Crafting a Rule of Life: an Invitation to Grow in Holiness this Lent

I'm asking Mary to be 
my Lenten companion and guide.

I've had a loose rule of life for decades. What do I mean?  Priests have a rule of life that includes saying daily Mass and praying their office. Religious have a "rule" defined by their religious order. But what about the laity? 

Of course we have duties of our state in life, but these change depending on the "season." My duties as a grandmother and great grandmother no longer include the daily care and nurturing of children who live under my roof. I don't have the same obligations of daily rearing and teaching the faith as I did several decades ago. I can certainly be a help and support in the rearing of my grandchildren, but I have few obligations in that department. in fact it would be an abuse for me to try to "take over" and become a source of division between my grandchildren and their parents. 

During Challenging Times, "Manage Your Mindset."

May we never listen to the voices in our head that urge us to "Despair and die!"

I can never get through The Epoch Times without finding articles I want to clip and save or send to friends or just re-read and meditate on. Yesterday an article from an early November issue (I'm always behind!) caught my eye. Titled Managing Your Mindset, it reminded me that "No matter what life brings to your doorstep, you can choose your attitude and reactions." Spot on and a lesson that's good for me. 

Being a melancholic, I tend to get caught up in negative feelings and can easily begin hanging black crepe in the home of mind for a major pity party. I've been fighting that temptation most of my life and still have to flee the uninvited gloom and doom guests who invade my mental space and urge me to "Despair and die."

Sunday Meditation: Charity is an Act of the Will

Feed the hungry! Doing the ordinary duties of our state in life is an act of charity.

The epistle today in the Traditional Latin Mass is St. Paul's treatise on love, i.e., the divine virtue of charity. Many people associate love/charity with emotion. It is anything but! Charity is an act of the will, a decision made to treat others and ourselves according to God's plan for us. 

Ordinary Duties as we Approach Ordinary Time

The past few days I've found myself immersed in the ordinary duties of family life. After a week of a dozen house guests coming and going, I've been changing beds, doing laundry, putting away the punch bowl and party plates, cleaning out the refrigerator and making soup and freezer dishes from leftovers, picking up stray toys (I keep a stash for the grandchildren), and generally "redding up" as my West Virginia husband always says.

I actually like to fold laundry. Since my children were young I've made it a practice to pray for those who will wear the clothes, sleep in the beds, use the towels, etc. Today I've also been praying to St. Anthony that all the items in the Camp Kreitzer lost and found will return to their rightful owners.

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