Critical Mass

This passage from the reflection in the Magnificat really resonates with me:

“When you feel that you have done your best to amend your life according to the laws of the Church, give yourself in earnest to the contemplative work. And if the memory of your past sins or the temptation to new ones should plague your mind, forming an obstacle between you and God, crush them beneath your feet and bravely step beyond them. Try to bury the thought of these deeds beneath the thick cloud of forgetting just as if neither you nor anyone else had ever done them. If they persist in returning, you must persist in rejecting them. In short, as often as they rise up you must put them down….
When distracting thoughts annoy you, try to pretend that you do not even notice their presence or that they have come between you and your God. Look beyond them — over their shoulder, as it were — as if you were looking for something else, which of course you are. For beyond them, God is hidden in the dark cloud of unknowing. Do this and I feel sure you will soon be relieved of anxiety about them. I can vouch for the orthodoxy of this technique because in reality it amounts to a yearning for God, a longing to see and taste him as much as is possible in this life. And desire like this is actually love, which always brings peace.”

This speaks to me on a couple of different levels. First, we were talking about some mystics in Theology class on Thursday and how both of them saw as the summit of prayer life contemplation of God. St. Teresa of Avila, in particular, piqued my interest — so I bought 3 of her books and will work on reading them this Lent. Second, this passage speaks of that sin that you keep doing — almost against your will — and how to try to overcome it by not letting it get in your way, but to keep picking yourself back up, going to Confession, and making the choice every time to follow Jesus. It is too easy, when faced with repeated failure in holiness to despair and think that this particular thing is beyond you. Yet God gives you grace all the time, and nothing, NOTHING, is beyond His power. Nothing is stronger than God. Trust in Him and keep seeking after Him.

What an amazingly graced day today has been! I started off by watching a catch up session for my Epic church history study, followed by reading the Magnificat. This reading has been so inspiring to me, and so helpful in starting to plan out my Lent. Then, I got to get my hair done — something which has been woefully neglected for far too long. I had a quick lunch, then got to spend some time in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and pray the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet with some friends. Next, because I was feeling a little indicted by St. Teresa, I took the opportunity to participate in Reconciliation. I got some materials to aid me in my Lenten project, and came home for some more reading, a lovely dinner, and some Wii (I made my brother’s Mii a Pro at tennis!). I think I’ll shortly retire for the evening and continue my spiritual reading.

I can’t wait for tomorrow! If today was so good, I can’t even imagine what the Lord’s Day has in store for me! :)

While I was at school today, my brother helped my new boy move in. He is basically all situated, with only a few things that we still need to find a place for. I’m really excited about him living here and think we will have lots of fun together, although I am pragmatic enough to know that we will have our quarrels as well.

Believe it or not, but Lent is just around the corner!
And I don’t even have my Christmas tree down yet!

Lent is this great period of time where we rid our lives of all the unnecessary attachments that we clutter our lives with and focus more closely on our relationship with the Lord. It should be a time of simplification and purification. It should be a time of prayer, almsgiving and fasting. It should be a time of generosity, love and charity. It should be a time of sober self-reflection.

It should be a lot of things.

What will it be?

That’s up to me.

What am I going to put into it?

God gives us grace all the time. The thing is we have to respond to that grace which is offered. It is too easy to put something off for tomorrow or rationalize our way into spiritual laxity. We can justify all kinds of neglects and omissions, particularly when it comes to our own spiritual lives, because we don’t see that as being harmful to anyone. Then, we arrive at Easter, look back at our Lent and perhaps wish that we had spent more time in prayer, or done a few more acts of charity.

What is the main reason for a mediocre Lent? Poor planning. We need to set our goals in mind NOW and work NOW to make sure that we have a rhythm to our season. Praying is most consistent if you set aside a certain time and place — every day — when and where you pray. Lent needs to be for us not some onerous thing which we take upon ourselves for 40 days. Lent shouldn’t be seen as a kind of self-imposed slavery, but as a practicing in the life which we hope to have one day in Christ. A life where we are prayerful and loving of our brothers and sisters. A life where we truly live out the Gospel. God didn’t make us for slavery, and doing things which are pleasing to Him shouldn’t be seen as such. It’s just our sinful selves which distort the truth of reality and make us to see our unhealthy attachments as the path to happiness, when they are in fact leading us in the opposite direction.

So, my challenge to myself, and to you, if you choose to join me, is to map out our plan for Lent, so that we can reap all the graces our Lord is offering to us.

I had just started reading the Didache and came across this passage:

“You shall not hate any man;
but some you shall reprove,
some you shall pray for,
and some you shall love
more than the breath of life that is in you.”

And I just stopped reading.

It caught my heart. My soul wanted to scream its assent to this truth.

This is what it means to love. This is what it means to be a total gift of self. This is what we are called to do.

Some you shall love more than the breath of life that is in you.

Of course, the rest of the message is important, too. We should not hate, we should pray for others, and, yes, we ARE our brother’s keeper and sometimes that entails reproving one another, but always with love.

But it is this last part that speaks to me. God is calling me to abandon myself to Love of Other, and, in this moment, my will is beyond eager to wring out every drop of life within me — every breath in my body — to be Love, to do Love and to show Love to another. At the moment, this is particularly directed at that person whom the Lord has placed upon my heart to intercede for, on a continual basis; but I can feel, on the margins, the sense that as I grow in this, I will be called to expand my gift of love, of utter self-abandon, to others. For this is not just a gift to this one person, or to these several people, but it is ultimately a gift, if you will, to the Lord Himself. A small response to the enormous outpouring of love which he bathes me in daily.

As I have said before, “my struggles for holiness are no longer merely for my own sanctification, but because prayers of holy men and women are more efficacious (James 5:16, 1 Peter 3:12).” And so, the deeper I grow in holiness, the more I am able to truly love. The more that I can open myself to love my neighbor — love as an active verb, a decision of the will — the more my will is conformed to the Will of the Lord and the more I will be receptive to and attentive to the perpetual presence of His Love for me.

Something like this:

God loves me –> I respond with love for neighbor and God –> I am more aware of God’s love for me :||

“You shall not hate any man;
but some you shall reprove,
some you shall pray for,
and some you shall love
more than the breath of life that is in you.”

God Bless!

Because I know how fascinated you all are with my grocery shopping habits and are dying to see what I buy the few times that I actually make it to the store! :)

Many, many mangoes! :) I LOVE these! They had a 10 for $10 sale and I decided to buy a small plethora with the idea of making a mango pie. I’ve tried the mango pie before, and it was good, but a little too juicy the way I had made it, so I’m eager to try again! I really don’t think there’s a way I wouldn’t like this fruit. Yum!

More fruit! Yums! I’ve been on a blueberry kick for a while — can’t explain why….

Eggplant! I have never, ever made eggplant before in my life, although I think I’ve tried it before. I grabbed one, because, well, because it was there and I figured I needed a vegetable in addition to my fruit. :) I’m not certain what I will do with it, but I thought of eggplant parmesan, maybe.

Cereal stuff — the Honey O things were new and I thought I’d give them a try over my usual Cheerios.

The Dairy Food Group (minus the milk, because you probably all know what a gallon of milk looks like):

The Pasta Stuff Food Group (the perciatelli is like a think spaghetti-type thing, looked interesting):

Well, I *AM* sick, so….

Wasting away again in…. Mmmm, salsa….

Is that a wall of soup? Why, yes, yes it is!

And some reading material, because I couldn’t resist the checkout display…I was held hostage…and it was either this, or more on the continuing saga of Jen-Brad-Angelina, and I just couldn’t do that today.

Jeremy Abbott figure skating

Originally uploaded by qp2516

I got to see the US Nationals coverage tonight. This guy was AMAZING! He skated a clean program and made all his jumping passes look effortless.

I cannot wait to see him during the Olympic Games in Vancouver! :)

What was especially refreshing was his unique choreography. It truly suited him and reminded everyone watching that this wasn’t merely figure skating artistry, but it was a masculine artistry.

Bring on the Games!!!

Pope Benedict XVI

Originally uploaded by Jari Kurittu

Some days you just need a little smile from your Papa to make you feel better! :)

I think today should be Optimism Thursday — just because.

Let’s try an exercise in optimism. Post in the comments what you are optimistic about, thankful for or looking forward to!

While terribly sad for all the people affected by the earthquake disaster in Haiti, I am encouraged by the people who have been quick to give of themselves for their brothers in need.

I am hopeful that this Year of the Priest will be incredibly fruitful, both for the priests themselves as they benefit from the grace offered and multitude of prayers from the faithful, as well as people in general, as they learn more of the vocation of the priesthood and, concurrently, the vocation of the laity.

As we heard recently, it a duty of the lay person to evangelize and sanctify the world. It is the duty of the priest to equip the laity for this task.

No one lives in a bubble — Thanks be to God! We all rely on each other and live in community and in communion.

God’s peace and love to you all!

Just to add a little variety to the questions that I ask … or … because inquiring minds want to know … or … because this is a real question that I have.  :)

At what point do you need to replace your windshield?

Obvious answer:  when it’s broken.

Let me rephrase.  At what point do you **NEED** to replace your windshield?  And then, at what point *should* you replace your windshield?

See, I would place in the NEED category:  when the police tell you that you have to; when rain comes in; and when it obstructs vision in a significant way.
And in the SHOULD category:  when it gets cracked, but doesn’t obstruct vision significantly (Yes, I know that’s kind of subjective)
And in the PFFT, WHATEVER category:  those little chips and stuff that happen daily

Scenario:  I had a Pfft-Whatever ding at the bottom of the windshield that I intended to have patched or glued or whatever they do…sometime soonish.
However, Saturday night this turned into a bigger Should-style crack, but you know less than the size of a dollar, which the TV people (sources of ABSOLUTE TRUTH, especially the late night infomercial people) say is totally still patchable.
Plan:  to call the patchy people.
However, tonight the crack decided to grow into a footlong, and not one of those 5 for $5 kinds.

I blame the cold weather.
Cold weather is like my scapegoat.

So, here’s the question:  Does a roughly foot long vertical crack on the right side of the windshield about a foot from the edge constitute a NEED or a SHOULD?  And how long could a SHOULD be deferred?  Because I’m certain that in a fit of anthropomorphic rage the cold weather will lob another meteor at me as soon as I get it fixed.  :)

Boy Questions are so much fun!  :)  :)

I received these prayers in a gift box of frankincense, gold and myrrh from the local Catholic bookstore, but for expediency, I have copied them down from this website.

three wise men

Originally uploaded by SpacePotato

All: Make the Sign of the Cross.

Head of Household: “Peace be to this house, and to all who dwell here, in the name of the Lord.”

All: “Blessed be God forever.”

Reader: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things come to be through him, and without him nothing came to be….  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. ”  (John 1:1-3.14)

Using chalk, write on the outside of your house, above or next to an entrance:

(write the first half of the current year)
+20
Christus
Mansionem
Benedicat
10+
(write the other half of the year)

These words mean:  ”May Christ bless this house.”   (Each word could be written by a different member of the household.)

Or optionally you may use the names of the Magi:

(write the first half of the current year)
+20
Caspar
Melchior
Balthazar
10+
(write the other half of the year)

(Each name could be written by a different member of the household.)

All: Lord God of heaven and earth, you revealed your only begotten Son to every nation by the guidance of a star. Bless this house and all who inhabit it. May we be blessed with health, goodness of heart, gentleness and the keeping of your law. Fill us with the light of Christ, that our love for each other may go out to all. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. — Reinhold Niebuhr