How A Butterfly Guides Me: Setting off on My Lenten Journey

Since I posted yesterday about my stalled spirituality  I have come up with a simple, repeatable way to prepare for Easter. I am wary of any Lenten prayer plan that is so complex that I feel like a failure before I begin; my Lenten journey will not be a redux of Benjamin Franklin's Moral Perfection plan, his self-improvement scheme that would work for no more than a day.

Here's what I have been up to. Each night, right before I go to bed, I check out universalis.com and read the nighttime prayer on my iPad. I grab a phrase, and say it to myself as I fall asleep. In the morning, first thing, I read the morning prayer and again pick an image or phrase that I can carry with me during the day.

Enduring Trials and Reminding Ourselves What Will Endure

I long ago gave up believing in coincidences. I believe that everything that happens in our lives, happens for a reason. Over the weekend, something ugly happened. An adult took it upon himself to insult our eldest son publicly, Our son has become deeply involved, publicly involved in writing,speaking, going door to door and otherwise peacefully  and respectfully organizing opposition to our local school board, which is pursuing policies that are serving to destabilize our public schools. Our son wants to enter the world of public policy and politics .After reading cruel remarks on a facebook page and in private emails to my husband and me, Greg told our son this is the price that sometimes must be paid for working for the common good. Our friends rallied around us with sweet phone calls, and homemade chocolate cake and wise admonitions to steer clear of the internet, where this whole effort at public humiliation was unfolding all weekend..

Breaking Bad with Chicken Wings: Yeah!

Tonight was the Final Season Premiere of Breaking Bad on AMC. If you haven't seen this show, start watching it on Netflix. It is awesome.

Our older son, now nearly 17,  started watching the show about a year ago on his own.  I  disapproved, even though I'd never seen it. "Isn't that about meth? Don't they glamorize drugs?" Yes. And no. Not. At. All.

He said: "Why don't you watch the show first before you condemn it?" 

Seven Quick Takes for Friday: Trumpets, Sardines and Vacations

1. Well, it's Friday night as I write this. I am home alone, just me and the dog. Better late than never, eh? My husband and our older son are in Princeton, where our son has chamber orchestra rehearsal. Our younger (trumpeting) son is with dear family friends at Montclair State University, listening to the MSU Symphonic Band and the MSU Wind Symphony. Our friend's son is a trumpeter at MSU!

Christ Is Risen! How Our Family of Four Celebrates

 www.theclayrosarygirl.blogspot.com

On our way out of Mass this morning, I wished the elderly usher a Merry Christmas. We both had a laugh about that. Silly middle-aged me. The beautiful Mass reminded me of Christmas Mass somehow - the new faces, the standing-room-only crowd, the lovely, noisy toddlers dressed up in their finest. So many faces filled with hope.

Like Christmas, Easter attracts people who don't normally spend time at church. I am happy when I see these new faces because it reminds me that no matter how far each of us wanders, home always waits to welcome us. Easter is, as our pastor put it today, a still-unwritten story; the rest of the story is how we as individuals encounter Christ and how we choose to live out our days.

After Mass,  I was heartened when I checked facebook and saw the status update of a teenager of my acquaintance, a boy who I have heard on multiple occasions mock the Christian faith.

Five Favorites

1. Sweet Potato Knishes. Found a great recipe here.

2. This boy. Now, don't get me wrong. He is not my favorite son. He is simply, a favorite son. We just had an IEP meeting today to set up his learning plan for high school. After he left the meeting, his caseworker told me and my husband:  "He is a gem. He is as good as gold."

And yes, that just about sums up how I feel about our 13-year-old. He's an athlete who also sings in the choir and plays the trumpet. He is friends with a wide range of kids. He is a hambone and he is a loyal friend. He takes his faith seriously. He is willing to work hard to succeed in school, even when the going gets tough. Plus, he makes an awesome chili. 'Nuff said.


3.  This man and this book. I just finished listening to it in the car. Wonderful, well-researched and inspiring.

4. Saturday Date Nights. Now that our boys are teenagers, and well past the need for babysitters, my husband and I have been taking ourselves out to dinner on Saturday nights. Lovely. Here is where we went on Saturday; he ate mussels and I ordered salmon.

5. This fascinating interview with Dean Koontz, best-selling author of supernatural suspense stories.

Seven Quick Takes For Friday

1.  Please pray for the soul of my sister-in-law Barbara's father, who passed away Wednesday at age 71 of a heart attack. His name is Wilfredo Salvador and he and his wife raised their five children in Dumaguete City in the Philippines. You might remember I wrote about one of his grandchildren, Brennan Kyle Alcantara, who was miraculously rescued from flood waters during Typhoon Sendong.

 May the Angels lead him into Paradise. 
May the Martyrs receive him at his coming 
and take him to Jerusalem, the Holy City. 
May the Choirs of the Angels receive him, 
and may he, with the once poor Lazarus, 
have rest everlasting. Amen.

Seven Quick Takes for Friday

 (painting by Jason Tako)

1. Spring is coming; I can just feel it. It is so glorious to see more and more of the sun these days. As much as I try, I don't do well in winter.

Celebrating Valentine's Day during Lent? Yikes.

Lent is approaching. Many of us, including yours truly, have food-related Lenten penances, good habits we want to develop and continue after this season of preparation. So one day after Ash Wednesday this year comes the Feast of Saint Valentine but better known as a secular day designed for indulgence in everything sugary.

How can we keep our Lenten promises (mine involve eating only unprocessed food during Lent and seriously limiting my sugar consumption) while enjoying the day after Ash Wednesday? By the way, speaking of Lenten Loopholes, Ironic Catholic wrote a laugh out loud funny post about this here.

Superbowl Pizza: Thanks, Ina Garten!

Every Superbowl for more than a decade, our younger son's Godfather and his family of six (his four daughters pictured here)  have come to our house to watch the game.  We all scrunch together on two sofas and some floor pillows. My husband always makes awesome chicken wings and mac and cheese. This year, I decided to prepare white pizza, too. I saw Ina Garten, a.k.a. The Barefoot Contessa, prepare the pizza last week on her Food Network show.

It is awesome. "Mom, you should make this again," was the feedback from our 16-year-old son.

Today's Two-Fer: Baptism of the Lord and a Confirmation Commitment

"The Lord was baptized, not to be cleansed himself but to cleanse the waters, so that those waters, cleansed by the flesh of Christ which knew no sin, might have the power of baptism. Whoever comes, therefore, to the washing of Christ lays aside his sins" St. Ambrose of Milan

This morning we all went to the 9 a.m. Mass, an early one for us. Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the day in which the Church commemorates the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. Today was also the day where several eighth graders in our parish, including our son, participated in a Confirmation Commitment ceremony during Mass. Since Confirmation seals the sacrament of Baptism, the timing could not have been better.

While our son's Confirmation sponsor, my older brother, was unable to attend the ceremony, we were delighted that his Godfather, a busy father of four who lives an hour away, attended Mass with us.

On Pancakes, the Human Person and Prayers for A Perplexed Reader

 Three small things happened this afternoon that provoked me into thinking, yet again, about why we're gifted with time on this planet.

 I woke up late, really late today. Well past noon. My husband and son are at middle school basketball practice. The coach asked Greg to help out. Our son is the point guard. I vaguely heard them leave about 11, then went back to sleep.

I woke about an hour later to the smell of something cooking in the kitchen. I plodded downstairs and discovered our 16 year old, who also rose late, was preparing pancakes. He had added peanut butter and bananas to the batter. He offered me some. As I settled into the sofa to eat and to catch up on my reading I thought: Who brought this young man to us?

Unstuffed Shells and a Mother Lost

Mystery is always provoking me. Sometimes, it takes me a while to understand what is tugging on my sleeve.

Last week, I got the sudden urge to make stuffed shells for Friday night dinner. Around here, when Friday nights roll around, we all are usually so wiped from our work and school weeks, that Friday often finds us ordering pizza or Indian or eating leftovers. But this Friday night, I decided, we would have some homemade comfort food.

I found a great recipe on Pioneer Woman's website and then decided to triple the recipe. I did not know why I wanted to triple it. Maybe I'd freeze it for another Friday night? Maybe this would be our January tradition? I wasn't really sure, but felt compelled at the Stop n Shop Friday afternoon to buy three times of everything: the crushed tomatoes, the parsley, and the Italian sausage. The only thing I could not find were the jumbo shells.

Christmas Eve Traditions: Covered in Prosecco, I Wish You a Merry Messy Christmas

6:30 p.m. These four chunky salmon fillets, which my husband and I bought this morning at a bustling HMart, are in the oven, covered in maple/soy sauce; Greg is in the kitchen, commenting on how good my salmon smells and making his trademark linguine with broccoli and sun-dried tomato recipe. The boys are upstairs, relaxing after the 5 p.m. Christmas Mass. I am listening to the Roches on Pandora Radio. Cari Donaldson is hosting a linkup about Christmas Eve, so here is mine.  (We always have seafood on Christmas Eve and we always attend either the 5 p.m. or Midnight Mass.)

Dismuke Discovered: Music to Bake Cakes By

Cookie baking eludes me - too much precision involved. But I've discovered a love of cake baking this Advent season, thanks to a couple of websites, including Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen and Jennifer Gregory Miller's Catholic Cuisine. I've baked a cake every Sunday since Thanksgiving, and my foodie sons and husband have weighed in on which ones they liked and which they didn't.  Friends are visiting in the coming days and I have lots of cakes to bake. But I need music to bake by.

In the Wake of a School Massacre, The Smallest Actions of Love

The murder of 26 innocents in a Newtown, Connecticut elementary school and the suicide of the shooting suspect are evils I am unable to absorb. I struggle to even pray about this. Words feel inadequate.

Instead, yesterday and today, I have tried to make my actions my prayers, focusing on the children put in front of me: my own children, their friends, and the dozens of students I teach. Is this self-absorption? Is there something more, something bigger I should be doing? In a piece he wrote today, Father Christian Mathis' words reassured me that the conversion of my own heart has got to come first: "Prayer and even the smallest actions of love are powerful weapons in the battle against the evil still present in our world today."

Second Sunday of Advent: John the Baptist, Juan Diego and My Family

Our 16 year old son readily agreed to help me prepare our meal for the second Sunday of Advent.  Right now, a "Majestic and Moist Honey Cake" is baking in the oven and soon I will call him downstairs to work on the lime-cilantro pork tacos. The boys actually are beginning to look forward to our Sunday dinners, which I began planning in earnest starting with the Feast of Christ the King.

I was worried our family was too old to try to catch the liturgical rhythm of Advent, that too many years of too many Sundays had passed without a sense of stopping and relaxing instead of shopping and catching up on homework. But I was wrong; we all are enjoying spending our Sundays after Mass napping, watching football, cooking and then having a family meal together. So...what's with the honey cake this Sunday?

St. Nicholas Day: Do You Celebrate This Advent Saint?

I didn't grow up celebrating St. Nicholas Day on December 6, and we never truly celebrated it with our sons.  How do you celebrate this feast day? This year, we are celebrating.

Our sons did grow up listening to me read them a book called "The True Story of Saint Nicholas,"  (published by Pauline Books and Media) and so they always have known that Santa Claus once was a real man, a Turkish man, a bishop who cared for the poor.  Years ago, that book was a way to reclaim Saint Nicholas from the garish commercialization of what I call Consumer Christmas. This year, I am doing trying in earnest what I can to mark the Advent season in our home. Re-enter Saint Nicholas, amid the flurry of our boys' math homework, basketball practices, chamber music rehearsals and National Honor Society essays.

On Being Counter-Cultural: Christ is King

Consider how incredibly blessed we are this year that the Feast of Christ the King, which ends the Roman Catholic liturgical year, falls a mere two days after the consumer frenzy of Black Friday. As one of my favorite websites, Occupy Advent, tells us on their facebook page tonight: Christ the King may well be the most counter-cultural festival on the church calendar. Think for a moment about all that we allow to be Lord. And yet, the seminal confession of the church, "Jesus is Lord," is also a renunciation of everything else that lays ultimate claim on our allegiance.    This year, as the mother of two teens, I am trying to encourage our whole little family to slow down, to look at the reality beyond the relentless consumerism that sometimes can feel suffocating.

A Question About Pie and a Thought about Circumstances

First, a question. Second, a proposal about how to look at our circumstances. OK, first things first. What is your favorite pie recipe? You see, my husband, who handles Thanksgiving dinner, has delegated the 13-year-old and me to  dessert-making duty.  I was hoping to avoid making pie and proposed to our son that we make cupcakes instead. A slave to tradition, my son is insisting we make pie, including a crust from scratch. Help! I never have done that before. Please share with me  your favorite tips and recipes. Crust from scratch sounds so intimidating.