Living Without School: And so this is Christmas

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

And so this is Christmas

So this is Christmas.
And what have you done ?
Another year over
and a new one just begun.

No, it is not Christmas. But it is Shrove Tuesday. Pancake Day. Fat Tuesday. The day before the start of Lent.

Lent always seems to creep up on me, with its scariness and its joy. We seem to have only just finished Christmastide, to have barely settled into Ordinary Time. And then it is Lent.

Scary. Scary when I sense the rapid passing of time. Scary because I take the time to recollect, to do penance, to challenge - me. This is hard.

Joyful because the extra prayers and spiritual reading and devotions like the Stations of the Cross make me feel closer to God, build my faith.

On and off, all day, I've thought, with a surprised start each time, Oh, yes, this is Lent. Tomorrow. Ash Wednesday. And then the lyrics of John Lennon's song come to my mind.

And so this is Lent..
...and what will I do?...
Another season over...

I made pikelets today for French class and for work meetings . Pikelets = mini pancakes..And we devoured pancakes with ice cream and fruit (and vodka cruisers for adults) after Mass tonight. With a gathering of candles on the table, and Singstar, to celebrate Pancake Day.

We also created a Lenten centrepiece, for our dining table liturgical year strewing. Something I thought of last night, lying awake, not sleeping...A quiet reminder..Unspoken words....A violet circle ( violet - Lent; circle - crown - crown of thorns) with the words mea culpa in silver cardboard ( my fault - sorrow for sins) and our violet Lenten candle in the middle. To be swapped for a rose candle on Laetare Sunday.

May every family and Christian community use well this time of Lent, therefore, in order to cast aside all that distracts the spirit and grow in whatever nourishes the soul, moving it to love of God and neighbor. I am thinking especially of a greater commitment to prayer, lectio divina, recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and active participation in the Eucharist, especially the Holy Sunday Mass. With this interior disposition, let us enter the penitential spirit of Lent. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Causa nostrae laetitiae, accompany and support us in the effort to free our heart from slavery to sin, making it evermore a “living tabernacle of God.” With these wishes, while assuring every believer and ecclesial community of my prayer for a fruitful Lenten journey, I cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing Pope Benedict's Lenten message

2 comments:

grace said...: I have tagged you.; 11:38 am
Hopewell said...: I'm laughing trying to imagine even the INCLUSIVE homeschool group near us allowing vodka!! Your world does indeed rock! Now I've got that stupid "so this is Christmas" refrain in my brain!; 4:40 am

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Prayer of Consecration of St. Maximilian Kolbe

O Immaculata, Queen of Heaven and earth, refuge of sinners and our most loving Mother, God has willed to entrust the entire order of mercy to thee. I, N___, a repentant sinner, cast myself at thy feet humbly imploring thee to take me with all that I am and have, wholly to thyself as thy possession and property. Please make of me, of all my powers of soul and body, of my whole life, death and eternity, whatever most pleases thee. If it pleases thee, use all that I am and have without reserve, wholly to accomplish what was said of thee: "She will crush your head," and, "Thou alone have destroyed all heresies in the whole world."

Let me be a fit instrument in thine Immaculate and merciful hands for introducing and increasing the maximum in all the many strayed and indifferent souls, and thus help extend as far as possible the blessed Kingdom of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. For wherever thou enters, one obtains the grace of conversion and growth in holiness, since it is through thy hands that all graces come to us from the most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

V. Allow me to praise thee O Sacred Virgin.
R. Give me strength against thy enemies.

Prayer of St Bonaventure

Pierce, O most Sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of Thy love, with true, serene, and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with love and longing for Thee, that it may yearn for Thee and faint for Thy courts, and 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 supersubstantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delight of taste; let my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, upon whom the angels desire to look, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor; may it ever thirst after Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the richness of the house of God.May it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee, attain Thee, meditate upon Thee, speak of Thee, and do all things to the praise and glory of Thy name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with ease and affection, and with perseverance unto the end.May Thou alone be ever my hope, my entire assurance, my riches, my delight, my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my fragrance, my sweet savor, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession and my treasure, in whom may my mind and my heart be fixed and firmly rooted immovably henceforth and for ever. Amen.