Blessings heard through the noise of life

I’m currently reading “The Way of Perfection” by St. Teresa of Avila. At the beginning of the book she says to a small group of nuns at a new convent, “I do not think as yet you understand well how much you owe the Lord for bringing you here so removed from business affairs, occasions of sin and worldly occupation. Indeed it is a very great mercy.”  Immediately in my head I was clapping and saying “Amen.”

How hard is it to live in the secular world and remain on a path of holiness? In the next thought, I was longing for the quiet these nuns had in prayer, in adoration and for the option of receiving the sacraments so often. I reflected on how being a mom and wife and working can be really demanding. So demanding that occasionally when “life” comes rapidly from all directions I want to shut down. I call it “no move mode.”
If I let it, I can slip into self-pity until the Lord lovingly readjusts my focus and reminds me of the mercy he has always shown me in every station of life as a laywoman.  As glorious as it would be to have a chapel attached to my house and to also pray the complete Divine Office every day, that wasn’t my calling. The abundant graces I have been given through marriage, the gift of motherhood and my career have been solid confirmations.
   I know the Lord loves me so much because he gave me my husband. He is the person I want to make laugh, aggravate and be around most often. I long for this man to see the Beatific vision, and it would be difficult for me to get to heaven without him.
He is the spiritual leader of our family.  He tries to make decisions based on what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord and for what is good for our souls.  He created a sweet little sacred space for us to pray next to each other.  We try our best to keep little grubby hands out but it is a comfy spot so the rascals love it too. Together, we have encountered all of the vows we were asked to make 18 years ago and we have been made stronger through each one.
   My children have been a perpetual source of sanctification for us. The opportunity to have souls entrusted to our care is both a joy and an enormous weight.  Our family rosary grounds us, brings us peace and points us to heaven. The bebes aren’t little novices but they are my people and we are a domestic church that prays night prayers together.
My work is in the secular world. I am no longer a classroom teacher but I do work in the public school system. I am blessed and humbled to work with high school students and support them on a path after they graduate. I see it as a ministry to be able to coach young people toward realistic and meaningful new chapters of their life. The job satiates my heart’s desire to share my gifts through education while leaving room to serve my family.
The Lord himself hand-crafted this job for me and I must recognize it. I do not work alongside religious sisters but my coworkers are my sisters in Christ. There are women and men all over the state that are docile to God’s plan in their lives and of the students we serve. I don’t have an abbess but my bosses definitely shine Christ’s light on me and keep me accountable to the job and our savior.
My most immediate boss is so very faith-filled. There is not a day that we both do not seek the Lord’s hand in our decisions, speak of his glory, or try to submit to his greater plan. She is not Catholic and forces me into spontaneous spoken prayer and I’m getting better at it. I always want to start St Patrick’s Breastplate when she asks but then I call on the Holy Spirit and he gives me words. Our two co-founders are women of virtue who lift us up.  One is also non-Catholic and has been Proverbs 31:26 to me for 20 years.
She was divinely placed into my life in the last year of college when the Lord knew I needed a strong example of a Christian woman in the public school system. The other CEO is Catholic. We pray together often and share each other’s crosses.  We rotate who chooses the next novena, call on different saints based on the situation, have fun buying each other little Jesus sussies, and we have both consecrated ourselves to the Blessed Mother. They are all servant leaders to me.
Yes, this job is in the real world and full of what St. Teresa calls “business affairs” but we try to bring Jesus in and edify the process. It’s not a tiny convent full of wonderful nuns but it is a place open to the movement of his spirit and I’m made holier because of it and I do owe God for it.  It’s about taking care of others and that is a commandment we strive to follow.
    As much as I would love the quiet, praying the psalms aloud and in song daily, I would be both remiss and ungrateful not to mention how much God has blessed me in all my noise. “Life” coming at me from all directions will continue to happen but if I keep Christ in the center then I’m less likely to shut down. And when I ponder more, I can see many parallels between our different vocations, and he equips us with all we need once we choose to live a life pleasing to him.

Eldridge is a Catholic mom living in the Diocese of Baton Rouge facing the same challenges all families face.