Small Success Thursday: Holy Week

This is the last week of Lent, and it feels like forever since Ash Wednesday, the day my dad died. Yet the fruit of having my Lent rewritten, was I grew closer to my sister in 40+days than I'd imagined possible given we live a time zone and 1,413 miles between us. We'd resolved to call and did most days, and say a Hail Mary together. It almost always turned into a longer conversation, about the everything in our lives, a good legacy for my dad, for his oldest and youngest to become closer. This is a Lenten resolution I think we'll keep going long after Pentecost.

We also made some hard decisions, some of which still sting and will for some time to come about school for our children. Our daughter picked a college, (Yeah)! We registered one daughter for the school where our children have attended since 1999, and the other younger ones will go to a local public school near our house. It's a good school, it's not a wrong decision, but I'll miss having them where we've always had them. We are still wrestling with the high school options for our older two, but don't have an easy answer.

I also went to see the stations of the cross, put on every year by the 8th grade, directed by one of my very good friends. This year it was in the gym owing to rain, but I was only able to peek through the glass at the presentation. Paul and Anna both opted for their "HI I'M VERY LOUD AND DON'T EVER STOP TALKING FOR ANYONE" voices. Out in the hallway, they raced back and forth between the double doors and the water fountain, but made no sound whatsoever. I put my foot in the door so I could hear the kids, and my youngest two instantly decided to take the best of both worlds, loud and running. As the future patron saint of the perpetual foot in the door, I dream one day of hearing the whole mass or being able to sit through an entire presentation of one of my children. In the meantime, I must content myself with slivers of the experience. One day.

My husband and I also had as a result of the chaos of everyday life, not begun our Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, something we've done every year, albeit to varying degrees of success, since 2002. We restarted on April 15th. Then I looked at the Magnificat the next day, and the saint for April 15th, was Saint Louis Marie de Montfort. Yes I think he was whispering in our hearts, get back to it!

Lent is coming to a close, but the reality is we should always be seeking to somehow bring ourselves into the desert, to clear away all that keeps us from connecting with each other, and with God. It should always be Lent and Advent, Christmas, Easter and Pentecost in our lives and none of that is a contradiction, even in ordinary time.

Hoping you have a great Holy Week and a Blessed Easter, full of Small Successes!