Fellow Evangelizers: Be Not Afraid

Taking a quick break from my Thesis research to share this with y'all. It comes from the Evangelii Nuntiandi which is included in the first part of my Thesis (I worked on the middle first, lol).

"Every evangelizer is expected to have a reverence for truth, especially since the truth that he studies and communicates is none other than revealed truth and hence, more than any other, a sharing in the first truth which is God Himself. The preacher of the Gospel will therefore be a person who even at the price of personal renunciation and suffering always seeks the truth that he must transmit to others. He never betrays or hides truth out of a desire to please men, in order to astonish or to shock, nor for the sake of originality or a desire to make an impression. He does not refuse truth. He does not obscure revealed truth by being too idle to search for it, or for the sake of his own comfort, or out of fear. He does not neglect to study it. He serves it generously, without making it serve him."

This is something I'm working on this Lent: to let the people-pleaser side of me go a bit (very hard for this Phlegmatic-Sanguine) and to be more vocal about my love of God and to share the true Word without fear of what anyone may say. I feel so strongly about the mixed messages out there because of people who wish to harm the Church that I know that I must speak against the blasphemies and lies. Again, not so easy for me as I am quite shy (trust me, I may not seem it online but I am in person) and I dislike disharmony and arguments with a passion. Reflecting at church the last couple of days (especially when I go for Mass), I've come to the conclusion that I love God more than anything and that I would not be happy if I failed to speak up because of the fear of others' thoughts. This is my goal this Lent. I haven't had great results yet but I am a work in progress and those who've disapproved have spoken ill of Pope Benedict XVI and others within the Church (oh, I think you can all guess who I speak of) so I haven't let it affect me.

Anyway, just wanted to share this as I felt eager to pass on to y'all. This is just a little taste of what my Thesis is all about. I hope to share it with y'all when I am able to. And now... back to work. :)

Hope y'all had a great weekend and have a great week. Good luck to those who, like myself, have midterms in the next couple of weeks. :D

As always, thanks for reading and God Bless! :D

First Timer: Stations of the Cross

This will be short as I'm sort of in the middle of (over) analyzing the first Act of Hamlet for my Literature class. No, I am not procrastinating; this is a break between the first and second part of my weekly assignments.

Later today, I will be going to church for my first Stations of the Cross. Technically, it's not the first time I've meditated on them. I've done them a couple of times in the comfort of my own home. Since this is the first Lent that I am mobile (a year ago, Joe was still teaching me how to drive and I didn't have my license), I am taking advantage of having a car. I already attended Mass in the morning but I don't mind going back for the Stations this evening.

I don't know what to expect. I usually cry during the Stations (as well as during the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary) but I am not big on crying in public (as I don't want to disturb anyone) so it's going to be interesting to see what happens. And before anyone asks, I cry because I think of all the suffering Jesus went through and then I remember about how I take a lot for granted and the waterworks turn on. There is more but it's personal so... you get the gist.

Any tips for those who have attended before? I'm very much a newbie to these things (still learning here) so if there is anything that I need to do to prepare myself, please let me know.

Okay, back to dissecting the Ghost in Hamlet and what his (it's?) appearance could possibly mean.

Hope y'all have had a great day thus far. Don't forget: No meat today!

As always, thanks for reading and God Bless. :)

Ash Wednesday #AshTag? Yup.

Happy Ash Wednesday, y'all! I know this is late but I've been busy (mostly driving). Yes, those are my ashes on my freckled face. lol. My twitter is set to private and the #ashtag won't work because of it so I decided to just share it on here. :) I personally think Fr. Alexander made it look like a dove. ;)

I went to Mass this morning as usual and was very excited to see the entire church packed(standing room only) at 8 a.m. I'm not even going to criticize those who only attend Mass on Ash Wednesday, Easter, and Christmas because it's not my place to. Anyway, after Mass I received my ashes and have had to keep myself from accidentally touching them. lol.

I had my first "What's that on your forehead?" comment early on (at 10 something in the morning) and I followed that with an explanation on why we did it. The response to my explanation was "well, I'm Christian... we don't do that." Since I'm trying to not start any problems, I just thought "Well, I'm Christian too and I still did it." (Friendly reminder to those who didn't know: Catholics are technically Christian since we believe in Jesus Christ.) I got looks throughout the day but I didn't pay attention. Mom said Christian co-workers made fun of her and other fellow Catholics at work and then spewed hatred... you know, stuff we Catholics have unfortunately heard at some point of our lives.

Since this is a quick post, I won't write what I'm giving up for Lent... mostly because I'm not really giving up anything. I'm actually adding. I'll explain it all (hopefully) tomorrow since I'm exhausted from the driving and I have an early morning tomorrow with my Thesis adviser.

Quick question for those who will read this (since they are still up)... are any of you leaving your ashes on until they fade or are you washing it off today/tomorrow? I am always curious because everyone seems to have their own tradition regarding this. :)

Okay, that's it for now. This sinner just wanted to share my ashes with y'all. Hope the week's been going well for y'all. :D

As always, thanks for reading and God bless. :D

Music Monday: He Said What?!

This is just a quick post on something that seriously disturbed me recently.

Now, as many of you know, I'm a pretty hardcore Anglophile/Hibernophile. I like a lot of the entertainment (music, films, tv shows) that come out of England and Ireland. If you follow me on twitter than you know my love of Downton Abbey and Liverpool FC as well as the Ireland national rugby union team. Because of my love for the culture, I like to stay on top of trends which includes music. I will give most music a try. When I heard of one particular boy band that had taken the UK (and apparently the rest of the world) by storm, I was curious. I listened to their music and, despite being kind of a music snob, I liked it. It was fun, upbeat... it's a boyband. I'm not a crazy fanatic but I like listening to the songs in the background when I have things to do.

A few weeks ago I stumbled across a blurb a fan posted from an interview the boys did. I thought "well, I have a minute to spare and I wonder how these boys present themselves" so I went ahead of read it. It started off innocent enough until I came across a blurb in which two of the young men basically sang the joy of watching pornography. My reaction was "he said WHAT?!" While two of the other band members told them to be quiet and how pornography was degrading towards women, these other two agreed... but then said that it was "fun" to watch and made it seem like it was not a big deal. This worries me for several reasons.

We all know the dangers of pornography and how damaging it is to one's soul. The Knights of Columbus posted a great article on their website late last year regarding this. It's worth a read if you already haven't. Anyway, these young men (who were 17 and, I believe, 19 at the time of the interview) made it seem like it was okay despite the two other young men trying to quiet them down. We all know that this is a horrible pandemic and we know that my generation (so-called Generation Y) and the next generation are more prone to fall for this soul destroying virus as more and more young men and women are falling away from God (I will share my findings with y'all once I'm done with my Thesis -- it's not pretty). What I never expected was to see someone so young being so vocal about it. From what I've seen, they are insanely popular so you know that millions of young women who obsess (also not healthy) over this band will read these interviews and think that it's okay. Btw, I also saw another blurb in which one the young men also talks about being caught with a girl in bed by a parent. I'm very serious.

All of this got me thinking: "what is life going to be for my future children?" "Will they be exposed to this?" "Will it get worse?" "What can we do to make it better?" I am not so old that I don't remember what being a teenager was like. I'm 26 so I do... vividly. I know that as teenagers, we didn't like hearing adults tell us what to do and what not to do. I also know that most of us did the opposite of our parents told us (even if it was only once) because we didn't like being told what to do. But as I get older and think about my future children, I feel more determined to educate and prepare myself to help them. If the world gets uglier (and it just might by the looks of things), I feel like we need to arm the younger generations to stay strong to combat these issues (as well as the pro-abortion cult) and to not lose Faith in the process.

I could get into it more but I'm cutting it short on time. I have to read for tomorrow's courses (and I have to finish the first act of Hamlet for my Lit course by Thursday morning) and work on my Thesis some more. I just wanted to share these thoughts I've been having since I read these interview blurbs.

Before I go, I have one more question: if you knew the things that (some of) these young men do/think/watch/say were sinful and if you enjoy their music (but not their personal lives)... would you just stop listening to the music or would you listen to the music but ignore their comments? I'm interested to see what y'all think.

Anyway, I hope y'all had a great weekend and have a great week. Hope all your Lent preparations are in place as it starts in two days. :)

As always, thanks for reading and God Bless.

Let's Hear it for Daily Mass, Ladies and Gentlemen!

I love LOL Saints pictures. :)

Seriously though, let's have a round of applause for having the option to attend daily Mass. *claps* I cannot begin to describe how happy I am to go on an (almost) daily basis. I don't take it for granted because I know that some people live in rural areas where Mass isn't celebrated often. Also, I know most of us have crazy hectic lives and we can't always attend daily Mass. I myself can't go on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I have classes but I try to go on all other days. Even if, for some reason, I can't receive communion, I don't feel right if I don't go.

I was reflecting on this prior to Mass yesterday. I feel almost empty and incomplete when I don't attend Mass. It's like I miss out on something amazing (which I think I do). I didn't go today because I was so physically exhausted that I simply couldn't get out of bed because I felt a bit shaky. I do vaguely remember saying (out loud) "I do love you, God, but I am not feeling that great right now" before falling back asleep this morning. And now my day feels a bit off. (side note: I also didn't go to confession today but I wasn't in need of it (thank God) so I'm okay there.) I don't know why but this desire to attend daily Mass only increases as the weeks pass. I'm very grateful for the feeling though. It's already helped me out a lot.

As I said in a previous blog post, one of the things that I've noticed about attending daily Mass is that I am more conscience of my actions. I am able to be more charitable towards people who treat me poorly for whatever reason. I am more aware of when I could potentially do something wrong and/or sinful and I realize things early enough to be able to correct my actions. After receiving the Eucharist each morning, I feel complete. I feel so much more relaxed and calm throughout the day. My anxiety and stress levels due to school related things may be up but I still somehow feel better in general.

I know my vocation is sadly not a religious one (as much as I would've loved it to be; I grew up wanting to be a Carmelite nun) so I've been contemplating potentially becoming a Tertiary (Third Order) Carmelite or Dominican. I have such an intense desire to be a part of the Church and since I am not called to be a nun then I feel like maybe this is the right step for me. Both Orders really appeal to me so I will have to pray about this and see which one I would most benefit from as well as be able to contribute to. I've considered this step for a long time but it's only intensified with my daily trips to the nearby parish. :)

Another thing that has come up with my trips to daily Mass: I am not entirely sure I want to teach after I graduate. I mean, I do want to spread the Word and teach younger generations the Truth but I am not sure I would last very long in a classroom. My heart and head are both telling me that I would be happy working with children as well as with older adults so I don't know. I know in my heart that I really want to help others and that I want to share the love I have for God with as many people as I possibly can but I'm very confused as to where I will go after graduation. I am taking a year off to work before I pursue my Master's degree but I think it would be a little less stressful if I had a game plan for the Fall. If y'all can please pray for this, I would greatly appreciate it. Right now all I can do is pray and keep myself open to whatever God has in store for me.

Anyway, I just felt like sharing these random thoughts. I have noticed that my readership in both this blog and my tweets has gone down considerably (and I am not complaining at all!) so I feel less pressured to write something amazing. Back to the "writing how I feel... even if it's incredibly sappy and emotional" plan. ;)

I have the rest of the evening and tomorrow off (I am mentally drained after reading close to 400 pages for classes this week) so I am going to enjoy it with a little movie marathon.

I hope y'all had a great week and will have a great weekend.

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D