And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master rebuke thy disciples.
And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. - Lk 9:39-40
A stable-lamp is lighted
Whose glow shall wake the sky;
The stars shall bend their voices,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
And straw like gold shall shine;
A barn shall harbour heaven,
A stall become a shrine.
This child through David's city
Shall ride in triumph by;
The palm shall strew its branches,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
Though heavy, dull and dumb,
And lie within the roadway
To pave his kingdom come.
Yet he shall be foresaken,
And yielded up to die;
The sky shall groan and darken,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
For stony hearts of men:
God's blood upon the spearhead,
God's love refused again.
But now, as at the ending,
The low is lifted high:
The stars shall bend their voices,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
In praises of the child
By whose descent among us
The worlds are reconciled.
Monday, December 15, 2008
In the combox, below, Phyllis alludes to an email I shared with several folks from Chorale. I sent an email to composer David Conte, whose "A Stable-Lamp is Lighted" was one of our Joy of the Season selections. The piece is a setting to a poem by Richard Wilbur (b. 1921). I think you'll see why I had trouble getting through this one without tears and choking-up.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
How come...
I can't find any blogs about Catholic womanhood. I mean homekeeping, arts and crafts, being feminine, etc.
Must feminine womanhood in all its diverse manifestations be the property of the Protestant evangelicals and fundamentalists?
Must feminine womanhood in all its diverse manifestations be the property of the Protestant evangelicals and fundamentalists?
Friday, December 12, 2008
In Joyful celebration
Coming to the end of the one-year anniversary of the Declaration of Nullity from my first husband, which has been an amazing year of self-discovery, and I feel as if I'm still just beginning.
For a long time I described myself as a mule - a strange hybrid animal, steady and heardworking, but nevertheless a mule - a cross between a donkey and a horse, a sterile hybrid, unable to reproduce and given to rather eccentric temperament - and completely inelegant!
Then I decided, maybe I'm not a mule, but the best I can hope for is some broken-down scrub of a plow horse... still inelegant, a bit rough around the edges, lacking breeding and social graces...
In short, I was re-entering "polite society" after a very unpleasant and unwilling detour, and I felt unworthy of the companionship of the extraordinary people I was meeting and, surprisingly, making friends with. I felt backwards and ignorant and clumsy and wholly out of place with these educated, cultured, intelligent men and women.
Since the granting of the Declaration of Nullity, however, the way I see myself has been changing at lightening speed. For years, I had felt I deserved the derision, the scorn, the ridicule, the dismissals - after all, I'm hardly a Domestic Goddess! - and then I'd put on all this weight - and I was not just fat, I was clumsy and graceless and just downright awful.
During this year - to make a very complex story very short - I have discovered that I am neither mule nor broken-down plow horse, but a far more graceful breed. More to the point, I am not some androgynous thing of a beast, but - not merely physiologically, but emotionally, spiritually, ontologically - a woman. A woman, with all the grace and beauty and dignity and strength of character, and purity of vision and heart, and capacity for love and self-donation...
I am more wholly myself, my real self! - and more capable of love and devotion than I was at the age of 18, when I married DH.
The immediate difference is that I no longer feel embarrassed about being a woman - about inconveniencing someone who is holding a door for me, or asking the boys at school to remove their hats in my presence, or being embarrassed when a man slips with a bit of profanity in my presence...
I'm still working on the domestic stuff. I still doubt myself in this sphere, but it is getting easier as I've been working to declutter the house, and to rid myself of items that have unhappy or unpleasant associations (like the love seat with R's cigarette burns) - and of course, the very discipline of homekeeping is getting easier as I have less to fight against...
The past eleven months have been absolutely full of wonderful discovery. I've come to feel that - while I'm not THE "pearl of great price," I certainly am more valuable than I ever knew myself to be, before - certainly "priced far above rubies."
I am eagerly looking forward to more discovery and growth. I look forward to all that the future holds.
Thanks, All, for your prayers for me. I know they are helping.
The damage done to a woman's soul when she is bound to a homosexual man is severe. I'm going to be doing a lot more writing about this topic on future - there aren't enough resources for this need, and most of the ones I've seen are decidedly secular, and one or two are downright liberal and almost anti-Christian in their orientation (No! I do NOT want my ex- to have a happy and fulfilling gay "marriage!" I want him to be CONVERTED!!!)
Blessings to you all -
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
My Blog's Readability
If this thing is accurate, some parents need to do some serious protesting of public school education!
A parent has complained that her child's primary school Christmas - pardon me, Winter concert contained a reference to Christmas.
"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer"???
Gimme a flippin' BREAK, here.
There are so many things wrong with this issue that I don't even know where to begin.
For one thing, "Rudolph" is a secular song from start to finish. Evidently this mother is some sort of literalist extremist to want to suppress a word in her child's school.
For another, this is a public school. It's culture is ostensibly supposed to represent the culture of the community it represents. Okay, this doesn't happen so very much since schools became objects of centralized, rather than community, governance, but the basic premise remains:
This is a predominately Christian part of the world - even if sometimes it feels as if that Christianity is only nominal. WHY are we letting minorities of one, or three, demand that we abandon our identity as Christians because it offends them.
After all, Christianity is the root and foundation of the culture they are so richly enjoying benefits of, from the safety of their homes to the abundance in our stores.
Give credit where it is due. Acknowledge that other people have rights, too.
Contrast this woman to the Muslim I met a few weeks ago. He is from East Africa, a nation now identified as nearly 100% Muslim. When he was a child, however, that was not the case, and he was educated in a Catholic school. Although he was exempted from catechism class, he was not spared the saturation of the Catholic identity which shaped every facet of school life. He was taught by nuns!
And he told me, grinning broadly, that it was a wonderful education, a wonderful experience. He's still a Muslim, and a devout one (if a "moderate" one by current standards) - but he knows a lot about Catholicism, and he has great respect and affection for Catholic Christianity, because he absorbed it in that microcosm of Catholic life: the Catholic School.
If minority parents want their children to be spared the influence of the predominate cultural identity, they should either send their children to their own schools, or homeschool.
I wish Christian parents would rise up in protest of this hijacking, this sabotage of our culture. I'm pretty sure it will not happen, however.
"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer"???
Gimme a flippin' BREAK, here.
There are so many things wrong with this issue that I don't even know where to begin.
For one thing, "Rudolph" is a secular song from start to finish. Evidently this mother is some sort of literalist extremist to want to suppress a word in her child's school.
For another, this is a public school. It's culture is ostensibly supposed to represent the culture of the community it represents. Okay, this doesn't happen so very much since schools became objects of centralized, rather than community, governance, but the basic premise remains:
This is a predominately Christian part of the world - even if sometimes it feels as if that Christianity is only nominal. WHY are we letting minorities of one, or three, demand that we abandon our identity as Christians because it offends them.
After all, Christianity is the root and foundation of the culture they are so richly enjoying benefits of, from the safety of their homes to the abundance in our stores.
Give credit where it is due. Acknowledge that other people have rights, too.
Contrast this woman to the Muslim I met a few weeks ago. He is from East Africa, a nation now identified as nearly 100% Muslim. When he was a child, however, that was not the case, and he was educated in a Catholic school. Although he was exempted from catechism class, he was not spared the saturation of the Catholic identity which shaped every facet of school life. He was taught by nuns!
And he told me, grinning broadly, that it was a wonderful education, a wonderful experience. He's still a Muslim, and a devout one (if a "moderate" one by current standards) - but he knows a lot about Catholicism, and he has great respect and affection for Catholic Christianity, because he absorbed it in that microcosm of Catholic life: the Catholic School.
If minority parents want their children to be spared the influence of the predominate cultural identity, they should either send their children to their own schools, or homeschool.
I wish Christian parents would rise up in protest of this hijacking, this sabotage of our culture. I'm pretty sure it will not happen, however.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
The feminists have demanded that women be treated as if they were men, and in so many ways the idea has been detrimental to women.
Take the case of the man dismissed from his job in an area community college. He was caught performing lewd acts in a staff member's office (masturbating, touching food to his penis then placing it in the faculty member's desk for her to eat, etc.).
It is not only distressing that the college did so little to protect the woman employee, it is even more distressing that the general consensus of opinion in the website's comments page thinks the man did nothing inherently wrong.
Take the case of the man dismissed from his job in an area community college. He was caught performing lewd acts in a staff member's office (masturbating, touching food to his penis then placing it in the faculty member's desk for her to eat, etc.).
It is not only distressing that the college did so little to protect the woman employee, it is even more distressing that the general consensus of opinion in the website's comments page thinks the man did nothing inherently wrong.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Powerful insights from A. Guy Maligned -
From "Guy" at What Women Never Hear. If you haven't visited this blog, you should. Frequently. Attentively.
401. Dark Side of Feminism — Part 21
December 6, 2008 by A.GuyMaligned
Feminism produced political, legal, and economic gains for women. No dispute from me. But women have not heard it all.
The warring and do-battle feminist mindset infiltrated elsewhere. The social and domestic arenas ‘evolved’ over fifty years through the following steps:
The earliest women libbers and then radical feminists sought to reduce male dominance and compensate for past injustices. Men had to be ‘brought down’. The radicals dreamed that matriarchy would someday overpower patriarchy.
· Plus, they pushed their agenda without consulting men. It was women only, and they set out to beat men into submission.
· The movement caught on. Ardent feminists belittled and demeaned masculinity, manliness, and men. As it became popular among females, it polarized the genders.
· Females identified and spotlighted every imperfection and eccentricity of male gender. They looked for the same in their man.
· Women were at fault for nothing. Men objected but not too strongly, because unmarried sex became common and commoner, cheaper and cheaper.
· TV and movies mocked men, made dummies of fathers and husbands. Emails flooded cyberspace and popularized male bashing. Teasing at first, but sincerity inevitably soaked in as Feminism flooded the culture.
· Women accepted feminist propaganda, entertainment mockery, and male bashing as ‘truthful’. They learned to doubt the worth of men to women.
· Women convinced themselves that ‘Men are just not worth their troublesome nature. Women must put their man in his place. Moreover, she’s perfectly capable of doing without him’.
· But something else seeped into that poorly concocted mixture: Wives competed directly with husband; they spent a lot of time ‘in his face’. Couples split. Marriages broke up. Unmarried sex normalized. Men became worse instead of better. Cheap sex kept men satisfied if not happy.
· Men learned not to commit and also to cheat in spite of commitment. It all flows directly, however, from so much cheap sex made easily available by females.
· Today, men just follow their urge to merge. One woman can’t capture and keep a man’s devotion separated from his conquering spirit. Too many opportunities with all those oh-so-willing females hunting boyfriends and husbands.
· Women lost the ability or interest or both for holding their own with a man. Female spirits declined. Men went on a cheap sex binge. Wifely hopes and dreams changed to accommodate husbands that turn undependable, irresponsible, and irresolute with their vows. The females’ macro self-fulfilling prophecy against the male gender reshaped the domestic scene to its present female-unfriendly status.
Thus, social ‘evolution’ turned the female gender inferior and made male dominance more dominant. Witness pop culture music and values.
Social and domestic results are contrary to that originally expected. But—as women go, so goes society.
401. Dark Side of Feminism — Part 21
December 6, 2008 by A.GuyMaligned
Feminism produced political, legal, and economic gains for women. No dispute from me. But women have not heard it all.
The warring and do-battle feminist mindset infiltrated elsewhere. The social and domestic arenas ‘evolved’ over fifty years through the following steps:
The earliest women libbers and then radical feminists sought to reduce male dominance and compensate for past injustices. Men had to be ‘brought down’. The radicals dreamed that matriarchy would someday overpower patriarchy.
· Plus, they pushed their agenda without consulting men. It was women only, and they set out to beat men into submission.
· The movement caught on. Ardent feminists belittled and demeaned masculinity, manliness, and men. As it became popular among females, it polarized the genders.
· Females identified and spotlighted every imperfection and eccentricity of male gender. They looked for the same in their man.
· Women were at fault for nothing. Men objected but not too strongly, because unmarried sex became common and commoner, cheaper and cheaper.
· TV and movies mocked men, made dummies of fathers and husbands. Emails flooded cyberspace and popularized male bashing. Teasing at first, but sincerity inevitably soaked in as Feminism flooded the culture.
· Women accepted feminist propaganda, entertainment mockery, and male bashing as ‘truthful’. They learned to doubt the worth of men to women.
· Women convinced themselves that ‘Men are just not worth their troublesome nature. Women must put their man in his place. Moreover, she’s perfectly capable of doing without him’.
· But something else seeped into that poorly concocted mixture: Wives competed directly with husband; they spent a lot of time ‘in his face’. Couples split. Marriages broke up. Unmarried sex normalized. Men became worse instead of better. Cheap sex kept men satisfied if not happy.
· Men learned not to commit and also to cheat in spite of commitment. It all flows directly, however, from so much cheap sex made easily available by females.
· Today, men just follow their urge to merge. One woman can’t capture and keep a man’s devotion separated from his conquering spirit. Too many opportunities with all those oh-so-willing females hunting boyfriends and husbands.
· Women lost the ability or interest or both for holding their own with a man. Female spirits declined. Men went on a cheap sex binge. Wifely hopes and dreams changed to accommodate husbands that turn undependable, irresponsible, and irresolute with their vows. The females’ macro self-fulfilling prophecy against the male gender reshaped the domestic scene to its present female-unfriendly status.
Thus, social ‘evolution’ turned the female gender inferior and made male dominance more dominant. Witness pop culture music and values.
Social and domestic results are contrary to that originally expected. But—as women go, so goes society.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Thoughts on Mortifications (all Sinead's fault)
Because Sinead wrote in the combox:
How can I resist?
Actually, I've been thinking of this, along with Purgatory, this week. The two seem to go together.
Mortification, root word "Mors" or "mortis," Latin for death, die, etc. To mortify is, literally, to put to death -
In this particular application, the ego, or self-will: the very same source of those attachments we have to be purged of before we can fully enter into God's presence.
I was about to say that some mortifications just come to us - like sickness, disappointments, etc., but that's not quite true; how we handle life difficulties matters. When we fight, complain, rail against, whine, and make a general stink about our sufferings, then we aren't putting self-will to death at all, are we? Seems to me we're demanding self-satisfaction, our own way, treating our personal happiness as some sort of indisputable birthright and how dare God interfere by denying us that right!
When we are tested in ordinary ways (like the mom at the school this afternoon, who was put out with me because I wouldn't release the girl from school on the strength of a telephone call), we have a choice. I prefer to be treated with a little more courtesy, and believe me - I was sorely tempted to inform this mother that lack of planning on her part did not constitute an emergency on my part. I wish with all my heart (six hours later) that I had been more gracious than I was, that I had let the woman's annoyance bounce off me; I did apologize and explain my position nicely, I think, but I seethed about the situation for too long afterward.
If I'd been meeker, if I'd been more patient, more gracious - not annoyed (or at least reminded myself that I had a choice not to be so put out) - then this incident could have served as a very useful mortification for my ego, my pride.
Being cheerful when I'm tired and cross and can't breathe because of a stuffy nose (I think I licked the threatened sinus infection) - that's a mortification.
Not fighting back when I'm treated like an incompetent when in fact I was misinformed about a procedure (set up?) - a mortification.
Accepting criticism graciously - when it is not deserved, or more difficult, when it is - a mortification.
Acceptance - of disappointments, of sorrows, of sufferings of body and emotions - not fighting to force our own way, nor demanding sympathy and attention from others - a valuable mortification.
We can also undertake voluntary mortifications to discipline our pride and self-centeredness.
I love chocolate, and during stressful days at the high school, a candy bar and a Coke feel like an entitled reward. This week - I've done without. It's a small mortification, one I've not even really felt.
There are pleasures the world tells us are natural, normal, harmless... but they distract us from full discipleship. Some novels, television programs, movies, music appeal to a more base and carnal element in our characters. Avoiding them even though we enjoy them is a very useful mortification - we are mortifying, putting to death, our love of the mediocre, banal, and salacious.
Denying ourselves luxuries - more clothes than we really need, or multiple bottles of cosmetics and potions when what we already possess is more than adequate for our needs - other things we feel we are supposed to be entitled to as Americans (or Europeans) - a very useful mortification.
Giving of our selves and our resources when it is inconvenient - denying our love of consolations and comforts and luxuries that are not essential to health or safety or genuine well-being...
Being pleasant and doing my duty to people I don't like and would rather avoid - a mortification!
There are stories of saints who slept on boards for a bed, without a mattress, mortifying their love of physical comfort to identify with the truly deprived - who fasted and undertook disciplines in order to tame what St. Francis humorously called "brother ass" (the flesh) - Some even added deliberate discomforts - the wearing of hair shirts (itchy!) or the discipline of flagellation, personal penances, and the like -
I don't advocate wearing hair shirts. I worry about people who have poor sense of self-esteem confusing self-loathing with self-denial and so teeter into deeper emotional instability with religious-guised excesses. I distrust people who boast about their devotions and their acts of charity and service. Mortifications should be quiet, discreet. They should be something we can reasonably fulfill - not great overwhelming mountains to boast of trying to scale.
I think we start small, like my silly little candy bars, or resolving within our minds to treat that difficult person with a softer, gentler voice than we usually do (and to try to tame the indignation that wells up on the inside). God will show us - Our Lady will show us! She wants us to draw closer to her Son, and we attain that greater intimacy with Him by death to self.
It's a process. We fail, only to try again. Ego is a resilient beast, hard to train. But we keep on trying.
Ok Laura, I'll bite. I loved the post but I want you to write a post for me on mortifications, voluntary that is, not what you feel when you trip up in the street and everyone laughs. :-D
How do they work?
How can I resist?
Actually, I've been thinking of this, along with Purgatory, this week. The two seem to go together.
Mortification, root word "Mors" or "mortis," Latin for death, die, etc. To mortify is, literally, to put to death -
In this particular application, the ego, or self-will: the very same source of those attachments we have to be purged of before we can fully enter into God's presence.
I was about to say that some mortifications just come to us - like sickness, disappointments, etc., but that's not quite true; how we handle life difficulties matters. When we fight, complain, rail against, whine, and make a general stink about our sufferings, then we aren't putting self-will to death at all, are we? Seems to me we're demanding self-satisfaction, our own way, treating our personal happiness as some sort of indisputable birthright and how dare God interfere by denying us that right!
When we are tested in ordinary ways (like the mom at the school this afternoon, who was put out with me because I wouldn't release the girl from school on the strength of a telephone call), we have a choice. I prefer to be treated with a little more courtesy, and believe me - I was sorely tempted to inform this mother that lack of planning on her part did not constitute an emergency on my part. I wish with all my heart (six hours later) that I had been more gracious than I was, that I had let the woman's annoyance bounce off me; I did apologize and explain my position nicely, I think, but I seethed about the situation for too long afterward.
If I'd been meeker, if I'd been more patient, more gracious - not annoyed (or at least reminded myself that I had a choice not to be so put out) - then this incident could have served as a very useful mortification for my ego, my pride.
Being cheerful when I'm tired and cross and can't breathe because of a stuffy nose (I think I licked the threatened sinus infection) - that's a mortification.
Not fighting back when I'm treated like an incompetent when in fact I was misinformed about a procedure (set up?) - a mortification.
Accepting criticism graciously - when it is not deserved, or more difficult, when it is - a mortification.
Acceptance - of disappointments, of sorrows, of sufferings of body and emotions - not fighting to force our own way, nor demanding sympathy and attention from others - a valuable mortification.
We can also undertake voluntary mortifications to discipline our pride and self-centeredness.
I love chocolate, and during stressful days at the high school, a candy bar and a Coke feel like an entitled reward. This week - I've done without. It's a small mortification, one I've not even really felt.
There are pleasures the world tells us are natural, normal, harmless... but they distract us from full discipleship. Some novels, television programs, movies, music appeal to a more base and carnal element in our characters. Avoiding them even though we enjoy them is a very useful mortification - we are mortifying, putting to death, our love of the mediocre, banal, and salacious.
Denying ourselves luxuries - more clothes than we really need, or multiple bottles of cosmetics and potions when what we already possess is more than adequate for our needs - other things we feel we are supposed to be entitled to as Americans (or Europeans) - a very useful mortification.
Giving of our selves and our resources when it is inconvenient - denying our love of consolations and comforts and luxuries that are not essential to health or safety or genuine well-being...
Being pleasant and doing my duty to people I don't like and would rather avoid - a mortification!
There are stories of saints who slept on boards for a bed, without a mattress, mortifying their love of physical comfort to identify with the truly deprived - who fasted and undertook disciplines in order to tame what St. Francis humorously called "brother ass" (the flesh) - Some even added deliberate discomforts - the wearing of hair shirts (itchy!) or the discipline of flagellation, personal penances, and the like -
I don't advocate wearing hair shirts. I worry about people who have poor sense of self-esteem confusing self-loathing with self-denial and so teeter into deeper emotional instability with religious-guised excesses. I distrust people who boast about their devotions and their acts of charity and service. Mortifications should be quiet, discreet. They should be something we can reasonably fulfill - not great overwhelming mountains to boast of trying to scale.
I think we start small, like my silly little candy bars, or resolving within our minds to treat that difficult person with a softer, gentler voice than we usually do (and to try to tame the indignation that wells up on the inside). God will show us - Our Lady will show us! She wants us to draw closer to her Son, and we attain that greater intimacy with Him by death to self.
It's a process. We fail, only to try again. Ego is a resilient beast, hard to train. But we keep on trying.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Advent thoughts: Purgatory
I'm not sure why, as Advent begins, I'm thinking so much about Purgatory, but here I am. Purgatory.
We tend to think of Purgatory as a place of punishment, where the "payment" of our sins is exacted. You know - the analogy of the kid breaking the window: the vandalism is forgiven, there is no prosecution of criminal charges, but the kid still has to make restitution.
I'm not satisfied with that analogy. Never have been. I always dismissed my discomfort as being remnants of Protestant theology - that Christ not only forgave the debt, he marked it "Paid in Full" with his sacrifice on Calvary.
Besides, as I have been thinking in recent days, it's Purgatory - whose root is "Purge" - which means not to punish, but to clean! You've eaten something you ought not, you're prescribed a purgative - not for punishment but to clean the poison out of your system.
Purgatory does just that. After all, when we die, we don't cease being ourselves - with our loves, affections, habits, and attachments. We carry those things with us, because they are attributes of our heart.
Too many of those attachments are not proper to bring into the presence of God. Habits - of thought and behavior - that have held us in their grip while we live on this earth have to be purged from our hearts. Things we loved that are not consistent with Divine Love - they have to be released once and for all.
"For he is like a refiner's fire," goes the alto Aria in Handel's Messiah - from Malachi 3:2-3 - and the refiner's fire is the white-hot fire that burns the dross from fine metals, leaving only the pure metal behind.
That's what Purgatory does, it is the fire of God's love that burns out the residue and dirt from our earthly lives.
Some of us experience forms of purgation on earth: sickness, sorrows, losses that leave us somehow purer and closer to God than we were before. We think in terms of hell when we suffer - "He's been to hell and back," I've heard it said of people who've been through intense sufferings - but in fact this is part of the great Purgation that scours us down to the fundamentals.
That is not to say that the process is completed on earth. For some, maybe, the saints - those people who love with such single-minded passion that all else fades into insignficance... Perhaps they get immediate admittance into Heaven. But I'm not ready, and I don't know of anyone who is - except maybe Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who served God by sheer dint of will when her emotional dimension was full of dark and her Lord felt far, far away.
But we can welcome these experiences as part of our preparation for meeting God face to face, in Heaven. This Advent, when we are focused, in the liturgical season, on preparing for His Coming, let us embrace the purgations we experience here below, and even embrace voluntary mortifications in order to hasten that process - of the sort we associate with Lent.
We tend to think of Purgatory as a place of punishment, where the "payment" of our sins is exacted. You know - the analogy of the kid breaking the window: the vandalism is forgiven, there is no prosecution of criminal charges, but the kid still has to make restitution.
I'm not satisfied with that analogy. Never have been. I always dismissed my discomfort as being remnants of Protestant theology - that Christ not only forgave the debt, he marked it "Paid in Full" with his sacrifice on Calvary.
Besides, as I have been thinking in recent days, it's Purgatory - whose root is "Purge" - which means not to punish, but to clean! You've eaten something you ought not, you're prescribed a purgative - not for punishment but to clean the poison out of your system.
Purgatory does just that. After all, when we die, we don't cease being ourselves - with our loves, affections, habits, and attachments. We carry those things with us, because they are attributes of our heart.
Too many of those attachments are not proper to bring into the presence of God. Habits - of thought and behavior - that have held us in their grip while we live on this earth have to be purged from our hearts. Things we loved that are not consistent with Divine Love - they have to be released once and for all.
"For he is like a refiner's fire," goes the alto Aria in Handel's Messiah - from Malachi 3:2-3 - and the refiner's fire is the white-hot fire that burns the dross from fine metals, leaving only the pure metal behind.
That's what Purgatory does, it is the fire of God's love that burns out the residue and dirt from our earthly lives.
Some of us experience forms of purgation on earth: sickness, sorrows, losses that leave us somehow purer and closer to God than we were before. We think in terms of hell when we suffer - "He's been to hell and back," I've heard it said of people who've been through intense sufferings - but in fact this is part of the great Purgation that scours us down to the fundamentals.
That is not to say that the process is completed on earth. For some, maybe, the saints - those people who love with such single-minded passion that all else fades into insignficance... Perhaps they get immediate admittance into Heaven. But I'm not ready, and I don't know of anyone who is - except maybe Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who served God by sheer dint of will when her emotional dimension was full of dark and her Lord felt far, far away.
But we can welcome these experiences as part of our preparation for meeting God face to face, in Heaven. This Advent, when we are focused, in the liturgical season, on preparing for His Coming, let us embrace the purgations we experience here below, and even embrace voluntary mortifications in order to hasten that process - of the sort we associate with Lent.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Does this mean I can start playing Chriatmas music now?
Actually, I've been singing Christmas music for weeks! - Chorale prep, you know.
Last night was the first performance of Handel's Messiah with the Carolina Ballet. First time I've done it with them, but this is a long-standing tradition with the Master Chorale.
I have to admit, the thought of a major religious oratorio like Messiah being choreographed to ballet seemed a bit like sacrilege, but I was so very impressed. The dance moves, the costuming - everything was well-integrated into the textual elements of the work. The ballet is appropriate, compatible, joyful and reverent, from the first prophetic arias (our tenor and bass actually perform those arias of Part One on stage with the dancers!) to the final glorious "Amen!" where the Messiah Ascends into Heaven (with the help of a cable).
We're in the orchestra pit, so we had to be broken up into mini-choirs for the weekend. I'm back on tap for Saturday's matinee, and I'm really looking forward to it!
Meantime - y'all enjoy the turkey, and don't forget to really thank God for all His blessings and provisions to you and yours.
Actually, I've been singing Christmas music for weeks! - Chorale prep, you know.
Last night was the first performance of Handel's Messiah with the Carolina Ballet. First time I've done it with them, but this is a long-standing tradition with the Master Chorale.
I have to admit, the thought of a major religious oratorio like Messiah being choreographed to ballet seemed a bit like sacrilege, but I was so very impressed. The dance moves, the costuming - everything was well-integrated into the textual elements of the work. The ballet is appropriate, compatible, joyful and reverent, from the first prophetic arias (our tenor and bass actually perform those arias of Part One on stage with the dancers!) to the final glorious "Amen!" where the Messiah Ascends into Heaven (with the help of a cable).
We're in the orchestra pit, so we had to be broken up into mini-choirs for the weekend. I'm back on tap for Saturday's matinee, and I'm really looking forward to it!
Meantime - y'all enjoy the turkey, and don't forget to really thank God for all His blessings and provisions to you and yours.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Yeah, I'll join in!
After checking with several friends with military connections and specialties in Middle Eastern "stuff" -
I hereby join the group of bloggers celebrating this as Victory in Iraq Day - No sense in letting BHO take credit for something that W has won through diligence, hard work, determination and just plain clean vision. Damn the liberals who have made it tough for our Nation to fight this war - and win it! May they be consigned to a place in Punishment of having to watch never-ending replays of the incidents of 9/11, the beheading of American soldiers and reporters, and all the other evidence of why we HAD to be in Iraq.
May God protect our troops and keep them safe - and allow them to complete the ENTIRE mission - because it's been publicized, no thanks to our mainstream media, that as soon as we pull out, Al Quaeda is going back in with a vengeance.
Praying for the safety of our troops -
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
Digital Conversion for your Television Service
Oh, I so identify with this!
(Thanks to Bill for sending it to me!)
Friday, November 21, 2008
Lavender blue, dilly, dilly - etc.
#E6E6FA |
Your dominant hue is blue, making you a good friend who people love and trust. You're good in social situations and want to fit in. Just be careful not to compromise who you are to make them happy. Your saturation level is very low - you have better things to do than jump headfirst into every little project. You make sure your actions are going to really accomplish something before you start because you hate wasting energy making everyone else think you're working. Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything. |
Laura, Warrior Princess - It's Official
A woman praying in solitude can do amazing things, but a woman praying as part of a deliberate army - much more.
Today I have been enrolled in St. Maximilian Kolbe's Militia Immaculata. I've just put myself on the front lines.
When I was contemplating becoming a Catholic, the single most difficult aspect was Marian theology. I'd heard that Catholics worshipped Mary, and although my head knew they did not, and understood the difference, a lot of behaviors by good Catholics sure felt like some kind of idolatry, and made me exceedingly uncomfortable.
It really makes a lot of sense, though, this business of Marian devotion. When Mary was greeted by the Angel, he addressed her by her title: "Full of Grace." It wasn't a courtesy - the angel was identifying Mary and her deepest, her innermost character. From her conception, she had been filled with God's grace in preparation of this immense privilege - of being the woman to give birth to the Messiah, to be the Ark of the New Covenant.
Jesus of Nazareth, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, came to earth through a woman - and that woman's Fiat, her "Yes," is so integral and so far-reaching a part of God's plan of salvation that we lose a significant portion of it in ignoring it - and her.
He came to us through her, and to this day she is actively involved in bring us to Him. As the woman clothed with the sun (Rev. 12) is identified as Mary, whose firstborn is Jesus, we are her other children - hers by adoption, according to the language of St. Paul. She is our mother, and she assists in our spiritual re-birth, in our discipleship and our total journey toward Heaven. She intercedes for us even as she interceded on behalf of the poor couple in Cana, who had run out of wine at their wedding feast.
Her few recorded words serve as instruction ("Do whatever he tells you!") and example ("Be it done to me according to thy word") - and as inspiration (the great hymn of praise, the Magnificat, in Luke 1)
King Solomon, a type of Christ, placed his mother on a throne (I Kings 2:19). Mary sits on a throne, also, crowned with the glory her Son gives to her - and there she intercedes for us all.
As the woman clothed with the sun, Mary is not some frightened potential victim of the Devil - she is obedient to God in all things - and being the bearer of the one who will crush the head of the serpent, she is intimately engaged in the great battle which rages around us now. She - and her Son - will be victorious in the end, but there is no better example we can have of obedience to God, or help in attaining that obedience - or of fidelity or strength. She was with her Son from the time of the Angel's Visitation (see that painting in my heading, again) - until and through the birth of the Church. The only significant event she is not recorded being present for? - the Last Supper, when her Son instituted the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Priesthood.
If she is the handmaid of the Lord, then in being her handmaid, we do well in serving Him.
Today I have been enrolled in St. Maximilian Kolbe's Militia Immaculata. I've just put myself on the front lines.
When I was contemplating becoming a Catholic, the single most difficult aspect was Marian theology. I'd heard that Catholics worshipped Mary, and although my head knew they did not, and understood the difference, a lot of behaviors by good Catholics sure felt like some kind of idolatry, and made me exceedingly uncomfortable.
It really makes a lot of sense, though, this business of Marian devotion. When Mary was greeted by the Angel, he addressed her by her title: "Full of Grace." It wasn't a courtesy - the angel was identifying Mary and her deepest, her innermost character. From her conception, she had been filled with God's grace in preparation of this immense privilege - of being the woman to give birth to the Messiah, to be the Ark of the New Covenant.
Jesus of Nazareth, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, came to earth through a woman - and that woman's Fiat, her "Yes," is so integral and so far-reaching a part of God's plan of salvation that we lose a significant portion of it in ignoring it - and her.
He came to us through her, and to this day she is actively involved in bring us to Him. As the woman clothed with the sun (Rev. 12) is identified as Mary, whose firstborn is Jesus, we are her other children - hers by adoption, according to the language of St. Paul. She is our mother, and she assists in our spiritual re-birth, in our discipleship and our total journey toward Heaven. She intercedes for us even as she interceded on behalf of the poor couple in Cana, who had run out of wine at their wedding feast.
Her few recorded words serve as instruction ("Do whatever he tells you!") and example ("Be it done to me according to thy word") - and as inspiration (the great hymn of praise, the Magnificat, in Luke 1)
King Solomon, a type of Christ, placed his mother on a throne (I Kings 2:19). Mary sits on a throne, also, crowned with the glory her Son gives to her - and there she intercedes for us all.
As the woman clothed with the sun, Mary is not some frightened potential victim of the Devil - she is obedient to God in all things - and being the bearer of the one who will crush the head of the serpent, she is intimately engaged in the great battle which rages around us now. She - and her Son - will be victorious in the end, but there is no better example we can have of obedience to God, or help in attaining that obedience - or of fidelity or strength. She was with her Son from the time of the Angel's Visitation (see that painting in my heading, again) - until and through the birth of the Church. The only significant event she is not recorded being present for? - the Last Supper, when her Son instituted the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Priesthood.
If she is the handmaid of the Lord, then in being her handmaid, we do well in serving Him.
Must-see Blog View
Father Z has a great blog post I wish you all would take a look at - read it and watch the lovely video.
A graceful nod of the mantilla-clad head to Dove for the link.
A graceful nod of the mantilla-clad head to Dove for the link.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
And now, for something completely different:
After all the political talk, I thought it might be time to interject something, well, more ladylike. This is a photo of a "Romantic" era dress, pattern provided by Sense and Sensibility Patterns. I think I'm going to have to learn how to sew - There is a jumper under the Romantic page, and a walking skirt under the Edwardian, and the tea dress under the Titanic page, that I could see being worn out and about even now, without one becoming conspicuous for doing so.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Is Obama an American Citizen? cont...
Alan Keyes is one of the Petitioners named in a legal action in California, asking that the California electoral vote not be submitted until Barack Hussein Obama has proven by presentation of a valid birth certificate that he is indeed eligible to hold office of President of the United States.
I could've voted for Alan Keyes, quite happily. A real Conservative and a far better role model for the black community than BHO.
Read the rest of article here
I could've voted for Alan Keyes, quite happily. A real Conservative and a far better role model for the black community than BHO.
Read the rest of article here
Friday, November 14, 2008
More from Charleston and Greenville -
From Msgr. Laughlin's statement:
However, I do dispute Msgr. Laughlin's claim. I dispute it passionately!
Father Newman did not divert focus from the Church's position against abortion. Father Newman's statements do very clearly reflect the Catholic Church's teachings.
Father Newman reminded his parish that the Catholic Church steadfastly, and without equivocation, opposes abortion. He reminded his parish that support of abortion - by promoting it, recommending it, advising it, providing it, or otherwise condoning that practice - is grave matter.
He reminded his flock that voting for a pro-abortion candidate when a reasonable alternative exists is grave matter.
In a letter to his parishioners to be disbursed on Sunday, forwarded to me by a friend in the parish, he says his written commentary to the Greenville, SC, paper and Associated Press included this statement:
The AP turned that remark, and the observation that Barack Hussein Obama is the single most liberal pro-abort Senator and Presidential candidate in our history, into the headline "No Communion for Obama Supporters."
That twisting of the facts is a flagrant distortion of the priest's own words.
And the diocesan administrator has evidently not troubled himself to confer with Fr. Newman before issuing his statement - which has in the past hour been removed from his website and replaced with an embedded video, only.
Please continue to pray for Father Newman. He is being wrongly accused, vilified, and rebuked.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (November 14, 2008) - This past week, the Catholic Church’s clear,
moral teaching on the evil of abortion has been pulled into the partisan political arena. The
recent comments of Father Jay Scott Newman, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in
Greenville, S.C., have diverted the focus from the Church’s clear position against abortion. As
Administrator of the Diocese of Charleston, let me state with clarity that Father Newman’s
statements do not adequately reflect the Catholic Church’s teachings. Any comments or
statements to the contrary are repudiated.
However, I do dispute Msgr. Laughlin's claim. I dispute it passionately!
Father Newman did not divert focus from the Church's position against abortion. Father Newman's statements do very clearly reflect the Catholic Church's teachings.
Father Newman reminded his parish that the Catholic Church steadfastly, and without equivocation, opposes abortion. He reminded his parish that support of abortion - by promoting it, recommending it, advising it, providing it, or otherwise condoning that practice - is grave matter.
He reminded his flock that voting for a pro-abortion candidate when a reasonable alternative exists is grave matter.
In a letter to his parishioners to be disbursed on Sunday, forwarded to me by a friend in the parish, he says his written commentary to the Greenville, SC, paper and Associated Press included this statement:
I cannot and will not refuse Holy Communion to anyone because of his
or her political opinions or choices, even as I continue to teach what
the Church teaches about the necessity of being in full, visible
communion with the Church before receiving the sacraments. Only those
who believe what the Catholic Church teaches and who seek to live
according to that teaching should even be interested in receiving the
sacraments of the Church, and on the question of the intrinsic and
grave evil of abortion, there is and can be no doubt about what the
Church teaches.
The AP turned that remark, and the observation that Barack Hussein Obama is the single most liberal pro-abort Senator and Presidential candidate in our history, into the headline "No Communion for Obama Supporters."
That twisting of the facts is a flagrant distortion of the priest's own words.
And the diocesan administrator has evidently not troubled himself to confer with Fr. Newman before issuing his statement - which has in the past hour been removed from his website and replaced with an embedded video, only.
Please continue to pray for Father Newman. He is being wrongly accused, vilified, and rebuked.
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