Grandkids, dogs, and Lent

Big doings around here. First, we welcomed our newest grandchild to the world! Casey James was born last night and is doing just peachy. Things moved quickly so we scrambled to get his two older brothers (and a dog) to our place while mom and dad made tracks for the hospital. It was all over just a couple of hours later, thanks be to God.

Next weekend, we acquire dogs. We lost our family dog last summer during our trip to the UK. Our kids, bless them, had to deal with it in our absence and they did a tremendous job of working together to do all that was necessary, including burying her under a tree out back. Time passed and it seemed good to think about jumping back into the fray, so my wife did the research (and, really, all of the other legwork) and we’ll be adding a pair of Wheaten-doodles (‘whoodles’) to the household next weekend. Both male and from the same litter. I’ll post pics when they get here.

In the background, I’m preparing a retreat talk for the end of the month: The Plan of Redemption and the Sacraments. I’ll give it twice (English and Spanish) to the parents and godparents of our confirmandi. Spent a fair bit of yesterday sitting in some gorgeous sunshine with a stack of books and getting my thoughts together. Right at the peak contemplative moment (there was beer), my wife flung open the front porch door to announce that water had broken and things were moving quickly. Those things included us, so the books went to the side and off we went.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. I’ve taken the day off from work so I can be at the three parish liturgies tomorrow. I suppose I’m a little weird; I like Lent. I like the discipline and focus and, yes, the small mortifications. Still working through what they’ll look like this year, but it always tends to be something of a process throughout the season.

Brother John Metilly, O.P. reflects on Lent, and properly understanding it as a season of growth and not simply renunciation:

So the first step is to take stock of our lives and our loves. We can usually identify what we love by taking note of the things that we think about most and what we spend the most time trying to achieve. Then, we turn to the Lord more and more so that we really don’t have time for anything that might draw us away from him. By turning to him first, we let his goodness fill our mental atmosphere and put all other goods in their place.