Axe Wednesday {Dam Construction}

 Peter VS the fallen tree

If there's one thing the boys won't be giving up for Lent this year, it's their new axes.  Given by a variety of givers at Christmas, these hand held tools of destruction construction would be sorely missed.  The latest favorite home school science project, dam building, just wouldn't be the same without these axes.  After years of attempting to successfully inhibit the creek's flow, Joseph and Peter have finally met with a quantifiable measure of success.  The new lake across the street is proof; the new resident Mallards are witnesses.  It's been a long time coming, and this new success story is worth sharing.

{No living trees were injured in the making of this project.}

Our new (feathered) neighbors take a leisurely paddle.

Unfortunately for our downstream neighbor who taps into the creek for home made hydropower (and who has been spotted busting up the boys' past dam projects under the cover of darkness), this new dam might actually be having some minutely measurable effect on the flow power of the current.  We shall focus on the positive side of this story: boys with free time playing (and working) for hours in the woods, celebrating a small victory over nature.

the creek with natural and boy-made blockages from years gone by

the new dam home school science project

Like an axe, Lent offers us another opportunity for small victories over nature.  Simple sacrifices offer us a chance to chop off some of our natural inclinations to prefer the comforts of a soft life to the type of disciplined life the Gospel calls us to live.  When we tell you we are entering into a holy season of profound preparation for the celebration of Christ's Resurrection (Easter) we are most certainly NOT talking about plotting out an egg hunt or blowing up inflatable bunnies (nothing against bunnies or eggs).  This is the real deal: the special time we set aside each year to purposefully choose ways to grow closer to God and to one another.  Happy Axe (Ash) Wednesday; may your Lent, too, be blessed!

 Newly created habitat for our feathered friends and probably others yet to be discovered

Ash Wednesday {The Day I Met My Future Spouse}

Twenty two years ago today, on Ash Wednesday, I met my future spouse.

Rebecca, Ben and Ava receive ashes from Father Qui Thac.

Both in our junior year at the University of Puget Sound, Tim and I just happened to share a ride to St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Tacoma, the sacred place we would celebrate the sacrament of matrimony two years later.   We were next door neighbors, he in the Phi Delta Theta house, and I in the Alpha Phi house.  Although we had mingled and been at many of the same gatherings, we hadn't known one another.  Until that day we hadn't known we shared our Catholic faith.  Now we know that our Lord, in His providence, had marked us for each other from the very day we were baptized as infants (on the same day in different states, in 1968).

Hannah and Hope with Cathee and her violin after Mass

Returning to Church in observance of Ash Wednesday, I was well aware of my weakened faith life in college amid the distractions, temptations, unchecked selfishness, and general business.  I wanted to begin again, to come before the Lord with a repentant heart.  If only that day had truly been my turning point!
But it was a beginning of the rest of my life with Tim, and of a spiritual journey that would lead us to right where we are today: Ash Wednesday.

The beginning of Lent has always marked a new beginning in my life.  My parents and teachers taught me to enter fully into this liturgical season which prepares us for the joy of Christ's resurrection at Easter.
Some years I simply made the same old sacrifice: no ice cream during Lent.  Other years there were deeper commitments and spiritual efforts.

By the grace of God, Tim and I now get to pass on the very same faith to our children and Godchildren: encouraging them to lead examined, prayerful lives; resolving to set a good example for them; praying for them daily; offering up sacrifices on their behalf; fasting; abstaining from meat (today and every Friday in Lent); encouraging them to make frequent use of the healing sacrament of confession.

Father Qui Thac with Peter and our Goddaughter, Hope after Mass on Ash Wednesday.

We teach them to follow Christ's example during these 40 days of spiritual preparation for Easter.

The beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday reminds us how temporary is our time on Earth, and encourages  us to strive to grow intentionally in holiness  by offering up sacrifices and taking up new acts of charity and piety. To be transformed is our goal in Lent.  We willingly enter the cocoon, so to speak, allowing God's hand to form and mold us to become what we were created to be.

Tobit 4: 5, 7b, 8, 14b, 15, 18-19a:

Through all your days, my son, keep the Lord in mind, and suppress every desire to sin or to break his commandments. 

Perform good works all the days of your life, and do not tread the paths of wrongdoing. 

Do not turn your face away from any of the poor, and God's face will not be turned away from you.   

Son, give alms in proportion to what you own. If you have great wealth, give alms out of your abundance; if you have but little, distribute even some of that. 

But do not hesitate to give alms; you will be storing up a goodly treasure for yourself against the day of adversity.

Keep a close watch on yourself, my son, in everything you do, and discipline yourself in all your conduct. 

Do to no one what you yourself dislike. Do not drink wine till you become drunk, nor let drunkenness accompany you on your way. 

Give to the hungry some of your bread, and to the naked some of your clothing. 

Whatever you have left over, give away as alms; and do not begrudge the alms you give. 

Seek counsel from every wise man, and do not think lightly of any advice that can be useful. 

At all times bless the Lord God, and ask him to make all your paths straight and to grant success to all your endeavors and plans

Lent Begins

O God, Jesus fasted forty days in the desert, and there chose obedience and love for you over every temptation.  Through our lenten penance, deliver us from preoccupation with ourselves and our needs, so that we may be free to do the work of prayer and charity in sincerity of heart, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Magnificat morning prayer, Friday, Feb. 19, 2010)

BLESSING AND GIVING OF ASHES:

After the homily the priest joins his hands and says:

Dear friends in Christ,

let us ask our Father to bless these ashes

which we will use as the mark of our repentance.

(pause for silent prayer)

Lord, bless the sinner who asks for your forgiveness

and bless + all those who receive these ashes.

May they keep this lenten season

in preparation for the joy of Easter.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Together with Father, lay ministers (including Zachary) distribute ashes

on the forehead of all who come forward.

PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS:

Lord, help us to resist temptation

by our lenten works of charity and penance.

By this sacrifice may we be prepared to celebrate

the death and resurrection of Christ our Savior

and be cleansed from sin and renewed in spirit.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION:

Lord, through this communion

may our lenten penance give you glory

and bring us your protection.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

I have jotted down in my notebook my lenten resolutions, but I want to confirm them here.  I must truly renew my life, and it is God whom I ask in all simplicity to transform me.  I want to live interiorly more  spiritually, exteriorly more gently and lovingly so as to make God better loved, who is the beginning and end of my spiritual life.  More than ever I want to hide in the heart of Jesus my good works, my prayers, my self-denial, to preach only through example, to speak not at all of myself... But whenever someone approaches me, or whenever it seems to be God's will that I should approach another, I will do so simply, very prudently, and disappear as soon as the task is done, mixing in no thought of self with God's action.  And should I be misunderstood, criticized, and judged unfavorably, I will try to rejoice in remembering our divine exemplar, and I will seek to be of no consequence in the esteem of others, I who am in fact so poor and little in the eyes of God.    -- Elisabeth Leseur

Elisabeth Leseur (+1914) was a French married laywoman.  Her cause for canonization is underway.