Just what I need

It’s exciting that it’s advent. A new year has started, a time to let things go and to look to the future. This year I am trying to embrace what the season of advent is all about: preparation and waiting (two things I’ve never been too good at). Advent is a highly ignored season. It just seems to get in the way of everything else. We have started the family reunions, counted our blessings, and enjoyed the ending of the year: we want to celebrate. But the Church says “not yet”. I must admit, I want to sing Christmas songs (I LOVE them!!), decorate my room, and do everything else “Christmas”. But now is not the time for that. It is a time to be silent, to be still.

Everything else in my life, however, is screaming at me to go faster! I must to do that, go here, send that, finish this, see so and so. There’s only how many shopping days left? If we fall into this trap it is easy to see why we become worn out and sick of Christmas, even before Christmas Eve!

This year, I want to learn to be still. I want to learn how to wait. I made a goal for myself today: I want to be less anxious about life (especially after yesterday's gospel). There’s no better time for this than advent! Although controlling my Christmas cheer until after the 24th is already proving to be a challenge, I know that if I attempt to mirror my life on the life of the Church, things would probably go much smoother for me. I can’t wait (but hopefully that will change!)!

Thanks and givings

My thanksgiving was most excellent. First, I woke up in Myrtle Beach. Then my brother and I went to Mass. The priest would randomly break out in song, which kept me on my toes!! Then I slept on the way back home. My other brother cooked the (14 pound) turkey and I volunteered to make everything else. It came out really well! We had a nice dinner, and watched the packers win!

Afterwards, everyone wanted monkey bread for a late dessert. What resulted was an overflowing creation dripping with brown sugar! It was quite entertaining to watch rise. We took bets on how many pieces we thought would fall off. Then we went with my sister and her husband to see their house that they just bought! It was a great day!

The most EPIC monkey bread ever!!

(Koko is in shock by the awesomeness)

In no particular order,

I am truly thankful for:

• God showing himself in my life
• The Eucharist (which means "thanksgiving")
• Seeing babies and them smiling at me
• Rain boots and umbrellas
• Still attending Auburn
• My dad’s knee surgery going very well
• Being able to get my brother excited about reading a book
• My dog still loving me
• Sunrises and sunsets
• The stars
• Having a sweet last name
• Being able to talk to my mom whenever she’s not sleeping
• Reconnecting with dear friends
• Jokes, the inside and outside ones
• Milkshakes
• All the love I’ve experienced these past few years
• My spiritual director, craft guru, and the one who keeps us all sane (well, most of the time) Aka, my roommates.
• My family growing in faith
• All my friends finding loves and marrying this past year
• All my friends who chose life, and those cute little babies
• Friends.
• Having incredible opportunities to see the world, including my backyard
• The Helen Keller kitty
• Glances of understanding from strangers
• Late night heart to hearts
• Meat men, refrigerator repairmen, and cleaners
• New surroundings and experiences
• Cookies and candles
• Chipmunks and groundhogs
• The chance to show others love
• Life, in all it’s messiness, pain, heartaches, joy, surprises, and beauty.
• You. The one reading this right now. Thank you.

Mediocrity

It seems to me that the priorities of this world are out of order. Everyone is “going green” these days. Being environmentally conscience is good, but hardly the most important thing. Security is another high priority concern. This is certainly not a Christian principle. Even showing mercy to criminals or trying to uphold long-established ideals are looked down upon. We are preoccupied with others’ “rights”. No one wishes to offend others by what they say, even if (especially if) what they say is the truth. Society wants everyone to live well-cushioned and un-bothered by others: basically, to live as selfishly as possible.

We concern ourselves with how the world sees us. We focus on getting a perfect GPA, recognition, high positions in companies, or a buff body so others will swoon. We want other’s to think highly of us so that we can think highly of ourselves. We want to make ourselves god.

This desperate attempt to build ourselves up leads to a few things, one being mediocrity. What do I mean?
Well, the human being, infused with a soul created and given by God, is not meant to build itself up. That’s not even it’s purpose or call, no matter the means. Human beings only want one thing and that is God. God is synonymous with love. We spend our entire lives looking for it. We somehow think that by getting recognition, power, or respect from others that that will lead them to love us. Because if I’m not smart, attractive, or wealthy, then no one could ever truly love me.

What a sad lie this is, and how many ways it appears in our daily lives! Even at church I often see it. People want to appear more holy than they are, want others to know about the good they do, want others to come to them for advice, as if they have it all figured out, all in an attempt to make themselves feel loved (and liked). However, that never lasts for long. The only way to truly feel loved is to receive the love from the One who loves perfectly.

It’s interesting to me also how, even though we put on a façade of good deeds and a pleasant demeanor, we are so unwillingly to do anything to make it authentic. The quest of looking good in the public eye leads to mediocrity in our relationship with Christ, because we aren’t doing it for him anymore, but instead so other’s will take notice.

We love to make excuses for ourselves in order to protect our mediocre lifestyle. Recently, our priest challenged us (as it does in the bible) to be more charitable with our money. For whatever reason, this is an uncomfortable topic. I think he made a great point: what we do with our money reflects what is important to us. After the Mass, I heard people talking about how they “give what they have at the time”, something that was specifically addressed, and that they didn‘t think his homily applied to them. Do we really think that is good enough?

Now money is definitely not the most important thing, but if we aren’t willing to share it (even more than what is comfortable) then why? Is it that we are selfish and want to maintain our mediocrity? Are we concerned that people won’t notice us giving our money, when there is a much better chance of people seeing us volunteer?

Either you are all in or you’re not. You either completely desire to live a Christian lifestyle and therefore desire God’s will (although we all fall from time to time) or you hold back. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about desiring perfection (and taking the steps to achieve that), so that we may please God.

So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. -Rev. 3:16

Pageants are about inner beauty

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Tonight I went to the Miss Glom pageant to support Jordan Lee Pierce. She is the only contestant ever to represent a non-greek organization. That organization is AFROTC. It was such a good time. For some reason pageants are really funny to me. I contribute it to my mom. When she came to our high school pageants to support my friends, she would sit in the audience with uncontrollable laughter. But you have to admit, pageants are pretty funny (I’m laughing right now just thinking about them).

2

She did really well. Unlike other girls who tried to be overly flashy and made obvious mistakes (like walking the wrong way, stumbling through the question), she was pretty awesome! She was the only contestant to have a roar of deep man cheers instead of the high pitched sorority girls yelling her name. It was pretty impressive. Even our cadre came out, and made jokes on all the girls. HILARIOUS!!

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Jordan Lee didn’t win, which was a pretty big shock to me. She did, as expected, win Miss Congeniality. And, if it was a category, best dancer in a flight suit.

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The most entertaining part of pageants is when the girls have to answer random questions on the spot. Sadly one girl totally froze in the middle of her answer about reading. She tried many times to start over, but nothing worked. It was so painful to watch.

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On a better note, I heard the greatest answer of all time to a pageant question tonight. The question: Do you think cosmetic surgery is an unfair advantage in pageants? The answer (in a Southern-Belle slow voice): I believe cosmetic surgery is a personal choice. I have never had it. But I was hit by a truck. Thankfully, I didn’t need any necessary improvements, as I was only left with a few cuts and bruises. (At this point I was laughing so hard I didn’t hear the rest of the answer). I hope they put the video on youtube.

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If you are ever having a bad day, go to a pageant. I don’t think anything could make you feel better about yourself quicker.

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Yes I did just dedicate an entire post to pageants. I guess I should finish my paper now. (Btw, the title is a direct quote from tonight)

Why I love being Catholic (Part 3)

The Catholic Church has an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. It’s obvious to me. How else could there be so much truth and guidance found within it? The guidance of the Holy Spirit is especially clear within the Church as it rules on moral issues.

The US bishops get a lot of criticism for whatever they are doing (or lack of doing), but there is always something more to be done. I don’t think the Church has ever abandoned speaking the truth even if the entire world disagrees with it.

That is the beauty (or just part of it) of the Church. It proclaims truth in great matters and in seemingly smaller ones. Here are just two of the documents that the bishops have been working on. One is about end of life issues and weather it is morally acceptable to forgo hydration and nutrition if the person is unable to eat or drink orally. (The directive says that it is an obligation to do so, even if it would extend the person’s life indefinitely.) There will be a vote to approve this later this month.

The other I read is about specific issues relating to infertility. Most of what is said has been addressed before, but I found it interesting that they also discussed embryo adoption, in which a couple would “adopt” an abandoned embryo in an attempt to save his or her life. While embryo adoption may seem like a very loving thing to do (and could be the motive behind it), the bishops remind us that this is not the way God intended us to conceive children and that the tragedy of abandoned embryos only emphasizes this.

It is so important to know, objectively, what the morally right thing to do is, before emotions and circumstances get involved. Especially during the end of a family members life, the call to end life support (if left solely up to you) can be torturous. These statements have clear guidance on what is right, with the Church backing it up. What a blessing these are!

Not only is having the Church to look to on tough issues a sign of God working through it but also that history shows that the Church has it right. This article (definitely should read!) goes through the history of the Protestant view of contraception and how other beliefs held by Protestants (in particular that pastors can and should marry) caused the ultimate collapse of their strongly-held belief that contraption is evil and large families show God’s blessing. I not only love being Catholic but am proud to be one because it is so obvious one has to have the entire truth in order to uphold any of it.

(Picture is The Light of the World by W.H. Hunt)

Being a Christian is hard

When done properly, it may be the hardest thing. I’ve always thought it strange when people accuse Christians of being so because they are scared. That they are looking for an easy way out. Maybe at some churches this is so, but not in the Catholic Church. Our faith requires much from us, in fact, it requires everything. The goal is to no longer care for ourselves, only desiring God and His will. This makes sense with heaven in mind, because that will be the only thing to focus on.

The task can seem daunting, but maybe it is much simpler than we realize. Yesterday I was reading The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis. It definitely isn’t something you read to make yourself feel better, but I think books like this lead to more improvement than ones that have you focus on how much progress you’re making. He wanted to make it clear that someone shouldn’t look to anything in this life for enjoyment. That the only place to find true joy and fulfillment is God, and everything that doesn’t lead you to Him is a distraction.

“You cannot have two heavens: it is impossible to enjoy yourself here and afterward to reign with Christ.”

Does that mean I can’t enjoy anything in this life? I don’t think that’s what this is getting at. If I live now as if this was my heaven, and going after only what brings me pleasure and fitting God into my own little box, then I shouldn’t expect to enjoy the real heaven once I die. You must make a choice. Make this life everything you want it to be (and hopefully it’ll work out for you…) or leave this world behind, have faith in God and only turn to Him for every need. This way you may experience the real heaven, the one that brings true happiness and joy.

I have a long way to go.