The Mom Weekly Volume 131: February 10, 2025
You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.
Notes:
Tomorrow is the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, and the birthday of one special sister!
The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is also the World Day of the Sick. Pope Leo XIV has chosen a theme for this year’s World Day of the Sick:
“The compassion of the Samaritan: loving by bearing another’s pain”
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!
Remember how much I love you,
Mom
Lent was Made for Man, Not Man for Lent
Lent starts next Wednesday, February 18, and as we know, it’s that fun time of year that we all love.
This is not the first time I have pondered how to make Lent more spiritually fruitful without it being a slog. As I looked back at previous posts, I have written about this a lot!
But it bears repeating these ideas, to help myself and maybe help some of you, dear readers.
I have a reminder to keep looking for the Holy Father’s Message for Lent, but as I write this in early February, it has still not been released. In years past I try to print it out and read it during Adoration times. Once it is released I will post a link to it.
Let’s start with some Scripture:
One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck ears of grain. And the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, when Abi′athar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
—Mark 2:23:28
The reason I shared this Scripture is that I recently had the thought: “Lent was made for man, not man for Lent.”
I hope this isn’t misinterpreting it (but the theologian in the family will correct me if I’ve gotten this wrong, I hope!).
But: the idea that “the Sabbath was made for man” means that we have been given the Sabbath because it’s good for our bodies and spirits to have regular times of worship, rest, and leisure.
God made us that way, and then He gave us the Sabbath as a weekly reminder to focus on worship of God, rest, and leisure. Not because God needs anything from us, but because we benefit from ordering our lives in this way.
And then God made it a rule (one of the 10 Commandments!) to ensure that we would do it. (Or at least try, in my case, because I’m often not great about this.)
In the same way, God made humans (and the world) to need rhythm and change. We benefit from seasons, time of rejoicing and contemplation, and feasting and fasting. It’s obvious to anyone who looks around, or experiences life, that any “one” of those things is good for us, but not all the time, 24/7, 365.
So Lent becomes one of those “rules” as a time to foster silence, contemplation, fasting, and prayer. In the same way that Easter time becomes one of those “rules” to foster praise, rejoicing, and feasting.
Looking at Lent that way—that it was made for us, to help us live in harmony with the way we have been made—could help us live a better and, dare I say, more joyful Lent.
There really are very few “rules” to Lent, but it bears repeating them:
*fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
*refrain from meat on Ash Wednesdays and all the Fridays of Lent.
Here’s a brief article I shared about this last year.
The three “pillars” of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Each of us should have a focus on those areas during Lent. What does that mean for each individual person? It’s really up to each of us.
Once we formulate a plan—and simpler is better here!—the difficult part might be not to compare ourselves to others.
Someone else is doing meatless all of Lent? A friend is giving up social media until Easter? Etc., etc. Good for them! We can appreciate what they are doing, but really stick to the small things that we have chosen.
Last year’s beginning of Lent post covers a lot of this same ground, and I encourage you to take a quick read through that for some ideas.
Interesting/Notable:
Interview about Eternize Cross
Here’s another video from the Gosplaining, the Dominican podcast. This time for a new item that is a great technology item: the Eternize cross. Fr. Bonaventure
“It’s like a hammer —it’s a great tool. When you need a hammer, it’s a great tool. A hammer does not demand things of you when you’re not hammering. You don’t get tempted to start hammering walls. It’s just a perfect tool for the job it does. … (eternize cross)… perfect for what it does. Spectacular application of technology at the service of prayer.”
If you haven’t guessed already: yes, I ordered the Eternize cross after listening to this video. Just in time for Lent! I’ll let you know how it goes.
An Action Item: Start (or Continue) Your Taxes
February is a great time to begin or continue working on your taxes. It gives you plenty of of time to gradually input your information, or, if you don’t do your own taxes, to gather documents in a file (digital or paper) for your accountant or tax preparer.
I’ve been trying to do for about 10-15 minutes on the days when I can get to it. Give it a try! You’ll be glad you did so.
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