It was a great Sunday for blessing beer. The blessing was held at the Best Place Tavern in Milwaukee next to the Pabst Brewing facility. I was joined by Fr. Brian Mason, team pastor at Three Holy Women Parish downtown. The bald guy in the picture is Eric Peterson, a friend of mine, who is very active in the home brewing of beer world.
Blessing of the Bock
Tomorrow we begin our Lenten journey as we mark ourselves with ashes from the palm leaves burned over the past few years. This is a time for change, a time for new beginnings, a time to really follow Christ. So, how can we make this Lent the most significant one we have ever experienced?
A few thoughts. Start small! Don’t make goals and promises for yourself that will become too much of a burden three days into Lent. Just like we need to begin a new exercise routine with “baby steps” in order to prevent burnout, we need to approach our spiritual body in a similar way. For example, instead of saying you are going to pray the rosary everyday during Lent, perhaps make it a goal to say the Hail Mary prayer before bed and when you wake up. How to best do this? Put the Hail Mary prayer on your bathroom mirror – that’s probably one of the places you are at the beginning and end of each day. This will remind you to say the prayer.
How to fast?? This is a tough one. Again, small, simple, methods for success. Pick one thing that you can fast from each day. Look at your daily routine. If you watch television each day at a particular time, then perhaps cut out half an hour each day from the tv during the usual set times. For example, if you always watch the nightly news for 30 minutes each day, maybe change your tv time to reading a spiritual book during that set time. If someone in your home is watching television at that time – because they haven’t given up watching the nightly news for Lent, then remove yourself from that part of the house and take your spiritual book with you. Dont, I repeat don’t, think you can read your spiritual book in the same room as the tv. You will be distracted – I know from experience.
Almsgiving. Again, don’t choose the marathon of almsgiving for Lent this year. I like the little cans for the poor idea. Every evening, empty your change for the day into this can (whatever the giving might be directed towards). Men especially have this routine when getting ready for bed. Use a can, a jar, a cup, whatever you can place on the dresser and something you will see each day. Women, you may need some kind of note that alerts you to doing the same thing, since you keep change in purses. Perhaps, place a plastic sandwich bag in your change area of the purse and empty it each night into your can. Why the note? Because purses are usually kept (I think) downstairs or in places other than the bedroom. You need that note to remind you to go, find the purse, and empty the change into the can. It has to be each day. The first time you look at that note and think: “I will do it tomorrow, I’m too tired to walk and get my purse”, the Lenten promise/goal/resolution starts to break-up and dissolve. Most likely, you will forget the next day. Spend the few minutes it takes to walk and get your purse in prayer for a particular petition: the Pope, the sick, the family. Pray the Hail Mary or Our Father over and over during the time it takes you to get the purse, grab your baggie of change, empty it into your can, and return the baggie to the purse (or however works best to make sure that the baggie is back in the purse – or you will forget it for the next day). This way, you can combine almsgiving and prayer into one! Note: if you don’t have any change that day, then so be it, you will have coins to offer up many other times during Lent.
The key to any Lenten success is mind over matter. Once the mind tells us we can take a break, or do something later, we begin to falter. Don’t believe me?? Reflect upon past Lents and see if that was the case. From personal experience, I can tell you that this temptation often occurs when I am outside my normal “habitat” or ordinary routine. This is the most frequent place that our Lenten promises begin to fade. Stick with it!! The annoyance or “pain” you feel because it “hurts” in a sense to be faithful, is the most powerful moment of our Lenten journeys. This is the true test of our Lenten goal. Ask the angels, saints, and of course, the Blessed Mother, to help you!
Lastly, if you do find yourself not being faithful to your original Lenten plan, then start over the next day afresh with the resolve to carry it out. The easiest way to turn Lent into a “failure” is to find yourself quitting the goals you made and then treating the rest of Lent as any ordinary season of the year. Remember, Jesus fell 3 times carrying the cross, if we mess up 30 times during Lent, then we keep picking ourselves up and trying to be faithful the next day. What would Jesus rather have us do: stay face down in the dirt with our cross crushing us, or stand up, pick up the vehicle of our salvation, and continue on?
Blessed Lent to all and remember, small, small, small, Lenten goals!!
Every priest, according to Canon Law, is asked to make a 5 day retreat every year in order to “step back” from the busyness of our lives and reflect upon our relationship with Christ. This past week, myself and 3 of my classmates journeyed to Albuquerque, New Mexico for retreat at Santa Maria de la Vid Priory located southwest of the city of Albuquerque and owned and operated by the Norbertines.
Exterior of Hermitages
Each of us had our own private hermitage and we spent the days in silence except for our daily gathering for Mass. While we agreed that silence was necessary for our daily prayer, yours truly (surprise, surprise) sometimes had difficulty with this rule and needed a time for chatting each day, usually with my classmate Fr. Dan Janasik. Nothing excessive, but a few moments here and there!
Inside of the Hermitage
Being in the desert in a wonderful way to hear the voice of God. The weather was in the mid 50s, so I had plenty of time to walk the grounds of the priory and literally lose myself in prayer amongst the cacti!
Desert
Everyone needs a retreat in life, not just priests. Take advantage of an opportunity to do this and if you’re not sure where to go, then give me a ring and I would be happy to offer assistance! Please know that I kept you all close to my heart in prayer during my retreat.
Happy Birthday Mom!!!
Learning and memorizing prayers should be a part of every Catholic’s life. Whether you attended a Catholic grade school or high school (which I didn’t), it’s never too late to start making a practice of memorizing a different prayer once a month or maybe, once every other month.
Prayers are like old friends that come back to us when we find ourselves in need of comfort and peace. Knowing the Angelus and praying it everyday at noon for instance, allows us to remember the Incarnation of Christ and Our Blessed Mother’s great Fiat (Let it be done to me!).
Our school children learn a new prayer each month and while some of them can be a bit advanced for our little ones (Kindergarten and 1st graders), I’m hoping that by the time they hear these prayers for the next 8+ years, they will start to register them and become more familiar with the words.
The prayer the school children are learning this month is The Morning Offering. This perfect prayer for the beginning of a new day has been on my lips for a long time and I never tire of using it each morning. It’s pretty simple to learn and I encourage all of you to adopt it as one of your own morning devotions!
Morning Offering:
Each month, I enter the school administrative offices and partake in something that is every kid’s dream. I get to speak on the school loudspeaker and introduce a new prayer for the school children! You never know the kind of power you have until your voice is projecting into every classroom and nook of the school! It’s really cool.
The prayers for each month vary in their themes and wording. The school children really seem to enjoy some of the more traditional prayers such as the “Angel of God” prayer and the “Hail, Holy Queen” prayer. Today, I introduced the “Christmas Anticipation Prayer” which is something new to me, but has roots in our faith. This prayer is meant to be prayed 15 times a day (yes, 15 times a day) from November 30 – The Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle until Christmas. It really is a beautiful prayer as we vigilantly await the coming of Christ!
Fr. Sean Leading the Monthly School Prayer
I have to thank two wonderful parishioners of St. Dominic for helping make this monthly school prayer really get off the ground: Patricia Jessup and Mary Jo Maslowski. They have been so great in making this a success at our fine school. In addition, Joyce Sauer, who runs the computer lab, is our resident photographer and always seems to find me when I’m teaching the children. God Bless You, Patricia, Mary Jo, and Joyce!
Christmas Anticipation Prayer
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
in which the Son of God was born
of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight,
in Bethlehem,
in the piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God,
to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[State your intention(s) here...]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His blessed Mother.
Amen.
(Beginning on St. Andrew the Apostle’s feast day, November 30th, the following prayer is traditionally prayed 15 times a day until Christmas. This is a very meditative prayer that helps us increase our awareness of the real focus of Christmas and helps us prepare ourselves spiritually for His coming.)
