Category Archives: Critical Mass

Peaceful Sunday

Critical Mass, Lent

The day started with me waking up snug and cozy in bed. I had the space heater running, so for once my bedroom was about 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. Since Sundays are feast days, I celebrated by hitting the snooze button a few times (as opposed to those other days, where I … also hit the snooze button multiple times). I had a morning shift at work today, so I got ready fairly quickly and headed out. Finally, I remembered to take my Bible (and a book I plan on finishing) with me. It’s another one of the things I’m working on for Lent — bringing a Bible with me wherever I go. An actual Bible, not the electronic version(s) that I have on my phone.

I got a quick (not-so-healthy) breakfast on the way to work. I stopped at OLGC because I had to leave a message that I would not be available to help at the 12:00 pm Mass, as I had picked up this shift after the schedule had been made. I went to go back to my car, since I was running short on time, but stopped in the hall and turned around. I went to the Eucharistic chapel behind the altar and spent a few minutes kneeling in front of the Tabernacle, praising and thanking God and asking Him for help to do His will throughout my day. I also prayed for my priests. I had such a sense of peace and joy. I didn’t want to leave. Alas. As I was nearing work, the sky had changed from a dull grey to a cloud speckled blue, with a lovely sunrise. This is the view from the parking lot of my building:

A Sunday Sunrise

As today’s a Sunday, I don’t have any particular Lent-y thing planned, but I did snag a copy of the bulletin from church. Grab a copy here, it’s a good read. 🙂 I’ll share a bit of the articles that grabbed me:

Our lives are not subject to fate or circumstances, they’re not in the hands of sicknesses, they’re not at the beck and call of whatever forces out there continually shake and challenge us. Our lives are in God’s hands. Always. All the time. No matter what. — Fr. John Riccardo

The whole article was good, but this section is something that is great for me to be continually reminded of.

Fr. Steve talked about the benefits of having some discipline in our daily lives. He offers some tips from St. Alphonsus Liguori’s Rule:

  1. When you first wake up, praise God and pray.
  2. Attend daily Mass, every day if possible, but at least once a week, especially during Lent.
  3. Visit the Blessed Sacrament, daily if possible.
  4. Examine your conscience before bed every night.

Fr. Clement is perhaps my favorite bulletin author. (Sorry, Fr. John!) This week’s article speaks about dealing with temptations. Two things in particular spoke to me today:

Engage in battle against spiritual evils, armed with the weapons of self-restraint.

[Know] how important it is for us to know, to love, to be familiar with God’s word. God’s word will not only teach us, but will also guide and defend us against the fiery darts of the evil one.

In addition, he ended with this:
Fr. Clement's Bulletin Article
I love James! So excited for next week’s bulletin!

Finally, I was speaking with a co-worker yesterday, and he mentioned that he and his wife were looking for a school for their kids. I immediately offered, “You should enroll them in our school!” not even knowing if he was Catholic. 🙂 And today, there is an ad for our school in the bulletin! I hadn’t really noticed an ad for the school being in the bulletin before, so this must be some sort of “coincidence”. I cut the ad out of the bulletin and left it on my co-worker’s desk. 🙂 Maybe we’ll have a couple new Crusaders soon!

Ad for OLGC School

All-in-all, it’s been a good day so far. I look forward to Mass after work, and perhaps I’ll stick around for Evening Praise & Worship. 🙂

Have a blessed day!

Simple Saturday

Critical Mass, Lent

I had a ten hour day at work, so I didn’t have any elaborate plans.

After work, because a friend of mine doesn’t have an Adoration chapel anywhere close to her, and because I have at least 5 that I can think of on the drive home, I visited Jesus and prayed Evening Prayer.

Adoration at Christ the King

What else does a girl need? 🙂

Stay Strong and Live with Passion

Critical Mass, Lent

I wish I could embed video on this blog. My Lenten challenge for today is to share an inspirational video. There was a challenge in finding a good inspirational video, but I think I have a winner:

Stay Strong & Live With Passion from Di Fruscia Photography on Vimeo.

It incorporates some of my favorite things: travel, photography/videography, and living your life with passion. I love my life. Sometimes it’s difficult, often it is messy, but I love it. And I love that I love it.

I really want to get back into taking more photos. I have been sorely remiss of late. Perhaps I will make a photo walk part of my Lenten challenge….

Today, a friend of mine gifted me with “The Joy of the Gospel” by Pope Francis! I can’t wait to read it!

And when I got home, I made some frozen fish sticks for dinner… They were DELICIOUS! Yay, Lenten Fridays!

A Few Changes…

Critical Mass, Lent

I created a little booklet for myself this Lent, containing my basic plan, the Lenten boot camp outline, various readings for the boot camp, and a section where I have a journal page for each day. For the past week or so, I had a couple sheets of paper shoved into my booklet: a schedule for one of my parishes of significant dates and events during Lent, Passion Week and Easter; and an article on the single vocation. I had meant to read and comment on the article and perhaps do a blog post about it, but hadn’t gotten around to it yet. And the schedule was for reference. Finally this afternoon, I decided to put them into my booklet, scrapbook style. I might as well keep everything in one place and keep it as neat as possible. 🙂 What do you think?

Lent 2014 Booklet: Cover Lent 2014 Booklet: Day 8

Sorry if today’s post in a little choppy. Of course, that’s rather how my day went, so… accurate. 🙂

We are invited today to pray the Memorare, as the Blessed Virgin is she that was foretold as the one crushing the head of the serpent.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen.

I was reading in John today for my Bible study, and this verse really spoke to me today. I can’t say that I had any sort of theological epiphany, but it made me feel secure, warm, and loved — and that’s a great feeling. 🙂

He loved His own in the world, and He loved them to the end.  — John 13:1b

This one reminded me of someone I pray for regularly:

If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I.

How hard is this? Especially when a loved one dies. We want to keep them with us, but that is really a selfish thing to want. To truly love someone means that you want what is best for them. And what could be better for a person than to be partaking of the Divine Life in Heaven?

Today must totally be about the single vocation, because God graced this blog post by Seashell Nell in my lap today. Coincidence? I think not.

Michigan “Rape Insurance” Bill Passes Into Law

Critical Mass, Right to Life Issues

The Huffington Post published this article in December.  Today, a friend posted the article, questioning why anyone would have voted for this, and stating that it would cause rape victims to have back-alley abortions or to leave babies in dumpsters.

“Rape Insurance” is just inflammatory language. Basically, it says that abortions are not a covered benefit unless the mother’s life is in danger from the pregnancy. It gives an option for people to buy an abortion rider, if they want the option of having health insurance that *does* cover abortion. This makes sense to me, since I don’t personally see abortion as morally licit. This way, I don’t have to pay into a group policy for something that is against my moral code, but the people who do want this option can pay into that pool for the added coverage. Just like paying extra money to have additional things covered for my car or house insurance.

I think the issue about what would happen to rape victims if they didn’t have abortions covered in their health insurance is a separate issue.  Is it covered now?  I think in a lot of cases it is not, which is why people who desire abortions, even if they have health insurance, seek them out from out-of-hospital locations like Planned Parenthood, where you pay a set fee for the procedure.  So, if it is not covered now, having it not covered in the future isn’t going to change anything.

As far as back-alley abortions go, I think there needs to be more support programs out there and better awareness of the ones that *are* in place to give guidance, counseling and options to women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies.  No one should feel so desperate as to seek out unqualified individuals to perform any kind of medical/surgical procedure on them.  Think about it this way, if you *really need* to have a suspicious mole biopsied and you don’t have insurance, there’s other ways of getting this paid for besides going to someone in a “back-alley” to get it done.  You can cause great physical harm to yourself by not having proper medical care and/or proper follow-up.

In regards to the “leaving babies in dumpsters” issue, there’s a policy in place that anyone can anonymously leave babies at any police station, firehouse, or hospital.  No reason to be inhumane.  Again, perhaps greater awareness of this policy is necessary.

With everything regarding these “touchy” subjects, I think great compassion is in order.  On both sides of the issue, we should seek out understanding and solutions.  There’s too much blame and hatred in the world already.  People who disagree with me are not “evil”; I am not “evil”.

That is all.  For now.  🙂

—–

Okay.  One more thing.  If you are talking about rape…  I get that making people pay more money for coverage for certain categories can be a slippery slope.  For example, as my friend kindly pointed out to me, a cancer rider or a diabetes rider.  This would mean that I, as a diabetic, would have to pay more for my health care because I had this condition, and that this would be unfair, and that having insurance in any case means that to an extent you are paying into a pool and are paying for treatments and medicine and care for people for conditions that you personally may not have.  So the best thing is to just pay it, because you *might* need cancer coverage or diabetes coverage or what not, and plus, it’s the humane thing to do — to not put an extra burden on people arbitrarily because they have a particular disease or other.  And I totally agree with that.

If abortion didn’t involve killing an innocent life (the baby), I would absolutely be for letting abortion coverage be a part of our healthcare insurance policies.  However, there is currently not a way to make a woman “un-pregnant” without killing the baby, and morally, you can’t justify that death, even in the case of rape.

Batter My Heart

Critical Mass, Lent, Neat Things I Didn't Author

This was the assigned reading for Sunday for my Lenten boot camp. One week in and I’m already falling behind. *sigh* But the point is continual progress. I’m going to fall a lot more, but if I can pick myself up and keep going, then I’m going to count it as a win. 🙂

Batter my heart, three person’d God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow mee,’and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to’another due, 5
Labour to’admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv’d, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely’I love you,’and would be loved faine,
But am betroth’d unto your enemie: 10
Divorce mee,’untie, or breake that knot againe;
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you’enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee. — John Donne

I’m not the greatest at poetry. I can read it and find a meaning for myself, but I’m never quite sure if that’s the meaning that the author intended or not. What I take from this is that the narrator (and, by analogy, us) is caught in a passionate, interior struggle between his own corrupt desires, and his desire to enter into the Divine Life. He is begging God to do violence to his deformed heart, to wrest him away from the Evil One.

I love the intensity, the emotion, and the passion of this piece. And I resemble him who “proves weake or untrue” all too often.

Dear Lord, please batter my heart with Your love for me and abduct me away from the one who has me in chains. Break me down and overcome me with the persistence of the ocean waves, until I — your creature who is dust — submits and is formed into your image as the sand submits to the violence of the sea and the ugly disruption of the day’s is washed away, leaving a pristine beach at dawn.

Pristine Beach1

ABCs of Talking to God

Critical Mass, Lent, Prayer/Prayer Requests

Perhaps you will enjoy lots of little posts throughout the day, instead of one big post with a thousand different topics? 🙂 Anyways…

I am trying to be more intentional and more thoughtful about my prayer life and the various spiritual reading that I do. My tendency is to skim through things just to get them done, rather than to ponder them for the spiritual riches they may contain. Then, when I do find something worthwhile, I seldom take the time to write it down, and I eventually forget about it, so all that benefit? Gone.

I received this article, How to Talk to God, as a link in my e-mail yesterday. Her ABCs are to (A) Focus on God, (B) Listen Carefully, and (C) Respond Thoughtfully.

Distractions seem to be my way of life. And then I get distracted from my distraction and everything snowballs until it’s several hours later and I haven’t accomplished a single thing. Frustrating. Sometimes my prayer time is like that too. I know that it’s difficult for me to sit still. It’s physically painful, as well as out-of-the-norm for me. So, I bring things for me to do: rosary, Bible, spiritual reading, lists of people to pray for… But then, I end up going from thing to thing and don’t get solid time to be quiet before the Lord. Granted, it’s still good to spend time in the presence of the Lord, even if you are just — as Father puts it — balancing your checkbook. But so much better if you are actively working on growing in intimacy with Jesus.

Then the listening part. Truly, if you know of a really good way to learn how to listen… I’m… listening? Most of what I’ve heard is to Just. Do. It. Sit before the Lord and be quiet. And eventually good listening skills will come. I am still waiting. Fidgety. May the Blessed Mother help me.

God invites, God gives grace, and then we are to respond. Like, to actually *DO* what He says, not merely to agree that X is a good idea.

Where will *you* seek out God?
Adoration at Vigil
Adoration at Vigil, World Youth Day, Sydney, 2008

Lent: Day 2

Critical Mass, Lent

Plan of the Day

It’s already after 5 pm, and I still don’t have a coherent plan for the day. Since we don’t have Bible Study tonight, I think I’ll spend some time in Adoration after work.

Song of the Day

In the middle of the afternoon yesterday, one of the songs that was played at a recent Mass ran through my head, so I attached it to my blog post. Now, I’m thinking that maybe I’ll listen to *at least* one Christian song per day. Not giving up secular music (although I’ve done that before), but adding something that will help me stay focused.
One Way, Jesus by Hillsong is a song that I heard first at a Catechism session at World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008.  I’m not actually well-versed in a lot of Christian music, so if you have some favorites, please send them my way!

Chastity

In the interest of chastity… I recently helped teach at a Confirmation retreat for 5th graders. I taught on the fruits of the Holy Spirit, of which one of them is Chastity. We usually think of chastity as being chaste with our bodies, meaning that we act appropriate to our state, whether married, religious or single. But chastity also includes being pure in what we do in other ways. I got to exercise that just a minute ago. I have all of the blogs that I follow on a reader, and after reading a friend’s latest post, there’s a link up at the top that I can click on to read the Next Blog. I assumed this meant that I would read the next blog on my list. However, it opened up a post of someone I’ve never read before. That post was really interesting, so I followed it. Feeling good about that little link, I clicked it again. And found myself staring at a nearly naked woman. Aaah! Not what I want to have displayed on my screen at work! Certainly, not anything that I care to look at, either. I quickly clicked off and now resolve to not leave my browsing to random chance. I want to be careful what I take in. Images, words and music which are immoral or amoral can have a real, negative effect on me, and I want to give myself the best possible chance for holiness.

Saints in the Making University

They suggest that we recognize the fact that each one of us has a unique guardian angel assigned to watch over us, and recommends praying to our guardian angel:

Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
To whom God’s love
commits me here,
Ever this day,
be at my side,
To light and guard,
Rule and guide.
Amen.

They have a bunch of other suggestions, including spending at least 10 minutes today in prayer (which I’m already doing, according to Meg‘s Lenten Boot Camp), so check them out, if you haven’t already.

My Day So Far

I prayed the Office of Readings this morning (but not Morning Prayer, because that podcast was broken for some reason).  I managed to call only *one* person a “jerk” on the way to work.  And, to be honest, they didn’t do anything wrong.  But how dare they slow me down while making a right, when I want to get. to. the. intersection??  That was probably a failure in charity, patience AND humility.  Good thing going to Confession is on my list of things to do.  Speaking of things to do…  Getting caught up on my Google Tasks is one of my penances during Lent.  And it’s LONG overdue.  I’m working on finishing up a reading assignment that I put on my To-Do list in 2011.  It’s a commentary on Philippians, in case you were interested.  I brought the book with me to work and have only read about 2-3 pages of it so far.  I have 26 pages to go.  But I keep distracting myself.  I am my own worst enemy.

My Plans for the Rest of the Evening

I will go for Adoration after work; read Joel 2:12-17, Psalms 5-8, and Genesis 3; pray a decade of the Rosary; observe 10 minutes of silence; go home; clean out the linen closet (I’ve NEVER done this, so I’m choosing it as my penance-of-the-day); do a load of laundry and put it away; and finish up a blog post for tomorrow.

The Prodigal Son

Bible Study, Critical Mass,

I was reading a children’s book on the Prodigal Son and one sentence stopped me in my tracks. “So the man divided all he had between his sons.”

Wait. What?

I had always thought that when the Prodigal asked for his portion, the father just gave his portion to the younger son. And the older son didn’t get anything at that time (the father retained the rest of his wealth). So, I could kind of see why the older brother got upset when the father threw a party for the return of the younger brother. Not only did he get his inheritance before he should have, but he got a party, too.

But if they both got their inheritance before they should have… This could change things.

So, I looked up Luke 15:11+ in various version of the Bible. Sure enough, *both* brothers got their inheritance.

Now, I don’t really get why the older brother is so upset. The father’s just not commenting on what each son did with his inheritance. He’s only celebrating because the younger son is back. All this time, the older brother *had* his inheritance and could have thrown parties left and right if he wanted to.

Thanks be to God for children’s books. They teach me stuff. 🙂

O Radix Jesse!

Advent, Critical Mass

Today’s Jesse Tree devotion and O Antiphon celebrates Jesus as the Flower of Jesse: Isaiah 11:1-3

But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse,
A twig shall sprout from his stock.
The spirit of the Lord shall slight upon him:
A spirit of wisdom and insight,
A spirit of counsel and valor,
A spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord.
He shall sense the truth by his reverence for the Lord:
He shall not judge by what his eyes behold,
Nor decide by what his ears perceive. [~~ Jewish Study Bible]

DSCN4033

O Radix Jesse: “O Flower of Jesse’s stem, you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples; kings stand silent in your presence; the nations bow down in worship before you. Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.” Isaiah had prophesied, “But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” (11:1), and A On that day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious.” (11:10). Remember also that Jesse was the father of King David, and Micah had prophesied that the Messiah would be of the house and lineage of David and be born in David’s city, Bethlehem (Micah 5:1).