Monthly Archives: July 2011

Is Something More Needed?

Health and Medicine
Stethoscope

I went to the doctor’s office last week.  I have a lot of different medical conditions, and as we were discussing one of them, my doctor suggested that I go on a particular medication to try and ameliorate one of the symptoms of this disease.  However, this particular drug is contraindicated in patients who have a clotting disorder, which I have.  My doctor knows of my clotting condition, yet wasn’t thinking of it, or the side effects of the drug, when she suggested it.

I reminded her of my clotting disorder, and she agreed that I should not be on the suggested medication.  No harm, no foul.

However…

I couldn’t keep from wondering about other patients.  What if they didn’t know the ramifications a medication could have on other medical conditions that they have?  What if they blindly trusted the suggestions of their doctor?

It’s not a question of the doctor’s culpability — everyone makes mistakes and can’t be expected to keep everything in mind.  This is why on most patient’s medical charts, a list of their allergies is featured prominently.  So that a medication to which the patient is allergic would not be accidentally prescribed.  However, I am not aware of any such alert system for other medications which might be contraindicated for whatever reason.

Perhaps another section should be featured on medical records?  A list of medications which should not be prescribed for the specific patient?

An Awesome Morning!

Uncategorized
Sanctuary by CadyLy
Sanctuary, a photo by CadyLy on Flickr.

I’m not sure why this morning was so great, but I loved it! 🙂 I was feeling quite sick last night and went to bed ridiculously early. Like 7 pm early. Which meant that I woke up at 1 am. I tried to go back to sleep, but there was nothing to be done. I was up for the day. Finally, at 1:48 am, I gave up and giggled my way out of bed.

I had my 2 am Cheerios and checked my e-mail, Facebook and all that necessary news.

Then, I had a great idea! 🙂

See, Fr. John had asked in one of his recent homilies for people to be stationed at the doors of the Church to greet people as they arrived for Mass.

Looking at this, and in particular the 6:30 am Mass that I was about to attend, I saw a critical problem.

Who was going to greet Fr. John?

I mean, this is a serious oversight, right?

I wouldn’t want my priest to feel unwelcome. And I *certainly* want him to keep coming back for Mass. We kind of need him. 🙂

So, I got the great idea of arriving early to greet him at the door. Of course, he prays a holy hour prior to Mass, so I’d have to arrive before 5:30 am in order to catch him. Which pretty much means leaving the house at 4:30 am, since I had to stop and get gas and Starbucks on the way. Good thing I was already up! 🙂

At Starbucks, there was a uniformed Marine openly mocking an Air Force serviceman who had a photo up on the community board. I chastised him for his lack of military solidarity. “Dude. You are so uncool…” 🙂

It was raining on the way there, but once I arrived, it had tapered off a bit. Sadly, the only place to sit was on the sidewalk leading up to the door. Which was wet. Oh well.

I didn’t even know if Fr. John had this Mass. But I took the chance and even packed my last chocolate pot de creme dessert for him … just in case. If he didn’t have Mass, I would take it in for a lucky co-worker. 🙂

But he did arrive. As he walked up, he said, “Hey! Look who’s huddled in the corner!” And I chirped in reply, “Good morning! Welcome to Mass!” He ended up greeting me to OLGC. LOL!

I got to spend my own holy hour in the chapel reading “The Living God” and the Bible prior to Mass.

And this is how I started my work day: seeing friends, getting a new book (Thanks, Jeff!), praying a holy hour, drinking an iced mocha, and receiving Jesus. Just try to tell me that my morning was not awesome! 🙂

St. Alphonsus De Liguori’s Conclusion to a Short Treatise on Prayer

Neat Things I Didn't Author, Prayer/Prayer Requests
Saint Alphonsus Liguori

I found this on the internet here, and thought it was so good, I needed to share with you!  Enjoy!

Let us pray, then, and let us always be asking for grace, if we wish to be saved. Let prayer be our most delightful occupation; let prayer be the exercise of our whole life. And when we are asking for particular graces, let us always pray for the grace to continue to pray for the future; because if we leave off praying we shall be lost. There is nothing easier than prayer. What does it cost us to say, Lord, stand by me! Lord, help me! give me Thy love! and the like? What can be easier than this? But if we do not do so, we cannot be saved. Let us pray, then, and let us always shelter ourselves behind the intercession of Mary: “Let us seek for grace, and let us seek it through Mary,” says St. Bernard. And when we recommend ourselves to Mary, let us be sure that she hears us and obtains for us whatever we want. She cannot lack either the power or the will to help us, as the same saint says: “Neither means nor will can be wanting to her.” And St. Augustine addresses her: “Remember, O most pious Lady, that it has never been heard that any one who fled to thy protection was forsaken.” Remember that the case has never occurred of a person having recourse to thee, and having been abandoned. Ah, no, says St. Bonaventure, he who invokes Mary, finds salvation; and therefore he calls her “the salvation of those who invoke her.” Let us, then, in our prayers always invoke Jesus and Mary; and let us never neglect to pray.

I have done. But before concluding, I cannot help saying how grieved I feel when I see that though the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers so often recommend the practice of prayer, yet so few other religious writers, or confessors, or preachers, ever speak of it; or if they do speak of it, just touch upon it in a cursory way, and leave it. But I, seeing the necessity of prayer, say, that the great lesson which all spiritual books should inculcate on their readers, all preachers on their hearers, and all confessors on their penitents, is this, to pray always; thus they should admonish them to pray; pray, and never give up praying. If you pray, you will be certainly saved; if you do not pray, you will be certainly damned.

Working My Way Through the USCCA! Ch. 2

Catechism, Of Vice and Virtue, , ,
Revelation

When friends and family members converse with one another, what do they reveal about themselves?

I think that when we speak with those closest to us, we reveal what is most important. We tend to lose the “public persona” and speak of things which are really in our hearts. We are more “ourselves.”

What does God reveal of Himself to us in treating us as friends and family members?

God is saying that He wants us to know Him intimately, as He is. He wants to share His life with us.

How does God’s Revelation give meaning to our lives?

What a question! Seriously, how does one go about answering this?! 🙂 Here’s a stab, anyway: I think that by the mere fact that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us that He wants us to be in an intimate relationship with Him. He doesn’t want to be uninvolved. He wants for us to be in communion with Him. The whole point of our lives is supposed to be that we end up sharing in His divine Life forever in Heaven, right? So, I guess that a simple way to put it would be for God to say to us, “I am the meaning in your life.”

What is meant when we say that we have a “revealed” religion?

It means that our religion is not something which is known entirely naturally or intuitively, but via a self-communication of one person to another (or multiple others). Because God is not a “thing” or a “concept,” but a person; and while you can know things about a person from an external observation, you can never truly know a person unless she or he decides to share herself or himself with you. And this is what God has done. He has made Himself known.

What are positive features in our culture?

I think our collective drive for self-improvement is a good thing. I think we often are misguided as to what is important, but the fact that we are looking to make ourselves into better versions of ourselves is a good thing to seek after. The way that we question things and test things to see if they are good is a positive action. The more that we continue to think critically and engage each other in the pursuit of truth — even if we don’t agree, so long as it is done in charity — is both present in society and becoming less appreciated, in favor of emotional reactions (“This makes me happy/mad/sad.”) or sound bytes that we can hear for 15 seconds on the radio or iPod or headlines which we can get from a news feed.

I think that the things we think we stand for are great: integrity, charity, humanitarian aid, a positive moral example to the world, innovation, creativity, a willingness to be a participant in the global community… We just need a little help living the way we envision. Back to critical thinking and integrity.

How can culture be converted and transformed by the Gospel?

If we truly try to live as disciples of Christ, there’s no question that society would change. Can you imagine what your street, your workplace, your city would look like if everyone acted in every instance so as to serve the interests of the people they meet? If our thought when we see another person is, “How can I help him? How can I make her day a little better?” What if we let the mother with the screaming infant go ahead of us in line at the grocery store, even if she had a huge cart of groceries? What if we bought coffee for the stranger standing behind us in line at Starbucks? What if we raked our neighbor’s yard as well as our own? What if we acted so as to say to all people, “It is good that you exist”?

What would help you to spend more time reading and praying over God’s revealed word in Scripture?

Sometimes it is difficult to start, because you don’t know where to start. Reading straight through from cover to cover is rarely a good way to go. I’ve found that Bible studies are great, because they hold you accountable for reading a certain passage and perhaps answering questions before the next meeting. But what to do when you are not in a Bible study? Plus, usually Bible studies are only once a week or so. What about the other days of the week? A reading plan might help. There are several available as apps on your phone or online that can help you track your progress.

Another thing I have found to be helpful is to have the Bible available to you in multiple different formats. I have several Bibles in my house, but I also have it on my Kindle, my phone, my desktop and my laptop. I even have the Bible on CD for my car, and on my iPod.

Just knowing that Scripture is inspired can help, too. Inspired means “God-breathed,” and this means that when you are reading Scripture, God is speaking personally, to you, through that text. It is not just for people who lived in that day, but has meaning for you right now. And it is not static. What it means to you today, and the way that God is communicating with you through His Word today is not the meaning or the communication that you will have tomorrow or next month. So, you can’t get away with saying that you’ve read that already or that you know how the story goes.

Ultimately, it has to be a commitment on my part, to want to read His Word. To understand its value and to want to have it transform my life. Because it will.

Why can we say that growth in our faith will strengthen us to affect public policy with our beliefs?

I think that faith helps us to grow in virtue, and one of the virtues that we can grow in is integrity. The more we seek after truth and the more that we choose to live lives of integrity, the more that we will fight for what is truly good. We will not be as willing to ignore the evils that we see around us. We will want to change things to benefit not just ourselves, but our communities. We will want others to grow in virtue as well and will want to foster communities which help people grow in virtue.

What is virtue anyway? I think some people think that to want a virtuous society, we are asking for a society where everyone tries to force others into seeing the world as they do. To “force” their religion upon others. This is neither virtuous, wise, or the way the Christ acted. I think our idea of a hero or a superhero is more in line with what it means to live a virtuous life. Idealistic, perhaps, but it gives concreteness to the concept. People probably wouldn’t think twice about rolling their eyes and sighing if they see someone holding up the line at the security checkpoint, searching for their ID and boarding pass when they had the whole time in line to get ready. But if we watch a movie and see Superman displaying this irritation, then we know that there’s something wrong. Superman wouldn’t normally act that way.

My two cents, anyway. Feel free to chime in and answer the questions with me! See you for Chapter 3! 🙂

Working My Way through the USCCA!

Catechism, ,
@ 35000 ft / Reflections / nature / sky / clouds / Blue Sky / Blue / animated / animation / Background / IMG_2204-refl

Since school is out for the summer, I decided to pick up on some of my reading which has fallen by the wayside. Since I have about 38 books going at the same time, picking which one I am going to focus on is not as easy as one might think…

I started reading a little of the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, and was just reading straight through. But then, I flipped back and looked again at the questions at the end of the first chapter. You know, if I’m going to read the book, I might as well think about the questions, right? So, I think I’ll reflect upon them one chapter at a time… 🙂

Chapter 1: My Soul Longs for You, O God (Ps 42:2)
What are you looking for in life?

I guess I don’t have too many expectations of life, but I enjoy all that it has to offer. I love new experiences, new places and interacting with people. I hope of myself to be a person of integrity and to seek after truth. I expect that life contains objective truth and that I have the possibility of knowing this truth.

What are your goals and ideals?

My goal is to really live my life and to not allow myself to be merely an observer. I value personal integrity and think that people are incredibly important. I tend to be an optimist. I’m basically a really happy person. I try to fix things or make people feel better — or at least make them laugh … at me, if nothing else. I throw everything in for love. Authentic love, not just warm fuzzies.

How do God and the Church play a part in what you are seeking?

Well, as God is Truth and Love and the Church helps me to know this, I’d say they play a huge part…. 🙂

How is your life a journey toward God?

I think the more I try to live a life of integrity, the more I try to love people, and the more I try to experience life itself; I cannot help but be drawn closer to God.

As a seeker, how do you look for truth?

I’m not very scientific or systematic about this, sorry. But I listen to the Church, because she is guided by the Holy Spirit. I have been blessed with many great teachers of the faith in my priests, professors and friends. In a way, you know truth in your heart, and you really can’t learn it from a book.

When you hear of truth or behold beauty or experience goodness, what do you think?

Usually, I thank God for it. For letting me witness it.

If you seek for God, what has made this possible?

Truly, I think that it is the work of the Holy Spirit. I really mean that.

What have you found in your search thus far?

There is a God, and He is FAR more faithful to me than I am to Him. Blessed be He. I have found that the Catholic Church does contain truth. That faith is a strength and not a weakness. That love is more important that anything else. That prayer is the best gift you can give. That I don’t have any reason to worry about anything, although I still do. That God loves me, and I don’t have to do a thing to earn that love.

As a Catholic, how are you searching for God?

Diligently?? 🙂 I suppose I try to seek out God in all aspects of my life. Certainly in reading Scripture and participating in the Sacraments, but also in my day-to-day interactions. I pray. I try to discern and do His will. I try to know Him and to have a real relationship. I mean, I go to school at Seminary and I attend Bible studies and go to talks and things like this, but that is … secondary, I suppose. I do those things because I love doing them. Like they say, when you love someone, you always want to know more about them.

Why does seeking God keep your relationship with Him dynamic?

Because God is not some remote, static thing somewhere. He is present, immediate and always interacting with us. I suppose what they really mean by this question is ‘why does actively living out your faith keep your relationship with Him dynamic’? The counter-example to this would be the married couple who has fallen into such a routine in their lives that they really don’t engage each other any more — not a healthy thing to do. If I am actively living out my faith, then I am not just ‘checking the box’ and can deepen my relationship with God.

How does the Church help you in your search for God?

She makes sure that the deposit of faith — God’s self revelation — is wholly and accurately transmitted throughout the ages. I do not have to worry about corrupt teaching on faith and morals when it comes from the Magisterium. God has ensured this for us. What a remarkable blessing! She also helps me by providing me access to the Sacraments, which allow me to come in actual contact with God. Through confession, I can receive God’s mercy for my sins and restore my relationship with Him. She also gives me a spiritual home and a community of people who show me Christ through their love for me and encourage me in my journey.

How does your family affect your faith?

My family mostly does not believe in God. It’s sad for me, because this is something that I love, and I don’t feel that I can share it with them. It’s like I cannot be fully me, or that they do not love all of me, because they do not accept this part of me. I am not silly or weak and have not lost my reason. I pray for them — not in some holier-than-thou way, but because I love them and know that God loves them and would wish for them to know Him and be able to feel His love for them and to have that security that can only come from Him. I love them very much, and I wish I could share this part of me with them.
As for my “other” family — they are a remarkable collection of people. Their faith inspires me. Their love humbles me. How can I not live with joy?