It’s almost Lent.Do you know where your favorite spiritual books are?The following is from one of my very favorite tomes, The Three Ages of the Interior Life. For some reason, when I picked it up this morning, it fell open to the section on “retarded souls.”Or maybe—just maybe—I looked for this section myself.In any case, here are the words that … [Read more...]
Amendment
Often the lofty plans we have for our sanctification are not at all what God ordains. We think we know how best to serve Him, and then He tells us, “No, that’s not it.”And so it has been with my Holy Week. My plans were to attend (with all five children) every service that my church offered. Last night, however, I fudged a bit. I left the two … [Read more...]
What We Saw When We Woke Up This Morning
Poor Felicity. She’s been counting down the days until it’s spring. … [Read more...]
Crazy Days
When I was a little girl growing up in Small Town, North Dakota, we had an event called Crazy Days. All the stores would set up tables out on the sidewalk (to sell their overstocked and out-of-season merchandise, basically) and there’d be vendors and other goings on at the park as well. Main Street was cordoned off and became a sea of pedestrians … [Read more...]
Is it still penitential if I complain?
It will surprise you not a whit, I should think, to hear that my primary Lenten penance involves coffee. As in, (I told myself at the start of Lent), I just wouldn’t have any.Coffee, that is.As in, I would instead start my day with tea.Given that the drinking of tea is firmly associated in my mind with a 4:00 p.m. teatime and not a 5:00 a.m. … [Read more...]
Lent: Day 12 (And Counting)
It feels a lot like Lent around here. I haven’t had a decent cup of coffee since, well, since Sunday. I have been staring at that bowl of M&Ms—you know, the one with all the blue & gold M&Ms picked out—and it keeps staring back at me. I left my Magnificat magazine and my In Conversation with God in the Adoration Chapel after … [Read more...]
Lent (The South Beach Version)
My husband returned from a 3-day trip last night, bearing a box of chocolate truffles.His gesture was so sweet that I instantly forgave him for being out of town on St. Valentine’s Day! At that point I unfastened the deadbolt and let him in.I’m kidding. I was not angry with him because it wasn’t his fault that he was out of town. It was his … [Read more...]
Hope Springs Eternal…
...on this second day of Lent.Cate came down for breakfast and fixed her big brown eyes upon me.“I had the best dream last night,” she announced.“Really, Honey?” (I so prefer those to the more morbid variety.) “What was it about?”“Easter eggs…and Jesus.”Not a bad dream, all things (and Lenten fasts) considered. ‘Cause if those eggs were chocolate, … [Read more...]
In the Garden
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb. (John 19:41)Holy Saturday is a hard one, I think. On the one hand, we are past the grueling spiritual work-out that Good Friday represents. Whew! And yet, on the other hand, He hasn’t risen yet.I always find myself tempted to fudge on my Lenten resolutions on … [Read more...]
Let us lift up our eyes to the Son of God
So are you starving, same as me? : )Just a couple of items on this good Good Friday. One, and this is so awesome, I received an answer to my prayer this morning. That is to say, a “Yes!”So if you said a prayer for the special intention for which I so fervently blegged, you are awesome, too, and I thank you with all my heart.I mean it. It wasn't … [Read more...]
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