R.C. Mommy

"No" isn't a 4 letter word

2012-01-01T16:20:00.000-05:00

Last year at this time, I was the most stressed out I had ever been. I consider it a miracle that I didn't deliver P-Nut prematurely, or miscarry her because I was so overstressed. Let me tell you why I was so stressed out.

In August of 2010, I had committed to serve as the leader of Bubba's Cub Scout Den as well as the Class Mom (Party Planner) for Curly Sue's preschool class. This meant a party for every holiday as well as an end-of-the-year beach party and graduation in June. All of this is in addition to my work at the parish, which called me from the house 2 nights a week and for an hour on Sunday mornings. The Boys were signed up to play flag football, which meant that between practices and games, football 5/7 days per week. And my husband wasn't coaching, so we were at the mercy of 2 someones else for scheduling practices (2 different teams). In September, I found out we were expecting P-Nut at the beginning of June, the week before Preschool graduation. In November, right before Thanksgiving, my niece came to stay with us for 6 months. I soon found I was seriously over-extended and over-committed, even after delegating the parties to many of the other parents in Curly Sue's class. Something had to give, and it was me.

Reflecting on all of this, I came to realize that I said Yes to too many things. The nice ladies called again from school at the end of this past summer asking wouldn't I please be the class mom for Bubba's class? It's 2nd grade, so it's not the same as Pre-K, less intense. Won't you do it? I said I needed to discuss it with my husband, who considered me a fool for entertaining the idea. "You're doing Scouts, we have a new baby, you're back to work. Are you crazy?" I answered no. And they found a new, wonderful mom to help. And the world did not stop turning.

The oven is broken, and we're on the verge of a kitchen remodel, so we haven't gotten it fixed. My toaster oven has never worked so hard. When the Boy Scouts asked for Court of Honor desserts, I bought bakery cookies from the local grocery store. And they were enjoyed by all. Christmas approached. Since my oven was broken, I couldn't torture myself about cookies that would never be baked in time, or staying up late baking and cleaning up cookie baking mess that would be a chore, another thing to cross off my to-do list. Christmas still came, and it was still Merry-even if I never got around to baking!

I recently came to realize that the things I HAVE TO DO is actually quite short. But I have taken many things on in the past that should give me joy, that should be wonderful, that quickly become chores because I have overcommitted myself.

Here's what can happen when we overcommit: The first thing that gets jettisoned is my prayer life. I stuff too much into my life, and work the Lord right out of it. Then, I put personal relationships on the back burner. I spent so much time doing things for the activities that my kids are involved in and actually forgot to SPEND TIME with my kids. Or when we are together, all I do is yell at them. Don't they know I'm busy decorating cupcakes for them? I don't have time to read a story or help with homework! And my husband? Isn't he that guy who sleeps on the other side of the bed? I think I see him every once in a while. Then I stop talking to my extended family and friends. But the principal at the school and I are BFFs because I see her more than I see anyone else.

I am embracing "No" this year. Any new activities will be vetted by this questionnaire:
1. Will this take time away from my relationship with God? Can I carve extra time out of my day to pray to bolster this fundamental relationship in my life to balance out this new responsibility?
2. Will this new activity be to God's greater glory, or am I saying yes to make myself look better? If I'm doing it so people can admire and wonder at my supermom-itude, then I had better say no. Pride goes before the fall.
3. Will this new activity get in the way of my relationship with my spouse? Can it bring us closer together? Will we have more time together? Will it make it harder for us to spend alone time with one another?
4. Will this new activity bring me closer to my children? Will it interrupt family meal times? Will they even remember this later? The best memories are the ones of times we spend together, interacting with each other. The times I dropped what I did to help my child are the ones that bolster our relationships and what they will remember. Conversely, the times when I put my child's needs aside to pursue something else will be their deepest negative memories.
5. WIll this activity bring me true joy, or will it drag me down into a festering pool of resentment?

What about the old, "If you don't do it then no one else will do it?" I just don't believe that at all. I don't believe that no one else will do it. I think that someone will step up. And so what if they don't? If the school doesn't have that program this year, maybe it will make someone step up and do it next year. If it's important to enough people, someone will step up and take charge of the program. It doesn't have to be me. The thing I will have to remember is that to every activity I say no to, it opens up another opportunity for someone else to say yes. Someone with fresh ideas and new energy-and a new BFF for the school principal. And the world will not stop turning.

whatever and ever

2011-10-20T12:28:00.003-04:00

Hi!

It's been a while. Had a baby. You know, life happened and then before you know it's it's been months and months since you've posted anything. Let me ease back in with some sound bites. In no particular order:

1. Sharecare, I do not think you want me for a wellness warrior right now. I am breastfeeding and any decrease in my caloric intake means I do not make enough milk for my little baby to eat. So I must continue to consume many chocolate products every day. I hope you understand.

2. I have decided that the baby's blog name will be P-nut. Because she's small. And I like the way that looks. It's kind of what I imagine Beyonce and Jay-Z will call their baby.

3. Here is a picture of P-Nut. We also refer to her as The Cuteness. As in, "Hold The Cuteness while I go make dinner."

4. P-Nut was our smallest baby by 2 pounds. She also was "failing to thrive," which basically meant she slept when she was supposed to be eating. But she's better now and wider awake and getting bigger, but she's still not that big (4 1/2 months old and 12 pounds. My other kids were 12 pounds at 2 months!). The picture above was from July.

5. Our pastor has allowed me to work from home while The Cuteness is still little. It's been nice to work from here. Got me a Google voice number for folks to call me on that the RE office can give out. Kind of cool.

More another day!

new translation

2011-09-19T18:12:00.002-04:00

7 Quick Takes Friday: Easter Egg edition

2011-04-22T11:20:00.001-04:00

With many thanks to the lovely Jennifer of Conversion Diary.

1. First: my hair because I KNOW you're dying to know how THAT all turned out. Saturday, I got an appointment with my friend who does hair at her house. I walked in and she told me, "I was all ready give you a hard time and to tell you it's not that bad. It really IS that bad." She said that there are some colorists who will never in their whole careers see hair as stained as mine was.

2. It took 3 or 4 bleach treatments to get the hair to go from strawberry (the actual color of a berry-not the pretty red-blonde color seen on people) to people-hair-colored-red. We were going to try and get it to the point where we could dye it a light brown color, but it would have meant a 4th or 5th whole-head bleaching. She said, "You know, we could just put some blonde highlights in and it would really be pretty."

3. Since it was 11 PM and I had been in her chair for THREE HOURS I told her to go for it.

4. Now I look less like Strawberry Shortcake and more like Vitamin C (only my hair is red and blonde, not red and yellow).

5. Remember the Graduation Song by Vitamin C? No? Here's the video:

6. The hair looks nice. I have gotten a lot of compliments on it. It's definitely bolder than I would have chosen, but I like it. It's very Spring.

7. On Sunday, I was wearing a pink shirt. Scott told me I looked so nice with my new hair and my pink shirt. I said thank you. Then, "You know, with the pink shirt, and the vibrant hair, I look like an Easter Egg." And I am OK with that.

From this Easter Egg to you, Happy Easter!

7 quick takes: Damn, baby, what'd you do to your hair edition

2011-04-15T12:36:00.003-04:00

1. I tried coloring my hair today. The developing creme didn't mix all the way in with the color. This means my hair is streaky, patchy, and the color of Strawberry Shortcake's IN SOME PLACES. I'm currently waiting for my hairdresser to call me back to see when she can fit me in to fix it. 2. Our Confirmation retreat is tomorrow. It is possible that I will be wearing a baseball cap during the retreat. 3. In confession this week, I confessed that I have been struggling with the same sin for the last month. The priest asked me to think about that the Lord is trying to show me about myself as regards this sin. 4. I have concluded that this sin is directly traceable to my trying to exercise my own will in a certain area of my life, and not God's. 5. It now occurs to me that this hair color faux pas may be one of the many ways God is trying to humble me further so I can more readily accept His will. 6. I really had better get on the stick with the accepting God's Will part. This being humbled part is humbling. 7. The most important lessons are the hardest ones to learn. Please visit the lovely Jennifer for more 7 Quick Takes.

7 quick takes: day late, dollar short version

2011-04-02T12:37:00.003-04:00

1. I am now 30 weeks pregnant. I have entered that delightful stage of pregnancy I call "beached whale." I am gigantic.

2. But Scott still thinks I'm pretty, so it's all good.

3. As an extra fun part of this pregnancy, I am now considered to be of "advanced maternal age." That means I'm 35 or older. So, I get to go for ultrasounds like all the time. Which is fun, in a way.

4. But the hospital is 45 minutes from my house. This whole thing will be less fun in 2 weeks when I have to start going once a week.

5. I decided that I am going to make red velvet cake pops today. Have to go to the craft store and get lollipop sticks.

6. Baseball has started! All 3 of my kids are playing this year. That means heading out to the fields which are on the end of town that is always about 10 degrees colder in the spring than the air outside of my house. We don't put away our winter gear until after Mothers' Day. Especially for a 9 AM T-Ball game. brrr......

7. Have had "Slumdog Millionaire" for over a month from the Netflix. Haven't had any time to watch it. This is my life.

For more quick takes, please visit Jen Fulwiler at "Conversion Diary."

Full disclosure

2011-02-26T23:07:00.003-05:00

I feel a little bit like a hypocrite recommending St. Francis de Sales' "Introduction to the Devout Life" to you in my previous post. The reason for this is that I have never actually finished reading it myself.

Why have I never finished reading this classic of Catholic spirituality? Because, like Gollum, I am not ready to detach myself from the sins I hold onto so dearly.

When I began "Introduction," I recognized that in reading it, I was going to have to take action, either to change my sinful ways and enter into a deeper union with Christ or to reject it, to do nothing, and therefore reject Christ.

I decided to pretend that I hadn't read what I had read and to try to resume sleepwalking through my spiritual life. I closed the book less than halfway through.

Writing the previous three posts has led me to realize that it's all well for me to encourage you to make a radical commitment to the Lord, but I am a hypocrite because I have not done so myself.

This Lent, I am going to go to work on incorporating St. Francis de Sales' advice into my life. It's time for me to sh!t or get off the pot so to speak. I am afraid of hell. That will have to be the beginning motivation for me to turn closer to Christ. Pray for me that I will one day turn to Him out of sheer love for Him, not because I fear the justice I deserve.

Holding on for a hero

2011-01-26T11:04:00.004-05:00

To develop my Catholic identity, or to develop it in my family, requires intentional living. It is not enough to float through my life, to be comfortable in my Catholicism. If I'm comfortable, I'm not doing it right.

By intentional living, I mean that my life has to be specifically oriented toward the Lord. Everything I do has to be toward His greater glory. In other words, I have to live the way the saints did, with heroic virtue. (Being human, I will probably stumble. Praise the Lord then for the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.)

Fr. Z wrote about heroic virtue, the quality that defines a saint, the other day. I'm going to quote him here:

"But Father! But Father!”, some of you are about to say. “Heroic virtue? Really?
How can any of us aspire to such a thing! That’s sounds terribly difficult!”

It isn’t easy, but it is possible.

We are all called to be saints. God wouldn’t ask something of us that isn’t possible. And when He asks things that are hard, He also provides the means and the occasions. Even in your suffering, for example, or your obscurity, you can serve Him. God knew you before the creation of the material universe. He called you into being now, in this world. Of all the possible worlds God could have created, He created this
world, into which you would be born. He has a plan and purpose your you, if you
will embrace it.

Heroic virtue isn't developed overnight. I can name several places in my own life right now where I can do better to develop that heroic virtue. I can take a set time out of my day for prayer (Divine Mercy Chaplet takes 5 minutes to say!). I can read scripture instead of that new chick lit book before I go to bed. I can read about the faith.

I teach a group of kids on Sunday mornings. They range in age from 9-16. Some haven't been baptized, and some are from families who are coming back to the Church after some time away. None of them have made their First Communion nor have they been Confirmed. When we came to the Feast of the Epiphany, our first class back after the Christmas break, I challenged them to make a "New Year's Resolution." It was to be one small thing that they can do in their daily lives to show love for others and love for God. Maybe it was to say a decade of the Rosary every day. Maybe it was to talk to one lonely person at their school every day. Or to help do one extra thing around the house every day. Something that they could do and that they would do. I have made it a point every week to remind them of their resolutions and to encourage them in these things. It takes 6 weeks to change or to start a new pattern of behavior. In a few more weeks, we'll revisit these resolutions and see how we're doing. If we've got the new pattern mastered, we can add something else (like, bumping it up to two decades of the Rosary, etc.).

You don't run a marathon without training for it. You start out running short distances and then you gradually work up to that 26.2 miles. I believe that the best way to cultivate that heroic virtue within myself and my family is to start with one small thing and do it faithfully for a while and then to add something else to do.

One of the best things I've read on this is "Introduction to the Devout Life," by St. Francis de Sales. I am also seriously afraid right now that I may have co-opted this great work. If I have, I am so sorry. Anyway, you should buy it and read it. Or borrow it from the library. It's written for people who are living in the world, not in a cloister. How to cultivate devotion in your daily life of taking care of your kids and husband. And he just makes sense.

Identity crisis

2011-01-24T21:42:00.006-05:00

These three things (confusion, negotiation, and loss of Catholic identity) are some of the things that are causing the Church to bleed people out to the evangelical Christian churches. Poor catechesis is the biggest reason (why on earth would you leave the Church if you know that it's where you can get the Jesus in the Eucharist-and what that means?), but a close second is a loss of our Catholic identity (Pope Benedict is all about this. So is Fr. Z.).

Why else would a "Good Catholic family" choose to send their kids to a decent public school when they could send their kids to a decent Catholic school? Why else would a good family leave St. Peter's for the Hope Evangel Church of Christ (led by a former Catholic who is now their pastor)? It's not really because they can't afford the tuition (if it's important to your identity, you find a way to sacrifice to make it happen). It's not really because the evangelicals demand less than the Catholics do (I think in many instances, it's the opposite).

It's because Christian denominations have become interchangeable to Catholics. On the whole, many adults don't know basic truths (facts) about the Church and what She teaches. A 2008 survey by CARA showed that just 57% of all adult Catholics surveyed believe in the real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

I've seen it myself in the parish where I am. I have seen families who think that going to any church is ok, if they go at all. I've worked with families that have the kids go to CCD and to Sunday school or youth group at another Christian church-and see nothing wrong with it. They don't know there are theological differences between the different approaches to Christianity and they don't seem to be aware of any confusing messages that the children might pick up.

We have lost a sense of what makes Catholics, well, Catholic. How many families do you know that gets together for a Rosary every night-or once a week? Gosh, how many of them even get together for dinner every night? How many people do you know who wear a scapular? I can only think of one I know for sure-and he's a 90 year old priest. How many people do you know who wear a Miraculous Medal-and WHY? Wearing a cross around your neck is kind of fashionable. But how many people do you know who do it with real devotion and not just as another piece of jewelry?

In the interest of full disclosure, the only one of those things to which I can say, "yes, I do that myself" is the one about the Miraculous Medal. I was going to say that our family is doing it's best, but we're really not. We're not doing our best because it's a little work to do all of those things.

Yes, to reinforce a Catholic identity, or to develop one, takes work. It takes living intentionally. So many of us (me especially) are content to float through life, going through the basic motions of what it means to be a Catholic Christian. We say grace before meals (most of the time), we go to Sunday Mass, we say goodnight prayers with our kids, and all of these are good things. BUT aren't we all called to do more? Didn't Jesus give His life for us? Doesn't that require a radical commitment from all of us? And a renewal of that commitment every day?

(stay tuned for part 3)

Lower your expectations; get less than you expect

2011-01-06T21:56:00.007-05:00

I am a firm believer in setting your expectations for others to be reasonably high. Take my children for example. I expect them to put their dirty laundry into the hamper. I remind them, but I expect it from them. I expect them to be polite not only to others, but to each other and above all, to their parents. And they do these things. Not always, and I do sometimes have to remind them, but overall, they do what I expect.

Why would they live up to my expectations? 1. They know I love them, 2. My expectations are reasonable: things that anyone their ages should be able to do. (I'm not asking the 4 year old help shovel the walk-though she does it readily. She thinks it's FUN!) and 3. They love me and they do not want to disappoint me. Nor do they want the consequences of failing to live up to the expectations.

Yes, consequences. If you don't eat your dinner, you will not get dessert. If you don't put your dirty socks in the wash, you will have no clean socks to wear. If you are rude to mom, you get to deal with dad.

I have been trying to drill into my 7th grade CCD kids' heads the holydays of obligation in the USA. And I have been trying to impress upon all of the kids I am in contact with (in my class and the 8th grade Confirmation candidates) the importance of weekly (and Holyday) Mass attendance.

To review, the Holydays of Obligation in the USA are:

January 1, feast of Mary, Mother of God
40 days after Easter, Ascension Thursday
August 15, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
November 1, All Saints' Day
December 8, Immaculate Conception of Mary
December 25, Christmas

So, after the boys, Scott, and I stayed up to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve, we woke in time to get to 9:00 Mass for the Holyday of Obligation. We thought. Yes, I work at the parish, but I forgot the Holyday schedule is not the same as the Sunday schedule, and we were late for Mass by half an hour. Mass was nearly over by the time we arrived. So, we went home. Then I thought to myself, "Is it even a holyday this year? It's Saturday." So I googled it. And lo, the holyday was abrogated this year. Because it fell on a Saturday. The Holyday is also abrogated when it falls on a Monday, too. So, let's look at that list again for 2010:

January 1, feast of Mary, Mother of God (not abroagted in 2010)
40 days after Easter, Ascension Thursday (transferred to the following Sunday in all but 6 dioceses in the US)
August 15, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (happened to be a Sunday in 2010)
November 1, All Saints' Day (abrogated)
December 8, Immaculate Conception of Mary (never abrogated)
December 25, Christmas (never abrogated)

In 2010, 3 of the 6 Holydays were transferred or abrogated in almost all of our nation's dioceses.
Did you know that according to the code of canon law (canon 1246), there are actually 10 holydays of obligation? Yes, it's true! In the USA, we have either dropped or transferred to Sunday: Epiphany, Corpus Christi, and the Solemnities of St. Joseph and of Sts. Peter and Paul.

I can appreciate what I think our Bishops Conference is trying to do. I think that they don't want people who wouldn't go to Mass those days to have mortal sins on their souls for choosing not to go to Mass. I really think they decided to do what they thought was best.

I am not a bishop. I don't even play one on TV. I don't claim to know more than our shepherds, nor do I claim to be more Catholic than any one of them. I know that the Lord has chosen them to lead us and we should be willing to be led.

It just seems to me that what this abrogation of holydays and what this removal of holydays really is, is a lowering of our bishops' expectations for us. It's kind of like, "We know it's really hard for you to take an extra 10 hours out of your year to go to Mass for special days, especially since most of you don't go to Sunday Mass at all. So, we're going to make it easier for you. You only have to go on these few days. Not so bad, right?"

There are a few downsides to this line of thinking: 1. It's confusing. I mean, I work at a church and I go to Mass every week and I don't even know when it's really an obligation or not. 2. It leads people to wonder what else is negotiable. This is a very slippery slope. I saw it in people in my parents' generation after Vatican II: "Now it's not a sin to eat meat on Friday (but you have to remember to make a different act of penance)." "Not a sin to eat meat on Friday?! What else isn't a sin?" 3. To take away or abrogate Holydays of Obligation, which are important because of the events and people they celebrate, chips away at our Catholic identity. There is less and less that separates us from Protestant Christians.

(tune in next time for part 2)

Hello, blog? It's me, Margaret.

2011-01-06T21:34:00.002-05:00

No, it's Amy. And things are better. We're all settling in here and getting used to one another.

Baby 4 seems to be growing nicely. I have a doctor's appointment tomrrow morning, barring any more snow-related weirdness (we got about 30 inches of snow December 26-27, 2010). We'll see how much weight I've gained and whether or not my doctor will yell at me.

Well, that's all for now. I have a church-related rant coming up. And I do have to start getting back to all of the stuff I owe you about going to Europe last summer.

Good night!

Sucky

2010-12-09T12:05:00.003-05:00

suckity sucksucksucksucks suck.

My life is complicated and stressful right now. And in it I can see God's hand holding mine. I can see Him providing though the kindness of other people and I am grateful.

Just not cheerful.

I am beyond frustrated with certain people I am related to.

I am depressed.

I am angry.

I want normal again.

I want this sh!t to stop hitting the fan during the winter holidays (This isn't the first time it has all gone to hell right before Thanksgiving). I feel stressed right now because I can't do the things I want to do at this time of year. I don't feel adequately SPIRITUALLY prepared for Christmas.

I can't think any further ahead than the next 5 minutes. It's 12:13. I'm just trying to get to 1:00.

I feel like I'm in a constant state of prayer because otherwise I would have lost my mind.

Went to the OB yesterday. Unbelieveably, my blood pressure was normal: 110/70. That is a miracle because I spent the whole morning trying to wrangle 2 misbehaving children at Mass and listening to them bicker and tattle on each other ALL MORNING. ALL MORNING!

I feel like I go around the clock and am accomplishing nothing.

I know so many of you are praying for me. And I am so grateful for that. And I know that these problems I have, when taken with those of other people, are not a lot.

I'm just in the thick of it right now. And trying to get to 1:00.

Random randomness part 785

2010-11-27T18:49:00.003-05:00

Hello, Internet. I know you missed me. My life has been cuckoo crazy lately. Here's a recap:

both boys played flag football in a rec league this fall. This totally kicked my butt. They were in 2 different age groups, so they played on different days and had totally different practices and some of the older boy's games didn't even end until after 9. Monday-Thursday of every week was football in addition to the OT for one of the kids, two different cub scout dens, and CCD for me two nights a week.
I am leading our younger son's cub scout den, which feels completely overwhelming, but probably because of the flag football experience as outlined above. I do enjoy it, but I feel I have have said yes to too much this year.
Case in point: I allowed myself to be guilted into serving as a class mom again for my daughter's preschool class. I was told that they asked everyone else. I'm not sure that's the whole truth. It's fun, but this year can be a lot of work. The teacher already let me off the hook with the huge Thanksgiving breakfast they usually do (she's just coming back from maternity leave and I asked her if we can back off on it), but I still get to chair all of the class parties, field day, "beach" party, and graduation. Which all takes place in the beginning of June and should prove interesting because:
Giglio baby #4 will likely be born that week (I'm emailing all of the parents next week to delegate all of that end-of-year stuff.). We are really excited because we've been trying (or not not trying) to get pregnant since January. Reaction was mixed when we announced it to our families at Thanksgiving dinner (Dinner deserves a post of its own that will never be written. Stressful. not unborn-child-related). Feeling queasy and tired all the time, even at the 12 week mark. Pretty sure it's a girl.
My niece came to stay with last last Sunday. She'll be with us for a while. She needs our prayers. Please pray for us as well.

So, there is most of it, I think. Isn't that enough?

I have to say I'm super jazzed to be pregnant at the same time once again as my best girl, Aimee. We're both due within a month of each other again.

I know I owe you posts. God willing, my life will slow down some. Someday. The way my luck seems to be running, I'll get put on bedrest. The upside would be that I'd have nothing to do but blog. The downside would be that chaos would ensue.

Blessed Mother, pray for me!

Prayer request

2010-11-22T19:38:00.003-05:00

My niece has come to stay with us for a time. Would appreciate you throwing a prayer to the Lord on her behalf, on behalf of her parents, and on behalf of our family as we all get used to having each other around!

For Veterans Day

2010-11-08T18:39:00.002-05:00

I read this story about a Marine during WWII and St. Michael the Archangel a few years ago. It's beautiful. Thank a vet this week, won't you?

True story of a Soldier and the Intervention of St. Michael

What follows is a letter written by a young Marine to his mother while he was hospitalized after being wounded on a Korean battlefield in 1950. It came into the hands of a Navy Chaplain who read the letter before 5,000 Marines at a San Diego Naval Base in 1951.

The Navy Chaplain had talked to the young man, to his mother, and to the Sergeant in charge of the patrol. This Navy Chaplain, Father Walter Muldy, assured anyone who asked, that this was a true story. This letter was read once a year in the 1960's over a mid-western radio station at Christmas time. We present the letter and let it stand on its own merits.

Dear Mom,

I wouldn't dare write this letter to anyone but you because no one else would believe it. Maybe even you will find it hard, but I have to tell somebody.

First off, I am in a hospital. Now don't worry, you hear me, don't worry. I was wounded but I'm okay. The doctor says that I will be up and around in a month. But that is not what I want to tell you.

Remember when I joined the Marines last year; remember when I left, how you told me to say a prayer to St. Michael every day. You really didn't have to tell me that. Ever since I can remember you always told me to pray to St. Michael the Archangel. You even named me after him. Well I have always prayed to St. Michael. When I got to Korea, I prayed even harder. Remember the prayer that you taught me? "Michael, Michael of the morning, fresh corps of Heaven adorning…" You know the rest of it. Well, I said it every day, sometimes when I was marching or sometimes resting, but always before I went to sleep. I even got some of the other fellas to say it.

Well, one day I was with an advance detail way up over the front lines. We were scouting for the commies. I was plodding along in the bitter cold; my breath was like cigar smoke. I thought I knew every guy in the patrol, when along side of me comes another Marine I never met before. He was bigger than any other Marine I'd ever seen. He must have been over 6 feet 4 inches and built in proportion. It gave me a feeling of security to have such a body near me.

Anyway, there we were trudging along. The rest of the patrol spread out. Just to start a conversation I said, "Cold ain't it." And then I laughed. Here I was with a good chance of getting killed any minute and I am talking about the weather!

My companion seemed to understand. I heard him laugh softly.

I looked at him, "I've never seen you before. I thought I knew every man in the outfit."

"I just joined at the last minute," he replied, "the name is Michael."

"Is that so," I said surprised, "that's my name too."

"I know," he said, and then went on saying the prayer, "Michael, Michael of the morning..."

I was too amazed to say anything for a minute. How did he know my name, and a prayer that you had taught me? Then I smiled to myself, every guy in the outfit knew about me. Hadn't I taught the prayer to anybody who would listen? Why now and then, they even referred to me as St. Michael.

Neither of us spoke for a time, and then he broke the silence.

"We're going to have some trouble up ahead." He must have been in fine physical shape for he was breathing so lightly I couldn't see his breath. Mine poured out in great clouds. There was no smile on his face now. Trouble ahead, I thought to myself; well with the commies all around us, that's no great revelation.

Snow began to fall in thick great globs. In a brief moment the whole countryside was blotted out, and I was marching in a white fog of wet sticky particles. My companion disappeared.

"Michael!" I shouted in sudden alarm. I felt his hand on my arm, his voice was rich and strong, "This will stop shortly."

His prophecy proved to be correct. In a few minutes the snow stopped as abruptly as it had begun. The sun was a hard shining disc. I looked back for the rest of the patrol. There was no one in sight. We lost them in the heavy fall of snow. I looked ahead as we came over a little rise. Mom, my heart stopped. There were seven of them, seven commies in their padded pants and jackets and their funny hats. Only there wasn’t anything funny about them now. Seven rifles were aimed at us.

"Down Michael!" I screamed, and hit the frozen earth. I heard those rifles fire almost as one. I heard the bullets. There was Michael still standing.

Mom, those guys couldn't have missed, not at that range. I expected to see him literally blown to bits, but there he stood, making no effort to fire himself. He was paralyzed with fear. It happens sometimes, Mom, even to the bravest. He was like a bird fascinated by a snake. At least that's what I thought then. I jumped up to pull him down and that was when I got mine. I felt a sudden flame in my chest. I often wondered what it felt like to be hit. Now I know.

I remember feeling strong arms about me, arms that laid me ever so gently on a pillow of snow. I opened my eyes, for one last look. I thought I was dying. Maybe I was even dead. I remember thinking, “Well, this is not so bad.”

Maybe I was looking into the sun. Maybe I was in shock, but it seemed I saw Michael standing erect again, only this time his face was shining with a terrible splendor.

As I say, maybe it was the sun in my eyes, but he seemed to change as I watched him. He grew bigger, his arms stretched out wide, maybe it was the snow falling again but there was a brightness around him like the wings of an angel. In his hand was a sword. A sword that flashed with a million lights.

Well, that's the last thing I remember until the rest of the fellas came up and found me; I don't know how much time had passed. Now and then I had but a moment's rest from the pain and fever. I remember telling them of the enemy just ahead.

"Where's Michael?" I asked. I saw them look at one another. "Where's who?" asked one.

"Michael, that big Marine I was walking with just before the snow squall hit us."

"Kid," said the sergeant, "you weren't walking with anyone. I had my eyes on you the whole time. You were getting too far out. I was just going to call you in, when you disappeared in the snow."

He looked at me, curiously. "How did you do it, kid?"

"How did I do what?" I asked half angry, despite my wound. "This Marine named Michael and I were just..." "Son," said the sergeant kindly, "I picked this outfit myself and there just ain't another Michael in it. You are the only Mike in it."

He paused for a minute. "Just how did you do it, kid? We heard shots, yet there hasn't been a shot fired from your rifle, and there isn't a bit of lead in them seven bodies over the hill there."

I didn't say anything; what could I say? I could only look open-mouthed with amazement.

It was then, the sergeant spoke again. "Kid," he said gently, "every one of those seven commies was killed by a sword stroke."

That is all I can tell you, Mom. As I say, it may have been the sun in my eyes, it may have been the cold or the pain, but that is what happened.

Love, Michael

St. MICHAEL PRAYER

To St. Michael in Time of Peace Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning, Michael of the Army of the Lord, Stiffen thou the hand upon the still sword, Michael, Folded and shut upon the sheathed sword, Michael, Under the fullness of the white robes falling, Gird us with the secret of the sword. When the world cracked because of a sneer in heaven, Leaving out for all time a scar upon the sky, Thou didst rise up against the Horror in the highest, Dragging down the highest that looked down on the Most High: Rending from the seventh heaven the hell of exaltation Down the seven heavens till the dark seas burn: Thou that in thunder threwest down the Dragon Knowest in what silence the Serpent can return. Down through the universe the vast night falling(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning!) Far down the universe the deep calms calling(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Sword!) Bid us not forget in the baths of all forgetfulness, In the sigh long drawn from the frenzy and the fretfulness In the huge holy sempiternal silence In the beginning was the Word. When from the deeps of dying God astoundedAngels and devils who do all but dieSeeing Him fallen where thou couldst not follow,Seeing Him mounted where thou couldst not fly,Hand on the hilt, thou hast halted all thy legionsWaiting the Tetelestai and the acclaim,Swords that salute Him dead and everlastingGod beyond God and greater than His Name. Round us and over us the cold thoughts creeping(Michael, Michael: Michael of the battle-cry!)Round us and under us the thronged world sleeping(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Charge!)Guard us the Word; the trysting and the trustingEdge upon the honour and the blade unrustingFine as the hair and tauter than the harpstringReady as when it rang upon the targe. He that giveth peace unto us; not as the world giveth:He that giveth law unto us; not as the scribes:Shallhe be softened for the softening of the citiesPatient in usury; delicate in bribes?They that come to quiet us, saying the sword is broken,Break man with famine, fetter them with gold,Sell them as sheep; and He shall know the sellingFor He was more than murdered. He was sold. Michael, Michael: Michael of the Mustering,Michael of the marching on the mountains of the Lord,Marshal the world and purge of rot and riotRule through the world till all the world be quiet:Only establish when the world is brokenWhat is unbroken is the word.

A Prayer for Angels
Lord, you are the Host of heaven, the King of glory, the head of all the armies
and angels. Please send out your angels and chariots of fire to hedge my son and
all of our troops in so that no weapon formed against them would prosper. Cover
him with the shelter of your wings and keep him as the apple of your eye.
Prepare the way before him and cause him and all our soldiers to be so
spiritually alert that they will hear a word behind them saying, “This is the
way; walk in it” when you guide them.

A Prayer from Isaiah 54
Lord, let no weapon that is formed against our servicemen and women prosper
(Isaiah 54:7). May every terrorist and insurgent be discovered and apprehended
before he brings destruction on others. Please protect the innocent Iraqi
civilians, especially the women and children, and strengthen the Iraqi people to
rise up against the insurgents who are killing their own people. Protect the
Iraqi police and soldiers, and strengthen them to defend their own country
against terrorists. May Your strong right hand hold and keep our soldiers
securely every day. In Christ’s name, amen.

A prayer from Ps. 17
Almighty Father, show our servicemen and women
Your unfailing love in wonderful ways.
Save them with Your strength…
Guard our troops as the apple of Your eye
And hide them in the shadow of Your wings.
Amen.

www.militaryfamiliespray.com

Went to Ellis Island

2010-10-18T10:09:00.010-04:00

There is an exhibit there right now called "Women and Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America." It was really great and showed how much religious sisters contributed to life in America from its very beginning. Did you know that religious sisters helped to found the Mayo Clinic? Did you know that an American sister died in the Civil War tending the injured soldiers? And at the beginning of the Civil War, sisters ran 30 hospitals to treat battle-wounded people, while the Union and Confederate Armies between them ran just 3?

It also had several habits that sisters had worn through their history there and passports, original baggage that the sisters brought to the USA and their naturalization papers. The exhibits profiled St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Katherine Drexel, and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini.

It was weird to see a wimple that one order of sisters had worn in a display case. It was similar to the one below (worn by St. Catherine Laboure), but it didn't come down in the back. The sisters wore it as part of their habit from 1684-1964. Imagine, the order wore basically the same habit for nearly 500 years, until 1964.

What happened in 1964? Oh yeah, this was going on. It was the '60's! Time to throw 500 years of tradition out the window and, like, totally engage the world, you know? Because when you wear a habit it's so hard to, like, be in the world, you know? Because people might, like, recognize you for being Catholic and have some expectations for you to totally represent Jesus in every way. Jesus was all about peace and love and social justice. He had long hair just like all the boys in the '60's. And He never, like, brought people down about following the rules and stuff. Oh, but wait. Didn't He say He didn't come to abolish the Old Covenant? And I think He was fairly clear about following the Law. (Mt. 5: 17-20) Jesus isn't a hippie.

I can't speak for every woman, but I am proud to be Scott's wife. I rarely leave take off my wedding ring and if it weren't totally tacky to wear a T-shirt all the time that says: "Scott's wife" I would.

Which is why, if Jesus selected ME to be His bride, and I said "yes," I would want to scream about it from the rooftops. Because, no offense to any men (especially not to MY man), but Jesus is the PERFECT spouse. I just don't understand why you wouldn't want to wear that habit all the time and show the world just by your clothes that you are honored and privileged to be the Bride of Christ.

I don't want to give a poor impression of the exhibit, put together by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (who haven't been really happy about the apostolic visitation that Pope Benedict has sent to investigate all orders of women religious). I hope that it helps all who see it understand the very real contributions that Catholic sisters brought and still bring to our country. It was a beautiful exhibit. Right up until the end.

That's when they got to modern times. It was awesome to see so many clergy and sisters marching on Selma, Alabama in support of Civil Rights. It was less awesome watch a sister advocating for women's ordination to Pope John Paul II when he came to the USA in 1979. I wonder what Mother Cabrini or Mother Seton or Mother Drexel would say to that?

The exhibit dead-ended at a wall right there at that video. As I write this I wonder if it wasn't fitting that the exhibit came to a dead end right there. Most of the orders in the LCWR are dying. Young women are not joining those orders the way that they are the orders that belong to the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. A lot of these orders have a different kind of vocations crisis: not enough places to put all of the women who want to become postulants.

To exit the exhibit, I had to walk back through the entire thing, back to the beginnings of the sisters' history in the USA. As I remember this, it occurs to me that the problems facing us in regard to today's religious sisters aren't really that new. It seems that as long as there have been religious orders there have been those who thought the rule was, like, too haaaaard, you know? Look at good old St. Benedict. He comes up with his rule, and at first a whole bunch of guys think it's great. They follow him up Monte Cassino, and then there are so many of them that Benedict goes to found a new house. Except the guys in the new house think the rule is too hard to follow. So they try to kill him.

Then there's St. Teresa of Avila. She goes into the Carmelites and is a little surprised to find that instead of being cloistered, a lot of the nuns spend time chatting up rich donors. Teresa liked it for a while, but then she begins to think there should be something more, well, God-focused. So she reforms the Carmelites and gets in all kinds of trouble, not just with her sisters and superiors but with the clergy too.

Maybe right now the wheel is turning. This, too, shall pass. Maybe this is just what we have to go through to usher in a new golden age of the Church. Only the Lord knows which saints are in the making right now. Let's pray for them.

First and a half chronologically ordered recap from Giglio's European Vacation

2010-10-15T23:15:00.004-04:00

So, this is a half post of the European vacation, because I just accidentally made the external hard drive that has all the pictures on it disappear from the desktop of my computer. And I don't know how to put them back. I select the pictures then I tell the story because it helps me remember stuff.

Here are some random impressions of England:

1. Chillier in July than I thought it would be. And less rainy than I expected. It was overcast a lot, especially at night. But the last night, we had a brilliant clear sky. We were one hour from London and I have never seen so many stars.

2. The people were generally wonderful, especially the folks who worked at the college. The people we encountered out and about were not overtly friendly. It seems that starting a conversation with a stranger in public is actually sort of rude.

3. Public transport was very quiet. Also, apparently quite rude to talk above a whisper on the tube.

4. The milk tastes better there. The skim milk is creamy like whole milk.

5. These people eat all the time. Seriously. Breakfast at 8, morning coffee and cookies at 11. Lunch at 1, Afternoon tea (with donuts) at 3, dinner at 7. I gained 5 pounds in 5 days.

6. It's probably because we were with a bunch of Americans most of the time, but I didn't really feel like we were in a foreign country, at least not as much as I did when we were in Italy. There were a lot of different accents around, but it was a lot like living in Metro NY. I know people who were born in different countries (the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Colombia, Poland) who live right here in Linden, so when we were in England, it didn't feel different because we all spoke English.

7. Even though we were all speaking English, however, some of the folks we met with Home Countries accents were difficult for me to understand.

8. Can we talk about the highway signs? Instead of simple, one word directions, like "yield," they use, "give way." And it gets worse when you are on the major highways. We were looking at the signs on the M4 from London to Oxfordshire and they were paragraphs long. Really. By the time you finished reading the sign, you'd missed your exit!

9. They measured distance in miles, not kilometers. And they used miles per hour to measure speed. This confused me because everything else is metric.

10. It's kind of amazing how you can be in VERY urban London and then, just on the other side of the city limit, it's farmland (When we landed at Heathrow, we literally flew past cows grazing next to the landing strip.). The concept of a suburb doesn't seem to exist there.

11. My impression is that as a whole, and certainly there are exceptions, the country seems to be quite anti-religion. This could also be because we were hanging around with highly educated people (who seem to ridicule religion, no matter what side of the Atlantic you live on), but I definitely picked up a general disdain of organized religion while we were there, but particularly anti-Catholic feeling. I don't know if it was more overt than usual since the pope's visit was about a month away.

12. However, we had the privilege of attending Mass at a wonderful, tiny, little church right near campus. And the priest, about age 35, was fantastic. Here is a link to a picture of Marie and Phil (whoever they are, but they sure look happy) getting married there and the priest I am talking about is in the photo with them. God bless you, Marie and Phil!

More later on if I can get the photos off the external hard rive. Hope it's not to hard to find them...

I'm still not a rocket scientist....

2010-09-24T15:40:00.004-04:00

So Newark's about to get $100 mil. from the CEO of Facebook. That's great. Really. I hope it helps more kids learn to read, to do math, and to stay away from the streets.

But I'm pretty sure he could give any failing school system a BILLION dollars and it would still do no good at all if those kids don't have stable homes and neighborhoods to return to after school. No amount of money will help if the kids don't have a parent or grandparent at home to take care of them and to make sure they stay on top of them.

Extending school hours is NOT the answer. Kids don't need to be brought up by the state. Kids need to be at home with mom or dad. Kids need to get outside and play and run around. Kids need to use their imaginations; to play ball in the street with their friends till the street lights come on. Kids need their dads not to be in prison. Kids need their moms not to have to work 3 jobs to keep food on the table.

Kids need the state to give their moms and dads their money back. That way, maybe mom or dad can stay home with them so they stay out of trouble. Kids need strong families so they don't feel like they have to turn to a gang to get the love and acceptance and discipline they crave.

Kids from stable homes do better in school. Throwing a billion dollars ($900 mil from NJ + Zuckerberg's $100 mil) into Newark's crappy schools won't fix this. Kids' families need fixing.

What I have learned from my clothesline

2010-09-23T08:54:00.004-04:00

In August, just as I had gotten completely caught up with my laundry (really!), my dryer stopped working. It wouldn't turn on at all.

Scott is a can-do kind of guy. Why pay someone else to fix something when you can do it yourself? With the help of the amazing internet, Scott has fixed and installed loads of things around our place and in our cars, saving us untold hundreds of dollars in repair costs.

So, Scott took it apart. He cleaned all of the lint out of the inside of the dryer, the whole exhaust line, and any other place you can think of. We had cleaned out the line before, and I always empty the lint trap, but over 10 years lint gets EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! He thought we needed a new thermo-thing-whatever-it-is (a safety part that makes sure your dryer doesn't get too hot and set your house on fire). It's designed to fail as soon as the inside of the dryer by the motor gets too hot. It is not fixable, so it has to be replaced. Presumably, when replacing the thermo-thing, one would also notice all that lint and clean it out. Or, for normal people, your repairman would do that.

Scott ordered the part, replaced it, put the dryer back together and painted over the rusty spot of the top of the dryer where I had kept the laundry detergent. Wonderful! It worked!

For one load. Now the drum won't turn. He took it apart. Maybe the belt wasn't on properly. He re-laid the belt. He reassembled the dryer.

Nothing. We need a new motor.

The man just this week finished his master's degree. He was doing all of this while trying to get his papers written and go to work and all of the usual Dad stuff he does. As a result, our family of 5 has been without a dryer for a month. No one is wearing less clothes. In fact, there is more laundry now than there was in the summer because I am washing school uniforms as well.

I am not going to lie to you and say that I have been patient about all of this. I have tried (sometimes hard, sometimes not) to avoid nagging him about getting this thing done. I have tried to be cheerful in doing my wash even as certain people complain that they have no (name article of clothing here). I have tried.

This drying is trying. The weather's not as hot as it had been at the beginning of all of this, so the clothes aren't drying in a hour. And now with the kids in school and me working, I really don't have a lot of time to hang wash out.

I did manage to get some things on the line yesterday afternoon. Then we had a thunderstorm while I was at work. No one who was at home brought in the wash.

What this trying experience has taught me is that you can't always make things go the way you want them. Sometimes, your son will turn the hose on the dirt near your just-dried jeans and accidentally splash mud on them. You have do things when you have the chance. You have to plan how you will do it. You have to be patient.

What this trying experience has taught me is that you have to see how not only you are frustrated by the things out of your control. You have to see that your attitude as woman of the house will impact everyone else under your roof. You have to love them all through whatever life hands your way. You have to see that if the broken dryer and the splattered mud are the worst of it, you're very fortunate indeed.

If you can see these things, you will grow to appreciate the feel of the sun on your hair and your newly-acquired mosquito-swatting skills. You will realize that this may just be the Lord's way of getting you to slow down a bit and listen. Listen to Him speaking to you in the three minutes of quiet you'll get as you hang out your laundry.

while the kids were selling lemonade in July

2010-09-16T16:40:00.002-04:00

I took these...

Can this school be saved part 4: Mission Control

2010-09-15T08:16:00.001-04:00

Below is the last installment of the story I wrote for Creative Minority Report about Seton Hall University. Comments are now open. I link to the newspaper articles I used for sources. Here are parts one, two, and three.

At the beginning of this series, I said that there seems to be a battle going on for the university’s soul: a battle between Catholic thought and values and those of the secular world. It’s human nature to want to draw clear lines and assign parts in this drama: “liberal” faculty forces vs. a “conservative” archbishop, or the money a Division 1 sports program can bring in vs. goodness and integrity. I’m not so sure that accurately depicts what’s going on here.

The university has a lot going for it in terms of “orthodoxy cred.” The Office of Mission and Ministry at the University seems to be trying to do a lot of good things, overseeing: The Catholic Center for Family Life and Spirituality, The G.K. Chesteron Institute for Faith and Culture, the Institute for Christian Spirituality, and others.

What I think we have at Seton Hall is a split-personality disorder. There seems to be a culture there that doesn’t recognize that to be intellectually honest and rigorous and truly Catholic are not mutually exclusive things. The Seminary and the Mission and Identity haven’t been successful in permeating the entire culture at Seton Hall.

What Seton Hall needs to do, and it is not too far gone to do, is to examine itself through the lens of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Pope John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on Catholic higher education (In its press packet, the Cardinal Newman Society has a good breakdown of the guidelines and analysis of what has happened at Catholic colleges in the United States in the 20 years since Ex Corde was published.). Seton Hall doesn’t seem to have truly embraced the following:

“A Catholic university, as Catholic, informs and carries out its research,
teaching, and all other activities with Catholic ideals, principles and
attitudes. …Catholic teaching and discipline are to influence all university
activities, while the freedom of conscience of each person is to be fully
respected. Any official action or commitment of the university is to be in
accord with its Catholic identity.”

Catholic ideals, principles, and attitudes are not being reflected across the board at Seton Hall. Catholic attitudes and principles were not on display during the coaching tenure of Bobby Gonzalez. Having a priest sit on your bench during games (like the team chaplain, Msgr. Liddy does) doesn’t mean that your coach and his or her players are living Catholic attitudes and principles, and it doesn’t make up for distinctly un-Christian behavior.

Can a course on gay marriage be offered at a Catholic university that is living up to Catholic ideals, principles, and actions? Can such a course be offered in a completely balanced way, showing how the Church teaches that people who self-identify as gay must be treated with dignity and respect and are called, just like every other human being, to live a chaste life within God’s ordered creation and that the Church teaches that gay marriage goes against the natural law? It’s hard to imagine that an openly gay professor who has advocated for the gay lifestyle would be able to accomplish this.

This struggle between the secular forces and Catholic mission forces is very evident in the failed search for a replacement for Msgr. Robert Sheeran this past year. Based on Msgr. Swetland’s background and his involvement with EWTN’s “Catholicism on Campus,” one might conclude that Msgr. Swetland might try to guide Seton Hall into a place where it resides more firmly within Ex Corde’s guidelines. Some have seen in Swetland’s candidacy the hand of Archbishop Myers trying to bring Seton Hall closer to Ex Corde.

What can the Archbishop do about Seton Hall University? The truth is, Archbishop Myers can do very little in an overt way, so there is no smackdown on the way. The Archdiocese does not own Seton Hall, even though it is a diocesan university. Archbishop Myers does sit on two very important boards, but he doesn’t have absolute control over them. He can advocate and he can preach, but he does not have direct control over the daily happenings at the University. That is the job of the President.

What can we, Jane and Joe Catholic sitting in the pews, do to save not just this Catholic university, but all Catholic colleges and universities in danger of losing their souls? First, we must pray. We must ask the intercession of the saints in whose names these schools were founded for the conversion of the campuses. We must pray for the clergy and religious who are running these schools. We must pray for those who are trying to effect positive change at these schools. We must pray for lukewarm souls to be set on fire for Christ once again.

If we are alumni of these Catholic colleges in trouble, we must make our feelings known and vote with our wallets. We need to show the people on the boards and the presidents of these colleges that following the guidelines of Ex Corde means something to us and that we will either give or withhold giving based on how well they do that.

We also need to understand what following the guidelines established by Ex Corde means. People tend to focus on the mandatum oath, whose theology professors have taken it and whose haven’t (From Ex Corde: Catholic theologians “are to be faithful to the Magisterium of the Church as the authentic interpreter of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.” Every professor of Catholic theology must have a “mandate” (mandatum) from the local bishop, as required in the 1983 Code of Canon Law.”). While the mandatum is crucial, it’s only one part of the guidelines and isn’t a guarantee of a holistically Catholic college. The National Catholic Register/Faith and Family Magazine College survey is an excellent resource which asks the colleges to self- report on all of the guidelines established by Ex Corde Ecclesiae. The Newman Guide is indispensable in helping Catholic families choose a Catholic College.

Finally, we need to support the bishops who are working to clean these colleges up. We need to encourage them with cards, letters and emails, and we especially need to pray for them. Our bishops need to know that we think that Catholic colleges and universities are important to all the faithful, to our country, and to the world. Our bishops need to know that we believe that the colleges and universities who would call themselves Catholic need to project a strong Catholic identity for the world to see.

Can this school be saved, part 3: failed presidential search

2010-09-14T08:05:00.001-04:00

Below is the third installment of the story I wrote for Creative Minority Report about Seton Hall University. I will close comments until it has run in its entirety. I link to the newspaper articles I used for sources. Here are parts one and two.

In June 2009, Msgr. Robert Sheeran announced his intention to resign as the President of Seton Hall University, kicking off a year-long search for a replacement. By the spring of 2010, the committee had chosen two priests as finalists, Msgr. Stuart Swetland and Rev. Kevin Mackin, OFM. Fr. Mackin, currently the president of Mt. St. Mary College in Newburgh, NY, withdrew from consideration shortly after his name was announced, saying that he had decided to stay at Mt. St. Mary’s.

Msgr. Swetland, who was ordained for the diocese of Peoria IL in 1991 by Newark Archbishop John J. Myers (bishop of Peoria Diocese from 1990-2001), came to campus for a series of interviews in May 2010. Swetland is the host of EWTN’s Catholicism on Campus and a professor at Mt. St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD. Some at the university objected to Swetland’s candidacy, citing his lack of administrative experience. They also contended that he was being seriously considered a finalist only because of his friendship with Archbishop Myers.

Swetland was offered the job of president of Seton Hall. During the course of confidential contract negotiations, some university officials leaked specific details about the contract discussion, including a reported $300,000 annual salary. Sheeran earned about $31,000 per year. At the same time, the faculty senate, which represents each of the university’s colleges, circulated a statement urging the Board of Regents to reopen the search to seek candidates with more administrative experience and to laypeople. Citing his discernment that the Lord was calling him to stay at Mt. St. Mary’s (MD) and expressing his disappointment that the confidential contract discussion had been compromised, Swetland withdrew his candidacy.

While other New Jersey Catholic colleges in the area have gone from having priests and religious serving as president to laypeople, Seton Hall has not. The Board of Regents had limited its search to clergy for two reasons: the by-laws of the university require that the president is a priest and the Board’s feeling that a priest-president best serves the university’s mission.

Can this school be saved part 2: Questionable course offering

2010-09-13T20:58:00.000-04:00

Below is the second installment of the story I wrote for Creative Minority Report about Seton Hall University. I will close comments until it has run in its entirety. I link to the newspaper articles I used for sources. Part one, Basketball Madness, is here.

On April 15, 2010, The Setonian, the Seton Hall University student newspaper, published a story about a new course to be offered in fall 2010 on the topic of gay marriage. The course will be taught by Dr. W. King Mott, an openly gay professor in the Women and Gender Studies Department. Mott told the Setonian that this course was not about advocacy, but would take an academic approach to the issue. “I hope my students gain an appreciation and respect for disinterested analysis that can be used to formulate an informed opinion,” Mott told The Setonian.

Upon learning about the course offering, Archbishop Myers asked the University’s Board of Trustees (of which Myers is Chair) and the Board of Regents (of which Myers is president), to review the course. At this time, no official decision has been made on whether or not the course will go forward. The Mission and Identity Committee was supposed to discuss it in June. However, in an article that appeared in the Star-Ledger on August 25, Mott has said that as far as he has been told, the course is still slated to begin in the first week of class and it has about 24 students registered. The University had no official comment to the Star Ledger.

This is not the first time Mott has clashed with the administration of the University. In October 2005, The Star Ledger printed a letter by Mott that criticized the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. Mott signed the letter as the Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of Seton Hall University. As a result, Mott was removed from his duties as Associate Dean, but was retained as a tenured member of the faculty.

What's interesting about Mott is that his entire professional academic career has been at Catholic Universities. I wonder why that is, especially since he thinks the Church is homophobic:
"The bottom line is, you're talking about a homophobic institution," he said last night. "The Roman Catholic Church is prima facie homophobic. The Roman Catholic Church considers me to be inherently disordered. I don't know how much more homophobic one can be" (Star Ledger October 28, 2005). In this 2005 article, Mott had indicated that he would seek a faculty position elsewhere. Clearly, he is still teaching at Seton Hall.

When I worked at Seton Hall as an admissions counselor 10 years ago, the nursing students were put on rotations in which they would observe abortion procedures. The nursing school made it clear to us at the time that students could opt out of those rotations without penalty, but the question is: why was this part of the nursing curriculum at a Catholic University in the first place?

Catholic Colleges have a right and a grave responsibility to be CATHOLIC. Many parents send their children to, and pay good money for, Catholic universities for a Catholic education. And knowing that, there are many secular colleges and universities which would gladly hire well-qualified professors, like Mott, without caring about what they think about Church teaching.

Seton Hall is a diocesan university, meaning that it is not founded or tied to a particular religious order, but it was founded by the Bishop of Newark and is tied to the diocese in its bylaws. Immaculate Conception Seminary, the diocesan seminary, is located on the campus at SHU. The Archbishop of Newark, Most Rev. John J. Myers, is the chair of the Board of Trustees and is also the Chair of the Board of Regents. Other permanent seats on the Board of Regents are the bishops of the four other dioceses in New Jersey, and other clergy.

One subcommittee of the Board of Regents is the Mission and Identity Committee. “The Mission and Identity Committee shall consider matters referred to the Board of Regents by the Board of Trustees arising from the University’s Catholic mission and identity, giving due consideration to the identity of Catholic institutions of higher education that is described in Ex Corde Ecclesiae (1990). The Committee shall report its recommendations to the Board of Regents” (Seton Hall Univeristy By-laws, Section 2, e, 3).

Why did the Mission and Identity Committee fail to issue a judgment or recommendation on this course? A Catholic University ought to be an oasis for Catholic thought and ideas. Parents should not have to be worried about whether or not a particular Catholic university is really Catholic. Parents should expect that their children will not be put off on their faith by the actions of the university. People who are not Catholic should be attracted to a true Catholic University that by its nature would exude Christian love and freedom.

Can this school be saved? Part one: Basketball Madness

2010-09-12T23:41:00.005-04:00

Below is the first installment of the story I wrote for Creative Minority Report about Seton Hall University. I will close comments until it has run in its entirety. I link to the newspaper articles I used for sources.

It seems there is a quiet battle going on behind the iron gates of Seton Hall University: a battle for the university’s soul. The Division 1 men’s basketball program has endured a very dark off-the-court stretch, a new class is being offered by a member of the faculty who operates clearly and loudly at odds with Church teaching, and a year-long search for a new president has turned out fruitless. All of these things are circling in the air over these 58 acres of South Orange, NJ. Is Seton Hall’s soul dead, or merely on life support?

Seton Hall University is the oldest and largest diocesan university in the United States. Founded in 1856, just three years after the founding of the Diocese of Newark, NJ, Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley, established Seton Hall University to fill the need for a Catholic university within the diocese. He named the university for his aunt, Elizabeth Ann Seton, a Catholic convert who established the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph in Emmitsburg, MD to care for and educate poor children. Mother Seton would be the first American-born saint, canonized in 1975.

What’s been going on at The Hall lately?

Basketball madness

In April, 2006, Seton Hall Univeristy announced that Bobby Gonzalez, a coach known for his passion and explosive temper, would lead its Divison I, Big East men’s basketball program. In the four years he was there, Gonzalez did bring the better connections with local high school coaches that the university was looking for (National High School basketball powerhouses St. Anthony’s and St. Patrick’s are within 12 miles of campus.), but he alienated those same coaches and he also brought in some questionable transfer students who had run-ins with the law while enrolled at SHU. One was arrested for drunk driving the wrong way on the Garden State Parkway. Another punched a player on the opposing team below the belt during a game. A third, after having been kicked off the team, duct taped 8 people, some of whom were former teammates, and robbed them. On March 17, 2010, Gonzalez was fired by SHU President Robert Sheeran, six months after having been granted a contract extension through 2014. Sheeran cited Gonzalez’s conduct and that of his players as cause for termination. Gonzalez sued Seton Hall for wrongful termination shortly after he was fired, and Seton Hall countersued. The cases were settled out of court on August 25, 2010. No details of the settlement were released.

Seton Hall’s men’s basketball team has been the big team at the University. When any college’s or university’s basketball team does well in the NCAA tournament, its national profile is higher and it typically sees a sizable jump in admissions applications, which can translate into more qualified students and more money for the university. But at what cost? Bobby Gonzalez was a questionable choice for Seton Hall from the start. He’s intense, but was his brand of intensity a good fit for a Catholic university? Don’t Catholic colleges and universities have to hold themselves and their employees and students to a higher standard of behavior, modeling themselves on Jesus Christ?

It seems that Seton Hall has learned a lesson from the Gonzalez experience. On March 28, 2010, Seton Hall hired Kevin Willard, a family man who turned around the basketball program at Iona College and who served as Rick Pitino’s assistant with the Boston Celtics and at the University of Louisville. In an interview published on August 24, Willard told ESPN’s Dana O’Neil “When I met with Seton Hall, we talked a lot about behavior, but we also talked about winning and losing. I think you can have both. You can have a program you can be proud of and also have success. That’s what our goal is.”

Is it possible for a Catholic college or university today to have it both ways: to be a national sports powerhouse that is also fully committed to its Catholic identity? Of the colleges and universities who answered the National Catholic Register/Faith and Family Magazine’s 2009 College survey (only 26 schools completed the survey out of about 240 Catholic colleges and universities across the country), none of them have Division I athletic programs.

To look at Division I powerhouse Notre Dame’s decisions over the last 15 years or so, one might be left to wonder if Catholic colleges and can their sports and be faithful, too. Certainly there are some members of the theology faculty who are solidly committed to the teaching authority of the Church, but there are others who are not. Notre Dame hosted the play The Vagina Monologues in 2008. And the fact that Notre Dame gave an honorary degree to President Obama in 2009, one of the most vocal proponents of abortion in our nation, and still refuses to drop charges against peaceful protesters might leave some to wonder if a Catholic college can really “have it all.” And if it’s worth having in the first place.

First chronologically ordered recap from Giglio's European Vacation

2010-09-01T15:09:00.005-04:00

Wherein Amy tries to set herself to the timeline and we learn about a British man and doughnuts.

Hello, friends! I figured I'd try to hook you up with some pictures from your vacation. This time, I'll start from the beginning.

We left for England on a Friday evening, after the last day of Vacation Bible School, where I try and channel my inner Christian pop star and lead kiddies in song. Hilarity ensues. Most of it scripted.
What happened this day was, VBS ended at noon, the children and I met Scott and my in-laws at the house, My FIL took the kids for lunch and then to his house where they would spend the next 2 weeks and my MIL took me and Scott to JFK to catch our flight to Heathrow. Now, while JFK is not the closest international airport to our house, it did have the cheapest flight. This meant my MIL VOLUNTEERED to drive us across Staten Island, Brooklyn, and into Queens and then she drove herself home which is half an hour west of our house. Yes, I do have the best MIL in the world. Why do you ask? We got to the airport in record time (Half an hour. No traffic. This never happens. My poor MIL was not so lucky on the way home. It took her 4 hours to get back). She dropped us off and we were on our grand adventure!

Here is me on my new iP0d T0uch, reading a book. Funny story about this terminal at JFK: It is about 14 miles long. We get through security near gate 30. We have to go to gate 8. We have a lot of time to kill, so we're chillin near gate 30 because, they, the plane doesn't leave for 3 hours. Then we start looking around and we're like, "It seems like the gates end here at gate 10. Where is gate 8?
So with 2 hours to go, we start looking for gate 8. It is literally half a mile away from the security checkpoint. It took us 20 minutes to walk there.

So then we get on the plane and we fly overnight for a really really long time till at 8:00 the next morning we wake up and we are in England! Yay!

I slept a little on the plane, but not a lot. And I have seemed to develop some sort of hip thing which has begun to plague me and I really need some ibuprofen. But I can't find any at the airport. So I have to buy Anadin, which I think is like Anacin. But I don't recognize the drug name. It says it's good for headaches and body aches so I take it and I can walk again.

We are met at the airport by an awesome guy who works for the university. His name is Trevor. Trevor, Scott, and I are waiting for the rest of the people from the university group to arrive because they are all coming in on a different flight. Trevor tells us he was to the USA once. While in the airport, he got hungry. Somehow, he got this idea in his head that our doughnuts are awesome and he wants to try one. So, he's looking around and he can't figure out where to go to get a doughnut. So he does what anyone would do if they were in a new place and he needed help. He asked a cop where could find a good doughnut. The cop glared at him and walked away. Trevor's like, "I don't understand why." Meanwhile, me and Scott and trying to pick our jaws up off the floor. Then we explain to him the thing in the US about cops and doughnuts and how very lucky he is that he didn't get arrested or punched.

So the rest of the group arrives and we shuttle off to our home for the next several days: Wroxton College.
Stay tuned for the next installment of our adventure!

The Soul of a University

2010-08-30T16:17:00.000-04:00

I wrote up a piece about Seton Hall University and Matt and Pat Archbold of Creative Minority Report were gracious enough to give me copious space over there to run it. Please go look at it. I will probably start running it over here in a few days.

Novena to St. Monica

2010-08-19T05:31:00.001-04:00

St. Monica's feast day is August 27. In case you don't know, St. Monica is the mother of St. Augustine. Augustine was the original enfant terrible who famously lapsed from the faith. He credits the intercessory prayers of his mother with bringing him back to the Church. Indeed everything we know about St. Monica was told to us by Augustine.

Today I'm starting a novena for the lapsed members of my family and yours. There are several novena prayers you can choose. Whatever prayer you choose will be OK. Pray for the members of your family who have lapsed from the faith.

Novena To Saint Monica

Exemplary Mother of the Great Augustine,
You perseveringly pursued your wayward son
Not with wild threats
But with prayerful cries to heaven.

Intercede for all mothers in our day
So that they may learn
To draw their children to God.

Teach them how to remain
Close to their children,
Even the prodigal sons and daughters
Who have sadly gone astray.

Dear St Monica, troubled wife and mother,
Many sorrows pierced your heart
During your lifetime.
Yet you never despaired or lost faith.
With confidence, persistence and profound faith,
You prayed daily for the conversion
Of your beloved husband, Patricius
And your beloved son, Augustine.

Grant me that same fortitude,
Patience and trust in the Lord.
Intercede for me, dear St. Monica,
That God may favorably hear my plea
For

(mention your petition here)

And grant me the grace
To accept his will in all things,
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
In the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God forever and ever. Amen.

Warming up!

2010-08-17T09:25:00.002-04:00

Get your lists, ready, ladies and gentlemen, the Novena to St. Monica starts on Thursday. As many of you know, through the intercession of St. Monica, the Lord brought my mother back to the faith after many years in the wilderness. Take the next couple of days to pray about who the Lord wants you to pray for, write their names down and get ready to start your novena on August 19.

You can definitely do this novena anytime you want, but it's especially appropriate in the 9 days leading up to her feast.

See you back here Thursday!!

First random recap from Giglio's European Vacation

2010-08-02T14:44:00.005-04:00

One of the places we got to visit in Vatican City is the pope's garage. Well, maybe not it's not technically his garage since it is more like a museum than a garage. But nonetheless, it does have papal vehicles dating back a few hundred years.

It's what all the papal horses were wearing in the fall of 1756.

They were pulling this stylish gold carriage, given to His Holiness by the people of Venice, I believe.

Sometimes you just don't want to go through the trouble of getting the Horses dressed and hooked up just to run out to the VII-XI for some gum and a quart of milk, so you just have a couple of the Swiss Guard carry you around in this simple vehicle (Holy Spirit as a dove embroidered on the ceiling inside. So not kidding.).

There are also a couple of white Popemobiles. Yes, Scott actually did lean on the bumper.

This one is my favorite. It's Pius XII's limousine. I don't think you can tell in this picture, but it's got an armchair in the back. Because the bench seat is just not going to cut it. Maybe it is a really low seat in the back. Scott used to have an Oldsmobile 88 and when you sat in the back, it was like sitting in a hole. Adults could only just see over the window frame. So, maybe the pope needed a booster seat. You know, so he can bless you as he's rolling by. (Parents: Now you can tell your kids that even the pope has a booster seat, so just get buckled in already!)

This limo and its armchair in the back got me thinking that EWTN needs a new show: "Pope my Ride." Instead of Xzibit hosting, you get Fr. Stan Fortuna to take your car to Dr. Denis MacNamara to trick out your car. The Last Judgment from the Sistine chapel on the hood and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel embroidered on your ceiling. And in addition to the gas meter on your dashboard, you could have a dial that shows you when you need to go Confession. Maybe instead of a trip meter, you can get a Rosary Counter so you never lose track of how many Hail Marys you have left to say in the 5th glorious Mystery. It's hard to hold the beads and drive at the same time. There is the obligatory sound system and TV in the trunk (with wood carving covered in gold leaf), but it is hooked up to play the Te Deum and reruns of "Mother Angelica Live." Painted across the back bumper is "Jesus is My Homeboy."

And while I'm lifting ideas from MTV, EWTN can air its counter programming to "Jersey Shore:" "Summit NJ," where we follow the nuns of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary around for the summer. Instead of drunkenness and bar fights, we can watch young women pray, study, pick vegetables, and make soap.

Time flies...

2010-08-01T14:30:00.002-04:00

So, it's been a while.

Scott and I were on a trip. Overseas. First time ever for each of us, so it was pretty cool. We were gone for 2 weeks and at the end, I really was glad to be coming home. I truly could have kissed the border guard who said, "Welcome Home" when he was done checking us in. More on the trip later.

My wonderful Mother in law brought Curly Sue with her when she picked us up at the airport and I cried because I was so happy to see her.

I am amazed at how much bigger they all seemed when we saw them again. And I am consistently humbled by the fact that each time I look at Primo he seems more mature-looking. He's at the delightful age of almost 1o. Every once in a while, as I'm looking at him, I'll get a flash of what I think he'll look like at 18. Today, his jaw is wider, his forehead slightly more broad, and the little boy I knew is all but disappeared. He is a big kid now. *sigh*

I do promise to write about the trip later this week. ttfn...

2010-07-04T18:38:00.003-04:00

America, our America!

Hold to the vision of Mary,

Mary Immaculate.

Her glory fills the earth,

She is of our race,

Its "solitary boast."

She, alone without sin,

Keeps the doom of wrath from thee,

Who art defending her glory.

She, Conqueror of evil,

Conquers evil for thee,

Who art resisting evil.

America, our America!

Pray always to Mary,

Mary Immaculate.

She, the Mother to nations--

She, the Mother of Christ,

The Lord of all nations.

She guards them and guides,

Subduing their hates,

Inspiring their spirits.

She mourns for the prodigals,

As childless mothers mourn,

Torn by their treasons.

America, our America!

Give thy heart to Mary,

Mary Immaculate.

Join Her prayer of praise,

All Heaven attending,

For our land that is free.

Sing thou, her song of joy,

All nations listening,

Giving thanks to God.

Sing thou the song of souls,

The Magnificat of Mary,

The Magnificat of America.

-Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman

wonderful

2010-06-24T14:15:00.002-04:00

2010-05-31T10:14:00.001-04:00

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

an elephant in my blog

2010-05-25T22:34:00.004-04:00

I have an elephant in my blog. Something in real life that I can't blog about. Something that impacts a member of my extended family that this person has asked me not to share, but that has started consuming my life.

I have considered starting an anonymous blog to write about it, but there are so many sites out there about this type of elephant that I'm not sure what else I can contribute.

I don't think that this elephant is bad for this person. I think it's a good thing. This person simply doesn't see it that way. Yet. But since this elephant came to stay, I have noticed that we get along better, that we understand each other a little more. I am grateful for the elephant.

Sometimes, when you get to know a person or a thing well, you see things you didn't see before. You can call these things flaws, or imperfections, or you can choose to appreciate the nuances in the Lord's creation.

Psalm 139: 1-17

O LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar.
My travels and my rest you mark; with all my ways you are familiar.
Even before a word is on my tongue, LORD, you know it all.
Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is beyond me, far too lofty for me to reach.

Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee?
If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too.
If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea,
Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light" -
Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day. Darkness and light are but one.
You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb.
I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works!

My very self you knew; my bones were not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth,
Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be.
How precious to me are your designs, O God; how vast the sum of them!

calling it like it is

2010-05-12T12:04:00.004-04:00

We had a fight last week. Let us make no mistake: I was 100% wrong for being as thoughtless as I was. I was glad he told me about it because I need to know when I do things that hurt him so I can avoid it in the future.

My feelings were hurt in the exchange and I nursed this hurt that night and the next morning. It was hard for me to keep remembering that I was wrong. "He shouldn't have said it that way. He's restricting my freedom. I should be able to do and say what I want. He's being unreasonable." My conscience kept prodding me: "Remember that YOU were wrong. And you hurt him badly."

And as I drove in the car that morning, late to somewhere I really didn't want to be, the Lord blessed me with this realization: "This grudge that you so tenderly nurse is the evil one at work: undermining your relationship with your husband, your marriage, and your family. Your energy is misplaced."

With that, immediately, I said, "Get behind me, Satan. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to leave me alone," and the hurt I had taken care of so well for those past 12 hours evaporated.

I praise God for the grace to see the trickery of the devil for what it is. The temptation to nurse that grudge came back over the course of the day, but the temptation and the grudge were not as strong and with the same prayer the Lord dismissed them quickly.

When you have a grudge you're taking such good care of, or anger that flares within you, be quick to ask yourself where it comes from. Is it building up love? Is it advancing the Kingdom of God on earth, as all of us baptized Christians are called to do? If it is not, then call upon the Lord to deliver you from the evil one, who is tempting you.

Make no mistake, the root of your grudge, your anger, is the evil one calling you away from your work. Recognize him and call upon the Lord to put him right back in his place.

2010-05-06T23:03:00.003-04:00

It's not easy to hear someone say: "I feel hurt because of X thing you did." It's hard to hear that and to see your fault plainly. It's humiliating to know that you hurt someone. It's humiliating to know that you're not perfect.

In that humilation, we can do one of two things. We can become defensive. "Well, you started it!" "I did that but you did this to me!" "Why are you yelling at me?!" Defensiveness is selfish. Defensiveness doesn't heal. Defensiveness makes it worse.

Or, we can recognize the humiliation for the good it can do: in this moment, with God's help, we have the power to change, the power to heal the relationship, the person whom we have hurt, and ourselves. We can say, "I'm sorry I did that. I am sorry I hurt you. I will do better next time." No excuses. We must acknowledge our weaknesses and resolve to do better in the future.

So very difficult to acknowledge one's humanity, yet so necessary.

Everyone likes a smackdown

2010-04-25T20:00:00.002-04:00

"What made you do this? You are flowers who shed no perfume, but stench that makes the whole world reek." St. Catherine of Siena, writing to three Italian cardinals who supported the anti-pope during the Great Western Schism.

Ah, St. Catherine of Siena. I love her. She knew when to let people have it, even the pope. And they asked for it. The pope and bishops of her time asked her for her advice and she didn't sugar-coat it. She just told you. Sometimes she told them, even when they didn't ask. She made change happen. She got the pope to come back to Rome after fleeing for France (of course, after she died, he left again. I guess he needed her to keep kicking him in the pants.)

I think of how I'd like to tell some bishops off. Especially with all of the horrible crimes that some priests and bishops have committed that are all over the press now. The temptation is to vent all of one's justified anger toward these weak, weak men in an email and to just hit "send."

The main difference between Catherine and me is this: she understood that she wasn't equal to God. She understood humility. She understood that she wasn't better than those foul-smelling Italian bishops to whom that quote above is addressed.

I don't understand humility. Other people's mistakes make me feel, even for a second, better than they are. Don't you try to say that you never feel the same way. "If I were a priest, this would never have happened. If I were a bishop, I would have defrocked that priest instead of covering the abuse up! If I were that child's mother, I would have just called the cops; the bishop would have found out from the DA, not from me!"

I try to give myself a pass, thinking, maybe Catherine understood it better because she had visions and personal, face-to-face conversations with God. I think to myself, if God showed up in my room when I was praying, I'd get it too.

Catherine recorded that in one of her visions God told her: "I am who am; you are she who is not."

"I am who am; you are she who is not."

I am she who is not.

Y'know, Lord, that really kind of takes the fun out of the whole righteous indignation thing. You're really busting my flow.

See, thing is, it's all over the Bible how we're supposed to behave, how we're supposed to treat one another and how we dare not play God. I don't get a pass because Jesus isn't tapping me on the shoulder, reminding me to be humble as He is. I have the Scriptures to do that, I have good preaching to remind me. I have Jesus in the Eucharist to remind me how I am supposed to be.

And I have the writings of St. Catherine of Siena to prick my conscience when it needs it, when I need to be reminded.

I am she who is not.

humility

2010-04-25T18:51:00.002-04:00

In my reading, I have noticed that saints are full of humility. Also, obviously, is Jesus. He truly humbled Himself, becoming human to save us from sin through His suffering, death, and resurrection.

Also in my reading, I am reminded over and over again that in order to become closer to God, one must humble oneself. So I prayed, "Humble me, Lord. Make me humble so I can be more like you." I promptly forgot about this prayer and got on with my life.

Have you ever been in a place in your professional or personal life where the allegorical buck must stop with you? Where you have had to make a hard, unpopular decision? The comments and communications about those difficult decisions that make everything more difficult to bear. We are left with several choices as to how to respond: meekness, compassion, gentleness. Then there is the more attractive (to my fallen nature) option: nasty yet witty email back, cutting remarks, gossip, and rage.

I try to take the high ground. Try to be meek, gentle, compassionate. Then I brood. I endlessly chatter on to others about how I was wronged, how unjustified so-and-so's behavior was, etc., boring to tears anyone who will listen for more than 5 minutes and in this way, feeding the unrest within my soul. I lose sleep over it. It was effects my family. I become ill at ease and unbearably cranky.

And one night, as I couldn't go to sleep, I had to write down my heart's conversation with God. And in it, He reminded me that I wanted to be humbled. He told me that in order to do this, He must put me in situations where I get to exercise the humility I am trying to strengthen. He also reminded me that these situations will be painful. I may not be called upon to endure what He endured, or even what St. Gerard Majella had to endure (falsely accused of rape, Gerard did not defend himself because the rule in the Redemptorist order is not to defend yourself when accused by making excuses-his accuser recanted after several months where Gerard was forbidden to leave the house or to take Communion), but that I would need to endure and I would need to start rejoicing in these small humiliations because they give me the chance to practice humility.

Then in the morning, as if to underline what He told my heart the night before, when I went to comment on a friend's blog, the comment verification word was "humbl."

So, I struggle, I try, and I have been schooled with a lesson I won't forget (at least until next week).

off her game

2010-04-22T19:24:00.002-04:00

"off balance" by Dean Farrell

I go through these periods of time in my life every so often where I am off-kilter: I don't seem to be communicating properly, I get behind at home and at work; just out of whack. It doesn't happen regularly, but when it does, it can last for 4-6 weeks.

Now is my really busy time at work: First Communions, Confirmations, Easter (not necessarily in that order), baseball, end-of-school stuff with the kids. I am in this off-kilter place right now (started 2 weeks ago) and it's not really good timing. I just can't afford to be a beat behind and feeling like all of my nerves are exposed at this time of year.

What also happens when I am here in Sideways Land (need to come up with a better name for that) is that I have a much lower tolerance for foolishness and for other people in general. From those I work with to my children, I am much more peevish and prone to snapping, like an irritated turtle.

Where I feel it most is in my daily conversations with my husband. I tend to take things extra personally when I am in this place and I wonder, "What did he mean by that? What's he REALLY saying?" When, of course, Scott, like most other men, doesn't have an alternate meaning behind his words. He says what he means and he means what he says. Not much more than that.

So, what's a girl to do?

This girl is going to get back to the nationally-known weight loss program she was on. I've gained about 15 pounds since Christmas. I have had 4 cycles, and each time thought I was pregnant so I haven't been back. I've decided that even though we're not-not-trying to get pregnant anymore that it's just not as easy for me to conceive as it used to be. Maybe it just gets like that when you hit your mid 30's. And it's harder to take the weight off at my age anyways, so I'm getting back on that horse.

This girl is also going to start exercising daily again. I feel better when I'm moving around. I'm also going to get more sleep. I really need 8 hours and I've only been getting about 6. I'm also going to pray more regularly and truly make time for the Lord in my life.

And maybe I'll finally make that overdue appointment to get the stuff under the hood checked out.

Divine Mercy Sunday

2010-04-11T12:12:00.002-04:00

Divine Mercy Novena Day 9

2010-04-11T05:30:00.000-04:00

"Today bring to Me the Souls who have become Lukewarm, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.' For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy."

Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His three-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen.

Then pray the chaplet:

1. Begin with 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.
2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).
4. Conclude with (three times):Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Divine Mercy Novena Day 8

2010-04-09T08:45:00.000-04:00

"Today bring to Me the Souls who are in the prison of Purgatory, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice."

Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the flames of Purgatory, that there, too, the power of Your mercy may be celebrated.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in Purgatory, who are enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. I beg You, by the sorrowful Passion of Jesus Your Son, and by all the bitterness with which His most sacred Soul was flooded: Manifest Your mercy to the souls who are under Your just scrutiny. Look upon them in no other way but only through the Wounds of Jesus, Your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe that there is no limit to Your goodness and compassion. Amen.

Then Pray the Chaplet:

1. Begin with 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.
2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).
4. Conclude with (three times):Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Divine Mercy Novena Day 7

2010-04-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

"Today bring to Me the Souls who especially venerate and glorify My Mercy, and immerse them in My mercy. These souls sorrowed most over my Passion and entered most deeply into My spirit. They are living images of My Compassionate Heart. These souls will shine with a special brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I shall particularly defend each one of them at the hour of death."

Most Merciful Jesus, whose Heart is Love Itself, receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who particularly extol and venerate the greatness of Your mercy. These souls are mighty with the very power of God Himself. In the midst of all afflictions and adversities they go forward, confident of Your mercy; and united to You, O Jesus, they carry all mankind on their shoulders. These souls will not be judged severely, but Your mercy will embrace them as they depart from this life.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls who glorify and venerate Your greatest attribute, that of Your fathomless mercy, and who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls are a living Gospel; their hands are full of deeds of mercy, and their hearts, overflowing with joy, sing a canticle of mercy to You, O Most High! I beg You O God: Show them Your mercy according to the hope and trust they have placed in You. Let there be accomplished in them the promise of Jesus, who said to them that during their life, but especially at the hour of death, the souls who will venerate this fathomless mercy of His, He, Himself, will defend as His glory. Amen.

Then Pray the Chaplet:
1. Begin with 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.
2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).
4. Conclude with (three times):Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Divine Mercy Novena Day 6

2010-04-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

"Today bring to Me the Meek and Humble Souls and the Souls of Little Children, and immerse them in My mercy. These souls most closely resemble My Heart. They strengthened Me during My bitter agony. I saw them as earthly Angels, who will keep vigil at My altars. I pour out upon them whole torrents of grace. I favor humble souls with My confidence. "

Most Merciful Jesus, You yourself have said, "Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart." Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart all meek and humble souls and the souls of little children. These souls send all heaven into ecstasy and they are the heavenly Father's favorites. They are a sweet-smelling bouquet before the throne of God; God Himself takes delight in their fragrance. These souls have a permanent abode in Your Most Compassionate Heart, O Jesus, and they unceasingly sing out a hymn of love and mercy.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon meek souls, upon humble souls, and upon little children who are enfolded in the abode which is the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls bear the closest resemblance to Your Son. Their fragrance rises from the earth and reaches Your very throne. Father of mercy and of all goodness, I beg You by the love You bear these souls and by the delight You take in them: Bless the whole world, that all souls together may sing out the praises of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Then Pray the Chaplet:

1. Begin with 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.
2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).
4. Conclude with (three times):Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Divine Mercy Novena Day 5

2010-04-06T01:00:00.000-04:00

"Today bring to Me the Souls of those who have separated themselves from My Church,
and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. During My bitter Passion they tore at My Body and Heart, that is, My Church. As they return to unity with the Church My wounds heal and in this way they alleviate My Passion."

Most Merciful Jesus, Goodness Itself, You do not refuse light to those who seek it of You. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Church. Draw them by Your light into the unity of the Church, and do not let them escape from the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart; but bring it about that they, too, come to glorify the generosity of Your mercy.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Son's Church, who have squandered Your blessings and misused Your graces by obstinately persisting in their errors. Do not look upon their errors, but upon the love of Your own Son and upon His bitter Passion, which He underwent for their sake, since they, too, are enclosed in His Most Compassionate Heart. Bring it about that they also may glorify Your great mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Then Pray the Chaplet:

1. Begin with 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.
2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).
4. Conclude with (three times):Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Divine Mercy Novena Day 4

2010-04-05T01:00:00.000-04:00

"Today bring to Me those who do not believe in God and those who do not know Me, I was thinking also of them during My bitter Passion, and their future zeal comforted My Heart. Immerse them in the ocean of My mercy."

Most compassionate Jesus, You are the Light of the whole world. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who do not believe in God and of those who as yet do not know You. Let the rays of Your grace enlighten them that they, too, together with us, may extol Your wonderful mercy; and do not let them escape from the abode which is Your Most Compassionate Heart.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who do not believe in You, and of those who as yet do not know You, but who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Draw them to the light of the Gospel. These souls do not know what great happiness it is to love You. Grant that they, too, may extol the generosity of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Then Pray the Chaplet:

1. Begin with 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.
2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).
4. Conclude with (three times):Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Divine Mercy Novena Day 3

2010-04-04T01:00:00.000-04:00

"Today bring to Me all Devout and Faithful Souls, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. These souls brought me consolation on the Way of the Cross. They were a drop of consolation in the midst of an ocean of bitterness."

Most Merciful Jesus, from the treasury of Your mercy, You impart Your graces in great abundance to each and all. Receive us into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart and never let us escape from It. We beg this grace of You by that most wondrous love for the heavenly Father with which Your Heart burns so fiercely.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon faithful souls, as upon the inheritance of Your Son. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, grant them Your blessing and surround them with Your constant protection. Thus may they never fail in love or lose the treasure of the holy faith, but rather, with all the hosts of Angels and Saints, may they glorify Your boundless mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Then Pray the Chaplet:
1. Begin with The Apostles Creed, 1 Hail Mary and 1 Our Father.

2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).

4. Conclude with (three times):Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Divine Mercy Novena Day 2

2010-04-03T01:00:00.000-04:00

"Today bring to Me the Souls of Priests and Religious, and immerse them in My unfathomable mercy. It was they who gave me strength to endure My bitter Passion. Through them as through channels My mercy flows out upon mankind."

Most Merciful Jesus, from whom comes all that is good, increase Your grace in men and women consecrated to Your service, that they may perform worthy works of mercy; and that all who see them may glorify the Father of Mercy who is in heaven.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the company of chosen ones in Your vineyard -- upon the souls of priests and religious; and endow them with the strength of Your blessing. For the love of the Heart of Your Son in which they are enfolded, impart to them Your power and light, that they may be able to guide others in the way of salvation and with one voice sing praise to Your boundless mercy for ages without end. Amen.

1. Begin with The Apostles Creed, 1 Hail Mary, and 1 Our Father.

2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).

4. Conclude with (three times):Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Divine Mercy Novena, Day 1

2010-04-02T09:00:00.000-04:00

The Divine Mercy Novena begins today, Good Friday. From EWTN:

Jesus asked that the Feast of the Divine Mercy be preceded by a Novena to the Divine Mercy which would begin on Good Friday. He gave St. Faustina Kowalska an intention to pray for on each day of the Novena.... In her diary, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her: "On each day of the novena you will bring to My heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy ... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls."

For the next nine days, you can find the novena here. Click here for information on the Mercy Sunday Indulgence.

Prayer for Novena Day One (Good Friday): "Today bring to Me all mankind, especially all sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me."
Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which we place in Your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners, all enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion show us Your mercy, that we may praise the omnipotence of Your mercy for ever and ever. Amen.

Then, pray the Chaplet (can be said on a rosary, but your fingers work just as well):

1. Begin with 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.

2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:

Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

(Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all five decades).

4. Conclude with (three times):

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Jesus, I Trust in You!

2010-04-01T17:20:00.003-04:00

Everyone, tomorrow is Good Friday (duh) and the first day of the Divine Mercy Novena. I will post the prayers for each day of the Novena here in these pages. The Hour of Mercy is 3 PM, but it is excellent to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at any time of day.

See you back here tomorrow...

NBC has apologized

2010-03-31T09:30:00.003-04:00

From The Catholic League:

NBC APOLOGIZES FOR MSNBC’S HIT ON POPE

March 30, 2010

NBC apologized today for an article on MSNBC’s website entitled, “Pope Describes Touching Boys: I Went Too Far.” The article that readers accessed after clicking on it actually had nothing to do with the pope.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue accepted the apology today:

NBC says the attributed quote was erroneous and they have corrected the error. An apology was also extended. The apology is accepted. We hope that whoever was responsible for this outrageous post is questioned about it and that appropriate measures are taken. We look forward to hearing the outcome.

This doesn't mean the fight is over. Don't tolerate slander and calumny. When good people fight back, good things happen.

Hat tip: Fr. Z at WDTPRS

Mad as hell, and I just can't take it anymore.

2010-03-30T16:36:00.004-04:00

Before I start, let me say this:
1. Abusing anyone, anytime, is ALWAYS wrong.
2. Priests abusing their power to abuse children is sickening. May God have mercy on their souls.
3. Bishops covering it up and simply moving abusive priests from assignment to assignment or just covering it up and not taking it a. to civil authorities or b. to a canon trial is horrifying. May God have mercy on them for betraying all of the faithful that way.
4. Laypeople who know about it and do nothing sicken me also.

Those who make false accusations and who spread gossip and otherwise smear another's good name has a lot of apologizing to do. And may God have mercy on them as well.

There has been a lot in the press this week trying to link Pope Benedict XVI to abuse cover-ups in Munich, Germany and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The article in the New York Times is poorly researched and if I had tried to hand that in during my college journalism class, I would have gotten an F. The Times seems to have a real leftist agenda, which is why I cancelled my subscription two years ago. You can read good fisks of this story from people inside and outside the Church. Here are some links, but there are a lot more:

Andrew Brown, The London Daily Telegraph online
John Allen, The National Catholic Reporter
Sean Murphy, The Catholic Education Resource Center
Rev. Thomas Brundage, JCL, Canon judge in the Milwaukee case tells his side
George Weigel in First Things
Brendan O'Neill on why Atheists shouldn't join in on the Catholic Bashing
John Allen, again, in the New York Times
Father Raymond J. DeSousa, National Review Online

Today, MSNBC.com ran a headline that implied that Pope Benedict XVI molested children. Surely this was a mistake, but when you peruse the other headlines, well, it's not good for the Church. You can read more about it here at WDTPRS . I saw it first here at CMR.

I wrote an email to NBC News President Steve Capus:

Dear Mr. Capus,

I write to you to strongly object to MSNBC's characterization of Pope Benedict XVI in the headline which was up and running on msnbc.com this afternoon. It seems to me to be a horrible mistake, but taken together with the rest of the content on the page, there seems to be a real bias against the Catholic Church on your pages.

I would like to acknowledge the apology on your page for the misleading headline and I thank for that gesture, but given the fact that unknown thousands of people saw your headline and may never read the website's apology within the article, don't you think that a more prominent retraction and apology is due? Perhaps you might find a place for it on Brian Williams' broadcast tonight? Or maybe have Chris Matthews deliver an apology before he begins his program this evening?

Or, perhaps, you might direct some of the talented journalists you have on staff to fisk the New York Times article of last week. Many others, who seem to be unbiased toward or friendly to the Catholic Church, have taken it upon themselves to read the evidence the Times has presented on its website and found the claims in that article to be unsupported. The Judge in the canon case in Milwaukee has refuted much of what the Times has published. Has NBC sent anyone to talk to him?

I expect more of an organization like NBC News. And be assured that I will not watch MSNBC, NBC, its sister stations, or its web content (including Hulu) until a sufficiently prominent apology is issued and NBC takes it upon itself to try some real journalism as regards this story. Please also be assured that I will be writing next to your sponsors to tell them of my displeasure and to tell them that until your organization apologizes and begins to cover this story in a fair way I will not purchase their products. I will be posting this to my blog, to my Facebook account, and passing it on to my friends to encourage a boycott of your network and its sponsors until such a time that a satisfactory apology is made.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Amy Giglio

Linden, NJ

What you need to do is write to him, too. You need to write to their sponsors, and you need to get mad. Yes, when we are personally attacked, we are to turn the other cheek. But I do believe that as Catholics we are obliged to stand up for Holy Mother Church and for our Pope. How long are you going to tolerate being treated second-class, or having your faith mocked privately and in public? How long are you going to tolerate anti-Catholicism: the last acceptable prejudice in America?

It's Holy Week. Now is a good time to start.

Update: Thanks to Dr. Eric in the WDTPRS combox, here is a list of MSNBC advertisers:

LIST OF SPONSORS:
Toyota
Verizon
Nutrisystem
Avis
AIG Term Life
Coldwell Bankers
Venus Breeze
Geico
O’lay
Jimmy Dean Sausages
lawyers Weitz & Luxenburg, NY
Sudafed
Video Professor
Natural’s Cat Chow, Purina
Merneke Car Care Center
Am. Express
Travel Companion on CNN
Crystal Light
Infiniti Car
Vonage Phone
Dyson Vacuum
Eharmony
Cepacol
Hyundi Car
U.S. Buildings
Boeing
Progessive.Com
Direct TV
Colonial Penn Life Insurance
Indulg-a-Bath
Stop IRS Debt
HSBC Direct Financial Inst
U.S. Airforce
Aleve
Progresso Soup
Subaru
Spiriva
Cooking Lite
Steak-umns Burgers
Infiniti
Scalpcin
Mama Lucia Meat Balls
Sea Bond
Financial Freedom, reverse mortgage
eDiets Meal Delivery
Aqua Velvet
Citracal
Mr. Clean
Chemistry.com
Bayer Products
Old Mutual Investment
Rogaine
Verizon (Both)
Avis
Coldwell Bankers
Geico
Jimmy Dean Sausages
Sudafed
Natural’s Cat Chow, Purina
Am. Express
Crystal Light
Vontage Phon

7 quick takes Vol. 3

2010-03-26T11:12:00.003-04:00

1. Is this all I have time for right now? These posts with 7 bulleted points? Yes. Apparently it is.

2. I now have sinus and cold madness that was exacerbated by the powerful spring cleaning I did last Sunday. It was powerful Spring cleaning in the sense that I don't think we had cleaned the boys' room since summer. Forget about dusting. Did I mention my horrible dust allergy and my asthma? And I didn't use a dust mask while cleaning? And how I must not be all that smart?

3. Is it wrong for me to want the heavens to open and start pouring rain so I don't have to take the Kindergarteners and 1st graders outside at lunchtime?

4. I've been working with a 10 year old who is being prepared to be received into the Church this Easter Vigil. I'm so blessed to get to work with these kids.

5. Confirmation Prep classes are done. I think they went well. After Easter, things start to gear up with Confirmation Masses and First Communion Masses. I'm just trying to get through May 2.

6. I'm hoping that using the gift certificate I got for a local Spa (massage and manicure Sunday!) will go a long way toward helping me get through the next month.

7. Got appointments for an eye exam for me and Primo tomorrow morning. We think he needs glasses and I could probably use a new prescription. I also want to start wearing contacts again. And did I mention that I think I need reading glasses? Dang, I'm 34! Too young for reading glasses!

More more quick takes, go visit Jen at Conversion Diary. Thanks for hosting us, Jen!

7 quick takes vol. 2

2010-03-19T22:52:00.002-04:00

7 Quick takes

1. My phone wouldn't receive any text messages after Monday night. Turns out all of the text messages I had saved (like the thread with my husband from when he gave me the phone in November 2008) was taking up too much memory in my phone. Oh well. I guess you can't save it all.

2. Primo played in the PAL Basketball semi-final game tonight and he made his first basket shooting free throws. I am so proud.

3. Scott's been home the last two days, which has been great. It's so nice when we get to just hang out a little.

4. Fr. Mark Mossa came to visit us on Wed. and he talked to my 7th grade CCD class. It was great hanging out with him.

5. We moved Curly Sue into her own room tonight. She's very happy. Now I hope she stays in bed....

6. Applied for our passports on Thursday. They kept our birth certificates, which was a little disconcerting until the post office clerk told us they'd mail them back. Hope we don't need them between then and now...

7. Praying for my friend who went to the neurologist this week to see about headaches she's ben having. And also for my pregnant friend. Hang in there, girls!

What's YOUR kid doing at school?

2010-03-14T00:09:00.003-05:00

Bub's filling out his 1-100 number chart like this:
...30, 31, xxxii, xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxv, xxxvi, 37, xxx8, xxx9, 40, ...

And writing the date like this: III/8/10

And doing addition like this: II + I = III

And asking his teacher: "When you said you told us that 50 times, were you speaking metaphorically?"

And when his gym teacher asked them to make letter shapes with their bodies, he made a GAMMA.

Oy...

Maybe instead of making him repeat Kindergarten we should have just put him in 3rd grade.

7 Quick takes

2010-03-13T00:11:00.002-05:00

Technically it's Saturday, but I wanted to post something. My first 7 Quick Takes:

1. I should have been cleaning all day today, but for biological reasons I didn't get as far as I wanted to. Kind of bummed about it, but hey, what are you going to do?

2. This cleaning I am speaking of now consists of throwing the clutter into bags to put it into the basement to be dealt with at a later time. We're still under construction, so we don't really have places to put things now.

3. My dear Husband is nailing the last few rows of floorboards into our new floor in our dining room. We will just need to do finishing (molding, etc.), but we can at least move the dining room table out of the room that will belong to Curly Sue soon. We have got to get her into her own space. She's too old to be sharing a room with her brothers.

4. Tomorrow (Really, today) is the bridal shower for one of my cousins. Guess I had better buy a gift. Don't tell her I haven't done it yet. (Hi Jen! ;) )

5. Why I let us pick this weekend to throw a surprise party is beyond me. Construction, messy house, work. What is wrong with me?

6. We're going to Europe in July! This is the trip for Scott's work that got canceled last year. One week in the UK, and then we're going to take an extra week since we'll be there and who knows when we'll get to go back? Narrowed it down to either Spain or Italy. I'm leaning toward Italy. Advice?

7. The next few weeks are so busy for us. I can't wait till Easter gets here, then things slow down for a few weeks. Then if I can get through the weekend of May 1/2, I'll be OK.

You can read more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary. Good night!

2010-03-09T21:00:00.002-05:00

coat rack sandy hook, nj
saturday march 6, 2010

the winter of our discontent

2010-03-08T08:37:00.003-05:00

In February, the kids had the fever with temp spikes up to 104. The weekend of Jan. 31/ Feb. 1, Bubba came down with it on Friday and the fever finally broke on Monday after the sore throat started. He was back to school Wednesday. The following Friday, Primo got the same bug as Bub, with the same symptoms and for the same duration. That weekend also saw Curly Sue come down with a low-grade temp (about 100), but she was done with it in 24 hours. That was the weekend of snowmageddon, which never really happened here. The following weekend saw Curly Sue awake at 5:00 screaming in pain. Ear Infection. The following Friday saw Curly Sue with a fever hitting a high of 104 up and down for 4 days. She was finally clear to go to school by Thursday of that week (incidentally, another snowstorm which canceled school).

Just as I am thinking we're all in the clear, no more fevers, the stomach viruses have begun. Bub vomiting last Tuesday (one episode, better by 2:00). Curly Sue got it on Thursday (same everything). Primo had a little tummy trouble Saturday morning, but was fine. Played the best basketball game of his life that morning. Today, Curly Sue got it again. She's still asleep on the couch and I am going to get up now and wash some sheets. I am going to open the windows again today since it will be almost 60 here.

Is it spring yet?!

The long hello

2010-03-06T09:07:00.008-05:00

See that guy over there on the left? We met almost 15 years ago, but he doesn't remember. There were probably 20 of us watching a movie in Smugs' room in April of 1994. Smugs introduced "Gigs" to everyone. I never met a guy with that kind of nickname before so it stuck. I said, "Hi, Gigs," when I passed him on campus the next day. I could tell by his face that he didn't remember me. I also heard his friend say, "Who was that," and Scott replied, "I don't know." I didn't say hi again. I figured he didn't remember me. And I didn't see him much after that since our paths rarely crossed.

I had been selected to be an RA (Resident Assistant) for the next year, my junior year. We did our spring team building day and in the summer, I went back to school early for training. Two days into training, there was Gigs. Two guys had resigned as being RAs over the summer and he was asked to replace one of them. He told everyone his name was Scott, so that's what we called him. Apparently, only guys on the baseball team called him Gigs. We finished our training and the freshmen arrived on campus. I was pretty busy since I was an RA in the freshman girls' dorm. Scott was assigned to an upperclassman dorm, so he was around, but kind of peripherally. The college always had an ice cream social for the freshmen during orientation and all of the RAs went. I talked to him a little as we were leaving the social with our friends. As we parted, I said goodbye and gave him a hug, as all recovering theatre people do. There were sparks in that hug, but Scott wasn't my type. He's about 5'7" and played baseball. I liked guys taller than 6' and who were actors or poets. I just went back to my room and did my work and kind of forgot about it.

Shortly afterward, Scott and his colleagues up in Tucker Hall decided that they would throw a dance in the basement of the dorm. It used to be a seminary, so it was quite big. They called it Tucker Underground. And Scott was on duty that night. Oh, boy. What a terrible night he had! A lot of underage drinking and at one point, one of the Panamanian soccer players who lived there kicked a goal shot to the other end of the long hallway using a beer ball. He stopped down to the dance on rounds and I saw him and said hi and gave him a hug like I always do and there were the sparks again. A couple of us offered to go on rounds with him again so he wasn't alone. And we wound up hanging out for the rest of the time. I helped him and his fellow RAs clean up the mess. and then I stayed. The lounge where they had the dance was a 24 hour space, so we stayed there and watched TV and talked. All night.

I did try to kiss him at one point (forward much?) and you know what he said? He told me he didn't want to kiss me then. He said that he once kissed a girl the night that they met and that it didn't go anywhere right away and he didn't want that to happen with me. He wanted to give whatever we might have a chance before we kissed. I was shocked. No guy had ever said that to me before. I knew immediately that he was a good one, a guy I wanted to know better. So we stayed up until 7:00 in the morning just talking. He wasn't allowed to leave the building until then since he was on call. He drove me back to my building and he said he'd call me in the afternoon. The next night, we went out with his friends to play pool.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Of the 4 couples that we knew who got together at Tucker Underground, 2 of us are married. Scott and I were married 10 years ago on March 4. It's funny how 15 years can all at once feel like forever and yesterday.

So, Happy Anniversary, to my one, true love, to my college sweetheart, to the man whom God moved mountains to get into my life, to my Scotty. I love you.

trying

2010-03-02T20:45:00.002-05:00

I am trying harder now to be more patient with my children. One way I'm trying to do this is to say a Hail Mary before I start screaming. It's a lot like counting to 10, but it takes a little longer and it's actual prayer (multitasking-yes!). I figure Mary was Jesus' mom, and while she and Jesus were sinless and probably didn't really drive each other crazy, she's probably witnessed some crazy in Nazareth. And in the roughly 2000 years since her Assumption, she's witnessed a lot of crazy--from the vantage point of heaven, of course. So, I'm asking her intercession while I try not to yell at my kids all day long.

Sometimes the prayer is audible, sometimes not, but the kids know what I'm doing and I wonder what they're thinking when they see me do this. I don't want them to associate the Hail Mary with me being fed up. They have asked me "what are you doing," as they watch me moving my lips, eyes raised to heaven. I tell them I'm asking Mary to pray for me.

This leads me to wonder of you know any moms who don't yell. I know one, but I guess I could be acquainted with more and just not know it. She's really sweet. I have seen her with her family and with other peoples' kids and I have never heard her even raise her voice above an "inside voice" tone. I don't know how she does it, especially since she has more than 10 kids of her own. Yes, you read that right. And I have never in 7 years of knowing her heard her raise her voice. There is an air about her. It's peace. She radiates peace.

I'm not sure what I radiate, but it's not peace. I think I radiate agitation. I radiate bad juju.

Actually, I do think I know how she does it. I'm pretty sure she prays more than me. She's definitely one of the holiest people I know. She seems to have put all of her life in the Lord's hands, and she is confident in His Providence.

This is my problem. I try to do too much. I pay good lip service to "Leaving it up to God," "His Will be done!" But I find myself trying to control things and then getting frustrated by the things I have no control over. Like the weather canceling or postponing events I've organized for Church. Dang, I can't make the blizzard either show up or avoid us. And I can't even rejoice in the time off.

Which brings me back to Mary. There she was, a 14 year old girl, and this angel shows up and tells her that God wants her to bear His Son. And after she gets over being confused ("How can this be? I don't know man."), she tells the angel, "I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word." And she probably never thought, "Boy, what's Joseph going to think? What are all the women in town going to think about me?" She probably just knew God would take care of it. She was that humble.

I read this today and it kind of jumped out at me. Maybe it will hit you, too:

We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body (2 Cor. 4:8-10).

Let it be done to me according to your word.

welcome

2010-03-02T16:09:00.005-05:00

To anyone who might possibly have clicked over here from this post at CMR, a very warm welcome. I am not nearly as shrill as the Ash Wednesday post below and that email make me sound.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and get some content up here. Right after I make dinner for my husband and kids.

Oh, and here is a link to an article about how what you do over the internet is never really private.

Especially if you email an Archbold.

Can we talk?

2010-02-17T21:06:00.003-05:00

I mean, I know it's probably not good, what I'm about to say, but, well, that never stopped me before.

What's up with people and ashes?

We must have had thousands of people come through our church today for ashes since it's Ash Wednesday. If I wasn't taking a CCD class to Mass tonight, I would never have gone to Mass. I hate Ash Wednesday.

Hate is a strong word. And I don't have a problem with the day. I think it's great, actually. What I dislike is people coming in the church door for ashes and then not coming back until next Ash Wednesday.

Is it because we're giving something away?

Well, guess what, folks? We give Jesus away at every Mass. And He's way better than ashes.

The Baby Gianna Story

2010-02-15T15:24:00.002-05:00

Matthew and Patrick Archbold at Creative Minority Report are running a series about baby Gianna. The first part is quite compelling...

Rebecca didn’t keep the appointment at the Planned Parenthood clinic that Friday. And finally Rebecca told Jessica that she chose to keep the baby. “We all breathed a sigh of relief,” she said. “It had been such a long process but she made a decision for life.”

But the relief would be short lived. When Rebecca's boyfriend learned of her decision he repeatedly and savagely kicked her in the stomach. While examining her, hospital doctors said they saw something alarming in the baby. There was no amniotic fluid which would likely cause the baby's lungs to not develop properly.

Please go read the whole thing, and go back every day this week for further installments of this story.

Turn, turn, turn...

2010-02-04T22:33:00.005-05:00

There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

There is a boy in my 7th grade CCD class, whom I will call T. (not his real initial). T. has a medical condition that causes him a great deal of suffering. I didn't know about it until 2 weeks ago. I mean, it's on my class list next to his name, but I have to confess that I hadn't paid too much attention to it since the beginning of the year and T. had never exhibited outward signs of his condition.

Last night, I got the chance to talk to T.'s mom. We'd distributed report cards in the last week of January and had parent-teacher conferences and she wasn't able to make it. (Her family's been having a tough time right now, so they can really use all of our prayers.) Here is part of our 20-minute conversation:

T's mom: A few weeks ago, I don't know what you were talking about, but T. came home and said something to me...
Me: Oh, gosh, it could have been anything...we've been talking about a lot of stuff in class lately that's got some of the kids talking in school outside of our class time...
TM: Yeah... I don't know what it was, but he came home and he said to me, "I know why God let me have [this medical condition]. It's so I can show other people who have it that you can have it and be ok. That's what God wants me to do, to show other people with [it] that I'm OK and they can be OK too."
Me: Oh, wow.
TM: So I don't know what you said...
Me: I don't know either, but it was the Holy Spirit. Praise God. That's just so beautiful. Praise God for that.

On further reflection, I know what we were talking about in class. A week or two before Christmas, we were talking about why God lets bad stuff happen. It's the eternal question, isn't it? Why did God let 9/11 happen? Why hurricanes and earthquakes? Why doesn't he just put his hand down and stop it?

I was frank: I don't have all of the answers. I know that we all have a great gift from God: free will, and God does not interfere with that. But, I firmly believe what I told them next: even though bad, terrible things happen, God works immense good out of the results of those bad things.

I told the kids that I have lost three babies, two to miscarriage and one to an ectopic pregnancy, where I had internal bleeding and had emergency surgery. And I don't know right now what good came from those miscarriages. I do know that if those babies had been born, I probably would not have my younger two kids right now. But I know that I have three children in heaven who pray for me and I know that God will bring much good out of that suffering my family endured.

And T. was listening. And the Spirit moved him, at the age of 13, to do some REALLY deep thinking.

It's not easy to tell with teens when they are listening to you. They act too cool for you and what you have to say. But I am starting to figure out that they are listening ALL THE TIME and that the Holy Spirit moves them when we least expect it.

But all things happen in His time, don't they?

What I have learned is that I have to be open, to witness, and to try not to get in the way of the Holy Spirit doing His thing.

Praise, to you, Lord. Thank you for letting me be T.'s teacher. Thank you for letting me be in their lives this year. And please keep me out of your way.

unscholarly book reviews

2010-02-03T16:32:00.003-05:00

Because you never asked, I am going to ~~rant about~~, erm, discuss some books.

This is precipitated by the fact that I just read one to my daughter.

We were given two books for children by this author. These are the only books by him that I have ever read, so what I am about to type may not be completely fair as I have not read a large sample of his work.

I have never liked children's literature that was cloying and sickly sweet-not even when I was a kid. I don't think it respects the mind or imagination of a child to spoon-feed them pabulum. Give me Roald Dahl and Shel Silverstein every time.

These books by Max Lucado are everything I don't like about children's stories.

Maybe it's because we talk about God at home and we've talked about what we think heaven is like. Maybe it's because I think my kids already know how much I love them and how much God loves them. They just rub me the wrong way. This crippled lamb story makes me want to vomit. And when I read the other one and it talks about the parent being in heaven to meet the child there, I think to myself, "Through God's infinite mercy, I will be there, but I am not absolutely sure I will be there. It's mine to lose." I don't want to start shoving questionable theology down my three year old's throat.

Speaking of questionable theology, I read and re-read this book recently. It's really a page-turner. It was recommended to me by a friend and I have passed it on to other people because I think, on the whole, it has a lot of good things to say to people who are suffering or who have suffered. I think that on the whole, the way it represents the Holy Trinity is very good.

But the author's treatment of organized religion gets my hackles up. In the book, he frequently asserts (from God's point of view) that organized religion is useless and set up by humans as a way to assert control over others. I'm not saying religion not used that way by some people, but I think that the Catholic Church is really where it's at, warts and all. Plus, it was founded by Jesus Christ HIMSELF. I would never pass this book on to, or recommend it to, someone whose relationship with the Church is on shaky ground.

So, there you have it. End of rant.

Thoughts on these books/authors? Is there something I'm missing?

Saturday recap

2010-01-30T11:02:00.004-05:00

Today we will begin taping and mudding the back room, which has been under construction for 2.5 years. We had a guy install the drywall on Monday. Probably we should have paid him to do this too, but my dad knows how to do this and he's coming up today to show me and Scott what to do. I hope we can get this done this week and paint next weekend. Then it's just trim and flooring and we're done.

I see the light....

We went to Primo's basketball game this morning. scott is coaching his team this year and Primo is doing well. Mom is just having a hard time watching and not yelling her head off: Hands up, D! Get Ahead!Getahead!getahead!!!!!!!!

Gotta go, Dad's here!

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!

2010-01-28T09:56:00.003-05:00

Today is the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas. I have always loved this saint, even before I knew he was a Dominican.

One of the things I like about him is that when he was in seminary, everybody called him "The Dumb Ox" because he was fat and didn't talk a lot. Their teacher, St. Albert the Great (even better in Latin: Albertus Magnus!), said about him: "We call this young man a dumb ox, but his bellowing in doctrine will one day resound throughout the world."

His parents were wealthy, influential Italians who wanted him to become a Benedictine, thinking that they could probably arrange for him to become the abbot of Monte Cassino, the original monastery that St. Benedict founded. But when Thomas heard about St. Dominic's upstart Order of Preachers, he wanted to join them.

But Thomas really wanted to join the Dominicans. He tried to run away from home, but his mom and dad sent his brothers after him and locked him in one of their palaces. Mom and Dad sent one of their daughters to talk some sense into him, but he talked her into becoming a nun. They tried to send a woman of ill repute to tempt him, but he chased her out of the room with the poker from the fireplace! After 2 years, his parents gave in and let him join the Dominicans.

He was really smart. How smart was he? They say he could dictate 5 books on 5 different subjects at once! He wrote songs that we still sing in church (mostly at Adoration: Pane Lingua). His philosophy is still studied by Catholic and non-Catholic scholars alike!

This is his deathbed prayer (from the Catholic Encyclopedia):

The end was near; extreme unction was administered. When the Sacred Viaticum was brought into the room he pronounced the following act of faith :

If in this world there be any knowledge of this sacrament stronger than that of faith , I wish now to use it in affirming that I firmly believe and know as certain that Jesus Christ , True God and True Man , Son of God and Son of the Virgin Mary , is in this Sacrament . . . I receive Thee, the price of my redemption , for Whose love I have watched, studied, and laboured. Thee have I preached; Thee have I taught. Never have I said anything against Thee: if anything was not well said, that is to be attributed to my ignorance . Neither do I wish to be obstinate in my opinions, but if I have written anything erroneous concerning this sacrament or other matters, I submit all to the judgment and correction of the Holy Roman Church , in whose obedience I now pass from this life.

A Prayer for Guidance by St. Thomas Aquinas:
O creator past all telling,
you have appointed from the treasures of your wisdom
the hierarchies of angels,
disposing them in wondrous order
above the bright heavens,
and have so beautifully set out all parts of the universe.

You we call the true fount of wisdom
and the noble origin of all things.
Be pleased to shed
on the darkness of mind in which I was born,
The twofold beam of your light
and warmth to dispel my ignorance and sin.

You make eloquent the tongues of children.
Then instruct my speech
and touch my lips with graciousness.
Make me keen to understand, quick to learn,
able to remember;
make me delicate to interpret and ready to speak.

Guide my going in and going forward,
lead home my going forth.
You are true God and true man,
and live for ever and ever.

--St Thomas Aquinas, 1225-74

It's true...

2010-01-18T18:22:00.003-05:00

Ten years ago in March, Scott and I were married. We bought our house in Linden, NJ, even as I gave my husband 5 years to find a job in PA so I could move closer to my friends and family. I worked at a major university here in NJ as an admissions counselor and I traveled a little bit. We had a cat.

I had all kinds of plans for us. We would travel some. Maybe Italy, maybe drive across the country. We were young (24) and we had all kinds of time ahead of us to get around to the kids we wanted to have (2 or 3-it was up in the air).

On Mothers' Day, 2000, I found out I was pregnant. The baby would be born before our first anniversary.

I did not feel equipped for motherhood in any way. I was excited, but I was really scared. And I was not entirely comfortable with my plan changing. We wouldn't be jetting off to Europe anytime soon. We had decided before we got married that once we had kids I'd stay home and take care of them. I wasn't making really GREAT money in my job and by the time you factored in day care and both of our crazy schedules, well, it wasn't worth it.

Nine years ago today, I gave birth to a wonderful baby boy. The blog world knows him as Primo. We took a little while figuring each other out, but every year has gotten better and better.

So, what they say is really true. God's plan for you is really so much better than the plan you have in mind.

Happy 9th birthday to my firstborn, my smartypants, my right hand man. I love you so much. I cannot imagine my world-- THE world-- without you in it. You are my joy. The Lord has big plans for you, my friend. I am so blessed and so grateful that he gave you to us.

Merry New Year!

2010-01-04T09:51:00.001-05:00

So, how was your Christmas break?

Mine was VERY busy. But there is progress on the back room which has been in various phases of construction for 2.5 years now. I can almost smell the sheetrock...

Got to see Aimee and VK this past Saturday. Aimee is gestating beautifully (is that even correct? Does that make it sound like she is the one in utero? I hope not. Because, clearly, if she were in utero, it would have been impossible to see her and it would be 197*. asterisk in case she wouldn't want me to publish the year of her birth). And the 4 kids who were running around were fantastic. And so was her wonderful Rob.

VK and her hubby Sean look great! I haven't seen them since we all graduated college back in the late '90's. VK went to Denmark in the summer to record an album with a super producer. what I have heard from the record sounds GREAT!!!! buy it!

So, today was back to the grind with school and work. I wish we had gotten one day at home where we could just loaf, but that was not to be for us this year. Maybe we'll get to do that over Easter...

What were you up to?

Very Interesting...

2009-12-21T12:38:00.002-05:00

Apparently, a herd of elephants is rampaging in India, seemingly avenging Catholics martyred there a year ago.

Pray for those who have died, martyrs and persecutors alike.

I see Joy

2009-12-17T12:16:00.005-05:00

That was the license plate in the back of the red sport sedan in front of me this morning: "I See Joy." This got me to thinking that surely this person in front of me must have the Joy of the Lord in her heart, especially during this time leading up to the Christmas season. My heart glowed red like the paint job on her car.

Until she illegally passed the green car in front of her on a two-lane street. It would seem that the green car wasn't going fast enough. We got stuck at the light on the next block (4 lanes now). The green car in front of me, the red car next to the green, in the right lane, behind the cab of a tractor trailer (without a trailer). The light turns green and the red car has to wait while the trailerless tractor trailer gets going. In my rear view mirror, I see the red car pull out in front of a white van and go around the offending truck.

This gets me thinking, perhaps this woman's name is Joy and all she sees is herself.

Which now has me thinking, ought my license plate to read: "I See Amy?"

O Sapientia: “O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your
strong yet tender care. Come and show your people the way to salvation.” Isaiah
had prophesied, “The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom
and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge
and fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.” (11:2-3),
and “Wonderful is His counsel and great is His wisdom.” (28:29).

We start to pray the "O Antiphons" today in preparation for Christmas. Click on the quote above for a great link to an explanation of what the "O Antiphons" are.

"O come, Thou, Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily.
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to grow."

Thank them, especially at this time of year.

2009-12-16T09:02:00.003-05:00

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear..
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.."

" So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

A day that will live in infamy...

2009-12-07T13:38:00.003-05:00

"The surprise was complete. The attacking planes came in two waves; the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at 8:55. By 9:55 it was all over. By 1:00 PM the carriers that launched the planes from 274 miles off the coast of Oahu were heading back to Japan. "
-"Attack on Pearl Harbor" from eyewitnesstohistory.com

Pray today for those who were lost on this day in 1941. Pray for all those who died in World War II. Pray for all those who fought in World War II. Pray for those who fight now that they may remain courageous in battle. Pray also for those who lead us now that the Lord might bless them with the ability to make peace.

"Baby, It's Cold Outside"

2009-11-23T08:56:00.002-05:00

I'd like to know what a song about a guy trying to get a girl to get into bed with him has to do with Christmas.

Also: Norah Jones and Willie Nelson singing this song together is just a bit creepy. He's old enough to be her grandfather. But it IS the best version of it I've heard.

Veterans Day

2009-11-11T08:19:00.003-05:00

Thank you to all of the brave men and women who have fought for our country on any field of battle. If you, like I, have never served in the military, please take time today to think about the sacrifices these folks have made to serve us and keep us safe. Think of the doughboy who made his way overseas for the first time, digging trenches in France, shells exploding over his head. Think of the WACS and Joes who went back 30 years later to fight in WWII, arriving on the shores of France like in the photo above. Think of those who went to Korea to stop the spread of communism. Think of those who served in the steaming jungles of Vietnam and Central America, who sweated in the deserts of Iraq, who climbed in the mountains of Afghanistan, and all other places their President has sent them. They went willingly, bravely, to meet an uncertain future and they returned, asking nothing but for us to every once in a while to stop and say thank you. Ponder the sacrifices they and their families made and I dare you not to choke up a bit.

I love how Veterans Day falls on the feast of St. Martin of Tours. When Martin was 10 (326 AD), over his parents' objections, he wanted to be baptized and began to be taught. He eventually joined the Roman army and was stationed in Gaul (modern-day France) where he was born. One day, by the city gate, he saw a beggar with hardly any clothing. Without much thought, he cut his cloak in half and gave half to the beggar (see picture at right). That night, he had a dream were he saw Jesus wearing his half cloak. He finished his religious training and became baptized. After he left the army, he became a priest, and eventually the bishop of Tours. As a bishop, he passionately defended the Church against the Arian heresy. He died in 397 AD.

St. Martin is the patron saint of soldiers, which makes Veterans Day on November 11 so very cool.

Heavenly Father, through the intercession of St. Martin of Tours, I beg your blessings for those men and women who are veterans of the wars the United States has fought. Please bless them and their families for the sacrifices they have made for our country. Please bless the United States. Please let us be a beacon for freedom and good for the whole world. Mary, the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the United States, pray for us. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.

2009-11-10T21:49:00.002-05:00

We have Religious Ed. classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The kids come for one of those sessions every week. We have about 625 kids in RE, so it gets kind of busy.

The Tuesday session meets from 3:45-5:00, so Scott comes to pick up the kids from me at work at about 4:45, takes them home, and gets dinner started.

Tonight's menu was leftover teriyaki chicken (grilled last night) with rice and stir fry veggies. Now, the children will not eat them all stir-fried together because they are my children and are therefore adverse to anything that makes my life easier, such as eating the same meal their father and I enjoy. ("Sauce? What kind of sauce? I don't like sauce. I like ketchup. You stirred it all together! I know it's called stir fry AND it will all wind up stirred together in my tummy, but I don't want my food all mixed up on my plate!!")

Point? Yes, I have one. Right on the top of my head.

So, Scott came home and started making the rice. He measured out 3 cups of rice and cooked it. Which yielded approximately 10 cups of cooked rice.

Lord, I am thankful to you today for the rice pudding I am about to enjoy. Yum.

2009-11-02T13:43:00.001-05:00

Luigi, Mario, and their pumpkin.

I hate Halloween

2009-10-29T19:50:00.002-04:00

Well, hate is a strong word, but I really don't like it. I think I like it even less than that cat over there does. It's not much more to me than a whole big, huge pain in the rear end. Getting costumes together is stressful. Then the inevitable, "I changed my mind. I don't want to be that; I want to be this" the week before Halloween. I set a deadline for the kids to tell me what they want to be on Halloween and then that's IT. Bub tried pulling this last weekend. When I reminded him that it was past the mind-changing deadline and that he wasn't going to be a skeleton, but Mario like he had told me the week before, my six year old son declared that "Fine! I'll wear it, but this is going to be the WORST HALLOWEEN EVER!!!!" To which I replied if he would truly like it to be the WORST HALLOWEEN EVER, he should mention costumes to me one more time and then he wouldn't be allowed to trick or treat.

What bothers me even more than my children's temper tantrums is the decidedly more evil and downright disturbingly scary turn that Halloween decorations have taken in recent years. It's to the point where I avoid the Halloween Aisle at our local Tar-jay. I had to go into a Halloween store last weekend with Curly Sue (looking for Mario and Luigi costume stuff). I should have marched right back out, but I didn't. She's had 2 nightmares since last Saturday and she usually sleeps like a baby. I blame my lousy parenting and the zombies and horror music at the store.

I can't wait till it's over. What are you (or your kids) going to be?

2009-10-27T23:25:00.001-04:00

"True works of God always meet with opposition and are marked by suffering. If God wants to accomplish something, sooner or later He will do so in spite of the difficulties. Your part, in the meantime, is to arm yourself with great patience." Fr. Michael Sopocko, spiritual director and confessor to St. Faustina Kowalska, from the Diary of St. Faustina, paragraph 270.

Ecumenism

2009-10-23T08:37:00.003-04:00

This week, the Holy Father made it easier for Anglicans who want to be united with Rome to, well, unite with Rome. There are many people more knowledgeable than I who wrote about it. Among them are: Father Z., Matthew Archbold, Rocco Palmo, Fr. Longenecker (who was once Anglican himself). I'm not going to try to dissect the pope's message. So many others are doing that, and I don't have the real energy it would take to do that well. I don't even have the energy to write down my navel-gazings for this blog, let alone take on a major project like that. I will just say not to believe everything you read in the papers, secular and otherwise. There are people who just don't like the pope. And I don't think he's poaching congregations from others. He's just responding to their request to come home. What good father wouldn't find a way for his child to come home (See the Prodigal Son)?

But today Father Z. posted this good bit about B16 being the Pope of Christian Unity and food for thinking about what Ecumenism truly is. And my brain took that food for thought and it satisfied something my brain has been trying to chew on for years.

I firmly believe, and was taught, that the Catholic Church is the only Church founded by Jesus Christ. Our popes and bishops trace their line (through ordination) all the way back, unbroken through history, to the Apostles, whom Jesus commissioned. Presbyterians can trace their lines back only so far as John Calvin, Anglicans to Henry VIII of England, etc..

By our baptism, we are called, among other things, to go forth and make disciples of all nations. We are all called to mission. Maybe some of us are called to go out and evangelize in extraordinary ways, by going to other countries and to proclaim the Good News to those who have never heard it. Maybe some of us are called by God to evangelize in our parishes, in catechetical ministry. Maybe some are called to evangelize by blog. But all of us are called to live as Jesus taught us, keeping the 10 Commandments: loving God with all our heart, all our mind, and all our strength, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. In this way, with the joy that comes from living as the Lord intends us to live, we draw others closer to God. They see how joyful we are and they draw closer to God by our example. This is how the ordinary person is an evangelist.

Not to get off track, but think on this: How full of joy are you? Are you feeling the joy that comes from life in Christ? Why or why not? Can other people tell? Are you giving anyone a reason to consider the Church?

So, if we can accept that the Catholic Church is historically the Church founded by Christ Himself (see third paragraph above), and we can accept that Christians are called to mission, what should the true purpose of ecumenism be? Should it be about fact-finding? ("Ah, I see that you believe in the Real Presence. So do we! But you really don't have it since your founder broke away from the Church and interrupted the line of Apostolic succession. Hmmm...what else have we got?")

And what of the "one, true Church" argument? The Catholic Church is the only Church founded by Christ Himself. In Lumen Gentium, the fathers of the Second Vatican Council said that other Christian churches are only true churches as far as they subsist in the Catholic Church, or are in union with the Catholic Church.

I read somewhere recently (and I cannot remember the source) that someone said that through interreligious dialogue should be like laying down a two way street so that we don't crash into each other. We learn about each other so we can stay out of one another's way. Consider: is this true to what we understand our mission as baptized Christians to be? Especially in light of Jesus' prayer that all are one in Him?

If we consider the highway analogy above, it works for us, to a point. After dialogue with those of other faiths, the example of the Catholic Christian should be so compelling, and his ways of explaining the Faith so good, that others are led to join the Catholic Church, not through any direct, coercive effort of the Catholic Christian, but through the work of the Holy Spirit, who draws us ever closer to the Lord.

So, can ecumenism truly be about fact finding? I don't think so. By being a true Christian, by loving God and others perfectly, those who belong to other faiths should want to join us. Father Z. used the analogy in his article about the members of the two faiths stretching, which is an image I find particularly apt. One person is about to fall off a cliff. The other, on top of the cliff, stretches his hand, scooting himself to the edge, reaching as far as he can to save his friend without falling over the edge himself. The other, clinging to the rock for life, stretches his hand as high as he can. Their fingertips brush, they stretch more, reaching, reaching, until they clasp hands, and the one at the top is able to pull his friend back to the safety of the solid rock, the Rock upon whom Jesus built His Church.

Hello, blog, it's me, Amy.

2009-10-07T13:32:00.002-04:00

Hey. Did you miss me?

I have had some things going on that I wish I could blog about, but since it involves one of my children and he has asked me to respect his privacy and not blog about it, I can't. But it's all good. No one is in the hospital or anything. Everyone is healthy and well. But the thing is that it is kind of taking up all of my time and mental energy. But whatever. This isn't his brain dump, it's mine and I just will have to talk about it endlessly with Scott instead of you.

So, here's some things that are happening that are not the 700 pound gorilla in my life right now. In no particular order:

1. My Curly Sue is sleeping under my desk at work right now. Poor kiddo has to get up with her brothers so we can get them to school on time. If left to her own devices she'd sleep until 9:00 instead of 6:45.

2. I am teaching 7th grade CCD on Wednesdays and I love it. That is why I got into this job in the first place. Nothing beats being in a classroom.

3. Going to see Bruce Springsteen at Giants Stadium tomorrow night. I'm really psyched. He's going to play all of the "Born to Run" album! And our tickets were only $33 each!

4. Went to the pumpkin patch with Bub's kindergarten class on Monday. What a bunch of fun that was! It was nice to spend some time with just Bub. I don't get to spend a lot of time with him when his siblings aren't around. He's a funny guy.

That's all I've got. Happy Wednesday!

My first bad haiku

2009-09-25T11:10:00.003-04:00

At Catholic Teacher Musings is Bad Haiku Friday. My submission:

To live in N. J.
Is to take thirty minutes
To drive but 6 miles.

Six is super!

2009-09-17T08:36:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday to my boy, Bubba! Bub turns six today and we are so blessed to have this boy with us.

Here is a Bub-crostic poem to describe my middle child:

Bubbly
Uproarious
Beautiful
Buddy
Awesome

Bub likes: music; They might be Giants; Star Wars; video games; snuggling; hugging; his brother and sister, and of course, his mom and dad; he likes to play with his friends.

Bub dislikes: tomato sauce, lima beans.

Happy birthday to my funny, sunny, Bubba. I can't believe it's been 6 years since you were born. You are a delight and you warm my heart with your hugs and silly songs and stories. I am so glad that God sent you to us.

September 11

2009-09-11T10:01:00.003-04:00

I remember that Sepember 11, 2001 dawned clear and bright. The cloudless sky was a brilliant shade of blue and the sunlight hadn't seemed so clear in a long time.

Primo (almost 8 months old at the time) and I were at home. I was watching TV. Scott and my mom (who was living with us at the time) had left for work already. I was watching a morning news program when they reported that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers. What a horrible accident, I thought. Then, a few minutes later, another plane. My mom called, "This is not an accident," she said. I tried calling Scott, but he was working out in the gym, watching everything from an exercise bike.

The Pentagon. Pennsylvania. I called my girl friend, who was living on a Marine Corps Air Station at the time. They were fine.

I thought back to how I had interviewed for a couple of jobs in New York City in the year before. How one of those jobs was at a dot com in the financial district. I was glad I hadn't been offered one of those jobs. I remembered watching the coverage, watching those two towers-which I could see from the nearby highway overpass that I drove almost daily-collapse into dust and smoke. Watching papers from the office buildings fall like snow from the sky. Watching desperate people jump from the windows of those towers. Thinking about the firefighters, police officers, and civilians who were trapped in the rubble. Rejoicing at the recovery of one of the victims.

I remember how in the next couple of days, everyone walked around, numb. I remember how the wind shifted, blowing into our town in New Jersey from the East, from Manhattan, only 15 or 20 miles away as the crow flies. How hazy everything was and the smell that came in through our open windows. The smell of death.

I remember how six months afterward, the pain was lessened and there were two bright lights in the night sky which brought more comfort than I could have guessed as I looked up at them from my house, or anywhere I happened to be in our area.

I remember thinking about how life will never be the same again. This innocence, naivete, that we all had about how safe we were-how what happened in Israel almost every day could never happen here-was gone. How my child, my children to come, would always have September 11 in their history. How Primo would never remember a time when the Twin Towers stood tall, a symbol of American prosperity and our engineering ingenuity.

And how do I answer the questions of the 4th graders I taught in CCD that year? "Mrs. G., how can God let that happen? How could he let those bad guys kill all those people," when I wasn't entirely sure of the answers myself?

I also remember how we all came together, proud to be American. I remember that we were all going to show this new enemy, Osama Bin Laden, what we were made of and how we were not going to be bowed; we would not quake at his shaking fist. We live in the greatest country in the world, damnit!

Looking back now from the distance of 8 years, I wonder, where has that feeling of one-ness gone? Where has the feeling that we really DO live in the greatest country in the world gone? Where did all of that goodwill go?

September 11, 2001, was a day of senseless cruelty, of mass murder. It showed us how we needed each other. It showed us how truly selfless most of us are. Remember those firefighters and policemen, clergy and laypeople, who all rushed into the burning skyscrapers with no regard for their own safety? Where is that sense of selflessness now? Where is the unity?

Will it take another disaster for us to get it back?

You say it's your birthday?

2009-08-30T09:34:00.002-04:00

Well, it's her birthday too, yeah!

Happy birthday to my pink Princess, Curly Sue. She's three now, which means, in her own arbitrary terms, that she is now big. She wasn't big yesterday, but she is today. She starts school in about 3 weeks. She will also start dancing lessons. She will also continue to boss her big brothers around and generally try to run everyone's life. what else are little sisters for?

As my dad says, she's our little ray of sunshine. We love you, Curly Sue. Happy Birthday!

August 27 is the feast of St. Monica!

2009-08-27T10:40:00.003-04:00

You can find a nice reflection on St. Monica's life here at American Catholic.

Found this great three day novena at the St. Monica Sodality of Michigan:

TRIDUUM (THREE-DAY) NOVENA in HONOR of ST. MONICA

For an INCREASE of FAITH, HOPE and CHARITY

This Three-Day Novena may be begun three days before or on the feast days of St. Monica August 27 (Traditional Calendar May 4th), St. Augustine - August 28, St. Augustine's birthday - November 13, St. Augustine's Baptism - April 24

FIRST DAY

Prayer for Faith

O glorious St. Monica, transfixed with sorrow when you saw your beloved child Augustine living in the dark and gloomy abyss of error and vice, and straying far from the right path which leads to true felicity in the possession of God and His holy grace, hear our prayer, O afflicted mother. By that cruel sorrow, which with so much patience you did bear, and by those earnest sighs and bitter tears with which you did appeal to God to change the heart of your prodigal son, and by your wondrous confidence in God, which was never shaken, O grant to us, your children, that we may, like you, place all our trust in God, and in our trials and troubles be ever resigned to His holy will. While we ask you, O glorious mother St. Monica, to supply for us our special needs, we here earnestly ask you to pray for the erring children of Jesus, so many Augustines, straying from God and hurrying to ruin. Let that earnest prayer of yours go forth once more for us and for sinners, that we may live in the light of divine grace and be united again thereafter to bless the bounty of a loving God for eternity. Amen.

LET US PRAY. O God, look graciously down upon Your children who sigh in this valley of tears. With hope we pray for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins, for the never-failing help of Your grace, and for the faithful fulfillment of Your promises: to find life everlasting and a happy abode with You in heaven, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.

May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be. . . Saint Monica, pray for us.

SECOND DAY

Prayer for Hope

O glorious mother, St. Monica, although the many means you employed to accomplish the conversion of your son Augustine seemed fruitless, and for a long time God Himself appeared deaf to your earnest prayer and unmoved by your ever-flowing tears, you never lost confidence in obtaining the long-sought grace for Augustine. You lovingly and tenderly admonished your erring son; you watched over him ever with all a mother's love, and fearless of danger and heedless of fatigue, followed him from place to place in his weary and wayward wanderings. In a word, all that a mother's tender love could suggest, all that a mother's anxious solicitude could inspire, all that a wondrous prudence and true wisdom could dictate, you, O great St. Monica, cheerfully did to effect the return to God of your firstborn and darling child. By all these generous efforts, so happily crowned in the end, hear, O mother, the petitions we make to you. Pray for us, too, and pray especially for those who are unmindful of and ungrateful to God. To you, O dearest mother, we are especially dedicated; look upon us, then, as your children, and win for us the grace we need. Regard mercifully the most destitute among us, that sin being diminished, the number of the faithful may increase, and greater glory may be given to Him who is the best of friends, the truest of benefactors, our first beginning and last end, the source of all our hope, our Savior, our God. Amen.

May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts. Amen.

Our Father . . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be . . . Saint Monica, pray for us.

THIRD DAY

Prayer for Charity

O glorious mother St. Monica who can conceive the consolation that abounded in your heart, so long the home of brooding sorrow, when you saw your child Augustine rising in the light of grace and giving himself generously to God. When you folded your converted son in your arms and tears of every joy streamed forth to tell the glowing jubilee of your heart, Oh, how in that moment God in his mercy recompensed your years of sorrow and anxiety, your long and weary days of racking suspense. It was impossible that a child of tears like yours should perish and when your son Augustine heard the call of God he obeyed it, and his life and his deeds flung a luster all their own on you, St. Monica. O fortunate mother, twice mother of your child, deign to listen to our prayers and present our petitions to God. Look lovingly, and with all a mother's interest on us assembled here, under your protection, to honor you. We love you and let us become, as St. Augustine of old, the objects of your maternal love. Pray that we, too, like St. Augustine, may have strength to cling to God, and triumph over sin and temptation. By your prayers break the fetters of sin that hold in cruel bondage the souls of your sinful children in this world. O mother, pray that the miracle of grace in the heart of Augustine may again and again be repeated in these day of universal sin, and that the erring children of Jesus may be led back to the fold so that united here on earth, we may securely go through the dangers of life and be united with you, our mother, in heaven forever. Amen

May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts. Amen.

Our Father. . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be . . . Saint Monica, pray for us.

A Poem

2009-08-23T20:15:00.003-04:00

"With sincere apologies to Elizabeth Barret Browning," by Amy Giglio

Moon Sand, how do I Hate thee?
Let me count the ways:
I hate thee with the depth and breadth of my soul.

I hate thy granules of superfine
Mold-able sand which
Permeate every crevice in my home.

I hate that thou dost not come with
thine own storage containers
(Dost not the Play Doh do as much?).

I hate that when my children blend thy colors
Thou turnest an ugly shade of puke.

I hate that mine offspring cannot keep from
Spilling thee all over mine carpet,
Grinding thee into oblivion until thou becomest one
With the fibers of mine wall to wall berber.

I hate that because of thee I have run mine Hoover
Repeatedly over the same places on my rug,
Desperate to extract thee
To no avail.

To those who might ponder bringing mine children
More Moon Sand into mine hearth and home,
I beg thee, please, leave it at the Toy R Us or the Target.
Offer them a gift of Play Doh instead, I pray, lest
We burn out the motor of mine despondent Wind Tunnel.

Else bring me a Dyson.

What are little girls made of?

2009-08-23T18:03:00.003-04:00

Last night, as we tucked Curly Sue into bed, she pointed to a sign above her bed which reads:

What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and everything nice!

After Scott read it to her, Curly Sue exclaimed, "I'm not made of that stuff! I am made of Kid!"
100% kid

What is man?

2009-08-19T13:49:00.004-04:00

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! (William Shakespeare, Hamlet Act II, scene 2)

Now watch this:

Scott told me about this the other night. Some astronomers point the Hubble Telescope at a patch of sky that seems empty, only to reveal 10,000 galxies within it, whose light hasn't reached us yet since they are so far away.

The voiceover on the video calls this a "humbling" discovery. I have to confess that when Scott told me about this, I immediately felt very small, very insignificant.

This sums it up better than I can:

1
For the leader; "upon the gittith." A psalm of David.
2
O LORD, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth! You have set your majesty above the heavens!
3
Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have drawn a defense against your foes, to silence enemy and avenger.
4
When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place--
5
What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them?
6
Yet you have made them little less than a god, crowned them with glory and honor.
7
You have given them rule over the works of your hands, put all things at their feet:
8
All sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field,
9
The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
10
O LORD, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth! (Ps. 8:1-10)

Novena to St. Monica started on 8/18

2009-08-19T00:16:00.002-04:00

UUUGGGHHH!!! so sorry this is up late, just got back from a weekend away...

St. Monica's feast day is August 27. In case you don't know, St. Monica is the mother of St. Augustine. Augustine was the original enfant terrible who famously lapsed from the faith. He credits the intercessory prayers of his mother with bringing him back to the Church. Indeed everything we know about St. Monica was told to us by Augustine.

Today I'm starting a novena for the lapsed members of my family and yours. Whatever prayer you choose will be OK. Pray for the members of your family who have lapsed from the faith.

Novena To Saint Monica

Exemplary Mother of the Great Augustine,
You perseveringly pursued your wayward son
Not with wild threats
But with prayerful cries to heaven.

Intercede for all mothers in our day
So that they may learn
To draw their children to God.

Teach them how to remain
Close to their children,
Even the prodigal sons and daughters
Who have sadly gone astray.

Dear St Monica, troubled wife and mother,
Many sorrows pierced your heart
During your lifetime.
Yet you never despaired or lost faith.
With confidence, persistence and profound faith,
You prayed daily for the conversion
Of your beloved husband, Patricius
And your beloved son, Augustine.

Grant me that same fortitude,
Patience and trust in the Lord.
Intercede for me, dear St. Monica,
That God may favorably hear my plea
For

(mention your petition here)

And grant me the grace
To accept his will in all things,
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
In the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God forever and ever. Amen.

Look at this boy.

2009-08-14T23:09:00.001-04:00

His brother had just been pouring lemon juice into his mouth.

He loved every drop of it.

My favorite picture of Primo

2009-08-13T14:59:00.002-04:00

This photo was taken at Christmas 2006; part of a Christmas card photo session.
He just looks like an angel. He was almost 6 years old.

Delicate Flower

2009-08-11T15:11:00.004-04:00

click on the image for a bigger, clearer version

Looking at this little girl makes me so happy.

Then she says stuff like this, which makes me laugh even more:

Me: Stop playing with the air conditioner!

She: I just want it to SHUT UP!

ME: I love you, my little red head.

She: I love you, my big head.

curiouser and curiouser

2009-08-10T10:52:00.002-04:00

Back in April or May, I took Vinny the Race Van in for an oil change to the guys we've had fixing our cars for the last 10 years or so. So, I get a phone call that I need new front brakes (he checked them while the van was on the lift for the oil change-as he says he always does). So, my $45 oil change turned into a $200 repair bill. I am ok with this because I know and trust these guys. I must really have needed them (I didn't hear them squeaking, I said. "Sometimes you don't," is the reply.).

So, the rear shocks started squeaking really loud and we finally got the guy across the street, M., to replace them. M. runs his own garage and will do stuff for us when it's big and doesn't need to be done right away, since he is really busy fixing up car to ship and sell them overseas. M. does our repairs for way way cheap-almost at cost. (aside: this is how we got Scott's new car last summer. Scott and M. saw it on a salvage auction site and then Scott bought it and M. fixed it up and Scott paid for the labor and parts. Scott got a 2003 Dodge Stratus for about $6000.)

So, M's helper drives my car back home to me on Saturday and he says, in his accented English, "The shocks were very bad, very dangerous. I have them here."

So, M.'s helper goes to pick up the new shocks boxes with the old shocks in them and I hear something rattling around inside. And crumbs are spilling out. Because the shocks had completely rusted through!!!!! They were crumbling because they were made of rust!!!!

So now, my question is, if these shocks were so bad that they were rusted right through, and our regular mechanic was looking at the brakes on my car 4 months ago, which are right next to my shocks, why did he not notice my rusty shocks? Do you think I even needed new front brakes? Have I been taken for the proverbial ride?

Discuss.

the reason for my insanity

2009-08-05T15:33:00.001-04:00

Aren't they just great?

I promise

2009-08-05T15:18:00.003-04:00

that I will tie up my loose blogging ends before the summer is through. remember Life is a highway? How I promised you a part two? It is coming.

Remember how I promised you more about New Orleans? It is coming.

I pledge to you that I will devote 1/2 hour every night after the kids go to bed to finishing up these loose things. I promise that I will write a coherent post.

If there is anyone out there who still cares, I will make these things happen for you.

Feast of St. Monica starts on 8/18. Make your list of lapsi and get ready to start praying. Start now anyway, but the novena begins on the 18th for her feast on 8/27.

ttyl

Don't you just love Archbishop Sheen?

2009-07-22T22:53:00.002-04:00

I do. Fr. Z. put up this great story:

Fulton Sheen told a story of how he was opening the door of the church where he worked in London on a foggy November morning when a young lady fell in the door. "Who are you"?

"Where am I ?" was the reply.

"Drunk"?

"Yes".

"Men drink because they like the stuff, women drink because they don’t like something else, what are you running away from?"

"I am involved with 3 men and they are beginning to find out and so I decided to get drunk."

"Who are you"?

She pointed across the square at a name in big neon lights. She was the leading lady at the local musical.

He brought her in and gave her a cup of tea, to which she said, "thank you".

He said, "No, don’t thank me now, come back this afternoon before the matinee and then you can thank me."

She said "I will only come back if you promise you will not ask me to go to confession."

"OK, I promise I will not ask you to go to confession."

"Say it again, you will not ask me to go to confession".

"OK, I promise again, I will not ask you to go to confession".

She came back that afternoon and he met her at the church door. He told her that there were paintings by Rembrandt and Van Dyke in that chapel and would she like to see them? She said yes.

"And as we walked up the side aisle to see the paintings, I pushed her into a confession box." ("I did not ask her if she wanted to go to confession.") "I was present three months later when she took her veil as a member of the perpetual adoration sisters where she is to this day."

Random randomness, mixed emotions edition

2009-07-22T19:32:00.005-04:00

Baseball superstar

1. I was really happy that the local PAL started a summer league and I was gung ho about the summer season. Reality, however, has set in, and it really adds a lot to our already full summer since Scott coaches Primo's team. Have I mentioned that I haven't gone to the beach yet?

2. I am happy that my house is cleaner, but I am not happy about how much more work it is than sitting on the couch after dinner and doing nothing. I'd call the maid, but she is already here.

3. I spent last Thursday cleaning my bedroom. This room would have made Niecy speechless and I don't think that's easy to do. I sent the kids to my in-laws because I needed not to be interrupted constantly because it was THAT bad. I found random clutter in here that had been "temporarily" shuffled up here for Primo's birthday party-in JANUARY-under the random First Communion party clutter. I didn't have dust bunnies. I had dust bison. And a protective layer of dust 1/4 inch thick. I wish I were exaggerating. I am horribly, horribly allergic to dust and it was getting unpleasant to sleep in here. The good news is that I got rid of the bison and 4 bags of clothing to give away, and also 3 bags of trash and 2 huge piles of paper to be recycled. And that was all just on MY side of the room, kids. We shall not discuss the state of Scott's dresser. The bad news is that I was very wheezy and sneezy for three days while the dust settled. But now I can not only walk in here, but I can also dance if I want to.

4. We went camping with Scott's family 2 weekends ago, which was a ton of fun. But we still have all of the camping equipment in my living room. Mostly 'cause I brought the other half of it in from my car this afternoon. My wonderful hubby keeps tripping over things and complaining, but he is the King of All That Goes in the Attic. If you're falling on it, pal, it's because you haven't put it away.

5. I am very glad that Scott is working on a Master's degree, and I am proud of his 3.84 average. But it is really cramping my style. He has to do classwork and that leaves me to do a lot more around here with no one's help but the kids. And the kids try, but they are not getting that camping stuff in the attic, people!

Mommy, can I peas feed da cat now?

6. Speaking of kids, we have a new chore chart where all of the kids have jobs to do according their ability. Curly Sue pretty much just feeds the cat and puts away her toys. The boys have more to do and everyone makes 10 cents for each job they do. And it is mostly working out well because I don't feel like I have to do everything myself, even when I have to help the kids get their jobs done (they're still learning-we're only on week 1). BUT I am starting to tire of the temper tantrums they throw when I tell them I need them to unload the dishwasher or vacuum the dining room rug.

You want me to scoop WHAT?!

Open letter to Pennsylvania

2009-07-20T21:38:00.003-04:00

Dear Keystone State,

I know it's been a while since we last spoke, but I've been to visit you lately and I just love what you've done with the Susquehanna River Valley. Also, I-80 was very pleasant to drive, except for that one part by Stroudsburg two Sundays ago. You remember; it was 10:00 at night and there was a traffic tie-up for no apparent reason. We spent some of that traffic jam behing a livestock truck and then another part on the side of the road. Potty training the three year old--you know how it goes.

So, last time, I wanted to let you know my opinion about the whole fireworks thing. You know how you made it legal to sell fireworks, but only to people from out of state. States like New Jersey where it is illegal to have personal arsenals of fireworks? I wonder how Ohio feels about that whole deal.... I digress.

This time, I think we really need to talk about the fact that you have legalized gambling. First it was slots at the racetracks. I think that was OK. No big deal. But now a casino in Bethlehem? With an Emeril restaurant yet?

Hello? A casino? First Connecticut with their Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, then New York with their Yonkers casino, and now you? Boy, you think you know a state and then they go and stab you in the back. Casinos are our thing: Atlantic City. You want slots, craps, blackjack, you come to good old AC. What's next? Are you going to dump a whole bunch of sand on the banks of the Delaware River and call it the new shore? "Why drive 2 hours to the ocean when you could get to the shore on the Delaware in half the time?"

What did we ever do to you? We give you blueberries, tomatoes, peaches, good pizza, and the Sopranos and this is how you repay us? This is not being a good neighbor. You know what? You can keep your funnel cake, OK? We'll stick to our zeppoles from now on. And keep your bennies off our beaches. Maybe they can stick around Bethlehem and leave more room for the Staten Islanders. Fuggedaboudit.

Amy

The Fourth of July

2009-07-04T14:48:00.005-04:00

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed....