How the Navy Taught Me to be a Better Catholic

Jennspeak
Navy

One of the first things you learn when you are in training to be a Reactor Operator is Basic Electricity and Electronics, or B-double-E. A solid foundation for the rest that you will learn in order to be successful in your job. In our training program, we have to go over a vast amount of material in a relatively short time. It is much faster-paced and dense than most college curricula. Because of this, there is not enough time to explain the origin of all of the theories and formulas which we employ. To try and diffuse our persistent, “But why?” questions, Chief instituted this simple practice:

The “I Believe” Button

So, there would be concepts that he would introduce, saying, “This is the way it is. You’re going to have to trust me and hit your ‘I Believe’ button, so we can continue.”

In a way, the Church is full of opportunities for us to hit our “I Believe” buttons. The very nature of the Church herself is a mystery. God is a mystery. Sacraments are a mystery. Faith is a mystery. We can understand these things to a degree, but never in totality, due to the infinite nature of God.

Because I have been conditioned by my military training to take some things on faith, I am better disposed to submitting my intellect and my will to the teaching of the Magisterium on matters of faith and morals.

I know that it’s possible to not know exactly how everything works, but trust that I will have enough knowledge to get the job done (or in the case of the Church, be provided with all the knowledge necessary for my salvation and my mission to evangelize others).

It is also a reminder to me to be humble, for there are things which I don’t know, and there are things I will never completely understand and that’s okay. My worth and dignity aren’t based on the knowledge filling my brain, or the sharpness of my intellect, but rather the way I live my life according to the faith.

I am glad that I have had this idea presented to me, so that when confronted with a difficulty, instead of allowing it to present a question in my faith because I don’t have an answer, I can hit my “I Believe” button and be strengthened in my faith. Because I trust in the Holy Spirit which guides the Church according to His Truth.

Worse Than the Hippo…

Holidays, Humor of the Day, Tales of My Amazing Priests, , , ,

Okay, sometimes I stumble across things which are just not right, but which are exceedingly funny. In the spirit of the Halloween holiday, I will share:

A while back, one of my priests asked me to pray for a shepherd’s heart for him, because he said that he sometimes felt like the wolf wanting to devour the flock.

Later, we edited this to a hippo because I have a fear of dogs. (Even though hippos are like *the* most vicious mammal ever…)

Well, someone, inspired by Jurassic Park no doubt, came up with one even worse.

The Velocipastor!

Happy Halloween!

Because Prayer is Important

Prayer/Prayer Requests, ,
praying man

Since I have a long commute, I have a long time to think about things in the morning. This morning, intercessory prayer was on my mind. Specifically, I had asked a friend of mine to pray for a different friend of mine and was thinking about this.

See, I ask this particular friend of mine to pray for others on a fairly regular basis. And, when I have a intention that really needs prayer, I always ask this particular friend.

He happens to be a priest, but this is not why I ask him to pray for others.

I’m sure he gets many prayer requests due to his line of work, but I go to him for who he is. Of course, this gets a bit complicated because ordination changes you, and you are ontologically conformed to Christ, so being a priest *is* a part of what it means to be him in a way that my job is not and will never be a part of who I am.

What I mean, then, is that I go to him because I recognize him to be a man of integrity. And I don’t just mean that he does what he says he will do (although this is part of it), but an all-encompassing integrity that colors everything.

So, when I ask him to pray and he says he will, I know that he isn’t praying in an empty fashion, but is putting something of himself into the effort. Which is how we are all supposed to pray, right?

Prayer is an encounter with God. So it really shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. Happily, joyfully, frequently — of course! But with gravity, reverence and sincerity, also. In a way, prayer is an offering of myself to God. Hopefully, I would do this to benefit others much more than I do so to benefit myself.

And because prayer is an encounter with our Lord, the God who made us, and because it necessarily involves all of me (and not some sort of superficiality), prayer is at once incredibly important and the best gift you could possibly give another person.

So, I do not take this lightly. If you ask me to pray for you, I will do so with as much integrity as I can. And if I ask you to pray for something or someone for me, it is because I trust you and believe you to be a person of integrity.

And I don’t ask lightly, because I know of what I am asking of you.

With all my heart, Thank You and God Bless!

Some Things Shouldn’t Be Sung About in a Trivial Manner

Pop Culture

I admit it, my stereocilia dance to pagan music. If purgatory is the place where God pries our fingers from the sin we are still clinging to at the time of our death, then my iPod is surely to be found in the palm of my hand.

That being the case, I quite often run into morally objectionable material. I shouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore at this point. However, one song is making me wonder, “What were they thinking?!”

It’s called “Pumped Up Kicks” and is an infectious bit of bubble gum pop. The lyrics are simple and easy to remember and sing, the beat is catchy and makes you want to dance (or at least tap your feet, if you aren’t the dancing type)…

But the content of the lyrics is shocking.

Not that they are talking about sex, drugs or any of the other stuff that we are used to being assaulted by in secular media.

No, that would be too … common.

This song seems to be at least trivializing and at worst glorifying … events such as Columbine or Virginia Tech! What?! No way! You’d better believe it. I’m not going to repeat the lyrics here, but you can look them up on your own and check it out. It’s pretty obvious.

And this song is mainstream. They even played it between bands at the Enrique Iglesias/Pitbull concert.

Free speech is one thing, but shouldn’t we be responsible for what it is that we are saying publicly?

Sometimes It’s the Smallest Things

Tales of My Amazing Priests, ,

..that can really make your morning. Like this morning, after Mass, Fr. Anonymous was walking out with me and said, “You need to get a coat.”

It’s definitely not summer any more, but it wasn’t that bad outside. A little damp, perhaps. I only had on a thin shirt and had my arms crossed in front of me. However, this is a normal posture for me, so I replied, “Oh, I’ll walk like this in 100 degree weather.” He responded, “Still. Get a coat!”

🙂 Ah, the caring between friends. There is nothing like it.

Thanks be to God!

The Lipstick Paradox

Girl Talk, ,

Today, I decided to put my hair in pigtails and wear makeup. 🙂 I am rather fond of this lipstick as it lasts all days with only minor touch-ups needed, even through meals.

However, on the way home, I had some time to really think about this product. Visually, it looks great. Deep color and tons of shine. But what is the purpose of lipstick? Like most beauty products, it’s purpose is to make the wearer more attractive, right?

What happens if it is successful? What happens if you actually attract a man and he wants to kiss you? Here, the product fails. The base coat is quite sticky. You definitely don’t want to be kissing that. The top coat isn’t any better, as it is so goopy, I’d think that the guy would be totally turned-off by it.

So, really it’s a lipstick that you wear when you don’t anticipate actually kissing anyone. 🙂

A flirt’s lipstick.

No wonder I was drawn to it. 😉

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Dreams

I had such an odd dream last night — so vivid. It’s unusual for me to remember my dreams, but this one is sticking.

I was in a semi-darkened room, where there were seats along a wall. On my right was a person with a dark baby in his or her arms. I had some sense that this baby was something … evil. I took the baby into my arms and tried to bless it. I drew a cross on the baby’s forehead, saying the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I then went to kiss the baby in that same spot, but I just passed through the baby’s head, as if it were insubstantial. I felt evil and hatred coming from that baby and got scared. On my left, I saw my priest sitting in another chair along the wall and I crawled over to him. “Bless me, Father,” I asked, and he did. Then, the priest was Jesus Himself. I climbed closer, until I was in His chair with Him, which was somehow now large enough for us both. I looked back at the baby, but it was too dark and I couldn’t see. Jesus said, “He is looking at Me with such hatred.” I no longer felt fear, but turned back to the Lord.

Then, I woke up.

Day Trip to Ann Arbor

Day Trip

For our last pre-school trip of the summer (there will be tons of after-the-start-of-school trips, this is just my latest excuse), April and I headed over to Ann Arbor for the day. I had lots of suggestions on what to do, but due to time constraints, we weren’t able to fit them all in. 🙂

We stopped at Our Lady of Good Counsel on the way to look at the grotto and the new Garden of Gethsemane. Unfortunately, we got caught in the post-Mass traffic and we sitting in the middle of North Territorial for quite a while trying to turn into the driveway, but being blocked by people exiting. After a long bout of laughing, we decided to cruise by the new rectory/house. We couldn’t determine which one was “ours,” but they all looked pretty nice. 🙂

Word of the Day: swanky
1. A person or object that is posh, high-class, glamorous, classy, upmarket, etc.
2. A person or object that is cool, awesome, hip, maybe even obsessed by the person using the word, to describe that person or object.
(Thanks to Urban Dictionary for the definition!)

While parking, we saw that Fr. John’s car (SUV, whatever) was there, so we sought him out. We caught him in the main part of the Church where I told him of the Plans of the Day and that we were visiting OLGC. He didn’t have a long time to chat, as he had to get ready for Mass, but did get to greet April.

Growing in Faith since 1920

We took a quick tour of the upper floor of OLGC and I tried to point out some things. I don’t know how good of a tour guide I was. I tried to point out the saint statues in the main space, the mosaic to Our Lady of Good Counsel, the big Bible, the small chapel behind the tabernacle, some of the saints drawn on the windows and the Day Chapel.

Our Lady of Good Counsel Mosaicdscn3577Day Chapel

Then, we went outside and looked at the garden and the grotto. I made April try to figure out who’s who in the garden between Jesus, Peter, James and John. She did well. Then, I mistook one of the displays they had there. I thought it was the cross, getting ready for the crucifixion. However, in Fr. John’s bulletin article for today, it says that it’s an olive press, and gives the significance of that. I did like the suggestion that it might be a catapult. Heehee. It’s even aimed at the church. I suppose that’s one way to get people in to Mass…. 🙂

Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, OLGC, Plymouth, MI

St. JohnSt. Peter
St. JamesJesus praying...

“Catapult” Heeheehee!
dscn3598

It was close to noon when we left OLGC, so we thought that lunch might be a good next course of action. I wanted to go to Casey’s Tavern because they have awesome sandwiches. There was a book fair going on in Kerrytown and parking was pretty impossible. After driving up and down the streets, I finally parked at the hospital and we walked over.

Alas.

Casey’s is not open on Sundays. We trekked up to Zingerman’s and saw that the line for food was out the door. We got into the store portion and April picked up some raisin bread for her family. We hopped over to Zingerman’s Next Door and I introduced her to their gelato.

I think she likes it!
April and her mint chocolate chip/dark chocolate gelato

April at Zingerman's DeliZingerman's bakery case

Across the street was a book fair in Kerrytown. April found a present for her nephew: A space story puzzle book which was self-published by a young boy. He had published 3 little books and they are all pretty cute. Not only did she get the book, but she got her picture taken with the author and the book signed by the author and the illustrator (the author’s mom)!

April takes a photo with the book's author

Still hungry, we made our way to State Street for sandwiches at Amer’s Mediterranean Deli. We checked out a couple used book stores on the way, but managed to hang on to our cash. 🙂 Amer’s is great for having a huge list of sandwiches (over 80!) on multiple chalkboards, arranged by type of meat. I had the T.M.H. (turkey, muenster, honeycup mustard) and swapped out the usual rye bread for challah. Yum! I also got a peach italian soda. Yum!

April and her sandwich from Amer's

My T.M.H. from Amer's Mediterranean Deli!

By the time we finished eating, it was 3:30 pm. We had wanted to get home about 5 pm, so we started to make our way back to the car. We rode the M bus to the Cardiovascular Center, took photos with Bo Schembechler (heehee), cut through the Cancer Center and down the hill to the car. After all this traveling, I was quite thirsty and suggested we stop for drinks before hitting the highway. We stopped at Sweetwater’s Cafe and got lemonade slushies. I got regular and April got the strawberry variant.

Bo and April, chillin’:
Bo and April

Bo Schemechler's Plaque

Just as we were getting on the highway, we saw a ladder truck with a US flag flying from the ladder. There were firemen standing around. Framed by the dark clouds in the background (as it had just started to rain) and lit by the sun it was a gorgeous site. Sadly, I was driving and not able to take a photo for you. I did beep and wave as I passed, though! 🙂

Shortly after arriving home, I remembered that it the funeral visitation for Fr. JJ’s dad was tonight. I quickly changed clothes, jumped back in the car and drove to Dearborn. I arrived in time to pray the last mystery of the rosary and give hugs to Fr. JJ. He said he was so glad that I had come. I know that he will need lots of prayers, both Monday when he has to preside over his dad’s funeral and in the days to come, particularly in the quiet times when he is alone. Please help me pray for him and for his family for God’s peace and comfort.

Finally, I raced back home to try to make it to Mass at SS. Cyril and Methodius at 8:30 pm. GPS said that I was going to be 15 minutes late, but I managed to be only 5 minutes late. Whew! So glad I made it to Mass! 🙂

Not bad for a Sunday! How was yours?

Word of the Day: abstinence

Word of the Day
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church

Before we get to the word of the day, I wanted to highlight something from the entry on Abel: “As the first of martyrs, he also sometimes stands for the persecuted Christians, belonging to the city which is in heaven,” (3).

Abstinence:

  • Penitential practice
  • Abstaining from the use of certain kinds of food
  • In the East, this traditionally includes not only meat, but fish, eggs, milk, cheese, oil and wine.

The additional requirement of the Eastern tradition sound intriguing.  And more of a penance, especially for me, as I do not eat a lot of meat to begin with.  Perhaps I’ll try this out this upcoming Lent.  🙂

A Prayer for Purity

Neat Things I Didn't Author, Prayer/Prayer Requests

Our Lady of Good Counsel
Image via Wikipedia

O Most loving Father, we need You to attain purity and the joy it brings, for without You we can do nothing. Teach us Your children to reverence our bodies and the bodies of our sisters and brothers in Christ. Help us to recognize in each human person an incarnate spirit, an image of God, a sacred temple of the Holy Spirit, a person worth all the blood of Christ, a child of God to be loved with Your benevolent love. Teach us to reverence the sacredness of human sexuality, an icon of Your divine self-giving and divine creative power. Deliver us, Father, from the evil of seeing the bodies of Your daughters and sons as mere things and objects, and the evil of using them for our own selfish ends. Forgive us our sins which destroy our friendship with You, the source of all our happiness. O Most beloved Mother, through your all-powerful prayer, help us to live with the dignity of a child of God. May our reason and free will be the masters of our feelings and desires. And may Jesus be our one Master and Lord.

Amen!

(Composed by Dr. Raul Nidoy, taken from today’s bulletin, Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Plymouth, MI)