Preparing for Easter Now

 

Easter is a little more than a month away.  For some, a month may seem like a long time, and it is when you consider that a year is made up of twelve months.  But, it is also a relatively short amount of time.  Every day brings us closer to the holiest time of our Church Year – Holy Week, the Paschal Triduum, and the Easter season.  We would do well to prepare now for what lies ahead.

For our catechumens, who became Elect on the First Sunday of Lent, this is a time of intense preparation for receiving their sacraments at the Easter Vigil.  Our students preparing to receive their First Communion went to their first Confessions this week.  Yes, for those who are preparing to receive sacraments for the first time, this is a very exciting time.  For those of us who are cradle Catholics, or who have been Catholic for years, however, we might find ourselves slipping into the doldrums of Lent – slogging through these weeks of prayer, fasting, and abstinence to arrive at the final “reward” of lifted restrictions that Easter brings.  We may be eager for Easter, but for entirely different reasons.

How can we prepare for Easter now?  Lent is, after all, the season that the Church gives us to prepare ourselves – minds, bodies, and souls – for Easter itself and the season that follows.  Here are a few suggestions:

•        Go to Stations of the Cross.  If you aren’t comfortable going in-person, several parishes in the diocese are livestreaming them, or you can pray them privately at home.
•          Go to Confession.  Confession times at St. Ambrose are 3:00 to 5:00 pm on Wednesdays, 3:00 to 4:40 pm on Saturdays, or Fridays during Stations of the Cross (approximately 6:30 to 7:00 pm).
•          Take some extra time to pray each day.
•          Make an extra sacrifice – fast or abstain on a day other than Friday.
•          Give to the CRS Rice Bowl – either through a Rice Bowl throughout Lent, or make a one-time donation during Holy Week.

Whatever you do in these weeks of Lent, prepare your heart to receive the risen Jesus at Easter and to rejoice fully in the ultimate sacrifice he made for us through his death on the cross.

The Bible and Lent

 The way the lectionary is structured gives us a wonderful way to prepare our hearts for Holy Week.  Through the daily Gospel readings, we see Jesus preparing his disciples for his passion, and he also prepares us to recall these events in his earthly life.  Remember, God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, exists outside of time.  Each time we celebrate Mass, we commemorate, but we also re-present (make present again) Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.  Recalling that God exists outside of time may make it easier for us to believe that Jesus died for all, even those of us who live thousands of years after the historical events of Jesus’ passion.

When we read the Bible with this in mind, it may be easier for us to think about the Old Testament God speaking to us too through his prophets, about Jesus teaching us too, about the wondrous historical events as affecting us too today.  If you are looking for a way to increase your prayer this Lent, take a look at the daily scripture readings, and try to read them as God speaking directly to you in your present circumstances.  How does that change the way you read and hear even very familiar scripture passages?

Laetare? and Alternatives to "Happy Birthday Twice"

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is almost here.  This Sunday is known as Laetare Sunday.  It is the middle of Lent, and we’re halfway through our journey toward the commemoration of Jesus’ resurrection at Easter.  Rejoice!

Wait, what?  Rejoice?  How can we rejoice these days?  We can’t go to Mass on Sunday with the rest of our parish.  We have to practice social distancing, and in some cases self-isolation and quarantine.  AND we just had an earthquake yesterday!  What is there to be joyful about?

Rejoice in the fact that this, too, shall pass.  Rejoice in the fact that God loves you.  Rejoice in the fact that you can still pray, even if it is in isolation.  Rejoice in the fact that so many of our priests continue to pray daily for us, and they seek ways to keep us connected to our faith and our parish communities.

If you are struggling to think of things to be thankful for at this time, try to come up with at least three things.  They can be small things.  Thank God for the rain.  Thank God for the medical professionals who are working to help those who are sick.  Thank God for this time to grow closer to Him through silence and contemplation.  He is waiting for you, always.  Go to Him in prayer.

(Last week’s blog never got posted due to the situation being in a state of flux.  Please find it below.)

In the current situation of hyper-vigilance due to the coronavirus, the CDC is reminding all of us to wash our hands.  Having worked in a daycare previously, I became well-versed in the CDC guidelines for proper handwashing.  Part of the guidelines indicates to scrub hands for 20 seconds – “about as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice”.  Alternatives include “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” or the ABCs (once).  All of these is great to use with your younger kids, but what about for us as adults?

I’ve seen several posts floating around on Facebook with alternatives to “Happy Birthday twice”.  Some suggest excerpts from musicals, others bits of popular songs.  I even saw a Youtube video posted by our Episcopalian brothers and sisters suggesting “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” – what they call the doxology.

I have a suggestion for us Catholics, which is especially relevant right now during Lent.  Try singing either of the settings of the Kyrie we use at St. Ambrose.  Both are about twenty seconds in length if you repeat each phrase (i.e., Kyrie twice, Christe twice, Kyrie twice).

Above all, remember:  Keep Calm and Wash Your Hands

Struggling with Lenten Resolutions

It is a typical Catholic practice to give something up for Lent.  I try to make a commitment to add something as well as giving something up.  This year, I haven’t struggled as much with what I have decided to give up as I have with what I have decided to add, and it is because “life” insists on getting in the way.

Of course, I have to tell myself, that it is a matter of priorities.  Health and sleep are higher priorities than adding something to my routine each day, but am I letting my obsessive-compulsive tendencies get the better of me?  Am I trying to do too much?  Do I need to scale it back?  I have to be honest with myself when trying to answer these questions and make a decision one way or the other.  And I’m not sure what my answer is yet.

Struggling with Lenten resolutions is a good thing, I think.  It helps us realize that we aren’t superhuman.  We are prone to failure, but we can always keep trying.

The Tricky Math of Lent

Happy Lent!  We started this year’s observance of the season yesterday with many a reference to the forty-day nature of the period.  But if you actually count the days from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday, you end up with forty-seven days.  So, how do you square that with what you’ve heard your whole life?

Well, there is a lot of biblical significance to the number forty.  It rained for forty days and forty nights when the Flood came.  The Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years after their captivity in Egypt.  Jesus went into the desert for forty days prior to beginning his public ministry.  And he spent forty days with his disciples after his resurrection.  So, forty just seems like the appropriate number to ascribe to the period of Lent.

Some scholars argue that one shouldn’t count the Sundays of Lent as actually Lent, because each Sunday is a commemoration of the Resurrection itself, and yes, that does make it add up to forty days.  Another way to look at it is to consider the Triduum and Easter Sunday outside of the period of Lent, as well as the days following Ash Wednesday.  After all, we haven’t gotten to the first week of Lent yet.  These are just warm up days.  And once we get to Holy Thursday, it’s a completely different feeling than the rest of the liturgical season.

But, no matter what “counts” and what doesn’t, it is important to keep a spirit of preparation throughout this time leading up to Easter.  There aren’t really “cheat” days.  We aren’t on a diet (unless of course we’ve given up candy, soda, or dessert for Lent).  Even on days you consider to be outside the period of Lent, remember to keep preparing for the big event:  Easter.

The Deserts of Our Lives

The Gospel reading for this coming Sunday is Luke’s account of the devil tempting Jesus after he had spent forty days in the desert.  Having spent forty days and nights without physical sustenance, one might expect Jesus to be particularly susceptible to the devil’s temptations.  Fortunately, Jesus is wise to the devil’s designs.  He knows that the devil tries to twist even the words of sacred scripture to his benefit.  The devil wasn’t counting on that!

We too can be in a figurative desert during our lives, particularly if we are feeling as though we are not being heard in some aspect of our day-to-day experience.  We can feel as if it doesn’t really matter if we “give in” to something or someone because it isn’t a big deal or it won’t matter in the long run.  We can sometimes feel as if there is little point in trying our best or exerting some amount of self-control in tempting situations.

When Jesus was confronted by the devil and presented with scripture passages that seemed to encourage him into temptation, he quoted other scripture passages to support a position of following God’s will.  When you find yourself in a difficult situation, try to think of ways in which God can support you through the difficulty.

At my house, my mom makes a “crown of thorns” every Lent out of braided bread and toothpicks, and when we make a sacrifice, give something up, or offer something up for someone else’s suffering, we take out a toothpick.  The aim is to remove all the thorns by Easter.

This Lent, look for opportunities to “de-thorn” Jesus’ crown of thorns.

Making Lent a Season of Positivity

The season of Lent is almost here.  Ash Wednesday is next week!  For most, Lent brings to mind giving something up, fish on Fridays, increased darkness, and a more somber mood in church.  It is true that Lent is a particularly penitential season as we prepare to celebrate the passion of Jesus and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.  But, that is not its sole purpose.

In the early years of the Church, Lent was a time of preparation for those who would be entering the Church at Easter.  The forty days of Lent were meant to recall other forty-day or forty-year periods from the bible – the forty days and nights of rain causing the Flood in Genesis, the Israelites’ forty years of wandering in the desert after captivity in Egypt, Jesus spending forty days in the desert prior to beginning his public ministry.

Viewed from this lens, the forty-day period of Lent can take on a sense of purification and change.  We are readying ourselves to celebrate more fully at Easter.  We are encouraged to participate in the sacrament of reconciliation during Lent for this purpose.  We are encouraged to make a positive change in our lives, whether that means giving up a bad habit or adding a new, good one.

Though we enter into this season with a sense of (figurative) sackcloth and (literal) ashes, try to think of ways in which you can make this Lent a season of positivity rather than simply dwelling on the negative aspects that sometimes seem to take center stage during this time.

Lenten Video Series - Easter Sunday

Lenten Video Series: Good Friday

Lenten Video Series, Palm Sunday

Praying the Psalms

In the Liturgy of the Hours, in addition to Morning Prayer (Lauds), Evening Prayer (Vespers), etc, which focus on praying the Psalms, there is also the Office of Readings which includes both a Scripture reading and a reading from non-Biblical sources. In the course of the year, these non-Biblical readings include: 93 by Saint Augustine, 43 from Vatican II, 31 by Saint Chrysostom, 39 by Pope Leo the Great, as well as less frequent samplings from many other saints.

For example, the second reading in the Office of Readings for this 5^th Wednesday of Lent is a homily about praying the Psalms, by Saint Augustine:

Jesus Christ prays for us and in us and is the object of our prayers

God could give no greater gift to men than to make his Word, through whom he created all things, their head and to join them to him as his members, so that the Word might be both Son of God and son of man, one God with the Father, and one man with all men. The result is that when we speak with God in prayer we do not separate the Son from him, and when the body of the Son prays it does not separate its head from itself: it is the one Saviour of his body, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who prays for us and in us and is himself the object of our prayers.

The Fifth Week of Lent: Giving Our Time

For most Catholics, Lent is seen as a time of sacrifice—of "giving up things in remembrance of all that Jesus did for us. As children, giving up candy or our favorite dessert was difficult and it helped us to grow in a spirit of sacrifice. But we often missed the point of this sacrificial giving up—the reason why it's important. 

Lent is a time for helping us to grow beyond our selfishness to love others as Jesus did. The giving up is meant to help us realize the significance of giving to others.

Help your children to see the deeper meaning behind their their sacrifice. Recall for them Jesus' words at the last supper: "Love one another as  I have loved you." ( John 15:12) To love others as Jesus loved others often demands sacrificing our own needs and wants, and this is what giving up things helps us to do. 

Sharing our blessings with others is an important part of the way we celebrate Lent. Lent is a giving time. We share what we own. We work together to care for those in need. We pray or everyone who needs God's help and care. 

Lenten suggestions for children:

Make friends with someone in your class or neighborhood who seems to be lonely or without friends.

Let each family member mention one person or problem that they would like to pray for in a special way at dinnertime.

Take the kids grocery shopping for the poor. Let them help you bring the food to the local food bank.

Let children light a candle at church for people throughout the world who are sick or hungry.

Tell someone who seems sad today how nice they look or compliment them in some other way.

Make a list of 10 things you are grateful to God for and thank God in a prayer for each one.

Share with a friend or neighbor something you have learned about your Catholic faith this year, and talk about how it has helped you.

Source:40 deeds for forty days

Lenten Video Series: Fifth Sunday of Lent

Troublesome Intercession

The intercessions, in the Liturgy of the Hours, for the 4th Monday of Lent are particularly challenging, don't you think?

God of power and mercy, give us the spirit of prayer 

and repentance, 
  - with burning love for you and for all mankind. 
Help us to work with you in making all things new in Christ,
  - and in spreading justice and peace throughout the world.
Teach us the meaning and value of creation,
  - so that we may join its voice to ours as we sing your praise.
Forgive us for failing to see Christ in the poor,
the distressed and the troublesome.
  - and for our failure to reverence your Son in their persons. 

The Fourth Week of Lent: Gift of Forgiveness

Forgiveness can be one of the most difficult concepts to grasp.

This may explain why it’s one of the most difficult and greatest gifts to give. It may sound a bit cliché, but one of the best definitions of forgiveness I’ve ever heard was actually stated by Oprah Winfrey. Oprah’s definition of forgiveness is, “to accept the fact that the past can’t change.”

“We all want to be happy. Perhaps the greatest obstacle to happiness for most people is resentment. It’s easy to see how widespread this problem is: just notice the critical tone of so many conversations, the anger, the complaints and lamentations, the excuses, negative thoughts, frustrations, family divisions, marriage breakdowns, eagerness for vindication or vengeance, labor disputes, social problems, even conflicts between nations.” – Lori Schaab

Helping our children become more forgiving as adults begins at home with our example and our guidance.

Youth Activities for Teaching Forgiveness:

Games to Teach Teens Forgiveness  

70x7 Craft 

Sweet Forgiveness  

Lamb of God 

Catholic lessons/Games/Crafts/Puzzles 

Lord’s Prayer Coloring Pages

Joseph forgives his brothers video clip.

Lenten Video Series: Fourth Sunday Of Lent

During Lent St. Ambrose offers the celebration of Stations of the Cross followed by soup suppers. We encourage you to attend this powerful Lenten devotion that will occur every Friday during Lent at 6:00 pm.

Prayer, Fasting, and Mercy

In a sermon in the Liturgy of the Hours' Office of Readings this week, Saint Peter Chrysologus gives a good reminder about the interconnection of prayer, fasting and mercy:

There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.

  Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself.

  When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

  Let this be the pattern for all men when they practise mercy: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you.

  Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defence, a threefold united prayer in our favour.

The Third Week of Lent: Better and Better

Making good Choices helps us to grow as children of God. Once Jesus invited a tax collector to make a choice to be a follower of Jesus. The tax collector made the choice to leave his work and follow Jesus. The Man’s name was Mathew. He became one of Jesus’ first disciples.

Jesus asks us to follow him too. During Lent, we take special care to do the things Jesus asks us to do. We forgive. We find ways to make peace. We give to others who are in need.  WE ASK God to help us make everything just a little bit better.

  

As we begin our Lenten journeys, we also begin our participation in CRS Operation Rice Bowl, as a way to connect with our brothers and sisters in need around the world through the traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Make simple meals from around the world with your family.

Be a part of CRS’ Operation Rice Bowl and take action on behalf of the poor and vulnerable this Lent. You can participate and make a difference. Pick up your Rice Bowl at the back of the church.

Source: Faith First, catechist guide

Lenten Video Series: Third Sunday of Lent

During Lent St. Ambrose offers the communal celebration of Stations of the Cross followed by soup suppers. We encourage you to attend this powerful Lenten devotion that will occur every Friday during Lent at 6:00 pm.

The Season of Lent

 Actual Good Friday Sky

The Season of Lent 
A Season of Fasting & Feasting

Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. A reflection by William Arthur Ward entitled Fasting and Feasting, illustrates the spirit of the Lenten season.
.
Lent should be more than a time of fasting. It should be a joyous season of feast­ing. Lent is a time to fast from certain things and to feast on others. It is a season in which we should:

Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ dwelling in you.

Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of all life.

Fast from thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.

Fast from words that pollute; feast on the phrases that purify.

Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.

Fast from anger; feast on patience.

Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.

Fast from worry; feast on hope.

Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.

Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.

Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.

Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.

Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.

Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.

Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire

I would like to thank Valoree Dowell who sent Holly this wonderful article on lent.  Thanks for contributing to our blog.