Last Saturday evening, the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, we had what we call "The Pre-Lent Event," a kind of variety of show, consisting mainly of humorous skits about our everyday life.

This year the MCs were the three local directors of the main house—Cathy Mitchell, Larry Klein, and Fr. Paul Burchat—and the evening began with a skit about their weekly Monday morning meeting.

The guests put on excellent skits. The men guests did one on an American-type election campaign for director general of MH laymen, and the women guests did some humorous tableaux on the various work departments.

These included some very recent happenings. In the kitchen tableau, for example, everyone had their arms in slings. (In reality, two of the cooks have them.)

The farmers in this the 50^{th anniversary year of the farm gave a humorous reenactment of the buying and beginnings of the farm.}

Then there were the more serious preparations for Lent. Individually, we checked out our Lenten practices with our spiritual directors, and we went to confession on Shrove Tuesday. And together we had the traditional Shrove Tuesday supper—pancakes.

Now it is Lent, a Lent whose atmosphere is fostered in a number of ways, including the reading of Lenten books at spiritual reading and, at our prayers and Masses, the Church-prescribed readings, the homilies, and Lenten songs from both East and West.

We also make pysanky, Russian Easter eggs. For those who are new, lessons are available on Sunday afternoons at the handicraft center.

In old Russia, Catherine used to tell us, people would spend Lenten evenings making them. For there is a legend in Russia, that if people stop making pysanky, evil will overcome the world. It’s certainly an enjoyable way to save the world!

Lent is also the time for Friday afternoon study for the staff—a time when we read and discuss in small groups an aspect of our Madonna House spirituality. Some of the topics, which we signed up for, are the same as last year and some are new.

These topics include poustinia of the heart, the Little Mandate, Catherine and the Eucharist (in preparation for the upcoming Eucharistic Congress), and the history of our apostolate. One group is studying, "Islam, the Church, and Madonna House."

Our three directors general—Susanne Stubbs, Mark Schlingerman, and Fr. David May—have just returned from a visitation to three of our American houses: Washington, D.C., Roanoke, Virginia, and Raleigh, North Carolina. Roanoke and Raleigh are both in the South.

Visitations by directors general are a time of looking at the vision of a house, of the directors listening to and supporting the staff, and of all listening together to discern what the Spirit is saying.

Visitors continue to come from all over the world. These days we have, among others, a deacon from Hungary, Zsolt Pentek, and three Koreans—Hyun Kyung Jo, Suk Young Jo, and Ki Jeong Seaoing.

The whole situation of the Korean visitors knowing at least a minimum of English, is a wonderful example of how God uses everything: Korea requires all its students to study English.

The statue of Our Lady of Combermere is becoming more and more loved and a part of the lives of the local people. Nick Baklinski and Rhea Pastway are both from local families, and Rhea is also a former working guest.

Nick proposed to Rhea on the feast of Our Lady of Combermere, and then they visited the statue together. Then on their wedding day, just last week, after the ceremony, they stopped there for wedding photos.

For two weeks or so, we enjoyed a wonderful book display consisting of approximately 200 books that had been recently been donated to the library. They were of a wide variety—fiction, modern history, crafts, cookbooks, modern issues, biographies, etc., etc. and of course religious books of many kinds (Scripture, spiritual reading, theology, lives of saints, etc.).

We signed up for those we wanted to borrow, and some of the books must have had a list of 20 names.

Have you ever heard of the apostolate called Theology on Tap? It’s apparently spreading in the United States and Canada, and it consists of talks about theology and religious subjects, talks with a difference. The difference is that they take place in bars.

Well, two or our staff were guest speakers at a bar in Ottawa. Fr. Paul Burchat spoke on "The Life of Virtue: The Ultimate Goal of Christian Morality" and Miriam Stulberg on "Why Women Can’t Be Priests."

We celebrated the anniversary of the foundation of Friendship House Harlem (an earlier apostolate of Catherine’s) and had a day of recollection on The World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life.

Many of you will have by now received our begging letter, our twice a year request for financial contributions. We recently had a bee to get it ready. It is our number one most inclusive work bee: just about everyone from the directors general to the newest guest spent an evening folding, stuffing, and sealing the envelopes.

Last month, we told you about Fr. Paul Crochat visiting from Points-Coeur, carving a statue of Catherine Doherty. We didn’t have a photo then; so here it is now.

I guess that’s it for our news this month. May the joyous reality that Christ is risen sing in your hearts throughout the Easter Season.