Begin with the Prayer of Abandonment.

Although the Challenge will continue up through Saturday, today is officially the last day before Triduum (the three-day recollection leading up to the feast of Easter) begins. And so, I thought it might be a good time to take stock. How has this Challenge gone for you?

As you “x-amine” your marriage, a word of caution may be in order. It can be a mistake to look too closely at the minutiae of your marriage in order to point out the blemishes and weaknesses in it. If every time you sit down to tea with your girlfriend, you find yourself rolling off a long litany of all the many faults and flaws of your beloved, of all the ways you are enduring with patience and long-suffering . . . the problem might be yours.

“Make something beautiful for God,” said Mother Teresa. Besides being the title of her biography, it was also her life’s calling — and ours as well. “Everything,” she wrote, “in that it is for God, becomes beautiful, whatever it may be; as does every human soul participating in this purpose, whoever he or she may be.” (LWSTC, p.140).

Mother Teresa’s words remind us that some kinds of self-examination are good and uplifting. If you are asking yourself how you could be a better wife, a better lover, a better mother, how you could give yourself just a little more . . . by all means, list away.

But the next time you find yourself writing down the pros and cons of the person God gave you to help each other to heaven, nit-picking is the quickest path I know to hell on earth. So set aside your list and make a new one: 100 Reasons I Am Thankful for You.

Can’t think of 100? Start with 10, and pray for inspiration. Start looking for more, actively seeking out the good things, the small blessings that come your way simply because you are a wife and mother.

You can do this. and when you do, you will be glad you did!