Morning all! It's good to be back with you. *heart* It's become somewhat rare for me to skip a weekday of blogging, but sometimes life happens. Yesterday I had a curriculum committee meeting that lasted all morning, and so imagine, I had to be a responsible adult and attend and pay attention. :0 Then I had just a few quick hours before I had to leave to get Henry to the allergist. Busy day! So no time to blog.
But here I am, back again. It's a beautiful spring day (more melting! *trumpets blare!*) and I was thinking this morning as I drove onto campus how close we are to Holy Week now. Lent has been ongoing for about a month... How has your Lent been going, dear reader?
Mine has been going pretty well. I remember feeling very spiritually dry last Lent (aside from Holy Week, which was transformative), but this Lent has been different. I wouldn't say that it's been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I've been very aware of my Lenten promises and doing my best to keep at them, and get back to them if I slip up (which I do :)). I'm scheduled to head to Reconciliation next Tuesday, just before Holy Week, and I'm really looking forward to that.
But it struck me this morning that a big part of keeping Lenten promises, or any prayer routine really, is the reminders that we set up for ourselves. I remember seeing Mother Anglica on the EWTN Religious Catalogue show refer to sacramentals and other religious articles as "holy reminders," and I've always loved that characterization. Do you have any small items that you set out to remind yourself to pray? Catholic tchotchkes anyone? ;-)
My very favorite sacramentals are rosaries. The way that I corral mine are mostly in two locations: in my car, and in my purse. I do keep one next to my bed for nighttime praying if I wish. But otherwise, I keep one or two tucked into my purse (along with a slew of chaplets) so that I always have a few with me, and a huge pile in a nook on the driver's side door of my car. :0 I pray the rosary a lot when I drive, and I like to have a large assortment to choose from depending on what I'm feeling on any given commute. We've got Our Lady of Lourdes, Pope Francis, Pope St. John Paul II, Our Lady Undoer of Knots, the Divine Mercy, Bl. Mother Teresa, St. Kateri Tekakwitha...Well, you can see that I have a bit of a rosary habit. ;-) But each morning, I love pulling out the rosary I feel compelled to pray with that day. This morning, I was praying along with Pope Francis, but I've been favoring a blue and silver Our Lady of Lourdes rosary all winter. I pray with St. Kateri a lot when I go to Adoration. I'm planning to pray with St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy image throughout Easter. Love.
On my desk at work, I keep a small wooden statue of Our Lady Star of the Sea, which may be my very favorite Marian title, along with a matching rosary. She soothes me as I work, and is a good reminder to keep at the things I'm working on spiritually. I also have a fairly large collection of holy cards that I maintain for this same purpose. I'm working on getting them all displayed on a French style memo board.
In a very adorable aside, this Lent Anne has fallen in love with her Bible story book and with a small rosary prayer book that I gave her. I have had a bunch of those little rosary books through the years, and she has really taken a shine to her copy. She takes it to bed with her and prays a Hail Mary for each page in the book. I mean...it's ADORABLE. The cover is about to come off, it's so tattered. I recently discovered an expanded version of that rosary booklet, and I now keep that tucked into my purse, I love it. I don't always use it when I pray the rosary, because you know, driving. ;-) But if I'm at Adoration, it's ideal. That little blue book has always been my favorite if I do use an aid as I pray. I like seeing it in my purse when I reach in there for something, along with a Divine Mercy pamphlet that I keep in there as well.
What are your holy reminders this Lent? Do share in the comments. :)
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