Friday's Challenge: Stations of the Cross

Today's challenge is to do the Stations of the Cross for vocations. 

God is calling us all to help Him, but there are those who sacrifice all in service in a full time capacity.  They need our prayers as well as those who are discerning God's call.  God wants us 100%, and although we are not all called to full time service, we should support those who take on the challenge.  Let us pray for those men and women who step up to the challenge for the field is ripe, but the laborers are few.

Wednesdays Challenge: Almsgivng

Today's challenge is to write a letter of appreciation and support to a seminarian or someone training for the service of God.

Tuesday's Challenge: Fasting

Today's challenge is to fast from your ego.  Lovingly do for others today.

Who would have guessed that months ago when we put this calendar together, we would have chosen exactly what I need to hear each day this Lent.  The Holy Spirit was guiding us and He knew what rough spots would be showing this Lent. 

Monday's Challenge: Pray

I am sorry that I have been absent for the last week.  My crazy schedule has taken over and has severely cut into my computer time.  I hope that everyone has been following along on the calendar. 

Lent is almost over, and our challenges are soon to end.  Have you had a fruitful Lent?  It is not to late.  The culmination of the season happens next week and as that is spring break for our kids it will be an interesting week for Holy Week.

The challenge for today is to say the St. Michael Prayer for peace and the eradication of evil.  The prayer is as follows:

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle;
be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray:
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen


This is my most favorite prayer and one that I find myself saying throughout the day.  I love the though of St. Michael watching over us and doing battle for us.

Have a happy Monday!

Monday's Challenge: Pray

Today's challenge is to say the prayer of St. Joseph for the sanctity of marriage and family life. 

There are many prayers to St. Joseph, but I will be praying this one today:

O glorious St. Joseph, you were chosen by God to be the foster father of Jesus, the most pure spouse of Mary ever Virgin, and the head of the holy family. You have been chosen by Christ's Vicar as the heavenly patron and protector of the Church founded by Christ. Therefore it is with great confidence that I implore your powerful assistance for the whole Church on earth. Protect in a special manner, with true fatherly love, the Pope and all bishops and priests in communion with the See of Peter. Be the protector of all who labor for souls amid the trials and tribulations of this life, and grant that all peoples of the world may follow Christ and the Church He founded.

Dear St. Joseph, accept the offering of myself which I now make to you. I dedicate myself to your service, that you may ever be my father, my protector, and my guide in the way of salvation. Obtain for me great purity of heart and a fervent love for the spiritual life. May all my actions, after your example, be directed to the greater glory of God, in union with the divine Heart of Jesus, the immaculate heart of Mary, and your own paternal heart. 

Finally, pray for me that I may share in the peace and joy of your holy death.

I wanted to add some information about the Catholic teaching on marriage because I feel in this secular society the understanding of what God's view of marriage is has become twisted in the name of tolerance and political correctness. Since I am not talented enough to tackle this important topic myself, I will post some of my favorite articles here.  Please add to the list any resources you might know of.

http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/sacrament.asp

http://www.catholic.net/index.php?option=dedestaca&id=172

http://www.micatholicconference.org/assets/files/focus/focus_20040401-OnTheSanctityofMarriage.pdf

Sunday's Challenge: Read it!

Today's challenge it to read the crucifixtion story in both Matthew and Mark's Gospels.  Compare the stories.  What did the writers focus on?

I hope everyon had a great family day yesterday.  Share what you did with your family.

Friday's Challenge: Stations of the Cross

Today's Stations are for Social Justice.  I am copying information from a college student friend of mine.  She is involved with the program Invisible Children.

Hi all! Friday’s Lenten challenge is to do the Stations for Social Justice. I don’t know how many, if any of you have heard of Invisible Children, but it’s an organization that I’ve been involved with for the last couple years. Its goal is to stop Africa’s longest running war (25 years). It started as a civil war between the Ugandan government and a rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony. Kony is responsible for the kidnapping and murder of hundreds of thousands of children to fight in his rebel army. The Ugandan government has tried to relocate close to 2 million of its people to camps in an attempt to protect them from the LRA. However, this has left millions of people living in extreme poverty and not much safer than they would have been in their villages. Invisible Children has been organizing programs in the US to provide funding to Uganda to rebuild, bring families back together, provide a safe place for children to be educated, etc. Because of this group’s humanitarian efforts and its widespread international support, Congress has recently signed a bill that recognizes the threat Kony poses and a plan to help catch him and rebuild Northern Uganda. However, since the signing of this bill the LRA has spread into southern Sudan, D.R. Congo, and the Central Africa Republic. So in response to the LRA’s movement, Invisible Children has a plan to help set up radio towers to connect remote villages so they have advance warning of LRA movements, the rehabilitation of child soldiers into community life and search and rescue teams to find and help people who have escaped the LRA. I know this is a long explanation, but bear with me. Helping this organization is something I am passionate about, so I am joining its current movement to raise money and awareness, called 25. On April 25th, we will be silent for 25 hours, one hour for every year this war has been going on. Everyone participating is asked to raise a minimum of $25, 100% of which will go towards the plan I have outlined above. I am asking for any help whatsoever that any of you is willing to give, or at the very least to pass this on.

 If you want more information about Invisible Children the website is: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/split_screen

 and here is the link to my fundraising page:

 http://ic.stayclassy.org/member/ic-fundraising?fcid=58759

If you have any other questions, I am more than happy to try and answer them and I know that this isn’t a social justice issue that is close to home, but it is one that I feel needs to be addressed. Thank you!

Thank you Rachel for sending this information to me.  I have heard about the IC program but never had any details.  We will be doing our Stations for this cause and will be donating some money.