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Daily Lenten Meditations

«  March 2010  »

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
  • Pray Light a candle. Every time you pass that candle today, offer a prayer of thanks. Don’t ask for anything. Just thank him.
  • Fast Don’t cut corners. Even if no one will know, complete today’s work thoroughly.
  • Give Touch is a powerful thing. Make an effort today to touch your children: a hug, a shoulder rub, a tousled head -- especially the bigger ones
1
  • Pray Make five minutes in the morning, at midday and in the evening to be still, silent, and alone, only asking God to infuse your soul with his will.
  • Fast No noise today. Turn off the TV, the radio, the iPod. Find God in the silence.
  • Give Pay particular unsolicited attention to your least demanding child today.
2
  • Pray Begin a gratitude journal. At the end of the day, jot down five things for which you are grateful. Think upon these things.
  • Fast Remember the first time you had a moment alone with your first child. What did you promise him? Do that. Be that.
  • Give We can only expect what we inspect. For every task you assign today, follow through and before it’s truly finished ensure that there is praise from you.
3
  • Pray “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me." -- John 10:27
  • Fast Every time a child interrupts you today, stop what you are doing and look into his eyes as he talks.
  • Give “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” -- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Speak kindly all day long.
4
  • Pray Ask God to show you how weak and small you are. Open your heart to see it.
  • Fast Don’t argue today. As much as possible give up, give in, give way.
  • Give When you are tempted to put on the TV for kids today, pull out a stack of favorite picture books instead. Invite the kids to join you on the couch.
5
  • Pray Take a walk, even if it’s cold or raining. Leave your iPod at home.
  • Fast Think of someone whose life you are tempted to envy and then choke out these words: Thank you, God, for the blessings you have given to X. Help me to see my own.
  • Give Think about the kind of person your husband married. Be that person for him today.
6
7
  • Pray "Love consumes us only in the measure of our self-surrender." -- St. Therese of Lisieux
  • Fast As you go about your daily routine today, remember that you are expecting someone very important for dinner tonight. Together with your children, work towards your husband’s homecoming as if you were expecting to welcome a king back to his castle.
  • Give “You can do nothing with children unless you win their confidence and love by bringing them into touch with oneself, by breaking through all the hindrances that keep them at a distance. We must accommodate ourselves to their tastes, we must make ourselves like them.” -- St. John Bosco
8
  • Pray Take this quote to prayer today and listen to God’s answer: “Real love is demanding. I would fail in my mission if I did not tell you so. Love demands a personal commitment to the will of God.” -- John Paul II
  • Fast Stop looking for encouragement and approval. Genuinely encourage and affirm someone else instead.
  • Give Let your child choose a huge stack of picture books (use that word “huge” when you ask her to gather them). Read them all to her today.
9
  • Pray Persevere. “He who does not give up prayer cannot possibly continue to offend God habitually. Either he will give up prayer, or he will give up sinning.” -- St. Alphonsus Liguori
  • Fast Don’t forget that the only pedestal you need ever stand on, is the one your husband and children build for you.
  • Give Focus on your home today. The world can find another volunteer, but your husband and children have only you.
10
  • Pray Insist on quiet from all your children during naptime today. Pray the Divine Mercy chaplet.
  • Fast We’re half way through. Compare yourself now only to yourself when Lent began. Tweak the plan.
  • Give Reach out to a local friend today. Reconnect.
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Bloggers

Meet the Faith & Family bloggers. We invite you to join us in encouraging and helping the Faith & Family community grow in faith!

Danielle Bean

Danielle Bean
Danielle Bean, a mother of eight, is Editorial Director of Faith & Family. She is author of My Cup of Tea: Musings of a Catholic Mom (Pauline 2005) and Mom to Mom, Day to Day: Advice and Support for Catholic Living (Pauline 2007). Though she once struggled to separate her life …
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Rachel Balducci

Rachel Balducci
Rachel Balducci is married to Paul and together they are the parents of five lively boys. Besides being a mom, she is also a writer and a newspaper columnist for the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia. For the past four years, she has maintained her personal blog at Testosterhome.net where she …
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Lisa Hendey

Lisa Hendey
Lisa Hendey is the founder and editor of CatholicMom.com, a Catholic web site focusing on the Catholic faith, Catholic parenting and family life, and Catholic cultural topics. Most recently she has authored The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa is also employed as webmaster for her parish web sites. …
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Arwen Mosher

Arwen Mosher
Arwen Mosher lives in southeastern Michigan with her husband Bryan and their young children Camilla and Blaise. She has a bachelor's degree in theology. She dreads laundry, craves sleep, loves to read novels and do logic puzzles, and can't live without tea. Her personal blog site is ABC Family. …
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Rebecca Teti

Rebecca Teti
Rebecca Teti is married to Dennis and has four children (3 boys, 1 girl) who -- like yours no doubt -- are pious and kind, gorgeous, and can spin flax into gold. A Washington, DC, native, she converted to Catholicism while an undergrad at the U. Dallas, where she double-majored in …
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Robyn Lee

Robyn Lee
Robyn Lee is the managing editor of Faith & Family magazine. She is (yikes!) an almost 30 year-old, single lady, living in Connecticut with her two cousins in a small bungalow-style kit house built by her great uncle in the 1950s. She also conveniently lives next door to her sister, brother-in-law …
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Hallie Lord

Hallie Lord
Hallie Lord married her dashing husband, Dan, in the fall of 2001 (the same year, coincidentally, that she joyfully converted to the Catholic faith). They now happily reside in the deep South with their two energetic boys and two very sassy girls. In her *ample* spare time, Hallie enjoys cheap wine, …
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Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Fr John Bartunek, LC, STL, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991. After college he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and …
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Guest Bloggers

Melissa Wiley

Melissa Wiley
Melissa Wiley is a homeschooling mother of six and the author of The Martha Years and The Charlotte Years, two series of books about the ancestors of Laura Ingalls Wilder. She blogs about children’s books, family, and home education at Here in the Bonny Glen.
Read My Posts

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CNMC Words of Wisdom

Enjoy Danielle Bean's terrific talk from Saturday.

As Danielle shared with you on Sunday, she and I were blessed to meet in person this week at the Catholic New Media Celebration organized by SQPN.com.  One of the thrills of the weekend for me was spending time in person with Mrs. Bean, who has long been one of my role models.  Danielle and I have “known” one another online for years, so it was a complete joy to simply “hang out” with her for a few hours as you would with a girlfriend back home.  The night we spent out on the RiverWalk in San Antonio with Sarah Bauer was one of those “pinch me” moments for me - you can believe that God heard a few “thank you” prayers from this Catholic Mom that night!

Over the course of the week, I want to share with you a few of the things I learned at the conference.  As with any intense retreat or meeting experience, there are a cavalcade of emotions that wash over you when you return to the “real world”.  Yes, I felt spoiled the last few days by my own hotel room, dinners out on the town, and time spent in the company of some of my favorite people.  But the real message of this weekend for me starts today, as I re-enter my own personal mission field:  my home, my parish and my community.  How can I take what I learned this weekend about my faith and about the power of new media as a tool for evangelism and apply these things in my own little corner of the world?

As I sat listening to Danielle Bean give a talk entitled “New Media and Your Family”, I said a silent prayer for each mom here at Faith & Family Live.  I wish you could have each been in the audience with me to hear Danielle’s message about the good of all this technology, but also the tremendous responsibility we each have to use it with care so as not to adversely impact our own loved ones or neglect our parental vocations.  We’ve talked in the past here about balance and moderation, and Danielle’s talk perfectly encapsulated this concept for me.  I’m very happy to be able to share with you a video of her presentation, which I know you’ll enjoy.  I’ll be back tomorrow with some additional “pearls” from the conference.



Comments

Page 1 of 1 pages

 

Lisa—THANKS for posting Danielle’s talk here, about New Media and Family. You know, I lost my connection twice as I was listening to Danielle, and bothered to go back and find where I was in her presentation-because I wanted to hear the rest!!  I really enjoyed it! 
    My oldest daughter, who is about to turn 12, just LOVES our family blog, and every time she reads the latest post, or the comments, she says “Reading the blog just makes me more and more excited to have my OWN blog.  I’m so excited, I can’t wait to have one!”  I’ve been trying to work out the logistics in my head, as to how we can give her that, but protect her from even the HEADLINES online. I know it’ll be really tricky supervision tactics, but it just may be worth the joy she’ll get out of it, and the multiple benefits of blogging for her.
  Danielle - If you read this…GREAT presentation.  Lots to think about, and lots to keep in mind. I DO love my media stuff, for all of the reasons you mentioned it’s so good for, but balance really is the key to it all.

 

Laura, I concur that it was an incredible talk - for me one of the best of the day!  My older teens started a blog this summer at http://www.youthfolklore.com and have been having an amazing time with it.  If you’re daughter starts one, be sure to email me so that we can get some tips on how you handled things.

 

Great talk, Danielle. Very thoughtful on all the pros and cons. And to your comment that blogs can help converts see “what does it look like to be a Catholic family”, I say, as a convert: Bingo. That’s it exactly. Thanks too, for opening that window, it’s very helpful!

 

Attended this session.  Of all of the Breakout Sessions at CNMC09, this was my favorite.  I’m relatively new to the SQPN family, but I’m so glad I attended this year’s celebration.  I hope to get to know many of you better over the next year of blogging, and see all of you again at CNMC10!  May God Bless Lisa, Danielle, their families, and all associated with SQPN.


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