My life is plagued by a fungus which I have named as “stupid plastic cups.” You’ve met these plastic cups and perhaps some even live in your house. They are the “souvenir” cups that come with children’s drinks at restaurants and the large size drinks at just about every event that occurs in a stadium.
I hate them. And they live at my house. My family LOVES them. They bring them home. They treasure them. They cherish them. And it’s ALL MY HUSBAND’S FAULT. I mean that sincerely. When we remodeled our kitchen and I had to pack everything in boxes for the period of time we would be living without benefit of kitchen cabinets, I had an entire box labeled “Stupid Plastic Cups” On finding this box, my dear husband came to me and asked where the box of “Good Plastic Cups” was. Funny. Dear.
For years, I have told him that the first thing I am going to do on hearing of his death is to purge my life of these plastic cups.
He’s updated his will. And left them all to the children.
This week’s Catholic Carnival is up at Sarah’s “house” Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering. She’s got a really clever theme for this week’s offerings so go read up!
Please comment on the ones you like the best because bloggers live for those comments. Also be sure to say thank you to her for hosting!
One last thought for the day before I finish doing the reading for class tonight that I left until the last minute just because it tickled me:
Why is this thus? What is the reason for this thusness? ~~Artemus Ward
That those who are forced to leave home and country because of war or oppressive regimes may be supported by Christians in the defense and protection of their rights.
Mission:
That faithful to the sacrament of matrimony every Christian family may cultivate the values of love and communion in order to be a small evangelizing community, sensitive and open to the material and spiritual needs of others.
We started back homeschooling full time this week. It’s been pretty much like every first week back after any extended break. Painful. My children and I will never fit the mold of the homeschooling families on the cover of Homeschooling Today. My children are smart. They are funny. They are fun to be around. (Most of the time.) But they very much like to plan their own days and school seldom reaches even the top ten of things they would like to do. They are convinced that nobody except their quirky mother cares if they put capital letters at the beginning of sentences or end punctuation at the end of them. They are certain that spelling conventions are really just suggestions and that writing an essay is a form of torture devised by me.
It is not uncommon for my husband to come home and find me in a “state” at the end of the first week back to school. (And any break in excess of a single schoolweek results in a “first week back to school”) and this week was no different. This week he walked in on me grading an Introduction to Catholicism test. I was in quite the state and saying something like “And you people will learn how to spell ‘Eucharist’!! You are Catholic and you need to know how to spell it. I do not care if you think I am being picky…..”
He thinks I need a “Homeschool Linebacker”……There are days when it’s tempting…..
I am sorry for not blogging. I really had no intention of ignoring my blog but life has swept me away in a massive tide of cleaning, re-organizing, and re-focusing. I am sweeping away the distractions in my life and at present blogging would distract me from doing that. I’d like to say that I am back, but quite frankly I think I am going to need at least another week before I can do anything other than post the occasional quick thing that trips across my path….if indeed anything other than dust bunnies and stuff I don’t need or want any more trips across my path.(My Google reader has almost 600 items at present so I’m not reading either.) I’ll see you all back here in a week or so….promise. Thanks for your patience.
While I was away on retreat, there was a discussion on that homeschooling forum about the meaning of Holy Communion in the protestant tradition (generally speaking) and in the Catholic Church. As usual in these sorts of conversations, the idea that Catholics believed that Holy Communion in the Catholic Church was met with understandable umbrage. How dare Catholics imply that Holy Communion wasn't as meaningful to them as it was to us? By the time I got home it was too late for me to jump into the thick of things but I did have some thoughts. Imagine that. You may wipe the stunned look off your face now.
I will not take the time here to cover any of the reasons why Catholics believe in what we call the Real Presence, or that we believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. If you want to read what I've already said about that you might try my posts here and here. What I want to address is what it is that Catholics are being asked to deny when we are asked (for the sake of getting along don't you know) to just admit that it's really just a matter of personal preference or perspective and it just matters that we remember Jesus in our own way.
Let me try to explain briefly. First, the key to understanding what Catholics believe about Holy Communion is to look at the root of what we believe about Sacraments in general and in particular about marriage. Yes. Marriage. First, being "created in the image of God" means that our bodies and relationships can help to teach us about God. The eternal total self-giving, life-giving relationship of God the Father to God the Son, that is so total that they are ONE and from that relationship of love and self-giving springs the Holy Spirit and though they are three, they are still one is reflected in our marriages (obviously in a physical, imperfect way) and through our marriages into our families. "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body" Genesis 2:24 Marriage is how Jesus describes his relationship to His Church. The Church is His Bride. He desires us and union with us (mystically) as a bridegroom desires his bride. Our marriage is a covenantal relationship that reflects the covenantal relationship that Jesus has with His Bride and it is not hyperbole, nor is it any sort of attempt to be profane when I say that it is the act of marital love that unites husband and wife in the covenant of marriage parallels that of the total self-giving, life-giving embrace of Christ to us in the Eucharist. Just as husband and wife should be totally present to each other and completely open to one another in the marital embrace, Jesus is totally present to us in the Eucharist and at the cost of His Life.
Holy Communion may be every bit as meaningful to me as it is to any devout Protestant, but Holy Communion is not a matter of feelings, but I contend that our relationship with God should be based on something far more stable that simply how we feel about it and how meaningful it is to us. I will absolutely admit that we can reject the the Graces that Jesus makes available to us in the Eucharist, we can be indifferent to them but our failure to recognize what Our Lord has made available to us and open ourselves to it does not change Who is present to us. He is Present whether we give of ourselves in return and open ourselves to Him.
How can a devout Catholic then say that the actual presence of Jesus in this life-giving embrace vs a symbolic remembrance is really all the same? You say tom-MAY-to, I say to-MAH-to….we all just love Jesus. It may be true that we do all love Jesus, but my remembering Jesus in a symbolic ceremony vs having Him totally present to His Bride is not the same at all. You may feel free to believe that Catholics are wrong to think so, but we cannot say it's all the same without literally denying everything we believe in.
Go pay…I mean encourage…a Catholic blogger by leaving a comment. Or would you rather read about some national politician's latest indiscretion? If Catholic Bloggers get discouraged and quit, all you'll have to read on the internet is the drivel.
So often the Catholic Church is rejected because of what "everyone knows" she teaches. If I had a nickel for every time I had been told I worshipped Mary I might be able to make a down payment on the cost of the school clothes I bought for the children today. I was astonished when I came into the Catholic Church to read what is actually taught. Strikingly different from what I learned as a Protestant. The following is from Lumen Gentium, the entire document is well worth reading but for today this will suffice…..
60. There is but one Mediator as we know from the words of the apostle, "for there is one God and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a redemption for all". The maternal duty of Mary toward men in no wise obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows His power. For all the salvific influence of the Blessed Virgin on men originates, not from some inner necessity, but from the divine pleasure. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on His mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it. In no way does it impede, but rather does it foster the immediate union of the faithful with Christ.
61. Predestined from eternity by that decree of divine providence which determined the incarnation of the Word to be the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin was in this earth the virgin Mother of the Redeemer, and above all others and in a singular way the generous associate and humble handmaid of the Lord. She conceived, brought forth and nourished Christ. She presented Him to the Father in the temple, and was united with Him by compassion as He died on the Cross. In this singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Savior in giving back supernatural life to souls. Wherefore she is our mother in the order of grace.
62. This maternity of Mary in the order of grace began with the consent which she gave in faith at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, and lasts until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continued to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and cultics, until they are led into the happiness of their true home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix.16* This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator. For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. Just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by the ministers and by the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is really communicated in different ways to His creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source. The Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary. It knows it through unfailing experience of it and commends it to the hearts of the faithful, so that encouraged by this maternal help they may the more intimately adhere to the Mediator and Redeemer.
63. By reason of the gift and role of divine maternity, by which she is united with her Son, the Redeemer, and with His singular graces and functions, the Blessed Virgin is also intimately united with the Church. As Saint Ambrose taught, the Mother of God is a type of the Church in the order of faith, charity and perfect union with Christ. For in the mystery of the Church, which is itself rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar both of virgin and mother. By her belief and obedience, not knowing man but overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, as the new Eve she brought forth on earth the very Son of the Father, showing an undefiled faith, not in the word of the ancient serpent, but in that of God's messenger. The Son whom she brought forth is He whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren, namely the faithful, in whose birth and education she cooperates with a maternal love.
64. The Church indeed, contemplating her hidden sanctity, imitating her charity and faithfully fulfilling the Father's will, by receiving the word of God in faith becomes herself a mother. By her preaching she brings forth to a new and immortal life the sons who are born to her in baptism, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of God. She herself is a virgin, who keeps the faith given to her by her Spouse whole and entire. Imitating the mother of her Lord, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, she keeps with virginal purity an entire faith, a firm hope and a sincere charity.
65. But while in the most holy Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she is without spot or wrinkle, the followers of Christ still strive to increase in holiness by conquering sin.And so they turn their eyes to Mary who shines forth to the whole community of the elect as the model of virtues. Piously meditating on her and contemplating her in the light of the Word made man, the Church with reverence enters more intimately into the great mystery of the Incarnation and becomes more and more like her Spouse. For Mary, who since her entry into salvation history unites in herself and re-echoes the greatest teachings of the faith as she is proclaimed and venerated, calls the faithful to her Son and His sacrifice and to the love of the Father. Seeking after the glory of Christ, the Church becomes more like her exalted Type, and continually progresses in faith, hope and charity, seeking and doing the will of God in all things. Hence the Church, in her apostolic work also, justly looks to her, who, conceived of the Holy Spirit, brought forth Christ, who was born of the Virgin that through the Church He may be born and may increase in the hearts of the faithful also. The Virgin in her own life lived an example of that maternal love, by which it behooves that all should be animated who cooperate in the apostolic mission of the Church for the regeneration of men.
It's good to be home. Within ten minutes of arriving home, I discovered that my husband had "recycled" a pile of magazines/catalogs/other stuff that needed to be gone through but not urgently so. In that pile of things that had gone to the paper recycling dumpster at our church was a brand new package of checks. SO….I changed clothes and we piled back into the car and went to church to do a little dumpster diving. That sound you heard yesterday afternoon was my rather abrupt return to reality. LOL I am certain that there is a desk in my office. I remember that there was one there when I left. One friend suggested that I just point a fan at the stack of papers until I find it….with friends like that…. The combined total of my various email boxes was…well a number too large to really want to know so I didn't do the math. AND there were 476 new items on my Google reader. The email boxes are under control (although not everyone has received an answer yet.) and my Google reader is happily sitting on zero. My desk is still AWOL….there's always tomorrow. I thought I would share a couple of the gems I encountered during the day's reading.
This is one of those blog entries that will….or maybe even SHOULD change your life. It is the letter of a nun who became pregant as the result of rape to her mother superior. If this nun doesn't eventually become a canonized saint, I'll be surprised. This sort of virtue isn't just heroic, it is breath-takingly so.
The next one also comes from Opinionated Catholic, I am resolutely determined not to blog about the upcoming elections but in the course of my reading today I saw that Obama wouldn't want to see his daughters "punished" with a baby if they made a "mistake." and well….this post on First Things was simply too…irresistible.
Then there is this video clip of a snake slithering into a reporter's pants. Truly hysterical in a….Monty Python….bless me Reverend Mother for I have punned….sort of way.
Silence and solitude do not refer only to the lessening of decibels. A person, notes Teresa [of Avila], cannot understand the indwelling mystery and fully realize Who is present within until he closes his eyes to the vanities of this world. Were she in our midst at the end of the twentieth century, the saint would no doubt specify that this means a drastic reduction in our exposure to the mass media, especially the electronic media of television, radio and film. If we spill out and drain our psychic energies by the mindless multiplicities of images and sounds, many of them garish and deafening, we just cannot retain the inner stamina for prayer. When we realize that the average home in our society, according to a recent survey, has its television set turned on for seven hours and ten minutes per day, we may not be shocked at what Teresa considers the amount of time everyone should give daily to prayerful solitude:
I do now know, my Creator, why it is that everyone does not strive to reach You through this special friendship, and why those who are wicked, who are not conformed to Your will, do not, in order that You make them good, allow You to be with them at least two hours each day, even though they may not be with You, but with a thousand disturbances from worldly cares and thoughts, as was the case with me.
The saint suggests that even distracted presence to the divine presence is bound to transform one from sin to virtue and eventually from common goodness to heroic sanctity.
One of the really great needs of our own day is silence. Modern life seems to thrive on a fondness for noise, and by noise I mean not only the staccato barbarism of jazz, or the bleating and moaning of saxophone orchestras, but also, and principally, the excessive desire for that which distracts — love of amusements, constant goings and comings, excitements and thrills, and movement for the mere sake of movement. What is the reason for this fondness of noise? It is not due to any inherent love of that which is loud, for people generally prefer that which is soft and refined. Rather the reason is to be found in the great desire on the part of human beings to do the impossible, namely to escape from themselves. They do not like to be with themselves because they are not pleased with themselves; they do not like to be alone with their conscience, because their conscience reproves and carries on an unbearable repartee. The do not like to be quiet, because the footsteps of the Hound of Heaven which can be heard in silence, cannot be heard in the din of excitement; they do not like to be silent, because God's voice is like a whisper and it cannot be heard in the tumult of the city streets. There are some of the reasons why the modern world loves noise, and that are all resolvable to this: noise drowns God's voice and stupefies conscience. Dull, indeed, are these distractions, but like the clay used by savages to dull the pain of hunger, they stifle in the soul the hunger for the presence of God. The result is that very few people ever know themselves. In fact, they know everyone else better than they know themselves. That is why so few ever see their own faults…
In order to remedy this condition, what is needed is less amusing and more musing; a silence; a going apart into the desert of our souls to rest a while; a solitariness from men and an aloneness with God; a quiet which permits the soul to be sensitive tp the whispers of God; a requiem or a rest from modern maxims and the excuses of new philosophies and the excitements which appeal to the body and disturb the soul; a privacy inspired by the example of Him who needed least of all mankind a preparation of silence for a life of activity, and yet had the greatest of them all; a tranquility inspired by Him who in the midst of a busy life spent whole nights on mountaintops in prayer.
Silence is the condition of entering into oneself, which is another way of saying, of finding God.
We need silence to be alone with God, to speak to him, to listen to him, to ponder his words deep in our hearts. We need to be alone with God in silence to be renewed and to be transformed. Silence gives us a new outlook on life. In it we are filled with the grace of God himself, which us do all things with joy.
