Pansy and Peony

Print, read, annotate, and heed:

Pray without Ceasing: A Daily Plan of Attackhttp://www.lumengentleman.com

Posted by Peony at 8:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night on Discovery Health Channel, I was watching this forensics show called Skeleton Stories. The show chronicles how forensic anthropologists are able to solve cases by looking at the bones of victims. It appeals to my love of forensic shows, anthropology, and mysteries. Last night, they found the skull of a young woman and were able to locate the suspect, who in turn was a crazy, guy intent on going after prostitutes. However, when he was first named, the narrator made a point to show that the suspect's exterior life was quite a paradox to his serial killing intentions. He was middle class, a father of two small children, and "he was a devout Catholic" (the screen then flashes the image of a dangling Rosary). The next clip is of the prosecutor stating, "he read scripture at Church every week." Later a few other comments are made about how the guy felt the need to rid the world of prostitutes as a message from God, and how when they asked him to locate the rest of the woman's remains, he stopped and looked up at the sky and asked God to help him. Yeah, OK, whatever.

Here is what I don't understand: how do they know this guy is a devout Catholic based on Church attendance? Obviously, he isn't if he is going around soliciting prostitutes and killing them. This type of rhetoric is not limited to last night's Skeleton Stories, I hear it all the time. I *think* the point is to make an example of either "see how religion can make people horrible" or "here's another example of how hypocritical Christians are" or whatever. I remember the same terminology was used a great deal to describe Mary Kay Letourneau and her father. They were "devout" Catholics because of some obscure outward behavior, like attending Mass.

I often find these assumptions odd because it is hard to determine how devout someone is in their heart. It is a judgment I am rarely able to make. "Practicing" Catholic is usually a better description of a person's religious life that you do not know.

The other media stereotype I see used as a template for reality is the idea that adhering to a religion, particularly a Christian one means you just know you have it all right. You sit on your High Horse looking down at people who all get it wrong and shaking your head in dismay at them. We all have voices like Glinda, The Good Witch saying nothing besides "oh yes my Sister, praise be to God". Since we have opinions on moral issues (which is ridiculous because moral issues never affect us on our high horses), we can never stray into Human World, or else we are hypocrites.

I am lost about this stereotype. Following a Christian religion doesn't mean, "cease to be human", it means trying to find your way by following Jesus as a guide. I am often baffled why this is such a hard concept to grasp.

I am thinking of my mother-in-law. My husband had a few locked up bins in her basement of collectibles and comic books he had been collecting since childhood. Personally, I would not have left them there, but he trusted his mother. Her live in boyfriend stole them to sell for drug money. The amount he stole, we counted the value up to close to $7000 before we stopped counting. When my husband demonstrated he was angry and upset, and wanted to press charges, my mother-in-law gave my husband a lecture about what a hypocrite he was because he claims to be a Christian, which means he shouldn't get angry, but should only forgive the guy. Where do people get this stuff?

If you are a Christian and are an offender of some sort, you are a horrible, but true example of what Christianity does to people, and how hypocritical Christians are. If you are on the side of having been hurt in some way, and your response is not "Oh, how tragic, but I will turn the other cheek, and never notice you offended me�(in the Glinda Good Witch voice), (in the Glinda Good Witch voice), you are a hypocrite as well. You can't win.

Posted by Pansy at 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday, I was with Matthew at his toddler art class. The attendance is come when you want and pay $5. We are regulars because Matthew loves art. One other lady with her son is also a weekly fixture. She and I are both pregnant.

Yesterday, another lady and her adorable little girl joined us. She joked that she felt out of place among the bellies. The other mother remarked that it was time for her to have another. To that she made a general announcement to the room "Oh no! You see, I have three, so I am done!" At first, I thought she was expecting the "Gasp, three kids?" reaction, so I just smiled inwardly to myself. However, afterwards is where it got a bit awkward, and I know everyone can relate. She went on to say her husband got himself "taken care of".

In the title, I asked, "what do you do�, but that is a rhetorical question. I am sure every one (except Erik maybe) just nods, smiles and starts counting the minutes before it is time to leave.

The conversation went on where everyone shared their sterilization stories, if not of them, people they knew. The other pregnant lady remarked that she thinks she would be too afraid to do something so permanent. The only thing I added to the conversation was the reply “yeah, I wouldn’t�.

Crickets.

I think I am not alone in how baffling it is that people are so willing to speak about their contraceptive choices in such public forums. I mean, even without getting into the details of “we use NFP� or whatever, just making the statement “Oh no, I’m done! chuckle, chuckle� seems like such a bizarre, personal sentiment to announce among strangers. The first thing I read into it is ‘oh, these kids drive me nuts-you think I want more like them?� I really don’t mean to make the harshest assumption, and I know they are being “light�, but honestly, that is what I read mostly because I don’t know them. The other reason why I get this is people usually offer this information-I don’t ask because my mindset is never really in an “I’m done� place. I’ll be with other parents talking about the weather or whatever and hear “Wow, that’s some family you got! I wanted more, but then my kids drove me nuts and two was enough.�

“Oh�

Every time I get out in the real world, I am so baffled not by how common contracepting is, but how abnormal and counter cultural it is not to have thoughts of limiting your family size on the forefront of your mind. I am not accusing people of being ‘obsessed�, but it has become so common to talk about limiting family size, devices, prescriptions etc in the parking lot when I don’t even have these conversations with my mother. Why is that?

Why has it become acceptable for people to offer unsolicited advice about too many children, but never offer unsolicited advice about how to fix my van for cheaper? The second one is too personal I think.

Posted by Pansy at 4:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (40) | TrackBacks (0)

Catholic Exchange has an article on Pop Music's Sex Education. The article is pretty good. I am not sure it is a huge revelation though. All except this part (to me anyway):

People who want to make excuses for the music industry also argue that sexual lyrics are nothing new in popular music, from “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction� by the Rolling Stones to any number of songs that discuss “making love.� But a lot of late 20th century music that played on the radio had a layer or two of euphemism or double entendre. It might have gone over the heads of grade-schoolers riding along in the car. That’s not true any more. In fact, it’s just the opposite today. These lyrics are as blatant as can be and are being marketed directly to young teenagers through the likes of MTV.

Duh! I never knew that song was about sex. I never listened that intently either as I don't really like The Rolling Stones, but I thought it was about a guy having a bad day. Point well made.

Posted by Pansy at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

My husband went downstate to meet my mother-in-law and had the munchkins with him (another story I don't even want to talk about). I had to work, but chilled with my family afterwards. My family's routine is to go to the 4 o'clock Mass at the Church my father is assigned to. The pastor there has limited my father's deacon work to reading the Gospel at 4 o'clock Mass and doing funerals. (This guy is very insightful that he limits the responsibilities of a deacon with terminal cancer to doing funerals).

The Gospel was the Transfiguration. The pastor's Gospel was this (not verbatum, just from memory).

Want the condensed version today? (Everyone laughed and says yes. Oh that silly pastor, you know he is a good pastor because he is so witty). Recently philanthropist Warren Buffet gave 30 million dollars to the Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation is a foundation that helps people and does good and charitable works around the world. The reason he did this is because he said "Bill, I have this money and want to do something good with it. If I give it to you, you have a better chance of transforming it into something better."

That is the message of the Transfiguration. We have to be like Warren Buffet and transform what we have into something better."

And that was it.

Later at Communion, I genuflected before receiving. I always do and have done so for years. I wait for the person in front of me to receive, while they are receiving, I kneel for a second (unless of course if I am at the Traditional Latin Mass). After Mass my father got yelled at because someone in his family genuflected, and the Bishop (supposedly) has specifically said we cannot genuflect before receiving. We are to bow. My father was upset because he got reprimanded and told me we should just be obedient to the Bishop (i.e. don't make waves and make my life harder).

The pastor should have said something to me,and addressed me as an adult, not yelled at my father (my mother told my father as much as well). As always, people never realize how psycho they are when they show that relationships with people are not about manipulating or controlling them. How nuts is it to scream at a 33-year-old woman's father because she kneeled at Communion?

I still have not heard of this edict from the Bishop, only when I go to Mass with my family. When I am not with them, I go out of my way to avoid parishes that are about the Pastor's therapy, and not about Jesus (we have a lot of those in Albany). So I actually still see things like kneeling during the consecration, homilies that have to do with the Gospel, and communion received in the mouth. Although altar boys are pretty much a thing of the past around here.

My mother said next weeks homiliy will probably again be about the evils of genuflecting. Most of his homilies are about someone doing something that he doesn't like, and lecturing the parish about it.

Posted by Pansy at 6:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

The self-titled gentleman known as The Raving Atheist has handed me a lesson in Christian humility. Well, it was not geared to me personally, but it displays a Christian attitude that I forget sometimes.

(1) The post will say at least one kind or favorable thing about the person and/or group under discussion. If I reject the relevant ideology completely, the compliment may pertain to some unrelated talent, accomplishment, or memorable post.

(2) All compliments will be sincere, not sarcastic or backhanded.

(3) The post will identify at least one false, cruel, inappropriate or unnecessary statement I have made about the person or group in the past, and explain why I was wrong to say what I did.

(4) Criticism or commentary will focus solely on ideas, not upon the person or people comprising the group to which he or she belongs.

(5) When commenting on a post that criticizes or attacks me I will not retaliate in any way, no matter how unkind, untrue or even vicious the commentary. I will not quote language from the offending post, or link to the post at all, if I believe that doing so will ultimately make the person look foolish or otherwise embarrass him or her.

(6) If I believe that there is a possibility that the person will be offended or embarrassed by my post, I will forward a draft and seek approval before posting.

(7) These rules will apply with equal force to religious people, atheists, agnostics, and political and social organizations, including pro-choice advocates or organizations.

Wow.

I don't think I have a problem with this in blog life as much as with real life and what comes out of my mouth verbally. My blog life is not that intriguing. The fact that RA's post had me thinking "oops" probably means my self-assesment is correct.

Posted by Pansy at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dawn Eden posts a somewhat confusing story about a teenager who becomes pregnant in high school, and cannot play basketball, but wants to return to basketball, and at first the school won't let her, but then they do...the story is a bit long.
I commented. My comments, along with a few others were picked up by Jill of Feministe as heartless condemnation against teen mothers or people who have sex something like that.

I commented because I had a lot of experience with knowing pregnant teens as a teen and young adult. My high school had one policy to not stigmatize, my husband's high school had a different policy. Frankly I am not sure what is better, and a study on the issue would be interesting. However, I feel kind of strongly that getting pregnant is a choice, and not a great choice as a teen. I have known girls who have had abortions, many who had their children. Of the ones who had their children, I have known two groups ones whose parents let them struggle a bit with the consequences, and ones whose parents pretty much became a parent to their grandchildren to allow their children to continue on the same path. Many are still in the same relationship ruts many years later. (By the way, I realize I am out of the realm of the story of the girl and basketball and her scholarship. Each scenario is different. These are some thoughts on the issue in general.)

I started to blog about an example someone in our family, but decided against it. I was not sure how to do so without sounding incredibly frustrated and well, "judgemental".

More and more, the American opinion about sex is becoming that sex is simply fun like playing Monopoly. Those of us who equate sex with things like reproduction, love and bonding,respect for ourselves or others, or sexually transmitted diseases are out of it, judgemental, cold, or a number of other things that means out-of-touch with reality. I find this so baffling because regardless of your morals, nature is still nature. If you are holding a ball and let go, it will fall to the floor. If you have sex, you have a chance of getting pregnant, that is not old fashioned stigma. If you have a child, that child will change things in your life. That child will need care, food, clothing, love and nurturing. That is what is, not outdated opinion. That is just why people have parents. It seems like there is a notion that if you keep yelling enough times that these facts are not true, and you insult the people enough who believe in these facts, you can alter reality. I suppose it works a bit. It seemed to me there was a time when mothers would rather die than see harm come to her child, now 1,300,000 mothers a year pay to have their children killed. Still trying to change terms of nature is an injustice.

It is not a favor to teenage girls to keep saying "sex is ok as long as you have a condom" over and over again (although it might be to some teenage boys who want sex without commitment). It is not about hating girls, being unrealistic, or having some desire to point fingers and throw stones. It is about working for a fulfilling, happy life,loving relationships, and giving your offspring as stable environments as possible. Being used by a boy is not fun, and I repeatedly get frustrated for all the sex ed that is out there, no one talks about the emotional side, and the reason for the emotional side is to keep married couples together and bonded. Having children too young regardless if you decide to keep the child, abort, or put that child up for adoption is hard. And STDs can make people very sick, with perhaps permanent side effects and even kill.

Since we have dissassociated sex with reproduction, it is then that girls who turn up pregnant are kind of like "I didn't see that coming", not girls who are used to seeing traditional marriage=families, marriage=families over and over again. (Of course again, the myth is that traditional family roles means that we never teach our children anything about sex and tell them babies come from storks. Whatever.)Why has this become such a common place taboo? Morals aside, I am baffled by the logic (or lack thereof) of it. I am so tired of seeing girls in dreadful, depressing dramas with their "baby daddies". I am tired of seeing children without fathers. I am so sad that this has become the norm, and this is just what people do. I know I am preaching to the choir, but I am so tired and frustrated. I know so many people I would like to see better for.

Posted by Pansy at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

There is yet another horrific child abuse story in the local paper today. Skip it if you like, it's depressing, but at least the child in this story is alive and being cared for now. I am sure any mother can relate to the dread when you read these accounts that the child is the same age as one of your children. The story then becomes more real because you know what a child that age feels. These babies are mostly baffled because they have no concept of why this happening to them.

I am often left with a sense of I could have done something, which of course is not ridiculous. If I could have, I would have.

There is one part of this sad story that seems to be a common thread in so many of these sad stories:

Police said all three children were abused, but Munoz administered the most violent punishment to Xctasy because she wasn't his child and because he was angry that Hernandez had recently been with another man.

Posted by Pansy at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Amsterdam is not the richest or most glamorous area, but everywhere you go, people are upset because tings like this "just don't happen here".

This family does not live that far from me. I don't know them, but I was wondering if it would be innappropriate to bring a Mass card and even a covered dish of some sort.

Update: (I'm a day behind everything) She was not killed by a car.

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In my strange odessey of falling asleep from fatigue during the day, I am compounded by insomnia after 10 PM. I have remedied this by watching reruns on the WB of Sex in the City. Like many HBO shows, I watch this with equal parts disgust and intrigue.

There are parts of Carrie Bradshaw and her friends I can actually relate to. Don't get me wrong, I am not going to play that game "sooo many women across America" claimed: "Oh Carrie is just like me and my friends. We act and talk just like that!" Baloney. Women who smoke and eat out every meal (having bacon and eggs every morning) do not have bodies like Sarah Jessica Parker. Women who are that promiscuous have venereal diseases, they have children out of wedlock, and are depressed from all the drama their life brings with worthless men...the list goes on. Also, even in my "pre-Catholic" days (we'll leave it at that), I never sat around a table eating and at the same time chit chatted about how much I enjoy anal or oral sex. Women don't talk like that, unless of course things have changed greatly in my years since I started practicing my faith. Women spend more time wondering things like if this time it means he is going to commit. Actually, I have to revise that a bit, because when I went back to school last summer, I heard a lot of details sitting with recent high school grads over coffee than I would have liked that left me a bit slack jawed.

But like I said, there are things I can relate to with Carrie, which in essence is what makes the show successful at all. I understand her hurt feelings with the way Mr. Big treats her, and I understand why she falls for him repeatedly-to an extent, but moreso if she were 20 as opposed to 38. But yesterday I put my finger on what bothers me most despite understanding her. Here we have what seems to be four intelligent women: a writer, a lawyer, a succesful PR agent, and an art expert. But in the name of independant, intelligent women, they have stepped so far backwards in the evolutionary (for lack of a better term) ladder. They are intelligent, but have stopped thinking for themselves in their heads, but simply react with their hormones. On the surface it doesn't seem that they are that stupid because they are free-thinkers not chained to any preconceived outdated notions of relationships, but their actions never make them happy.

Their line of thinking makes me very sad. The feminist movement has taught women to sell themselves short. Becoming wives, having men commit to you, and having children has become slavery compared to having one night stands. Anyone who has had a one night stand I am sure feels a hole in their heart and would rather have a dress and a ring. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. Glamorizing this lifetyle really is not a step in the right direction for women. Why do people persist in this fantasy?

“It takes three to make love, not two: you, your spouse, and God. Without God people only succeed in bringing out the worst in one another.�
~Fulton Sheen
HT to Mary Kay for the quote.

Posted by Pansy at 5:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Two weeks ago, we were assulted with a Homily which has become common place in this diocese about the importance of giving financial support through the Bishop's Appeal.(Last Sunday's Homily was about how all Catholic's should go see The DaVinci Code in good fun). The homilies are usually offensive because they are often arm twisting lectures about how people are just too cheap and if they want to continue receiving Communion, they better give more. Now I do not dispute of giving what you can to help the Church, that is not what my complaint is about. Nine times out of ten, the congregations that were being addressed (that I have seen) were senior citizens on fixed incomes from modest, working-class neighborhoods. The priest of the parish that gave the Homily two weeks ago complained after Mass that "Italians are so cheap" (the congregation is predominately Italian). But also, I don't give any longer to the Bishop's Appeal, because the Bishop's pet project is to take priests out of the Mass. They do not even deny this fact:

Here is a small sample of the programs you support when you make a gift to the Bishop's Appeal.

The Formation for Lay Ministry Program, a two-year program, designed for the holistic formation of laity as leaders in their parishes. Through the program more than 900 women and men have been trained as lay leaders since it began in 1984.

I think the part that bothers me most is that all the talk of helping the poor, of social ministry etc. etc. (and again, there is no disputing the importance of this), this diocese does little to nothing in helping your everyday person in the pews with everyday Catholic family issues. The Catholic schools lack any kind of faith formation. The CCD programs offer even less.

On a parish level, there is no support for families or seniors. There is nothing social. Just lots of parish councils consisting of the wealthier members of the parish talk, talk, talking about the latest politically correct agenda and how they can implement it. Truthfully, they don't even get that far as much to implement anything, as much as patting themselves on the back for being "forward thinkers" in the Church.

There is no recognition that the people who do donate are not hoarding money somewhere that they finally relent to giving up because Father yelled at them on Sunday-that these funds just might be a sacrifice.

Then on top of it, there is no representation of the needs of the common parishioner in the agendas.I think in many places the homeschool support group has filled in the gaps for families where parishes fall short. How many times have you heard of help with new baby suppers, or babysitting come from these communities instead of the parish? I am just so tired. I get so jealous when I see Church flyers from other corners of the country that have mother's groups, that have pedicure night, that have a night where guys can go to the gym and play basketball, where there are Montessori religious Ed classes for small children, or heck a CCD class where they talk about "eating and breaking bread" the whole time and chuckling about how dopey those older Catholics were for wearing white dresses to their First Holy Communions(the list goes on). And yes, I have gotten onto a Parish Council and tried very, very hard to request some of these more simple things to no avail. It has occured to me how much this has worn me down in regards to my faith.

What does one do in this situation? Leave the diocese? Keep hitting that brick wall of going to parish meetings just to get them to open the gym one night a week so the men-folk can play basketball and ignore your family in the process? Or just deal and smile?

Posted by Pansy at 7:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Novena Reminder Thingie!

Thanks to Julie for pointing me to this site.

Posted by Peony at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

via open book, an activity we simply MUST do next year:

Why not get the baking enthusiasts in your family (i.e. the girls) to make a House of Parliament out of gingerbread? Find pictures of these exquisite gothic buildings on the Internet, and make the best copy you can, lovingly adding details with icing, perhaps even forming a tiny King James I out of marzipan. Unveil it at the outset of tonight's family dinner-or at a gathering of friends. As dinner unfolds, tell the story of Guy Fawkes and his friends—then for dessert take the gingerbread parliament outside, stuff it with M-80 fireworks, and blow it all to hell.

Except fireworks are illegal in my county. Hmmmmm....

Posted by Peony at 10:56 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Out of all the heart wrenching stories and images pertaining to New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina, the images of the mother's begging for food for their babies and trying to take care of their children in this scenario...I am a loss for words
Sitting here reading these stories does not seem enough. Donating the few dollars I can does not seem enough. Like with all disasters our instincts are to go right there and physically help, but that is always more of a hindrance then a help-provided you can even get there.

I have not blogged much on this because I have very little to add to the very up-to-date bloggers and news casts.

I attended school in New Orleans, at Xavier University of Louisiana. I would link to it, but the site is down. It was a good school, the only Catholic Historically Black College founded by St. Katherine Drexel. Two of my bridesmaids were classmates and I pray that they and their families are well.
I have lost touch with them, not out of any conflict, but over the happenings of life. I am so sorry and I hope God forgives me.

Posted by Pansy at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Late to post, but I wanted to do my part for the Katrina blogburst. Half a million people who need new homes -- Jesus, have mercy!

I sent my first Katrina contribution to Catholic Charities USA

More hurricane relief agencies:
The Red Cross
Mercy Corps

More on the blogburst, including a big list of relief organizations

The evacuees who sheltered in the Superdome are being moved to the Houston Astrodome. Many of these evacuees are children.
The Houston Society of St Vincent de Paul is organizing children's relief in The Largest Sleepover in Texas. They're getting together new sleeping bags, pillows, PJs and slippers, and crayons and coloring books for these displaced children. (thanks to Amy Welborn for this link)

Posted by Peony at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Everyday we drive down the same road to our home and from our home.
Everyday for two years the road we would drive down would pass a field with a little statue to Bl. Kateri and say "One of these days we are going to stop and see what that is all about."
Well, about a month and a half ago we finally stopped.I was ashamed of myself when I read the history of that very field.

The place where Kateri lived for much of here life, Caughnawaga, near the village of Fonda, New York has been marked since 1938 by the Fonda Memorial of Catherine Tekakwitha. The Indian village site was discovered in 1950, a Holy Year, by Father Thomas Grassman, a Conventual Franciscan Friar and founder of the shrine. In that year, Father Thomas unearthed the postmolds where the stockade around the Indian Settlement at Fonda had been, and between then and 1957, with the help of numerous volunteers excavated the rest of the site. Today it is the only completely excavated Iroquois Indian village in the country.

Visitors to the village, which sits on a hill above the Mohawk-Caughnawaga museum and the shrine chapel, can see clearly the outlines of the twelve longhouses and stockade which existed there 300 years ago.

If anyone else has any special prayers to Bl. Kateri or devotion, I would love to hear about it.

Posted by Pansy at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

I started doing this prayer each day and noticed a difference in the very least, my outlook. Then I stopped and I started to feel more sour puss.
For example, sometimes I get gossipy about my less than pleasant extended family. I have family who drives me nuts, especially in some of the hard times we hit and I guess as recourse to some of the nasty things they say, I get defensive and tend to have a need to be gossipy. When I do this prayer daily (along with my usual daily prayers such as the Rosary), I do not feel so negative.
I would like to encourage everyone to do this prayer each day-an extra prayer never did any harm.

SPIRITUAL WARFARE PRAYER

Heavenly Father, I love You, I praise You, and I worship You. I thank You for sending your Son Jesus Who won victory over sin and death for my salvation. I thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit Who empowers me, guides me, and leads me into fullness of life. I thank You for Mary, my Heavenly Mother, who intercedes with the holy angels and saints for me.

Lord Jesus Christ, I place myself at the foot of Your cross and ask You to cover me with Your Precious Blood which pours forth from Your Most Sacred Hearth and Your Most Holy Wounds, Cleanse me, my Jesus, in the living water that flows form Your Heart. I ask You to surround me, Lord Jesus, with Your Holy Light.

Continue reading "Just Do It!" »

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This was written yesterday by a friend of mine, Tabitha Kaza. She is a young mother of 5 whose husband is a Marine in Iraq. There are a few dimensions to this that struck a chord with me, so I would like to share it.

My youngest brother who is 17 and just graduated from High School on Saturday. He is what they call a Marine "Poolie". He officially signed up for the Marines in November, but has not gone to basic training yet. He goes off to basic training on September 7. Then maybe to war. We are both very proud and very afraid.

Love Me When I'm Gone

There are moments in everyone's life when one realizes things will never be the same.

One day, in early spring 2004, my husband came home from work early. I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw him. His eyes looked far away. He asked me to send the children outside, but our toddler refused to leave his arms. I sat on our bed, pregnant with our fifth, and felt a bolt of fear.

"He's going to leave for Iraq before the baby's born," I thought.

Continue reading ""An Interesting Perspective"" »

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Prayer for the Respose of the Soul of Pope John Paul II

Father, eternal shepherd, hear the prayers of your people for your servant John Paul II, who governed your Church with love. In your mercy bring him with the flock entrusted to his care to the reward you have promised your faithful servants. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen (Roman Missal)

Prayer for the Election of a Pope

Lord God, you are our eternal shepherd and guide. In your mercy grant your Church a shepherd who will walk in your ways and whose watchful care will bring us your blessing. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Roman Missal)

Posted by Peony at 6:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine
Secundum verbum tuum in pace:
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Lumen ad revelationem gentium,
Et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.

Now dismiss Thy servant, O Lord,
in peace, according to Thy word:
For mine own eyes hath seen Thy salvation,
Which Thou hast prepared in the sight of all the peoples,
A light to reveal Thee to the nations
and the glory of Thy people Israel.

Good-bye, Papa. Please pray for us.

Posted by Peony at 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

With every major moral dilemma that comes up lately, the media always blasts the "conservative, religious right". Like many of us, I am tired of it. For a very long time, I have felt the need to distance myself from the image of some of the stranger Christian fanatics that I know. Kind of like "Hi, I'm Pansy. Yes, I'm a pro-life Catholic, but I am not weird. Yes I homeschool, but I am not weird. I am open to life and have 5 kids, but I am not weird." I think I felt so strongly because I know some really strange people through either homeschooling groups, the Latin Mass or the Internet who fit the bill of the fanatical, non-charitable, judgemental fundamentalist. I wanted so badly to distance myself from that image because there is such a stigma against being too far right. But you know, I spent much of life around many far left people, and from my experience the far left people I know mostly at some point in time personally contributed to the death of another whereas people I know who are too far right are just kind of anal and annoying.

Fact is I am starting not to care anymore. I think the Terri Schiavo case has drawn a line, and if this case has not, there will be more to come in the near future that will. Truth be told, I am not defining myself as anything, I am too busy to do so. But I believe that starving this poor woman to death is murder. I believe abortion is murder. I will continue to say Mel Gibson did a great thing by making The Passion both artistically and spiritually. I see a real moral drought promoted in many of the traditional school settings that is getting worse and as long as I see that I will homeschool. I think birth control is evil. These things make me I guess someone who doesn't think for themselves, or a fanatical, far right or whatever the buzz terms are so be it. I refuse to apologize anymore and am tired of feeling the need to explain why I feel the way I do.

This world just has done gone mad and like my boy Kanye says, "only Jesus can save us."

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Nice article from my diocesan newspaper.

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Regnum Christi recently started a La Familias group in my area. I was very excited to join because I have been waiting for something of this sort for a long time. I have only been a couple of times, but I am enjoying reading about the Pope's words on marriage and the family with other women.

Last week I think I stepped on some toes. One of the discussion questions was "how do we protect our families from evil in the world?" The answers started flowing out "turn off the TV", "only wear dresses", "homeschool". Someone said "build a strong personal relationship with your children" which is the answer that made the most sense.

I have been struggling for the past year with the fact that most of the homeschooling teens I see around here in real life are not ones I would have my children around. Before we started homeschooling, there was a great deal of propaganda that if you homeschool, your children will not be troubled teens, will be smart and always stay in the faith. It's like the propaganda surrounding NFP. "NFP builds marriages"-whatever. While I think there are always better choices, NFP for example, will not fix a marriage that is in trouble (unless of course the trouble is simply birth control). Same with homeschooling. I see a great deal of good in homeschooling which is why we do so, but not as a cure all over a relationship with your children. Not over putting parenting in God's hands and asking the Holy Spirit to guide you in correct decisions regardless of how much "evil" you try to keep from them.

I do not mean to vent so, but I get kind of discouraged when Catholics get started so much on the "evil in the world" subject. I know I personally am never doing it right in many a Catholic's eyes. I allow my children to watch occasional TV with Spongebob in his underwear, I allow my daughter to wear pants and the list goes on. But I just don't think God cares so much about some of these things. I see so many parents obsessing about the evils of Harry Potter, while their teenage daughters are having aborrtions behind their backs.

My brothers attended traditional parochial schools all their lives. I think the way my parents raised them would qualify as quite evil in many people's eyes. Yet they turned out the way I want my children to turn out. They are funny, down to earth, smart and practice their faith. Sometimes I think the devil puts up issues to distract us from real evil quite literally in front of us. I think that unless I personally develop a better prayer life and conversation with the Holy Spirit, those issues will always distract me from what I really need to do.

Just to clarify, I am not trying to put down anybody's parenting decisions in raising Holy children. I am just vocalising the fact that there are many decisions I have made in the past simply to appear "Holy" to other families on issues that not only did I truly feel made no difference, but made my children feel "weird". I don't think that is what God is calling me to do as a mother. And I just get tired of hearing "I never...that's evil, that's horrible...that secretly means..." and I rarely hear "oh, that was so much fun".

Posted by Pansy at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

Another Mass at Auriesville said by a 70 something year old Jesuit. Once again I was grateful to God for the gift of an orthodox Mass. But in the homily the priest kept talking about his experiences at a retreat house in the 70's. Nothing wrong with that, but there something sad about how almost all the priests are so old.

I don't think good young priests are allowed in Albany anyway. They must get stopped at the diocesan border customs or something.

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at Mass today, the priest had us sing "Day By Day". I am not making this up.

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My father told me I should try to meditate daily, in addition to my prayers, on places where I see God and try to find joy in life. He said he was not raised to do this, and passed that on to the way I was raised. So, I decided to write somethings down that I am really grateful to God for. For a little more than a year I have felt really that we are under some sort of spiritual attack and it is easy to lose sight of God in these times. When I think about these things, it always lets me know God is there and is good to me.
-For the many good people in my life. My husband (sometimes) and children. I could not imagine my life without my children, without their funny stories or hugs and kisses.
For my parents who genuinely worked very hard to give us a good life. For my three brothers are are such good guys. They always make me laugh and they spoil my kids despite the fact that my kids can be quite annoying.
For my friends. For such a smart blog partner like Peony.
-For the roof over my head and that I have never gone hungry despite any financial hardships, I have always had these.
-Transportation to get us out of the house.
-A nice soft bed.
-That in the summer, we live near drive-in theaters making trips to the movies easier with the kids and more economical.
God's creatures.Maybe not bugs and skunks and the mice or frogs I find sometimes in the mud room, but I love the kittens. I love the way if we walk to the border of our neighbors fence his cows have to come over to the fence and look at us. That is very funny to me. I like seeing the turkeys in the driveway sometimes because they look funny. I like the big horses the Amish use to pull their rigs and buggies. I also think it is cute the way our neighbor's dairy goats have to stand on top of their little goat houses. I like the way if you accidently trespass on a chipmunk's property they come out and yell at you in chipmunk language. What is that? But I like the animals because they all seem so innocent to me.

Please add on...

Posted by Pansy at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Unprecedented Challenge to "No Fault" Divorce-8/04

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Converting sinners

Instructing the ignorant

Advising the doubtful

Comforting the sorrowful

Bearing wrongs patiently

Forgiving injuries

Praying for the living and dead

Posted by Peony at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

A few months ago I blogged about Catholic Relief Services' partnership with Equal Exchange, a program that markets fairly traded coffee grown by small farmers. If you're interested in purchasing this coffee for your home, your rectory, or your parish (think how well it would taste with donuts!), here's where you can order. On the same page, there's a link to Work of Human Hands, a program that brings to market fairly traded "traditional, high-quality, handcrafted products" made by artisans around the world. CRS also has information on having a Work of Human Hands sale, either as a stand-alone event or as part of a parish event.

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Jesus in the House of Mary and Martha (Vermeer)

....patron saint of housewives (among others.)

19 And many of the Jews were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

20 Martha therefore, as soon as she heard that Jesus was come, went to meet him: but Mary sat at home.

21 Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

22 But now also I know that whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.

23 Jesus saith to her: Thy brother shall rise again.

24 Martha saith to him: I know that he shall rise again, in the resurrection at the last day.

25 Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live:

26 And every one that liveth and believeth in me shall not die for ever. Believest thou this?

27 She saith to him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ, the Son of the living God, who art come into this world. John 11:19-27 (Douay-Rheims)

I would have put this up earlier but I was, um, busy with much serving. Steven has a reflection on St Martha up today and another in his archives.

Jesus didn't tell Martha to stop serving and sit down. Rather, He gently chided her for being "worried and anxious about many things." Perhaps Martha got the message, and this is what enabled her to make her magnificent profession of faith.

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Just in case I'm not the last person in St Blog's who hasn't seen this Crisis article by George Sim Johnston, exploring how it wasn't quite all Vatican 2's fault.... here's the link to After the Council:

If the Church was in such good shape before the council, why did things fall apart so rapidly in the 1960s? How do you account for the fact that the rebellion was the work of bishops, theologians, and priests who came out of the Tridentine system? Had all those priests and nuns who suddenly wanted to be laicized received adequate formation under the old system? Why was there so much dissatisfaction? It won’t do simply to rattle off statistics about the decline of the Church since the council. There’s no question that there were good and holy Catholics in the old days—even some saints—and that since the council we have lost much that is good. But there were also problems waiting to erupt. Might not the Magisterium have been correct in addressing them in the council’s documents?

...As for the Catholic laity: Do not underestimate the role of rising affluence in the troubles since the council. The post-conciliar mischief was initiated by disaffected clergy, but during these years, an increasingly wealthy and assimilated laity was perfectly happy to follow the path of least resistance marked by dissident theologians. In 1937, the Protestant thinker H. Richard Niebuhr drew attention to a soft-core spirituality among Americans: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” Was it likely that Catholics would be immune once they emerged from the ethnic ghetto, moved to the suburbs, and joined the mainstream? The Book of Revelation’s warnings to the Christians at Laodicea—who “say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing...’”—no doubt find application in every age but have particular relevance for the contemporary Catholic who has made his comfort zone the ninth Beatitude...."

This comment by Sherry Weddell (on Amy's post discussing this article) made my blood run cold:

The image that keeps returning is one that the late great Frank Sheed reported witnessing in the late 60's: seeing a priest tear apart a rosary with his own hands (in front of a cafeteria full of Catholic high school students), dash the beads to the floor and loudly proclaim: "I'm glad we're through with this s - !"

This priest was almost certainly raised with May day crowning of our Lady; a few years previously he might have led one. And now he was doing, with adolescent bravado, what no one had ever truly internalized devotion to Mary or honoured her in any real way would ever do.

And yes, I have met Trads who fiercely insisted that It Was All Vatican 2's Fault.

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Steven reflects on the reality behind "Made in China" and provides an infolink about the Laogai.

I was complaining that for some goods, it's hard to find any that aren't made in China: lights for the Christmas tree, for example. Or children's shoes -- it's not just the cheapies; even Stride Rite shoes are made in China. I suppose I could really suck it in and go for those $120 Elefanten shoes from Germany (I have never myself owned a pair that's so expensive) but what about families with many more little feet to shoe, perhaps with much less to do it with?

It seems like the wages in this country are dependent on the availability of cheap imported goods.

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My mom gave us a lovely gift for our anniversary this year: a copy of Our Family Book of Life. My sister and her husband received a copy as a wedding gift last year (note to self: buy card), and I was gushing over what a great idea it was, especially for a wedding present.

It's a keepsake book for recording the events on the family's sacramental life: weddings, baptisms and confirmations, ordinations.... There are commentaries on the Sacraments. There's places for photographs, and a place for recording the family tree. The entire book is rendered in calligraphy. The authors also have some suggestions for ways to use the book in family devotions.

I'm looking forward to starting our record and putting in some wedding and baptism pictures. I suppose we're no longer newlyweds, but this is our seventh anniversary, so that seems like a fitting year for such a beautiful gift.

I will just have to avoid any tempation to delay in the form of perfectionism, such as, oh, I must brush up on calligraphy before I start so I don't wreck the beautiful lettering in the book with less-than-perfect ordinary writing.

Posted by Peony at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

V/ Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

V/ Christ, have mercy.
R/ Christ, have mercy.

V/ Lord, have mercy. Christ, hear us.
R/ Christ, graciously hear us.

R/ for ff: have mercy on us

God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God, the Holy Spirit,
Holy Trinity, One God,
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father.
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother,
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God,
Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty,
Heart of Jesus, Sacred Temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High,
Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven,
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity,
Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love,
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased,
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received,
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills,
Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful,
Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke you,
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness,
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium,
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses,
Heart of Jesus, obedient to death,
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance,
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection,
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation,
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in you,
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in you,
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the Saints,

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world.
R/ spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world,
R/ graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world,
R/ have mercy on us.

Jesus, meek and humble of heart.
R/ Make our hearts like unto Thine.

Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of your most beloved Son and upon the praises and satisfaction which he offers you in the name of sinners; and to those who implore your mercy, in your great goodness, grant forgiveness in the name of the same Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you forever and ever.

R/ Amen.

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Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of this week are Ember Days.

The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that Ember Days were given to us by the Church to "thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy." They were days of fast and abstinence.

Karen Marie has a reflection up on the Ember Days that reminded me of this passage, attacking the books that so breezily dismiss idealism and spiritual values, from C.S. Lewis's Abolition of Man:

It will be seen that comfort and security, as known to a suburban street in peace-time, are the ultimate values: those things which can alone produce or spiritualize comfort and security are mocked. Man lives by bread alone, and the ultimate source of bread is the baker’s van: peace matters more than honour and can be preserved by jeering at colonels and reading newspapers.

And certainly our farmers can use our prayers; Sparki has an update on the devastation the recent storms have brought to the farmers in her area.

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Am I mean? Am I just narrow-minded, divisive, overly rigid, Pharasaical, because of my dismay at our recessional "hymn" at Mass today?

As announced by the cantor: "In honor of our country's history, our recessional song will be God Bless America. "

Hmm. I think that singing a hymn asking God's guidance and blessing for our country is a great thing, especially if it has a verse or two imploring Him not to give us the judgment we so richly deserve. Until that hymn gets written, though, why not O Beautiful for Spacious Skies or even Faith of Our Fathers?

My issue with God Bless America is that, first of all, it's not a Catholic hymn or really even a hymn at all. It's a show tune, originally written by Irving Berlin for a revue, set aside, and then revised into the version made famous by Kate Smith. I have no problem with the song in secular settings. But for Mass, let's select a piece with a style and history that says "hymn."

There's also the small quibble that music at Mass should honor God, not "our country's history."

Finally, I have a practical objection. Apparently the publishers of our hymnals share my thought that God Bless America is not a hymn, as they have not seen fit to include it in any of the small library of missalettes, song books, and other supplements that grace our parish pews. (I'm sure it's not the royalty issue, as they're paying out big bucks to include the Compleat Haugen.) That means there are no printed lyrics available for anyone who wants to sing but doesn't already know the words.

Gen-Xers (and Y-ers, and younger) how many of you could sing God Bless America, beginning to end, with no prompts, right now? I know I can't, and I would consider myself fairly average when it comes to songs known by heart. We also have a number of people in our parish who were not born in this country. So at least half the congregation was just standing around while everyone else sang.

But those who did sing, sang well and sang the whole verse, and that's pretty rare at our parish -- usually people are gathering up their stuff and headed out the door the second the priest turns around.

Oh well. As long as I'm giving the report, the opening hymn was some contemporary thing I didn't recognize. We did sing Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest. And of course, no Mass at our parish is complete without that fine gem, Christ Be Our Light by Bernadette Farrell, played with a monotonous one-trip-let one-trip-let one-trip-let accompaniment on the organ. I've never had a migraine headache, but I always imagine it as being something like this piece.

And no, I'm not going to write a letter to the pastor.

Oh, and what's up with this -- our missalette did not print the text of the Sequence! It only referred us to its own musical version in the back, set to Ode to Joy. I might write suggesting that we switch missalettes next year.

Posted by Peony at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

Happy St Philip's Day, especially to our favorite Oratorians and others who have learned so much from this gentle Saint, including Narwen, Bob of the Republic of Virtue, and my own dear husband.

Posted by Peony at 6:37 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I am going to reveal to you a secret of sanctity and happiness. If every day during five minutes, you will keep your imagfination quiet, shut your eyes to all the things of sense, and close your ears to all the sounds of the earth, so as to be able to withdraw into the sanctuary of your baptized soul, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, speaking there to that Holy spirit saying:

O Holy Spirit, soul of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten, guide, strengthen, and console me. Tell me what I ought to do and command me to do it. I promise to be submissive in everything that You permit to happen to me, only show me what is Your will.

If you do this, your life will pass happily and serenely. Consolation will abound even in the midst of troubles. Grace will be given in proportion to the trial as well as strength to bear it, bringing you to the gates of Paradise full of merit.

This submission to the Holy Spirit is the Secret of Sanctity.

- Cardinal Mercier

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Tomorrow's a good day to start one.

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James Cardinal Hickey, the Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, may be in "his last illness." More in the comment box at Disputations.

Posted by Peony at 9:24 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Remember that friendship post from a month or so ago? Father McCloskey is going to have an article on Christian friendship, with a special focus on men's friendships, in the May issue of Catholic World Report. If you can't get CWR on the newsstand, the article will probably be online in June.

UPDATE: This is what I get for multitasking -- I meant to include a link to Alicia's post "What We Have Lost", in which among other things she touches on how the sexualization of everything is wrecking same-sex friendship.

It seems like everything has been sexualized except sex.

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Last night I was nosing around Lincoln's blog (Lincoln is Dinka's husband and Veronika's Daddy) and he has a permalink on the side labeled Haunting photographs and commentary of a motorcycle trip through Chernobyl. I decided to check it out. I think without even describing the site, one can say it is scary what happened there. It amazes me how people have the power to destroy not what we have now, but for generations to come.

When you enter a beautiful, traditional Church, the kind that has marble statues, a huge Suffering Christ behind the altar, the Stations of the Cross, the smell of incense and the Tabernacle obviously on the altar, very often you sense a strong presence of the Lord about you. Then we go home, and some of that diminishes just a little. Not totally, just not as strongly. After all, Jesus is Truly Present on the altar. Then I read about things like Chernobyl, or grosser things like how they found a lot of bodies under John Wayne Gacy's home, or the recent testimony in the partial birth abortion hearings and it almost seems some places or people or events seem to be almost void of God. Maybe not totally void, but how a lovely Church has a strong presence of God these places seem to be the opposite. It's like how could the God who created all of us and who has been so good to me have this happen if He was around? I know the answer is of course Original Sin, Free Will and all that, but these events just seem the opposite of God's beauty and love-like He was never there.

In my world these things do not happen, Deo Gratias. I place a lot of trust in God to keep us safe, keep us clothed, keep our bellies full etc. It may be naive, but I really believe He takes care of myself and my family. I often wonder by what events I have been so blessed to not be someone who lived around Chernobyl in the mid-80's, a child conceived to be aborted, someone born in Iraq or in a million other less than desirable circumstances. I wonder if my faith in God to take care of us is really God taking care of us, or simply just the luck of the draw that I was born in the time and place I was.

Sometimes I think that since I have it so good, I forget what effects my sins have on the world or just the people around me. Each week I go to confession and confess the same sins. Sometimes while I am on line I get very apprehensive because I went to the same priest last week, and confessed the same laundry list, and here I am again. I wonder if my life were not so good, and I had a true sense of what evil really is, would I not do better? Do not get me wrong, I am not looking for some evil thrill or some event to scare me straight. I am just thinking day in and day out, I make the same mistakes, and as I make them, I never have a sense of what I am really doing. Just going about my business. Many of us do not have actual visuals when we get lazy in our prayers of us insulting God at that moment, or if we get complacent about our housework for the day, we are teaching our children to be lazy in the long run.

Anyway, I would like to do better. I think I say that everyday, but it is true. I would like my home to be a place where God is more present than a God void.

Posted by Pansy at 8:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

I have blogged before about the almost cultish nature of some of the Catholic families around here. Right now I am so frustrated I can cry. Quite frankly, if a strange man knocked on my door and said "Hey, if you wanna move now, I got a truck ready, but you gotta go now!" I'd say "Yippee, let's go!"

There is a family (11 kids-about half range from age 21 to teens) that lives 5 minutes, if that, away from us, but do not associtae with us because my mantillas are too distracting and her sons might be looking at me. We are the cause of much scandal. They attend our TLM parish sometimes, sometimes they go to one 1.5 hours in the other direction. There is another family at our Church in which the woman was divorced (the story is her husband left her with 9 kids when she converted to Catholicism) and now she is remarried. Her children are almost all teenagers now. The wife of the first family took it upon herself to confront the husband of the second family that he should not have married his wife because she is not Holy and the children are bad blah, blah, blah. The first woman's daughter is also writing notes to other teenage girl's mothers saying that their daughters dress like sluts at Church (which the do not, they dress modestly, just not as extreme Puritans) and these girls should not be attending Church.

My family has been the receiving end of some of this gossip as well, but oddly it is never to my face like this. Even when we tried to confront someone, they had nothing to say, but of course turned around and told other people again, what is wrong with us.

Is this nonsense common in parish life? This is so unCatholic, in my opinion. People should be able to go to Church to worship without this sort of heartache. Did I miss the part when Jesus said our job was to go out and tell people not to get married or come to Church because they do not adhere to strange Puritan ideas not outlined in any Church teaching? But I think this is the story of this diocese. No leadership, no formation, so we make it up as we go along.

I went to the Easter Vigil Mass at my parents' Novus Ordo parish, and my feelings were I should have been shot before thinking yet one more time "oh maybe it won't be so bad." Do I have to go into how they turned the readings into a concert? Changed around the words to make them musical so they could be performed. Then the priest gave his homily about how this was the best Easter Vigil Mass ever, even compared to what they do in Rome, and we should appreciate the music ministry for their talent and creativity.

I am getting tired. There are things going on at home that are just really hard, and I go to Church to find solace in the Lord. I resent getting pushed around and finding out I caused some scandal this week because of some obscure point of my clothing after I already fretted over finding the most modest items in my wardrobe as to not cause scandal. Not one person will have a theological discussion with me, yet they all can tell I am a heretic because my necklace was too pretty or my top button was un buttoned.

But in regards to the the first story, I think these attitudes going unchecked can be very dangerous to our faith. Not that I can do much besides whine about it here to get it off my chest, and then pray very hard on it, but these things, besides being hurtful and annoying, scare me quite frankly.This type of thinking always seems to get a following. I also know the whole bit that the Church militant is not perfect because of Original Sin, and people will be people, all that stuff. But I am far from perfect, but I would not do this to people, and I think many normal people would not consider doing this.

Posted by Pansy at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBacks (0)

There is so much I don't know. There is so much I don't know. I wish I could just pour it into my head or swallow it like a pill so I could absorb the knowledge quickly and move on, instead of having to go to the trouble of realizing what I don't know, finding out what I need to learn, finding the best book on the subject, and reading about it -- all of which provide ample opportunities for me to go off on tangents and forget about what I was originally trying to learn, or get bogged down in the learning and never get around to the doing.

I am speaking of the spiritual life: learning to pray, learning to recognize the snares and pitfalls that lie along the way, and above all cultivating the virtue of perseverance. When I read solid works on spiritual growth, so often I find myself without the background knowledge, so to speak, I need to fully grasp what the author is telling me: What is a spiritual bouquet? What exactly is meant by meditation, by mental prayer?

When we are told that we should not be sad, that sadness is a symptom of lukewarmness, what does that mean? Surely it does not mean that we will never experience the emotion of sadness for the rest of our lives -- or that we should deny that we feel this emotion when we feel it. Or does it? Or is there another, more restricted meaning of the word "sadness" in writing on the spiritual life? In that context, does it mean something more along the line of "cultivating self-pity" or something like that? Or are we being warned to take sadness seriously, as a warning?

Yesterday I was walking around in a pretty blue mood all day long. (I went through about two years of clinical depression and had a mild relapse a few years later, so I tend to pay attention when I feel the grey cloud settling around me.) Nothing serious, nothing weepy, but still a melancholy day -- a mood that seemed most inappropriate for Easter Monday. Part of it was just the natural result of too little sleep (I had not slept well) and too little breakfast. Part of it was the letdown from getting back to the routine after the stress of travel.

But a good bit was just plain old disappointment and sorrow. Sorrow for my friend who had received bad news on Thursday; sorrow for the bad news everywhere. Sorrow over some disappointments we've had at our own house recently. And then the disappointment: disappointment at my very sense of disappointment (God has been good to us, what possible right do we have to "want more"); disappointment at my lackluster Lent (my resolution was to make daily mental prayer a priority, with a 50% success rate at best.) Disappointment at my totally lame Holy Week. Disappointment with my laziness, my disorganization, my dirty kitchen floor.

I wish I weren't so ignorant.

I wish I weren't so weak.

I wish I would remember that part of the answer is to stop worrying about -- to accept and even rejoice in -- my weakness and ignorance. But then, I missed class when that topic was covered, too.

Posted by Peony at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

Pope Urges Weekly Confession
The Pope Says Don't Do THIS on Sundays

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A close friend of my Guardian Angel sent me a container of Blessed Salt in the mail to help with some home stuff. My first question was "OK, now what do I do with it?" to which she replied "There is some info on Domestic-Church." I found this interesting tidbit which I thought I would share.

Blessed Salt

by Maria Hernandez, used with permission.

This information is taken from a pamphlet written by Father Hampsch. You can obtain the entire pamphlet, tapes, and books by contacting his ministry at Claretian Tape Ministry, P.O. Box 19100, Los Angeles, CA 90019

Blessed salt is an instrument of grace to preserve one from the corruption of evil occurring as sin, sickness, demonic influence, etc.

As in the case of all sacramentals, its power comes not from the sign itself, but by means of the Church's official (liturgical, not private) prayer of blessing -- a power the Church derives from Christ Himself. (see Matt. 16:19 and 18:18).

As the Vatican II document on the Liturgy states, both Sacraments and sacramentals sanctify us, not of themselves, but by power flowing from the redemptive act of Jesus, elicited by the Church's intercession to be directed through those external signs and elements. Hence sacramentals like blessed salt, holy water, medals, etc., are not to be used superstitiously as having self-contained power, but as 'focus points' funneling one's faith toward Jesus, just as a flag is used as a focus point of patriotism, or as handkerchiefs were used to focus faith for healing and deliverance (Acts 19:12).

Thus, used non-superstitiously, modest amounts of blessed salt may be sprinkled in one's bedroom, or across thresholds to prevent burglary, in cars for safety, etc. A few grains of blessed salt in drinking water or used in cooking or as food seasoning often bring astonishing spiritual and physical benefits. As with the use of Sacraments, much depends on the faith and devotion of the person using salt or any sacramental. This faith must be Jesus-centered, as was the faith of the blind man in John 9; he had faith in Jesus, not in the mud and spittle used by Jesus to heal him.

Blessed salt is not a new sacramental, but the Holy Spirit seems to be leading many to a new interest in its remarkable power as an instrument of grace and healing. Any amount of salt may be presented to a priest for his blessing using the following official prayer from the Roman Ritual:

"Almighty God, we ask you to bless this salt, as once you blessed the salt scattered over the water by the prophet Elisha. Wherever this salt (and water) is sprinkled, drive away the power of evil, and protect us always by the presence of your Holy Spirit. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen"

If you are interested in getting blessed salt, print this information out and present the blessing prayer to your parish priest. Ask him to bless the salt for you using the official prayer from the Roman Ritual printed above.

If it's not possible for you to get your priest to do this, you can write me for a 'starter supply' of blessed salt. Please send a stamped self addressed envelope to: M. Hernandez, 15581 W. 141 St, Olathe, KS 66062. Mention that you'd like the blessed salt. I don't include any information about its use, as it's all printed here, so print this information out for yourself if you want the blessed salt.

I can personally attest to the power of this sacramental to keep away evil. When we first moved to this house, a very evil family lived next door. The man and woman were not married, he was a drug dealer, she was ...I don't know what. Their teenaged boys were almost worse, loud, destructive and violent. We had rocks and bricks thrown against our house, the children's bikes were stolen, their basketball net was broken and our lawn was regularily littered with broken bottles. We considered moving to get our children away from this family and the danger they presented. A family friend presented us with a large container of blessed salt, and (feeling very conspicuous) I sprinkled it around the perimeter of our yard.

Within a week, there was a For Sale sign. Next door.

I hope my husband does not notice if the red clam sauce tonight is a bit salty. Just kidding...sort of.
PS The friend of my G.A also sent me some bad a%$ white chocolate peppermint fudge that she made with her own two hands, that I am not sharing. It is one of the few foods that do not make me gag.

Posted by Pansy at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

...in other words, that stupid email. I finally wrote and sent it this morning. I will be dreading checking my email for the rest of the day.

I wonder sometimes if I have an unrealistic expectation of friendship. When I was in college I thought that I would stay in close touch with many of my friends there. In a matter of months I found out that wasn't going to be the case -- that for whatever reason, most of the people I thought were my good friends were not going to be making the effort to maintain our friendship by keeping in touch, whether by letters or phone calls (this was before email was common -- you may commence the dinosaur sound effects.) Was it because they didn't know how to keep a friendship going? Was it because they knew how, but just didn't feel like keeing it going with me? Either way, the net result is the same -- no more friendship.

Continue reading "On friendship" »

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Now this I did not know! A couple of years ago, the Diocese of Richmond began the cause of Frank Parater, a seminarian from the Diocese who died in Rome at the North American College at the age of 23.

George Weigel's column on the Servant of God Frank Parater.

Posted by Peony at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae;
R. Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

V. Ecce ancilla Domini.
R. Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.
Ave Maria, gratia plena,.......

V. Et Verbum caro factum est.
R. Et habitavit in nobis.
Ave Maria, gratia plena,.......

V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus:
Gratiam tuam, quaesumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde; ut qui, Angelo nuntiante, Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem eius et crucem, ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum.
R. Amen.

Posted by Peony at 8:06 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

No big plans for festivities here. I detest do not care for corned beef and cabbage, but if I can find some good lamb I will make lamb stew for supper. I did lay out the shamrock tie for my husband, but I haven't been back upstairs yet to see if he actually put it on.

Now, if I could just find an appropriate tie for St Joseph's day, we would be all set.

Posted by Peony at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

We need more saints who did things like drive backhoes and use tools and work in zoos and fire off cannons.

Peony, on a more "mature" level, I see the same problem with my husband. There are no men in the Churches. There are like none in the Novus Ordo Churches in Albany except odd, pasty androgenous men, and in the TLM, many are weird. There are some guys, very few in our age group, but no way in proportion to the amount of women.

Many of the teenage boys at Church are attracted to my husband because I think he looks like a regular guy you would see anywhere. It tells me this is a ministry we could use.

I think if my husband had some more Catholic companions that were just regular guys, that would encourage him in his faith.

Posted by Pansy at 7:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

In Stephen King novels, people get weird, prickly, unsettling feelings when they walk past the old house (hospital, church, pet cemetery, 7-11, whatever) on the corner in the little town in Maine. For weeks I've had this weird nagging feeling every time I passed the dry cleaner's. To my knowledge, it wasn't haunted or anything, so I couldn't think of why it was bothering me so -- until last night, when I was hanging up clothes. I came to the spot where my husband's suit hangs and... no suit. Suddenly I remembered that I had dropped it off at the dry cleaners -- and I couldn't remember when I'd done it. It wasn't this month... did I do it in February? What about in January? I got a sinking feeling as I mentally started to count days. How long does this dry cleaner let you leave your things there before they start calling up the Goodwill (or firing up their eBay account?)

Of course this inspiration came to me after the shop had closed, so I got to spend all night trying to stop myself from staring at the ceiling and fretting about the suit and how I was going to explain this to my husband. When St Peter exhorted us to "cast our cares upon the Lord" I don't know if he had dry cleaning in mind, but I was doing my best to follow his advice.

Morning came (with a shower of snow) and Hambet and I hurried over to the cleaners. The lady nodded -- oh, yes, yes, they have the suit. The clothes swayed as track started to whir. Yes, they keep things for 90 days. Yes, they would have called me before they got rid of it.

She plucked the suit off the track and hung it on the pole. Today is March 10. The date on the tag -- December 11. Approximately 89 days.

As Robert says, mad props to my Guardian Angel.

Posted by Peony at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Interesting article at Catholic Exchange about a Franciscan farm.

Posted by Pansy at 10:24 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Satan’s greatest work on earth as he seeks to devour souls that are called to heaven is to keep us from praying and getting them to stop that journey. When we look at three disastrous and diabolical revolutions that have taken place over the last five hundred years–the Protestant, the French, and Communist–we find that what they all have in common is the dissolution of monasteries. People who dedicate themselves to prayer are seen as enemies of the State and must be eliminated. They are not considered to be as useful to the State....

This article is intended to help the reader to learn to pray and particularly to learn how to pray in silence...

To begin to acquire the good habit of silent prayer (or what we call mental prayer) is not easy for a variety of reasons... To sit alone in your room... or in a church before the Blessed Sacrament and talk to God requires fortitude, patience, and a variety of other virtues, the most important of which are faith, hope, and charity. Faith that He is really here and everywhere, Hope that you will receive what you ask for and that prayer really is of benefit for your soul, and Charity–you pray because you love God above all things and you want to share yourself with Him and you want Him to envelop you with His love. This is no easy task, but well worth the effort.
more....

A great article from Father McCloskey. I have not yet succeeded in cultivating the consistent habit of mental prayer; I think I know what I need to do for Lent. Mental prayer feels weird and unnatural to me -- I'm just not good at it. But the truth is, I just haven't been patient. Every other skill I've learned -- algebra, diagramming sentences, playing scales, typing, taking blood pressures, cake decorating, HTML -- felt weird and unnatural at first. I only learned those skills when I ignored my initial failures and kept at it. If I was willing to show a little fortitude and learn how to hold a pastry bag....

Posted by Peony at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

We were at the Latin Mass yesterday, and on the other side of the pew was an older gentleman who kept looking over at out family. The two youngest were being their usual fidgety selves, so my husband assumed "oh, they are distracting him..." Later he brought them in the back.

After Mass, the gentleman approached my husband and told him "your children are so well behaved, here take this and buy them a little something nice." He handed my husband a few bills. At first glance there were a few singles on top, so my husband thought "Oh, a couple of dollars. That was very kind of him." Later my husband pulled out the wad and unraveled it: two singles, a five, a ten a twenty...thirty seven dollars. My husband went back out to find the genetleman to tell him we couldn't possibly accept that much money, but he was gone.

Posted by Pansy at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Not necessarily: Electrolux, the company that probably made the refrigerator in your home (think Frigidaire, White-Westinghouse, Gibson, Kenmore, Kelvinator) just rewarded 2700 workers in central Michigan for their productivity, loyalty and decades of hard work.

With a pink slip.

This kind of thing really makes me seethe.

Posted by Peony at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

It starts with the beans: Fair-trade movement gains momentum

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While it is always fun to get together with extended family over the holidays, these holidays brought a rally of strange comments such as "so, it looks like you are joining a cult...""well, you cannot possibly want anymore children, you can't afford it...""you have to be moderate...""those poor kids, they cannot even watch Charlie Brown's Christmas because you don't have cable...those poor kids...""why does your wife like to wear long skirts? This is 2003..." Many of the same family remarked and were stunned at how well behaved and non-materialistic our children are, yet pity our children for being forced to endure a crazy extreme lifestyle that teaches them to appreciate family and cooperation over material things and self-indulgence(although you may not know it if you were a fly on the wall here).

So, I left the last family get together wondering what exactly is "moderate" or "too extreme"?I suppose moderate means first of all, how much of the secular world are you willing to allow your children exposed too. My husband and I thought we were rather "moderate" because we do not believe in cutting something secular out, for no other reason than it is secular.

Continue reading "What is "Too Extreme" Anyway?" »

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This is my usual mumbling over some issue and then trying to find a nice spot for sitting on the fence. Bobbi asks, in our comments box and on her own fine blog, how we handle the Santa question:

How do you allow them to use their imagination and enjoy make-believe stories and still let them know the difference between what's real (God taking the form of a baby and angels announcing his birth to humans on earth) and what's not (elves making toys in the north pole)?

And how I wish I had an answer! I am still mulling over how to handle Santa, and I wish my husband and I were in more harmony on this issue.

The two biggest objections to Santa seem to be that Santa tends to crowd out the Christ Child and that playing Santa involves lying to children.

At first I did not share these objections. My parents did Santa when I was growing up, and I always knew Who Christmas is really about. When I figured out that Santa wasn't real (by realizing his handwriting looked an awful lot like my mother's) I don't remember feeling especially traumatized by the discovery -- could it really be that big a deal?

But now I'm not so sure. I may have known Who Christmas is really about when I was a child, but there's a difference between knowing with the intellect and knowing with the heart. I've blogged before about the punchcard approach to the faith -- you go to Mass, sing a few perfunctory songs, and then rush home for the real part of Christmas: the presents. Perhaps too much emphasis on Santa (or on Papa Noel or whoever else brings the gifts) could so occupy a young child's hopes and emotions that there's not much energy left for the Christ Child. Little children learn by seeing and doing, and if 90% of what they see and do in the weeks before Christmas is Santa, Santa, Santa..... Even when they leave belief in Santa behind, will all they retain be presents, presents, presents?

As for discovering that Santa Isn't Real: Bobbi and La Famiglia Cacciaguida point out that if a parent first teaches a child that Santa is real, only to backpedal and say, no, Santa is make-belive, what is that going to do to the child's belief in other things that may seem make-believe but are actually real? Things like angels and the Real Presence? Especially when children might start figuring Santa out about the same time they are making their First Communions?

I have also talked to adults who do remember being disturbed to find out that Santa wasn't real -- and to adults whose preschool children are frightened by the idea of some man entering their house when everyone's asleep (perhaps it gets too close to fears of burglars and other intruders?)

Yet I am not ready to go No Santa Anytime Anywhere. Santa is everywhere, and I don't think it's fair to ask little Christian children to go around with their hands over their eyes, telling their little friends that We Don't Do Santa Because Santa is Evil. I don't like turning Christianity into the Religion of No -- we are not Puritans or Jehovah's Witnesses. Besides, everyone else in my family does Santa and I don't want to come off as attacking them (they already think I'm a religious fanatic) or unnecessarily exclude Hambet from the fun.

Plus, my husband is not ready to give up on Santa! I think part of the reason parents do Santa is that it gives them a chance to have a little fun, to play with -- and be generous to -- children.

I think I would like to take the approach of Santa Lite: allow Hambet to shake Santa's hand, learn the stories about Santa, and so on, but always with the knowledge that Santa is just a Really Fun Pretend. Perhaps we could also skip the trip to tell Santa about what we want for Christmas. Meanwhile, we will work on making a Nice Soft Bed for Baby Jesus (a friend of mine did this, and her preschool boys loved it! She does have a dedicated Baby Jesus, so that helped her avoid the problem Sparki ran into.)

As long as we're talking about Fun Pretends, I am pro-Tooth Fairy and detest the Easter Bunny. If we get the fun but non-pretend St Nicholas involved, it will be for oranges and chocolate coins in the shoes on his own feast day, and for his intercession. And I will not get into the "be good, Santa is watching you" thing at all. It's just too weird, and cruel for the littlest ones.

Posted by Peony at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

I got this from a list I am on. Thank you Karen.

"This will be My Hour of Grace"

During the period of November 24, 1946 to December 8, 1947, Our Blessed
Mother appeared to Sister Pierrina in a little church in Montichiari, Italy,
eleven times.

On the first appearance Our Blessed Mother told Sister Pierrina that She
wanted to be known as the 'Mystical Rose' and that an Hour of Grace should
be kept at noon on December 8th in all the Catholic Churches of the world.
Our Blessed Mother wanted this to be known through all of Italy and the
entire world.

It was November 16, 1947 when Sister Pierrina was finishing her thanksgiving
after Holy Communion when she saw a great light. She then saw a vision of
Our Blessed Mother as the 'Mystical Rose.'

Sister was so deeply moved by the stunning beauty of Our Lady that she began
talking to Her. All of a sudden a gentle force made her kneel down in front
of Our Lady.

Our Blessed Mother spoke these words

"My Son is greatly offended by the sins of impurity. He is already planning
to send the deluge upon the people, for their destruction, but I have asked
him to show mercy and not send the destruction. So that is why I have
appeared to ask for penance and atonement for the sins of impurity."

Then Our Blessed Mother asked for an Act of Humility by Sister Pierrina. She
asked her to make the sign of the cross with her tongue on each of the
stones in the Sanctuary.

"This shall be a reminder to the people that I have appeared here and do not
have the people step on those stones."

Our Blessed Mother then stepped on each of the stones so that Her gown
touched all four stones.

On the 22nd of November, Sister Pierrina felt the overwhelming urge to go to
Church at 4:00. The Mother Superior, four Sisters and a group of friends
accompanied her. They were all saying the Rosary when Our Blessed Mother
appeared as before. She instructed Sister Pierrina to make the Sign of the
Cross on the stones and fence them off so that no one would step on them.

Again Our Lady asked for penance. She said "Penance is nothing more than
accepting all your crosses daily and willingly. No matter how small, accept
them with love".

At this time, she told sister Pierrina to come again on December 8th at
noon.

"This will be My Hour of Grace."

The Sister asked how she was to prepare for this Hour of Grace? To which the
Blessed Mother said

"With Prayers and Penance. Pray the 50th Psalm (Miserere) with outstretched arms
three
times. During the Hour of Grace, many spiritual graces will be granted. The
most hard-hearted sinners will be touched by the grace of God."

The Blessed Virgin promised that whatever a person asked Her for during this
Hour of Grace (even in impossible cases) would be granted to them, if it was
in accordance with the Will of the Eternal Father.

It was December 7th when Sister Pierrina felt the urge to go to Church. This
time she was accompanied by the Priest and the Mother Superior. Our Blessed
Mother appeared with a young boy and girl dressed in beautiful white
clothing. Sister Pierrina was sure these little ones were angels because
they were so beautiful.

Our Blessed Mother said "Tomorrow I will show you My Immaculate Heart which
is so little known among the people."

She asked people to pray for Russia. "There are so many people being held
prisoners which their families know nothing of because they have been gone for
so many years. Pray for the
conversion of Russia, the suffering of the soldiers and their sacrifices and
martyrdom will bring peace to Italy. The little children are Francisco and
Jacinta. I am giving them to you as your companions. You will have much to
suffer for My sake. I want simplicity and goodness from you as of these
little children."

Our Blessed Mother then blessed Sister Pierrina, the Priest and all those
who were gathered there.

On the morning of December 8th people began arriving at the little Church at
8:00 in the morning from neighboring towns. By noon, some 10,000 people had
gathered to see Our Blessed Mother, many of whom had to stand outside
because the Church did not have enough room for the large crowd. Sister
Pierrina was accompanied to Church by her Mother and Brothers, the Mother
Superior and the Chief of Police from Montichiari. Sister was reciting the
Rosary with the crowd in the middle of the Church. Suddenly a brilliant
white light appeared from the ceiling. Stairs were coming from the light
down to the floor of the Church about fifteen feet in length. The staircase
was beautifully decorated with red, white and yellow roses. The Blessed
Virgin appeared so radiant, dressed in white, with Her Hands folded. She was
standing on a splendid carpet at the top of the stairs made of the red,
white and yellow roses.

In the most gentle and loving voice, Our Lady smiled and began to speak.

"I am the Immaculate Conception, the Mother of all Graces and the Mother of
my Beloved Son, Jesus.

I wish to be known as The Mystical Rose. My wish is that every year on the
8th of December at noon an 'Hour of Grace' will be installed. Many spiritual
Graces and physical blessings will be received by those who pray undisturbed
during this hour."

Then slowly she began to ascend the staircase gracefully scattering roses as
She went along until She reached midway of the staircase.

Here again Our Blessed Mother spoke

"I am very happy to see this great demonstration of Faith." Sister Pierrina
asked for many of the sinners to be forgiven.

Our Blessed Mother replied

"My Divine Son will show His Greatest Mercy as much as the people will pray
for them. I want this to be known and told to Pope Pius XII. Tell him I want
him to install the 'Hour of Grace' throughout the whole world and those who
are not able to go to Church during this time, may obtain this Grace in
their homes at noon time."

She also asked that a Statue be made and placed on the spot where She stood.
This should be called the 'Rosa Mystica' and carried in procession through
the town at which time many Graces will be given and cures will take place.

Then the Statue is to be returned to the Church. Our Lady prayed for the
sick, some will be cured others not. Many men, women and children were cured
at that very instant. A twenty-six year old woman who could not say a word
for nine months, suddenly began shouting

"I see Her. I see the Blessed Virgin."

An eighteen year old girl with ulcers was instantly cured.

A five year old boy who had been paralyzed was told by the Blessed Mother
"Come to Me, you will be walking now."

He was placed on the Blessed Stones and was able to walk. There were three
others who were very sick and were immediately cured. But of course, the
greatest miracles taking place were those of the spiritual blessings being
shed upon the people gathered in the Church.

Our Blessed Mother said

"This is the last time I will appear here. Pray, weep and do penance on
these Stones and you will receive the care of My Motherly Heart."

She then left the little Church, but because of the Unending Love of Our
Heavenly Mother, She has given us the 'Hour of Grace' to be spread through
the entire world.

She had given all people the opportunity to demonstrate our love and trust
to Her and to help make reparation for the grievous sins offending Her
Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
----
THE REQUEST OF OUR BLESSED MOTHER FOR THE HOUR OF GRACE

Day and time of the Hour of Grace - December 8th Feast of the Immaculate
Conception to begin at 12 noon and to continue until 1 pm (one full hour of
prayer).

During this hour the person making the 'Hour of Grace' either at home or in the
Church must put away all distractions.

Begin the Hour of Grace by praying three times the Psalm 50 (Miserere) with
outstretched arms.

The remainder of the Hour of Grace may be spent in silent prayer before God
meditating upon the Passion of Jesus, praying the Holy Rosary, praising God.

Posted by Pansy at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Mothering and Justice, by Juli Loesch Wiley

In our static links, I've tagged our link to the journal Caelum et Terraas "how Peony discerned her vocation." Articles like this one were what woke me up to the fact that I didn't really like being single, that I really wanted to get married. I had never heard the loving descriptions of family life and the vocation to married life that I came across in CetT. It was through the pages of this journal that I learned why contraception is a serious evil and learned about the beauty of being open to life.

Posted by Peony at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Sparki had a good post a couple of days ago on avoiding Chinese-made products. Davey's mommy picks up the discussion and links to this article on the fight to keep Wal-Mart out of the little town of Abingdon, Virginia.

I would like to add to the discussion, but my thoughts are all a-jumble and today's to-do list is very long. A few random thoughts:

1. I dislike Wal-Mart because it's a crowded, cluttered, ugly store. Yet there are a few products that I know I can reliably find at Wal-Mart. Last summer I underpacked and needed some plain white cotton underwear. We were traveling through Michigan's Upper Peninsula and I knew Wal-mart would have them, even in my size, and that I'd be able to get them on Saturday evening.

1.5 But then did I really need them? Couldn't I have just washed out a couple in the sink and dried them overnight?

2. It's true that Wal-Mart drives small retailers out of business. Just ask my uncle. He used to have a hardware store in a small town in South Dakota. Wal-Mart opened up outside of town. He scarcely lasted a year afterwards. I'm told that most of the other downtown merchants succumbed as well, and that now the downtown is a ghost town.

2.5 Wal-Mart brings products to small towns that small-town retailers might not otherwise have been able to stock. But is it worth it? Couldn't they have ordered those products in the mail? Did they even need those products? Was it worth destroying their downtowns?

3. I hate buying Chinese products (and it really frosts me when you see religous goods made in China.) But as Davey's mommy and Sparki point out, it's getting harder and harder to find things that aren't made in China. Are there any lights for the Christmas tree, for example, that aren't made in China?

4. It seems like our entire economy is based on retail these days, but very few retail employees are in unions.

5. I've been a member of a union (most bedside nurses in Washington, DC are union) and I was horrified by how thick-headed our leadership was. After I left my union position, the nurses went on strike -- this at a time when the hospital was struggling to stay afloat. I thought the timing of the strike was a poor idea to begin with, and then the strike dragged on for a couple of months. Striking nurses who were out of money started to sneak across their own picket lines and return to work. The union ended up accepting a proposal that the hospital had offered four weeks previously.

I also saw nurses with bad attitudes hiding behind union rules. My husband, who works for the federal government, sees the same thing all the time: lazy and incompetent people hiding behind union rules. I would have a lot more sympathy for unions if they weren't so stupid and did more to encourage excellence in their employees.

6. I ordered our Thanksgiving dinner (long story) from Safeway. Should I cross the picket line to pick it up?

7. Hambet wants cornflakes. Time to wrap up.

8. I am growing more and more uncomfortable with the way we're shaping our economy. I'm growing mistrustful of globalization -- the world is simply too large and complex to be considered as a single market. People's needs are better served by smaller, local institutions whereever possible.

Is our economy going to end up destroying itself and seriously damaging our country? What are we going to do when we run out of countries with cheap labor to produce our goods for us? What are we going to do if we go to war with China and can't import from them?

What good is it going to do to have all these U.S. companies making goods overseas and importing them back to the U.S., if people back in the US can't afford to buy them?

Through zoning and other projects, cities are aggressivly wooing singles and childless couples (including homosexual couples) because they pay in more money to the city treasury than they take out. Children are seen as an economic liability, as a civic burden. So families with children have fewer places to find housing.

It just doesn't seem healthy. The economic decisions our country is making seem to be based on short term gain and not on the long-term economic health and security of our country. But who cares if we have a major depression in the future? We've got to show a big profit this quarter so our stock doesn't tank!

And then what can we, as individual consumers, do about it? As Davey's mommy writes,

...I feel like without organized resistance on a large scale to Chinese-made products, avoiding them is like taking a penny out of the pocket of Bill Gates and a lot of dollars and hours from ourselves trying to find alternatives.....

The Washington Post (marketing questions) had two interesting book reviews yesterday on globalization and debt (and the abyss of our trade deficit.)

9. And then I haven't touched the Catholic social teaching on these topics.

10. I haven't touched distributism either.

Posted by Peony at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates;
Behold, the King of glory waits;
The King of kings is drawing near;
The Savior of the world is here!

A Helper just He comes to thee,
His chariot is humility,
His kingly crown is holiness,
His scepter, pity in distress.

O blest the land, the city blest,
Where Christ the Ruler is confessed!
O happy hearts and happy homes
To whom this King in triumph comes!

Fling wide the portals of your heart;
Make it a temple, set apart
From earthly use for heaven’s employ,
Adorned with prayer and love and joy.

Redeemer, come, with us abide;
Our hearts to Thee we open wide;
Let us Thy inner presence feel;
Thy grace and love in us reveal.

Thy Holy Spirit lead us on
Until our glorious goal is won;
Eternal praise, eternal fame
Be offered, Savior, to Thy Name!

This hymn is usually sung to Truro but I think it sounds awesome -- a sure bringer of "Godbumps" -- sung to Jerusalem.

Posted by Peony at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

...The jubilant music, clapping, shouting and swaying -- more commonly affiliated with a service at a Baptist church -- are a regular part of St. George's worship service.

"Our black folks find it difficult to go to white parishes because they're laid back. Here we try to touch our African roots," said Martin Amissah, musical director at the Arbor Hill church and brother of the pastor, the Rev. Kofi Ntsiful-Amissah...

Posted by Pansy at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

...Are we compromising our religious beliefs and principles by letting our children, even if innocently, dabble in something that has its origins in evil? As Catholic families, what is our obligation to be consistent and true to our faith?...[more...]

Thanks Karen for the link.

Posted by Pansy at 9:17 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

by Pete Vere. There is something I keep forgetting that many at St. Blogs have repeatedly reminded me this past week (in particular my Home Girl Peony)-the ability to give love is perhaps even more precious a gift than receiving love.My soul really craved stories of charity.

Posted by Pansy at 9:25 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

A couple of months ago, I blogged about a sort of "Dark Night of the Soul" I was going through and I am ashamed to say it has not gotten better, but has gotten worse. I am ashamed because I know better, that my relationship with God can only be repaired by my actions, ashamed because I know logically God is there and is there for me, ashamed because I know faith is not merely about feel good emotions and the first time I am not "feeling good", I am dropping the ball, and ashamed because the events in my life-well I have so much to be grateful and thankful for. Look at poor Terri, she was abused and the courts cannot even defend her, but have sentenced her to a slow painful death as a result. Man, I do not even have the words to describe how horrible that is. So if I know so much better, why are my emotions towards God so out of whack?

I was wondering if I am angry at God because of the events of the past summer (Gorbulas being hospitalized, marital woes and a bunch of other stuff) and the answer is no, not angry, but sort of numb. I think I have had a few breaks through. I have been very stressed over Gorbulas' asthma. On Monday he came down with sniffles. I was determined to do everything I can to avert an asthma attack. I started with his nebuliser every four hours around the clock. I began with his Pulmocort every twelve hours. Three days after treatment, he had a minor asthma attack, despite the Singulair, Pulmocort and albuterol around the clock. I realised it is out of my hands. I thought I had control over it, but I do not. I was just giving myself a headache when I should have been giving it to God. Not that I should not do everything I can, but I have been losing much sleep over trying to figure out ways to avert another asthma attack to no avail. This may sound terrible, but I have been able to trust in God's Providence in giving souls to me, perhaps I should trust in Him when it comes to taking them back? No, I am so not planning on sending any souls back to God at all, I am just saying that I can only do what I can do, which I will continue to do but I should leave the rest to Him.

I just have been so numb for so many months, I do not know how to get back to that. If a prayer can be spared, it would be appreciated. I think my husband has been at this place a little longer than I have. This scares me because one of us has to fight for the family on a spiritual leve, and neither one of us seems to be.

Posted by Pansy at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

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Flos Carmeli has several lovely posts up for La Madre, including this selection from her Autobiography, which I need to staple to my forehead:

....why, then, should they abstain from [prayer] who serve and desire to serve God? Certainly I cannot comprehend it, unless it be that men have a mind to go through the troubles of this life in greater misery, and to shut the door in the face of God, so that He shall give them no comfort in it. I am most truly sorry for them, because they serve God at their own cost; for of those who pray, God Himself defrays the charges, seeing that for a little trouble He gives sweetness, in order that, by the help it supplies, they may bear their trials.

Posted by Peony at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Elinor Dashwood blogs on Halloween, and includes practical tips on saint costumes.

... the bottom line in the child's mind is a) dressing up and b) getting candy. Provide those two treats, and they'll be as happy as clams.

Works for me.

Posted by Peony at 6:12 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Sparki, who'll soon be observing her very first All Souls Day as a Catholic, reflects on the comforting doctrine of Purgatory.

Posted by Peony at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

My father is the tall deacon reading the Gospel.

Posted by Pansy at 4:45 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Twelve Latin Chants Every Catholic Should Know

Thanks to Mr Henry Dietrich for this excellent link.

Posted by Peony at 9:11 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

....or, at least make room for it in the Metro section: Confession Rite Evolves To Meet Changing Need (washingtonpost.com; marketing questions)

First, a quibble -- is it "the Rite" that's evolved? Or is it that people are realizing that they're not "too evolved" to go to Confession (unlike those who "left behind" the sacrament, presumably because they thought they no longer needed it?) The option for face-to-face Confession has been around since the seventies, and it is an option -- not the norm. The vast majority of people I talk to seem to prefer the screen, and from what I've seen, it's the screened confessionals that have the longest lines.

I was pleased to see Monsignor Kane quoted in the article. During Lent, he arranged extra time for individual confessions, with four priests available for several hours on a weekday evening. Attendance was, shall we say, underwhelming. The next Sunday he addressed the matter from the pulpit, saying (in almost these words), "We're going to try this again next week and I KNOW we're going to have more people there." (His parishioners took the hint.)

One of my favorite quotes from the article (emphasis added):

The Rev. William Byrne, Catholic chaplain at the University of Maryland's College Park campus, also promotes confession. As a result, "we have pretty solid lines, probably 30 kids on Sundays before Mass," he said.

"The thing that makes me mad is hearing 40- to 60-year-old Catholics talk about 'Catholic guilt' " in the context of confession, said Byrne, who is 39. "I say that's baloney. We're the only ones who have sacramentalized the system of offering absolution and forgiveness for sin. Our emphasis is forgiveness."

Byrne, who goes to confession every two weeks because it "helps keep me honest and on my toes," said that many Catholic students at U-Md. are "tired of this subjective sense of right and wrong. It doesn't match what their hearts are saying." But since many have not been to confession since they were 7 or 8 years old and preparing for their first communion, he passes out a "confession cheat sheet" that explains, step-by-step, what to do.

I get so tired of this "Catholic guilt" wheeze. If you've left the Church and you don't think you've done anything wrong, what are you feeling guilty about?

My husband once had a co-worker inform him that his reservations about disciplining a subordinate too harshly were driven by "Catholic guilt." (When he told our friend Iris, who attends a fundie-leaning Church, the story, her reponse was "If she said that to me, I'd show her my Catholic fist.")

I also get impatient when people start accusing others of "making them feel guilty." Please -- if you don't think you did anything wrong, why should you feel guilty? How can someone else make you feel guilty?

Are all these people complaining about guilt because they're trying to drown out the voice of their conscience?

Posted by Peony at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Around late '99 I experienced a sudden impulse to study up on Saint Therese. I don't know where it came from, but I read her Autobiography and other books about her (and finally began to have a glimmer of understanding about what she was trying to teach me) I enrolled in the Brown Scapular, out of some sense of trying to imitate her, to establish a relationship with her, in some small way. Finally, that winter, I had the opportunity to pray before her reliquary during its worldwide pilgrimage.

In years past, I always had trouble with the idea of "spiritual childhood." I would think back to when I was seven or eight, remember what I was like, and just think "yikes! That can't be right!" I certainly didn't remember any loving trustfulness; by that age I was already well along in developing an attitude of outward compliance but interior alienation: give the teachers and parents what they seem to want so they'll leave you alone.

It wasn't until I encountered Therese on the eve of the Jubilee year that it finally occurred to me that she was talking about little little children: three years, or even younger. Now that I have been given the privilege of being Hambet's mommy, all I have to do is watch him to see good examples of that trusting attitude. Lately it's been medicinal kisses. No matter how hard the bump, how sharp the pinch, Hambet runs up in perfect confidence for a kiss to make it better. The thing that amazes me is that it works! Even when I know he must still be hurting, as soon as he gets that kiss he assures me that he "feels much better." I can even see him working to stop crying and calm himself down.

When I think of Therese, I also think of the amazing example of her parents. Did the loving, peaceful atmosphere they created in their home help Therese develop her spiritual gifts to the fullest?

St Therese, Doctor of the Little Way, pray for us!

Posted by Peony at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Kevin Miller, over at HMS blog,brings us this article in reference to altar girls and the Vatican document on liturgy that's in the works.

....He compared it to a document the Vatican issued several years ago which had a similar negative tone toward lay eucharistic ministers of either sex. Parishes still use them because they are necessary to move hundreds of people through communion and out of the parking lot in time for the next Mass. (emphasis added.)

"Move hundreds of people through communion"! This is exactly what I was talking about in my post on Confirmation.

Posted by Peony at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.

-Saint Francis de Sales-

Thanks to The Lowly Pilgrim for this quotation.

Posted by Peony at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Bobbi has a really helpful new article up at her website, Revolution of Love, on the nitty gritty of the spiritual life.

I think I'm going to print this article out and staple it to my forehead or something.

Posted by Peony at 9:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I attend an informal doctrine class, and today was our "first day" back after the summer. Today the class was on the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation.

Sometimes it seems to me that Confirmation is almost a "forgotten" sacrament. For myself, I feel like I don't know enough about it. I was confirmed in the eighth grade, and our preparation consisted of a year and a half of a very, very elderly Benedictine nun beginning each class with either "What...is...a sacrament?" or "Time.... is running out!" (meaning, Confirmation is coming soon and we still haven't written our letters to the bishop!) Sister was a good and kind nun, and perhaps her intercession helped draw me back to the Church. But looking back on it, I wonder if poor Sister was perhaps a little unprepared for the challenges of coming out of retirement and teaching a group of spoiled, uncatechized suburban middle schoolers. Those two phrases are the only things I remember from Confirmation prep. I remember thinking, "I know this is important, but I don't really know what this means."

I get the impression that every diocese seems to approach Confirmation a little differently. Some kids are confirmed in junior high, others not until their late teens. Some kids prepare for a year, some kids for three. It seems like every year the kids have more and more service hours to complete. And every year you hear about a kid or two who does not want to receive the Sacrament.

I wonder if there's something amiss with the way we're approaching Confirmation in this country. (I'm speaking primarily of Confirmation of children who were baptized as infants or little children and raised in the Faith.) It seems like a lot of people approach it as "the time you make your adult committment to Christ." Well, what does that mean? To me, that kind of approach seems to on some level belittle the actions of Baptism, and seems to be heavily influenced by the idea of the bar mitzvah or the way some Protestant churches approach Baptism. Is that why some kids resist Confirmation -- because they are doubting, and they don't want to commit themselves? (And yet how many of those same kids are receiving Holy Communion on Sundays?) Would they desire the sacrament if there was more emphasis on the very real graces of the sacrament, that it was the beginning of a lifelong journey instead of Signing on the Dotted Line for Life?

Then of course there's some people's attitude of "Confirmation means the end of CCD." Perhaps this is why some dioceses choose to delay Confirmation until later in the high school years -- to keep the kids in class longer. But doesn't that just send a hidden message -- "Yes, religious ed is a drag, so we're going to force you to go?" Meanwhile, the kids are deprived of the gifts of the sacrament all through their teen years, at a time when they could really, really use the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes it seems like there's a punch card mentality in the way we approach the Christian life in this country: You're born, you get your little Catholic card and you get the Baptism punch. You roll along the conveyor belt and pretty soon you join the herd of kids your age. Penance and First Holy Communion -- punch punch. Confirmation -- punch. Then the tracks diverge -- a few get the Holy Orders punch; most of the other folks get the Matrimony punch. Finally the conveyor belts converge again and you get your Anointing punch before you die. (This punch card gets clipped to your time card that you punch at Mass, by the way -- the "how late can I be for it to still count" time card. So you show up at Mass and receive Communion, and then you slide out early -- you've punched your Mass card for the week.) Hatched, matched, and dispatched.

I apologize for the Eeyore tone, but sometimes parish life seems organized on the model of a feedlot or a school cafeteria instead of a Heavenly Banquet. Don't kneel when you receive Communion, or take too long to bow -- it'll clog up the line! Time for Confirmation? Here's your checklist: go to 80% of your classes, do 15 hours of service, go to the retreat, write the letter to the Bishop, and choose a saint's name. (Never mind that many of these kids have never even seen a book of the Lives of the Saints, have no idea what's going on at Holy Communion, and have not been to Confession since their first one...)

And I do know these requirements are necessary, especially in an age when we have parishes serving more than 30,000 souls! This whole post probably says more about my own personal hang-ups, lousy catechesis and poor understanding of the Sacrament of Confirmation than anything else. But it's also coming out of my own experience. I've known some of those kids who have come close to refusing Confirmation because they weren't sure they wanted to commit themselves as being Catholic. I've known kids -- and adults -- who have dropped out of the Church because they hated the impersonal feedlot mentality -- "nobody believes this stuff anyway." Since they had never been taught about the Reality of the Mystical Body of Christ, they saw no reason to stay. How many Protestants have been scandalized by that same punch-card, feedlot atmosphere?

I know myself I have to constantly struggle against the idea that God is a big, indifferent Boss in the sky, kind of the principal of a very large high school, interested in His people's welfare in a general way, but uninvolved in their day-to-day lives unless they do something really out of the ordinary to bring themselves to His attention. The principal knows his delinquents and his most brilliant honor students; God knows the notorious sinners and the most virtuous saints, but the rest are just faces in the crowd. The high school student checks off the required classes, makes the required GPA, and heads across the stage when it's all over to shake the principal's hand for the first and last time (as the vice-principal misprounounces the graduate's name at the microphone.)

Surely I'm not the only one who's felt this way. In this impersonal world, how many more would-be confirmandi are parroting the line about we are God's gathered community, the sheep of his flock, etc, but in their heart of hearts percieve God as no more interested in them as individuals than their school principals?

What if Confirmation prep included more practical instruction on how to develop in the devotional and spiritual life? How about instruction in meditation or mental prayer, with follow up? Perhaps set up a book table after class, so the kids could have the opportunity to pick up some good spiritual reading? Maybe some programs out there already do this; all I know is I went through 12 years of CCD, but never heard of mental prayer until I was 30! The only instruction I got in prayer was a rosary and a couple of leaflets.

I'm not sure that shoving the kids (or the grown-ups) into small groups and commanding them to "share their faith journeys" is the answer, either. I've been shoved into those groups in both high school and college, and I hated them. Forced intimacy is not intimacy at all.

There is such a thirst out there for sound doctrine and good instruction. There is so much need. It's not the thirst of a herd, though, it's the thirst of one soul at a time.

Posted by Peony at 2:06 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

If I am ever tempted to embark on amateur economics and social history again....

perhaps I'll save myself a whole lot of typing and just say, "What Jeff said!"

Oh, and "what Jeff said here, too!"

Posted by Peony at 12:24 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I have been struggling with frustration in matters great and small. Why won't my garden grow? Why can't we have another baby? Why can't we get ahead of the home repairs? Why won't my two-year-old play with his toys instead of my mixer and kitchen knives? Why can't I find any local SAHM chums "in real life?" Why is our parish singing this pseudo-Broadway stuff instead of chant? Why is The DaVinci Code a bestseller? Why can't I break these bad habits of mine -- procrastination, carrying grudges, allowing myself to be a captive of regret? Why am I skimming ten lightweight books at once (curiositas) instead of slowly, carefully reading one book at a time and actually learning something (studiositas)?

It is this way with miracles of grace: when confronted by deficiencies which seem... too lofty or difficult, the Lord asks of us a special kind of effort. On the one hand, this attitude consists in confidence in him, shown by having recourse to the supernatural means available. On the other, it consists in doing what we can, listening to what He tells us in the intimacy of our prayers or through spiritual direction...

We do this by performing small acts of the virtue we are seeking to acquire, taking small steps toward the goal we wish to reach. If we concentrate on what we are doing, God does wonders through our seemingly small efforts. If the man with the withered hand had placed his reliance on his own previous experience rather than on the word of the Lord, he might not have done the little our Lord asked of him, and perhaps would have spent the rest of his life with his disability uncured. Virtues are formed day by day. Sanctity is forged by being faithful in details, in everyday things, in actions which might seem irrelevant if not vivified by grace." -- F. Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 4-94.

Posted by Peony at 5:43 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Today is the Feast of St Martha....

Jesus in the House of Mary and Martha (Vermeer)

....patron saint of housewives (among others.)

19 And many of the Jews were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

20 Martha therefore, as soon as she heard that Jesus was come, went to meet him: but Mary sat at home.

21 Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

22 But now also I know that whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.

23 Jesus saith to her: Thy brother shall rise again.

24 Martha saith to him: I know that he shall rise again, in the resurrection at the last day.

25 Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live:

26 And every one that liveth and believeth in me shall not die for ever. Believest thou this?

27 She saith to him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ, the Son of the living God, who art come into this world. John 11:19-27 (Douay-Rheims)

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Good Friday
I think today is one of the most solemn and sacred days of the year and should be spent with family in Church, contemplating the death of Our Lord and eating customary Good Friday food at dinner (after fasting of course).
Well, the people who like run the country and stuff do not see Good Friday the same way I do, so my husband has to work. Bummer. I will attempt to go to Stations of the Cross at noon at my local Novus Ordo Church, and hope that the children behave and that I do not burst a blood vessel from some type of heterodox theatrics. Say a prayer it goes well.

In the meantime I will share with you what my Italian family customarily eats on Good Friday. It is something we call "Grass Pies." You take greens, any greens you like, but broccoli rabe is a must, spinach, dandelion and in my parents generation, we added collard greens and even if you have it a green called colalu. In a pot sautee some garlic, a couple of anchovies in olive oil, some sliced black olives and some chopped up hot peppers or crushed red pepper if you like. Add washed (and still wet) greens to the pot and simmer on low heat covered. When the greens are all dark and mushy (in Italian we say "shfat", Ido not know how you spell it though) you put them in in pizza dough. I guess in little rolled out cirles about 8 inches in diameter, put some greens in the middle, fold over and squish the sides together with the tines of a fork to make a little pouch. Now the customary thing to do is take these and deep fry them. I do not-too fattening, so we bake them.

In the meantime here are some Good Friday prayers a friend emailed to me (thanks Karen):

Prayer For Good Friday

"O, my Lord Jesus, I hereby beg of Thee, by the merits of Thy Precious Blood,
by Thy Divine Heart, and by the intercession of Thy Most Holy Death to assist
me in this pressing necessity."

(To be said 33 times for each intention. It must be said during the hours of
12 noon and 3 PM.)

~~~~~~~~~

Prayer for Good Friday

"I adore Thee, O Holy Cross, which has been adorned with the tender,
delicate, and venerable hands and feet of my Saviour, Jesus Christ, and
immured with the Precious Blood. I adore Thee, my God, nailed to the Cross
for me.
I adore Thee again, O Holy Cross, for the love of my Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Amen"

(Revealed to St. Bridget that if said devoutly 3 times on Good Friday that 33
souls would be released from Purgatory. 3 souls on ordinary days.)

Posted by Pansy at 10:04 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Real life is just like the spiritual life

Lee Ann was kind enough to leave a recipe for eggplant parmagiana in our comments box (by the way, I am starting the eggplant seeds indoors.) She also was kind enough to leave the URL for her blog, The Literarium. From her mega-post on Mega-Merton:

I don’t think you can have any kind of interior or spiritual life until you stop seeing things as you would like them to be, or fear they are, and start seeing them as they really are. As long as you focus on an illusion of a thing, on your idea of how it is or ought to be, you cannot respond to that thing. You can only respond to your self-created illusion. Only when you dispense with illusion and see things as they are can you respond to them and value them.

It's almost depressing to think about how many problems -- from the tiniest personal issues to international issues -- arise from refusing to face things as they are instead of how one wishes they were.

Another good one:

This is why I have never liked the stripped-down, rather morbid Spartan Aesthetic of Protestantism and modern AmCatholicism. Nothing is less conducive to a connection with the majesty of God than a plain white box. Modern churches can be more like sensory deprivation chambers than churches. Plain walls with nothing to look at, a plain altar with nothing to look at, and an overall sense of being in a nicely appointed office building are the first things I call to mind when I think about modern churches. There is nothing religious about them. There is nothing that says you are in a special, sacred place for a special sacred purpose. Boring, uninspiring buildings push you farther and farther away from God. You can’t pay attention to Him when you’ve mentally fallen asleep. Maybe this is somewhat behind the craze for garish Hindu/ Mexican religious objects. After being deprived of spiritually inspiring, artistic rituals and worship aids, people are grasping for anything that will make faith lively. By excising the religious artistic tradition of the American Church, you are left with soul-numbing modernism or artificial, imported kitsch. Too many people lapse from faith because our houses of worship are so alienating and uninspiring. Beautiful churches can plant a seed of faith that True Religion can make grow. But something has to plant that seed.

There is a church not far from me that literally is a big white box. Whenever I go there I wish I had my sunglasses with me because of the darn glare. I feel like I'm in one of those 60's science fiction dystopia movies, where after great exertion the hero has finally found the villian's secret headquarters, and it turns out to be a single brilliantly lit but eerily silent room, housing the evil pulsing brain that controls the planet.

By the way, Lee Ann also writes for The Spinsters.

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Comfort and joy in the holy city
Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad with her, all you who love her;
rejoice with her, rejoice, all you who mourned for her.
Suck and be filled at the breast of her consolation;
draw on the nipples of her glory, and overflow with delights.

For the Lord says this:

Behold, I will bring her peace as if it were a river;
like an overflowing torrent, the glory of the Gentiles.
You will suck, be borne on her hips,
and they will caress you as you lie in her lap.

As a mother comforts its child, so shall I comfort you:
you will be comforted in Jerusalem.
You will see, and your heart will rejoice,
and your bones will flourish like living grass.

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