Peaceful Sunday

The day started with me waking up snug and cozy in bed. I had the space heater running, so for once my bedroom was about 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. Since Sundays are feast days, I celebrated by hitting the snooze button a few times (as opposed to those other days, where I … also hit the snooze button multiple times). I had a morning shift at work today, so I got ready fairly quickly and headed out. Finally, I remembered to take my Bible (and a book I plan on finishing) with me. It’s another one of the things I’m working on for Lent — bringing a Bible with me wherever I go. An actual Bible, not the electronic version(s) that I have on my phone.

I got a quick (not-so-healthy) breakfast on the way to work. I stopped at OLGC because I had to leave a message that I would not be available to help at the 12:00 pm Mass, as I had picked up this shift after the schedule had been made. I went to go back to my car, since I was running short on time, but stopped in the hall and turned around. I went to the Eucharistic chapel behind the altar and spent a few minutes kneeling in front of the Tabernacle, praising and thanking God and asking Him for help to do His will throughout my day. I also prayed for my priests. I had such a sense of peace and joy. I didn’t want to leave. Alas. As I was nearing work, the sky had changed from a dull grey to a cloud speckled blue, with a lovely sunrise. This is the view from the parking lot of my building:

As today’s a Sunday, I don’t have any particular Lent-y thing planned, but I did snag a copy of the bulletin from church. Grab a copy here, it’s a good read. 🙂 I’ll share a bit of the articles that grabbed me:

Our lives are not subject to fate or circumstances, they’re not in the hands of sicknesses, they’re not at the beck and call of whatever forces out there continually shake and challenge us. Our lives are in God’s hands. Always. All the time. No matter what. — Fr. John Riccardo

The whole article was good, but this section is something that is great for me to be continually reminded of.

Fr. Steve talked about the benefits of having some discipline in our daily lives. He offers some tips from St. Alphonsus Liguori’s Rule:

When you first wake up, praise God and pray.
Attend daily Mass, every day if possible, but at least once a week, especially during Lent.
Visit the Blessed Sacrament, daily if possible.
Examine your conscience before bed every night.

Fr. Clement is perhaps my favorite bulletin author. (Sorry, Fr. John!) This week’s article speaks about dealing with temptations. Two things in particular spoke to me today:

Engage in battle against spiritual evils, armed with the weapons of self-restraint.

[Know] how important it is for us to know, to love, to be familiar with God’s word. God’s word will not only teach us, but will also guide and defend us against the fiery darts of the evil one.

In addition, he ended with this:

I love James! So excited for next week’s bulletin!

Finally, I was speaking with a co-worker yesterday, and he mentioned that he and his wife were looking for a school for their kids. I immediately offered, “You should enroll them in our school!” not even knowing if he was Catholic. 🙂 And today, there is an ad for our school in the bulletin! I hadn’t really noticed an ad for the school being in the bulletin before, so this must be some sort of “coincidence”. I cut the ad out of the bulletin and left it on my co-worker’s desk. 🙂 Maybe we’ll have a couple new Crusaders soon!