"Lent is the autumn of the spiritual life during which we gather fruit to keep us going for the rest of the year." -St. Francis de Sales
Around this time every year I'm pretty much tired of it all. Everything is screaming to be decluttered and scrubbed down...from my home to my soul. Habits of excess are being trimmed; boxes are filling up with possessions that are no longer useful, the tongue is becoming accustomed to being curbed in eating and speaking, and new habits are trying to form.
This year we're working on developing our personal spiritual lives. While we'll also be performing small (or large, depending on perspective!) sacrifices in giving some things up, most of our focus will rest on being better at all the things we're already supposed to be doing. Examples: responding to others with smiles rather than grimaces (even if they are a tad annoying), working on posture and focus during family prayers, refraining from grumbling about duties, performing our tasks to the best of our abilities, and building personal relationships with God separate from family devotions. It's very easy to do as the Romans while in Rome, but if we truly want to be Roman we need to take it upon ourselves to make ourselves citizens and to live that way. It's never too early for children to learn to talk to God as they would their best and closest friend.
Every Friday we will be praying the Stations of the Cross using this CD from Holy Heroes.
We will also be using this Spiritual Journal, also from Holy Heroes for the first time this year. It is designed for older children who enjoy writing, so I imagine Aidan will take to it best. However, I plan to have the other boys journal along in separate (blank) notebooks by drawing pictures or making short lists for themselves. Here is a peek inside the journal for those who may be curious how it's set up.
We will continue our studies of the lives of the saints (real live superheroes!), following certain feast days according to the liturgical calendar. Our studies will include stories of the saints, learning about the area of the world and the time each lived in, and possibly an appropriately themed craft or recipe. For Easter the boys receive new saint books, so I'm working on building my list. If you have suggestions of books I could add please let me know!
This Lent I'm focusing on self-care, which for many mamas is something that comes last, if at all. Many mamas' lives focus so intently on everyone else that they often neglect their own spiritual, if not physical needs. The most confusing part is discerning what exactly is self care? While it's different for each of us, it is essentially whatever improves your mental and physical health, in moderation. Whatever recharges you, makes you feel able to face the next task. Far from being selfish, self care is necessary to properly carry out all the demanding responsibilities of your vocation. You cannot pour from an empty cup.
Perspective is part of self care for me, so I'm picking up the gratitude journal again that was gifted to me a few years ago by a dear friend.
Listening to something uplifting during the day improves the mood of most of us, though we usually keep mornings quiet for homework. In the afternoon I enjoy listening to Magnificat Radio's live broadcast. For the past several years I've also gotten a lot out of listening to the sermons of Fr. Isaac Mary Relyea. Lent is a great time to meditate on the Four Last Things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. This is his discourse on heaven (with a bit less fire and brimstone than the talk on hell...)
Lent is about putting affections and appetites in their proper place: loving God above all else, and your neighbor as yourself. The goal of Lent is to die to yourself so you may live for God, not to look better or be better liked. That includes conforming ourselves to God's Will. There's a story about St. Teresa of Avila that recounts her plan to fill Lent with a multitude of rigorous penances. Instead she fell ill, and her fellow sisters had to wait on her and nurse her back to health. Our Lord appeared to her and told her those rigorous penances were His, while being waited on was the penance He had chosen for her. Extreme penances often result in discouragement or frustration, distracting us from the goal of growing closer to God.
The rules (both traditional and updated according to the 1983 Code of Canon Law) of Lenten fasting and abstinence can be found here at Fisheaters.
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