Cleaning and Organizing and Stirring Up Memories

Cleaning closets and drawers merits a low spot on the chore list. Laundry, dusting, vacuuming, dishes, meal prep...they all take precedence over the unseen clutter that attacks you when you open a closet door. 

Sunday Meditation: Lent is Coming, Are You Ready?

Going to the traditional Latin Mass last Sunday got me thinking about Lent. In the old calendar, it was Septuagesima Sunday, 7 decades before Easter.

Yes, under the old (would progressive Catholics say "dismal"?) calendar, Ordinary Time was only a few weeks in and already the Church drew the eyes of the faithful toward the passion of Christ. The green changed to purple.

I was glad for the reminder that Lent is coming because it got me thinking about what I want to read for the season. And, since I happened to be doing a little organizing of my papal documents at the same time, I readily found just the thing. Pope Leo XIII's little book, The Practice of Humility. He was still known as Joachim Cardinal Pecci, Bishop of Perugia, when he wrote it. The work was directed to seminarians, but all of us are in training for the devout life, so how beneficial such a work can be for everyone! And it also turns my thoughts to Pope John Paul I, the "smiling pope" who served for only 33 years -- one day for every year in the life of Christ. His motto was a single world: humilitas. He left behind a humble collection of writings. Among his few general audiences he left these words: