Reason #12 Making it your own & Reason #13 finding souls

Happy Halloween! As a Catholic I am happy to say Halloween also pronounced All Hallow's Eve. One thing the Catholic Church has done over the last 2000 years is to not proclaim others wrong or sinners (note the capital "C" in church, this does not include individual misguided Catholics but the magistarium) but to bring Christ into what they already believe hence our current tradition of Halloween which while it does have roots in pagan rituals of remembering dead people became a Christian celebration of the eve before all Soul's Day. On this All Hallow's eve let us remember what it really means and not try to change it to "Holyween" as I have seen some churches do for All Hallow's Eve as it is already Holy and it is important to remember and pray for the soul's that have gone before us. Prayer is outside of time as God is outside of time, so please pray that every soul may find the happiness that comes from God's loving embrace. The Christian fight isn't about who is right and who is wrong (all though their are truths in the world), it is about precious souls finding peace and rest for all of eternity. This needs to be a war fought with prayer and love, never weapons and hatred. For Jesus commands us: "put on all the armour of God" (Eph 6.11) And from the 15 promises of the Mary, "The Rosary shall be a powerful armour against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies." With Christ as our shield and the rosary as our sword, let us wage a battle for souls. I am going to put my rosary where my computer keys are. Have a great Hallow eve!

Session Ideas

I am giving a conference session on "Saving Green by Going Green" in a week and a half. I have a bunch of ideas, but I thought I would see what other people can come up with. So give me your suggestions.

Reason #11 The Liturgy

So as a mother of three small boys sitting in a pew by ourselves each Sunday (Brandon is playing guitar again). I am so very grateful for the regularity of the liturgy. It makes it easier for a mother to mentally jump in and out as her children's needs fluctuate. My favorite story was on one particular Sunday we had a couple of books in the pew so of course Dominic and Xavier found it necessary to both want the same book at the same time. I was busy being the peacemaker and missed a chunk of the homily. I get the book problem solved and jump back into the homily to hear the priest saying something to the extent of "just like children can be in a room full of toys and insist on fighting over the same one" I thought, well I guess I didn't miss anything at all and maybe Fr. Dusty was looking in our pew and came up with that at the spur of the moment (but I don't think so).

I love that as profound and complete as the liturgy is, it is so complete that it recognizes that we are mere humans we need repetition in our lives, we need musical breaks, we need to stand up, sit down and kneel to keep the blood flowing in our hearts and minds open. We need to be able to put the needs of our children before our own needs and wants.

Reason #10 Render to Caesar

So this reason isn't specifically Catholic but I do love how the 3 year liturgical cycle always seems exactly dead on to where we all need to focus. I seriously need to stop reading anything but the comics in the newspaper. So today I made the sad mistake of reading the paper while enjoying my breakfast. On one page it was all about the education reform ideas of Obama and McCain. My stomach was greatly disturbed to see how much money our future president is going to put into having free public education start at birth. Has anyone actually thought about what is the best for the child? Is encouraging more women to put their newborn baby in formal education really the best in the complete development of the child. There is not a single study that thinks so, but we will be rendering billions of dollars into this new educational ideology while we still provide little to no support (financial management or emotional) for people to live on one income. So then I make the next mistake to flip a few pages further and find out that the city of Evansville has officially decided to give a bunch of tax breaks to Mead Johnson (aka Enfamil). I am not sure how our town things this is a good economic decision, but there you have it.

Greatly disturbed by all of these uses of my money, I remind myself that in this life we must render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's. This doesn't mean I should just say oh well and let the government spend money however it feels like, but I need to not let it take over my joy. I am reminded that I need to lay my soul and my life before the Lord and He will take care to provide in me and my family what is truly important for a deep seeded happiness that can not be found in the world of Caesar.

Reason #9 Sense of Humor

So Alexander has his first loose tooth. In looking into who the patron saint of teeth is, I was refreshingly reminded of how seemingly twisted some of the patron saint stories are. You may have already guessed it, but yes, she became patroness of dentist and tooth aches b/c while being tortured for her chastity and loyalty to Christ, she had all of her teeth ripped out of her mouth. This is up there with St. Lawrence being patron saint of cooks b/c as he was being burned at the stake, he said turn me over the other side isn't done yet. It is really disturbing the methods of torture these saints endured to profess being a Christian. I often wonder if I would be strong enough to endure what they did. It does however, also remind me that we need to keep a good sense of humor in life knowing that God is always in control. There is a banquet that awaits all who love him and if we keep our eyes set on the goal, maybe we too can have the same beautiful sense of peace and humor that the saints that lived before us did.

Reason #8 Monstrances

As a child, I would sit in awe of the selfless and giving love of the man nailed to the cross for the redemption of my soul. There was no greater love than the crucifixion of my Lord. What I didn't realize was that that was only half the story. To understand the fullness of His love, beautifully proclaimed in the Catholic Church, meant to understand the nuptial union He called me to. The complete gift of Himself that he gave for my consumption as a consummation to hold his perfect body in my imperfect body. This is the greatest gift I have ever been given. My heart races, my eyes tear at the mere thought of his perfect gift of self. With this perfect image of his gift of body , my heart races as a bride on her wedding night in awe and admiration of the beauty of her beloved's nakedness. It is a love that holds nothing back and hides nothing from His bride. Lord, you lay naked before us as your brides with a trust and love that we will return your complete gift of self and allow our souls to be naked before you as we once were and we anticipate to be again in your kingdom.

Deep Thoughts by Dominic John

1. Last night as we lay in bed, Dominic informs me that "everyone in the family loves monkeys except for Alexander because Alexander likes jaguars and they eat monkeys. "

2. A few weeks ago Alexander wanted to play "school" with Dominic. The conversation went something like this.

A: We are going to play school. I am going to be the teacher and you are going to be the student so you have to do to everything I say.

D: I only do what God tells me to do.

So right there folks, my son has figured out the truth to pure joy and he isn't even five yet. I reiterate: "Four things are among the smallest on the earth, and yet are exceedingly wise: Ants - a species not strong, yet they store up their food in the summer. Proverbs 30:25

Reason #7 Ecstasy Part I

I meant to post this on the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, but alas, here it finally is. I am not sure I can say much more than wow. Who wouldn't want to be in the same faith as someone with that expression derived out of her prayer and the fullness of the bride/bridgegroom consummation? I love being part of a faith that recognizes that God is calling us into a great love affair. It is in the anticipation of perfect union with him one day that the trials and tribulations of marriage are brought to fulfillment and meaning.

It's amazing...

First read this. So in a time of financial stress for many Americans my local newspaper actually stated how great it is that Mead Johnson (aka Enfamil) will be growing their plant and how great this will be for the Evansville community. I am completely astounded that they are praising this company during a time of financial crunch for many of our poor. It is incredible that our city is considering giving a tax cut to help them continue stealing money from the poor by selling & marketing subpar nutrition against all of the ethics codes of the World Health Organization. Just think how greatly this will affect our economy as we continue to need more health care expenses to cover these poor children who have not been given so many of God's great things and we are even going to charge them lower taxes to do so! I am completely speechless which is why this is rambling and probably not making much sense.

If a mommy checks the mail...

based on the book "If you give a mouse a cookie".

If a mommy checks the mail, she will notice that their is a huge pile of dumped trash and paper scraps all over her living room floor. When she goes to the front porch to put the paper scraps in the recycling, she will notice her children left play towels all over it and they should probably be washed since there are mice living out there. After placing the towels at the top of the basement stairs to be washed, she will sweep up the trash and dump it in the kitchen garbage. Upon entering the kitchen she will notice that it really is gross and she should unload and reload the dishwasher. After loading the dishwasher she will notice that she is out of soap. She decides if she is going to go down to the basement to get soap she should bring the laundry down with her. When she goes into the bathroom to collect the laundry she will remember an old promise that before she runs laundry she will take a cloth wipe and wipe down the bathroom. After finishing wiping down the bathroom, she heads to the basement with an armful of laundry and tosses it in the washer. After grabbing her box of dishwasher soap, she will notice that her kids have made a mess of the basement. Upon asking them to clean it up, they respond "Isn't Mommy going to help?" she manages not to blow her top and picks up some of the mess that she knows the baby did. After returning upstairs she starts the dishwasher only to hear her oldes screaming that she messed up "dragonland" in the basement. She requires him to come upstairs and eat after noticing that his breakfast is still on the table from hours ago. While in the dining room, she notices that there are scraps of paper in there that also need to be cleaned. She dumps the garbage in the kitchen trash. Upon entering the kitchen, her children all decide it should be lunchtime. After lunch the mail lady comes and now to check the mail...

Reason #6 Leadership

After spending half the afternoon annoyed with the lies on both political parties and just plain sick of politics, my kids and I went to 6pm daily mass. As we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Rosary (at Holy Rosary Church), I was reminded by the enormous crucifix that in a time when neither candidate or party is a protector of all human life that there will be a day when the Prince of Peace will reign over all people. Only then will my soul be truly at rest. For now, I will enjoy being a member of church that respects all life from before conception, through only allowing just war, until natural death and of course continue to pray for peace.

Reason #5 Choices of Lifestyle

While most of our world thinks lifestyle choice somehow should be discussing who should be able to marry who and be recognized by the state, we have lost sight of true lifestyle choice. In a world where Celibacy is under fire, we have completely lost site of the ability to retire to a mountain in a solitude that only can come from knowing that you are part of a bigger picture, a bigger plan, a bigger community. On the feast of St. Bruno let us thank God for monks and humans so strong in their faith that their hearts will never be alone.

Reason #4 St. Francis

Happy Feast of St. Francis everyone! There is so much to say as to why St. Francis is such an important facet of the Catholic Church, but I will try to keep it short. With the beatification of St. Francis the Catholic Church reminds us all of the importance of staying true to Christ's teaching that with neither rod or shoes on your feet should you follow Christ for we must leave the material world and completely embrace that God will always fully provide for us and that he is the only fulfillment in life all other "things" will come short.

Proclaim the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words.

God Bless!

Reason #3 The Eucharist & Jon Bon Jovi

Christ's words "this is my body given up for you" is what every man is supposed to be saying to his wife in the marital embrace. Would our world have such a high divorce rate if this were true? In Bon Jovi's "Bed of Roses" he somehow gets it (I was utterly shocked) the refrain reads, "I want to lay you down in a bed of roses (Mary is often said to smell like roses as well as other heavenly saints that have roses attributed to them), for tonight I sleep on a bed of nails (watch what his arms do in the refrain when he says nails, he is imitating the FULL gift of self that Christ gave on the cross) then he even completes the marital act recognizing that the Holy Ghost is the result of the full gift of love between Christ and her church. Unbelievable. I have no idea if this is what he thought he was writing about, but he was raised at least loosely Catholic and has been married to the same women for almost 20 years.

Reason #2 Celibacy

I love being part of church that believes sex is so important that abstaining from sex is thought of as such a complete gift of self. Celibacy reminds us that true ecstasy will only be found when we (the bride) is fully, intimately, physically united with the true bridegroom.

50 Reasons I love being Catholic

So in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep (I need to stop waking up at 10am so I can go to bed at a decent hour) I starting thinking about how much I love being Catholic the more I learn about the Church. I decided that from today until Thanksgiving I am going to do 50 reasons I love being Catholic. So without further delay:

Reason #1 Today's reason has to do with the fact that it is St. Therese's Feast day. She is that holy looking woman on the right. I love belonging to a church that honors women who have guts and femininity beautifully balanced in one person. She was obedient to those she needed to be obedient to, but when push came to shove and she felt God calling her and had locals think she was too young, she took it to the pope and won!