel at Our Lady of Good Counsel and pray together. At the end of Mass, Jesus would be put out on the altar and we would sing O Salutaris Hostia to Him. That’s something I miss, so I think at the end of my spiritual reading time, I’ll bring that song back.

I find that it always helps my work day when I pray first. I feel that I am more kind, more productive, and more focused, than days where I don’t take explicit time to pray.

There’s always something printed on my vitamin packet, whether a quote or a question. Today, it was:

“We don’t realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme self who is eternally at peace.”
Elizabeth Gilbert

I’m not sure who Elizabeth Gilbert is, but I feel that supreme self is the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

Have a blessed morning!

December starts now. The last month of a very unusual year. I’ve been attempting to create more routines to my days, and am trying to build in specific times during the day where I can read, pray, and reflect.

This nighttime one can be difficult, because I’m very good at working or distracting myself until exhaustion, then falling into bed. Even now, it’s quite late, but I wanted to jot down a few thoughts.

Going into Advent, it’s supposed to be this quiet, penitential time where you prepare yourself for the miracle of God made flesh. Too often, it ends up being a blur of planning and frenetic activity as the days tick by faster than ever. We have decorating to do, cards to send, presents to buy and wrap, outfits and meals to plan, and countless other tasks that seems to all gang up and attack you at once.

I have this vision in my head of winters as being a time where you can curl up under a blanket with a hot chocolate and a good book. My winters are not often this way. I don’t take that space in the cadence of my days to lean into the change of the season.

Do I want to change? This is a good question. I quite like being busy and feeling productive. But productivity without real purpose feels like so much wasted effort. In 6 months, will the things that I have chosen to do have benefited me in some way?

What work am I doing within my soul? How are the choices I’m making (or not making!) helping me to be the person God envisions me being? What good can I do in the lives of others, if only I take the time to get out of my own thoughts and look outward?

We shall see. 🙂

Let me know what your dreams are for yourself this December.