Category Archives: Paroxysm of Giggles

Why We Tell the Story

November 6, 2010Neat Things I Didn't Author, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Is anyone else daunted at the challenge we are all called to? Of evangelization? Proclaiming the Gospel to all the world?

Oddly enough, I gain inspiration to do this from one of my favorite musicals: Once on this Island, which I was introduced to in high school (which happens to be polytheistic in presentation). In particular from the closing song, “Why We Tell the Story”:

And she stands against the lightning and the thunder
And she shelters and protects us from above
And she fills us with the power and the wonder
Of her love

And this is why
We tell the story
Why we tell the story

Why we tell the story
Why we tell the story

If you listen very hard you hear her call us
To come share with her our laughter and our tears
And there’s mysteries and miracles befall us
Through the years

We tell the story
We tell the story!

Life is why
We tell the story
Pain is why
We tell the story
Love is why
We tell the story
Grief is why
We tell the story
Hope is why
We tell the story
Faith is why
We tell the story
You are why
We tell the story
Why we tell the story
Why we tell the story
Why we tell the story

So I hope that you will tell this tale tomorrow
It will help your heart remember and relive
It will help you feel the anger and the sorrow
And forgive

For all the ones we leave
And we believe
Our lives become
The stories that we weave

I find resonance in this song of the Christian life. There is joy, sorrow, pain, grief, and hope. Stories connect us to each other and stories teach us. Why do we proclaim the Gospel? To help others live this life well. To grab people by their hearts and impart the faith which saves.

What does this song highlight for me?
There is a God who fills us with the power and the wonder of His love.
A God who calls us to share with Him our laughter and our tears. Our prayer should be sincere and intimate, and not reserved for those times when we feel pious, but perhaps especially when we are not, or when we do not feel like praying.
The Gospel has relevance for every aspect of life.
The Gospel is the reason for our hope and our faith.
We need to keep ever before us His passion, which He suffered on our account, and to forgive those who have wronged us.

But perhaps most of all, because our lives do become the stories that we weave. What we say, what we repeat, what we choose to expose ourselves to… all these things shape us into the person we are. We are what we repeatedly do. What stories am I incorporating into myself and sharing with others?

It also contains a fundamental truth of the interconnectedness of all human persons. We are made for relationship and we are made to uphold and uplift each other.

So, why do we tell the story?

YOU are why!
🙂

Halloween 2010

October 31, 2010Holidays, Paroxysm of Giggles, PhotographyCadyLy

I love Halloween! It’s so much fun to dress up…and then, there’s the candy! 🙂

I actually managed to buy pumpkins early this year (instead of stealing from children and knocking over little old ladies on Devil’s Night to get some pumpkins).

I let my brother, who is my personal pumpkin carver (and who is WAY AWESOME at this), have free reign over this year’s theme. I ended up getting Freddy and Jason! Sweet! Look at them, aren’t they great?!

Lindsay and I celebrated the evening by meeting up with Erwin at a bar which was having a costume contest. I left before the judging, but Lindsay won 2nd place! 🙂

Here’s Lindsay in her SuperGirl costume (This outfit is rated PG-13):

And this is one tough chick! Look! She’s not even afraid when confronted by PacMan…and he’s notorious for how much he eats! 🙂

Everyone knows that superheroes congregate at bars, so when Captain America arrived, we knew it was time for a photo op! 🙂 This is the two of them looking fierce:

And at the end of the night, Bo Peep went home to count her sheep — to make sure she hadn’t lost any….

Birmingham in October

October 24, 2010Paroxysm of Giggles, PhotographyCadyLy

Today was a beautiful day. Terry and I decided to take some pictures while we walked around Birmingham.

I loved the colors of the leaves on the trees!

Some of the neighbors had decorated for Halloween. Oddly enough, one had a little statue of me. They must have caught me on a day I didn’t go to Mass and hadn’t been to Starbucks yet. 😛

Then, a bunch of random photosniping:

And there was this:

We walked over to the little park they had downtown. In the middle, there was this odd statue. I’m not sure what the significance of the sculpture is, but I like to call it, “Here, honey, I’m throwing you to the birds….”

And just look at all these cute kids in their Halloween costumes! 🙂

My only question…
What IS this??!?

Everything I Need to Know in Life, I Learned from Noah’s Ark…

October 4, 2010Neat Things I Didn't Author, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

One: Don’t miss the boat
Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat
Three: Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark
Four: Stay fit. When you’re 600 years old, someone may ask you do something really big
Five: Don’t listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done
Six: Build your future on high ground
Seven: For safety’s sake, travel in pairs
Eight: Speed isn’t always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs
Nine: When you’re stressed, float a while
Ten: Remember the Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals

H/T: Lindsay Mine

Detroit Institute of Arts

September 24, 2010Art, Paroxysm of Giggles, PhotographyCadyLy

We took Terry to the DIA for her birthday. We got to participate in Drawing in the Galleries for Adults in the African Collection! 🙂 I only had my phone camera with me and I quickly ran out of battery, so I’ll have to go again with my camera! It was a lovely evening.

Even with only a phone camera, I managed to capture this picture of the building on the way in:

I really like how it turned out! 🙂

Terry is the artist in our group. Phyllis and I went along for fun. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to draw a thing and have it be recognizable… I think I’ll just show you and let you decide for yourself how I did.

After we had finished our drawing session, we took some time to wander around the museum. This painting of the Seven Sacraments is one of my favorites. 🙂

Jellyfish?

September 3, 2010Neat Things I Didn't Author, Paroxysm of Giggles, PhotographyCadyLy

Jellyfish – Living Art 2

Originally uploaded by Herman Au – http://www.hermanau.com

“Quite a number of people have the abiding impression that the church’s faith is like a jellyfish: no one can get a grip on it and it has no firm center,” Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, In the Beginning, p. 7.

For how many of us is our faith like this idea of Catholicism? Pretty to look at, nice to be able to point out to our friends, but nothing with substance that can cause us to have to reform our lives?

Are we like the jellyfish? Swimming without eyes in the great ocean of life? No vision, but just reacting according to our instincts and desires as sensations come our way? No direction, no community, each jellyfish out for whatever nourishment he or she can obtain from those weaker than him or herself?

The Habit of Perfection

June 19, 2010Neat Things I Didn't Author, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Elected Silence, sing to me
And beat upon my whorlèd ear,
Pipe me to pastures still and be
The music that I care to hear.

Shape nothing, lips; be lovely-dumb:
It is the shut, the curfew sent
From there where all surrenders come
Which only makes you eloquent.

Be shellèd, eyes, with double dark
And find the uncreated light:
This ruck and reel which you remark
Coils, keeps, and teases simple sight.

Palate, the hutch of tasty lust,
Desire not to be rinsed with wine:
The can must be so sweet, the crust
So fresh that come in fasts divine!

Nostrils, your careless breath that spend
Upon the stir and keep of pride,
What relish shall the censers send
Along the sanctuary side!

O feel-of-primrose hands, O feet
That want the yield of plushy sward,
But you shall walk the golden street
And you unhouse and house the Lord.

And, Poverty, be thou the bride
And now the marriage feast begun,
And lily-coloured clothes provide
Your spouse not laboured-at nor spun.

— Gerard Manley Hopkins

What a lovely reminder of the beauty of the Lord which can come to us through our various senses, if only we fast from our usual sensual gluttony and open ourselves to the pure experience of Him.