CF Family: Lenten Sunday #5

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Lenten Sunday #5

This week's focus : Think of Jesus sad, and :

PRAY : for our Holy Father, as he prays for the sadnesses of all people,
FAST : from wallowing in our own sadness,
GIVE : ourselves to noticing and helping with someone else's sadness.

Our Tobit passage continues :

Give to the hungry some of your bread, and to the needy some of your clothing. Whatever you have left over, give as alms ; and do not begrudge the alms you give. (vs. 16)

Inspiration :

He gives us His Hands to take hold of, His Power to make it a redeeming thing, a blessed thing, His Life to cause it to flower, His Heart to enable us to rejoice in accepting our own and one another's burdens. (Caryll Houselander)

This is Ian, eight years old in May (Getting cozy for the night in our snow cave, which most members of my family think is Fun.). He and I have been preparing for his first confession and Thursday evening was The Night. He gripped his favorite book, marked to the act of contrition page with a 3x5 card he'd scribbled with his examined sins. The half hour drive to church was almost completely silent, peppered with occasional, nervously worded questions. Do priests do confession? (Yes, Honey.) Will you do it, too? (Yes, Honey.) What if I forget everything? (He'll help you. He's very nice.).

We arrived, got in line (Gotta love being Catholic ; hard to be holier-than-thou when you're all standing in line to confess sins!), and then he was gone. Into the little room, just Father Luz and him. I was without my boy, wondering what was conspiring, praying for him and his sweet soul. Since Ian was the final child from class, a party began when he stepped out of the confessional, involving cookies, cranberry juice, and snowballs. They'd done it!

The drive home had decidedly different questions : When can I go again? (Father is there Saturday afternoons or I can call for anytime.) What should I do with my paper? (Tear it up and throw it out!). Can I go with John next Saturday? (Yes, if you need to.). As soon as I opened the door, Ian threw himself into Ken's arms and told him that he was right, Father Luz was really nice and he loved confession.