My Lenten Stack

Blessed Ash Wednesday! We've yet to head to Mass today as I'm singing in the choir this evening, but we've had a good start kickin' Lent up a notch this year. Our over-arching prayer this Lent is for Holy Mother Church--for truth to continue to be revealed, conversion to occur, and healing to take place.

We've chosen several different penances as a family and as individuals. Without tooting my own horn, as our sacrifices/penances should remain as private as possible, I am making one small sacrifice on behalf of the priesthood this Lent by forgoing milk in my morning coffee. When I go to make my cup I'm sure to be reminded to say a little prayer for all the wonderful priests we've known and for an increase in the vocations of good and holy men to the priesthood.

I'm also hoping to get quite a bit of reading done in the next 46 days.  I'll be using Hosana from Take Up and Read for daily Lectio Divina. I have several books that were gifts from a friend--I'm really looking forward into diving into The Way of Perfection by Saint Teresa of Avila, but first up are two offerings from Dr. Carrie Gress--The Marian Option and The Anti-Mary Exposed: Rescuing the Culture from Toxic Femininity.  I have a relatively short work by Peter Kreeft--Symbol or Substance? A Dialogue on the Eucharist with C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, and J.R.R. Tolkien. And a few other odds and ends if I have the time. To round it all out, I'm about 10 percent into Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov for fun.

May God bless your Lent and Lenten endeavors!