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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.
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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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A Gift for Oprah

what the Dominicans taught

Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Friday, February 26, 2010

In a follow-up to the Dominican nuns highlighted by Oprah, the sisters talk about how they gave Oprah a rosary after the show.

Oprah Winfrey was surprised after her recent show featuring the Dominican Sisters of Mary when the sisters in the studio said they had a present for her. “No one ever gives me a present,” the television star said. Then, as Sr. Teresa Benedicta related in a talk before a packed... READ MORE 

Comments
10
Filed under dominican, nuns, oprah, rosary, television

Oprah And The Dominicans—Video

Posted by Rebecca Teti in Reviews on Thursday, February 18, 2010

If you missed the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist on Oprah, here’s the video.

Watch the rest on YouTube:
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

 

Comments
14
Filed under dominican sisters of mary, nuns, oprah, television, vocations

Watching Oprah Just This Once

Posted by Rebecca Teti in Reviews on Monday, February 08, 2010

I know we’re not Oprah fans here.

But tomorrow the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist will be her guests.

If you tune in, come back and tell us about it here!

 

Comments
23
Filed under dominican sisters, nuns, oprah, television

Holy Nuns, Happy in Habits

Nashville Dominican Sisters' joy shines through

Posted by Danielle Bean in Faith on Thursday, July 02, 2009

I challenge you to watch this video and not wind up with a big goofy grin on your face by the end. This kind of joy is positively infectious.

HT: The Anchoress

Comments
14
Filed under dominican, nuns, sisters, video

Innovative Carmelites Sell Smoother Skin

A monastery marketing wrinkle cream?

Posted by Danielle Bean in Just me on Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Hmmmm.

When I first read about members of a Teresian Carmelite monastery selling wrinkle cream to support themselves, I wasn’t sure what to think.

For sure, Easamine is quite a different product from the traditional coffees, jams, and jellies and we’re accustomed to seeing orders produce to support themselves. But does that mean it’s a bad thing?

If we crazy ladies are going to be shelling out $65... READ MORE 

Comments
6
Filed under beauty, carmelites, nuns, religious orders, skin care

Pray For Our Women Religious

the Apostolic Visitation of women religious has begun

Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Tuesday, March 24, 2009

www.capuchinsisters.com

It’s an exciting time for women religious in our country.

The first ever Apostolic Visitation of Insitutes of Women Religious in the United States is underway.

What is an Apostolic Visitation you ask? It’s a means the Church has for assessing and guiding religious communities and institutes in a “formal yet personal” manner. The Vatican appoints an official visitator, and that person, together with... READ MORE 

Comments
2
Filed under apostolic visitation, mother mary clare millea, nuns, vatican, women religious

Radical Love

Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Wednesday, January 28, 2009

You simply must see and listen to this photo essay Time Magazine did on the Dominican Sisters of Summit, NJ.

The pictures are gorgeous—such joy on the nuns’ faces!—but what they say about cloistered life is even more lovely.

Good advice for young people thinking about God’s path for them.

Here’s a link to the Dominicans’ website, too.

Comments
5
Filed under cloister, nuns, photos, vocations

Captain, Doctor, Sister

an inner-city doctor who's pro-eternal life

Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Monday, January 26, 2009

Astrid Riecken/The Washington Times

Sr. Deirdre Byrne is a Sister of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts, a board-certified surgeon, and an Army captain.

Recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan, she’s at work now in a clinic in the inner city of my hometown, Washington, D.C.

Yesterday’s Washington Times ran a wonderful profile of Sr. Dede and her work that I encourage you to read.

There’s a short video included at the link... READ MORE 

Comments
1
Filed under eucharist, health care, nuns, sr dede

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