7 Quick Takes, Volume 43

Welcome to Lent!

1. We woke up on President's Day to a dusting of snow that melted quickly. I ran out and snapped some photos before it all disappeared.




2. That afternoon we decided to get everyone out of the house and go for a walk along a biking/jogging trail that runs through our town. The snow was gone, but a winter chill remained.

(It's never too cold for ice cream!)

3. A few links you might be interested in:

I ran across this National Catholic Register piece the other day and laughed my head off. If you have boys, you will too.

Earlier this week I updated Cooking Nick's Books with my newly-created Turkey Macaroni and Cheese recipe. Check it out!

Our old friend Father Joe Jenkins (who married us here, and baptized Larry here) has been blogging like crazy these last few days. His latest post is a wonderful reminder that no matter how often we make mistakes, no matter how defective we might seem, no matter how we think the world sees us, we are children of God and He loves us infinitely. I need to remember this on those days when I'm feeling particularly down on myself.

(I want to take a pilgrimage to Father Joe's church. It's high time for another "Get Thee To The Church" post.)

4. An article popped up on Yahoo the other day about Levi's and their new ad campaign. Their new slogan, apparently, is "Hotness comes in all shapes and sizes." Naturally people are outraged--but not about the slogan. Their ads feature women who are all stick-thin, and people are up in arms because they don't show "all shapes and sizes" like the slogan says.

No one seems to be complaining about the "Hotness" part. Don't tell me that women aren't seen as sex objects in our society. Where is the outrage from NOW, an organization that supposedly speaks for the rights of women? They're silent, as is NARAL and Planned Parenthood, because when women are constantly told they should be "hot," and when men are encouraged to see them that way, the consequences naturally will be in their favor.

What do you think, readers? Are you more bothered by the fact that Levi's is only featuring skinny women in their ads, or that they say we ought to be "hot?"

5. Curly had a follow-up x-ray today, and his arm is healing nicely. He'll have two more weeks in the long-arm cast, and then he'll graduate to a shorter one.

I'm surprised at how little he's complained about it, and how well he's adapting to life with one arm. I know he'll be happy to regain some use of it, though! (He did say he's looking forward to playing the guitar again! I'm looking forward to that too. I miss hearing it.)

6. I miss having babies. There, I said it. I miss hearing the little noises they make when they're newborns, I miss feeling their soft breath against my cheek. I miss their toothless smiles.

Joe says we're too old; I say not yet, but it won't be long before we are. He asks me, do you miss changing diapers? Do you miss getting up every two hours night after night? Do you miss cleaning up puke and diaper blowouts? Well, no, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

(Larry wasn't too excited about Moe's arrival, but Curly sure was.)

Every few months I convince myself that I'm pregnant. All kinds of mixed-up thoughts go racing through my head. Maybe we ARE too old. How will Joe feel about this? Will the boys be excited? How much will college tuition be for this one? It's scary and exciting at the same time. When I turn out not to be pregnant I'm slightly disappointed and slightly relieved; and I feel silly for even thinking that I might be.

Moe, our youngest, is eleven. He still comes to us at night for a goodnight hug before bed. His voice still hasn't started to change. I let him Punchbuggy me in the car because his brothers get annoyed when he does it to them. It makes me sad to know that pretty soon he'll go to bed without a goodnight hug, and if I Punchbuggy him he'll get annoyed with me.

Am I normal?

7. It's Day 3 of No Facebook, No Twitter. When I said good-night to my Facebook friends on Tuesday, I was surprised to feel a wave of sadness. All kinds of people responded to my last post; wishing me well, telling me they'd miss me, reminding me that on Sundays I was allowed to break my Lenten fast and maybe I could pop in then? I wanted to respond back to them, but I resisted the temptation. A friend asked me today if I was having Facebook withdrawal, and I said no. It's easier than I thought. But I'm looking forward to Easter when I can say hello to my friends again!

Obviously I can't bring myself to quit blogging. Not this year.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary! Have a great weekend!

7 Quick Takes, Volume 42

ONE

We've had a pretty eventful couple of weeks here. Last week Curly did this to his arm,

playing a game called "Balance Beam Dodge Ball."

Now he's sporting a green cast that reaches past his elbow, and is trying to do everything one-handed. I've gotta hand it to him; he's coping very well, learning to write with his left hand and even insisting on tying his own shoes and buttoning his own shirt. He sure is a trooper.

TWO

Last weekend Moe decided he wanted to spend some of his allowance on an air-soft gun, so Joe drove him to Wal Mart and bought him one. He and Curly have been spending much of their free time shooting cans and paper targets and seeing how many times they can make the little plastic BB's skip on the lake.

Much more fun than video games, don't you think?

(Curly, the one-armed bandit...)

THREE

I posted this on Cooking Nick's Books a while back, my second ever attempt at cooking lamb. I will have to say that it was amazingly delicious, despite my fears that it would be a disaster. I hope you'll head on over and check it out!

I'm hoping to put up one or two more posts there between now and Ash Wednesday, before I give up social networking for Lent, so stay tuned!

FOUR

I've been torturing myself these last couple of weeks, growing more and more angry and frustrated and upset. Every time I read anything related to Obama's health care mandate, I become more and more convinced that Our Dear Leader is a deceptive, coercive, backstabbing, two-faced, lying jerk who is willing to do anything, anything, to get re-elected, including throwing the first amendment out the window and picking a fight with the Catholic Church. He paints himself as a Christian, and I'm not one to judge a person's heart, but in this case? He's either lying or deceiving himself. He listened to the devil and fell for it. The same can be said for Kathleen Sebelius, who has said "F*** You" to her own Catholic faith and decided that SHE knows what's best for America, and whoever disagrees can go jump in a lake.

And anyone who believes the lies spouted by Obama and Sebelius and Pelosi and Planned Parenthood that women have the RIGHT to free contraception and sterilization and that all those religious right-wing nutjobs are just trying to take away your birth control pills, needs to wake up and smell the Kool-Aid. This isn't about women's health. It's about government leaders deciding they're more important than God, and to hell with that inconvenient first amendment. (And that little tweak they announced, the one that said religious organizations would not have to directly pay for contraception and sterilization, but the insurance company would? It's crap. It doesn't change a thing.)

FIVE

Now that I have that off my chest, I need to make one thing clear. I judge no one for the personal choices you make. (And right now I am not willing to share the details of my own sex life and the choices my husband and I make; you can make any presumptions that you wish, but I'm not going there, sorry). Whether you use birth control or not, whether you've had your tubes tied, even whether or not you've had any abortions is none of my business. But the fact is that the Catholic Church has always condemned the use of birth control and sterilization, because the Church teaches that God made both men and women in order for them to marry each other, have sex, and bear children. Sex is a gift that God gave us to enjoy with the one who we marry, and any attempt to separate that act from its intended end (procreation) is considered morally wrong. Whether I agree or disagree with that teaching is irrelevant. If I work for an organization or a company that does not offer a health insurance plan that covers contraception, and I want to be on the Pill, I can either: a. pay for it myself; b. buy another insurance plan that covers it; or c. find a job somewhere else. That is the way it has always been, ever since contraception became widely available. Employers and insurance companies could decide whether or not to cover it. Now the Powers That Be have decided that it MUST be covered, even if your religion condemns it. THAT is what I have a problem with.

(Oh, and please go here and sign the petition to have the mandate rescinded.)

SIX

The other day I went for another little hunt for a geocache. Can you see it?

The weather was lovely, so I took a little stroll through a churchyard nearby.

Want to learn more about geocaching? Visit geocaching.com for more. Nowadays it's easier than ever, because you can do it right from your smart phone.

SEVEN

I'm giving up social networking for Lent; specifically Twitter and Facebook. I'm not sure about blogging; right now I'm thinking I'll probably refrain from reading blogs, maybe allowing myself to post once in a while on a Sunday. We'll see. Anyhow, if anything it should keep me from reading so many articles online about our screwed-up government and their crazy mandates, and allow me to focus on other things--like my own relationship with Jesus. I think it will be very refreshing!

For more Quick Takes, visit Hallie Lord's blog, who is guest-hosting for Jen this week.

2011: A Lenten Odyssey, Week One

I figure if I document and share some of the ways we're observing Lent, we might be inspired to make the most of it. So here's the first (and I hope not the last) installment of what I'll call, "2011: A Lenten Odyssey."

On the Monday before Ash Wednesday, I gave the third graders in my CCD class a calendar with a cross to color in for every day of Lent, and instructed them to color in the crosses certain colors based on what kind of Lenten observation they did that day. (Like if they said an extra prayer they would color it yellow; if they gave something up that they like they color it green or whatever). We have 34 days of Lent before Religious Education goes on hiatus for Easter; I told them if they brought back the calendar on that last day with 30 crosses filled in, they would get a prize. Although, now I'm wondering if 30 is too much to ask; what do you think?

On Monday and Tuesday at preschool, we had the kids decorate a strip of construction paper and then glue it onto an empty play-dough container. We cut holes in the top and explained that they were for collecting coins for the needy. If they do an extra chore at home or say extra prayers, Mommy or Daddy would put a coin in the bank. Before Easter they'll bring back their full coin banks and we'll combine the money collected for a worthy cause.

ASH WEDNESDAY: The boys' school planned their Ash Wednesday Mass for 10 am, and I decided instead to attend the one at church (scheduled for 9:30 am) so I could get a little housecleaning done before work. As it turned out, the time had been printed wrong in the church bulletin, and when I got there (after parking on a side street because the parking lot was jam-packed) I learned from others who had arrived around the same time I did that Mass had started at 9, and that Eucharistic Prayers had already started. I headed home, hoping to catch one of the evening Masses, and got a little more housework done than I had planned. My traditional Ash Wednesday "light brunch" consisted of a gluten-free cereal bar, some mixed nuts, and a glass and a half of milk.

At preschool, Father L. came by to distribute ashes to the children. We were afraid that some of the kids would be fearful and reluctant to receive the cross, but they all thought it was great. Father L. explained that these were special ashes made from burned palm fronds, and they were blessed and that the cross that he would make on their foreheads was a very special blessing. They all got a kick out of looking at their crosses in the mirror, and one little boy said that my cross looked like a tattoo! After receiving the ashes, we heard one little voice call out, "Thank You, God!"

Traditional Mid-afternoon Ash Wednesday Lunch: Frozen gluten-free cheese enchiladas and applesauce.

Dinner: A Tuna dish with rice, courtesy of Rachael Ray (only a small amount for me, even though I wanted more) I was so glad to find this quick and easy one-pot meal; I managed to whip it up real quick before I started schlepping everyone hither and yon. (Here's the recipe if you're interested. It was quite good, and since I'm gluten-free these days, I served it over rice instead of pasta.) I decided that as a small Lenten sacrifice I would not automatically turn on the kitchen TV like I usually do; it's amazing how much more quickly the food preparation and cleanup can go without the boob tube to distract me. I never did make it to Mass, though. If only it were a Holy Day of Obligation, maybe I would have.

I don't know about you, but when Ash Wednesday is over, I always look forward to eating regular-sized portions and snacks in between meals! And I promise that from now on I won't document everything I eat--at least, not until Good Friday when we have to fast again...

On Thursday I read Eric Carle's The Tiny Seed to the preschool children. It's the story of a little seed that's blown away by the wind with other seeds that are bigger than it is. The other seeds get blown out to sea, eaten, trampled on, and when the seeds that survive finally start to grow, all the other seeds grow quickly into beautiful flowers, while the tiny seed is still only a little plant. The other flowers get crushed by children's feet and picked, but the little flower grows into a giant flower even taller than a house. Pretty soon it produces its own seeds that are blown away by the wind. I explained to the children that we are like little seeds--God made us and we're growing and pretty soon we'll be grown up. We are learning and growing in God's love, and he is shaping us into beautiful flowers. We handed out the coin banks they had made, and I asked each child to tell what they would do to help Mommy or Daddy so they could put money in their banks. I then gave them each three pennies to get them started. Some of the kids still had the idea that the money was for them, and one even excitedly told me what cool toy he would buy for himself. I explained again that we would put all of the money together and buy clothes or food or toys for little children who had none.

Thursday afternoon was one of the highlights of my week, because I had the pleasure of hearing a talk by Immaculee Ilibagiza, the survivor of the Rwandan genocide and the author of several books, including Left to Tell and Our Lady of Kibeho. She recounted her memories of the plane crash that killed the president of Rwanda and triggered the horrific genocide; the last memories of her parents and her brothers, the fear and anger she felt hiding in a tiny bathroom with seven other women, listening to men searching the house for Tutsis who might be hiding there. She talked about how she prayed the Rosary to pass the time, and how peace began to take over in her heart. The more she prayed the more peace and the less anger she felt; and ultimately her prayers gave her the strength to forgive those who murdered the people she loved.

(During her talk she kept pulling out this Rosary. I asked her if it was the exact Rosary she prayed while she was in hiding, and she said no, it was not this one.)

I spent way too much money on books, but it was worth it. I bought a beautiful Our Lady of Sorrows Rosary (which I STILL haven't prayed), and when I handed her my books for her to sign, she smiled warmly at me. She is a bit like a rock star, and I was a little nervous about meeting her; I told her that I had read Left to Tell and Our Lady of Kibeho, and that I was looking forward to reading her second book, Led By Faith. She said, "You really should come to Rwanda with us! It's beautiful there, and we have pilgrimages to Kibeho!" I said I would LOVE to come. She grasped my hand in both of hers, and as I walked out into the rain, shoving the newly signed books under my coat so they wouldn't get wet, I was grinning like a crazy woman.

She looks like a supermodel, don't you think? Check out Immaculee's website and Facebook fan page!

Thursday evening my parents arrived at our house (spending time with Mom and Dad was the other highlight of my week!) because the kids were off from school on Friday and I had a workshop to attend for the diocesan preschool teachers. I gave my mother the signed copy of Left to Tell, and that evening we watched videos of Immaculee that I had found on the Internet. Perhaps Mom and I can go to Kibeho together one day.

Over the weekend we only observed a few little Lenten practices: when my parents took the boys out to a pizza buffet restaurant, they made sure they chose meat-free pizza; and instead of our usual Friday night pepperoni and sausage pizzas, we ordered meat-free food instead. On Saturday we talked over dinner about what we were each sacrificing for Lent, but unfortunately we still haven't come up with something specific for us to do together. The weekend was full of the usual homework, chores, flag football games, play practice, and the like. We watched the horrifying pictures coming out of Japan, and prayed for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami. This coming week promises to be a busy one, and I hope we can all take the time to remember what Lent is all about amidst all of our hustle and bustle and St. Patrick's Day and school activities and tae kwon do and homework and things...

Dear Jesus, give us the courage to give until it hurts this Lent. Help us to remember that You love us enough to suffer and die for us, and give us the grace to suffer for others.

(Click here for more incredible photos of the destruction in Japan.)

What The Heck Are We Doing For Lent? (and watch for the seven hidden Quick Takes...)

I've always made Lent all about ME: I choose something to give up, or say extra prayers, maybe try to make it to daily Mass more often; but we've never really done anything for Lent as a family. My kids often choose to give up certain video games or electronic gadgets, but when Sunday rolls around (cuz Sundays don't count, don't have to count, don't ya know) they're getting them back out again and making up for the time they lost during the week. Do you want my honest opinion? I don't see how that can bring a person closer to Jesus.

For Advent we have certain traditions: we have an Advent calendar that doubles as a Nativity scene, and every day during December the kids hang a new picture of the manger scene on the calendar. In the beginning there were scripture readings to go with each piece, but we've long since stopped using them. (The kids call it my "panic calendar," because as the scene begins to take shape, I'm reminded that Christmas is drawing ever closer and looking at it makes me worry about getting everything done.) We light a wreath every Sunday during Advent, and read and reflect on a Scripture passage. There is a lot more we could be doing during the Advent season, but at least it's a happy time, and we're looking forward to Christmas. (I think I'm writing this blog post today because I woke up this morning with the song "People Look East" running through my head.)

Why is Lent something that we dread? I still haven't figured that out. Is it because we tend to reflect more on the sufferings of Christ, and that makes us a little bit depressed? I don't see how it could, given the fact that He suffered and died to save us from our sins, and we know the story has a happy ending. Is it because we're giving up something that we love, maybe even something we feel we can't live without? Maybe we're approaching it the wrong way. I know that Lent is a time for us to spend more time in prayer, to perform more acts of charity, and deepen our relationship with Christ, but for many of us it's a time we simply endure and count down the days until it's over.

I've been thinking about ways I can personally observe the season of Lent:

1. Give up chocolate and/or alcohol as usual

2. Go to daily Mass at least once a week. With my schedule there is no reason why I couldn't go every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; my usual excuse for skipping it is that I have too many other things to do. Or I just don't feel like it.

3. Read a spiritual book. (Hmm, maybe it's time to pull the Catechism of the Catholic Church off the shelf and dust it off...)

4. Establish a devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows.

5. Participate in at least one 40 Days for Life vigil

6. Put myself on a gluten-free diet, once and for all. This would be more for my physical health than a spiritual exercise, and that isn't what Lent is all about. It would be quite a sacrifice, though, that's for sure. (Read more about my reluctant resolve to do this here.)

7. Give up Facebook and Twitter. Maybe I could allow myself to take a peek on Sundays...

Some great ideas for myself, but once again I seem to be leaving it up to the kids to decide what to "give up." Abstaining from the Wii is great, of course, but I want to encourage them to do something more. I've been looking online for some ideas (there are some great ones here and here), and I have a few of my own. Sometime in the next few weeks, I hope we as a family can come up with something simple that we can do together.

So, my dear readers, how about it? Do you have any Lenten traditions that you practice with your family? How do you plan to observe Lent this year?

Be sure to visit Conversion Diary for more quick takes, and I even managed to get a 7 Quick Takes post up on Cooking Nick's Books yesterday, too. Check it out! (Now to the laundry that didn't get folded because I was blogging...)

Seven Fat Takes Tuesday

OK, so I'm WAY out of synch for the "Seven Quick Takes Friday" meme. I hope Jennifer from Conversion Diary won't mind too much if I post one today. I have several small items I want to share, and I will link this back to Jennifer; although I'm not sure whether to link to last Friday's post or wait until she posts a new one!

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Baby Gianna The Archbolds over at Creative Minority Report have started a week-long series telling the true story of Baby Gianna. They've posted the first two parts already; please click on the links below and read this beautiful and moving story. It will bring tears to your eyes.

Baby Gianna, Part One
Baby Gianna, Part Two

I will try to post the links to the rest of the story in the coming days. I am looking forward to seeing how this one unfolds, even though it's heartbreaking.

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From Baptist to Catholic I've finally started working on my conversion story. So far it takes up two pages of a Word document (single-spaced, font size 11), and that's only the Baptist part. I'm afraid I'm going to have to do some editing, and I'll most likely post it in two parts here (hopefully no more than that) once I finish. It's taken me almost fourteen years, but I'm glad to be finally getting around to putting my personal spiritual journey in writing.

Why, you may ask, did you finally decide to do this? I needed a little push from a fellow Catholic. The other day on Twitter, I received a "tweet" from Mr. Happy Catholic, asking me if I had ever posted my conversion story. When I said no, he reminded me that folks are inspired by other people's stories of faith. Happy, aka Sieu-Hoa Thoi, has a web site full of helpful links for Cahtolics, as well as his own story of faith. Check it out here.

(If you want to follow moi on Twitter, click here! I think my next blog challenge will be to figure out how to put a Twitter link on my sidebar...)

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40 bags in 40 days? With Lent only one day away, I've been trying to come up with unique ways to observe Lent, and really take advantage of these days of fasting to grow closer to God. About halfway through Lent last year, I came across a post much like this one, encouraging Cahtolics to shed themselves of extra "stuff" by getting rid of one trash bag of items every day for the 40 days of Lent. When Danielle Bean invited others to take up the challenge this year, I decided to give it a whirl.

You might also want to check out this post from Erin at And Sometimes Tea; she has some great ideas on how the 40 Bags Challenge can help us in our spiritual journey.

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Lent Besides getting rid of stuff I have some other things I'm planning to do during Lent. I want to go to Mass every day, unless I'm substituting or have other obligations. Often I use the "too much to do" excuse, so I'm looking forward to pausing for those extra 30 minutes to spend time with Jesus in the Eucharist. I also plan to stay off the computer for most of the day--I can't seem to bring myself to completely give up Facebook, Twitter, or Blogger, so I'm going to allow myself computer time BEFORE 6:30 am and AFTER 8:30 pm, but no later than 10:30. (Maybe that's lame, but last year Lino Rulli from the Catholic Guy Radio show gave up eating lunch at Chipotle, but ONLY on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I rest my case.) If I need to order something online, send emails, etc. hopefully I will have the self discipline to do so during those times. That will leave less time for reading and writing blogs and playing on Facebook; I have my phone for Twitter, so for the time being I'll give myself that little pleasure during the day since I usually only "tweet" when I'm having down time anyway. Besides, my "peeps" are mostly Catholic bloggers and journalists, with a few politicians and MSM reporters thrown in (mostly from Fox News...) Lastly, I am giving up alcoholic beverages, ...EXCEPT... If beer and wine is served at my brother's wedding and/or rehersal dinner in March, I will allow myself to imbibe just a litte bit. Like one or two drinks at most; that's about all I usually have anyway.

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40 Days for Life If you have never participated in the 40 Days for Life campaign, check it out! It's 40 days of prayer and fasting for the unborn. The few hours I have spent praying in front of abortion clinics have been extremely rewarding. It changes hearts and minds. Women decide to give life to their babies, Planned Parenthood employees quit their jobs and join the pro-life movement, and abortion mills close their doors for good. God is doing great work through this grass-roots movement, and founder David Bereit and his wife Margaret are two of my personal heroes. I am proud to know them.

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Snow, snow, and more snow! What else can I say? It's beautiful, and a big hassle at the same time. Our kids have been to school only four days in the last 2 1/2 weeks. This morning we woke up to another two inches on the ground--another snow day. Below are some of the pictures I've taken in the last few weeks:

Someone told me that it looks like the tree is bending over to pick up the branch that fell down.
"Winky" has found shelter from all the snow underneath our shed.

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Father Leo and Fajitas The other day I pulled a hunk of local grass-fed London Broil steak out of my freezer. Since London Broil happens to be on sale at the grocery store this week, I decided to go pick up a few more and cook them up (on our indoor grill--too much snow on our deck for outside grilling); and to try to make Father Leo Patalinghug's semi-famous Fusion Fajitas. Months and months ago I posted a video of Father Leo whipping up those babies, but I never could find a recipe in writing. One person left a comment on that post listing the ingredients for a marinade for the steaks, but I never did try it. So yesterday I went over to Google and typed in "father leo," and several search options popped up, the second one being "father leo fajita recipe." I clicked on that, and guess what the first listing was? Go on, guess. That's right; my own post! Pretty cool. You can try it for yourself, or check out that blog post here.

I still haven't found a written recipe for those fajitas. I decided to print out the ingredients left by Leann in my comment box, but when I began gathering up my ingredients I realized I didn't have any soy sauce! Grrr... I still haven't made them. I cooked the steaks, though, and they were delicious! (Fajitas on Thursday with the leftover steak and chicken from tonight. Not fusion, but hopefully good.)

HAPPY MARDI GRAS EVERYONE!!!

Making the Most of Lent

First of all, I want to say "Thanks" to everyone who is reading and following my new blog! I've added some new features, including links to some of my favorite websites and blogs. Some of the links on my website list don't seem to work, and I apologize for that; I'm going to try to fix that problem in the next couple of days, hopefully. At the risk of looking like a name dropper, I want to say "Thanks!" to Patrick Madrid for suggesting the "share this" button. (Check out his blog; it's on the list.) I even figured out how to add this feature all by myself, without asking my husband for help! He's the one I usually turn to for computer issues. This page is a work in progress, and I'm enjoying every minute of it!

We're more than a week into Lent. I must admit, this has never been my favorite time of year. I don't mind abstaining from meat on Fridays, or even giving up something I enjoy. (Although, when the rest of the family is wolfing down Girl Scout cookies while I stand by and watch, it's not always easy!) It's the fasting part that I can't stand. I know, it's only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and I've learned to space out the times when I do eat on those days so I don't end up crabby in the evening. The first couple of years after I became Catholic, I used to eat a teeny-tiny breakfast and a teeny-tiny lunch; by dinnertime I was so famished and cranky I was biting everyone's head off. Nowadays I will have a small breakfast (more like a snack) of maybe a little fruit and cheese late in the morning, and eat a regular-sized lunch in the afternoon. By dinnertime I'm hungry, but I can eat just a little bit and still be in a good mood. Why am I telling you this? Because I have decided that this year for Lent, I am fasting at least one day a week. If I'm going to make sacrifices, that would certainly be a good one for me!

Recently, someone encouraged me to have the best Lent I've ever had. I don't know if it was something I heard on the radio, or our parish priest during his homily; but I decided to take that advice. Last week on The Catholic Guy radio show (heard on the Catholic Channel, on Sirius 159 and XM 117), host Lino Rulli admitted that sometimes when a priest friend would ask him, "Are you having a good Lent?" he would answer in the affirmative, but he would be lying. I've read several blogs in the last couple of days where authors admit that they dread Lent. I'm not alone; and this year, if anyone asks me, "How is your Lent going?'' I hope to be able to answer truthfully, "Great! I love the season of Lent!"

Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert at the beginning of his ministry. Lent is a time to reflect on His sacrifices that He made for us, and to remember the ultimate sacrifice He made, His death on the cross at Calvary. Surely we can make some small sacrifices for the 40 days leading up to Good Friday, and hopefully they will help us grow closer to Him.

Besides my once-a-week fast (hopefully more, if I can, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I find I can't do it more often than that), I'm trying to get up a little earlier in the morning to spend more time in prayer. There was a time when I got up every morning before the sun, even on weekends, read the Mass readings for the day, and prayed the Rosary. I also had a list of intentions for friends and family that I asked certain saints to pray for. I really treasured that quiet time with Jesus, and I felt very close to Him. I'm also doing more spiritual reading; right now I'm reading Scott Hahn's The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth. I also picked up a little book called Lent and Easter: Wisdom from G.K. Chesterton; every day there is a quote from one of Chesterton's works, a scripture passage, and a Lenten challenge for the day. (A couple of years ago I read a similar book, Lent and Easter: Wisdom from Pope John Paul II. Both books are published by Liguori Publications in Liguori, MO. For more info, go to www.liguori.org and search "lent and easter wisdom.")

The Church also asks us to make a special effort to help those in need during Lent. Many of us make extra donations to the charities we like, and many dioceses have special Lenten fundraisers. I personally would LOVE to begin spending more time volunteering for local organizations that help the poor, and Lent is a great time to get started. (Now maybe I'll practice what I preach...) Last fall I learned about a new pro-life campaign called "40 Days for Life," and all over the United States people prayed and fasted for the unborn, and organized prayer vigils at abortion mills. I had the privilege of accompanying a few friends from my parish to a clinic one morning and spending an hour in prayer there. Another 40 days of prayer and fasting for the most vulnerable of us began on Ash Wednesday and will continue through Palm Sunday. I pray daily for the end to Roe v. Wade and for women facing unplanned pregnancies, and I hope I will get a chance to pray at an abortion clinic again. (Visit www.40daysforlife.com. I'm working on getting that link fixed.)

What are YOU doing for Lent? Do you struggle with fasting as much as I do? Is there anything unusual you are giving up this year? I have a friend who puts Tabasco on everything; one year she gave up hot sauce. Several years ago I gave up anything made with white flour; I only ate whole grains. That ruled out a lot of desserts and snacks I often crave!

Give me a holler, and meanwhile, have a fantastic Lent.