I am not a morning person. I am, by nature, a night owl. I have, however, discerned that I need a quiet and prayerful start to every day. Stealing the term from Jen Mackintosh, I have dedicated 30-60 minutes every morning for my Mother’s Morning Basket.
“Everyone of us needs half an hour of prayer each day, except when we are busy—then we need an hour.” – St. Francis de Sales
I will tell you, because I am often asked, I get up somewhere between 6:30 and 7:00am. As I descend the stairs to make my coffee, the dog, and at least one little person come with me. We exchange hugs and greetings. Once the coffee is made, however, I require quiet from everyone for the next 30-60 minutes. While I head out to the patio (in warm weather) or one of my favorite indoor spots, the kids get their own breakfast, take care of personal grooming, and do a little of their assigned reading. For those first minutes of the day, I pray, read, and do a little commonplace journaling.
When my Mother’s Morning Basket time is complete, I change into walking clothes and then ring our school bell. When the kids see me go up to change, they usually head out to the driveway to play a little basketball before our walk. Someday I am going to look at that basketball hoop and remember this beautiful morning ritual.
We begin our walk with our “Morning Offering,” the “Guardian Angel” prayer, and the “Litany of Humility.” After these morning prayers, we pray the Latin prayers that we are working on memorizing. Right now those prayers include the “Pater Noster” and the “Gloria Patri.” After prayer, we dive right into our memory work.
Presently, our memory work includes some poems from Edward Lear’s Nonsense Omnibus, some nursery rhymes, and our Latin vocabulary. Soon we will be layering in our Latin declension memorization and some famous quotes/speeches like the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, quotes from saints, etc.
Our walk takes about 15 or 20 minutes. When we return home, we jump right into Morning Basket.