12 Tips from the Saints to Remember When Planning
Sleepless nights, sick children, stressful, long days with husbands away for work… stay at home mothers, working mothers, single mothers… mothers of many or mothers of none. No matter what your situation looks like, motherhood is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Our days are always full!
What does your planning look like? Are you an organized busy bee, or the messy, disorganized type? Do you like pencilling every single appointment down and planning every meal, or do you just improvise day by day? What does your planner look like? Is it full of lists, tasks, and goals to reach, or little notes taken at random as you go?
However full or empty a Catholic Mother Planner may be, its purpose is to allow mothers to stay in tune with the liturgical year, to bring them a little weekly encouragement, to share pearls of wisdom from the Church, and to help mothers joyfully fulfill their daily tasks.
No matter how well organized—or terribly disorganized—one may be, here’s some advice from the Saints to remember before getting stuck in the process of planning:
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
“Let go of your plans. The first hour of the morning belongs to God. Tackle the day’s work that he charges you with, and He will give you the power to accomplish it.”
St. Mary MacKillop
“We must often feel weary and tired yet God brings us through all these things.”
St. Ignatius of Loyola
“If God sends you many sufferings it is a sign that He has great plans for you, and certainly wants to make you a saint.”
St. Francis de Sales
“Do not fear what may happen tomorrow. The same loving Father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.”
St. Edith Stein
“Lay all your cares about the future trustingly in God’s hands, and let yourself be guided by the Lord just like a little child.”
St. Gianna Molla
“The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day.”
St. John Bosco
“God will provide.”
St. Faustina
“A humble soul does not trust itself, but places all its confidence in God.”
Pope St. John Paul II
“The Eucharist is the secret of my day. It gives strength and meaning to all my activities of service to the Church and to the world.”
St. Mother Teresa
“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.”
St. Thérèse of Lisieux
“Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be – and becoming that person.”
Venerable Fulton Sheen
“You will never be happy if your happiness depends on getting solely what you want. Change the focus. Get a new center. Will what God wills, and your joy no man shall take from you.”
The community of saints is watching over us, never ceasing to intercede for us. It comes to remind mankind that in all our planning, we should make sure that our trust is placed in God and our efforts point others to Heaven.
God wants to make us holy where we are. If we truly believe and abandon ourselves to his will, we too one day will share in the heavenly banquet together with the Saints who have gone before us.,
So, when planning this year, make sure to entrust your week to the Lord, because there is no such a thing as a perfect way to plan. Unforeseen situations will come our way, and schedules will be broken, whether accidentally or purposely. Unexpected expenses will need to be noted down, and joyful events marked or colorfully recorded. But those who stay in the plan of God will never be shaken, because they will find strength in the Lord, and refuge for all the days of their life.
Plan your days with the focus on God!
The ideal planner to help busy Catholics stay organized and keep the important thing at the center—their faith.
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Chiara Finaldi is a wife, mother of seven, and blogger from London, England. She grew up on the Mediterranean island of Sicily in Italy and moved to England after marrying in1999.
Founded the Catholic Mothers Apostolate in 2015. Published her first big publishing project the ‘Catholic Mothers Planner 2019’ in 2018.
She enjoys ‘wasting’ time with her husband and their 7 children and delights in the gift of an enormous extended family where music and good food is never lacking.