Lent Video Retreat: Being and Metaphysics

Lent Video Retreat: Argument and Dialectic

Big thanks to the Thomistic Institute!

Lent Video Retreat: Non-Contradiction

Big thanks to the Thomistic Institute! You can sign up here.

Happy Ash Wednesday!

Ready or not, here we go!


If you're still contemplating what to give up...


More serious advice:


Here's a quick link to our family Lent ideas and ideas for Lent with younger kids.

Lastly, we are beginning our Lent Video Retreat with Aquinas 101 (The Thomistic Institute) today in a separate post.

Lent Video Retreat: The Science of Theology

Big thanks to the Thomistic Institute!  We are starting with their ninth video, but you can watch the earlier ones here.

Poem of the Week: Those Winter Sundays

Those Winter Sundays

By Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early

and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,

then with cracked hands that ached

from labor in the weekday weather made

banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.

When the rooms were warm, he’d call,

and slowly I would rise and dress,

fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,

who had driven out the cold

and polished my good shoes as well.

What did I know, what did I know

of love’s austere and lonely offices?

HT: Poetry Foundation

Seven Quick Takes: Suits, Prunes, Flowers, and Squid

 

1. My younger boys!  And my Sweetie! All dressed up for the Scout Suit and Tie Dinner!  They had a great time at East Pearl, a restaurant that does great sushi, Thai, and Chinese food.

We're usually pretty casual dressers around here (Choclo has kept wearing T shirts and jeans through this mild winter), so it's a bit of a surprise to see that they clean up so handsomely.

2. But it wasn't as big a surprise as discovering this quote from the back of a jar of prunes: "So go ahead, live a little, and enjoy [eating prunes]!"

I actually don't mind eating prunes.  I would go so far as to say I like prune filling in filled cookies.  But.  The only way I can think of eating prunes as a daring act of self indulgence, darned be the consequences, would be to eat the entire jar in one sitting.  Which I was not tempted towards.

3. I really liked our Lenten Video Retreat last year.  One of the difficulties as your kids get older is finding new things to help out your teens as they age out of the younger kids' Lent stuff.  Last year I posted a video a day from Fr. Mike Schmitz.  That was amazing!  But I only had enough videos because I mined his archive.

For this year I'm planning to do videos from Aquinas 101.  We actually started this a while ago, but couldn't keep up with their twice a week schedule.  I can do every day, I can do once a week, but not twice a week, go figure. Anyway, we'll be starting with #9 "The Science of Theology" on Ash Wednesday, if you want to catch up on the earlier ones.  They are usually less than 5 minutes and are a great springboard for further discussion.

Of course, you can also just sign up for it yourself, and they have lots of supplemental reading and so forth.

4. My dad turned 82!  After a really tough few months, he seems to be on the upswing again.  Thanks be to God!  And a heartfelt thank you to any readers out there who prayed (or will pray: hint, hint) for my parents' health.  I'll be saying my Rosary for you today.  I have loved having them living with us, but it was pretty scary for them get so sick so soon after moving in!



5. Spring seems to be happening.  I can't tell how much it's bizarrely early because the winter has been so mild, and how much it's bizarrely early because things have been so crazy that it feels like we just had Christmas.

Probably both.  Still, I'm loving he crocuses in the lawn and the Lenten Rose "Wedding Party."






6.This oil painting that Klenda just finished reminded me that it's Mardi Gras next week!

I need to get sausages for our annual sausage and pancake dinner.

Also, she's developing into a yet more amazing artist!

And, yes, that's her real life name, so you can follow her on Instagram.





7.We are kind of crazy about tea around here.

I was restocking my tea tins (one is caffeinated teas, one is the decaf selection).  I love having people over for tea!

Anyway, I got really anemic quite suddenly (thank you Peri Menopause) and I've been off my feet for the last couple of weeks.  My friend Bill brought me this get well tea llama!

Because as crazy as those tea tins are, they are all the teas in bags and we also have loose tea.  And as crazy as we are for tea, we are even crazier for puns!

8. BONUS TAKE!  Actual conversation yesterday.

Other Art Student: It's hard to imagine how incredibly large giant squids really are.

Klenda: Oh, I know how big they are.

Other Art Student : ...Really?

Klenda: Yes, we had a life sized one on our ceiling.  

Other Art Student: ....

Klenda: Twice.

Other Art Student: ...Were you home schooled?

More takes with Kelly!

Wordless Wednesday: the Baltimore Zoo

Poem of the Week: Immortal Sails

Immortal Sails

By Alfred Noyes

Now, in a breath, we’ll burst those gates of gold,

   And ransack heaven before our moment fails.

Now, in a breath, before we, too, grow old,

   We’ll mount and sing and spread immortal sails.

It is not time that makes eternity.

   Love and an hour may quite out-span the years,

And give us more to hear and more to see

   Than life can wash away with all its tears.

Dear, when we part, at last, that sunset sky

   Shall not be touched with deeper hues than this;

But we shall ride the lightning ere we die

   And seize our brief infinitude of bliss,

With time to spare for all that heaven can tell,

While eyes meet eyes, and look their last farewell.

HT: Poetry Foundation

Wordless Wednesday: Back to the Billy Goat Trail

Poem of the Week :Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes

Song: to Celia [“Drink to me only with thine eyes”]

By Ben Jonson

Drink to me only with thine eyes,

         And I will pledge with mine;

Or leave a kiss but in the cup,

         And I’ll not look for wine.

The thirst that from the soul doth rise

         Doth ask a drink divine;

But might I of Jove’s nectar sup,

         I would not change for thine.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath,

         Not so much honouring thee

As giving it a hope, that there

         It could not withered be.

But thou thereon didst only breathe,

         And sent’st it back to me;

Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,

         Not of itself, but thee.

Lent for Little Kids

Talking to Jesus also makes Him smile!

I've been talking to friends who still have little ones, and it made me think about what I learned from all those Lents with littles (I'm thinking 2-4 year olds, but if you're just starting to celebrate Lent, this would apply up to around age 8.  Below 2 it seems like it's enough for them to watch you).

I know I just did a big post on ideas for Lent, and a lot of those ideas work for little kids, but here's what I learned specific to young children:

The most important thing you can do is to share your love and joy in the Lord with them.

If I only had really young kids, I would just do the Walking with Jesus poster so they could see where we were on the journey, and each day I would ask: What could we do today to make Jesus smile?

I would explain "the gospel on five fingers," Mother Teresa's explanation that the heart of the Gospel is Jesus' saying that whatever you do to others "You Did It To Me."

If they had trouble coming up with something in the beginning, I would make suggestions, but pretty much whatever they came up with I would try to do, and add flowers around the footprints for each "smile."

I'd also skip sweets except on Sundays (although we ate a lot of sweet dried fruit which my kids called God's candy"), but that's it!  You can always add more as you go if you decide you need more.

Keeping it simple and doable was the key for me, not only for keeping the kids engaged, but for giving me a real love for Lent which I didn't really have before I started celebrating with my kids.

Wordless Wednesday: The Walters

Ideas for Lent

Here are some of our favorite ideas :

The vine and the branches.  Basically it's a 7 foot tall vine cut out of brown paper with branches for each member of the family. We cut out tons of leaves and grapes and put them in a basket. Whenever anyone sees someone doing something good, they put a leaf or fruit on that person's branch.  We often put a picture of Jesus and the "vine and branches" quote on the vine.  I love having the focus of catching others bearing fruit, it really encourages us to look for the good in others. Picture here

Gospel desserts! No desserts or sweets except for Sunday, and the Sunday desserts are related to the Gospel of the day.  We have a lot of fun with this!  Although I haven't lived down the time I made an angel food cake and devil food cake for the temptation in the dessert.  Also, we keep the cookie jar filled with pretzels.

Sacrifice bean jar. One bean for each sacrifice and on Easter they are replaced with jelly beans to show that Jesus' sacrifice makes our sacrifices sweet.  A friend just told me a twist on this: popcorn kernels that you pop each Sunday.  That has the huge advantage that they can really see how much they are doing each week.  We're going to try the popcorn this Lent.

 

 

The Lenten Cross  This is made of 40 squares of light purple paper, each the size of a post-it note.  You do a scripture reading, have a kid draw a representation of the reading on a square, and then tape the square to a wall. By Easter the squares form a large cross representing Salvation History.  We've done this several times and the kids love it, but we seem to alternate years doing it. You can find the readings and more info here.

 

The Walking with Jesus poster:  I look at the readings for the Sundays of Lent and draw out a map on a big roll of paper for where we will be going with Jesus. Then I draw footsteps for all the days in between. We start at the heart on Ash Wednesday ("Turn to me with your whole heart...") and go into the desert for the Temptation, then the mountain for the Transfiguration, you get the idea. Along the way, as we make little sacrifices, acts of kindness, or extra time with Jesus, we draw flowers near the arrow for that day. We are strewing flowers on Jesus' path. Here is a blog post with a picture for Lent Cycle A

For older kids we try to do all the Works of Mercy during Lent.  There's a great resource here that can work for elementary kids: Look to Him and Be Radiant: Year of Mercy Resources

Here's the master post on Lent ideas with the resources linked.  That has tons more ideas for all ages, but we end up just doing the ones our kids love over and over because if we try too much we crash and burn four weeks in...

My basic plan is to follow the classic Lent idea: Prayer , Fasting, Alms-giving.  The no sweets thing takes care of the fasting, and we'll decide together which charity to save for during Lent. We make a jar decorated with pictures related to the people for whom we are raising money. For prayer we try for daily Mass more often and we make a Lenten altar in the dining room where we can pray and just be reminded of Our Lord in a Lenten way.

God bless and happy Lent!

Poem of the Week: The Snow is Deep on the Ground

The Snow Is Deep on the Ground

By Kenneth Patchen

The snow is deep on the ground.  

Always the light falls

Softly down on the hair of my belovèd.

This is a good world.

The war has failed.

God shall not forget us.

Who made the snow waits where love is.

Only a few go mad.

The sky moves in its whiteness

Like the withered hand of an old king.   

God shall not forget us.

Who made the sky knows of our love.

The snow is beautiful on the ground.   

And always the lights of heaven glow   

Softly down on the hair of my belovèd.