Plan of the Day

It’s already after 5 pm, and I still don’t have a coherent plan for the day. Since we don’t have Bible Study tonight, I think I’ll spend some time in Adoration after work.

Song of the Day

In the middle of the afternoon yesterday, one of the songs that was played at a recent Mass ran through my head, so I attached it to my blog post. Now, I’m thinking that maybe I’ll listen to *at least* one Christian song per day. Not giving up secular music (although I’ve done that before), but adding something that will help me stay focused.
One Way, Jesus by Hillsong is a song that I heard first at a Catechism session at World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008.  I’m not actually well-versed in a lot of Christian music, so if you have some favorites, please send them my way!

Chastity

In the interest of chastity… I recently helped teach at a Confirmation retreat for 5th graders. I taught on the fruits of the Holy Spirit, of which one of them is Chastity. We usually think of chastity as being chaste with our bodies, meaning that we act appropriate to our state, whether married, religious or single. But chastity also includes being pure in what we do in other ways. I got to exercise that just a minute ago. I have all of the blogs that I follow on a reader, and after reading a friend’s latest post, there’s a link up at the top that I can click on to read the Next Blog. I assumed this meant that I would read the next blog on my list. However, it opened up a post of someone I’ve never read before. That post was really interesting, so I followed it. Feeling good about that little link, I clicked it again. And found myself staring at a nearly naked woman. Aaah! Not what I want to have displayed on my screen at work! Certainly, not anything that I care to look at, either. I quickly clicked off and now resolve to not leave my browsing to random chance. I want to be careful what I take in. Images, words and music which are immoral or amoral can have a real, negative effect on me, and I want to give myself the best possible chance for holiness.

Saints in the Making University

They suggest that we recognize the fact that each one of us has a unique guardian angel assigned to watch over us, and recommends praying to our guardian angel:

Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
To whom God’s love
commits me here,
Ever this day,
be at my side,
To light and guard,
Rule and guide.
Amen.

They have a bunch of other suggestions, including spending at least 10 minutes today in prayer (which I’m already doing, according to Meg‘s Lenten Boot Camp), so check them out, if you haven’t already.

My Day So Far

I prayed the Office of Readings this morning (but not Morning Prayer, because that podcast was broken for some reason).  I managed to call only *one* person a “jerk” on the way to work.  And, to be honest, they didn’t do anything wrong.  But how dare they slow me down while making a right, when I want to get. to. the. intersection??  That was probably a failure in charity, patience AND humility.  Good thing going to Confession is on my list of things to do.  Speaking of things to do…  Getting caught up on my Google Tasks is one of my penances during Lent.  And it’s LONG overdue.  I’m working on finishing up a reading assignment that I put on my To-Do list in 2011.  It’s a commentary on Philippians, in case you were interested.  I brought the book with me to work and have only read about 2-3 pages of it so far.  I have 26 pages to go.  But I keep distracting myself.  I am my own worst enemy.

My Plans for the Rest of the Evening

I will go for Adoration after work; read Joel 2:12-17, Psalms 5-8, and Genesis 3; pray a decade of the Rosary; observe 10 minutes of silence; go home; clean out the linen closet (I’ve NEVER done this, so I’m choosing it as my penance-of-the-day); do a load of laundry and put it away; and finish up a blog post for tomorrow.