Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Reintroducing Logic and Reason to the Age of Sentimentalism

Lent

All of the posts under the "Lent" category.

A Penitential Season

A blessed Ash Wednesday and Lent to you. It is the time of the year when Catholics begin their Lenten fasts to help them live a better, holier, and fruitful life. It is also the time of year when many give up various internet activities though I hope reading my blog isn’t one of them.

El_Greco,_St_Francis_in_Prayer_before_the_Crucifix

Lent has always been exciting for me. I’ve never been one to make New Years Resolutions because I usually give up after the first week, but Lent is different. There is something about giving up something for the glory of God that inspires me to continue and persevere. I admit that come Easter Sunday, I usually over indulge on whatever it was that I gave up, but the sacrifice has taught me that I didn’t need whatever it was that I was giving up. After all, if you can live without something for 40 days, there is a good chance that you don’t need it to live at all.

But there are many earthly pleasures in this life that we really don’t need in order to live a happy life, let alone to survive, but we have fooled ourselves into thinking that what we are indulging in brings us happiness and joy, yet it only fills an emptiness within ourselves that can only be filled by Jesus Christ. This hole only grows if we do not fill it with prayer, fasting, penance, almsgiving, and works.

As St. Augustine says “our hearts are restless until they rest in you” and there is much wisdom in this. As God created us to worship Him and only Him, we will not be at peace until we put God above all persons and things.

This Lent, place your heart in Our Lord’s most sacred hands and allow Him to fill your heart with His love and peace. May your Lent be prayerful and fruitful.

Jeff February 10, 2016 Leave A Comment Permalink

Consecrate Yourself to Jesus Through Mary This Lent

I do not intend to be the bearer of bad news, but Lent is only four weeks away. With that said, have you begun considering what you can do for Lent this year? If not, might I offer a suggestion?

Easter is on March 27 this year. Just two days before that, March 25, we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation, though I am unsure how that will work liturgically as Good Friday and the Easter Triduum supercedes all other feast days. However, I believe you can still celebrate the feast day though I am open to correction by someone who knows more than I.

sacred-heart-of-jesus-_amp_-immaculate-heart-of-mary_001

I would suggest, though, that this Lent you consecrate (or reconsecrate if you’ve done so already) yourself to Jesus through Mary. You would begin on February 22 (because 2016 is a Leap Year), so you would still spend the majority of Lent performing a spiritual work.

The best method for consecrating yourself to Jesus through Mary is St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary. I would highly suggest a copy of this book as it is what I have used and find it very helpful as all of the material you will need is in it. The book is available from Amazon here.

In consecrating yourself to Jesus through Mary, you will be giving all of the graces and works you earn to Our Mother. Because Mary’s will and the Father’s Will are in perfect harmony and being she is the Mediatrix of all Graces, you will be able to assist better the souls to which Our Lady determines are in need of those graces. If Mary is the mold, then we should allow ourselves to be placed in her, so that we can become little saints.

Consider embarking on this noble journey to not only help the souls in Purgatory as well as souls here on Earth but in becoming the Saint that God has called you to be. As St. Louis de Montfort says, “there is no surer or easier way than Mary in uniting all men to Christ.”

Jeff January 13, 2016 1 Comment Permalink

A Friday in Lent

Today is a Friday in the season of Lent. So, what does this mean?

No meat for you!!

Anyways, we are now a week into Lent. How has Lent been treating you? Awesome? Brutal? So-so?

Mine is going very well for a change. However, I have noticed that since Lent started, my updating has been sparse again. So, sorry for the slacking, its been a very busy Lent thus far, which is not what I had intended.

I am getting back into the routine of writing on the Mortal sins since I notice that this blog gets a lot of traffic from that. I have a couple of book reviews to write up. As well as just random thoughts to throw out. And for that one special reader who reminds me every time I see her, my conversion story.

I’m hoping to get some writing in this weekend, but God usually has other plans for me.

So, I’ll end this post with a thought for you. How has your prayer life been lately? Are you praying daily? Has your prayer life been dry? Do you need to add more? Do you need to subtract some? Use the Lenten season to renew your prayer life before God so that you can begin that relationship now, so that come Easter, you will have that relationship and the habit to continue on.

Jeff February 22, 2013 Leave A Comment Permalink

Ash Wednesday and Lenten Offerings 2013

Reminder. Today is Ash Wednesday. A day of fasting and abstinence. Fasting as in 2 small meals and 1 normal meal. Abstinence as in no meat.

For Lent, I am doing very similar to what I did last year. I am doing the 17 Day Diet (no sugar, pop, red meat, non-whole grain, etc). I wrote about it more in depth last year. I am also doing P90-X again.
Sadly, after the wedding, I never got back into the groove of being healthy, and I so miss the energy I had. Not to mention, I didn’t realize it until around Christmas, but I hadn’t had a migraine in a very long time and my headaches had pretty much gone away. I also wasn’t nearly as sick either. Clearly, it worked, and this time I intend to stay healthy. I won’t be one of those health nuts where I won’t even touch sugar (hopefully (I just want to be able to consume within moderation), but, I feel that I need to be much healthier.
Stay strong and vigilant this Lent. Offer something up, and stick to it. Don’t cheat. You can do it.
St. Michael the Archangel, Defend us in battle…

Jeff February 13, 2013 Leave A Comment Permalink

Lent Starts Wednesday

I was going to write this up originally as my main article this week. But, bigger news more or less bumped this one down to less priority (though still somewhat urgent).

So, for those of you who have forgotten, or maybe were hoping to not remember, or just trying to not even think about, Lent begins this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday.

As a reminder, this is a day that we are called to fast and abstinence. I write about this every year, but here’s my best write up of it. In short, fasting is when you only have 2 small meals and 1 normal size meal. We are also to abstain from meat. Like I said, I go into more detail at the above link.

I’ll post what I’m giving up for Lent tomorrow or on Ash Wednesday. Obviously, Pope Benedict’s retirement is going to be taking up quite a bit more time.

Jeff February 11, 2013 Leave A Comment Permalink

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