Monthly Archives: February 2013

Sede Vacante

February 28, 2013Sede VacanteCadyLy

I have been wondering lately how the Prayers of the Faithful are going to change during Mass in this time of sede vacante.

You know…

The part where the priest says to pray for “our Pope Benedict, our bishop X, and all the clergy”….

I did a quick search and found this link, giving instructions to the clergy of Raleigh during this period. Kind of an interesting read. 🙂

This is certainly a time in which we should intensify our prayer life. Even more than what we would normally do during Lent. Trust in God, in whose hands we have always been held. Veni Sancte Spiritus and guide the College of Cardinals in these days!

[Photo Credit to Fr. Barron of Word on Fire]

Lent: The Third Day In

February 15, 2013LentCadyLy

Year after year, Lent happens the same way: I make some crazy grandiose plans and thoroughly expect them to be carried out to the letter. And it.never.happens! 😦

Not only that, but then I feel upset and frustrated and just want to throw in the towel because I slipped on my commitments. I feel like I have let God down.

But, this year, I have started a new “cleaning” program that encourages you to *not* beat yourself if you miss a task (or a day…), but to just pick yourself up and continue on (NOT attempting to “catch up” — that will just frustrate things). So, I started off making this fantastic, elaborate plan for Lent, scheduling things into my calendar…. And then immediately started “screwing up”. It’s only FRIDAY, for Pete’s sake, and still I haven’t been able to do my daily Lectio Divina or blog posting, or ….

But I’m not going to obsess about that. I’ll just continue with the plan for Friday as if I did everything I planned on doing on Thursday and be content with that. I give my frustration over having my perfect plans messed up to God. My failure becomes part of my penance — I give up the satisfaction of knowing my perfect little list has been perfectly completed.

And what did I do on Wednesday and Thursday that derailed my Lenten penance plans? I helped a priest finalize his STL thesis. So, I gotta get points for that, right? 🙂

God Bless and have a peaceful Lent!

What Am I Doing for Lent?!!?

February 13, 2013LentCadyLy

Ash Wednesday is HERE!

So, I guess this means that I finally have to nail down what I will be doing this Lent, right? Nothing like the nth hour, eh? 🙂

After much consideration and after looking at different links and suggestions, I have come up with the things that I am going to give up/take on during these 40 days in which I am attempting to adequately prepare myself for the celebration of Easter and grow in conformity to Christ.

Posting them up here is an attempt to secure the encouragement and accountablility of *you*: the 1 or 2 people who may read my blog. 🙂

In no particular order:

Read only spiritual/classic literature (Good thing I finished reading Twilight last night! And this will be a little difficult, because I *just* bought 2 YA novels and am about 1/4 of the way through one of them.)
Exercise at least 15 minutes, 3 days a week
Spend at least 15 minutes each day decluttering my house, and have at least one “package” of donations make it to a charity before Easter
Lectio Divina, daily
Liturgy of the Hours, daily
Examination of Conscience, daily
Adoration, weekly
Confession, weekly
Prayer journal, daily
15 minutes of silence/listening to God, daily
Listen to only classical music/spiritual podcasts
Post something spiritual/share the faith on the blog at least once a week
Leave an encouraging or positive comment on someone else’s blog post, daily (instead of my usual habit of reading them and not commenting)
Give up fast food
Study the life of a different saint per week
Get caught up on my to-do list by Easter (this list is *almost* 2 years behind, and is only going to grow with all these items which I am about to add to it!)

That’s it! That’s my Lent! I do these things, not so that I “look good,” but in an honest attempt to provide more structure to my life and grow in holiness and self-mastery.

I’m interested to hear what your plans are for Lent, too! I think that, as a Body of Christ, it helps so much to know that others have your back. 🙂

God Bless!

Prayer for Forgiveness

February 8, 2013Prayer/Prayer RequestsCadyLy

My Savior, by Your painful death,
You purchased by unworthy soul,
Deliver me from all my sins,
Teach me kindness and self-control.

Fill me with love beyond compare,
The kind of love You bore for me,
That all I do and all I say
May reflect Your sovereignty.

Be with me, everyday, my Lord,
Protect me from each harmful way,
Touch my body, mind, and spirit,
And never let me slip away.

Amen!

Riddle Me This

February 7, 2013Bible StudyCadyLy

Okay, so I’m reading through the Old Testament and am in the middle of 1 Kings.

Here’s the issue:

15:1-2 — Here we meet Abijam, he rules Judah for 3 years and his mother’s name is Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

15:9-10 — Here we meet Abijam’s son (according to verse 8), Asa. His mother’s name is Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

Wait. What? The same woman?

Is there something Oedipal going on here?

The Embarrassing Truth

February 2, 2013Exciting Adventures of the EverydayBedroom MakeoverCadyLy

Here is the embarrassing truth:

My master bedroom is a disaster.

My myopathy means that I get tired super quick. Okay, not “tired”, but exhausted to the point that I can only lay supine on some flat surface. I also get short of breath a lot. And have cardiac arrhythmias. And build up lactic acid like a fiend.

So simple household chores are really difficult for me to stay on top of. Especially considering that I still work full-time and have other obligations that take me outside of the house. The general rule is that I don’t get home until about 9:30 pm or so. And then, I’m lucky if I have enough energy left to make dinner.

Forget about doing the dishes.

And laundry? It’s exhausting just to bring the hamper to the laundry room and then move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. Usually the dryer is running while I sleep. Then, in the morning, I grab the clothes onto the bed and find whatever I need to wear for work that day. I don’t have time then to put them away or fold them. When I get home, I’m too tired to deal with them. So, I shove them to one side of the bed and sleep on the other side. Eventually, they fall off onto the far side of the bed and lay there in a heap of clean laundry.

I also don’t have a good organization system for things. And I’m terrible with flat surfaces. It’s just so easy to plop something down on the nearest available surface and forget about it. Things pile up with alarming frequency. I need real help in this area.

I recently took a Project Management course where we had to come up with a project charter and plan. I did mine on a bedroom make-over.

See, for about a year now, I have wanted to replace my dressers (which I don’t really use for clothes) with a shelving system from IKEA that I can use to organize books and pictures and things.

And I also wanted to repaint my bedroom a more exciting color. Like aquamarine. It’ll be like a beach theme.

Eventually, I also want to buy a chair for the one corner so I can read by the window, replace the light with a light/ceiling fan combo, and finish upgrading the outlet to 3-prong receptacles.

My goal is to get all of this done by this fall. (Hopefully, much sooner, but I’m giving myself time.)

I’ll be creating a new tag for this project, so that you can follow along as I go (and find the thread of post among all the other stuff I put up here).

Thanks for your support! 🙂