Monday, May 26, 2008

On Easter, we gave each of the children a "ticket" for a free game or movie night alone with Mom & Dad. A couple of weeks ago, number 2 daughter redeemed hers for a game of Scrabble. Saturday night number 3 son redeemed his for a game of Risk.

Mrs. Curley had never played Risk, and I had only played a couple times-25-30 years ago. Neither of us realized that it is a loooooooooong game. Starting at 8:30 PM, you just can't quit at 9:30 ... or 10:30 (past my bedtime) ... or 11:30 ... You get the picture. I am embarrassed to even say how long the game lasted. I will say that number 3 son was patient in building his army all night (and early morning) and then destroyed both Mrs. Curley and myself in one fell swoop.

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As we are doing the novena to the Sacred Heart every day-I have been struck by two things. The first is how truly the Divine Mercy devotion is just another view of the Sacred Heart. The prayers of the novena we are doing (which is pretty old) are reflected in the Divine Mercy novena we do every year. (Although our pastor has mentioned this before, I never realized it for myself. I am getting a lot out of this novena.)

Secondly, I note that the first Sunday of Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday, and while the Easter season has ended, the celebration continues with some big feasts: Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, but it all ends with the Feast of the Sacred Heart this coming Friday. This season is almost bookended by the Sacred Heart.

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From Dorothy Day (hat tip to Stephen Hand):

How far one's vocation will take one, is always a mystery, and where one's vocation will take one. But I believe it to be true always that the foundations are always in poverty, manual labor, and in seeming failure. It is the pattern of the Cross, and in the Cross is joy of spirit.

(the last part of this quote "seeming failure" is scary-especially for a man like myself, a product of the 'results-oriented' culture. How to have joy in failure?)

Oremus pro invicem!

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