Is your Lent off to a good start?

Lent will be five days old tomorrow. Have you made a plan yet? When will you go to Confession? Have you already? Do you plan to go every two weeks as part of your Lenten journey? Or even every week? If you do, you will have one of the requirements for gaining a plenary indulgence every day. Do you know what the requirements are?

Thinking about penance and almsgiving! Charity is better than giving up chocolate!

Meet Fifi LaFoo!

This Lent I'm thinking about penance and almsgiving in a new way. After a homily last Sunday about the Lent's focus being about charity not suffering, I've decided to do penance and almsgiving a little differently. I will still be avoiding sweets and between meal snacks (I'm not much of a snacker anyway.), but I will focus on acts of charity. Sometimes those are harder than skipping the glass of wine or the chocolate bar. And giving up your time to serve someone difficult can certainly be a penance.

Almsgiving is taking on a different look too. Mother Teresa used to talk about the loneliness of many souls and their need for love. I've mentioned my sister, Jeanne, before who is in deteriorating health in a nursing home in Frederick, MD. It's a round trip of over three hours to travel from the Valley for a visit. And I confess, I'm not one of those folks who loves to hop in the car and take a drive. Nevertheless, my husband and I have embraced that trip for Lent increasing our visits from about once a month to once a week instead. We pray several rosaries which makes the trip fulfill all three Lenten practices. It's not an easy visit since my sister is depressed and often hostile and angry. It shows in her treatment of both family and staff. And I confess that I have often let Jeanne's mood and ill treatment infect me with resentment and impatience. Mea culpa. That's when I need to remember that feelings need to be under the control of the intellect and the will, something with which I've struggled all my life.

Septuagesima Sunday: Time to Start Thinking and Planning My Lent!

We all want to make a good Lent, right? It's coming in only a few weeks, so now is the time to begin planning how we will make the best of it. How will we apply prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in our daily lives?

My husband and I have decided to study Bishop Schneider's compendium of the faith, Credo, as our prayer and study. I recently ordered both the books and the study guides. We've decided to begin today and make part of our observance of Sunday, reading and studying the faith so we can share it more effectively.

True Charity in the Trenches: A Love Story!

Yesterday, I told you a horror story. Today, on the cusp of Lent, I'm giving you a love story that is so touching I was overwhelmed. It came from a dear friend of mine whose elderly mother-in-law has dementia and is nearing the end of life's journey. He and his wife are caring for her at home in a way that is indescribably beautiful. I'll let him speak for himself:

Mom is dying in phases.

Not eating much just a little bit of a Snack Pack of chocolate pudding and a few ounces of oatmeal with apple sauce and milk to thin it out.

Almsgiving with a Clear Conscience: Don't Give to CCHD and Other Judas Catholic Groups!

I occasionally get asked what charities are safe to donate to. I have a few favorites of my own with Aid to the Church in Need, the Poor Clares, and the Little Sisters of the Poor among them. We also support a number of pro-life groups. Sad to say, many of the Catholic groups are among the most egregious when it comes to supporting intrinsic moral evils like abortion and contraception. The Lepanto Institute has a great webpage with reports on various charities both secular and religious. Their reporting on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and Catholic Relief Services exposes their deep connection to abortion, contraception, and sodomy. Catholic Judas groups often support organizations that help defeat pro-life politicians and elect radical leftists. And they use money from the people in the pews to do it who erroneously believe their hard-earned money is helping the poor and downtrodden. 

Be careful where you donate your money. We are all called to give alms. Let's not give alms to the baby-killers facilitated by a Church bureaucracy gone bad! The Lepanto Institute has a list of safe/unsafe charities both religious and secular. Check it out here.

A Great Idea for the Bishop's Lenten Appeal!

Most dioceses are in the midst of their big yearly fundraising program usually labeled the Bishop's Lenten Appeal. While we support some of what our appeal finances (particularly the seminary and seminarians) there is soooo much we can't support that we don't give at all or put in only a token amount so the pastor gets credit for participation. Then we give directly to things we do support: pro-life, the Poor Clares, faithful seminaries, authentic Catholic education, etc. We refuse to pour money into lobbying for open borders or supporting "charities" that fund intrinsic evils like abortion and contraception while they propagandize for liberalism.

What Are You Doing for Lent?

It's Shrove Tuesday and time to think about how you will observe Lent well. The next six weeks are Catholics' annual boot camp to get in shape for more zealous activity as a members of the Church Militant. Here are some suggestions. The first is to use the Liturgy of the Hours. Ever since I began saying morning and evening prayer about six weeks ago. I've found myself more filled with hope than I have been in a long time. Despite the miserable state of the world, praying with Holy Mother Church, especially the psalms, is like a booster shot of hope. You cannot praise God twice a day and recognize His authority and His sovereignty over the earth, without realizing of how little consequence the rebellion is. To be fearful and filled with despair is silly -- like being terrified by a huge anthill in the garden. No matter what evil the devil plans, he is nothing but a little garter snake. Yes, he can inspire great evil, but God will always being greater good from Satan's puny plans. Try Liturgy of the Hours for a few weeks and see if your hope and trust in God increase, as mine has.

Another suggestion

Charities You Can Trust

I'm starting a new category on my sidebar today - Charities You Can Trust. We all want to know when we give to an organization the money goes where we expect it to go. Obviously there are administrative expenses associated with all charities, but the best charities, in my opinion, are those that minimize those expenses and maximize contributions to the program goal. I won't be listing many charities, just my favorites and the absence of a group on the list doesn't mean it isn't worthy as well. But I invite you to explore the websites of these groups and consider them for your almsgiving.

Are you ready for Lent?

Tomorrow is shrove Tuesday, the last day before Lent and Mardi Gras Day. What used to be a feast to eat up all the dairy products, etc. before the great fast has become a day of bacchanalian excess for many. But for Christians who take Lent seriously, these last two days are a time to reflect on how Lent can bring us closer to Our Lord and Savior. 

Oftentimes, I'm so caught up in the daily grind that Lent is half gone before I decide what I'm going to do. Not this year. I'm thinking about it today. What are good things to do to increase prayer, fasting, and almsgiving? Prayer: daily Mass, daily rosary, and weekly holy hour are an all-year standard to aim for, especially if you're retired and don't have the family obligations of the young. For families, adding a daily Mass once a week, saying an evening decade of the rosary with the children, and attending Stations together as a family offers a great example to children. 

Weekly (or even daily) Stations of the Cross if you can will be a constant reminder of the need for personal repentance and atonement for our country. Saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy every day or even a few times a week would also be an appropriate choice, meditating on the Lord's passion. One can combine the Stations and the Chaplet by going through the stations as you say it. During the first decade the first three stations, the second decade the next three, etc. 

 Choosing a special Lenten companion is also a great way to pray through Lent. St. Francis de Sales has a set of Lenten sermons that provide much food for meditation. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich and Blessed Mary of Agreda both experienced revelations about the passion of Our Lord that have been published. Reflecting on the seven dolors of Mary can draw you closer to the Mother of God who shared her Son's passion more than anyone else. Magnificat offers a Lenten companion. 

Fasting: Food isn't the only way to fast and may not be the best. What are you too attracted to? Is there something that borders on an obsession? Computer games? text-messaging? TV? Fasting doesn't mean living in moderation; we should do that all year long. It really means giving up something extra that's a basic. The traditional Lenten fast is to eat one full meal a day and two smaller that don't add up to a full meal. Of course, in our land of excess, what constitutes a full meal is relative. If you already consume enough calories at one meal for an entire day, a little self-examination is in order. But even a small sacrifice can draw you closer to God. Don't make it an all or nothing situation and if you goof up one day, just start over. The Lord knows what spoiled children we are and he loves even our feeble efforts. I remember reading a book once where the author said that part of the cross we carry is the fact we carry it so badly. So if you fall, remember Jesus showed us what to do: keep getting up and putting one foot in front of the other. 

Almsgiving: Do acts of charity. Don't just give money, although that's good - give of yourself. Visit a nursing home. Join the 40 Days of Life in your city and pray outside an abortion mill. Visit a crisis pregnancy center with a bag of new baby clothes and diapers. Call your elderly aunt who hasn't heard from you in ages and tell her you love her. Make peace with an estranged family member. The ideas are endless. If you have children, get them involved in doing some secret charity. Do you know a family in trouble in these hard economic times? How about leaving a bag of groceries at their front door with an anonymous love note. 

 Don't let Easter Sunday find you regretting that you did nothing or very little for Lent. I've been there and am determined I won't be again. MORE SOURCES Personal Program for Lent EWTN FAQ's About Lent