Tuesday, January 06, 2015

Just a little saintly butt-kicking (2015 word, saint, resolution redux)

Have I ever talked about my word for the year here? I think so. In 2013 it was "patience," which is almost too obvious for me since my actual face is on the Don't Like to Wait for Anything-ers Anonymous marketing poster.  Then in 2014 it was "peace, " which felt like a cop-out, but really ended up meaning that I would need to practice being at peace whilst all sorts of swirling twirling craziness swirled and twirled around me.

A few days ago I started praying for a word for 2015 and was pretty much convinced that it would have to start with a "p" because obviously.  Penance?  Perseverance?  Pickled Pumpkin Pie?

Red buzzer sound.

It turns out that my word for this year is "service" which is...ugh.  I mean yay!  Blessed are they who trip over wet snowboots in the middle of the kitchen and all that.  But really I don't know what it's going to end up meaning.  For now it means that when we're about to sit down to dinner and someone says "oh, but I don't have a drink yet!" I won't groan and breathe a deep heavy sigh and the grudgingly, oh so slowly, rise from my seat to retrieve said beverage.  The struggle is real, y'all.

he wears lots of things on his head.  poor thing clearly disapproves.
And SPEAKING of struggle----> I used that saint name generator to choose a saint for the year.  When I got St. Leopold the Good and looked up his bio and saw that he is the patron saint against the death of children, I clicked that back arrow so hard and fast that my screen went all the way back to my MySpace profile in 2006.  No.  Thank.  You.


But then my thinky thoughts, you know how they think.  And won't stop thoughtifying.  And I wondered if maybe I wasn't being too superstitious.  As if God would be like "Welp, the random computerized saint generator program chose St. Leopold.  Guess one of your kids is gonna have to die!" or something.  He won't and I'm being silly, and ANYWAY, Leopold the patron against the death of children, so maybe Imma play it safe and stick with him and err'body will be healthy and happy when the ball drops again in 35____ something something days math = bad.

Leo, don't let me down, m'kay?

Anyway, he's also the patron of large families (got one o' dem) and stepparents (got some o' dem) and Austria (let's go back to there, shall we?  Salzburg, yes.  Vienna not so much.) so he and I could totally hang out.  Also, his wife's name is Agnes, which is my newest old-timey-name crush.  So yes, Leo and I are gonna kick this year's butt together (he was a high ranking member of the military.  Kicking of butts is basically his spirit animal).

I'm not really good at making specific lists of resolutions (speaking of which, if you want to risk peeing your pants due to laughter, read Kelly's resolution post.  Dying.) but I did sort of make one resolution and I've stuck to it for, like, three whole days now: I will not eat any more Christmas candy.

Easier said than done people, so I will accept your accolades without reservation.

Has the Holy Spirit whispered a word into your ear yet?  What about a saint friend to walk the walk with you?   And if you made any resolutions yet, how are you holding up?  A lot can happen in 6 days, I know that fo' shizzy.




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22 comments :

  1. I pick my Saint on Ash Wednesday and then spend Lent reading up...
    Lol at the groaning at getting up thing, bcuz...yeah. I feel like I have a spring in my butt.

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    1. I think the act of sitting CAUSES things to go wrong. Sometimes I'll try and, say, watch a movie standing up because why bother?

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  2. Agnes is our youngest's name. Nikolas is our third.... I think I'll hang out with your saint this year too.

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  3. I got Saint Francis Xavier, who is one of my twins' patron saints. This is the year he is going to become a toddler, and he is already exhibiting a VERY strong will. Strong enough that I think I'll need lots of intercession to mother him appropriately. So I think that wasn't coincidental. :-P

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  4. I got St. Leopold too!! And had the exact same thought process. Happy 2015 to you.

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  5. I read "service" and your comment about dinner and drinks... Immediately I thought, I should do that too!! Then, within about 46 seconds, I was asked by 5 kids for marshmallows, chapstick, mittens, to clean the toilet seat, milk, a blanket, soft crackers (?!?!?!) and to turn a tv show on... Oh what it means to be a mother ;)

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  6. I got an 'eek' saint from the Generator this year, too. St. Hedwig, patron of difficult marriages, widows, death of children, brides, and against jealousy. Personally, I've never had any of that bad stuff in my life (unless being a bride was bad? maybe I was a jealous one?), but I'm taking it as a cue to PRAY for those that struggle with these problems. Difficult marriages and those who have lost children have been heavy on my heart for the past year or so, and now I have an extra prayer warrior to help.

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  7. Oh man - I got St. Isidore the Farmer and had the same reaction. Also the patron saint against the death of children. Except…I'm not a farmer. Nor have I ever kept a plant alive more than 1 year (despite numerous attempts.)

    However, my year for the word is "Control" (as in, I do not have it and I need to cede it to God.) He knows what he's doing.

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  8. I relate! Mine is Saint John of God, who was new to me, patron over heart conditions, and it's a fear since my dad had a heart attack in his early 50's (I turn 50 this year). But I thought it might be superstitious or ungrateful to pick another, so I focused on his "lesser" patronages: booksellers. :) I know, saints are there to help! Maybe we'll never know how they intercede for us.

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  9. I had a brainwave the other night and picked St Frances of Rome. It fits with my resolution/goal/whatever of giving of myself fully and being less focused on getting things done than doing things well. (Like one good decade of a rosary done prayerfully, rather than a "we're going to finish thing, dammit" attitude, but applied to life.)

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  10. because I live under a rock, I have never heard of the praying for the Word of the Year thing. I tried searching google and got all kinds of unhelpful stuff. What does this actually mean?

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    1. It's not really anything formal. As far as I can tell, just pray about what God might want you to focus on, what will benefit your spiritual life and your family. For me it just...makes itself clear. And then as you go through your regular everyday life, you have something specific to work on rather than "all the virtues all the time!" which is really hard. Sort of like a spiritual theme for the year.

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  11. Last year, my husband and I BOTH got (different) saints whose patronage related to the death of children. I spent a lot of time throughout the year trying to convince myself that wasn't an ominous foreshadowing, and consequently decided NOT to generate a saint's name this year. I did, however, pull out my Book of Saints for Catholic Moms, and hope to focus on each of the saints as they're presented for each of the weeks of the year.

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  12. Totally snorted so loud all the kids came running at the mention of MySpace 2006.
    I've also made the successful resolution to not eat anymore holiday candy, having helped devour all of it by day 5 of Christmas. And I'm not digging the leftover Halloween candy out of the freezer...at least not yet.

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  13. My saint for this year is John of the Cross. I've been reading from his collected works a bit every night. One thing that stuck, he said, "To get to a place you know not, you have to go by a way you know not. " which is pretty much my life.

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  14. Dwija, I have been following your blog for a while. So maybe it's time today to introduce myself - my name is Agnes (yes, yes :-)) and I'm from Poland. In my country it's quite a popular name (in Polish it is "Agnieszka") and in my class in the primary school there were several other girls having this name. It was most popular in the late 70ies, in my childhood. Do you know that Mother Teresa's real name was Agnes ("Anjezë" in her native language)?

    After reading your post I also used the saint's name generator and my saint for 2015 is going to be Saint Cosmas - very appropriate for me :-) Why? I am a translator who decided to specialize this year specially in medecine (I translate pharmaceutic patents and related documents) and it appears that St. Cosmas is a saint patron of physicians, doctors, pharmacists, etc. He is also a patron of people having a hernia - I do have it. And I can find even more relationship between me and St. Cosmas. How wonderful!

    Last thing, I want you to know that I was in Rome last April at the canonization mass of St. John Paul II (from Poland:-)) and I was praying there also for you and your family.

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  15. Hi, in 2014 I also got Saint Leopold and I am really grateful for his intercession. During the birth of my baby there were serious complications and clear signs of fetal distress so the NICU team rushed in the delivery room. Surprisingly the baby was perfectly fine. Saint Leopold pray for us.

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  16. There was a standing rule at my house as a child (1 of 9) that as soon as my mother sat at the table, it was off limits to ask her for anything. She usually stood in her spot to serve everyone and pass around plates, etc, but the moment she sat, you better go get it yourself. I now understand this rule much more as a mom!

    My saint for the year is St Jude. Hopefully he'll intercede on making the impossible possible :)

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  17. No resolutions just trying out new habits like Bible journaling and getting organized! I can see how the patron saint thing would have been off putting, but you have better insight now and a good attitude about it! Haven't tried mine out yet! Happy New Year!

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  18. My word is Peace and St. Gianna has adopted me. I think both are going to give me a big challenge this year!

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  19. I totally understand your reaction to St. Leopold because I got St. Angela Merici who is the patron saint against illness and of disabled people and I pretty much freaked out. I've got too much going on in my life to get sick! I'm just reminding myself Against illness. so maybe I won't get majorly sick. Sheesh. My word for the year is Light and I'm not totally sure what it means. I really hope it means light at the end of the tunnel because I"m completely ready for that to happen!

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  20. I got St. Jane Francis de Chantel.

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