All posts by CadyLy

Pictures of Jesus Smiling

Neat Things I Didn't Author

I came across some great pictures on someone’s website, but as I dug a little further, I found the website of the artist who actually owns the copyright, so to support her, please visit her website here to take a look at a series that I enjoyed.

Here’s an excerpt from the artist, Jean Keaton’s, website:

“My most recent interest in drawing children with Jesus Christ evolved from an experience when I felt tremendous grief after hearing of the violent and senseless death of a young boy. I found solace and peace as my thoughts turned to drawing that child with his Savior. I have been overwhelmed at the number of people who have shared their experiences of how, through my humble offering, they have felt the Savior’s love in very personal ways. Most often these experiences have occurred in the midst of very difficult trials. Regardless of the source of the heartache, the source of peace and solace are the same . . . our loving Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to a Loving Father in Heaven for the gift of art.”
– Jean Keaton

Do You Think It’s a Theme?

Of Vice and Virtue

Yesterday, I went to a catechist training on the sacraments.  Patty asked 7 people to go up and say a prayer regarding one of the 7 sacraments.  She asked the girl standing next to me to do Eucharist, and me to do Penance.  I say (within her earshot), “Notice how she picked *me* to read for Penance.”  Patty replies, “There might be a reason for that.”  !!!!!

Okay, so today’s Gospel is all about David’s sin with Bathsheba. 

So, do you think that God’s trying to tell me something????  Maybe I should go to confession tomorrow….

Book Meme

Critical Mass, Neat Things I Didn't Author

I got this from Jen’s site:

Book Meme Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

 Okay, my nearest book at the moment happens to be “Theology of the Body Explained,” by Christopher West.  On page 123, after the fifth sentence, the next 3 sentences are as follows:

“It is as if the reason for this refusal of life to surrender, which is manifested in ‘generation,’ were always the same ‘knowledge’ with which man goes beyond the solitude of his own being, and, in fact, decides again to affirm this bein in an ‘other'” (86).  Man and woman affirm the goodness of life in their openness and readiness to beget a man with the help of the Lord.  John Paul continues:  “Man, in spite of all the experiences of his life, in spite of sufferings, disappointment with himself, his sinfulness, and finally, in spite of the inevitable prospect of death, always continues, however, to put ‘knowledge’ at the ‘beginning’ of ‘generation.’

5 people to tag….  Hmmm….  Okay:  Kasia, Joe, Jill, Karen, Donny

Gospel is Funny!

Critical Mass, Humor of the Day

Whoo!  Today’s Gospel made me laugh (although I managed to barely contain myself until after I had left the church…barely…)!

Not the bushel basket part, we know that’s supposed to be funny.  But the part where it goes, “the measure by which you measure will be measured out to you.”  Okay, we hang up stockings for Christmas.  This year, I was buying decorations or something at the dollar store and I saw that they had these huge stockings.  So big, I might be able to fit inside one of them, not just my foot.  So, I got one, gleefully shoved it at my mom and told her to “Fill it!!!”  Not necessarily because I want all that stuff — I just thought it was hilarious.  In the same way, I think my miniature dishes and silverware are a riot.

So, “the measure by which you measure will be measured out to you.”  Okay.  I had this image all through Mass of going to the store and buying a bathtub-sized liquid measure.  Here you go!  *THIS* is the one by which I measure!  🙂

Not that I want to be greedy here, but maybe God would see it and laugh, and that would be the whole point.  🙂

I was still so amused by this that I just had to tell the guy at the coffee store.  So, I was good and I shared the Gospel today with someone.  🙂  He commented, “You go to church this early in the morning?”  I said, “Yup, that’s my day:  God, coffee, work.”  He replies, “And probably in that order, too.”  [Meaning my priorities.]  I cheerfully respond, “Yep!”

The Meaning of Penance

Critical Mass, Lent, Of Trials Opportunities and Gifts, Of Vice and Virtue, Tales of My Amazing Priests

Okay, last year before Lent:

Fr. John’s talking to our RCIA class.  He is giving us examples of things that we could give up (or take on) for Lent.  I hear something like, “Some of you might give up their daily Starbucks or Caribou or whatever it is -” 

*and he’s looking in MY direction*  Now, wait a minute!!  He can’t possibly *know* that I have, like, 8 coffee cards in my wallet.  No way.  He doesn’t mean to imply that *I* should give up coffee and put that money towards a good use.  He must mean someone else.  Certainly, God wouldn’t want *me* to give up coffee.  I need that caffeine!

The following week – I’m sitting somewhere slightly different in the room.

He does it again!!  Aaah!  Quit looking at me when you mention coffee.  I don’t wanna give up my coffee.  Quit picking on my coffee!  *internal tantrum occurs*

I get a thought:  maybe God wants me to give up coffee for Lent.

Drat!  And here I wanted to give up something else, like perhaps solid food.  That would be fine.  I could do that.

So, I did what he said and went home and prayed about it, and….  *sigh*…  gave up coffee for Lent.  It actually went quite well.  Must be grace, because it certainly wasn’t me.  I even managed to resist when people in the store came up to me with nice, fresh, free samples of coffee.

This year:

I have issues with cooking.  I have issues with food.  I have issues with grocery stores.  I was nearly hyperventilating at Kroger the other day, just thinking about having to stick stuff in the cart.  I come up with a brilliant idea:  on the days that no one signs up to come over, I’ll just fast….  Brilliant, eh?  True, I’d probably not really end up doing that, because I realize it’s a cop-out, but in the meantime — it’s a fairly attractive thought.

Here’s the stupidity (or well, more stupidity):  I mention this “great” idea to a friend.  Said friend (ugh!) knows me too well.  🙂  She states, “No, no, no – in your case, fasting would be less penitential than eating alone!!!”

Drat again!  Seriously, have you been talking to my eating disorder specialist?  Didn’t she tell you that we like to be tricky?!?  I wasn’t kidding that this will be a hard penance for me, and I’ll have to work against myself so that I don’t sneak it into being something unhealthy, and really against what I want it to be.

Speaking of Bad Dreams….

Critical Mass, Tales of My Amazing Priests

Since Kasia brought up her bad dream, I figured that I might as well post about the one that I had last week, you know, to keep her company.  🙂

Here I was at church, and someone comes up to me and says:

“Fr. J.J. has left.”
“What do you mean he’s left?!?”
“Well, you did know that he was only a temporary pastor, didn’t you?”
“What?!?  No!  No one told me that!  Aaaah!”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find you another one.”
“No!  Not again!”

Apparently, in my head, I’m thinking that pastors come with a 6 month term….

Other things that shouldn’t be said to parishioners:

“Fr. Stanley has gone to a better place.”
“WHAT?!?!?  He died?!?!?!?”
“No, no — he’s on vacation.”

Yeah, that last one, wasn’t a dream — it was actually said that way.  No wonder I’m a little Mendeled.

This Will Get Me Smacked….

Critical Mass, Of Vice and Virtue

I just had to add this to my blog.  It is my response to someone’s post.  Somehow, I can’t resist sticking my foot in my mouth at any given opportunity…. 

Just a couple of notes regarding:

“for male homosexuals, there is the additional incentive of a rather closed men’s community where they need not prove themselves as men; …. and in the catholic and russian orthodox churches, there is the attraction of the garments and the aesthetic rituals, which male homosexuals may, in their childish perception, experience as feminine and which enable a narcissistic showing off, comparable to the exhibitionist joys of homosexual ballet dancers …. These interests stem for the most part, then, from an infantile, self-centered imagination and have precious little to do with the objective contents of Christian belief.”

Okay,  1) no matter if you are homosexual or heterosexual, in the course of your ministry, you may be placed in situations where you may be tempted.  Temptation exists everywhere, inside and outside of the priesthood.  We are all called to chastity, whether we are ordained, married, or single.  I don’t necessarily believe that it is a different issue for a heterosexual man to refrain from engaging in illicit activities with a woman, than for a homosexual man to refrain from engaging in illicit activities with a man.  Again, isn’t it supposed to be about your *will* and not your *emotions*?

2)”rather closed men’s community where they need not prove themselves as men” – Well, I can’t say with any type of authority, but I would imagine that whenever you have a community, you will have people looking at whether or not you live with integrity.  Is the author here referring to some public display of machismo as the “proof” that might be required or not?  I don’t know about you, but for me, the priests that I know are perhaps some of the strongest men, real men and an incredible credit to their gender, that I have met.

3)  It appears that this author is reducing all people who have homosexual inclinations to people who are childish and feminine, and that they are caught up in narcissism and are unable to control their “urges.”  I would submit that we all have disordered thinking to one degree or the other and that temptations to pride, irreverence and narcissism are not solely reserved for this population.  It sounds an awful lot to me like a stereotypical judging, and not like a reasoned loving of our neighbor, this statement.

Shouldn’t we give each individual our love and respect as a child of God with his own innate dignity?  After all, we are all sinners.

Update:  I knew I should have linked to the original post, but in my HTML suckage, I am forgetting how to make a link.

Here’s to the initial blog post that I was reading:  Orthometer

And, here’s to the blog post that was referenced in the initial post — the one I actually responded to:  Abbey Roads

Whoo-hoo! I’m winning!

Of Trials Opportunities and Gifts

Or at least that’s what I choose to believe.  All those little virii which have invaded are now getting the smack-down from my white blood cells.  Yippee!

So, the fact that I feel yukki and am getting symptomologically worse is insignificant to the fact that I am happy, happy to have evidence of a functioning immune system!   Thank You, God!

Words of Encouragement

Lent

Mom:  “You’re doing what?  Really?  Oh, I’ll have to tell your father what you’re up to.  He’ll want to hear this.”

Matt:  “And after it’s over, you won’t want to cook at all.  It’ll be like Mickey D’s for a week, solid.  Hot wings and beer.”  (Now, I did point out that I’d probably add pizza to that order and watch some sports on ESPN, but that’s just me.  Doesn’t sound like a half-bad Easter day, does it?  Hot wings, beer, pizza, and having people over to watch the game….  🙂 I’m not really a beer-drinker, though, so I’d have to have an alternative beverage….)

Kasia:  “Be honest with me: how much do you know about cooking?”

Many, many people:  “Seriously?!?”

Trial Run – Oh! What a Comedy of Errors!

Critical Mass, Lent

Okay, now promise not to be scared….

Truly, I *do* know that pasta is to be drained before serving it.  Really.  But, I was busy talking (don’t say you are surprised there), and we had cooked so much pasta, that when I glanced over, I thought that I had already done that part, and went right ahead and started serving it — water and all. 

Whoops.

At least it was only the pasta itself, and nothing else was added yet.  An easy fix.

Then, I forgot to bring the veggies to the table.  So, we had them for dessert.  🙂  See what happens when I invite someone over without planning what I’m going to make ahead of time?  I forget what I had decided on.

Aren’t you all glad that I’m going to be planning my meals for Lent?

Maybe…  I should post little checklists, so I can cross things off as I finish them….

You are all still coming….right?!?!?!?  🙂