Seven Quick Takes: Valentine Lent

1. I hate it when Valentine's Day falls during Lent:  hearts, romance, love, and...self sacrifice?

How's that supposed to work?



Never mind.

Anyway, I'm actually excited about it this year, partly because it falls on a Sunday (guilt free chocolate!), and partly because the juxtaposition was a whack on the head.

I've had a very odd few weeks, and it's only just now come into focus: this Lent is God's valentine to me.  All the fasting, praying, and giving is a way to make space to receive all the Love He wants to pour into me. That may take me more than 40 days to unpack!


2.  This has been my favorite Lent video for three years running, and I'm guessing this is not a coincidence:

3. Kid Lent is going well.  I blogged about it here, but here's the free printable in case you missed it.

You can use it as a template, or just print and color it yourself!

The idea is to color in a footprint each day, starting at the lower left cross. 

Some years we also drew flowers around the footprints to represent the acts of love we had done that day.

Please note, the cross itself is the symbol for Ash Wednesday (the first footprint is Thursday), and each Sunday is a picture relating to that Gospel (no footprints on Sundays).

4. Lent +Year of Mercy=Lent of Mercy!  This video nudged me to pick up the Divine Comedy again.






5. Speaking of great Lenten stuff from Fr. Bishop Barron, did you know he is doing daily Lenten meditations? He is!  And they're free! Sign up here.

I've given up playing games on my phone for Lent, and I've been filling time with snippets of spiritual reading,so this is quite helpful. Dominicana, has also been a great source. 
I can't just give something up, I need to fill it with something positive.

6. This chart, nabbed from Catholic Memes, cracked me up!

I have been slowly realizing that part of my issues with Lent has been due to an unconscious presumption that my Lenten practices were something that I took on and succeeded (or failed!) at based on how mightily I grit my teeth.
Ah yes, my spiritual growth, depends on my sheer force of will power!

I need a GIF of my guardian angel facepalming, "You know that's a heresy, right?"

7. Also, shamelessly cribbed from Catholic Memes, but thought of frequently while buying chocolate for Valentines Day on a Lenten Friday:

 More fun,and some hilarious Catholic Valentines with Kelly!