Sunday, February 10th is
World Day for Marriage!

Friday, February 15th is a day of abstinence

We're at the heart of our liturgy this week, the Eucharistic Prayer. Try not to let this slip by you. Listen to the words, reflect on the prayers. There is no neutrality when you take this prayer to heart. (Learn more)

Pull out the wedding pictures and reminisce! Plan a romantic date with your spouse! Do something fun to celebrate World Marriage Day this Sunday, February 10, 2008.
Brighten up your winter by celebrating marriage!

In case you have not yet decided what to do for Lent, please consider completing the Family Lenten Inventory,
then check out the prayer, fasting, and almsgiving your can practice throughout Lent.
 

Use your violet candle every day for the season of  Lent.

• Monday, February 11 celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, the anniversary of the first of eighteen apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes, France in 1858. When Bernadette asked the name of the apparition, Our Lady replied, "I am the Immaculate Conception." The apparitions occurred just four years after Pope Pius IX made the first of two ex cathedra (infallible) statements, that which defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The Song of Bernadette is a charming, Academy Award-winning film which tells the story of the Lourdes apparitions and brings our Catholic history to life.
   
• Friday, February 15 is a day of abstinence, so don't eat meat!

Learn the Liturgy of the Hours with us.

We're learning to pray the morning and evening prayers of Liturgy of the Hours during Lent this year. We're doing fine incorporating morning prayer into our routine, but have not been doing as well with evening prayer. If you have any suggestions to help us, please let us know!

Daily prayers for the Liturgy of the Hours are found in these sources:
 Christian Prayer: The Liturgy of the Hours
 Saint Joseph Guide for the Liturgy of the Hours (St. Joseph Liturgy Guides)

Lent: A Season of Triumph and Hope!

This week's readings are incredible. They take us from complete failure to total triumph!

The second reading is from Paul's letter to the Romans. He tells us that Adam's sin brought death to the world. Christ's complete focus on the Father gives us the gift of life. The first reading and Gospel illustrate his point.

Our first reading is the story of creation and man's fall from grace. It seems even more meaningful, however, when we read the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Genesis in their entirety. In chapter 2 God forms man and breathes life into him. Then God plants a garden in Eden and gives the man stewardship over the garden, warning man never to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Finally God makes woman from man, to complement and complete him.

In Genesis, chapter 3, we hear the familiar story of the fall of man. Satan slithers into the garden and tempts the woman. The man, who was with her at the time, does nothing to protect his companion. He stands aside and leaves the woman to fend for herself. He never makes the effort to protect the woman nor the garden he has the responsibility to protect.

Then we hear the Gospel from Matthew. Jesus is in the desert for forty days and forty nights. He is hungry and vulnerable. Again Satan slithers into the picture and tempts Him three times. Unlike Adam, Jesus actively fights the temptations by responding to evil with the words of the Father. In focusing on God's will, Jesus overcomes evil for all of us.

Unfortunately, Satan is still around and working hard, but Jesus shows us the way to holiness and destruction of evil. It is possible, and we can have nothing but hope as we prepare for the glory of Easter.
 

Lectionary readings for the 1st Week of Lent: