Getting Ready for Holy Week

This Sunday is Palm Sunday – another Lent almost gone.

While I haven’t done everything I had hoped to for Lent, I had one big success – my kids noticed a difference between Lent and ordinary time! And that was huge for me. So many times in the evening I heard dialogue that went something like…

“I feel like something sweet. Why don’t we go make brownies!?”

“We can’t. It’s Lent.”

and those were my kids talking. So obviously there has been a change there.

Personally, I prayed the Divine Office more, which is becoming more and more an important part of my life. I feel more comfortable finding my way around those big prayer books. We’ve made it to stations twice. Our parish uses the one by St. Alphonsus Liguori, which has some challenging things in it. For example:

I embrace all the sufferings You have destined for me until death.

Clearly not something to be said lightly.

But there are some more things that I would like to accomplish before and during Holy Week.

• Get Morning Prayers and the Office of Readings done in the morning before any one else is up. 
• Get to one or two daily masses. 
• Make a good examination of conscience and get to confession. 
• Do a scripture study. 
• Get out to the cemetery and do the Stations of the Cross for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. 
• Decorate Raphael’s and mom’s graves for Easter.
• Go to church Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil.
• Bake some bread with the girls for Holy Saturday.
• Do a family rosary – with the teens too if I can catch them!
• Read something inspirational from the Lenten Links I saved. 
• Make sure to read some of Father Lovasik’s books with Rosie.
• Do this craft again with Rosie, this time maybe on heavier stock paper. 
• And helping her make her own book of the stations of the cross.