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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.
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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 …
Read My Posts

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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Perspective

The importance of this Season

Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Tuesday, December 22, 2009

“Today, as in the time of Jesus, Christmas is not a fairytale for children, but rather God’s answer to the drama of humanity in search of peace. ‘He himself will be peace!’ the prophet says, referring to the Messiah. We are expected to throw open the doors to welcome him. Let us learn from Mary and Joseph: Let us put ourselves at the service of God’s plan with faith. Even if we do not fully understand it, let us entrust ourselves to his wisdom and goodness. Let us first seek the Kingdom of God and Providence will help us. Merry Christmas, everyone!”
—Pope Benedict XVI

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Filed under benedict, children, christmas, peace

Send Christmas Greetings to the Pope

Papal Christmas goes high tech

Posted by Danielle Bean in Just me on Wednesday, December 16, 2009

You might think you got all your Christmas cards written up and sent out, but maybe you left Pope Benedict XVI off your list?

It’s not too late to send the pope your personal greeting for Christmas!

At Pope2You.net, sending a Christmas message to the pope or sending a message to a friend with pope’s greeting takes only a click of your mouse. You can use Flickr to share photos or Facebook to send inspired greetings to all your friends.

What, no twitter?

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Filed under benedict, cards, christmas, greetings, new media, pope

Summer

Posted by Daria Sockey in Season on Thursday, August 06, 2009

Then followed that beautiful season ... Summer ...

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light, and the landscape

Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.


— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Activities for you and your family

Feasts, Traditions … and Fun


July


3 St. Thomas the apostle

­ ­• St. Thomas is the patron of those who have doubts. He was not willing to believe that the... READ MORE 

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Filed under benedict, cooking, faith, family, feasts, fun, summer

Happy Birthday Benedict!

Pope Benedict turns 82 today

Posted by Danielle Bean in News on Thursday, April 16, 2009

Last year, Pope Benedict celebrated his birthday (with this fab cake) here in the U.S., but this year, he is celebrating at the Vatican.

In honor of his 82nd birthday, please take a moment to say a prayer for Pope Benedict today. Our church needs his moral courage and fearless defense of the truth now more than ever.

(You might also like to check out the blogging over at our sister site, NCRegister.com, where they are doing some re-cap of last year’s historic papal visit.)

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3
Filed under benedict, birthdays, pope, prayer

Off To Cameroon

Benedict: "I intend to embrace the whole African continent."

Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Tuesday, March 17, 2009

AP photo

Pope Benedict left Rome early this morning for his pastoral visit to Cameroon and Angola.

At Sunday’s Angelus he told us about his hopes for the trip.

He will deliver the working document for the upcoming African synod, but he also intends to bring a message of peace to war-torn regions, to strengthen the Catholic faithful, to meet with Muslim leaders, to defend religious liberty and to advance respect for human dignity.

Godspeed, Holy Father! And may the visit be abundantly fruitful.

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Filed under africa, angola, benedict, cameroon

The Heart Should Sing

session 18, St. Paul 101

Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Friday, January 16, 2009

REUTERS/Chris Helgren (VATICAN)

This lucky duck got special attention at Wednesday’s Papal Audience, at which the Pope preached on the “twin epistles” of Colossians and Ephesians.

The theme of the lesson this week is Christ as head of the Church, but I have to point out Benedict’s lovely introductory remark.

Noting that in both epistles Paul encourages his flock to sing psalms and hymns of gratitude to the Lord, the Pope invites... READ MORE 

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Filed under audience, benedict, body of the church, christ, st paul 101

True Worship

session 17, St. Paul 101

Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Thursday, January 08, 2009

REUTERS/Tony Gentile (VATICAN)

Welcome back from Christmas break, fellow students! Think these seminarians were happy to see the Pope at his first audience of the new year?

The Pope has a New Year’s Resolution for us all. “Let us renew our determination to open the mind and heart to Christ, to be and live as his true friends. His company will make this year, even with its inevitable difficulties, be a path full of joy and peace.”... READ MORE 

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Filed under audience, benedict, prayer, st paul 101

Beautiful Thought for Today

Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Thursday, January 08, 2009

Only after discovering Jesus do we realize “this is what I was waiting for”.

—Pope Benedict XVI address to young people of Genoa, via Amy

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4
Filed under benedict, jesus

It’s Not Too Good To Be True

a break in the St. Paul 101 seminar

Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Wednesday, December 17, 2008

I can never read this Pope’s preaching without thanking God for sending us such a man.

He has such a lovely soul that pours itself out before us in his teaching. How can we not love a God who can raise up people who can speak to us of God in the way the Pope did at yesterday’s papal audience inaugurating the pre-Christmas novena?

Postponing further audiences on St. Paul until after Christmas, Benedict... READ MORE 

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Filed under advent, audience, benedict, christmas

Corpus, Not Corporation

Session 16, St. Paul 101

Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Thursday, December 11, 2008

REUTERS/Tony Gentile (VATICAN)

Shepherds came to serenade our shepherd on earth at Wednesday’s audience.

Well, bagpipers, anyway.

Picking up from last week’s reflection on Christ as the new Adam and the effects of original sin, the Pope starts right in. We learned from St. Paul last week that all of history is poisoned by sin and that Christ comes to redeem history—or to start it anew.

the question is: how can we enter into this... READ MORE 

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Filed under adam, audience, benedict, st paul 101

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