This tradition of writing on the wall signifies an open invitation to Jesus to be a daily guest in our homes and in our hearts as we go about our busy lives. The chalk will fade over time; may the meaning of the message to sink into our hearts, bearing fruit in our thoughts, words, and actions.
Have you heard of this Epiphany tradition?
It was news to me when I saw the home blessing kits at the rear of the chapel yesterday morning. Brows furrowed, grin mildly contorted toward a smirk, I picked up one of the bags with a small piece of chalk and a paper folded up inside. “This is interesting,” I thought, quickly followed by, “if I don’t use it, I can bring it back tomorrow.”
Would this little bag pique your interest?
I had no clue as to what I was taking with me. It wasn’t a book or a pamphlet, wasn’t a rosary or a prayer card, so I was slightly confused and almost not trusting of it. It was out of the ordinary, so it was as though I needed to justify my curiosity in it.
Curiosity well spent.
I enjoy actively participating in the Faith. Even more so, I thoroughly enjoy learning interesting information while I’m actively participating. There’s a childlike giddiness that comes from growing in the Faith. Throw in a hint of apparent rebellion and I totally want in. These little kits were perfect to satisfy just such a hunger.
Arriving back in my room, I put the little kit down and walked away to get work done. A couple of hours later, I hit a natural pause. Looking up, I again felt my face contort into a playful grin as I caught sight of it. Walking over, I opened the bag, read the little note, fetched a step-stool, and chalked my door.
What is this exciting tradition, you ask? What do those letters and numbers mean? Why would I write anything on the wall?
First of all, writing on the wall is mutinously fun. It’s seriously exhilarating. At one point, I giggled like a schoolgirl getting away with a prank. Then my adult self kicked in and I thought, “How am I going to fix this?” My logical brain retorted, “Wipe it off with a damp cloth.” And I chuckled triumphantly to myself as though I’d discovered the biggest discovery ever to be discovered by a discoverer.
My reactions to this whole tradition are childlike silliness and fun. Will you join me in the fun?
You may want to know the symbolism before committing to anything. I get that. In fact, I applaud that. Go you. Check it out:
+ = ✞ = the Cross
2020 = the year
CMB represents two things: the three wise men: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar – and – Christus mansionem benedicat: may Christ bless this house
This is how I picture the wise men: swaddled in cloaks and beards.
While marking the doorway, speak the following:
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling place among us. It is Christ who enlightens our hearts and homes with His love. May all who enter this home find Christ’s light and love. May Christ bless our home and remain with us throughout the new year. Amen.
After marking the door, there’s a prayer to offer. This can be done silently or aloud:
Visit, O blessed Lord, this home with the gladness of Your presence. Bless all who live or visit here with the gift of Your love, and grant that we may manifest Your love to each other and to all whose lives we touch. May we grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of you. Guide, comfort, and strengthen us in peace, O Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.
I think I need to add more crosses to my inscription…
Have you ever done this before? Did you just discover this discovery and want to try it out? Do you have any other Epiphany traditions?
Think before you speak. Read before you think. This will give you something to think about that you didn’t make up yourself – a wise move at any age, but most especially at seventeen, when you are in the greatest danger of coming to annoying conclusions.
This particular quote is from the Tips for Teens chapter, originally published in the stand-alone Social Studies volume. (Some of these witticisms are absolutely hilarious; I caught myself laughing aloud.)
I referenced my dream list in yesterday’s post but didn’t provide assistance to help you build your own. This post is a quick-start guide of practical application; the article that inspired me to write my dream list is 7 Steps to Self-Mastery, and I highly, highly recommend reading that as well.
Love the life you have while you create the life of your dreams.
Here are the categories I use; allow them to prompt your dreams to escape the tip of your tongue. Read through them and let them stimulate your senses and rouse your ambitions. If anything springs to mind, write it down, but don’t dwell on this part yet: just let it mingle with your mind for a minute.
Categories
Adventure – What sorts of escapades and travel adventures are you interested in?
Creative – What skills, hobbies, and sports do you want to do?
Physical – How do you want to shape your health and wellness?
Legacy – Which causes do you want to support?
Emotional – How do you want to grow your relationships, both with yourself and others?
Psychological – What would you try if you had the courage?
Professional – How do you want to grow in your work and career?
Intellectual – What do you want to learn?
Spiritual – How do you want to grow with God?
Character – Which qualities do you want to incorporate more into your life?
While your mind is wrapping itself around these questions, let’s prep for the big brainstorm.
Step Zero: Preparing the Workbook
Why Prepare a Workbook?
It’s a lot easier to get something done when you don’t have to worry about the logistics and incidentals. For example, when I travel, I check to see where I’ll be attending Mass before making any other plans. I don’t want to find myself flustered, frustrated, and running around panicking because I didn’t spend a few minutes planning ahead; I’d prefer to enjoy my travels by focusing on the moment at hand.
In much the same way, putting a few minutes of prep time helps with actually getting a task done because it allows you to focus on the task at hand rather than the incidentals that accompany it. Here are my preparation recommendations.
Open a new spreadsheet workbook (Excel, Google spreadsheet, OpenOffice spreadsheet – whatever suits your fancy). Title the first tab Summary. Skip the first column. Entitle the second column “Dream” or “Goal.” The third column is to have the title “Category” so you know what type of accomplishment it is. The fourth column is for the Order (of priority). The fifth column is a deadline column; I suggest “By…” or “Target” or “Date” headers. The fifth column is for Notes.
This is what my Summary page headers look like.
Next Tab: First Dream Category
Leave the Summary page and switch to a new tab. Again, skip column one. The headers of the rest of the columns should read as follows: Goal, Category, Order, Priority, Years, Step 1, Step 1 Date, Step 2, Step 2 Date, Step 3, Step 3 Date, Step 4, Step 4 Date, Step 5, and Step 5 Date.
Each Category tab should look like this at the top.
Replicate this tab (I suggest copying it via the Move or Copy option available upon right-clicking the tab title area) until you have one for every category. Name each of the tabs for easy access, and also write the category name under the Category header; include it for every entry. I also assigned a code letter to each category (A for Adventure, for example) for shorthand and included it in the tab name.
That was easy enough, wasn’t it?
Prep work out of the way, let’s get to the fun stuff!
Step One: Select Goals for Each Category
Maybe some categories will have twenty things you want to do whereas others have two or three. That’s totally fine! I challenge you to have at least two goals for each category, but if you’re on a roll and have a lot of things you want to accomplish, write them all down.
All of them. Long term, short term, and everything in between. It’s good to have a mix so that you know where you’re going in the long term but also have guideposts between here and there so you know you’re on track. This also means it’s great to have short- and medium-term goals that feed into long-term ones.
This is the big question; the goals are how we’re gonna get there.
It may seem a little overwhelming to have a big list in front of you, but it’s a lot easier to whittle down than to build up, and we want to include every dream in your heart. Want to write a memoir in fifty years? Write it down. Trying to compile a compendium of Grandma’s best recipes? Write it down. Considering a trip to the little town in Russia your great-grandparents are from but you don’t know a lick of Russian? Write the trip down and learning Russian as separate goals. All of it. Keep going.
You can certainly add more later, but get out everything you can at first blush.
Step 2: Sort
Go through your list and put each goal in the category it fits best in. (Traveling to Russia, for example, belongs in the Adventure category whereas learning Russian fits in the Intellectual category.) If you finish sorting and find that a category only has one dream (or is entirely bereft of them), add more. We want goals in each category so we have incentive to grow in every area of our lives.
Now prioritize each goal within the category. Use a simple high (H), medium (M), and low (L) notation in the Priority column. I recommend prioritizing based on a few things: how much you want it, how difficult it will be, how long it will take, and whether any other dreams depend on it. For example, if you have to know Russian to make that trip to the little town in Russia a success, learning Russian may be high priority even though it may take a lot of effort and learning a new language in and of itself doesn’t rank highly for you.
Here’s a snip from my Creative tab.
Clump the highs, mediums, and lows together in each category. Compare them to see what gets the first priority of the whole category, then the second, and so on until you have the whole category prioritized. This number goes in the Order column; it’s your quick-check of which goals you want to work on first. Repeat with the remainder of the categories.
Step 3: Sketch Out Steps
Where do you start? Write out the logical first step of every high priority goal. If these first steps come easily to you, do the same with the medium and low priority goals. For the high priority goals, write out the steps as far as you can logically see them. Only do this for the high priority goals to prioritize your time and avoid burnout. We’ll revisit the list and can fill it out later; for now, let’s focus on our major goals. We want to walk away from the list not feeling drained, but inspired.
These steps are basically a high level checklist. For example, for the Russia trip, your first step may be to learn Russian as it’s a prequel to taking the trip. The second step may be to plan the itinerary of the trip by writing out a basic outline of the top things you want to accomplish while visiting. The third step could be selecting dates and hammering out the details of what you’ll do on the trip; the fourth may be researching travel options, obtaining a passport, buying the plane ticket, and making lodging arrangements; the fifth may be final trip preparations such as packing; and the sixth may be getting on that plane.
If you need more steps columns, add them. I find five to be helpful and ten to be unwieldy, but you may find it easier with twenty steps. Knowing yourself is awesome! Use your information to your advantage.
For the top one or two goals in each category, write a date next to that first step. This is your personal deadline. By this date, you will meet that step’s goal. Give yourself deadlines on each of the highest priority goals in every category.
Step 4: Summarize and Review
Copy the highest priority columns from each category to the Summary sheet. I suggest referencing the manual entries (type “=” in the cell, then click on the cell you want it to copy in the other tab) because it’s easy, and at this point in the process, you may want to drop out of the red zone and into a yellow zone for recuperation. If you’re instead all about that orange theory, copy the information manually; the process will help drill into your head what you want to do and gives you more time to figure out why you want that.
Sleep. Look at your goals and plans tomorrow or over the weekend with fresh eyes. Are there any changes your well-rested brain recommends? Review the dreams you’ve written down daily for at least a week. Have you forgotten anything? Did a friend spark an idea? Did you aim high enough?
Step 5: Tell Friends and Family for Accountability and Support
Tell friends, family, and anyone else who might help you on your way forward. When you tell others, the goal becomes more tangible. When you involve others, you have additional reasons to stick to the plan even when the road gets rough. They don’t even have to do anything for this to work!
Prime example: I’m providing an example Dream List. This example is my Dream List with added information: I filled out my C – Creative tab so that this document may help you with your process. In giving you my information, I added details that I hadn’t bothered to put in yet, forcing me to evaluate my hopes and dreams and encouraging me to move forward with them. There is more detail on this template than on my original document because you learn more by teaching others than by simply doing something for yourself. This is why study groups work.
Here’s another example: I found a posting online for a position that perfectly fits my skills and abilities, but in a very non-linear way such that I don’t know how to write a resume for it. I made a phone call to do recon and ask for any information that might help me in the application process. Just knowing that I told someone on the other end of the phone that I’m excited about this opportunity is galvanizing me to figure out how to properly apply.
Step 6: Review and Revamp
Print your Summary and put it somewhere you can see it frequently. It will remind you of why you’re really getting up at 5 am to go for a run while listening to various Russian verb conjugations: ’cause you’ve got a dream to fulfill. Having a hard copy makes your dreams more concrete, and you’re more likely to rise to the challenge if you have the goal in front of you.
I keep my Summary as the insert for the binder I bring with me everywhere. Every time I pull out the binder, I get a quick reference guide to my goals.
Start with a digital copy, then print a hard copy.
The reason I recommend a digital spreadsheet is because I expect changes and updates. Try your hand at origami and decide you don’t like it? Cross it off the list. Discover a new passion? Put it on the list. Are you a quicker study at aikido than you expected? Move up your next deadline for it. Life changes, and so do your goals; don’t give up on something because it’s difficult, but don’t hang on to something just because you put it on the list, either. Know your why, and pursue your why.
Recap: Dream List
Know where you’re going so you can get there. Take some time to figure out where you want to go by setting goals that are meaningful to you. Draft a list of dreams, aspirations, and hopes and take a few minutes to figure out the first few steps to achieving the ones most important to you.
What goals surfaced while you were going through this process? What are you going to do today to take the first step toward your top priority goal?
Further Reading
Take Control of Your Life: 7 Steps to Self-Mastery by Dominick Albano is the article that inspired my dream list. It’s broken into a three-part series (Steps 1 & 2, Steps 3-5, and Steps 6 & 7), and there’s a lot to digest, but it’s absolutely worth the read. I recommend bookmarking it and returning to it when you feel over-encumbered. This post is based on my practical application of this article, and I’m going to re-read Self-Mastery (again) to see how I can do my dream list better.
Dynamic Catholic never ceases to amaze me with the content they provide. Dominick Albano wrote another stellar article entitled How to Gamify Your Life which strikes my heart because I identify with it so fully: I’m a Catholic, a casual gamer, and eager to learn the magnificent lifehack for wanting to improve our lives by setting up a scorecard. This is also a very shareable article: who do you want to join your party for the game of life?
I hope you kicked off 2020 in your favorite way and are looking forward to everything the new decade has in store!
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.
What are you most looking forward to this year? I wrote out my hopes and dreams as part of a self-reflection and forward-thinking project, complete with timelines of when I want to do them by. Last year included learning more about the virtues so I can try to live by them better, journaling, increasing my courage, re-learning French, and taking a hand-to-hand self-defense class. Some goals were met, though I still have room to grow.
This year includes learning to fence, learning to ballroom dance, joining a sailing club, finishing writing (rough draft) a series of novels I’ve been working on, and visiting Dublin.
My first reaction to writing that last sentence: that’s a tall order. Look at all that stuff! How can I expect to get all that done while also doing the normal things in life: working, balancing a budget, blossoming my relationships, and working toward other, more logical long-term goals?
But the point of this list isn’t to bog myself down. A hopes and dreams list is a tool to encourage us to rise up to meet our challenges. Yes, there are other things I need to do daily, and there’s only so much time in a day, but if I crowd out time wastes, I can do great things. And so can you!
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
Our time on Earth is finite; time is the limiting reagent of the reaction of our lives. It stands to reason, then, that our highest priorities should get the most time from us. But what are our priorities? Without knowing our priorities, we can’t prioritize them. Making a dream list demands that we pause to think about what our priorities are. A dream list helps us focus on our priorities and reach for our dreams with purpose and gusto.
So, I may not complete all of my goals for 2020, but if 2019 is any indication, just having the list for reference helps me move in a positive direction. I reference it when I’m unsure which actions to take: reminding myself of what I want helps me to get there because I can make my decisions to further my goals.
Do you have a dream list? What are your priorities? What do you hope to accomplish this year and how are you going to meet those goals?
We often hear of bad weather, but in reality, no weather is bad. It is all delightful, though in different ways. … Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating.
Reporting live from New Hampshire: the roads here are virtually undriveable. For the safety of yourself and others, please refrain from traveling.
Sleet is good weather for staying indoors and appreciating working radiators or fireplaces or your favorite blanket. It’s also great if you want to hear the weather.
Do you hear what I hear? That’s ice, that’s ice, hailing from the sky, And it’s making the roads slip-and-slides.
Capitalize on what the situation grants you. For me, I get an extra few hours tonight because I can’t safely drive to rehearsal. That time will help me with a few things I’m working on. Here’s to maximizing the hand dealt! Happy Monday!
We’re halfway through the octave of Christmas: the eight days set aside to sincerely celebrate Christmas starting on Christmas day and going straight through the Solemnity of Jesus’s mother Mary on January 1st. Then there are another four days to round out the twelve days of Christmas, the Epiphany (on January 6th) marking the thirteenth day, and the Baptism of the Lord (January 9th) closing out the season on the current calendar. But if you’re still not done with the Christmas season, just go by the old calendar to extend the season until the fortieth day: Candlemas, the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple (February 2nd).
January 1st: Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, the Final Day in the Octave of Christmas
January 6th: The Epiphany (the visit of the magi); in the United States, celebrated Sunday (January 5th in 2020)
January 9th: The Baptism of the Lord, in the United States, celebrated Sunday (January 12th in 2020)
February 2nd: The Presentation of the Child Jesus
How do you celebrate Christmastide? I didn’t even know this was really a thing – though I’m one to say the tree stays up through at least the Epiphany. There are several resources offering ideas about what to do to celebrate throughout the season. Do you have any Christmastide traditions? Do you carol after Christmas, or make certain foods to celebrate the whole season? What’s your favorite Christmas season tradition?
Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.
An inexhaustible capacity to engage in sin is what makes human beings capable of living a virtuous life. To err is human; to seek penance is humankind’s unique act of salvation. Whenever a person fails, it is often their overwhelming sense of anguish that drives them forward to make a second attempt that is far more bighearted than they originally envisioned. The need for redemption drives us to try again despite our backside enduring the terrible weight of our greatest catastrophes. There is no person as magnanimous as a person whom finally encountered tremendous success after previously enduring a tear-filled trail of hardships and repeated setbacks. In an effort to redeem our lost dignity, in an effort to regain self-respect, we find our true selves. By working independently to better ourselves and struggling to fulfill our cherished values, we save ourselves while coincidentally uplifting all of humanity.
Every fall is an opportunity to shine all the brighter by standing tall after. May your Christmas week enable you to see yourself as a whole, not simply as a sinner, but as the Saint God calls you to be because He loves you so much that He wants to spend eternity with you. May you shine brightly as the world rejoices in the remembrance of the Word made Flesh to dwell among us! God bless!
We need have no undue fear for our health if we work hard for the kingdom of God. God will take care of our health if we take care of His cause. In any case, it is better to burn out than to rust out.
Hurrah for Archibishop Fulton J. Sheen, faithful servant of God!
Today is supposed to be the Archbishop’s beatification day. The process is being held up, but I’m confident the esteemed televangelist will receive the title Blessed – and then Saint – in due course. We need to recognize a modern day Saint like Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen to reinvigorate the Church, and God never fails His Church.
Help us petition in prayer with a novena. A novena is a prayer spread over nine days. This one, the Novena of Venerable Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen, takes about two minutes per day. There are also optional videos that go through the novena with you, about four minutes each; the videos are available in both English and Spanish.
I recorded how long it took me to do Day 1 of the novena. It’s super short. Please pray with us!
Fulton Sheen Resources
The Life is Worth Living series won the Archbishop an Emmy Award, and hours upon hours of the insightful and entertaining content is available on YouTube. Looking for more? He also hosted The Fulton Sheen Program.
The Archibishop’s book Life of Christ is an excellent resource for getting to know Jesus better. Archbishop Sheen dramatically recounts the birth, life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, also providing a portrait of His Person, both as God and as man.
Are you lucky enough to still have a CD player? Are you looking ahead to Lent? Archbishop Sheen’s Good Friday service on April 8, 1977 drew a record crowd of over 6,000 people. It was recorded, and Saint Joseph Communications packaged it into an audio retreat.
