Y'all Just Might Be Geeks (and a special prayer request!)

This morning it was announced in church that our pastor, Father Rooney, is in the hospital recovering from emergency surgery. Please keep Father in your thoughts, and pray that he has a speedy recovery. Thanks!

Now, on with the blog post.

Ahem.

If you take your seventh grader to a sleepover, and his friend opens the door and asks, "What is your name? What is your quest? What is your favorite color?" in a squeaky voice, and you think that's hilarious, you just might be a geek.

If every time you watch a television show or a movie and the hero is suddenly pursued by villains, you have a tendency to yell, "REAVERS!!!" you just might be a geek.

If your twelve-year-old actually enjoys talking with you about politics, you just might be a geek.

If your entire dinner conversation consists of quotes from O Brother Where Art Thou, you just might be a geek.

If your family has repeated debates about the correct order in which to watch the six Star Wars films, you just might be a geek. (Ditto for which order one must read the Narnia books.)

If you find yourself with a few extra minutes to spare, and you decide to go hunt for a geocache before you pick up the kids from school, you just might be a geek.

If your favorite thing to do as a family on a Friday night is watch repeats of Monty Python's Flying Circus or Star Trek, you just might be a geek.

If you chose the book you're currently reading because you read on a blog that it was the inspiration for Firefly, you just might be a geek.

If you have frequent conversations about which Star Trek series you think is the best, you just might be a geek.

If you're seriously considering reviving your Doctor Who habit after more than twenty years because your teenager insists you'd love it, you just might be a geek.

(For the record, Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope should be watched FIRST and Revenge of the Sith should be watched LAST. So there. Oh, and even though The Magician's Nephew is chronologically the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia, you should read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe first. My all-time favorite Star Trek series? Voyager.)

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"If You're Too Busy to Pray, You're Too Busy"

There was a time when I used to get up REALLY early every morning and pray the Rosary. It was about an eight-month period from the time my second child started sleeping through the night, until I found myself pregnant with my third. We live next to a small lake, and if the weather was warm I would sit and look at the water while I prayed. On misty mornings I loved watching the fog dance across the water, as though it was praising God along with me. Other times I would just sit and look out the window and watch the trees and the birds. When I found that my mind was wandering I tried to incorporate those thoughts into my prayer, and even into the mysteries themselves. If I was worried about a sick relative, perhaps the mystery of the visitation helped me remember to call or visit that person. During that time, my best friend had recently given birth to premature twins, who spent months in NICU before they came home; I prayed for them many times, especially when I prayed the joyful mysteries. I treasured these quiet times every morning, and I miss them. I will still pray the rosary occasionally if I'm up early, but not on a regular basis anymore, except maybe during Lent.

I remember talking to our parish priest about this; often, I told him, in the afternoon if I'm tired I think to myself, "Gee, now's a good time to pray the Rosary; I think I'll take a nap." His reply was, "Sometimes you just need a nap." This made me feel less guilty, and I even imagined that Mary must have taken afternoon naps when she really needed them.

Now that it's summer, I don't get up quite as early as I do during the school year. I had time to pray this morning, but what did I do? Checked my email (mostly spam), my Facebook page (nothing interesting posted since 11:30 last night; everyone is still sleeping, duh), and checked for new blogs. I have many things on my to-do list for today, and soon I'm going to need to wake up my kids so I can take my oldest son to swim team practice. I don't know that blogging about praying counts as praying! During the school year I get up just about as early as I did in my daily-rosary days, so why don't I pray then? Lunches to make; gotta feed the dog; the kids need their breakfast; I need to eat my own breakfast; if I don't read the paper now I'll never look at it. Oops, I forgot to check my email! These are my excuses.

I heard a priest on EWTN recently quote Mother Theresa, who, when another priest lamented to her that he was so busy these days that he didn't have time to pray, she replied, "If you're too busy to pray, you're too busy." Unfortunately, many of the things we're too busy doing are time-wasters like watching TV, surfing the Internet (Do I REALLY need to watch that new Harry Potter trailer AGAIN?), or reading trashy novels and magazines. My excuse today? I feel the need to update my blog, and I might not have another chance to do so until next week.

Truthfully, I was about to begin telling you about our amazing trip to Yellowstone last week. We've been home since Monday, and now that I'm finally finished unpacking and the laundry is somewhat under control, and I've posted the pictures on Facebook, I'm itching to tell you all about it here! I have also seen some interesting things posted on other blogs I want to share with you too; and I've read a couple more books I'm hoping to tell yu about. When I logged in and got ready to start typing, I thought to myself, "I wonder if I should pray the Rosary instead?" Hence this blog post.

My son in up, and I need to get moving. Maybe I'll have time for a quick Divine Mercy chaplet before the day gets too busy for praying.

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.