Friday, December 5, 2008
A BABY Changes Everything
I think we most definitely take for granted the significance of our GOD coming to us as a BABY! We just gloss over it as if that is to be expected. It is a radical radical thing and we should stop and reflect on this often. I love Christmas. I think most people do. Why is that? It's not really the presents or the food or the parties. If we reflect on it - even non-believers too - we can admit that there is something mysterious and other-worldly about this time of year and this celebration. There is something deep inside the human heart that yearns for this kind of purity and joy that only Christmas provides. Why is that? The Incarnation is the most awesome statement of the dignity and the holiness of man - the human person. God came down and was one of us. But not only that but He came down and chose to be small, very small, almost invisible inside the womb of His mother. He chose to live there and to grow there and to stay hidden just like us. He was fragile and helpless and silently swimming in the holy waters within a WOMAN. He was not a man or a warrior or a king but a baby, a baby. What does this say to us about the dignity of motherhood? About the holiness of pregnancy and the unborn? What does this tell us about the power of one tiny human person unseen and unheard living at the mercy of his mother and her willingness to guard and protect and to nurture the life within her? The Incarnation says so much. The Incarnation says everything we need to know about the LOVE God has for His creatures, His children. He loves us and He wants us to reverence the mystery of every new creation, not to fear it. He wants us to see how IMPORTANT this mystery is! He wants us to know that a baby changes everything. A BABY changes the world. He gave this gift to all of us - the gift of Himself. But we must not cut off God's choice to come into this world as a baby from the deep meaning this choice holds. God can choose anything, He can do anything or manifest Himself any way He wishes. He chose this way - Why? It matters. It is the mystery that makes Christmas so magical and filled with wonder. This is the reason we all celebrate even if we aren't believers per se - the Incarnation itself brings forth JOY to the World whether the world takes notice or not. Oh the holiness and joy that was the maternity of our Blessed Mother! The sacred hiddeness of the unborn baby Jesus - GOD hidden inside a woman, inside her womb! The master of all creation the God beyond time and beyond this universe the endless everything the all and total the One who is all power and all truth and all goodness and all light and all love - just a tiny little one...
A Baby Changes Everything - I just heard this song on the radio. check out the youtube video in thie other post... I loved the dual meaning. It triggers a lot of emotion in me. I think it is so beautiful how the presence of a baby and his effect on his mother is hidden in these lyrics but more importantly the pointing to the awesome CHANGE the incarnation of Jesus held not only for His mother but for the WORLD for all eternity!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
The beginnings of this year's Christmas card...
Getting the kids together to take some photos seems to always goes something like this:
"Get over here, get over here, get ooooooooooover heeeeeeeeeeeere!" Sit down, sit down, d
amn it all of you sit down!" "Do you want Santa to bring you gifts for Christmas? - yes - then sit your butts down and smile! Smile I said not look goofy. Stop it! Stop touching her! No no no don't close your eyes. Get back over here. Just sit down and....Can't you people just sit your asses down for two seconds and take one nice picture for our Christmas cards!!! For goodness sakes you'd think I was asking you all to cut off your right arm!" Now everybody just look up here and smile! Smile damn it smile!!!
amn it all of you sit down!" "Do you want Santa to bring you gifts for Christmas? - yes - then sit your butts down and smile! Smile I said not look goofy. Stop it! Stop touching her! No no no don't close your eyes. Get back over here. Just sit down and....Can't you people just sit your asses down for two seconds and take one nice picture for our Christmas cards!!! For goodness sakes you'd think I was asking you all to cut off your right arm!" Now everybody just look up here and smile! Smile damn it smile!!! Okay everybody say "Merry Christmas"
Oh the irony!! Thank goodness this wasn't recorded on video. Or maybe on second thought that would have been nice to have...for a good laugh down the road! Every year those Christmas cards I send out are a heck of a lot more trouble to pull off than anyone realizes...
We have FUN though don't we? I love my kiddos!Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
A Mother's Poem
A Mother's Anguish
I long to hold you
in my arms,
to see your precious
baby charms.
Though I know
it will never be,
your sweet child face
I yearn to see.
Your fate was sealed
so long ago,
I made the "choice"
to let you go.
You're with God
and I am here,
but one day we'll meet
and I'll draw you near.
I'll hold you close
and hear you say,
"Mama I love you . . .
anyway."
-- Jeanene Clarke
I long to hold you
in my arms,
to see your precious
baby charms.
Though I know
it will never be,
your sweet child face
I yearn to see.
Your fate was sealed
so long ago,
I made the "choice"
to let you go.
You're with God
and I am here,
but one day we'll meet
and I'll draw you near.
I'll hold you close
and hear you say,
"Mama I love you . . .
anyway."
-- Jeanene Clarke
Cowards in High Places
Over at www.Catholicculture.com is an article on Fr. Newman a courageous pastor who had the courage to speak the truth in love to his flock. here is a tidbit of the article -
St. Mary's church in Greenville, South Carolina, is a model Catholic parish, with an outstanding young pastor. The liturgy is beautiful and reverent; the religious instruction is meticulous and orthodox; the lay people are numerous and active. There is a busy school (run by the Nashville Dominicans), and each year there are dozens of adults welcomed into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil.
But that's not why you've heard so much about St. Mary's in the past two weeks. In fact, the success of the parish is not why I'm writing about it today.
St. Mary's has suddenly become the focus of nationwide attention because of what the pastor said-- or rather, what the media said he had said-- about people who had voted for Barack Obama.
Before going any further, let's set the record straight. Father Jay Scott Newman did not say that he would deny the Eucharist to Obama supporters. In a message that he placed in the parish bulletin, he strongly recommended prayers for the .....
....To his credit, once he realized how much commotion he had caused, Father Newman wrote a longer message-- this time addressed not only to his parish but to all interested parties-- seeking to allay any potential confusion. This new, longer statement spelled out the crucial moral distinctions between a vote cast for legal abortion and a vote cast for a candidate who, among other things, favors legal abortion. If the first statement was defective, this clarification was an appropriate remedy, accurately conveying the full and nuanced teaching of the Church as Jeff Mirus acknowledges. Unfortunately the Charleston diocese ordered Father Newman not to release that clarification, and the excellent statement that was posted on the St. Mary's parish web site has been removed. So the confusion endures.
This campaign season saw the debate over abortion, and more particularly, over the duty of Catholic voters to resist legal abortion. Imagine if Father Newman had issued the same sort of pastoral warning regarding some immoral behavior that does not carry such strong political implications. Suppose, for instance, he had said that men who use pornography, or women who have undergone voluntary sterilization, should not receive Communion before making a good Confession. Would such a warning draw a rebuke from the chancery, too? If a pastor cannot warn his people about the moral consequences of their behavior, then the Church cannot instruct the faithful.
Father Newman's statement was a powerful challenge, not only to his own parishioners, but to countless thousands of Catholics and even non-Catholics who read it. He forcefully reminded us all that abortion is not an abstraction (as those who pound home the slogan of "choice" would have us believe) but a concrete reality. Our attitude toward abortion is not only a matter of personal opinion but a moral decision, for which we shall all be held to account.
_ I think you can gather from the shorts excerpts I have placed here that Fr. Newman was being "shut down" or getting the proverbial "kabash" (is that how you spell that?) for speaking the truth to his flock. And what should a pastor do? Should he sit by and watch his little lambs blindly walk into danger? Should he not have more concern for their immortal souls than for their delicate feelings? And what about these bishops of ours? What about our cardinals? Where is their courage? How are they leading their flocks? What is up with their passive luke warmness? What is going on with their quiet letters and thei dainty little press releases? How much of a warning cry are they calling out to their lambs? Is it that we are not listening well? Of course!!! We aren't listening at all! We are blinding bleeting and chewing the grass along paths that lead to the cliff's edge! What is a shepherd to do as he watches the lamb creep ever closer to the brink? Should he send out a gently worded article to a little read publication or should he leap to his feet and call out loudly as he catches that lamb by its feet with the crook of his shepherd's staff!
Now is the time for action for energy for ZEAL! The time for poetic lecture and tender "guidance" is over. We have tried that for 30 years and what has it gotten us? Obama, a pro-death house and senate, Catholic in PUBLIC dissent from their Church, a culture of death and a slide downward toward even more blatant agression towards the Church and her teachings! Wake up my brothers, my bishops! and have courage! the TRUTH is on your side and HE is the TRUTH!
St. Mary's church in Greenville, South Carolina, is a model Catholic parish, with an outstanding young pastor. The liturgy is beautiful and reverent; the religious instruction is meticulous and orthodox; the lay people are numerous and active. There is a busy school (run by the Nashville Dominicans), and each year there are dozens of adults welcomed into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil.
But that's not why you've heard so much about St. Mary's in the past two weeks. In fact, the success of the parish is not why I'm writing about it today.
St. Mary's has suddenly become the focus of nationwide attention because of what the pastor said-- or rather, what the media said he had said-- about people who had voted for Barack Obama.
Before going any further, let's set the record straight. Father Jay Scott Newman did not say that he would deny the Eucharist to Obama supporters. In a message that he placed in the parish bulletin, he strongly recommended prayers for the .....
....To his credit, once he realized how much commotion he had caused, Father Newman wrote a longer message-- this time addressed not only to his parish but to all interested parties-- seeking to allay any potential confusion. This new, longer statement spelled out the crucial moral distinctions between a vote cast for legal abortion and a vote cast for a candidate who, among other things, favors legal abortion. If the first statement was defective, this clarification was an appropriate remedy, accurately conveying the full and nuanced teaching of the Church as Jeff Mirus acknowledges. Unfortunately the Charleston diocese ordered Father Newman not to release that clarification, and the excellent statement that was posted on the St. Mary's parish web site has been removed. So the confusion endures.
This campaign season saw the debate over abortion, and more particularly, over the duty of Catholic voters to resist legal abortion. Imagine if Father Newman had issued the same sort of pastoral warning regarding some immoral behavior that does not carry such strong political implications. Suppose, for instance, he had said that men who use pornography, or women who have undergone voluntary sterilization, should not receive Communion before making a good Confession. Would such a warning draw a rebuke from the chancery, too? If a pastor cannot warn his people about the moral consequences of their behavior, then the Church cannot instruct the faithful.
Father Newman's statement was a powerful challenge, not only to his own parishioners, but to countless thousands of Catholics and even non-Catholics who read it. He forcefully reminded us all that abortion is not an abstraction (as those who pound home the slogan of "choice" would have us believe) but a concrete reality. Our attitude toward abortion is not only a matter of personal opinion but a moral decision, for which we shall all be held to account.
_ I think you can gather from the shorts excerpts I have placed here that Fr. Newman was being "shut down" or getting the proverbial "kabash" (is that how you spell that?) for speaking the truth to his flock. And what should a pastor do? Should he sit by and watch his little lambs blindly walk into danger? Should he not have more concern for their immortal souls than for their delicate feelings? And what about these bishops of ours? What about our cardinals? Where is their courage? How are they leading their flocks? What is up with their passive luke warmness? What is going on with their quiet letters and thei dainty little press releases? How much of a warning cry are they calling out to their lambs? Is it that we are not listening well? Of course!!! We aren't listening at all! We are blinding bleeting and chewing the grass along paths that lead to the cliff's edge! What is a shepherd to do as he watches the lamb creep ever closer to the brink? Should he send out a gently worded article to a little read publication or should he leap to his feet and call out loudly as he catches that lamb by its feet with the crook of his shepherd's staff!
Now is the time for action for energy for ZEAL! The time for poetic lecture and tender "guidance" is over. We have tried that for 30 years and what has it gotten us? Obama, a pro-death house and senate, Catholic in PUBLIC dissent from their Church, a culture of death and a slide downward toward even more blatant agression towards the Church and her teachings! Wake up my brothers, my bishops! and have courage! the TRUTH is on your side and HE is the TRUTH!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Living Life and Apppreciating Every Minute of It
Just some random pics from the past couple months. I am going to try to get back into the swing of things here on the blog...I need to take the holiday photos and start planning the Christmas card etc. This year has just flown by!
Lately I've been doing a lot of reflecting on my life, my family, and just the great privilege of being alive and seeing my kiddos grow! WOW how things have changed and how Tim and I both have grown and changed and it all is kind of overwhelming to me. I came across some VHS tapes this week of Tim and I "back in the day" as new parents and yet to be married. We were living in the apartment and we were so young and so silly, and joy-filled, and thin!
As I watched tape after tape I began to realize just how precious life is! That may seem obvious but you know day to day I can get so wrapped up in the bs of life that I forget that truth. I saw how much we loved each other and how much we loved Morgan. I was amazed by the sheer joy and super abundance of love we had to give our new baby. This little person seemed to have this same effect on all the people in my family. I watched all of us fall all over ourselves to have a chance at making her smile or better yet produce a little baby giggle or gurgle. We all seemed to be united and focused. Of course the back drop for all this joy and unity is vital in understanding why I got so emotional as I watched the videos play.
I couldn't help but marvel at all of our transformations. I couldn't help but be awe struck by the obvious graces poured out upon us. We were a family touched and transformed by God. One unplanned pregnancy became the catalyst for many leaps of faith! And we leaped and leaped and we keep on leaping today! My vision of my mysterious baby still invisible to me as a gift, a mystery worth discovering, worth taking a risk for is the vision which opened the door to Christ in my life. He used my surrender then and there and the chain of events since that have been just one blessing upon the next. My mother, my father, my sister, Martin, Tim, all of us have been changed over the years. We love each other more and as a new person has come into this imperfect and often "dysfunctional" family we have learned how to love MORE and sacrifice MORE and we are ALL the better for it! And there it was captured on VHS.
We don't appreciate life. we don't stop to think about what a gift it is. We take it for granted. Our growth, our learning, or changing, the love we feel, the love we give, breathing in and breathing out. Opening our eyes to a new day, day after day and given a chance to be more and do more! It is all so amazing!! I am amazed by the love of God, and how we forget it, ignore it, as it is all around us. I am glad I got some time to see it and contemplate it. I have made a promise to myself that I will be more deliberate about stopping to SEE the people in my life. I will SEE them and how they are ALIVE. I will SEE their LIFE and see it as a gift and a treasure and a MYSTERY! I will marvel in the mystery of my own life and my own personhood. God made me. God has a plan for me. He has always had a plan for me and He has loved me from the beginning of all time! WOW!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Jon Foreman - Your Love Is Strong
I love this song...It inspires me when I feel like there is so much I cannot do and so many things that I cannot control. I take so much comfort and find so much peace in the fact that His love is STRONG and His love is for me!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Vote Life! - This is a GREAT one...
There a lot of pro life videos out there but I think this one captures the essence of where the candidates stand better than others...VOTE LIFE!!
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