Ash Wednesday: Mass, Ashes, Prayer, Exercise, and Washing Dishes

(Ash from last Easter's palm leaves on my forehead.)

That smudged cross on my forehead will be gone after I shower this evening, but I'll carry another reminder of the Lenten season with me until after Good Friday.


(Another year, another chaplet)

That's not a rosary: we call it a chaplet. Quite a few folks pray chaplets, but the way we pray ours is a little different. It started in Venezuela, and I've been over that before. (March 9, 2011)


(The design of this crucifix is a little different from others I've seen.)

Some years the chaplets in our parish have more than one design for the crucifix. This season, my son counted four distinct styles. That's neat: and so is not knowing which were blessed by Pope Francis, and which by Pope Emeritus Benedict; but the main thing is the prayer.

I've been over that before, too. (March 25, 2011, March 4, 2010)

Besides the Chaplet, I've got a "Lenten Companion" that I'll be going through, and at least five minutes of physical exercise with each of the two kids living at home, and another with my wife: not, quite, a "spiritual" exercise; but it's a good idea.

It's late, I've still got my daily session with the Lenten Companion to do, and dishes to wash. Time for me to post this and move on.

Related posts:

• "Giving Up Skydiving for Lent"
  (February 13, 2013)
• "Lenten Chaplet How-2"
  (March 25, 2011)
• "Prayer, Medicine and Trusting God"
  (March 4, 2010)
• "My Chaplet, Magic, Prayer and Catholic Beliefs"
  (March 4, 2010)
• "Happy Lent?! What Kind of a Nut am I?"
  (March 3, 2009)

Still Learning to Pray

As a Catholic, I have to do some things; and I'm not allowed to do others. For example, I'm:

• Required to
  • Love
    • God
    • My neighbor
    (Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31)
  • See everybody as my neighbor
    (Matthew 5:43-44, Mark 12:28-31, Luke 10:25-30; Catechism, 1825)
  • Pray
    (Catechism, 2568-2589)
• Not allowed to
  • Worship anything that's not God
    (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2097, 2112-2114, 2534)
  • Practice divination
    (Catechism, 2116)
  • Be superstitious
    (Catechism, 2110-2111)

Being told to pray, but not be superstitious, isn't as contradictory as some folks may believe. (March 25, 2012)

If I thought I could make God do what I want by prayer - that would be a very bad idea, and that's another topic. I've written about prayer, Catholic style, before. (July 21, 2012)

Prayer and Me

I became a Catholic after growing up in a nice mainstream Protestant household. As I was learning about Catholicism, I discovered that I'm really bad at prayers like the Rosary.

I could make excuses, or pretend that I'm too spiritually mature to need formal prayer. The fact is, I've had a hard time learning how to stay focused during the prayers. I don't think it helps that I grew up without learning that sort of spiritual discipline.

That's why I'm mildly surprised that I remembered to pray a Lenten chaplet, and a Divine Mercy chaplet, each day since Ash Wednesday. Even more remarkable, staying 'on task' throughout the prayers seems to be easier now.

It's a long time before Easter, though: so getting complacent doesn't seem sensible. Not that it ever does, and that's another topic or two.

Related posts:

• Lenten chaplet
  • "Giving Up Skydiving for Lent"
    (February 13, 2013)
  • "Ash Wednesday, 2012: Another Lent, Another Chaplet"
    (February 22, 2012)
  • "Lenten Chaplet How-2"
    (March 25, 2011)
  • "Lenten Chaplet, and a How to Pray the Rosary Resource"
    (March 10, 2011)
  • "My Chaplet, Magic, Prayer and Catholic Beliefs"
    (March 4, 2010)
• Ideas, good and otherwise
  
  • "Colorado: Prayer Couldn't Hurt"
    (July 21, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Prayer, Catholic Style
    • What Prayer is; What Prayer isn't
  • "Faith and Obedience"
    (March 25, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Superstition?
  • "Skeletons in the Closet, Darkroom Ghosts, and Getting a Grip"
    (September 18, 2011)
    Particularly
    • Conjuring Up Ghosts and Other Bad Ideas
  • "Our Lady of Sorrows Crucifix, Art, and Being Catholic"
    (July 15, 2011)
    Particularly
    • 'Smashing Statues for God?'
    • Sacred Art, Yes: Worshiping Art, No
  • "If Catholics are Superstitious, How Come We're Not Allowed to be Superstitious?"
    (August 18, 2010)

Giving Up Skydiving for Lent

Talking with my oldest daughter last Sunday, I quipped that I'm giving up skydiving and mountain climbing for Lent. Since I'm in my 60s, with artificial hips, I very certainly wouldn't be doing either — and she got the joke.

More seriously, there's a lot more to Lent than just giving up some activity, not eating some sort of food, or making some other minor adjustment in daily routines. I'll be getting back to what I am doing for Lent this year — in another post.

What Lent is about:

• Recalling the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert
  (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 540)
• Re-living the great events of salvation history
  • Letting ourselves understand how salvation works
  (Catechism, 1095)

More:

• "Resources for Lent and Easter"
  USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
• "Messages for Lent"
  Benedict XVI (2006-Lent 2013)
• "Messages for Lent"
  John Paul II (1979-2005
• "Messages"
  Paul VI (1973-1978)

Related posts:

• "First Sunday in Lent; God is Reclaiming His Broken Creation"
  (February 26, 2012)
• "Ash Wednesday, 2012: Another Lent, Another Chaplet"
  (February 22, 2012)
• "Catholic Relief Services, Almsgiving, and Lent"
  (April 21, 2011)
• "Lent, 2011: Baptism; Gospel Readings; a List, and a Movie"
  (April 20, 2011)
• "Happy Lent?! What Kind of a Nut am I?"
  (March 3, 2009)

Ash Wednesday, 2012: Another Lent, Another Chaplet

Lent begins today. Among other things, that means that I've started praying a chaplet. There's a 'how to' in this post, a little farther down.

There's more to Lent than giving up jelly beans or cribbage: neither of which are part of my habits, anyway. The USCCB has a pretty good set of resource pages for Lent this year, starting with:

• "Lent"
  United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

This is a season for fasting, discipline, dying to myself: and I'm looking forward to this? Actually, yes: and that's not as crazy as it may sound. Part of the explanation is in this video:


"Chaplet, Day One"
ApatheticLemmingMinn, YouTube (February 22, 2012)
video, 2:35

I plan to be back with more like that: which could be taken as a promise or a threat. Moving on.

How to Pray the Chaplet

"LENTEN CHAPLET

"Once you have received your cross, go back to your pew and start to pray. The first name that comes to mind is the person you will be praying for a deepening conversion of faith during these 40 days of Lent.

"Each day you will pray:
"Apostles' Creed - knot that ties the cross on the necklace.

"Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be (Around your neck are 21 knots, representing these three prayers to be said seven times).

"Any time after Good Friday, give your Chaplet to the person you have been praying for."
(March 25, 2011)

This year's chaplets are the last of the ones using crucifixes blessed by Pope Benedict XVI. Not the last anywhere in the world: just the last that this parish has. Maybe we'll get someone to Rome again, on a similar errand.

And that's another topic.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "A Prayer for Clouded Hearts"
  (December 4, 2011)
• "Lenten Chaplet How-2"
  (March 25, 2011)
  Particularly
  • How to Pray This Lenten Chaplet
• "Ash Wednesday, 2011: Smudge on My Forehead, Chaplet Started"
  (March 9, 2011)
• "My Chaplet, Magic, Prayer and Catholic Beliefs"
  (March 4, 2010)
• "Happy Lent?! What Kind of a Nut am I?"
  (March 3, 2009)

Lenten Chaplet How-2

I'm wearing a necklace: sort of. I call it a "chaplet," the same word I use for the sequence of prayers I'm saying each day during Lent.


A card, outlining how to pray the chaplet, with the knotted cord and crucifix I've been wearing and using. March 9, 2011.

Or, more accurately, most days. I've already missed the daily routine: but got caught up. Which is another topic. ("Lenten Chaplet: Missed a Day, Caught Up" (March 18, 2011))

How to Pray This Lenten Chaplet

The words, exactly as printed on the card in that photo, are in an earlier post. (March 10, 2011) Here they are again, with a typo corrected:

"LENTEN CHAPLET

"Once you have received your cross, go back to your pew and start to pray. The first name that comes to mind is the person you will be praying for a deepening conversion of faith during these 40 days of Lent.

"Each day you will pray:
"Apostles' Creed - knot that ties the cross on the necklace.

"Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be (Around your neck are 21 knots, representing these three prayers to be said seven times).

"Any time after Good Friday, give your Chaplet to the person you have been praying for."

Sounds simple: and it is.

The trick, for me, is remembering to pray each day: occasionally praying twice in a day to get caught up.

Don't Remember the Words? No Problem!

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a "How to Pray the Rosary" page that includes text for all the prayers involved in this Lenten Chaplet:

• "How to Pray the Rosary"
  United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
  (From www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/vocations/discerning-men/upload/how-to-pray-the-rosary.pdf, (Marcy 10, 2014))
  • Apostles' Creed
  • Our Father
  • Hail Mary
  • Glory Be
  • Hail Holy Queen (on *.pdf* page)

Not Your Usual Rosary Beads

The knotted cords we use to keep track of where we're at in this chaplet aren't your usual rosary beads.

For one thing, there isn't a single bead on them - not the ones I've used, anyway. Our cords have knots where beads could be.

For another, chaplet's prayers aren't the 1-1-3-1-10-1-10-1-10-1-10-1-10 sequence of prayers in the rosary, the sequence of beads (or knots) in a standard rosary set of rosary beads wouldn't be much help with this chaplet.

Making a Chaplet

Here's another picture of the card and knotted cord I'm wearing, mostly to give an idea of their size:



Another, showing the string/cord/necklace I'm using this year, and two I received after previous Lenten seasons.



Members of my family think I needed "a deepening conversion of faith." And they're right. Which is yet another topic.

I'm not the best go-to person for crafts - so here are links to how-2 guides you may find useful:

• "How to Pray the Rosary"
  United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
  (From www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/vocations/discerning-men/upload/how-to-pray-the-rosary.pdf, (Marcy 10, 2014))
• "How to Tie Rosary Knots"
  eHow
• "Make a Cord Rosary "
  Rosary Makers Guide

The list is repeated at the end of this post.

As someone who's prayed the chaplet for a few years, I'll share my experiences as a user - which may help folks who want to make their own.

I suggest that the clusters of three knots (or beads) be significantly closer together than the last knot in one cluster, and the first in the next.

The cord, when finished, needs to be long enough to fit over someone's head. The one I'm wearing is about 26 inches / 66 centimeters long. I can get it past my nose, but it's a snug fit. How long should the cord be when you start? That's more than I know: Maybe those resources will help.

The cord I'm wearing is a synthetic fiber, and the crucifix metal. The original chaplets were made from Venezuelan wood and leaf fibers - but as far as I know, all that matters is that whatever you use be flexible enough to wear, and durable enough to last at least 40 days.

Venezuelan?! There's a story behind that, which I'll get to in another post.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Lenten Chaplet: Missed a Day, Caught Up"
  (March 18, 2011)
• "Lenten Chaplet, and a How to Pray the Rosary Resource"
  (March 10, 2011)
• "Ash Wednesday, 2011: Smudge on My Forehead, Chaplet Started"
  (March 9, 2011)
• "Celebrating Mass, Flossing My Teeth"
  (October 20, 2010)
• "Superstitions, Catholicism, and a Really Bad Experience With the Ark"
  (July 13, 2010)

Resources:

• "How to Pray the Rosary"
  United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
• "How to Tie Rosary Knots"
  eHow
• "Make a Cord Rosary "
  Rosary Makers Guide

Lenten Chaplet: Missed a Day, Caught Up

I plan to pray today's Lenten chaplet in a few hours: there isn't a set time it 'should' be done, and I have a habit of doing that sort of thing in the afternoon or evening.

I haven't missed a day, since starting it on Ash Wednesday. (March 9, 2011)

Except for Monday of this week.

Tuesday morning, I realized that I'd forgotten the chaplet the previous day. I felt a bit silly: and figured that I'd been distracted by the earthquake in Japan.

Still, I'd missed one day of the Chaplet. So I prayed it twice on one day, and now I'm caught up.

On the whole, I'd rather not have forgotten on Monday: but I'm not upset about the mistake. There's good reason to assume that I'll have prayed the full number by Good Friday - although maybe not quite at 24-hour intervals.

Talking the situation over with a man who's been a Catholic longer than I've been alive - and whose opinion I've learned to value and trust - I learned that I'm not the only one to have dropped the ball in a sequential prayer like this. And that it's no big problem. He's done what I did: 'caught up' with an extra prayer or so and kept on with the program.

As I've said before, this isn't magic - it's prayer. And a good spiritual discipline.

Not that I'm entirely comfortable, saying that I'm doing something "spiritual:" but I've discussed that sort of thing before. (February 22, 2011, December 14, 2010, April 22, 2010)

Related posts:

• "Lenten Chaplet, and a How to Pray the Rosary Resource"
  (March 10, 2011)
• "Ash Wednesday, 2011: Smudge on My Forehead, Chaplet Started"
  (March 9, 2011)
• "Prayer, Medicine and Trusting God"
  (March 4, 2010)
• "My Chaplet, Magic, Prayer and Catholic Beliefs"
  (March 4, 2010)
• "A Lenten Chaplet, Routines, and Catching Up"
  (February 24, 2010)

Lenten Chaplet, and a How to Pray the Rosary Resource

I wrote about a Lenten chaplet that some folks in Venezuela and here in central Minnesota have, yesterday.

The text on that card is a little hard to read in the picture. In case you're interested in the chaplet, here's what it says:

"LENTEN CHAPLET

"Once you have received your cross, go back to your pew and start to pray. The first name that comes to mind is the person you will be praying for a deepening conversion of faith during these 40 days of Lent.

"Each day you will pray:
"Apostles' Creed - knot that ties the cross on the necklace.

"Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be (Around your neck are 21 knots, reperesenting these three prayers to be said seven times).

"Any time after Good Friday, give your Chaplet to the person you have been praying for."

The text on that card assumes that whoever's reading it is in church, at the Ash Wednesday Mass. And, that the person has a necklace that's been made for this chaplet: a crucifix tied to a cord with seven clusters of three knots each. Mine was one of dozens blessed at yesterday's Mass.

As I said yesterday: there's nothing 'magical' about that necklace. The Catholic Church has a word to say about magic and superstition: don't. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2110-2111, 2115-2117)

Lenten chaplet: Same Prayers as the Rosary

The four prayers in the Lenten chaplet are the same ones that make up the bulk of the Rosary. What the Rosary has that this chaplet hasn't got is a Hail, Holy Queen, plus a set dialog and prayer.

Not all Catholics pray the Rosary, and I've heard that quite a few folks who aren't Catholics do. Pray the Rosary, that is. I like the Rosary - but haven't prayed one in quite a while. Maybe that's something else I can put on my Lenten 'to do' list.

Although I've said the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be prayers so often that I'm pretty confident (over-confident?) of remembering them, the Apostles' Creed is one that I tend to get mixed up with other, similar, creeds. Nothing wrong with any of the ones we use at various times - but this chaplet's instructions specify the Apostles' Creed, so that's the one I want to use.

Where was I? Apostles' Creed. Right.

Happily for me, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a page about the Rosary that includes text for all the prayers involved:

• "How to Pray the Rosary"
  USCCB
  • Prayers of the Rosary
    • Apostles' Creed
    • Our Father
    • Hail Mary
    • Glory Be (The Doxology)
    • Hail Holy Queen (The Salve Regina)

"Hail Mary?" "Hail Holy Queen?!"

The Catholic Church thinks Mary is a pretty big deal: but we don't worship her. First Commandment and all that. For Mary and other saints, the attitude is veneration - and I've written about that before. (Exodus 20:2-5, Deuteronomy 5:6-9; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2055, 2083-2086 - for starters)

And I am not going to get started on the First Commandment and the Trinity.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Ash Wednesday, 2011: Smudge on My Forehead, Chaplet Started"
  (March 9, 2011)
• "Prayer, Rules, a Saint, and Lent"
  (February 25, 2011)
• "Mother Teresa of Calcutta's Sandals; Relics, and Minnesota"
  (July 25, 2010)

Ash Wednesday, 2011: Smudge on My Forehead, Chaplet Started

Today is Ash Wednesday: the first day of Lent, 2011. I went to Mass with my wife and #3 daughter. My son and #1 daughter, who's here on a visit, weren't feeling well enough to go. Which is okay, by the way. (February 6, 2011)

I picked up what I call 'the chaplet,' as I have for several Lenten seasons now. It's a crucifix on a knotted cord, to be work around the neck. The knots are in seven clusters of three each: to help me keep track as I pray by saying the Apostle's Creed each day, followed by an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be - seven times.

Nothing 'magic' about that: and it's too late in the evening for me to start writing about prayer, meditation, and all that.


Crucifixes and knotted cords for the Lenten Chaplet at Our Lady of the Angels in Sauk Centre. March 9, 2011.

Unless you live in one part of Venezuela, or where I live here in central Minnesota, you probably haven't run into this particular chaplet. Fr. Todd and Fr. Statz, priests now living here in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, were missionaries in Venezuela when they developed this chaplet as a way to encourage prayer during Lent.

There's more to the story, but like I said: it's getting late.

Folks living in Venezuela made the first crucifix-and-cord arrangements from wood from local trees for the crucifix - and fiber from leaves of the same tree for the cord. Folks prayed the chaplets in Venezuela, and later here in Brooten and other towns here in central Minnesota: after Fr. Todd and Fr. Statz came here.


There's a card, outlining how to pray the chaplet. March 9, 2011.


That's me with ashes on my forehead, at Our Lady of the Angels in Sauk Centre. March 9, 2011.

About those ashes on my forehead?

"...At Mass on Ash Wednesday, the imposition of ashes replicates an ancient penitential practice and symbolizes our dependence upon God's mercy and forgiveness...."
("The 2011 Lenten Season," United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)

In this part of the world, we get our foreheads marked with a cross of ashes. Other places, ashes get sprinkled over the heads of Catholics. I've written about being part of a Church that's literally universal before. (August 26, 2010, April 19, 2010, and elsewhere)

That's it for tonight. It's late, and I need sleep.

May God bless.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Prayer, Rules, a Saint, and Lent"
  (February 25, 2011)
• "If Catholics are Superstitious, How Come We're Not Allowed to be Superstitious?"
  (August 18, 2010)
• "Meatless Fridays and All That"
  (May 7, 2010)
• "Accommodating Indigenous Cultures: Including Ours"
  (January 10, 2010)
• "Happy Lent?! What Kind of a Nut am I?"
  (March 3, 2009)

More:

• "Lent 2011"
  www.vatican.va
• "The 2011 Lenten Season"
  United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Scapulars and a Crucifix: Showing Where You Stand

Another day is just about over, and I didn't find an 'I gotta blog about that' topic for A Catholic Citizen in America.

Well, actually, I did: but I'd posted about it before. CatholicChoice, on Twitter, asked "Do you remember or know the Catholic tradition on the Brown Scapular?" and linked to FreeBrownScapular.com, The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. There's a pretty good writeup on the brown scapular there.

And, yes: I've heard of it. And the green scapular.

I wore a green scapular for a while, years back. I did not formally begin a devotion to that - or the brown scapular. But yeah, I know about them.

Starting in Lent, a couple years or so back, I've been wearing a small crucifix around my neck. It's the parish priest's idea: he said we should have something visible, to show our faith.



That's 'last year's' crucifix. The one I've got on now is the one my son gave me after this Lent. He'd been praying for me. It's a different design, but about the same size: a little over an inch and a half tall.

What I like about these 'chaplet' crucifixes is that they're visible. Sauk Centre is a quite Catholic community, so I'm hardly 'being brave,' wearing a crucifix. That's not the point.

What I figure is, it doesn't hurt to have another man walking around town with something around his neck that says 'I'm a Catholic' to anybody who bothers to look.

Might even do some good.

Related post:

• "Public Displays of Devotion, a Diverted Flight, and Me"
  (January 21, 2010)

My Chaplet, Magic, Prayer and Catholic Beliefs

Yesterday wasn't one of my better days. It wasn't one of my worst ones: but after logging over 58 years on Firebase Earth, that's no surprise. I got to sleep around 3:00 this morning, stayed that way until almost noon - and am surprisingly non-groggy at the moment.

Which may be why I realized that I had forgotten to pray the Chaplet yesterday. I knew there was something more to do. Why I forgot, I don't know. As long as it doesn't become a pattern, I'm not going to be concerned about the lapse.

Prayer, Magic, and Catholicism

Prayer, Catholic prayer, isn't magic. We don't 'get the spell' wrong and have something supernatural blow up in our face if we drop a phrase out one prayer - or forget one part of a sequential prayer. It's better if we keep our minds on what we're doing: but like I said, it isn't magic.

So, that's what prayer isn't. What is prayer?

" 'Great is the mystery of the faith!' The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles' Creed (Part One) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part Two), so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part Three). This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer.

"WHAT IS PRAYER?

"For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.¹"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2558)

That last paragraph is from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux's Manuscrits autobiographiques.

So, if prayer is that simple, why take up several chapters of the Catechism discussing it?

Because not everybody is just like Thérèse of Lisieux. Which is another topic.

Oops! Catching Up

As I wrote before, I missed praying the Chaplet yesterday. It wasn't a conscious decision: it just happened. As to what I 'really' was thinking - serious thinkers from Sigmund Freud to Rachel Simmons could come up with dozens of cool explanations. But, again as I wrote before: unless forgetting to say this set of prayers becomes a pattern, I'm not going to be concerned about it.



I am, however, dealing with the situation. After lunch I sat down here at my desk, closed my eyes to cut down on distractions, and prayed the Chaplet. Estimated elapsed time, five minutes. I'm now 'caught up' on yesterday's lapse, and intend to pick up with this evening's prayers on schedule.

Prayer, Trusting God, and Using My Brain

I took that last photo after saying the Chaplet this afternoon.

You probably noticed the pill bottle, toward the top. I had it on the keyboard as a reminder to refill that prescription. That particular one is mirtazapine. It's a tetracyclic antidepressant, which is a five-dollar word meaning that it keeps "neurotransmitters from binding with nerve cell receptors called alpha-2 receptors". (MayoClinic.com)

How can I, a Christian, rely on man's strength, when I should be trusting in God?

That's another topic: time to start writing another post.

Related posts:

• "Medication for Depression? Yeah: The Catholic Church is Okay With That"
  (February 25, 2010)
• "A Lenten Chaplet, Routines, and Catching Up"
  (February 24, 2010)
• "Another Day, Another Chaplet"
  (February 19, 2010)
• "Happy Lent?! What Kind of a Nut am I?"
  (March 3, 2009)

A Lenten Chaplet, Routines, and Catching Up

When I sat down at my desk this morning, the first thing I saw was an 8-by-10 printout of a photo of the Lenten Chaplet card. I've been using it as a reminder to pray the Chaplet each evening.

A rather nasty piece of adware got into my system in the morning - and it took the rest of the day to de-worm my computer. Since almost everything I do involves being online or using software to create graphics or to write, my routine was - well, there was no routine that day.

Back to the desk and this morning.

I could not remember praying the Chaplet yesterday. I'm pretty sure I did - but "pretty sure" isn't "certain."

So, I pulled the knotted cord through my fingers and said the prayers this morning. Again, I think - but if not, at least I'll have the total right by Good Friday. God willing, of course.

Am I upset? No, not particularly. There isn't anything magical about these prayers. They're prayers. And, even if I missed yesterday's, I was still less than 12 hours off the 24-hour routine that I've established.

Now, I've got work to do.

Another Day, Another Chaplet

Thanks largely, I suspect, to my putting an 8-by-10 printout of a photo of the Lenten Chaplet card, I've remembered to pray the chaplet three days in a row now.

It's a simple set of prayers: The Apostle's Creed followed by seven repetitions of the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. It take me roughly five minutes, start to finish.

Boring? No. I wouldn't recommend watching and listening to someone say this Chaplet: not as entertainment. But it's far from boring to say the prayers.

This evening I didn't see much while saying the chaplet, apart from the inside of my eyelids. Sometimes I've recalled pictorial representations of the life of Jesus, or other imagery. Tonight, I mostly just listened to the words and let my mind associate the phrases with ideas like forgiveness, faith, and the traditions I can draw on.

Three days down, 42 to go. That's right: 42. But Lent is 40 days long, right?

Well, yes. And, no.

But that's another topic.

Happy Lent?! What Kind of a Nut am I?

A Catholic one.

"Happy Lent" isn't an expression that's used, as far as I know, but it's not really as crazy as it sounds. Praying for a "happy death" is something else: That's something I fervently hope I experience (Catechism, 1014). Not that I'm in a hurry for that part of my life, but get real: death is a part of life. The trick is to get it over with in God's time, and on His terms, not ours.

Let's see: "Happy Lent." Right.

Well, one stereotype of the 'typical' Catholic is of some masochistic screwball who gets kicks out of fasting, ashes, and hair shirts. All three have their place, but the idea isn't so much punishing ourselves, as doing penance for our failures and shortcomings. The way I see it, it's a chore - like washing dishes. I don't expect to get a big kick out of chores, but I know that they've got to be done.

Lent isn't just about 'giving up something.' That's not my idea: it's in the Catechism (1438). Useful actions include:

• Spiritual exercises
• Pilgrimages as signs of penance
• Voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving
• Fraternal sharing like charitable and missionary work

And, yes: I'm getting some of my Lenten work done in this post. If you read it, and learn something, great.

One more thing: If you're not 'into' Lent, I won't make you give up fried bananas, or whatever. If you want to get closer to Jesus, great. If not: that's up to you.

'Are We Having Fun Yet?'

I plan to do more posts about Lent and my experiences this time around, as the season goes on. Before I forget, though:

"The Lenten Season"
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

"On Ash Wednesday, February 25th this year, Catholics begin the forty-day season called Lent which precedes the celebration of Easter, Christ’s resurrection from the dead...."

This part of the USCCB website looks promising. There's something new there: "Lenten Audio Retreats" -

• "What We Believe"
• "What We Celebrate"
• "How We Live"
• "How We Pray"

Okay: they're probably not as entertaining as the latest Beyoncé video: but they might be worth listening to, anyway.

Truthfully, I do have 'fun' with some Lenten practices - in the sense that I enjoy them. Like the prayer I'll be saying tonight, in a few hours. Series of prayers, actually: it's a chaplet.

Other practices aren't so much fun. But, I do them anyway. No big deal: They're chores, without the soap and brooms.

Actually, some could involve soap and brooms, but I'm running out of time.