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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
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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 Pro-Life Prayer

for today and every day

Because today was the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, I went looking for a special pro-life prayer to say. I was very pleased to find a beautiful one, which says it’s adapted from a homily by Pope John Paul II. I know we’re all thinking of and praying for all victims of abortion today, and in honor of that, I thought I’d share the prayer here.

Prayer for Life

Almighty God, our Father,
you who have... READ MORE 


St. Augustine

http://www.bridgebuilding.com/narr/noauh.html

Today is the feast of the “greatest Father of the Latin Church.”

So teaches Benedict XVI.

During his series of audiences on the founders of the Church, the Pope dedicated three weekly audiences to St. Augustine.

Here’s one on his life.

And two on his teaching (here and here).

Did you know that John Paul II dedicated an entire Apostolic Letter to the topic of St. Augustine?

I didn’t until Benedict quoted from it, but it’s marvelous.

For a quick read from the man himself, here’s his rule, upon which countless religious orders are founded.

For lighter fare, Bob Dylan wrote a song about him.


Encourage Someone Else Instead

ideas for Lent Day 18

Fast: Stop looking for encouragement and approval. Genuinely encourage and affirm someone else instead.

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

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.

image credit


Of Happy Memory

What's your favorite memory of John Paul II?

I’m astonished to note that John Paul II was elevated to the Papacy 30 years ago today.

I wasn’t Catholic in 1978, and my sense of Catholicism and what it is like came largely from him.

A couple of favorite moments:

1) While I was living in Rome after graduation, on a Wednesday afternoon I happened to have off, I went to St. Peter’s and scanned the line of people waiting to attend the papal rosary... READ MORE 


Popes On Vacation

an interview with the director of the papal villas
http://www.paesionline.it/lazio/castel_gandolfo/foto_dettaglio.asp?filename=CC937_castel_gandolfo

L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, recently ran a wonderful interview with the director of the pontifical villas in Castel Gandalfo, Italy.

Here it is in translation (after a brief introduction).

It includes delightful personal tidbits about the popes of the past 50 years.

For example:

Pius XII had opened the doors of the Villas to provide refuge for those trying to flee from the German... READ MORE 


Six Questions For The Pope

The Pope's annual Q&A with priests
AFP/Getty Images

Each summer the Holy Father meets with priests wherever he’s vacationing and takes their questions. I love these sessions because the Holy Father gives his answers off-the-cuff and we get a sense of his personality and what’s really on his heart. Here’s this year’s edition, given at Bressanone on the feast of the Transfiguration. (If you want more of the flavor of the event, you can watch a little... READ MORE 


‘Feminine Genius’ Revisited

John Paul II’s Letter on Women, 20 Years Later

The summer I graduated from high school I took an internship in journalism before going to college. It was the late 1980s and the hot domestic topics all concerned “women’s issues.” Not just the social issues we associate with radical feminism, but questions about equality generally.

“Glass ceiling” entered the journalistic lexicon; economists noted the inequality of women’s wages in comparison with... READ MORE 


How to Vote and Why

The Church expects us to think seriously about the probable effect particular candidates will have on our law and culture.

Media impressions to the contrary, it’s not true that “politics” comes from “poly” meaning “many” and ticks, meaning “parasites.”

You may be tired of the trappings of political campaigns: ubiquitous ads and candidates’ families and personal lives on a dissection table. You may be exasperated by low-quality journalism, which loves to report rumors, gaffes, and polls in lieu of informing us what positions... READ MORE 


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