It\u2019s not a new thing that kids like to say \u201cAmen.\u201d Churched babies since the origin of the Church have probably been yelling \u201cAmen!\u201d excitedly whenever their families sat down to eat. It\u2019s a word that feels good on the tongue, which is really all that matters for the 1 \u00bd year old who is all about the business of ordering sounds into meaning.<\/p>\n
So, I\u2019m not surprised that our sweet son yells \u201cAmen!\u201d whenever he sees some steaming tomato soup or roasted chicken or bean burritos floating effortlessly toward his high chair. Really, \u201cAmen\u201d is great way to express joy. And it makes a lot of sense to say, \u201clet it be so!\u201d when you see roasted chicken, right? I just can\u2019t get over it lately, as if there\u2019s some secret spiritual truth waiting for me in his uninhibited bliss.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve started reading The Sacrament of the Present Moment<\/em>, a short book written by a French Jesuit in the 18th<\/sup> century named Jean-Pierre De Caussade. It\u2019s a book I\u2019ve discovered on my so-far short journey into monastic motherhood and in my quest for recognizing and worshipping God in the ordinariness that is my life.<\/p>\n De Caussade\u2019s basic premise is that no moment is insignificant; no moment is more holy than another. He believes that Christ is coming to us in a fresh way every moment, every day. He believes we can be freed from our separate views of the secular and the sacred, because Christ is alive in all of it.<\/p>\n \u201cPrecious moment,\u201d De Caussade says, \u201chow small in the eyes of my head and how great in those of my heart, the means whereby I receive small things from the Father who reigns in heaven! Everything that falls from there is very excellent, everything bears the mark of its maker.\u201d<\/p>\n And so, as August lies in his bed at naptime, dried tomato soup on his sleeves and sand from the park still hiding out in his cuffed pants, I pray with him, and, as usual, make the mark of the cross on his forehead, repeat the blessing from Deuteronomy that my mother taught me: \u201cMay the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you, the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n And before \u201cpeace\u201d falls from my lips, I pause a moment, in time for August to shout \u201cpeace!\u201d with me. Man<\/em>, I think, as I wind the mobile to play \u201cTwinkle, Twinkle Little Star\u201d and leave him awake but cozy in his crib, if I could holler \u201cPeace!\u201d as my last word before sleep, and mean it. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s not a new thing that kids like to say \u201cAmen.\u201d Churched babies since the origin of the Church have probably been yelling \u201cAmen!\u201d excitedly whenever their families sat down to eat. It\u2019s a word that feels good on the tongue, which is really all that matters for the 1 \u00bd year old who is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1005,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[104],"class_list":["post-3275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-present-moment"],"yoast_head":"\n