{"id":1144,"date":"2009-02-25T10:47:12","date_gmt":"2009-02-25T10:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2009\/02\/you-are-dust.html"},"modified":"2009-02-25T10:47:12","modified_gmt":"2009-02-25T10:47:12","slug":"you-are-dust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2009\/02\/you-are-dust.html","title":{"rendered":"You are dust"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the best ways to begin Lent is with the Holy Father’s message:<\/a><\/p>\n

From what I have said thus far, it seems abundantly clear that fasting represents an important ascetical practice, a spiritual arm to do battle against every possible disordered attachment to ourselves. Freely chosen detachment from the pleasure of food and other material goods helps the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact the entire human person. Quite opportunely, an ancient hymn of the Lenten liturgy exhorts: \u201cUtamur ergo parcius, \/ verbis cibis et potibus, \/ somno, iocis et arctius \/ perstemus in custodia <\/em>\u2013 <\/em>Let us use sparingly words, food and drink, sleep and amusements. May we be more alert in the custody of our senses.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Later today, the Pope will preside at Mass at St.\u00a0 Sabina.<\/a> A homily text will be available soon after, I hope.
\nHere is the Aggie Catholic mega post on Lent, with all kinds of good links. <\/a>
\nIf we are seeking to give shape to our Lenten spiritual practices, the best place to root ourselves is in what the Church gives us – the traditional disciplines of fasting, prayer and almsgiving, and the prayer of the Church – the Liturgy of the Hours and the Mass.\u00a0 The best place to begin is at Universalis.com<\/a>. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.\u00a0 The wheel exists.\u00a0 As Flannery O’Connor wrote to her friend “A:”<\/p>\n

Anyway, don’t think I am suggesting you read the Office everyday. It’s just a good thing to know about, I say Prime in the morning and sometimes I say Compline at night but usually I don’t. But anyway I like parts of my prayers to stay the same and part to change. So many prayer books are awful, but if you stick with the liturgy, you are safe.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I would be remiss if I didn’t call your attention to Michael’s book The Power of the Cross<\/a> <\/em>and the podcasts he did based on the book for KVSS in <\/a>Omaha – he certainly would be doing so if he were here, I don’t hesitate to point out! \u00a0 Our pastor wrote in our bulletin that it “reads like a novel,” and in a way, it does, for Michael was always just full of stories that he could connect, it always seemed to me, effortlessly.
\n***
\nMy heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.<\/em><\/a>
\n***<\/em>
\nMore later. I have some things to share, but as usual, struggle to do so in a way that is most helpful to everyone.
\nI am off to pick up Katie at school and attempt Mass at EWTN – if we can’t get in the main chapel and are going to have to sit in the room next to the chapel and watch it on a screen…we’ll dash further down the road to another parish.
\n***
\nSeveral people have placed book orders with me over the past month. I should be able to start filling those next week. Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the best ways to begin Lent is with the Holy Father’s message: From what I have said thus far, it seems abundantly clear that fasting represents an important ascetical practice, a spiritual arm to do battle against every possible disordered attachment to ourselves. 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. 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