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Happy February, Reader!

Sunday we celebrated a special liturgical feast called Septuagesima. This is just a fancy name for the Sunday three Sundays before Ash Wednesday or the 9th Sunday before Easter (Approx 70 days). It originated somewhere around the year 500AD when Lent was seen as a season serious enough to need a period of two and a half weeks in advance to prepare and "ramp up" to a fruitful and truly transformative experience.

This year has been fairly "top heavy" with Pre-Lent remembrances starting before Christmas even officially ends this Friday, February 2nd, on Candlemas (the day we celebrate the Presentation of Jesus, 40 days after His birth).

In the past, it all felt like such a whirlwind when these things happened. Even up until last week I was a little annoyed at how quickly everything Advent and Christmas seemed to go this year and overlapping with Lent, well, I didn't even want to think about it.

Until I realized

something pretty obvious really, but it felt like a revelation in the moment... that this is merely God's way of highlighting how it is all interconnected, and not merely connected but literally inseparable.

Our God was born to die.

And not only this, but He was born to teach us how to die.

No servant is greater than his master - John 13:16

In learning to live lent fully, we give purpose to the life of Christ. We in our tiny littlest sense mean that His coming, His, life, His Death, and His sacrifice we not entirely in vain.

The thought continued to encompass the role of His mother in all this and the fact that the Rosary book I've been working on since October shows this connection and its monumental impact on our daily lives better than anything else I've ever come across.

And then it dawned on me...

I think this year, we are supposed to do a MARIAN Lent! And not just a "Marian" Lent but, even more specifically, a "Rosarian" Lent, if that can be a thing (It is. We've just coined it).

For those of you who have done the Fertile Ground Series in the past, don't worry, it's not going anywhere and you will have other opportunities to do it again, but this year has got to be about the Rosary and the Cross.

What could be a better February Freebie?!?

I know, I know. You are still confused, and I don't know if I've ever seen anything out there about a Marian Lent before. If you are not Catholic you are probably very leery at this moment, and if you are, you are probably wondering what that would even look like.

Yes, I promise, Mary is for Non-Catholics too, and so is the Rosary! If Mary was for Jesus, then why in the world we we be afraid to go to her? She whose only desire is to draw us closer to her Son...

For Catholics who find praying the Rosary difficult, dry, monotonous, or boring, this has the potential to bring your Faith to life on a completely new level.

THIS LENT

I am inviting you to pray the Rosary with me - with fresh eyes and an open heart. I want you to gain a completely different understanding of the Rosary through the eyes of a calling - as a roadmap, a consolation, and a promise. I pray this journey helps you learn to take Mary's hand in a tangible way and gain a better relationship with both the Cross and, in consequence, your own.

Yes, it's almost strange to imagine doing a Marian Lent but without her we would never have what it takes to follow her Son to the Cross, and to give ours meaning.

If you are ready a for something totally radical that goes beyond the norm, please join me.

It just might change you forever.

More Info?

This will be a totally free email series serving as a prequel to the rosary book coming out at the end of Lent. Email reflections will be delivered in writing only. Weeks will be themed with an intro + 5 reflections per week for a total of 6 days/week. Themes include:

• Prayer - How to Pray (Mental Prayer, Vocal Prayer, & the individual prayers - specifically in the context of the Rosary and the Cross)
• All fifteen decades, the Seven Sorrows, and the Stations of the Cross, all from the perspective of how they are completely and inseparably interconnected, and how they provide a precise and actionable road map for the Christian calling.
• The Luminous mysteries - for a little controversial contemplation.
• As always, are links to the best supplemental resources and optional “extra-credit” reflection materials to support you and enhance your experience on this journey to a deeper appreciation of the Power of the Rosary.

I literally can’t think of a better February freebie, but you DO have to click the button below to get added to the list! (And get a Free Lent Lockscreen while you are at it!)

Join "The Rosary and the Cross" - Lent 2024 (Lockscreen "The Rosary and the Cross")​

Join "The Rosary and the Cross" - Lent 2024 (Lockscreen "Hold Mary's Hand")

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I pray you had a holy and productive start to this New Year with the right goals in mind and that you are persevering. I hope your Christmas was so amazingly intense that you are still feeling the reverberations in your life. I hope you feel yourself each day growing stronger, holier, and more fulfilled (in a deeply soulful way), even when it’s hard. And I pray that you join me in taking Mary by the hand this Lent to discover and become drawn to the Cross like never before.

Talk soon!

<3