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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.
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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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Previous Mom Memory Home Therefore, I Always Make Perfect Sense Next

Running on Empty

Fatigue begins to set in - emotionally and physically

Posted by Lisa Hendey in Health on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 7:00 PM

Despite my determined attitude, the realities of having been diagnosed with and being treated for breast cancer have begun to sunk in a bit this week.

First off, let me reiterate that blessedly my battle is relatively simple since mine was caught so early through a mammogram - I had surgery and am now going through 7 weeks of daily radiation, but no chemo, so I’m one of the lucky ones!  I’m in good shape physically and have every confidence that all will be well following my treatment, so I’m not having any undue anxiety about my own health.

But life feels a bit topsy turvy this week even though I am not feeling physically sick.  One of the most difficult parts of this whole situation is going to the Cancer Center every day, where I am surrounded by men, women and - very sadly - children who are very ill.  Every day, I walk in feeling positive and walk out feeling sad.  Every day, I meet a new “cancer friend” with a new story and my heart breaks for most of them.

The hardest situations to accept and to process emotionally are the children who are ill.  A few days this week, a young boy name “Ozzie” followed me on the treatment table.  I think Ozzie is likely around ten, and he comes to the center transported by ambulance and accompanied by a mom who looks like her heart is breaking.  Every time I see him, I give him a smile, say hello, and let him know I am praying for him - what I really feel like doing when I see Ozzie and his mom is crying my heart out.  As a mother, I would much rather face illness any day than see one of my children go through something like battling cancer.  I’m sure Ozzie’s mom feels the same.

So every day, when I am on the table, I pray for whoever has crossed my path in the waiting room.  It feels like a drop in the bucket of the miracles that most of them probably need, and St. Peregrine is likely tiring of hearing from me - but at least it feels like I’m doing something to help.

My inability to cope with the pain of others is likely why I’d make a terrible social worker or physician.  It’s dragging me down a bit emotionally, so I’m asking all of you today to carry this weight with me and to pray for all of those families coping with pain, illness and loss.  Together, we can lift them in prayer and maybe that will make the burden they bear just a tiny bit lighter.

Comments
9
Filed under breast cancer, children, intercessory prayer, prayer

Comments

Page 1 of 1 pages

 
Posted by Therese on Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009 9:30 PM (EDT):

As a fellow cancer patient, I understand how you feel.  Each of us has a cross to carry and often it is hard to understand the “why” part of carrying those crosses.  I once read a book titled, “It’s Not About Me”.  I learned a lot from reading it and gained the perspective that sometimes we are given crosses to carry, not for ourselves, but for others.  Perhaps that is why you have been asked to carry this cross of cancer right now…those people at the cancer center now have more prayers then they would have had if you had not crossed their paths.  So go each day and keep praying each day and know that you are touching lives that Christ, Himself, has called you to touch.  God bless you!

 
Posted by KatieButler on Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009 9:43 PM (EDT):

Prayers as you continue your treatment, and prayers for all those affected by this devastating disease.

 
Posted by Suzi Lunt on Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009 10:09 PM (EDT):

Lisa:  I love to read your posts, but I don’t always have the opportunity to do so.  However, how touching are your moments in the day as you bring Christ to others just in your very presence.  You will be in my prayers and those you cross paths with.

 
Posted by Tracyl on Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009 10:55 PM (EDT):

Lisa, I will gladly help you carry that cross…adding those YOU are seeing each treatment day (Ozzie & the like) to my prayers as well, dear friend. Please know that you are helping by “sharing this experience”, bringing awareness to some of us who may have it in our own future, or the future of someone we love. My thanks to you.

 
Posted by Lisa Hendey on Thursday, Jan 15, 2009 12:28 AM (EDT):

Thanks guys…it’s tough to share a post like this that is not as upbeat as I hope to be, but for some reason I felt very prompted to share with you what’s going on in my brain these days.  It’s good to have so much kind support and encouragement, and so many wonderful friends.  But it’s GREAT to know that all of you will join me in praying for those in need of healing!  My friend Deacon Tom Fox has talked about being an intercessory prayer warrior - that’s what I want to learn to be better at through this experience.

 
Posted by Nicole on Thursday, Jan 15, 2009 2:30 AM (EDT):

God bless you, Lisa, and all who cross your path.

 
Posted by meg on Thursday, Jan 15, 2009 8:06 AM (EDT):

We know another family going throught the same thing right now and pray for them daily. We will add your family and the families of all those enduring this kind of suffering to our prayers. God Bless you.

 
Posted by Karen on Thursday, Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM (EDT):

Praying for all your ‘cancer friends’ and you.
It is good that you are being honest with yourself and seeking support. What you are doing is HARD and scary and so, so sad. My mom had cancer buddies at radiation too including two nuns ( breast cancer higher incidence amoung nuns then the rest of the female population).

Let me take this opportunity to send some Faith and Family readers to an incredible site:

http://www.chemoangels.com

I found them after my mother completed treatment for BC in 2001. It is an amazing organization and incredible opportunity to be a light to cancer patient during the dark days of chemo.

 
Posted by Erin on Tuesday, Jan 20, 2009 3:18 PM (EDT):

Thanks, once again, for making me cry at work smile


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