Tag: Lent

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oh boy, Lent is soooo much work

It’s just plain easier to be a sinner. It ends rather poorly, so I’m motivated to make some life-changing…um, changes. It’s not easy, but I need to start somewhere, and the Corporal Works of Mercy seem a good fit for me this year.

There’s a lot to be said for getting ideas for Lent from the internet pit stops I make throughout my day. It’s like a giant spiritual smorgasbord, and I get to fill my plate with the tastiest looking, yummiest selections.

I’m happy to read these posts and make plans for implementing new practices on Ash Wednesday. Yet, I have to honestly ask myself why I need to wait until Ash Wednesday, or more precisely, why I think I should set a particular date to begin working on my redemption.

It’s like New Year’s resolutions. If I wait until January to start a diet, am I going to eat cheesecake every day for the next ten months?

Sounds sinfully appealing.

In today’s busy world, where we are pulled by our responsibilities to family, work, friends, and all the extra things we find piled on our plates, it’s probably not a bad idea to prayerfully discern a particular course for Lent. Why not get ideas from people who’ve managed to make it work, or managed to articulate it in a manner we can comprehend and apply.

So I give you my own idea. I hope you go read about it here.

Pat Gohn invited me to guest post at her column, A Word in Season, at the Catholic Portal at Patheos.com. Check out Pat’s work and all the other great writers at the Catholic Portal.

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I stink at Lent, so I suppose I need to embrace it

I’m enjoying a stay-at-home day, which essentially means nothing … same thing, different setting. But I had trouble sitting down at my desk to get some work done because the clutter in my home office is just, frankly, out of control. It’s the dumping ground for all papers and things of “value” that don’t get pitched when the house is straightened. You know, the items one looks at, thinks they’re important, but not important enough to address at the moment.

My desk is a depository for important stuff that is soooo important, the dates have expired, passed me by, and become irrelevent. Yeah, because that’s useful.

A couple of years ago I joined Fly Lady and decluttered my life. Satisfied that I had been effective, I slipped back into my careless ways, which of course brings me to today and a stack of, let’s be honest, crap that has settled into piles all around me.

Don’t get too judgmental, the living room looks nice.

But here’s the problem: that’s external. It’s what a casual guest would see. The truth of my existence lies behind closed doors.

A little like my spiritual life? Hmm. How about a lot like my spiritual life. Oh sure, I say the right things, go to church, give alms to the poor. In public. What am I doing in private? I’m afraid it looks like my office — dusty and not at all conducive to any kind of healthy prayer life. Gotta dust in there, too.

So here’s the plan. I’m going to declutter my body and soul. I’m going to do the 40 Trash Bag Challenge, renewed this year over at Faith & Family (read Danielle Bean’s post here) to declutter my house.

And then, I’m going to do that other challenge, you know, Lent. That one’s a little tougher. I’m usually better with a physical challenge, so I’m going to go on a spiritual diet. A change in my praying habits. If I can find 30 minutes a day to dump the clutter in my life, I need to find 30 minutes a day to fill that void with something healthy.

What that is yet, I don’t know, but I’m sure I’ll think of something. Rest assured it’s going to start with the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  The point is, I’m going to be exhaling the toxic waste, and inhaling the fresh air.

Join me?

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The Incredible Rosary Army Reverse Giving Campaign! Yay!

So once upon a time I was a pretty lukewarm Catholic. Tepid. Neither hot nor cold. Worse than a pizza slice that has been sitting out and congealing. Then, through a series of incredible events culminating in my joining Rosary Army and becoming a rosary-making machine (now I also teach people at the Eucharistic Congress), I have found peace and ….well peace. That’s a good thing in today’s world.

I challenge you to check out this fun and very important (really…you never know who needs this) activity that Rosary Army has masterminded! Yes! Instead of asking YOU to send in money, we are sending YOU rosaries to give away! You can send us money, too, but that’s not what this is about.

It has also inspired me to start blogging, so this little piece, translated from the original Spanish, speaks to my conversion.

The Holy Rosary

It’s been a while since I reflect on the graces that I have received by praying the rosary but find that today, on a day that celebrates saying yes to life and to God’s gift of that life through the Walk for Life, I am reminded of those graces, and how they embolden, strengthen, and often console us.

I could say that the rosary changed my life. Perhaps better said, it saved my life. My faith and prayer life had been a lukewarm challenge for more years than it has been on fire for the Lord. So much of that time was spent longing for a better relationship, but not really knowing how to proceed.

It’s kind of like when I was in school and I could see the groups of kids doing really neat things, and I knew that they probably would welcome me to join them, but it was me, shy and feeling awkward, that stood back and didn’t initiate the friendship.

God is like that, I think. He longs for a relationship with me as much as I seek Him. But it is my weakness, my shyness, and sometimes those feelings of inadequacy in not knowing how to pray or what to say that held me back.

By coincidence (are there really coincidences or just opportunities to really see God’s hand in our lives?) at about the same time I was looking for a way to learn to pray, my oldest daughter experienced a retreat where she learned to make all-twine rosaries. She came home excited about the weekend and gave me that rosary as a gift. Her excitement was contagious. You see, the teens learned to make rosaries with the idea that they should pray them after making them, and then pass them on to someone else who would catch the wave.* [more… ]

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