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A Beginning of Sorts {Lent Book Series}

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imageToday starts the Lent Book Series. As I’ve mentioned before, this is something of an experiment. But as e-mails from local writers have come in, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how varied and interesting are the submissions.  Plan on this being an annual feature here.

I’ve struggled with how to start off this series for Lent, what book to choose—it seemed a big burden for any one book. So how to start?

Initially, I wanted to feature a book  that I plan to use in my April column as a mid-Lent pick-me-up, I’m enjoying it so much. But when one of my guest writers here chose that as her book to feature, I thought it best to hold off (though I told her I will likely still put it in my April column).

I’m starting with the Holy Father’s theme for Lent 2014:

“He became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” from 2 Cor 8:9.

(Each year, the Holy Father releases a letter in advance of Lent that features a Scripture verse and a short message about living the season.)

Consider this an invitation to the Holy Father’s message for Lent. Here’s a link and it’s well-worth reading.

Reading through this message has me pondering— what does it mean to be poor? What does it mean to be rich? How does Lent help to focus on what’s really important us during this season?

One idea that’s been really sticking with me, but I’m not ready to commit to this year, is a compelling idea from Susan Vogt’s new book Blessed by Less: Clearing Your Life of Clutter by Living Lightly. One Lent, Susan and her husband in 2012 did the Food Stamp Challenge—living on the daily amount of about $4.50 a day, for the course of Lent. She blogged about it beginning here. I wonder how that would work with a family of five—we’d have $22.50 a day. Her blog posts reference how long it took to shop and how hard it was to eat healthfully.

I wrote before about how I’m giving up my Fitbit for Lent. I know that sounds goofy, and it was funny the comments on Facebook, but I promise there is a meaning to it, and I hope to write about that in the next week or so.

Reading-wise, as I mentioned in my March column, I did pull off the shelf In Conversation with God Volume 2, and plan to read those reflections daily and encourage the teens here to do so as well.

We have also been trying to fit more silence in at home. I homeschool our two younger children, and we decided to make Friday lunches silent during Lent.

Today, Ash Wednesday was our a practice day, and it worked out pretty well. We set the timer for 20 minutes and ate silently.  We lit a candle, and agreed in advance that we wouldn’t take the time to read, either. It was interesting, all the sounds one notices!

During the time, I recalled several things we needed at the grocery store, and quickly added them to the grocery list on my iPhone. My 10-year-old wrote on a piece of paper about two-thirds of the way through, “This is hard.” We wondered later if those were not “in the spirit” of it. But we made it through.

So let me put those two simple questions out there:

What are you doing for Lent?

What are you reading for Lent?

#Behold2014 Highlights

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Today completes 7 posts in 7 days.  I have SO enjoyed this challenge, and love hearing from people who have been following along.  But I’m also SO glad it is completed now.

I’m sharing various photos and impressions from this year’s Behold Conference, yesterday here in central Illinois.

Friday night was a gathering of bloggers with a dinner and a talk by Dr. Jillian Stalling, a local NPF-only ob/gyn.  Her talk inspired a very spirited discussion among the mostly younger moms and bloggers about NFP and life in general.  A great time was had by all, and I loved getting to see local friends and fellow bloggers from this area Bonnie & Britta and meet Kendra and Deirdre as well as meet several new-to-me bloggers, including Molly from Molly Makes Do, Elizabeth from That Married Couple, and Annie from Annery at Home.

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Elizabeth (and her little one) and Molly at Friday night’s gathering.
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Dr. Stalling during her talk at Friday night’s gathering.

 

Saturday was, for me at least, a great mix of seeing tons of women I know and love, from all over the diocese, or who have moved away and come back, new faces and people to meet.

 

 

Some photo highlights and impressions:

 

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Some quotes and impressions from the day:

Mother Assumpta quoting from Mother Teresa, “Give God permission. Trust him.”

Marie Miller singing 6’2” and a group of teens in the audience screaming when she knew what song was coming.

Bonnie Engstrom instagraming terrific photos throughout the day with the tag line (a little long for a hashtag) “you might be at a Catholic women’s conference if” … there’s a line for confession…. there’s adoration ….. there’s a mother’s room by a changing table.  I told her I wished there were a retweet (or reInstagram? Guess that’s why there’s not one) button on Instagram so I could share.

Happy and sweet little baby noises during Mass.

So many baby bumps, I couldn’t even count. I broke, on numerous occasions, the rule to not ask a woman when she was due. And lucky for me, I wasn’t wrong.

Seeing my older teenage daughter connecting and re-connecting with other great teen girls we know.

Mother Assumpta Long in her breakout talk, “When God is Silent”–“The main thing is, never give up. Be patient and persevere.”

I also enjoyed greatly reflecting on past Behold conferences, and considering all the speakers and bloggers who have been at past conferences, from Jen Fulwiler, Teresa Tomeo, Kate Wicker, and the whole group of bloggers who came to the conference in 2012. I wrote about the 2012 conference here and here (among other places), and the 2011 conference here .  The last link was actually a post of live blogging, basically a post I updated through the day. I wasn’t on Twitter back then, and this was an interesting way to do it.  I actually like this format and may want to revisit it for future events.

 

This year at Behold (especially since I was only a minor volunteer this year, helping the meal director with traffic flow during lunch), I spent a good amount of time in adoration or in quiet time, really the better to soak up everything I could from the talks and the visits with friends I don’t see very often, or get to know new friends.  I also had time to be on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Behold 2014 was kind of like a retreat day with social media off & on. It may sound strange, but something about that really worked. I don’t consider Behold a retreat day necessarily. And that’s okay. It was a hybrid or mixup of prayer, connection with God, connection with neighbor, huge laughter, music, social media.

If you were at #Behold2014, what was your favorite part? 

 

 

 

Being the Beloved

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Following is my column that appears in this weekend’s edition of The Catholic Post. I invite your feedback.

Just between you and me, several years back I was apprehensive about confession with a visiting priest at our parish. The reason? The last time I went to a visiting priest for confession, my penance was — an entire Rosary.

I can laugh now, but in my shock, I asked if that’s what he really meant. An entire Rosary was unnerving to someone used to a penance of up to five Hail Marys, with perhaps a Lord’s Prayer thrown in.

But this time, the priest, in his lilting African accent, told me while giving a (non-Rosary) penance, “dear daughter of the King,” and my eyes welled up. Of course I am a daughter of the King–we are all children of the King. His grace and love are for each one of us.

But hearing that in the healing Sacrament intensely spoke to me about how beloved, how truly loved, we are as children of our Heavenly Father.

Even though it’s been years since my “entire Rosary” confession, and my “dear daughter of the King” confession, they were in my mind as I begin to reflect on “what to do” this Lent.

Then this thought occurred: what about trying to understand how much we are dear sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father?

That’s where Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World offers food for Lenten thought. It’s not a new book—it was first published in 1992, but reprinted in a handsome new version in 2013. And it has the feel of a spiritual classic, especially for our post-Christian time. My husband Joseph has been encouraging/pestering me to read this book for some time, and I am so glad he persisted.

In “Life of the Beloved,” Fr. Nouwen explores—for a longtime Jewish friend who asks him—what the Christian life entails. His friend wants to hear about a life of faith in a way that he and his secular friends can understand. Nouwen sums it up in this book-long exposition of the concept of knowing that we are beloved by God (cf 1John 4:10).

Here’s why I’m surprised to find this book so compelling. Normally, I tend to gravitate towards spiritual writing that is “practical”—that may not make sense, but if you’re a “do-er” you will know what I mean. I want action items, prayers to say, saints to know.

But Life of the Beloved sweeps away all of those “to-dos” that I—and surely others—are so fond of, whether in the physical or spiritual life, and invites us to rest in God’s unconditional pure love.

Because Nouwen was writing for a secular audience about the spiritual life, there aren’t a lot of quotes from the saints or even Scripture, though Scripture is implicit in every page. But this simplicity creates a deceptively easy read that is compelling and enduring.

Nouwen struggled with depression much of his adult life, so how he writes this book is very personal and very authentic, in how he relates the importance of being beloved by being, like the Eucharist, taken, blessed, broken and given.

The book has so many great quotes that speak to the whys of being “beloved.” As I read through it, I’ve been sharing them regularly with friends because they have such resonance for the Christian life:

*“I don’t know anyone who is really happy because of what he or she has. True joy, happiness and inner peace come from the giving of ourselves to others. A happy life is a life for others.”

*“The movement of God’s Spirit is very gentle, very soft—and hidden.  It does not seek attention.  But that movement is also very persistent, strong and deep.  It changes our hearts radically. The faithful discipline of prayer reveals to you that you are the blessed one and gives you the power to bless others.”

Despite all my talk here, I must admit that as a do-er, I will be giving up chocolate, and “doing things” for Lent (and reading several books—see below). But I’ll also be pondering the message of Life of the Beloved through it all, and seeking to believe that I am a dear daughter of the King.

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So what else will I be reading?

l’ll be taking off the shelf the Lent & Easter Volume of  In Conversation with God by Fr. Francis Fernandez. Many years ago, I received the entire set as a gift from my husband, and read it over that year and a few others. Recently, when a friend mentioned it again as great spiritual reading, I resolved to read these short, so-relevant daily reflections.

I will also be implementing some of the ideas in Blessed by Less: Clearing Your Life of Clutter by Living Lightly by Susan V. Vogt.

The cover design of Blessed by Less is bare bookshelves—a thing I can’t imagine for a moment at our house—but I wasn’t daunted from reading it, and I’m glad I did. While many books about reducing clutter can be helpful, Vogt offers a fresh, spiritual approach to living with less, whether in possessions, thoughts or unhealthy patterns.

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This is six out of seven posts for 7 posts in 7 days.

Also, don’t forget about the Lent Book Series.

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This Lent, I and other local-ish writers will be sharing books that are helpful during a Lent journey. Consider joining in with us and learning about new or classic books all Lent long.

Keep Your Eyes on Christ

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From the second reading of today’s Office of Readings, a sermon on Ecclesiastes by St Gregory of Nyssa:

We shall be blessed with clear vision if we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, for he, as Paul teaches, is our head, and there is in him no shadow of evil. Saint Paul himself and all who have reached the same heights of sanctity had their eyes fixed on Christ, and so have all who live and move and have their being in him.

As no darkness can be seen by anyone surrounded by light, so no trivialities can capture the attention of anyone who has his eyes on Christ. The man who keeps his eyes upon the head and origin of the whole universe has them on virtue in all its perfection; he has them on truth, on justice, on immortality and on everything else that is good, for Christ is goodness itself.

The wise man, then, turns his eyes toward the One who is his head, but the fool gropes in darkness. No one who puts his lamp under a bed instead of on a lamp-stand will receive any light from it. People are often considered blind and useless when they make the supreme Good their aim and give themselves up to the contemplation of God, but Paul made a boast of this and proclaimed himself a fool for Christ’s sake. 

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And so, without board or lodging, [Paul] travelled from place to place, destitute, naked, exhausted by hunger and thirst. When men saw him in captivity, flogged, shipwrecked, led about in chains, they could scarcely help thinking him a pitiable sight. Nevertheless, even while he suffered all this at the hands of men, he always looked toward the One who is his head and he asked: What can separate us from the love of Christ, which is in Jesus? Can affliction or distress? Can persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger or death? In other words, “What can force me to take my eyes from him who is my head and to turn them toward things that are contemptible?”

He bids us follow his example: Seek the things that are above, he says, which is only another way of saying: “Keep your eyes on Christ.”

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With Lent just a little more than a week away, I am pondering prayer.

Years ago, I was out to dinner out with friends–a group of priests, a few married couples and a few singles.

One of the friends said that the readings from the Office of Readings, the “biggest” hour in the Liturgy of the Hours, seems more compelling during Lent.  He wondered  if it was because you were fasting during Lent, or are more focused on spiritual things.

A good discussion ensued.  I don’t recall the consensus view, though I think we all agreed the Holy Week and Triduum readings were especially rich, no surprise.

This might have been the evening that my husband and I (who have been praying the Office together off and on since we starting dating in 1991) first learned about Universalis, an online and mobile way to pray the Liturgy of the Hours.  This would have been in the last millennium,  since I feel confident I am not only one of the biggest fans of Universalis, but also one its earliest users (nearly 20 years).  I first used Universalis on my uber-cool Palm.   Raise your hand if you remember those.

I know I have written about Universalis not a few times before, but please, if you have a smart phone, consider getting the Universalis App.  It is one of my top-used apps and a great way to pray the Liturgy of the Hours wherever you are.   It is a currently a $10 app for Apple products–I think I might have spent $25 or some other really large number for an App when I first got it on an iPhone, but it is worth it at either of those price points.  You can also read it online for free on the Universalis website.

Back to the theory that the Office of Readings is “better” during Lent   We’re not in Lent yet, and yet this reading often falls during Lent.  Still,  nearly two decades after that conversation, I would say no.

In my own spiritual life, I find that being moved or impressed by something is more episodic than seasonal.

Some days, I just drift distractedly through the Office (or Mass when I go, or a Rosary).  Some days, though, in particular with the Office of Readings,  a part of a psalm or reading will stay with me all day.  I try not to feel bad that I can get distracted, but just “keep on keepin’ on” as a former pastor was fond of saying.

Daria Sockey’s book The Everyday Catholic’s Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours has something to say about that.  (I can’t look up the exact quote, because gave away my review copy to a dear friend (after reading and mini-reviewing it here). That book is a good resource about the whys and hows of praying the Office.

I’ve tweeted short lines from the Office, or shared on Facebook, when they’ve really moved me, and I think I’ve shared here before.  When I read the second reading in the wee hours this morning (yes, the early morning rising does happen regularly) , I immediately thought, what a great thought to take through today:

“Keep your eyes on Christ.”

By the way, this second reading goes really well with the first reading, from Ecclesiastes, itself always an interesting, puzzling reading.  You can read today’s entire Office of Readings here , or search there for Feb. 24 if you’re not reading this today).

Do you use technology to pray? Do you think Mass readings, or prayers, are “better” during Lent?

(Linking up here today with Jen Fulwiler’s “7 posts in 7 days” series).

“The Faithful Traveler in the Holy Land” Tonight!

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My blogging has been seriously light of late.  That means a busy and full life off-line, and actually a ton of reading, that I wish I could get onto here as well.  I have some great ideas as we head towards Lent, so stayed tuned.

While I hope that the approach of Lent will help me get back into a groove blogging-wise, I wanted to highlight a show that will be premiering tonight on EWTN, “The Faithful Traveler in the Holy Land.”

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I have been a fan of Diana von Glahn, the face behind “The Faithful Traveler” series, since way back when she had a series of US-based travel shows that featured Catholic pilgrimage locations, primarily along the East Coast.  We DVRd it back then, and my husband and I (and sometimes our kids) would watch one every so often and really enjoy it.

(True confession/rant here: Much later, I discovered when going through a spam folder that Diana had actually e-mailed me to review that first series in advance of it coming out.  I was so sad! And it just annoyed me to no end that I still don’t have a good system for keeping up with e-mail.  I’ve just resigned myself to being as good as I possibly can with it, and not getting too annoyed at missed things–like this!–in the past. True confession over).

So I was very excited to read in the EWTN newsletter that Diana and Dave von Glahn, the husband-wife team behind “The Faithful Traveler”  had a new series premiering on The Holy Land.  It airs tonight and every night this week on EWTN, and can be streamed on the website here.

Those who know me well in real life will know that one big goal I have for our family is to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land sometime before our kids are all grown up.

My husband Joseph and I are  members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and the daily requirement of being in EOHSJ is to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”  One of the lifetime requirements is to make a Holy Land pilgrimage.   Since I was pregnant with our youngest child when we were instituted, we haven’t made our pilgrimage yet.  So watching this series will be a good way to go on a virtual pilgrimage right away, and inspire us to begin our planning for it.

I tell people from time to time that I’m saving pennies so that  we can go on a pilgrimage with Steve & Janet Ray of Footprints of God Pilgrimages.  And I still think that may be our plan, but I was happy to see that the von Glahns are also hosting a pilgrimage this summer.  I know this summer won’t work out for our family’s schedule, but I hope they continue to offer Holy Land pilgrimages.

In the meantime, over the next few nights we will be watching what I expect will be an excellent series about the Holy Land.   And to the von Glahns, know that I am a big fan of your work!

Have you made a Holy Land pilgrimage?   Any advice for me if you have?

Worth a Listen: “If You Were” Proposal

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This is not just worth a listen, but worth a look. So beautiful!

I normally shy away from longer videos, but this is well worth the time.

Power blogger Brandon Vogt shared it on Facebook last week, on a day when I was recovering from being up nearly all night with a sick child, and not good for much else than relaxing in the morning while coffee took effect.   I’m glad I did, because I might not otherwise have decided to hit “play” on a 15-minute video.

A few things stand out:

* such tenderness from both Rob and Kimberly to each other and others.

*they are openly Catholic in a very natural way, not overt at all.

*this vide is extremely well-produced, not surprising since Rob is a videographer.

*I nosed around on their wedding website and blog, and it’s so endearing.

This couple  & their friends (a huge wedding party of hipster friends & relations, including “local” blogger Sister Helena Burns)  are clearly too cool for this middle-aged mama, but I’m definitely praying for their wedding and marriage.  It just renews my faith in the next generation(s) of Catholics and marriage in general.  Well done!