The Mom Weekly Volume 82: Tuesday, March 4, 2025
You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.
Lent, Lent, Time to Repent….
Do you remember the CD we had back in the mid-2000s from the “Dogma Dogs”? I think it was two young college students who created all those fun songs, such as “21 Ecumenical Councils” (I know but remember it was very funny!).
One of the songs I remember is “Lent” and it had a chorus, “It’s Lent, Lent, time to repent.”
Sadly, I could not find the Dogma Dogs on Spotify. Dogma Dogs, if you’re out there, upload your songs to Spotify. 🙂
Anyway, I did find this link to a description of the group and some of their fun songs. Helpfully, the post links to a clip of the song itself (and a few others), and I encourage you to give it a listen, just for the smile:
And to get yourself in the mood for Lent!
Preparing for Lent, In Tiny Ways
So, yes, Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on March 5, tomorrow. It might be a good idea to take a few minutes to think about planning for those six weeks.
I know Lent can be a less than positive time for some of us, but I would propose that planning for some of this can help make it less burdensome.
First, remember that there’s no holy day of obligation for either Ash Wednesday or any of the Easter Triduum. But if you want to go, especially on Ash Wednesday, and if you go early in the day you can have people asking you all day, “Did you know you have something on your forehead?” 🙂
Fasting and abstinence. Here is an article about the “rules” .
But briefly: No meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent.
I remember when I was young and since, and I didn’t have an easy way to remind me about what day of Lent is. More than once, I accidentally at a Wendy’s cheeseburger on a Friday. (See, I’ve liked Wendy’s for many decades! I’m consistent).
Today, though, we have online calendars and reminders. So consider putting in your calendar “fast” on Ash Wednesday (March 5) and Good Friday (April 18). And then “abstinence” from meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent.
But especially the fasting rule does not count for health reasons. You know what those are, and using your best judgment to decide how to proceed.
Also, what are some ways to make Lent meaningful when it may be especially hard?
First of all, we can bring any of those to prayer. God knows everything about you, and He wants to hear from you, so taking the time to pray about what you detest or dread about Lent.
There are innumerable articles online about creative things to “do” or “give up” for Lent. I would have my own (eat more protein! Talk to a friend every day! Text your Mom more often than you do! Haha), but I know you can come up with some good ideas on your own, that would help you live this season in the way that’s best for you. You could even do something nice for yourself, every day of Lent.
I really liked this one from Lent 2024.
If you read through the ideas, there are quite a few creative ones that would be a way to make Lent more “doing.” “Here are few I loved: “give up speeding for all of Lent” “daily games with family” “every time you go to Mass, introduce yourself to someone new” “call someone you don’t regularly talk to” “intentional give sincere compliments to everyone you have a conversation with”
I also like this list—it’s for kids, actually, but really helpful for adults, too!—from our own local Katie Bogner of Look To Him and Be Radiant. She has a new book coming out on Lent, which I’ve pre-ordered, but has not arrived. However, the printable from the book are on her website. She is so prolific, and such a great artist!
These are all super simple things to do —- “ways” — for the 40 Days of Lent. They are not to do in order, but just as you think of it. I plan to print this out and to leave it with my daily lists and notebook, and to “check off” things as I meditate on them, and perhaps even accomplish!
Here is a Drive link to the 40 Ways for 40 Days printable.
Finally, An aside: For you calendar nerds like me, here is an astronomical website from Australia, naturally?), which lists the dates of all Easters from 1700-2299.
Interesting/Notable:
Marriage Article of the Week: Add to Your Communications Toolbox with These Strategies —- Renzo and Monica Ortega
Because the content is so good, I’m ignoring the minor things I want to change about their website font and a few other things. I’m by no means an expert website developer, but sometimes I get strong ideas, especially if something (like a font change) would be an easy fix).
This article talks about creating a “communications toolbox” — terrific ideas here!
I also really appreciate their podcast, Two Become Family. A TMW last year on the “manosphere” featured this podcast episode they did about the phenomenon:
An Action Item: Download the Prayer of St. Ephrem to your phone
When I looked at last year’s beginning of Lent post, after I already completed this one, I thought, that was good! (Including my first-ever GIF).
But that post featured an image of the Prayer of St. Ephrem, which is traditionally prayed during Lent. I’ll feature it again here, and consider adding it to your phone, possibly to your lock screen? So that you can remember to pray it every so often during Lent.
