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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
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  • 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
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  • 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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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 …
Read My Posts

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. …
Read My Posts

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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App Updates

If you're a lucky iPhone owner, check out these new applications!

Posted by Lisa Hendey in Just me on Tuesday, March 02, 2010

There has been a good deal of buzz in the Catholic blogosphere in the past few weeks about Catholic iPhone apps.  I thought I’d give you a little laundry list of iPhone updates and invite you to share again about new ones you’ve discovered since we last took up this topic.

*  First official Vatican sponsored app - News here of the coming-soon Vatican Observatory app featuring reflections by Rev. Michael... READ MORE 

Comments
17
Filed under faith, iphone apps, saints, technology

How Much Must I Believe?

Ask a Priest vol. 7

Posted by Fr. John Bartunek, LC in Faith on Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Q: Do I have to believe “everything” to identify myself as Catholic?

A: I read the conversation that followed this question at Faith & Family Connect, and once again I was impressed by the honesty, wisdom, and compassion so evident in exchanges here at the Faith and Family online community.  I had two thoughts that may be of use to those who are following this conversation.

The World around Us

First,... READ MORE 

Comments
3
Filed under belief, doubt, faith, sin, temptation

Giveaway: Wear Your Faith!

Enter to win cool Catholic apparel

Posted by Danielle Bean in Reviews on Monday, February 15, 2010

UPDATE: Giveaway is over and comments are now closed. I will announce winners on the blog shortly.

Faith Shines is a small Catholic company that creates faith-inspired apparel.

I really like how the Faith Shine t-shirts and sweatshirts are pretty, faithful, and ... subtle.

Black t-shirts with bold Catholic slogans have their place—on the backs of Catholic teens’ perhaps. But these faith-inspired... READ MORE 

Comments
234
Filed under clothing, faith, free, giveaway, style, t-shirt

My Husband Doesn't Share My Passion for My Faith

Ask a Priest vol. 5

Posted by Fr. John Bartunek, LC in Faith on Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Q: My husband and I have been married for 18 years. Though he is Catholic and attends Mass weekly, I think I take my faith more seriously than he does. I say “think” because he doesn’t like to talk much about his faith. He also does not like to pray with me. I don’t want to cause trouble, but this makes me sad.  I feel like we could grow closer to God and to each other if we shared our faith more. ... READ MORE 

Comments
5
Filed under advice, faith, holiness, husband, marriage, prayer, spouse

The Other Vocation Crisis

Posted by Rebecca Teti in Marriage on Tuesday, January 26, 2010

“Priest shortage.”

That’s what usually comes to mind when we hear the term “vocations crisis.”

In an interview last summer, however, New York’s Archbishop Dolan said the real vocation crisis in our country is in matrimony, not holy orders.

Take care of matrimony, he said, and there will be no shortage of priests and religious.

It is a truism of spirituality that marriage and consecrated life are bound together such that what harms one harms the other.
And vice versa.

Last fall, spurred on by what they see as far too many people who don’t really understand what marriage is—“either as a natural institution or a Christian sacrament”—the bishops of the United States released a pastoral letter on that topic.

Read Marriage: Love & Life in the Divine Plan here.

Comments
5
Filed under bishops, divine plan, encyclical letter, faith, love and life, marriage, matrimony, sacrament, vocations

Love Among The Ruins

a rescue in Haiti

Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Wednesday, January 20, 2010

In the midst of all the devastating stories from Haiti, a rescue—and a story of faith, hope and love.

(With a polite nod to Ann Althouse.)

 

Comments
3
Filed under courage, faith, haiti, hope, love, rescues, witness

How Can a Catholic Mom Find Good Friends?

Ask a Priest vol. 1

Posted by Fr. John Bartunek, LC in Faith on Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Q: How do you recommend we interact with fellow Catholics who blatantly disregard the churches teachings on contraception or other major teaching of the Church? I feel lately like I would rather associate with non-Catholic moms than ones who call themselves Catholic but then don’t go to Mass or make me feel uncomfortable for being pregnant with my 5th in 6 years. I am just new to my community and... READ MORE 

Comments
19
Filed under advice, ask a priest, encouragement, faith, friends, moms, support

As We Forgive

Posted by Rebecca Teti in Reviews on Saturday, December 19, 2009

I know there are many Immaculee Ilibagizafans here, so this may interest you.

Here’s the trailer for a forthcoming documentary on the reconciliation process in Rwanda.

Reviewer Tabitha Blanski explains a bit more about the film.

In less than 100 days, nearly one million people were murdered and tens of thousands were responsible for these deaths….Genocide destroyed Rwanda—socially, economically,... READ MORE 

Comments
1
Filed under as we forgive, blanski, faith, forgiveness, genocide, immaculee, rwanda

In Over My Head

Fashion Friday vol. 6

Posted by Hallie Lord in Reviews on Friday, December 11, 2009

Hiya girls!

I hope you won’t mind if I tie my second Fashion Friday stocking stuffer suggestion into the slightly more weighty topic of covering one’s head at Mass. Veiling is an issue that’s intrigued me for a long time and I’m eager to hear your experiences with and opinions on the subject.

Over time I’ve learned that if there’s an issue I can’t seem to get off my mind it usually means God is trying... READ MORE 

Comments
64
Filed under church, faith, fashion, head cover, mass, style

Being Like Our Mother

Through God's abundant grace

Posted by Arwen Mosher in Faith on Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Our pastor is an excellent homilist and will often make a point so striking that I wish I had a notebook with me so I could write it down immediately. Then he’ll keep talking and I’ll realize it’s something I’ve known all along, and was simply failing or forgetting to think about in the proper way.

With his homilies he brings the truths of our faith back into focus and helps renew them in our minds... READ MORE 

Comments
7
Filed under faith, grace, homilies, immaculate conception, jesus, mary, perfection, will

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