Saturday, August 29

Sunday Snippets

Sunday Snippets is the Catholic Carnival, Second Generation. :) This week, the main post containing all links is here.

My contribution is just below this post, which, for those of you on a feed aggregator, is here.

First Stones

I've been reading some online discussion of Ted Kennedy's funeral. Does he deserve a Catholic funeral? He was quite the sinner...maybe he shouldn't be allowed to have one!

All I can think is that I love that he got a Catholic funeral. I love that he was able to benefit from the Sacraments at death's door. I love that he - a great, big, public sinner - might be in Heaven ahead of me.

Who, of any of us, deserves a Catholic funeral? Who, of any of us, deserves the Sacraments?

Which of us is really fit to throw stones at him, now that he's died, when we honestly cannot say we know the state of his soul?

Pointing out his many faults at this point is useless. What is useful, however, is to pray for his soul. Pray that he's in Purgatory, being purified. Pray that he had a deathbed conversion. Pray that he repented of his public sins, as well as his private ones.

Pray that, one day, you'll see him in Heaven and embrace him there.

So you've got a choice now. You can pray for his immortal soul, or you can pick up a stone.

Which will it be?

Post for Travel Man and the Girls


1,500 hours to create.

Amazing.

Friday, August 28

Culture of Death Strikes Again

Police: Teen Mom Hid Pregnancy Then Killed Newborn

Some people would say that this shows a need for unrestricted access to abortion. I say it shows a need to stop the disconnect between sex and procreation (first), then make sure that young women know that there is somewhere to go if you don't follow God's plan and the natural consequences of sex happen to you. (In other words, you get pregnant.) There are plenty of resources that are available to this young woman, but in her desperation, she chose to kill her newborn.

What is interesting is that had she done so just an hour before the child was born, people wouldn't give it much thought, as it's her "right" to kill her unborn child. It's just not acceptable in "polite" society to do so after he's born.

Paul VI was right - there is a disconnect now between sex and it's procreative forces, at least in our minds, and this has cheapened the marital act. Because that is cheapened, the results are also cheapened. Children are seen as burdens that you only take on if you are "ready" to do so, or willing. And so they are expendable, too. If you don't want a baby, you just dispose of it. And if you can do so right up until delivery day, why does location make such a difference?

And if it makes a difference, then you must ask yourself why? Why is it okay if the baby hasn't been born, but not okay after passing through the birth canal? What magic happens that changes whether or not it's okay to kill that human being?

Saturday, August 22

Another Cool Thing About being Catholic...


...is that when your pastor comes over, and you recall his first homily where he mentioned both Archbishop Chaput and Samuel Adams (thereby referencing the beer), you can offer him a Sam Adams.



And then he can accept.
















Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth

19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake, and great hail.

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered.


Today is the celebration of the Coronation of Mary! Read more about why Catholics revere her as Queen of Heaven and Earth here.

(It's quite Biblical. Really. Go, read.)







In Those Days There Was No King in Israel, But Every One Did That Which Seemed Right to Himself.

Lutherans to Allow Sexually Active Gays to Serve as Clergy

This is just stunning. Stunning! Exactly which part of the laws against such behavior in the Bible do they not understand?

I'm so, so, so glad to be Catholic. I'm so glad we have 2000 years of unbroken leadership and sound doctrine that doesn't change with social whims.

Friday, August 21

USCCB - Roman Missal | Examples

USCCB - Roman Missal | Examples

New Missal Coming! WHOO HOO!

Check out the Gloria! (Text that is different than the current translation is in bold.)

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to people of
good will. We praise you, we bless
you, we adore you, we glorify you,
we give you thanks for your great
glory,

Lord God, heavenly King,
O God, almighty Father.

Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
Son of the Father,
you take away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us;
you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.
For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Be sure to click through. What a beautiful translation we'll be blessed with soon!




Seven Quickies

(Okay, note here: I cannot figure out for the life of me why these numbers are all messed up. So it looks like more than 7 things, but I guess we'll just have to deal, right?)




As always, Jen is the hostess with the mostest. Thanks for putting this together, Jen!

  1. We started school on August 2. EARLY!!! Yup, you bet. But we take vacations when it pleases us, and when we do, we leave the school books home. So we build in some extra time by starting early. And sometimes ending late. Or not at all! But I sat down for a few hours in late July and wrote plans for the first nine weeks. I'm not completely on track for everything, but we have a plan for getting back on track soon. And I love the CHC material so much that I'm seriously considering moving Little Girl to the same materials next year when she is in (gulp!) fourth grade. (Oh, I can't think that far ahead right now. I don't like to think of my baby being that old!)

  2. Because I'm still working from home, the girls each have planners with independent work that they can do while I'm working. It gives them some responsibility and makes them feel good that they have these planners. They are grown-up and important! It works relatively well, though they do need some help getting the hang of looking at Monday for work that is assigned then but due later in the week. They'll get it eventually, though, and I think it'll be much smoother as we go along. I found the perfect planner for Little Girl, but didn't see one for older children and missed the website on the back of hers until after I'd already bought a plain-ol' planner at Wal Mart for Big Girl. Bummer. I'll know better next year!

  3. Speaking of Big Girl, she is starting Youth Group religious ed. this year. That means that she's with kids who are from grades six through twelve! Yikes! I am nervous, being as she doesn't typically hang with kids that age unless they're homeschooled, and so in an effort to kind of keep an eye on what's happening with her at Sunday school, I have recruited Travel Man to teach her class! Sneaky, huh? Me being there was going to be (a) too obvious, and (2) too stressful. (I don't need another thing to do, honestly.) We'll see how things go. I am VERY nervous, because to me she's still my little girl, not this young woman who keeps showing up every time I turn around. (She is really growing up in every way, and I keep praying for her more and more.) I know I can't shelter her forever, but I do want to protect her, and more importantly, her soul.

  4. I've been head of the Respect Life Committee at our parish for a few years now. In the past, we've done some little things for Respect Life Weekend (which our diocese officially does on the weekend nearest Roe v. Wade's anniversary). Usually we request the chance to purchase and distribute literature from the USCCB, and we are first to move. Now, I've mentioned that we have a new pastor at our parish. The other day, he called me to see about what Respect Life will do with the materials, which he was excited to have received in the mail this week. When we realized our schedules did not jive this week during regular working hours, I boldly invited Father K. to dinner on Friday night to discuss what we'll order and have out and ready on Respect Life Sunday in October!! (He mentioned October, and I was all set for January!) Holy COW! I about came out of my skin that he even brought it up first! After we hung up, I turned around and looked at my house and thought, "Oh, wow. I guess we'll be cleaning up for our anniversary party a day earlier, huh?" So when I'm done typing this list, I'll be vacumming and washing the kitchen floor. There's a reason why I usually plan my spontaneity, you know.

  5. Yes, I said I plan my spontaneity. As a matter of fact, I thought to myself recently, "I think I can be more spontaneous next week because my schedule is pretty light." And, no, that is not an anomoly. I think Jen might relate to this whole idea, by the way. (I am starting to think that she is either my twin or God is telling her to write just for me.) But I am really not good with spur-of-the-moment stuff. I like to have a plan, and it's very hard for me to do without. God, on the other hand, is asking me to stretch more and more, and I've been trying. One Sunday recently, Big Girl asked me after Mass if her friend could come over to swim later that day, and I said, "Um...sure!" Dirty house, tons of laundry, no notice. And I said yes. That was a big deal to me, and unless you've got that same "Gotta-Plan-It" attitude, you won't know just how big a deal it is.

  6. We planted a new garden where we used to have a pond feature in front of our home. It was overgrown with dandelions and grass and the pond was ... well, nasty might not be strong enough. A snake swam in the little pond one day and turned up dead the next. I'm sure you can put two and two together.

    So we went to a nursery in town and bough some azalea plants and a crepe myrtle. We had half a scoop of dirt delivered to us, and we went to work. Whew! But it's pretty, and I think it'll be nicer for Mary to sit there. I moved all the bulbs around, and we even took a bunch of our rocks we dug up when we planted another garden (which we'll need to redo next year, I think) to make a little rock border around it. The result is pretty nice, and I can't wait to see how it looks when we get the grape hyacinths and lilies coming up next year!


  7. Time for a video!


Thursday, August 20

Hey, Bro!

The girls are playing "Star Wars Legos" on the Wii, and Big Girl is battling Little Girl in "Duel Mode." So they are basically killing each other's little Lego guys.

Suddenly, Big Girl cried out, "Hey...you can't daze me! Don't daze me, bro!"

Wednesday, August 19

Storms and the Calm

I'll be blogging in more detail later, but things have been a little stormy around our home lately. We're looking into some changes to make to help calm our passage as we get through our Total Money Makeover plan.

I'll give more details when I can, but in the meantime, if you could please pray for our family - that we'll be open to God's will and His guidance - it would be appreciated.


Monday, August 10

Getting Married for the Sex?

This minister (and those like him) who are advocating this are being misrepresented here. (And he even says it's his fear, right there in the article with the provocative headline.)

Can't Wait for Sex? Just Get Married, Some Say - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com:

"'I'll probably get framed as I want people to marry because I don't want them to have premarital sex,' said Regnerus, author of 'Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers.'

'I think marriage is just a fantastic institution for people who think rightly about it, have realistic ideas about it and put the requisite work into it.'"

I think they are actually right. Couples don't need to wait until they're in their thirties to marry! Gracious, since when is 22 too young to marry? I was even told so at 23, and I thought that was ridiculous. It's not your age when you marry, it's your maturity and the health of your relationship. My parents married at 18 and 20 (though I admit that my mother was only a month from 19), and they've been married for 41 years now - happily.

And, honestly, one pastor is right when he says that by pushing off marriage, telling people they ought to wait until they're established in their careers and in their mid 30's ... this does work against our Creator's plan for procreation. Women's fertility starts declining in their mid-30's and takes a nosedive after 40. After 40, you've got just as much chance for miscarriage as delivering a full-term child. It's another part of the Culture of Death, this idea that you shouldn't even try having children before you're "ready." Honey, you ain't never gonna be ready!

Besides, we need something to counter the extreme selfishness we all have in our society these days. (I do not exclude myself, in case you wonder.) You can't let your kids stand in the way of what you want goes the thinking. Even the idea of children intruding on your plans is anathema! Our children have become the enemy when we keep the mindset that they're getting in the way of us doing A, B, or C. And, really, Pope Paul VI was right in Humanae Vitae - this is all stemming from the coarsening of our views of sexuality, thanks to the widespread contraceptive mentality of our culture - the Culture of Death.

Friday, August 7

Saturday, August 1

THIS One, I Like!

That other dancing wedding video was horrible - completely inappropriate, especially at a church.  Appalling is another word I used.  But this is funny, and I like it partly because it makes fun of the wedding one.

Who are your heros?

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