Just another reason to love the Catholic Church. . .

It's still Christmas! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKk9rv2hUfA   


Today, I got to sing "Away in a Manger" and "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" with 40 beautiful nuns all radiating Christmas spirit.  Does it get any better than that?  We're always saying we should "keep Christmas throughout the year," but as far as I can tell, only Catholics (and only some of them!) really DO that.  If you're Catholic, and you're not still actively celebrating the greatest gift ever, shame oh shame.  If you're not Catholic yet, what are you waiting for?  Come to church!  It's Christmas-a-thon!  Go team!   

"Act like a nun!"

This video, featured on Aleteia:

scopri-blessed-be-your-name-nuovo-videoclip-di-sor-cristina-5795270944096256?utm_campaign=NL_en&utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=NL_en-17/12/2014

impelled one commenter (with the perhaps-too-apropos net nick of "nopcspokenhere") to fuss:

You need to act like a nun instead of throwing yourself all around on a TV stage like some pop singer. Give me a break. What is your Mother Superior thinking.

You need to act like a nun instead of throwing yourself all around on a TV stage like some pop singer. Give me a break. What is your Mother Superior thinking.

"You need to act like a nun instead of throwing yourself all around on a TV stage like some pop singer. Give me a break. What is your Mother Superior thinking."

My reply:

She IS acting like a nun! Do you know any nuns? I'm blessed to live very near our local convent, and the sisters there are all astonishing, unique, gifted women. Some are funny, some are scary smart; some are gifted teachers, some nurses; one is a gifted visual artist, one was renowned for her dancing in her younger days. As Sister Cristina said in her first appearance on "The Voice," God doesn't want to take anything away from you, "He wants to give you MORE!" Sharing her gift with the world is precisely why God gave it to her; she is acting like the nun God made her to be. : )

She IS acting like a nun! Do you know any nuns? I'm blessed to live very near our local convent, and the sisters there are all astonishing, unique, gifted women. Some are funny, some are scary smart; some are gifted teachers, some nurses; one is a gifted visual artist, one was renowned for her dancing in her younger days. As Sister Cristina said in her first appearance on "The Voice," God doesn't want to take anything away from you, "He wants to give you MORE!" Sharing her gift with the world is precisely why God gave it to her; she is acting like the nun God made her to be. : )

She IS acting like a nun!  Do you know any nuns?  I'm blessed to live very near our local convent, and the sisters there are all astonishing, unique, gifted women.  Some are funny, some are scary smart; some are gifted teachers, some nurses; one is a gifted visual artist, one was renowned for her dancing in her younger days.  As Sister Cristina said in her first appearance on "The Voice," God doesn't want to take anything away from you, "He wants to give you MORE!"  Sharing her gift with the world is precisely why God gave it to her; she is acting like the nun God made her to be.  : )

Frozen in the dark. . .

Link:  Aleteia What To Do With Frozen Embryos

"d) leave them as they are, frozen, so that the process evolves naturally. Alternative d) seems the most ethically acceptable, as it doesn't interfere with the life of the embryo."

This option means leaving them in a situation where they will inevitably die; the "process" that is "evolving naturally" is their eventual "inviability" (i.e., death).  That does not seem ethically acceptable to me; it seems equivalent to "not interfering" with a child who is trapped in a car on a hot (or freezing) day.  Should we allow that "process" to "evolve naturally" in that case?  Clearly not.  If the children in question will SURELY die if left in the situation they are currently in (and they will), then steps must be taken to TRY to save their lives, even if that attempt does not always result in success.  It seems to me that yes, we should take steps to STOP the creation of any more "surplus" embryos, but also, we must decide what the best action to take is, with regard to those already living frozen in the dark.

Welcome to Rome. . .

"As our age descends into a darkness illuminated by smart-phone screens, maybe whoever looks into their neighbor’s eyes wins."

Almost two decades ago, I heard an historian talking about the situation before the Fall of Rome, and all the parallels to our current culture.  He sold me then, and ever since, with each turn of the screw, I've thought (and often said) "Welcome to Rome," usually followed by something like "enjoy the Indian summer," or "careful of the fall."  Apparently, now it's so obvious the idea is gaining a following. . .

http://www.aleteia.org/en/society/article/the-decline-and-fall-of-a-decadent-west-can-only-be-reversed-by-christianity-5841986305130496?utm_campaign=NL_en&utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=NL_en-10/11/2014

“Love your neighbor as yourself” has to mean more than “Like all your neighbor’s status updates that aren’t too political.”

AMEN.

Mini Worldview Review: “Interstellar” (2014)

To like:  Another in a now-apparent trend of Hollywood films depicting fathers as devoted to their children, and behaving with integrity, courage, and self-sacrifice, for the good of their children, and often everybody else as well.  Truly excellent message, and to be celebrated.

(Things that make you go “Hmmm”:  I can’t help wondering why it’s okay with Hollywood, these days, to depict fathers behaving this way, but not mothers?  Then again, in a culture where over a million mothers a year decide to have someone kill their children in their own wombs (the one place where, if any child ought to be able to feel safe in this broken world, it’s there), maybe even Hollywood thinks that would strain credulity past the breaking point.  Fatherly devotion?  Sure, maybe, with a really strong actor to pull it off.  Motherly devotion?  Forgettaboutit.) 

Another child I failed; another name offered

http://50millionnames.com/

Baby Name:  Ashley

Gesture:  I will pray for the child, the young mother, and the young mother's mother; and if ever I find myself in a similar situation, I will ask God for the strength to OPEN MY MOUTH and speak up in defense of a helpless life.

Story:  Once I overheard a woman in a public place berating her daughter over the cellphone; loudly ordering her to "get in the car right now" with some other relatives to go and get an abortion.  She must have seen my expression change in reaction to her "conversation," which went on for several minutes; she also must have misinterpreted it completely--or I suppose I may just have a somehow very sympathetic face--because, once she ended the call, she turned to me and began the kind of "kids today!" sympathy-complaining that mothers often do with each other in public when they have a "shared moment" of "child exasperation."  I am ashamed to say that I was almost literally tongue-tied; I could do nothing but play the role the woman wanted me to play:  sympathetic ear.  This, as she went on with her exasperated (but weirdly congenial) rant about her daughter "getting in trouble" and how she had "raised my children; I'm not gonna take care of another one!"  I said nothing, as that woman justified the murder of her own grandchild to a perfect stranger. 

Why did I say nothing?  Why did I nod as if in sympathy and give that woman a listening ear for this generational insanity?  I don't know.  I also don't know if the young woman (her daughter) had the strength, ultimately, to say no to her mother's (and other family members') pressure to end the life of her child.  I'll never know.  But in honor of that child I did not even try to defend, I offer this name. 

Because this was (is?!) a specific child whose life I actually encountered, and I have no way of knowing whether it was a boy or a girl, I offer a name that suits either.  The ash tree grows straight and tall, and is an emblem of strength.  In the Bible, the ash tree that Abraham plants grows against all odds to be mightier than any other, and there he "called upon the name of the Lord."  Ashley means "a clearing near an ash tree."  I wish that child peace, and strength, and a relationship with the Lord.  I offer a sunlit meadow, near the strong and mighty ash tree; a place to call upon the name of the Lord. 

More on e-slavery. . .

http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/liberate-yourself-from-e-slavery

I absolutely love this Chesterton quote:

“If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly." 

DO something REAL, right NOW.