(Jonathan Sullivan has invited all Catholic bloggers to write on a common theme today – penance – as a way to mark Catholic Blog Day. I’m happy to participate with my fellow Catholic bloggers!) There is a great scene in the movie Mrs. Doubtfire in which Robin Williams, dressed as Mrs. Doubtfire (a matronly British nanny), has had too much to drink. In his inebriated state, his eyes land on a sexy woman at the […]
The beginning of Lent often coincides with the beginning of spring training and the reporting of pitchers and catchers, so I can’t help but dip into my bag of sports metaphors to talk about Lent. Lent is nothing more than a 40-day retreat and a retreat is basically an opportunity to step back from ordinary activities to connect with God in a special way. It’s the spiritual equivalent of throwing a change-up. For those of […]
This activity is called Good Deeds Bracelets for Lent and it comes to us from Arma Dei. They describe it this way: Inspired by St. Therese, this bracelet works similar to other good deed bead bracelets, as the beads slide and stay in place, recording each good deed, extra prayer (foregone opportunity to complain) or sacrifice. Arma Dei sells a craft kit that contains everything you need to create these bracelets. Be sure to take […]
Today’s activity – a Salt Dough Crown of Thorns – can be found in many places on the Internet, I am drawing from a couple of Web sites: Ten Kids and a Dog and Three Sided Wheel (which has an excellent tutorial) Basically, you make a salt dough and then roll out the dough into 3 long rolls/ropes. Next, you braid the rolls/ropes and shape it into a circle. Add toothpicks (loosely) to represent the thorns, asking forgiveness […]
Believe it or not, LENT is only 4 weeks away! With that in mind, I’m happy to once again provide you with a number of Lenten resources right here on my blog, beginning with the popular 40 Crosses Lenten Calendar idea created by my friend Victor Valdez, a DRE in Mountain View, CA. Thank you, Victor, for sharing this idea with us. With help from some folks here at Loyola Press, we’ve updated the calendar for […]
As we head into this weekend and prepare to celebrate the 5th Sunday of Lent, I wanted to share a message of hope with you. It comes from a blog called Chronic Hope and I found it very inspiring. I’ll let the author of the blog speak for herself. Check it out and have a great weekend! Chronic Hope
One of the activities in my 40 Ideas for 40 Days of Lent, 2011, is an exercise on the Seven Last Words of Christ. Since I am once again only going to have about half of my students present this Monday (because of Living Stations rehearsals), I thought it would be nice to have them work on a Lenten activity related to the suffering and death of Jesus that is portrayed in the Living Stations. […]
Each year, during Lent, the parish school of religion puts on 2 Living Stations of the Cross – one by the 4th graders and one by the 8th graders. Since I’m teaching 4th grade this year, it once again means that many of my students will be involved (in fact, my aide’s son will play the role of Jesus!). Our DRE, Arlene, handles all of the preparations and rehearsals and the rehearsals begin this Monday. What […]
Nice ideas from Nick Senger at One Catholic Life with 101 practical fasting ideas (plus 10 bonus ideas) for Lent. Nice job, Nick! 101 Practical Fasting Ideas for Lent P.S. Sorry to tempt you with this pic of chocolates!
Here in Chicago, we had a blizzard in February that dumped 20 inches of snow. Most of it is gone now, melting in the ever-so-slowly rising temperatures. Occasionally, however, one comes across the vestiges of a huge mountain of snow left behind by the snow plows. Underneath all of that snow, what do we find? Lots of MUCK! (see pic below) It soon becomes apparent that it’s time for spring cleaning! It seems to me […]
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