The Unprofitable Servant: How Will You Begin Lent?

Thursday, March 3, 2011

How Will You Begin Lent?

Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. Unfortunately for me, Lent begins the same week that we are expecting a visit from a regulatory agency whose very name scares hospitals to death. Therefore, I'll have to abbreviate some of my usual Ash Wednesday devotions. I plan to take the kids to the 6:30am with me, drop them off at home so they can get ready for school, and then head to work. I'll have to play the rest of it by ear. I have a habit of going to confession on Ash Wednesday to set the right penitential tone for the season of Lent. That may or not happen. We'll see.

Lent brings with it the return of the A & P Catholics. A & P was the name of a famous supermarket in America, which has since become SuperFresh. A friend of mine who was a church secretary told me she calls the folks who come out of the woodwork on Ash Wednesday A & P Catholics because they only come to church for ashes and palm. Pretty clever. I'm hoping that rather than allowing myself to become annoyed by people who seem only to show up for a giveaway, I will instead pray in earnest that their hearts might be touched and that they will use the occasion to return to the Lord.

I will do my best to get to Stations of the Cross at our parish every Friday evening. I might even be able to drag a few heathens with me. The one habit I have been an abysmal failure at forming is praying the Liturgy of the Hours. When I worked in Center City, I frequently made it to Vespers at St. John's. No chance of that happening now with me working in the 'burbs. So what's to stop me from praying them alone? Nothing, except laziness. I have it down to a science of being able to get out of bed at the last possible minute and still get to church in time enough to pray a chaplet and at least part of the Rosary before Mass begins. Ten minutes earlier, and I can pray morning prayer. Vespers I can pray in the privacy of my office before I leave work. I'm not making any promises, but simply by making this announcement publicly it may give me the impetus I need to do a little something extra for the Lord.

So, enough about me. What about you? How do you plan to spend Ash Wednesday? How will you begin Lent? What will you do to help you stick to your plan? Also, what's on your menu for Friday dinners during Lent? I can't see a box of Mrs. Paul's without hearkening back to the Fridays of my youth. Grilled cheese with tomato soup was another of my mother's Friday staples.

Oh, one more thing - the fastnachts! Can't forget them. Maybe in a later post I'll give you my recipe for these Fat Tuesday treats.

4 comments:

KellyMarch 3, 2011 at 5:21 PM
Oooh, yes, please! Fastnachts! wait. I will have to google that and see what it is. There is a fellow who works for the archdiocese HR by the name of Fastnacht. Last name, heavens yes. He told me what they were, but I forget. German things are yummy, though, so I will wait with baited breath.

Yes I thought the same thing, that maybe if I put my Lenten intentions out in the air, that maybe I will feel more...accountable?
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MannyMarch 3, 2011 at 7:18 PM
Ash Wednesday I will get to a morning mass and then off to work. There's a really fine poem by TS Eliot called "Ash Wednesday," which I try to read on that day. Extra prayer during season and watch the movie Jesus of Nazareth. Hopefully I can get to the adoration chapel more often during Lent. I'm sure reading your posts during Lent will push me harder. ;)
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JulieMarch 3, 2011 at 9:00 PM
Well, at least one day during the work week I am going to get all my barn chores done and the dogs walked extra-early and get into town for mass.
Besides my daily rosary, I'm also going to say the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I have a really hard time focusing on this prayer when I say it solo, perhaps because it's so repetitive. I tend to say it too quickly and distractedly.

I will go to Stations of the Cross, which are usually led every Friday by Fr Bernard, who is from Uganda and says them with great reverence in his wonderful accent.
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TLWMarch 4, 2011 at 6:37 PM
Julie, when you say barn work, does that mean you have horses?

I am going to post some tips about praying prayers that are more difficult to pray when we're alone. Maybe you'll find them helpful.
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Mary, Queen of Peace

Ever glorious and blessed Mary, Queen of Virgins, Mother of Mercy, hope and comfort of dejected and desolate souls, through that sword of sorrow which pierced thy tender heart whilst thine only Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord, suffered death and ignominy on the cross; through that filial tenderness and pure love He had for thee, grieving in thy grief, whilst from His cross He recommended thee to the care and protection of His beloved disciple, St. John, take pity, I beseech thee, on my poverty and necessities; have compassion on my anxieties and cares; assist and comfort me in all my infirmities and miseries, of every kind whatsoever. Thou art the Mother of Mercies, the sweet comforter and only refuge of the needy and the orphan, of the desolate and afflicted. Cast, therefore, an eye of pity on a miserable, forlorn child of Eve, and hear my prayer; for since, in just punishment of my sins, I find myself encompassed by a multitude of evils, and oppressed with much anguish of spirit, wither can I fly for more secure shelter, O amiable Mother of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, than under the wings of thy maternal protection? Attend, therefore, I beseech thee, with an ear of pity and compassion, to my humble and earnest request. I ask it, through the bowels of mercy of thy dear Son; Through that love and condescension wherewith He embraced our nature, when, in compliance with the divine Will, thou gavest thy consent, and whom, after the expiration of nine months thou didst bring forth from the chaste enclosure of thy womb, to visit the world, and bless it with His presence. I ask it, through that anguish of mind wherewith thy beloved Son, our dear Saviour, was overwhelmed on the Mount of Olives, when He besought His eternal Father to remove from Him, if possible, the bitter chalice of His future passion. I ask it, through the threefold repetition of His prayers in the garden, whence afterwards, with dolorous steps and mournful tears, thou didst accompany Him to the doleful theatre of His death and sufferings. I ask it, through the welts and bruises of His virginal flesh, occasioned by the cords and whips wherewith He was bound and scourged, when stripped of His seamless garment, for which His executioners afterwards cast lots. I ask it, through the scoffs and ignominies by which He was insulted; the false accusations and unjust sentence by which He was condemned to death, and which He bore with heavenly patience. I ask it, through His bitter tears and bloody sweat; His silence and resignation; His sadness and grief of heart. I ask it, through the blood which trickled from His royal and Sacred Head, when struck with the sceptre of a reed and pierced with His crown of thorns. I ask it, through the excruciating torments He suffered, when His hands and feet were fastened with gross nails to the tree of the cross. I ask it, through His vehement thirst, and bitter potion of vinegar and gall. I ask it, through His dereliction on the cross when He exclaimed, "My God! my God! why hast Thou forsaken me?" I ask it, through His mercy extended to the good thief, and through His recommending His precious soul and spirit into the hands of His eternal Father before He expired, saying, "It is consummated." I ask it, through the blood mixed with water, which issued from His Sacred Side when pierced with a lance, and whence a flood of grace and mercy has flowed to us. I ask it, through His immaculate life, bitter passion and ignominious death on the cross, at which nature itself was thrown into convulsions, by the bursting of rocks, rending of the veil of the Temple, the earthquake, and the darkness of the sun and moon. I ask it, through His descent into hell, where He confronted the Saints of the old law with His presence, and led the captivity captive. I ask it, through His glorious victory over death, when He arose again to life on the third day, and through the joy which His appearance for forty days after gave thee, His blessed Mother, His Apostles, and the rest of His Disciples; when in thine and their presence He miraculously ascended into heaven. I ask it, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, infused into the hearts of His Disciples, when He descended upon them in the form of fiery tongues, and by which they were inspired with zeal in the conversion of the world, when they went to preach the gospel. I ask it, through the awful appearance of thy Son, at the last dreadful day, when He shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world, by fire. I ask it, through the compassion He bore thee in His life, and the unspeakable joy thou didst feel at thine assumption into heaven, where thou art eternally absorbed in the sweet contemplation of His divine perfections. O glorious and ever blessed Virgin! comfort the heart of thy supplicant, by obtaining for me, (Mention your prayer intention here...) And as I am persuaded my Divine Saviour doth honour thee as His beloved Mother, to whom He refuses nothing, because thou asketh nothing contrary to His honour, so let me speedily experience the efficacy of thy powerful intercession, according to the tenderness of thy maternal affection, and His filial loving heart, who mercifully granteth the requests and complieth with the desires of those that love and fear Him. Wherefore, O most blessed Virgin, beside the object of my present petition, and whatever else I may stand in need of, obtain for me also of thy dear Son, our Lord and our God, a lively faith, firm hope, perfect charity, true contrition of heart, unfeigned tears of compunction, sincere confession, condign satisfaction, abstinence from sin, love of God and my neighbour, contempt of the world, patience to suffer affronts and ignominies, nay, even, if necessary, an opprobrious death itself, for love of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Obtain likewise for me, O sacred Mother of God, perseverance in good works, performance of good resolutions, mortification of self-will, a pious conversation through life, and, at my last moments, strong and sincere repentance, accompanied by such a lively and attentive presence of mind, as may enable me to receive the last Sacrament of the Church worthily, and die in thy friendship and favour. Lastly, obtain through thy Son, I beseech thee, for the souls of my parents, brethren, relatives and benefactors, both living and dead, life everlasting, from the only Giver of every good and perfect gift, the Lord God Almighty, to Whom be all power now and forever. Amen.

Prayer of St. Bonaventure

Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of Thy love, and with true, calm and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing for Thee, may yearn for Thee and for thy courts, may long to be dissolved and to be with Thee.
Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the Bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and super substantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delightful taste.
May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, Whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor; may it ever thirst for Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the fullness of the house of God;
may it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee, come up to Thee, meditate on Thee, speak of Thee, and do all for the praise and glory of Thy name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; and be Thou alone ever my hope, my entire confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, my treasure; in Whom may my mind and my heart be ever fixed and firm and rooted immovably. Amen.

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God Bless You!

The Unprofitable Servant

Thursday, March 3, 2011

How Will You Begin Lent?

4 comments:

Mary, Queen of Peace

St Michael the Archangel

St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

St. Teresa Benedicta of The Cross