Friends are wonderful things. You can bounce a thought off a good friend, and suddenly, things which were foggy seem amazingly clear. I wrote yesterday about my horrific lack of ability to stick to my "no chocolate" penance (and for the record, I also inadvertently drank a cup of cocoa with my children this evening. . . bad Catholic). Really, my problem is a total lack of attentiveness; abstaining from meat on Fridays was difficult in the beginning--and sometimes is still a problem--for this simple reason. I simply forget that it actually is Friday. And while my attention to detail probably needs to improve, I see no real reason to beat myself up over it.
What I really should be flogged for is the way I've dropped the ball on my prayer commitments. Those of you who have been following along will recall that I aimed for a weekly hour before the Sacrament (that's prayer actually at the church, for my non-Catholic friends--there's more to it, but it would be worthy of its own post) and a daily rosary. Haven't made it to church for prayer time, and I have a nasty habit of letting my guardian angel finish my rosary, if you know what I mean.
On the bright side, so far I've been seeing improvements in my work as a mother, though I'm not going to be vain enough to attribute that to my own merits. The intercession of Mary and the Saints has certainly played a large part in that success. I've been dragging the children out for Mass with me more often, and the house is (a bit) cleaner. And we've been spending more time on reading--motivated by the promise of free tickets to Six Flags, lol. My kids may complain about most anything academic I ask them to do, but dangle a trip to an amusement park in front of their noses, and watch how fast they'll open a book! If only I could afford to bribe them on that level all the time. :-)
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