Bryn and Bibles

One time I took Bryn to Sunday mass at St. Jude's in Wichita.

She hated it and never fails to let me know that she never wants to go to church with me again. Bummer. I joke about it with her now, even though I really would love for her to want to go back. Tis life I guess.

Anyway, now that I have officially settled into the "church lady" role in my family, Bryn and I frequently have conversations about God. The cool thing is that often times Kamo is in the same room when these conversations come up. Which then proceed to more grown up conversations about God.

This particular time Bryn was really excited to show me her Bible. I was surprised she had a Bible and in fact I had just bought her one for Christmas. Darn it, I thought. But the Bible she brought was the real deal. It was definitely made for a little kid but still small print and a bit hard for her to read.

So as I was finishing my sloppy joe my sister had so lovely made me, she read to me out of her Bible. And we proceeded with Bible nerd talk. And before you go all crazy and say I gave her too much info, I will call you crazy for two reasons:

1. First off Kami was in the room and she may have looked busy but she was totally listening and piping in here and there.
2. Little kids have amazing minds. They are like sponges. I wish my students wanted to learn as much as Brynley does. Besides the week before she recited Bible verses to me that she has memorized for this thing she goes to at her friend's church.

But it was great. We talked about the Old Testament and the New Testament. We talked about how all the books are important but in the New Testament we learn about Jesus. In fact at that point we talked about the Gospels and then she read out of Luke chapter 2.  She asked such sweet questions like, "What's a shepherd?". She flipped to the front and and asked what "contents" meant. I told her this page showed all the books in the Bible, 73 to be exact. Which on a side note isn't completely accurate because I am sure it was a Protestant Bible. Then she asks, "Well which ones do I have?" That made me kind of laugh because it was cute. "You have all of them!", I told her. She was amazed that 73 books could fit into what looked like one book. 

That day Kami also shared with me that her friend in the new neighborhood they moved into had given her a Bible and a daily devotional type of thing. It was one for moms, so she talked about how much she could relate to it. All in all, I would say we three had a good time Bible-nerding it up.

Here's a pic of Bryn reading the Bible I got her for Christmas to her baby brother.

A Rosary Discussion Goes Awry

Today in Agriscience class one of my students randomly asked about my rosary that I wear. She started off simply enough, "What is that?" 

Then it continued, "Can I see it?" I let her hold it. 

"So how does it work?" I explained it a little. 

Another student, "What saints do you have on it?" hahaha geez kiddos. Well you see...

"What's a saint?" I explained that too.....you can be a saint too! :)

"Why do you pray to Mary?" Explained. 

Is my rosary really that much more interesting than dairy cattle? Yeah, I think so too. 

But then she asked something that took me a little off guard. She was talking about going to church. This particular student is a foster child, so I asked her if she went to church with her foster family or her grandmother, who lives in somewhere semi close to Ark City. She told me that she typically goes with her grandma. Then she asks, "Who do you go to church went?"

"I just go by myself." 

"Why don't you go with your family?"

"I'm the only one in my family, besides my grandma, that is Catholic."

She then looks at me like I am crazy and says, "Well, then why are you Catholic!?".

Why are you Catholic? 

A question that does seem to be popping up more and more lately. At Prayer and Action this summer I remember this is one of the questions we talked about on the first night. However, it was really easy for me to answer. I don't really mean the question wasn't meant for me but it was meant to get young people thinking about taking their faith as their own. Most of them, if not all of them have been Catholics their whole lives. At some point WE all have to choose our faith not our parents or those around us. 

At the Prayer and Action reunion a week or so ago, this question was brought up again in relationship to the Year of Faith. How can I continue to choose to live out my Catholic faith? How can I grow closer to Christ? 

Honestly, it has been something I have been struggling with the past few months. And as my student was asking me that question, I was thinking in my head..... you have no idea what kind of question you just asked me! 

Because in addition to all this talk about choosing my faith I have had the following conversations too: 

Talking to Pastor Stephanie for a good 45 minutes at my sister Megan's wedding about her and her husband mixed marriage. About how she attended mass for awhile because he is Roman Catholic but then how she  chose to become a pastor in the Methodist church. So why are you Catholic, Kasie? 

Having a conversation with one of my sisters about going to church. 

Her- "I really need to start going to church. I need God in my life. I'm going to this new church on    Saturday. Then I am going to try out this other church and then probably go to my friends Lutheran church sometime too."

Me- "You can come to mass with me sometime." 

Her- "No. I don't want to be Catholic."

Note to sister- Neither did I. :)

But I am. And it was the best decision I have ever made. 

It's true there aren't many people in my life that can understand why I like to go to mass in the middle of the week, or get excited over some feast day, or even pray a rosary with. Yes, I want to attend midnight mass on Christmas with my family. Yes, I wish my close friends shared the same beliefs that I do. Yes, I wish they considered going to adoration a good way to pray together. Yes, I want to pray with people. Yes, I even think about stupid things such as how my family would deal with my wedding or my funeral. 

Why am I Catholic? 

How could I not be? The amount of grace and blessings that have entered into my life are too vast to count. There is not a more beautiful thing on this planet. Even if at times I feel alone, I know that God is here and leading my heart closer to Christ. 

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for us!