The Deep Wide River

A thirteen year old was telling me today how she watches ‘Jersey Shore’ and ‘Bad Girls’. I said there’s only crap on television and that’s why I don’t watch it. She said, “But it’s fun to see other people’s lives!”

Maybe I am a little different, but I remember growing up, and I instinctively steered away from real-life girls that acted poorly like in the shows mentioned.  It seems kids are watching more garbage coming out of a surrealist world than Bart Simpson ever regurgitated.

I am a glass that can be all full if we add more to it, kind of girl, so I see the things that I surround myself with as an inspirational change in these times.

1. Pope Benedict XVI wrote a wonderful letter to seminarians saying, “God is Alive!”

2. The Holy Catholic Church is being purified from sinful and deceptive priests and religious.

3. More young people are instantly reaching out to Christ in praise and worship and finding that HE FILLS them up more than anything.

4. Those same young people are discerning vocations to the religious life and life in the Spirit in family life.

5. Our long ago brothers of the Anglican Church are seeking the TRUTH and finding it whole-heartedly in the Holy Catholic Church.

6. More masses are being celebrated in the traditional Latin manner and many have felt and experienced reverence for the first time in the celebration of the Calvary in those masses.

7. More Catholics in high places are speaking out and joining forces against calumny that threatens the spark of Love for the Sacred Heart in the Catholic Church.

8. Those that do not adhere to the full faith and guidance of the Catholic Church in all moral and ethical matters are outing themselves as non-believers in their determination to be tolerant.

9. Roman Catholic schools are still praying with students in primary, elementary, middle, secondary, and in university level schools.

10. The Roman Catholic Church is still deep and rich and wide enough for all who seek the full Truth of the Love of God the Father.

All Glory Be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the Beginning, is Now, and ever Shall Be. Amen

The Case for Cue Cards

I noticed the Ducks are using some fancy cue cards. Relates well to the Church I think, and some people think not all ideas are good ones!!



PLAY: No firing the Coach when yardage gets lost.

PLAY: Up the middle, down the aisle, TOUCHDOWN!!

PLAY: Need a turnover after the fumble.



Darkness and Light

Materialism today is the sign of a greater struggle of heart toward the heart of Christ. The struggle has manifested itself in every time of the existence of man.  G.K. Chesterton, of the early 20th century, speaks from a longing heart when in his younger years he wrote:

“What were heaven if ought we cherished, shall be wholly left behind?
Is it God’s bright house we dwell in, or a vault of dark confusion…?”

A 21st century Catholic speaker I heard once described her epiphany from sin as a literal transition from the dark places she was keeping herself in, to the light of the sun in the bright noon day. Life in the past or the present often leaves us groping in the dark through all of our Earthly possessions seeking something more.

Fear not. Materialism is only a cancer. Once found in an early state, it can be removed with careful operation, but we must always look for its return.

What forms does materialism take?

Remember first, that the flesh has a taste for pride, vanity and sensuality. Materialism is a small part of all of these main root sins.

If Christ calls man to “renounce all that [they have] for his sake and that of the Gospel.” Luke 14:33, then first we must look at how we are able to do all that God obliges us to do in the Spirit of the Scripture. If material possessions hinder the spread of the Gospel and of the charity that is our duty to express owing from the scripture, then there is a problem.

Second, Christ longs for your heart as much as your heart longs for him even though your mind is elsewhere trapped. The heart and soul are always longing for Christ because he is the key to the Father of love. When you find your mind is not in tune with what is truly best for your soul, then there is a problem. People want to adore something, but so often it becomes themselves, showing up in disordered tendencies such as tattooing, piercing and flesh modifications. Their sight has become sullied by the desire to own fame or entitlement. This love of sensuality rots the link to the true desire to adore the Creator of the Universe.

“Jesus celebrates the joy of the poor, to who the Kingdom already belongs.” CCC2546

Third, materialism is the opposite of the intention of Christ’s teachings for his true disciples. He teaches of the poor widow who exemplifies the standard of giving which he holds us too.CCC2544 This ‘poverty of spirit’ is the way of the cross and a way of detachment.

But I have so much! You say. Look at the life of Elizabeth of Hungary. She lived as a servant of God surrounded by riches and luxuries compared to her fellow man in the 13th century. She gave to the poor, even to the point of annoying her household. One day her husband came upon her in the castle road and asked what was in her apron. It was filled with bread from the keep, but roses appeared when she opened her apron.

The spirit of poverty is within, and it is built up with a treasure chest of piety and Earthly searching for the treasures of God the Father. Materialism is only a physical sign we create ourselves that pulls us away from spiritual treasure. Recognize it and combat it with full intentioned prayer.

“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21

The Fast of the Starving

Imagine you are very busy during the week. It's Tuesday already and you have forgotten to eat breakfast again as you rushed out of the house in the early dark hours of the morning.  You don't stop for coffee because you know there will be some made at work.

You get to work early to take a moment, but find that your boss or coworker has come too and wants to have an impromptu meeting. When you finally step out into the hallway again, you almost run into another person coming from the break room holding a steaming mug of coffee about to sip.  It is daylight outside now. You go to the break room and find the coffee has all been taken.  You think you'll make some more, but there is none left but the crumpled bag on top of the new plastic trash bag in the bin.

With a large sigh, you move to your office desk with the weight of your work brought home still hanging on your shoulder because you never got to put it down.  You remember you have a small bag of cereal in your bottom drawer for just such an occasion to perk you up when morning sustenence was forgotten.  When you open the drawer, you find a crushed ziploc bag that somehow has come open and has small ants making a beeline for the back of the drawer and up to the window near the bushes. Gross. Your stomach rumbles and you feel queasy because now your body really is waking up and wants energy.  Breath.

You tell yourself, breath. A loud sigh comes out as you check your calendar and you have that long morning meeting today.  Hopefully there will be danishes.

You walk in to a crowded room with two seats left. Searching for the pasteries, you crane your neck back and forth for a moment as if at a tennis match.  A chipper higher up comes in and says, "Happy Nutrition Month! We are skipping the goodies today, so I hope you all had breakfast!"  Several coworkers smile and lift their tall coffee thermos's in unison.

Actual pain creeps up your spine because not only did you not eat breakfast, you had a large lunch yesterday and went to workout after work, causing you to go to bed early without any dinner.  It feels as though you are in a dry, barren desert and are almost starving.

Starving.

This is the way of prayer. 

We are starved for it. 

God the Father longs to listen.

 Everything around is empty without prayer. 

Prayer is the intimate relationship that we nuture with our loved one, God the Father.  We are part of His whole family. He sent His Son to be with us and expected us to know Him.  He wants us as part of His family.  He wants to hear your joys and sufferings so that He may work in you and show His glory. 

When you have a doubt about yourself, It means you are starving for prayer.

When you feel disliked or even hated, It means you are starving for prayer.

When you realize you are in despair, It means you are starving for prayer.

When you feel no one will understand, It means you are starving for prayer.

No one can fill the void in man but God. Pray.

The Lottery Post from the Curt Jester

This is a great article.  I disagree that public schools can't engender right and wrong though. Many of them are filled with gun toters themselves, so the concept is easy for kids to grasp when faced with someone who tries to live in the right.

The Lottery

The Courtyard of Good and Evil

I miss New Orleans.  I live in Florida now and I love it. It is a much, much better place for me to be, but I miss New Orleans and Louisiana. 

D'Or Patisserie on Ursulines

When I was young, we took spontaneous trips to the French Quarter early in the morning (which meant only me and my dad). Joggers were still running down Ursulines and the parrots in the palm trees were just starting to have their morning conversations.  When I was older I went and celebrated Mardi Gras, juggled for kids at Zoo to Do, and attended a college I never thought I would get to attend.  There are so many rituals and traditions thriving in New Orleans that imbibe your spirit with zeal for living.




Saint Peter and Paul Church in Marigny

 




I have learned though, that sometimes it is better to bring these things to the world, rather than wait for them to come to you.  There are no large cathedrals from the 1700 hundreds here. There are no latin masses to go to on Sunday within an hours drive.  There are no Grandmothers and their friends who talk about people in Cajun French in front of you and laugh during afternoon coffee.  There are no T-boo's or Parrain's or Awn-tee's being talked about cause they almost won da' scratch off. 



Grandma descended
from the Acadians
who moved from Canada



There are no sad looking young people on the street with hopes for nothing written on their worn faces.  There are no Black men standing on the street corner surrounded by Black people who are prejudiced against their own race.  There are no poor families living in a dynasty of poverty and existing like it is a reparation to get welfare.  At least I haven't seen these sights that were burned in my retina from a young age and having walked the streets of New Orleans and other places in the deep South of Louisiana.

I miss New Orleans. I breath the air here, but my heart thumps, and stomps and beats to the rythym of a parade down Decatur and the laughter and joy of the souls in Nola.



The Master's Return

Being tardy never seemed so important to me as a teacher.  Many times, it cannot be helped.  This year I have a couple of students who are often tardy, either by their own fault or by their siblings or parents fault.  It is a habit that is hindering their learning.

It never mattered to me before, because I didn't have repeat offenders in the past seven years I have taught.  My first thought the other day as I reviewed my attendence summary was of the maids and the bridegrooms who wait for the bridegroom Christ.  I never really understood that passage until I heard a talk by Brant Pitre. He lays out the foundation for the Bridegroom Messiah. You can find his works for sale at http://www.catholic-productions.com/  But it makes sense if you think about the connection of habit.

I don't always 'get' scripture. I have to read the explanation and learn.  I have had some visions from Christ while meditating on scripture, and scripture reads as a living thing to me, but I am not that bright in scriptural study.

In my mind, I was trying to figure more understanding from those passages when I read the tardies across my attendence summary.  The passages are Luke 12:37 are Matthew 25:1-13.  The oil that the young ladies forget is also the reverence for God the Father that the Church forgets.  It makes me wonder how my habits are affecting my spiritual goals and obedience and servitude toward Our Heavenly Father. 

Am I habitually tardy?
Am I staying awake?

The Feast of St Therese of Lisieux

I love The Little Flower.  When I think of humility, I most want to emulate her little way and love of Our Lady in Heaven.