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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.
11
  • Pray Ask God to make you humble and lowly.
  • Fast Don’t compare or complain. Do compliment.
  • Give Pack a picnic and go somewhere to eat it with your children. If the weather is prohibitive, build a tent in the living room and it eat there. Sit on the ground with them. Be fully present.
12
  • Pray Sometime before bedtime tonight, make time to pray with and for each of your children.
  • Fast Rise a little earlier and bring your husband breakfast in bed. (If it’s too late today, plan for tomorrow).
  • Give Plan a date night.
13
14
  • Pray Give thanks for food, clothes, and shelter. Listen to His plan for stewardship.
  • Fast Clean out the refrigerator today instead of eating lunch. Pull everything out and wipe it all down. As you do it, thank God for the food he provides for your family.
  • Give “We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” -- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
15
  • Pray Before you read or do anything else today, pray this prayer, taken from the writings of St. Louis de Montfort: Lord, help me to imitate Mary's deep humility, lively faith, blind obedience, unceasing prayer, constant self-denial, surpassing purity, ardent love, heroic patience, angelic kindness, and heavenly wisdom. Amen.
  • Fast Give up thinking things have to be perfect.
  • Give As you do laundry today, bless the person for whom you are folding. With every crease, offer a prayer.
16
  • Pray For a few minutes tonight, after your children are sleeping, kneel beside their beds. Let your breath rise and fall with theirs. Entrust them to the Father and thank him for lending them to you.
  • Fast Let go of self-recrimination. “There is still time for endurance, time for patience, time for healing, time for change. Have you slipped? Rise up. Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand among sinners, but leap aside.” -- St. Basil the Great
  • Give Do not say “In a minute” or “When I finish this” at all today. Instead, put aside your agenda and meet their needs (and even some wants) immediately and cheerfully.
17
  • Pray Pray to know how God wants you to spend your time today.
  • Fast Let go of despair and know that God gives you sufficient grace. "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." -- St. Francis of Assisi
  • Give Make sure that every one in your family gets at least one of your hugs today.
18
  • Pray Is there someone who inspires feelings of inferiority in you? Offer a Memorare for her intentions.
  • Fast Refrain from self promotion. “The only way to make rapid progress along the path of divine love is to remain very little and to put all our trust in Almighty God. That is what I have done.” -- St. Therese of Lisieux
  • Give Page through your wedding album with your children today. Remember how loved you felt that day. Love your family well.
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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.
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"Man"ifesto

Says You: can khaki pants resurrect chivalry?

Have you seen the new “wear the pants” ad from Dockers?

A girlfriend gives the ad a big thumbs up.

She posted this, with a link to the ad in question, to her Facebook page:

Last month, in a rare outing without the kids, but still visibly pregnant, I was on a full airport shuttle between the gates and baggage claim. Women, including myself, and elderly folks were standing, some moms were sitting on the floor of the shuttle with kids, yet many men were sitting, some with their suitcases on ...the seats next to them. I texted “Chivalry is dead” to my hubby as I balanced my off-kilter self and luggage between a window and handrail. I could not think of a meaningful way to register my disappointment other than to vow to raise my boys to be genlemen. It seems like Dockers marketers have noticed the same trend. I like this campaign and am off to get the husband, who is a gentleman, some new khakis….

I imagine that is exactly what the company wants by way of reaction.

Nevertheless, predictably, there have been charges of sexism and even homosexual-bashing.

Obviously the main goal of the company is to sell its product; equally obvious is that the ad is meant to amuse.

However, in pitching a product, sales-people try to appeal to a certain audience, so I thought this remark from a Dockers Vice-President for global marketing was interesting.

In an interview with Brandweek she said “sensitivity, chivalry, ambition and decisiveness” are on her wish list for the traits of “the modern idea of a man.” The new promos hopefully will “inspire today’s men to be men,” she said.

She clearly believes there is an untapped market in “manliness” out there. It will be interesting to see if she is right.

Here is the full text.

Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well.  Women rarely had to open doors and little old ladies never crossed the street alone.  Men took charge because that’s what they did.  But somewhere along the way, the world decided it no longer needed men.  Disco by disco, latte by foamy non-fat latte, men were stripped of their khaki’s and left stranded on the road between boyhood and androgyny.  But today, there are questions our genderless society has no answers for.  The world sits idly by and cities crumble, children misbehave and those little old ladies remain on one side of the street.  For the first time since bad guys, we need heroes.  We need grown-ups.  We need men to put down the plastic fork, step away from the salad bar and untie the world from the tracks of complacency.  It’s time to get your hands dirty.  It’s time to answer the call of manhood.  It’s time to wear the pants.

Says you: does the ad appeal to you? How effective would you expect it to be? And are you, like my Facebook friend, craving a return to chivalry?


Comments

Page 1 of 1 pages

 

Most men wouldn’t read the ad anyway.

 

I like it! I think the ad is very clever, and the concept appeals to men as well as traditional women who might be buying pants for their husbands.

 

Return to chivalry? YES!!!!! Does that ad appeal to me? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I were living in the US right now, I would be buying my husband dockers khakis!!!! Go out and buy them, ladies! Let’s support this notion….for our sons!!!

Just my 2 pence….from the UK.

 

my husband has always worn khakis (usually Duck Head) and our boys do too. My older boy wears his with his black t-shirts.

 

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Dockers! This ad totally appeals to me and would also appeal to my husband and definitely makes me want to buy him a pair of pants. I am so sick and tired of struggling to open doors with a big double stroller and three kids with me and seeing “men” just idly watching me struggle and doing nothing about it (yes, this actually happened a few months ago). I am making darn sure that my boys know how to treat a lady and how to act like a gentleman.

 

Awesome doesn’t even begin to describe this ad.  Love it! smile

 

Love it! Now I know what I’ll buy my husband for Christmas.  Great campaign.

 

Genius! Love it!!

 

Interesting that Dockers is running this ad.  My husband starting boycotting the Levi company after they withdrew their support from the Boy Scouts of America due to the BSA not allowing homosexual leaders….
That said, I really do like the sentiment in the ad.

 

The Levi Company, which makes Dockers, actually is on the Life Decisions International boycott list because they financially support Planned Parenthood.  BUYERS BEWARE!

 

A great ad!  I agree that it would be read by mainly women who buy pants for their husbands.

My husband is very good about being chivalrous.  He always holds open doors for me and others, and pulls my chair out for me at the table (at home and out).  In fact, just this weekend at a restaurant, an older gentleman stopped by our table to thank my husband for holding my chair out for me before I sat down.  “You don’t see that anymore!” the man said. It was a cute moment.

 

I like Dockers and most of my husband’s pants are dockers. If he needed more pants I’d go out and purchase some for him but since he wears his uniform to work and only wears his pants at home or on his days off, he doesn’t need a ton.

I agree completely that we need more chivalry in this world. But, I have seen more and more of it coming back, so maybe there is hope smile

 

It’s a clever ad and I like their statement, but to be honest it wouldn’t make me go out and buy them because my brain sends off alarms when it sees ads like this. “Alert! They’re just trying to make money by playing to your traditional values” and “they’re only trying to change the amount in their bank account and not your moral culture”.

I know wonderful, manly, chivalrous men that wear anything from 20 year old overalls to dockers to baggy jeans with chain to tights and pumpkin pants on a regular basis.

I’d say lets stop the focus on what a man is wearing and more on what he is doing.

Like I said, it’s a nice ad campaign and if it were actually trying to change something rather than just sell pants, I’d be all for it.

 

Love It! And, since my husband is probably in their target market it makes sense the ad is appealing to me, my DH hasn’t bought himself a pair of pants (or any other clothing) in 15 years smile

 

I am so glad I am not the only one whose husband won’t buy himself new clothes. He needed new socks and in order to get them I have to start throwing them away…it was only when he was down to like 1 or 2 pairs that he let me go get him new socks.

 

Danielle, T., you remind me of an old bluegrass husband/wife duet that opens,

He: “I’m gonna wear the pants…”
She: “... I’m gonna tell you which pair to wear.”

Listen to it here. http://tinyurl.com/y92z7x5

 

Not a big fan ! First of all, it kills me how women want equality( or more) in the work place and everywhere else and are more than willing to do what it takes to get it but the moment that it’s not covenant for them ( like when they want a seat or someone to hold their door open for them) they expect men to know the difference. Come on ladies…. We can’t have it both ways !  Women’s libbers are the reason for the decline of chivalry so instead of blaming the men maybe we should take a good hard look at ourselves

 

I think this is more of a call to men to act like chivalrous men-and for women to allow it.  I think it may help women start redefining liberation.

 

I understand your frustration, but I have to say even if a woman wants the ability to make a living in order to support her self or her family if she chooses or if its necessary to be part of the workforce, receiving equal legal rights, having access to the education she desires, etc. doesn’t mean she wants to give up aspects of common courtesy.  While I agree that certain “waves” of feminism are extreme when approaching aspects of courtesy, etc., most of us want what I listed above, but still want to be women and for men to be decent, courteous men.

 

I disagree…..  when you say “even if a woman wants the ability to make a living in order to support her self or her family if she chooses or if its necessary to be part of the workforce, receiving equal legal rights, having access to the education she desires, etc. doesn’t mean she wants to give up aspects of common courtesy. ” I hear I want it all ! I will do what it takes to get to the top and if that means stepping on you” the man who supports your family” then so be it…. but yet you owe me courteousy, because though I want what I want, I also don’t want to give up what I don’t want to give up ! Again In my humble opinion…..... You can’t have it both ways ! If you can be a man’s equal in the work place, at school, or when you want to, you can’t expect to be the poor defenseless damsel in distress when your feet hurt and you want a seat that is taken up by a man ! Gee wizz, do you ladies really not get this? I really am not trying to be rude… nor am I speaking out of frustration but I see women seeking counseling every day who think that they are entitled to “it all” and the truth is that Men are people too and if women choose to compete in the man’s world, they must not expect preferential treatment or any coutrousy that is not extended to another man.  There is a flip side to every coin.

 

I agree, Molly…. Diane, would you hold a door open for a man who was struggling with a baby stroller, 2 kids, and some shopping bags?  Of course!! So why shouldn’t we expect a man to do the same for us?  Just because “we” (women in general) want equal rights and all that stuff, it doesn’t mean we should just ignore common courtesy.  At 39.5 weeks pregnant, I stood in a restaurant lobby waiting for my seat for 45 minutes and not one single person offered up their seat.  Would I give up my seat for an elderly or disabled man (the only thing i can compare to being 2 days away from delivering a baby)? of course I would… its about common courtesy and respect; and quite frankly I think you’re reading into this wayyy too much.

 

I like it. It clear and concise and, while not enumerating all of the manly virtues, it does make a call to bring back manhood from its nerfed reality in our society. It certainly makes me think more favorably of Dockers.

 

Love it! I think I might send this to my Women’s Studies teacher and see what she thinks.  The classes I took were all about gender-neutral everything - making everything completely equal for men and women. Just had to go “become a fan” on facebook =)

 

After years of mainstream media bashing manliness it’s nice to see someone praise it!

 

I really like the fact that someone out there is brave enough to try to shake up our complacent acceptance of current cultural/gender sloppiness. Even if it is for retail purposes.  Women need to go back to being ladies with dignity, self-respect, and use our feminine intelligence rather than acting like attention seeking, immodest, overly vain harlots and know it alls. Men need to be chivalrous, protective, and wise gentlemen, cultivating the finer levels of their minds rather than foul mouthed, sex-drooling, crude neanderthals who belch beer and laugh at farting.  And we all need to be kinder, gentler, more refined. More Godly, all of us. The line “we need more grown-ups” says it all.

 

I love, LOVE this campaign and wrote to the company to say so.  I’m sure they’re getting negativity over it as well, but it was still nice to see them go out on a limb with it.

 

I love this. It’s really amazing what happens to you as a woman when you start acting like a lady and treating your man like a man. They start acting like men. As a former feminist and career centered woman turned housewife and full time Mom, I have been amazed at the change in myself and the level of happiness and peace that exists in my house with the return of gender rolls. I was afraid that my husband would not respect the work that I do and that our family would fall apart if we made the changes that we made (because that’s what I was told would happen). However, instead of that happening my husband not only has much more pride in his work but respects for the amount and quality of my work.

 

This ad campaign is rather insulting to men IMHO. There may be a group of effeminate men who match the description above, but men have never ceased protecting society as firemen, policemen, and military members. They have not ran away from the most dangerous jobs necessary to keep our civilization afloat: coal miners, garbage men, construction workers, factory workers, farmers, and the men who do “dirty jobs” like the ones on Mike Rowe’s show. These men are heroes and they allow the rest of us to live civilized lives…and to have the opportunity to buy and wear Dockers. The men who handle the yuck and most danger of society don’t wear khakis; they wear rough and tough uniforms of some kind. wink

Rather than thank men for their massive contributions to society, this ad and much of the talk surrounding the campaign on the net, bemoans the fact men at large aren’t giving women what they want in the form of the door opening sort of chivalry. All while men account for the bulk of workplace deaths (in many of the dangerous jobs I mentioned above) and the vast majority of war causalities, both in injuries and loss of life. With this in mind, men still obviously “provide and protect”  for society. Maybe it’s time for everybody to step back from their own complacency and look around to see what men have actually been doing. This ad is not a ploy to attract those with conservative values so much as an ad to promote their product as a special sign of masculinity around those who need to purchase a product to feel like men.

 

Totally love it! My husband does too. I pray that next we will see husbands and fathers respected on sitcoms and in society.

 

Like it…‘nuff said.

 

Me at a homeschooling conference in a large hotel. Baby in arms, toddler in stroller, 4 children following closely by. Can’t take the stairs so we head to the elevator where we wait patiently for the doors to open and take us down. Nearby conference room door opens, six well-dressed men in suits appear, elevator door opens, they zip passed me and into the elevator before I can push the stroller forward. One suited boor hesitates, shrugs and smiles with just a tinge of embarrassment. I give a quick audible lesson to my young sons about gentlemanly behavior, doors close.

 

Good on you Rachel
I have to admit that as a retired male, ladies in Scotland often offer to allow me on to the bus before them.
It’s called “loving your neighbour as yourself.”
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas with the dads or DHs all giving a hand, ladies.

 

My late husband and I struggled with this one in the 1980s and it’s been fun watching my son and DIL still trying to figure out the balance between equality and good manners.

They finally compromised on more or less the same strategy that W and I did.  “Whoever has a free hand gets the door, but he pulls out the chair/does the coat holding thing when it’s a sit down meal.”  And they both offer up seats to elders and say “sir and m’am”.  Not sure if that last is a Marine thing (they met when they were both on active duty), or a ‘southern raised’ thing or maybe a bit of both.

One of the many things that I hate about widowhood it that there isn’t anyone to give me those little courtesies any more.

 

The only problem is that Dockers are made by Levis and Levis are on the pro-life boycott list for their ties to Planned Parenthood. 

I do like the ad, but I still won’t buy the pants.


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