For the past few months our family has started a new tradition that we all love and look forward to each week. We call it "Trinity Taco Tuesday." As soon as Paul gets home from work, we all pile into the car and drive just a few blocks down the road to Trinity Chapel to visit Jesus. Yes, He is really there. We can see Him. We can feel Him. How the kids love to rush into the chapel and be the first one to open the wooden doors of the tabernacle, as if they are opening God's arms to receive a loving embrace. Embraced we are. What a gift we have as Catholics to know that our God is waiting for us to visit Him anytime in any tabernacle in the world, waiting to pour graces into our hearts as we sit in His Real Presence. This chapel is extra special because Jesus is not just hidden inside the tabernacle, He is visible in a golden monstrance that we are blessed to adore behind a thin piece of glass. We get to gaze right at our God who wants to be with us so much that he humbles Himself to be inside a simple piece of bread!
It has been beautiful watching our children experience the awe and wonder of spending time with Jesus in this way. Each week we pray a little bit differently. Some days we pray the rosary, some days the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Some days we recite the Divine Praises, and some days we just talk to Him from our hearts. Some days we just sit with Him in silence (well, as silent as it can be with a baby babbling and a 3-year-old playing with the kneeler). The main reason for starting this tradition was to impart to our children the truth that Jesus is really with us in the Eucharist like He said at the Last Supper, and also for our kids to learn to be comfortable talking to God like a friend who is really there. Talking to Him while looking at Him in the monstrance seems to make my kids truly aware of His Presence unlike just praying at home around the dinner table or in the living room or laying in bed.
I was a little bit shocked when I asked our boys to pray out loud from their hearts while looking at Jesus in the monstrance for the first time. One of the boys became visibly embarrassed and simply couldn't find any words to say. He honestly didn't know how to talk to God without a memorized form of prayer to recite. Yikes! I was convicted at that moment that our family needs to practice praying impromptu more often so that we all become comfortable talking to Jesus like the best friend He wants to be to each of us. I think that is one thing many Catholics are weak at doing: having a personal relationship with Christ that allows us to pray to Him like a friend or a brother. Watching my boys struggle with finding words to talk to Jesus reminded me that every relationship takes work and practice. Marriage takes a whole lot of practice in learning to listen and communicate well if it's going to last. Best friends only stay best friends if they keep talking and sharing their joys and struggles with each other on a regular basis. The same is true with our relationship with The Lord...it takes practice and spending a lot of time with Him so that we can grow closer to His heart and listen to the loving guidance He so desperately wants to give us to help us find true joy in this life and in the next.
Anyway, it has been beautiful spending time as a family in the Presence of Jesus at Trinity chapel. It's something that I've wanted to do for years and we finally made a commitment to make it happen. I hope we continue this tradition for a long time so that even after our boys are grown they will always remember how important it is to spend time with Jesus---especially when they are struggling and in need of some extra grace. I want them to know and live these words of Blessed Mother Teresa:
"The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best time that you will spend on earth."
To make our Tuesdays even sweeter, we decided to go our for tacos after our visit with Jesus! The kids love it because they get tacos and soda, Paul loves it because of the potato oles, and I love it because I don't have to cook! It's a win, win, win situation!
Happy Trinity Taco Tuesday!
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