5mart Martha Monday.

I really didn't do that well this week. Here are my 5 from last week

In the past, I have prayed in the mornings before I get on computer and check my blog/emails. This week, I only did that once. It only took one morning of me sleeping in later than usual to not pray. It was a big mistake. I didn't pray any mornings until Thursday and that was the only day I did it all week. I need to make it a priority this week.

So out of the 5 things, We did start Tom's First Communion prep, I sewed Madeline's dress and we had our trip to Whyalla. I think we only did the stations twice all week. I was only in bed by 10 on Monday night. I didn't get any kitchen cupboards cleaned out and the only day I did 5 decades of the rosary was on Thursday.

So this week I want to:

Sewing: Cut out a shirt for Tom.

Housework and home school: We will go to the Chrism Mass tomorrow and I will teach the children during the week about the oils that each parish takes home from the mass.

Health: I have joined Spark People First week they set the goal of 90 minutes exercise a week. I am also counting calories and keeping it between 1200 and 1500.

Family: This week is the last week that the pool is open so I think we will go for a swim and take tea there one night.

Spiritual: This morning I was reading Mary Vitamin and this stood out for me:

Quote:

"Tradition says that the three hardly ever spoke in the Holy House at Nazareth.A deeper silence than that of a Carmelite desert reigned there. The words of Jesus were very few. That was the reason Mary laid them up in her heart, because like treasures, they were rare as well as precious."

Father Faber, The Foot of the Cross, 179.

Tan Books

Meditation:

Our Lady's silence was the vehicle which allowed her to "ponder all these things in her heart."

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

"All writers on the spiritual life uniformly recommend, nay, command under penalty of total failure, the practice of silence. And yet, despite this there is perhaps no rule for spiritual advancement more inveighed against, by those who have not even mastered its rudiments, than that of silence. Even under the old Dispensation its value was known, taught, and practised. Holy Scripture warns us of the perils of the tongue, as "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21). Nor is this advice less insisted on in the New Testament; witness: "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man" (St. James 3:2 sq.). The same doctrine is inculcated in innumerable other places of the inspired writings. The pagans themselves understood the dangers arising from unguarded speech. Pythagoras imposed a strict rule of silence on his disciples; the vestal virgins also were bound to severe silence for long years.

I am going to make an effort to sit in silence before the children get up each morning. I think I will start small with 10 minutes and work my way to 30 minutes eventually. I really am not very good at silence.

Have a great week. If you want to put a list on your blog, I will add a link to you. Let me know in the comment box if you do.

Therese