Holy Week

The secular part of our world is tugging at us today, wanting to pull us in different directions, but it can't distract us or make us forget.

We're still focused-

Cleaning up, outside and in, our closets and our hearts...

Carrying each other along when necessary...

Preparing our hearts for this tonight...

 

And this tomorrow...

Praying we're ready to welcome the Light at the Vigil, and the Glory of the Gift...

May your Triduum be quiet and holy, and may the Alleluia bring you peace and joy.

Until Easter, my friends!

Suscipio - A Lenten Reflection

I wrote a little something that I'm honored to have shared on Suscipio today.  Have y'all been over to Suscipio?  Go, click around, it'll be worth your time.

Lent, So Far

Well so far we're having a beautiful Lent.  It seems simpler, more natural this year, for some reason.

The plan is essentially the same as last year, only perhaps with more attention to the big picture than the details.  One thing I've been enjoying immensely is our daily Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3:00pm.  I have no idea why it's been so long since I've prayed this prayer, but leave it to Lent to remind me.  I know we at least intended to pray it last year, but with our Lent-ish Lent, maybe we didn't commit to it fully (or maybe I blocked out last year's Lent entirely?!).  I prayed it continuously throughout my pregnancy and labor with Sebastian, so it feels like a natural fit with my growing belly once again.

Speaking of the growing belly... the nesting urges have kicked in.  Oh my, I couldn't comprehend how terrible I was feeling until I started to feel normal again.  Even at that, I've found a new normal every day, feeling better and better and with more energy.  It seemed so bad for so long, I had started to doubt my ability to take care of this house and these people!  Thank Goodness for second trimester loveliness.
Also:  Nesting and Lent get along swimmingly well ;).

Good Friday - 2011

Once again, we were sick on Good Friday.  In fact, what had been a pretty classic flu for the rest of us, has developed into pneumonia for Isaac.  No wonder he spent Easter weekend in a lifeless little heap.  He's on antibiotics now, and hopefully the road to recovery too.  Prayers for my little sweetness are appreciated!

So on Good Friday Mr. Smith just worked in the morning, since we were all planning on going to the Stations of the Cross at church.  Once it became clear that we wouldn't all be going, Mr. Smith insisted that I go alone.  He knew how much I had been looking forward to it.  As I was walking out the door, Oliver decided he wanted to go with me, and I was so glad!

Our parish does a beautiful service of the Stations at noon on Good Friday, with reflections and music, and the kids from the youth group act out the Stations as we pray through them.  It's quite beautiful and moving, and I can't help but tear up every year.

We had Hot Cross buns, for lunch rather than breakfast, since I didn't start making the dough until 10:00 am or so :o).  They were delicious either way.  I'm still conflicted about having such a treat on a day of fasting and abstinence, but a tradition is a tradition.  The children enjoy them, and they're exempt from fasting anyway, and it's a good lesson for us grown-ups to only eat one instead of the three or four I would have liked to have eaten ;o).

We had a simple lentil soup and bread for dinner.

We also started the Divine Mercy Novena as a family.

Mr. Smith and I always watch The Passion on Good Friday evening, and this year was no exception.  However, with all the ups and downs of The-Week-of-Illness, I was wiped out, and am sorry to say I didn't even make it to the scourging.  Sleep was calling, and I gave in.

Holy Thursday - 2011

Despite lots of sick children, and not being able to go to Mass, we had a really nice Holy Thursday dinner.

I combined some of the things I've done in the past with some of the symbolic foods that Jessica does, and it made for a very enjoyable meal.

See all of my little sickie-faces?

 We had:

• a loaf of bread with dipping oil
• a small bunch of grapes for every plate
• sparkling "wine"
• a rotisserie chicken (for the cock that crowed after Peter's denials)
• pitas (unleavened bread)
• baby spinach (to represent the bitter herbs of a traditional Seder)
• small, round crackers (Judas' 30 pieces of silver)
• strawberries (Judas' kiss)
• white tic tacs (Peter's tears)
• fig newtons (Gethsemane figs)

We made sandwiches by stuffing the pita halves with chicken and spinach and drizzling the flavored dipping oil over them.  Really yummy!  It was a very simple meal to prepare, and appropriate for our family, as these are all foods we enjoy.

(That's Lacy's Last Supper craft in the center.)

Mr. Smith read the appropriate passages from the bible before we ate, and we had quite a nice conversation about the significance of Holy Thursday during the meal.
Overall, it was a sweet and peaceful night.

Divine Mercy Craft

 Lacy, over at Catholic Icing, has this simple little Divine Mercy craft available to print for free.

 I was planning on having my kids do it anyway, but I started thinking about how I could use this little guy (who's glued onto a toilet paper roll) to help us in saying the Divine Mercy Novena (which began yesterday, on Good Friday).

We had also made Lacy's Last Supper craft on Thursday, which she designed to use egg cartons as the base.  Since we were done with that craft... -- Okay, here's where I admit something... I don't save things.  I am not sentimental.  I know it isn't realistic to keep every little piece of shaped clay and glitter-glued paper craft/project/artwork that all of my children create from now until the end of time...so I keep almost nothing.  We do it, we enjoy it for what it is, we take pictures, and then we pitch it.  I'm sorry if that is appalling to anyone, it's just me, and I'm not likely to change soon. -- Anyhow, we were done with the Last Supper craft (it was a teaching tool, a craft we all worked on together, and our centerpiece at dinner), so I dismantled it and used a portion of the egg cartons to get nine cups in a row. 

 Still using it upside down, I used a knife to cut a slit in the top of each cup and inserted a craft stick into each one.

 Since the Divine Mercy Jesus is on a roll, he can sit right over the craft stick and rest on the egg cup.

Then I cut a piece of card stock in half and folded both halves and taped them together.  I wrote out the days of the Novena across the front of the card stock, in front of the corresponding sticks.  As we say each day's Novena prayers, we can move Jesus right along with us, all the way to Divine Mercy Sunday.  A great way to keep track of the days on our Novena!

 Thanks, Lacy!

A Lent-ish Lent

Dear Mr. Smith,

I'm feeling... deflated.

This is the 7th straight day of sickness in the house.  Seven days of fevers, runny noses, coughing, complaining, lethargy.  Cleaning up unmentionable yuckiness when someone didn't make to where they should, cleaning it up again, and again.  Administering medication, ginger ale, cold washcloths, and love.  Seven days of waiting for the other shoe to drop, then watching the first one drop again, and then both shoes dropping over and over again.  Day seven of hoping this is the last of it, then realizing it isn't, and coming to terms with the long road ahead.  And it seems there was hardly a reprieve from the last round.

Many bodies make for long recoveries.

All this illness has made for an interesting Lent.

I had visions of reflective prayer, self-examination and diligent work, which all would have resulted in a deeper spiritual reality... and a super clean house, to welcome Jesus again at Easter.

Oh I've been praying alright.  It's just that it's been less of the rosary-in-the-peaceful-quiet-of-the-adoration-chapel variety, and more of the Lord-please-help-me-get-through-this-day variety.

Which, come to think of it, is actually kind of Lent-ish, isn't it?

I mean, what is Lent?  It's a period of fasting and penance.  A chance to prepare for the Crucifixion, and Resurrection, of our Lord.  A time to take up our cross, to test our strength and our faith.  To unite our suffering with Christ's.  To pray, to abstain, to give; and in the process, remember how much we need Him.

I've done that.

So maybe this Lent has been just what it should be.

Thoughtfully Yours,
Mrs. Smith

Lenten Cleaning

During the first three days of Holy Week, Easter housecleaning takes place
in many Catholic communities. This is more than just another secular custom.
Its purpose is to prepare the house for the blessing by the priest on
Holy Saturday, and is an outward sign of the inner newness of soul of the family.
This meaning should be made clear to the children so that they may help prepare
the house for the Church's blessing. By Wednesday of Holy Week the cleaning
should be finished, and the remainder of the week should be considered as
semi-holidays. (from EWTN.com)

There are six Saturdays during Lent, not including Holy Saturday.

When planning my Lenten cleaning, Saturdays are important because Mr. Smith is home.  I plan to organize my cleaning by the week, and  I know I'll have those Saturdays to finish anything I didn't get to Monday through Friday... even if it's everything.

Let's back up a little.  I recently made a checklist for our regular weekly cleaning.  I have each room listed, then the things that need to be done in that room itemized.  As we finish them, we check them off.  For example:

o   kitchen

o   sweep
o   vacuum
o   mop
o   clear/wipe countertops
o   wipe appliances
o   wipe cupboards
o   clean stovetop
o   clean high chair
o   clean out fridge
o   clean garbage can
o   finish dishes
o   empty dishwasher

It's a one page document and I print it out on Thursday morning.  We're generally home on Thursdays and Fridays, and I like to get a head start on the cleaning.  There have been times that we've finished everything on Friday, and that frees up our Saturday for family time.  During our regular chore times on those days, we chip away at the list.  Anything that's not finished has to be done on Saturday.  Of course, anything that gets done on Thursday morning is at risk of being undone by Sunday, but I had to come to terms with that long ago. The goal is to have all of that basic cleaning done well once a week, along with all the daily maintenance, and to have a peaceful, work-free Sunday.  It's never perfect, (there have been many weeks when "clean out fridge" gets a line through it, rather than a check mark next to it) but this system has helped move us closer to that goal.

So during Lent, I plan to keep up on our regular cleaning routine, as well as work on one extra area per week.  These are my dirty half-dozen:

• basement utility area
• clothing (sort, donate, organize)
• basement play area
• closets (linen, craft/sewing, foyer, shoe, boy's)
• bedrooms
• food (fridge, cupboards, snack cabinet, pantry shelves)

If we can tackle one of these areas each week, and keep up on our 40 Bags in 40 Days, I will feel pretty darn good about things come Holy Week.  My plan is to print our regular cleaning list at the beginning of that week, so that by Wednesday of Holy Week our home will be prepared for Christ's rising, and we can concentrate on preparing our hearts.

Week one is the basement utility area, and we only have three days now!  It's the most pressing, since it includes my laundry room, but also the closest to being finished, which is why I chose it for this first short week.  

So, that's the plan.  I will try to update our progress on Saturdays!

The Beginning and The End

We celebrated yesterday, in true Mardi Gras fashion.  We Alleluia'd our lungs dry.  Blake played the chorus on the piano for 3 minutes straight, while the younger boys ran around, singing and dancing and screaming it out.  We ate donuts, we ate paczkis, we had pizza and king cake.  We played video games to our heart's content.  It was too much, but it was as it should be, for it was the end.

a less-than-perfect monkey bread version of king cake

  

The end of the indulgent season we've been living.  The end of ordinary time.  The end of the Alleluia.  At least for a bit.  We placed our golden letters into a purple bag.  And stapled it shut.

Today, the ashes.  The fasting.  The reflecting.  The quiet.  Mass this evening as a family.  All is as it should be.

2011 Lent: The Plan

-Fat Tuesday-

Mardi Gras Celebration:  Pancakes, King Cake, Paczkis (oh my!)

Pizza carry-out for the last time
We give up all food of any kind that's not from the grocery store.  No drive-thru coffee.  No fast food dinners.  No restaurants of any kind.  We don't eat out much at all as it is, but when we do it's very expensive for so many people.  This is a good way to save money, after all the over-indulging of the Christmas season, as well as a lesson in self-discipline and sacrifice.

Put away the Alleluia 
Our happy little golden letters.  They'll find their home again on our altar table for the Easter season.
 

King Cake 2010

-Ash Wednesday-

(fasting, abstinence)

Evening Mass, Ashes

Blake 2010

-Throughout Lent- 

PRAY:

Daily Divine Mercy Chaplet

Sunday Rosary

Friday Masses

Stations of the Cross

FAST:

No restaurant/carry-out food of any kind

No candy

No video games

TV-free Fridays

GIVE ALMS:

Extra 10% from spending allowance to donate to charity

Gather food items to donate

Give time at food bank

Lenten Calendar
We've done one similar to Jessica's the past few years.  One of my favorite Lenten traditions.
 

Crown of Thorns
We've always done a braided salt dough crown with toothpicks for thorns.  We pull out a toothpick for each sacrifice we make during Lent, and when they're all out on Holy Saturday, we paint the crown gold and glue jewels on.  It's a great concept, but implementing it has sometimes been a pain.  The dough can get moldy by the end of Lent if it's too moist.  The toothpicks are difficult to pull out, especially if they're pushed in too deep to begin with.  We end up breaking them off, and are left with a somewhat dangerous crown in the end.  So instead of our original crown of thorns, which we would miss if it were absent entirely, I was absolutely delighted to see Charlotte's version.  I plan to pick up the things we'll need this week to adopt this new tradition.  
 I want to keep the visual and tangible reminder of our daily sacrifices though, which is why this year we're going to bring in:

Sacrifice Beans
An empty jar, a bowl of dried beans.  With every sacrifice made, a bean gets transferred to the jar, with hopes of all the beans being moved by the end of Lent.  We've done this before, using beads or stones.  What the children don't know is that those dried beans just might become jelly beans on Easter morning.  A sweet reward for their walk through the desert.

40 Days for Life
We'll be spending some time praying in front of an abortion clinic, with our local 40 Days for Life campaign.

Pretzel Fridays
The soft pretzel recipe in this book is awesome.  I think it'll be a fun tradition for meat-free Fridays.  
 

-Lenten Cleaning-
40 bags in 40 days
Is anybody else doing this this year?

...detailed Lenten cleaning plan to come!

 -Feast Days-
St. Patrick
 St. Joseph
The Annunciation

St. Joseph Altar 2010

-Palm Sunday, Holy Week, Easter-
...plans to come!