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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.
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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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A New One in the Fold

Our son is baptized!

We’ve got a brand-new Catholic at our house!

Blaise was baptized yesterday afternoon at our parish, along with three other babies.  It was a joyous occasion.  Both sets of the baby’s grandparents and all but one of his aunts and uncles were there, plus his godparents who are some dear friends of ours who live a few states away.

When I was still young enough that all religious ceremonies seemed boring, I remember thinking that the one good thing about the rite of baptism was that at least it was fairly short.

That’s not true at our parish, where the entire rite - including music, the deacon’s homily, and some extra prayers - takes close to an hour.  As a kid I would have found this tedious, and I think some of the children there did.  But as an adult, celebrating my precious baby son’s reception into the Catholic Church, I drank in every word.

I found myself tearing up as we prayed over Blaise’s ears and mouth, that he might hear the Word of God and proclaim it.  After he’d been baptized and anointed with chrism, the tiny snow-white baptismal stole wrapped around his shoulders, I couldn’t stop grinning!

It is both incredible and daunting to know that as his parents we have a huge responsibility to help our son learn to serve God throughout his life.  I expect there will be times when it’s very difficult for us to do that job, and I pray that God will give us the grace to get through them.

At this moment, though, I’m simply joyous at the thought that little Blaise is beginning his life as a Christian.  For him, this is the start of the road, and it’s very good place to be!


Comments

Page 1 of 1 pages

 

Congratulations!!

 

I found myself tearing up almost the whole time, too!  It was so beautiful!

 

CONGRATS!!! What a JOYOUS occasion!! Welcome Blaise!!!

God Bless you all!!

 

Beautiful!  At my current parish, baptisms are not part of Sunday mass - and it sounds like Blaise’s wasn’t either?  Is that common?  I kind of wish that it was - the community ought to be there to welcome the newest member, or some such.

 

At our parish, if you want to have a Baptism during Mass, you must request it.  We had our baby Baptized on the Baptism of Our Lord during Mass, and the last Baptism we saw during Mass was 2 years ago for my other son.  Monsignor Cariglio always does such a beautiful job of personalizing the Mass, I felt like the day was designed to baptize my baby.  He makes several references to the patron saints (first and middle names), the parents and Godparents walk with the baby in the beginning procession, he blesses the family at the altar near the end of Mass, he has the parents hold the baby up high near the end of Mass to the congregation and welcomes the baby to the church, and he even let the congregation know we were using a family gown. One cannot help to feel God so close through this experience that he offers us.

 

Congratulations! Does he still smell like the chrism? I always hate to wash off that beautiful smell.

 

Thank you all for your good wishes!

And yes, Blaise does still smell like chrism!  I love smelling the top of his head and being reminded that my little son is a new creation in Christ.

 

Congratulations! My most recent was Baptized on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and it was just us (our Priest was doing us a favor since all family is out of town and lots were in town then), but still the full ceremony. I too was just about in tears the whole time. I think Baptism is the most beautiful, special, intimate Sacrament we have been given (OK, maybe marriage comes close too but it’s tough to realize it at the time with everyone looking at you during the whole thing). I like to make little prayer-card sized laminated cards of the photos of my four children as they are beigng Baptized to remind me of how filled with awe I was at that moment. I print a prayer to their patron Saint or other prayer that reminds me of them on the back. It helps to reflect on that great image when the little angel wakes you up every two hours the following night to nurse because he’s going through a growth spurt smile

 

This made me grin just reading it!

What a wonderful and faithful mother you are, Arwen!  Blaise and Camilla are so blessed. smile

 

Welcome to the Body of Christ, Blaise!!!

 

Hooray - and welcome Blaise!  Congratulations on this special event in your lives!

 

Congratulations! I love that chrism smell, too! And I tear up at baptisms. I still so strongly remember the deacon at my son’s baptism saying, “I claim you for Jesus Christ.” It was so powerful!

 

Just wait until it’s time for Blaise’s first communion!  Oh what a blessed event that is too! I cried at each of my children’s sacraments.

 

Dear Arwen… your words and actions restore hope against the many situations we face in the Church where these liturgical celebrations are not that meaningful to the participants—and for far too many, it’s a short ceremony on the way to Denny’s or someplace for breakfast.

I didn’t read or don’t know what prompted the name Blaise—but before moving to AZ, I had 3 (Three!) operations on one vocal chord… so I’m not unfamiliar with praying to Blaise for help.

May your son Blaise give words to the Gospel in the lives of many…

Your column makes me wish I had been there to pray with and celebrate the new Catholic.

Blessings. Congratulations. And prayers!

dt

 

Congratulations, and welcome, Blaise!  What a wonderful celebration!  I’m pregnant with my first (due in August), and I’m already looking forward to our baby’s Baptism!


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