Meditation: What Better Day to Begin than Today?

Last time, we took a look at the difference a morning offering canmake in the effort to bring peace to our homes and our hearts. When we offer the day to God, His grace is sufficient for whatever the day holds. Our successes are gifts to Him and our “failures” are made valuable by Him.

I pray my morning offering the first time I nurse my infant in the morning. While a new baby can often cause chaos in a household (and mine sometimes seems to), this time, I’ve pegged my plan for interior peace to the indisputable items on the baby’s schedule: her feeding times. Since she’s still really little, there are many of these times and they lend themselves well to the spiritual practices crucial to interior peace. Read the rest here and

~~~

after you read there, come back here for some resources.
This is by no means a comprehensive list. Instead, it's a smattering of the resources from several different charisms.
Books that lend themselves to meditation:
Divine Intimacy
In Conversation with God
Imitation of Christ
Listen My Son

And here's one on the web that is just great. Use it only if you won't be tempted to cut your time short or be distracted by the rest of the world wide web at your fingertips:

Mini-retreat (10 or 15 minutes) with the Salesians

Ash Wednesday

Fast: Skip reading magazines, blogs, or anything else in the world that inspires self-pity instead of self-confidence.

Pray: Listen. God is speaking to you right now. Stop interrupting.

Give: People are more important than things. Remember that your time and your attention are more valuable commodities to your family than your accomplishments.

Just a Happy Sarah Anne Picture

Made me smile on a day that sorely tested my good nature:-)

Dimples, rolls, giggles and glee

Hiding the Alleluia

Here's the quick version to answer some questions and give you some time to actually do this today (or maybe tomorrow). I'll add pictures later today after we do it.

 Remember those wooden mantel letters? For the Easter season, they spell "Alleluia." They are painted gold and covered with "diamond dust" glitter. On Fat Tuesday, I take out the letters and make a big deal of spelling out "Alleluia." I let the children chant, sing, and even yell "Alleluia" in order to "get the Alleluias out." Then, I solemnly put the golden letters in a purple bag and explain that the Church doesn't say "Alleluia" during Lent and that we will "hide our Alleluias" until it's Easter.I hide the purple bag with the Alleluias in it (and tell someone where I put them;-). Then, it's Lent.

And it's quiet.

(Note: for Lent, the mantel letter spell REPENT. We basically use the Advent letters, which spelled PREPARE and add an N and a T. For more on mantel letters, click here.) 

Westward Ho! A Booklist

Here on Serendipity. Sorry I didn't get it to you sooner.
Truth is, we're nearly finished with it. I'll try to get the next list or two up in the coming week.