What's On Your Chest?

Yeah, Calah is wondering what you call them. She doesn't like the word "breasts". Yeah, that's not my favorite word to use for them either. In my house, they're called "boobies". Perhaps my house is made up of 12 year old boys.

We've taught our kids the other correct anatomical words: vagina, penis. I don't know what happened to "breasts" though. Maybe it's just because hearing your 2 year old say "boobies" is just so damn funny.

Cracked.com (adult humor and words!) has two articles on "Words that Need to be Banned from the English Language" (here and here). You know what word I don't like? Phlegm. Ugh. What a yucky word, and the images it brings up. Ugh.

So, what word do you hate?

3 1/2 Time-Outs Tuesday

Hosted by Larry D at Acts of the Apostasy

1. I just realized I've been typing out 3 1/2 Time-Out Tuesdays. Which makes no sense.

2. I'm getting used to getting up at 6 a.m. this Lent; getting better at not hitting the snooze button on my phone alarm; settling in my office for morning prayer and reflective reading on the Scriptures of the day and book reading. It's becoming a fruitful habit, and I've thankfully only missed one morning.

3. My excuse on that one morning was because my boy had been throwing up the day before (starting before 6 a.m.) and I was pretty much wiped. 

3.5 This is a similar version of my ringtone alarm to get up to, effective yet not annoying enough to make me want to throw my phone across the room:

Dwelling Apart

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

How interesting the Old Testament reading and the Gospel are. In the Old Testament, Moses and Aaron are told by the Lord that those who bear leprosy are to "dwell apart" since they are unclean.

In the Gospel, when Jesus heals the man with leprosy, Jesus "remains outside in deserted places" - in effect, dwelling apart.

But Jesus cannot be unclean - thus a reason for dwelling apart - so there must be something else to this. Perhaps in healing the man with leprosy, he has taken that man's illness, his sin, upon himself and is now bearing the burden of his sin.

All this is pre-figuring the Sacrifice upon the Cross - where Jesus takes upon himself the sins of the world in order to bear the punishment for our sakes.

Anger

I had a conversation with a priest friend about my struggles with anger. I shared with Fr. R on the phone that I've struggled with my temper my whole life - having a short fuse, and even though I would have a constant prayer life, I would still struggle with controlling my temper. In fact, I've been known to lose my temper while praying - sad but true. I asked him his thoughts on how to get through this. Here is what he talked about.

The opposing virtue of the vice of wrath/anger is meekness. Now there is two kinds of virtue - infused virtue and acquired virtue. Infused virtue is given to us in baptism and the sacraments. Acquired virtue is the concrete practice of virtue. He told me that I have infused virtue because of my baptism and participation in the other sacraments, but I still need to practice the virtue of meekness to acquire that virtue. This is particular why, even though I would pray, this temptation to anger wasn't just taken away. I still needed to practice self-discipline. 


This is where the importance of practicing mortification for your faith comes in - self denial, fasting, etc.; because meekness is under the cardinal virtue oftemperance. Temperance is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, under the gift of fear of the Lord.

God is always looking upon us and what we are doing. Instead of "fear of the Lord" in a sense of running away in fear; we should have the fear of losing Our Savior that makes us run toward Him.

My thoughts then the next day on Joel 2:12-18
If God Himself is slow to anger and rich in kindness, then why do I lose my temper so easily? I need to emulate/conform myself more closely to our Heavenly Father. If God doesn't reprimand in anger, then I should not. My heart should be "stirred to concern", it should be moved into action, in love and in pity. May I pray when angry "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner."

Anyway, I hope that this could be useful to others who struggle with anger. I hope I explained well enough what Fr. R was talking about. I am looking at Lent as an opportunity to get trained in self-discipline in the virtue of meekness.


My thoughts on 2-24 on Luke 5:27-32/Lenten Magnificat/and Total Consecration prayers
"Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do." But Jesus isn't saying that the sick shouldn't try to get well. He isn't saying that sinners shouldn't try to stop sinning. "We must always strive for virtue." (Lenten Magnificat)


I must still strive for the acquired virtues, especially of meekness. I don't get a pass just because this is a life long sin. I am in training for battle. But, "It is good counsel that, when you have conceived the spirit of fervor, you should meditate how it will be when that light shall be withdrawn." When it gets tough to keep my temper in check, when I am tired or hungry - all my training goes out the window. How can I remember my training when those things happen? They will happen, no matter how much I try to minimize them. 


Yesterday, I had this happen and lost my temper with the kids, and though I recovered faster than before I started training, I still lost it. Thankfully, I have this Lent to continue my training.

Through a Glass Darkly

Gospel Mark 8:22-26

Jesus puts spittle on the man's eyes and asks him if he sees anything, but the man sees but not clearly. But he doesn't walk away from Christ because he is not wholly healed. Jesus lays hands on him a second time and then the man can see distinctly.

How many times do I walk away from Jesus, with my heart only being able to see in a blur, and not distinctly? Jesus lays his hands on me, but he must lay his hands on me again and again so that I may see distinctly. Without his healing, I see so poorly that I mistake things instead of seeing them as they truly are. I also strain to see things as they are - which takes its toll on my soul, for it is tiring to constantly strain so much. This is also dangerous for my soul, since because I am tired of straining, it is easy to succumb to temptations of apathy from the devil; and also because I do not see clearly, it is easy to mistake good for evil and evil for good.

This reading, more than I thought, does apply to me. I haven't been to confession in about 3 months, and I am feeling the strain right now. It is hard for me to perceive clearly because my soul is flying half-blind. It is easy right now to feel apathetic because my soul is so weighed down. I need to go to Confession, but it is hard to be motivated enough to go. It is easy to be sidetracked by excuses instead of realizing that my soul is in danger.

It is not a coincidence that the places where I can see him more clearly, though still obscured, is church or the Eucharistic chapel.

(Note: I finally made it confession, thankfully.)

When Jesus Saw Their Faith

Gospel Mark 2:1-12

I have been struggling with feelings of resentment lately because of my husband's long hours and then his tiredness when he comes home. Yes, we need to work on communicating better, and yes, he probably needs to try to cut back.

But at the same time, I need to be the one who has the faith for him to be healed by Jesus; for he is sick - and not physically but spiritually. And he needs to be healed.

Do I think that the paralytic's friends were resentful of having to carry him, what might have been a good distance, and then having the physical exertions of lifting him up and then down to Jesus? Yes, it was probably hard work, that they wish they didn't have to do, but they did it out of love for their friend. They brought him to Jesus to be healed because they believed.

I need to have that love for my husband in carrying him while he is sick - no matter if he is heavy, no matter how long it takes. I do it because I love him as my husband, and also as my friend.

Acting Like a Lady

My gramma always told me that if your skirt or dress is at your knees (or higher, God forbid), you cross your legs at the ankle, not the knee, so others don't see up your skirt. Guess no one ever told her that:

h/t Michelle Obama's Mirror

Food for Thought, Re: Criticism of Bishops

h/t The Deacon's Bench. This is the homily that Archbishop Chaput wrote for the Knights of Columbus Convention. I excerpt in full here with key phrases in bold. What are your thoughts?

The dynamic in Family of Moses is not so different from the dynamic in the family of today’s Church. God has chosen to lead his people. Miriam and Aaron, the sister and brother of Moses, resent his taking a Cushite wife. But the disputed marriage is merely a pretext for the siblings. What they really resent is Moses’ elevation above themselves, his special relationship with God. Moses if very much a flawed human being. By this point in scripture he may be “meek,” but he is not without sin. Nonetheless he is chosen by God. Therefore, Miriam’s and Aaron’s criticism – which flows out of their own rebellious pride – is really a criticism of God himself. Miriam, as the instigator, is struck with leprosy, but at least there is a kind of negative dignity to her own willfulness. Aaron is almost worse: a portrait of male spinelessness. This is the man who went along with the Golden Calf. Now he goes along with Miriam, and when Miriam is punished, he becomes obsequious with Moses.

Something similar can be said about conflicts in the modern church. Bishops, priests, and deacons are too often weak and sinful. They need to be held to high standards. Some deserve to be chastised. The clergy’s leadership in the Church should always be marked by humility and service, and never by a sense of entitlement. But men and women didn’t found the Church, they don’t own her; and they have no license to reinvent her. The Church belongs to Jesus Christ, and the different roles with the Christian community – clergy, laity, and religious life – have equal dignity but different purposes. Sin and failure, including by the clergy, need to be named. But when people deride their bishops and priests out of pride and resentment or some perverse desire for they perceive as “power,” they undermine the Church herself, and they set themselves against the God whose vessel she is. And that, as Scripture suggests, leads in a painful direction.

All real reform in the Church requires two things. Today’s Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 51 – gives us the first thing. We find it in the lines “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow;” and “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” Renewal begins not in vilifying others, but in examining ourselves honestly, repenting of our sins and changing ourselves. This applies to every baptized person, from the Pope to the average man or woman earning a wage. We are all sinners. We are all in need of repentance and God’s mercy. When we really understand that, we can speak to each other with both honesty and love, and restoring the mission of the Church can begin.

Today’s Gospel gives us the second thing needed for any lasting reform: faith. Not faith as theology, or faith as a collection of doctrines and practices; but faith as a single-minded confidence in God; faith as the humility – and in a sense, the imprudence, the passion, the recklessness – to give ourselves entirely to Jesus Christ. That kind of faith changes people. That kind of faith shifts the world on its axis, because nothing can stand against it. As long as Peter keeps his eyes and his heart fixed on Jesus Christ, he can do the impossible – he can walk on the water. The moment he gives in to doubt and fear, he begins to sink. So it is with our personal faith, and so it is with life and the health of the Church.

In light of our Gospel reading, it’s fitting that our Mass today commemorates the French priests and saint from the 19th century, Peter Eymand. Eymand was a friend of Sts. Peter Chanel and Jean-Mare Vianney, and the founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. He was an intriguing man. The great French sculptor, Auguste Rodin, once entered Eymand’s congregation as a lay brother, having given up art after the death of his sister. Eymand served as Rodin’s spiritual spiritual counsellor, and eventually sent him back to his work in the world as a sculptor, because he believed that Rodin glorified God more truly through the beauty of his art. The focus of Eymand’s life was an intense love of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. He was tireless in preaching a deep devotion to the Eucharist as a key to re-igniting the vocation of Christians in the world. The Church honours him as “the Apostle of the Eucharist,” and his most famous line is worth remembering. When he decided to leave the diocesan clergy to become a religious priest, his sisters begged him to wait and reflect just a little longer before he acted – even just one more day. He answered, “God calls me now. Tomorrow will be too late.” God is calling each of us here today – clergy, lay, and religious – to love him with all our hearts and to renew the life of his Church. God is calling us now. Tomorrow will be too late. So let’s pray for each other, and support each other – and begin.

The nature of evangelism

Evangelization isn't just a 'corporate' mission - it is a person to person to a Person encounter. I can't evangelize the 'many', I can only evangelize by one (or two). It starts by entering into a relationship with another - regardless of their beliefs, and caring and loving that person because I love a Person because I am in a relationship with a Person and I want that person to also love the same Person I love. I want for them to grow in love with that Person.

Of course, that Person is Jesus Christ.

But how - do I do this in my own life? Have I shown my husband that I have fallen in love with Christ or do I just show him the struggles of my relationship with Christ?

What are your thoughts?

(Of course, there is a 'corporate' aspect of evangelism, which is part of the Church's mission, but I'm specifically talking about one person to one person.)

Edit: Fr. Longenecker has holy cards to give away as an evangelism tool. Hmm, interesting. What do you think about handing them out like gospel tracts?

Believing, Repent!

"It is not people who have suddenly changed their lives and habits and have started to do good. The innovation is that God has acted. He has stretched out his hand to sinful human beings first, and his action brought history to fulfillment. ...
     "Christianity does not begin with what people should do to be saved, but with what God has done to save them. The order is reversed.
      "Repentance no longer means 'turning back' to the old covenant and observance of the law. Instead it means making a leap forward, entering into a new covenant, taking hold of this kingdom that has appeared and entering into it. And entering it by faith. 'Repent and believe' does not point to two distinct actions, one after the other, but is one single act. Repenting means believing; believing, repent!
     "...we are told that the door [to enter salvation] is faith, and that the possibility is not too high for you and not too far from you... It is within everyone's reach." (Remember Jesus Christ, chapter 3, Fr. Cantalamessa)

Lent is a special time of submission to God, a time of purification of our passions and of fasting, so that we may re-orient ourselves, our desires, needs and wants rightly to God.

It is also a time to reflect on what repentance means now in the context of the New Covenant through Christ. As I said the other day, I can get in the habit of deciding that I have to do the work of repentance on my own, then I can approach God. But when I do that, I fail to recognize that repentance is God working through me, moving in me so that I may see the need for repentance. God acts first, and it is up to me to cooperate with His action.

I pray that this Lent, I may cry out "I do believe, help my unbelief!"

(I'm participating in Catholic Blog Day, are you?)

3½ Time-Outs FAT Tuesday

Hosted by Larry D at Acts of the Apostasy

1

In a way, I'm excited for Lent this year.  I think I have the right combination of prayer/fasting/almsgiving going on. 

2

I'm also hoping I'm not taking too much on. Here's the breakdown: the Total Consecration (starting tomorrow); praying for 1 specific person each day of Lent; getting up earlier to pray, and reflect on the day's readings; giving up internet surfing from my smartphone; going meatless on Wednesdays and Fridays; plus evening prayer time with the kids. 

3

I've been thinking about also fasting on Wednesdays, but I'm still mulling it over. I'm trying not to do too much, otherwise a week into Lent and I'm Ms. Cranky Pants.

3½

And since Larry is talking about songs to get you into the penitential spirit, I offer you a classic from when the 90s (when I went to high school): 

Good luck getting that out of your head for the rest of the day!

Shame

"I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble." (Psalm 32)

How easily am I lead astray with lies. My natural inclination when I am in trouble - of any sort - is to plead for God's presence, His touch in my life. How silkily the devil whispers in my ear "What kind of disciple are you that you only turn to God in times of trouble? You should be ashamed of yourself. No, best not to be a hypocrite - turn away, then when you are ready - turn to God. When you are worthy....when you are more prepared...." The excuses are endless and they are all lies. But like the best lies, they contain a kernel of truth.

Shame is one of the devil's best tools - and it is shame that keeps many away from God. I don't want to be seen as a hypocrite, so I stay away. I don't want my sin to be seen by God, so I hide myself away.

But I have to fight through the devil's temptations of shame & pride to beg God for His touch in my life. Only then can I be made clean.

Astonishment

Gospel Mark 7:31-37

If your whole world is completely changed and opened up to you, do you think you could stop yourself from telling everyone about it?
     How does Jesus think that the deaf man will be able to stop himself from proclaiming the good work that Jesus has done in him?

"If we have not...the simple spirit of admiration, our Christianity is not a genuine Christianity, no matter how ascetic the life we lead."

Our admiration for the good works Jesus does in us is nothing more than wonder at Jesus and ultimately humility in knowing who He is and who we are in relation to Him.
     Jesus told us to be as little children - and children have the wonderful quality to gasp in astonishment at the littlest of miracles in their lives.

My children and I were watching "Tangled" the other day, and it hit me that the movie has a religious song in it: "I See the Light". The look of wonder on Rapunzel's face is the kind of wonder I'm talking about. I present the video and the lyrics for your consideration here:



After watching, just close your eyes and listen to the song, or just read the lyrics and imagine that it is a person seeing Christ for the first time:

All those days watching from the windows

All those years outside looking in 

All that time never even knowing 

Just how blind I've been 

Now I'm here, blinking in starlight 

Now I'm here, suddenly I see 

Standing here, it's all so clear 

I'm where I'm meant to be 

And at last I see the light 

And it's like the fog has lifted 

And at last I see the light

And it's like the sky is new 

And it's warm and real and bright 

And the world has somehow shifted 

All at once everything looks different 

Now that I see you 

All those days chasing down a daydream 

All those years living in a blur 

All that time never truly seeing 

Things, the way they were 

Now she's here shining in the starlight 

Now she's here, suddenly I know

If she's here it's crystal clear 

I'm where I'm meant to go 

And at last I see the light 

And it's like the fog is lifted 

And at last I see the light 

And it's like the sky is new 

And it's warm and real and bright

And the world has somehow shifted

All at once, everything is different 

Now that I see you, now that I see you

Ultimately, we find our true happiness, our true fulfillment in Christ. He makes all things new, and when we look through Him to the world, we see all things new. May we always wonder in astonishment at what He does in us and through us. 


Speaking of astonishing things:

True love is accepting another person as they are, warts and all. It's not so much about what they say or do, but more about embracing something a lot deeper: the unique, unrepeatable soul that God has made and called not just good, but very good.

He calls us very good. And He loves us with more depth and strength than we could ever love any human being.

Susan writes on the astonishing work of motherhood:
We are mothers, and we will never be the same as we were before motherhood. Every day is an adventure and a blessing to be treasured.


Beautiful, go read it all!

3 1/2 Time-Outs Tuesday

Hosted by Larry D at Acts of the Apostasy

1. I'm not much of a Valentine's Day person. My husband and I celebrate our wedding anniversary just right before Valentine's Day, so usually we just skip today's celebrations. Plus, this year I actually got taken out to dinner for our anniversary - we started our 10th year! 

2. Margarita Monday was pretty awesome last night. Just sayin'. 

3. People annoy me more and more lately. I hardly ever want to go anywhere because I don't really feel like making small talk chit-chat, which makes me more rude than usual. 

3.5 Which must make me a bad person, because every time I go somewhere, I end up wanting to punch several complete strangers in the face.

So there's my first 3 1/2 time outs tuesday - the crank edition! 

In Bed

I apologize for the lack of posting lately. I've been dealing with health problems, and doctors, and tests. Nothing serious, just trying to find out why I've been incredibly exhausted lately. Anyway, being so tired leads to not very coherent thoughts about much of anything, nor any energy to get outraged about much either. I'm hopeful that I'll be back to normal soon, and I ask for your prayers. 

To make you smile, here's a picture that WEMM drew of family members in bed. 

Catholic Art/Beauty/Stuff Today

Via The Catholic Science Geek

Go over to her place to see the color version and to learn more about St. George - a patron especially needed in these times. 

A Colorful Monster

This is a very happy monster with rainbows for arms and "jumpers" (think springs) for feet.

(Clip) Art/Beauty Today

Via corpus immobilis, errantem animum

Go visit and see my friend R. Leon's beautiful art over there.