Thursday, February 26, 2009

Daily Mass Readings.

Weeks ago, when I was giving thought as to how I would observe Lent this year, I decided that I would make every effort to attend Mass every day. In our Parish, there are daily Masses at noon on week days....with the exception of Thursday, when there is no Mass but, a Communion service at 7:00 AM.
It would have been very difficult getting my three year old up and ready for the Thursday Communion service but, there didn't seem to be any problem with me attending the noon Masses.

That plan has hit a snag. I had an accident recently in my wife's car....it's mine now; she bought another. I took the car to the body repair shop last week and at that time it seemed that the car would be repaired by Ash Wednesday. As it turns out, there is damage to the frame and the cost to repair the frame may be more than the value of the car.

As I write this, I have no idea what the insurance company will do, but it looks like no matter what the company decides, I will be without transportation for awhile longer. There's no way I can attend the week day Masses without a vehicle.

In place of daily Mass, I've posted a link to the daily Mass readings on the usccb website.

The readings can also serve as lectio divina.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Ash Wednesday 2009.

Normally, my work schedule interferes with a proper observance of Ash Wednesday. I've always had to make certain changes in order to attend Mass with my family.

In years past, I've taken off early. When I was working 12 hour shifts, my regular time for getting off work was 7:00 PM; Evening Masses usually started at 5:00 and 7:30.

When we changed to eight hour shifts, I landed the 2nd shift (3:00 PM to 11:00PM) and new attendance policies at work kept me from leaving early or coming in late too often. The solution was taking a "vacation day". I had the entire day off, with pay and no penalty. Taking the day off also made fasting and abstinence less of a burden.

This year, the situation is different. I didn't have to take a day off, as we are "laid off" for the week. I'll be getting an unemployment check for this week.

So, there's no excuse not to get a complete Rosary today.....with the entire 20 Mysteries; no excuse not to do a proper Catholic fast.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Salamat Maria. La Naval de Manila 2007

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