Why are chicks so dramatic?

Why, why, why?

Grrr - Why must women be dramatic? Why?

I tried to do something nice for my sister since I took an impromptu vacation to visit family. She's been busting her butt taking care of everyone else around her that I decided it would be a good thing to offer her to join us for a spa day, granted it took me time to get it all arranged and I didn't originally include her in the invitation because I wasn't sure I could afford to take her as well as my mom. 

I really wanted to treat my mom since I won't be around for mother's day. Then a nice fortunate thing happened and it looked like I could treat my sister as well. Well I tried to schedule it and invite her along but alas, no thank you. She was on her way to clean my brothers house.

I tried just about every avenue to try to get her to join us but instead she's feeling left out and hurt. Oh, the drama. I can do without the drama. 

So I'm asking the blessed virgin to please soften her heart and let her not be angry that I didn't originally include her.

I don't have herpes!

That was the topic of my lunch time conversation yesterday with an old colleague of mine. I was asking how her mother was. In all honesty she was bat crap crazy when I was better acquainted with my friend and as she started telling me her stories my only reply was, 'well, she's consistent.'

It turns out my pal's mouth would break out in a rash and she could never figure out what the cause was. Dr's provided her with vitamins which seemed to solve her issue. Her mother kept insisting she had herpes. After my friend figured out it was due to citrus fruits, she informed her mother to which mom responded, 'Don't lie. I know it's herpes!' and my friend replies. "I DON'T HAVE herpes", bleep bleep

My pal systematically went through how she and her doctor finally determined the cause but bat crap crazy mom insists it's herpes. So my response was "Sweetie, what exactly have you been doing to those citrus fruits?"

Amazed

One of the more astounding things about being loved by Jesus is not so much how much he loves us but how much I miss. I can be so clueless at times. While I tend to be a fickle lover, He is ever subtle and tender. It's easy to forget him in the subtlety. I was meditating on one of my retreat passages when I was reminded he is closer to me than I am to myself. The very molecules that comprise my body he occupies, the clothes that embrace me is him too, the air I breath, the food I eat, the tea I drink - it's all him. He loves me so that he wants to be near me, comforting me, caressing me and how often I take it all for granted sometimes amazes me.

"Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.” - St. Patrick 

Monkey Business

It seems my monkeyboy wants to go into business for himself, something about Mama being too cheap to buy Skylanders for the WII. Has anyone checked out their marketing strategy??? They are clever tricky little marketeers.
You first invest in the starter deck for the game which is about 10-20 % higher than the purchase price of a game and then to play the game and pass certain levels, the player needs certain characters. If you want to unlock areas or play extra levels, the player again needs certain characters. Said characters are pricey. So not only do you pay the one time fee for the game, but it's an ongoing gouging they've managed to turn into a racket.

The problem is, mama really likes the game and I've been waging a self-control battle not purchasing the stupid waste of money so he's been crafting ways to make money. He wrote up a contract for a lemonade /junk food stand and gave it to me:

"Dear Mama and Papa


This is a contract of our agreement of $25 starting fee. Please sign here ____________, _____________. Thank you for your support (may include more loans if low business rates). This contract cannot be changed without authorization, Papa will have NO authorization because of his unfairness. "

Fight, fight, fight, fight

How's that for a spiritual topic - FIGHT and don't stop fighting. So were the consoling words one of my priest friends gave me for this dark part of journey. 

If you've never experienced it, it's an emptiness, a lonliness in the midst of activity, it's dull and dreary on a sunny day. It's like learning to swim for the first time.

The first time I swam, my dad pretty much threw me in and I think to this day I don't tend to get stomach bugs because I pretty much inhaled any and all bacteria possible when I was trying to learn how to swim. I could see nothing during my drowning fits but all I heard was "Cierra la boca! Cierra la boca!" ="Close your mouth!". Not once did he reach out to pick me up and rescue me. Not once. He just kept up his rythmic chant as if that had some enchanting effect. My swim lessons were brutal, and I hated it mostly because I knew I was going to sink (ok, well not that much because I've always been extra bouyant or is that extra fluffy?) However that's exactly what this part of the journey is like. It's like God's letting me swim on my own. Every once in a while I get a glimpse, hoping he'll reach out and lift me up but every once in a while he'll float me a message of encouragement - fight it.

Fight the apathy. Don't give into it. Go for a walk, spend some quiet time in prayer, lift up your mind, heart, body in activity or in prayer. Change your pace but most importantly fight it.

From Gangland to Promised land

Have you heard of this guy? Fascinating conversion story... fascinating

Part 1

Part 2

Spiritual Apathy

Struggling with spiritual apathy is extremely tough. If you don't know what it is, imagine stagnant water. There is no flow, no excitement, it's a breeding ground for disease and it stinks. That my friends is spiritual apathy. It lacks passion or zeal. If your searching on what to do for spiritual apathy you'll run into a whole mess of preachers who seem to suggest you need to

• read the bible 
• ok, I'm not one to disagree with reading the bible but if you're in spiritual apathy reading the bible cover to cover probably isn't the best solution, in fact reading in general tends to go like this: 'blah, blah blah'
• listen to great sermons
• what a bunch of crap - don't get me wrong, sermons can be great motivational starters, pathways to open you up to see something in a different way but after the first "joy" of the motivational talk, you need to put foot to pavement and that's when spiritual apathy will drown out any motivating sermon.
• Identify methods to get you out of spiritual apathy
• Great but then the author goes on to cite creating a mission statement, devising something according to your own set of values (and this from a Christian site on spiritual apathy!) Again, What a load of excrement! The whole part of being a Christian is that you live by a set of values that are not your own. You conform your life to the teachings of the church and yes by the way, that's painful! Suck it up! No Pain. No Gain.

Here are my suggestions

• Identify methods to traverse spiritual apathy
• If you're a newbie this might mean learning the teachings of the church. Small bites folks, small bites!
• If you're spiritually mature there is no greater companion than Jesus. Get you're lazy butt to adoration and let Him minister to your needs. If you're a priest, or laity or you minister to other's needs on a continual basis, you need to be ministered to as well. Sit your ass in front of the Blessed Sacrament and allow HIM to minister to you. It IS a cure for spiritual apathy but mind you, if it pleases him to give you that burden then you better park your butt in front of Him because you can't minister without him. Oh, and while I'm on it, it does not count to "sort of be in adoration" if you are in the middle of holding adoration sessions for others and having to minister to others as part of adoration if you are in spiritual apathy. Ministering to others during adoration as in a retreat can be spiritually fulfilling but if you are in spiritual apathy you need dedicated time so Jesus can minister to you. So many ministers struggle with this one. If this is the case for you, is it any wonder you're in spiritual apathy?

• Spend quality time with God
• Now this can be spiritual reading of the bible or bible verses which is different from reading the bible - it's not meant to be read from cover to cover. Spend time in our savior's life. Be with Him. Let scripture wash over you, preferably in his presence.

Now, that IS a cure for spiritual apathy but the caveat is it's only the cure if and only if it pleases our Blessed Lord to lift spiritual apathy from your midst. Otherwise this is the mechanism by which you can navigate through spiritual apathy. St. Ignatius has a set of rules (4-9) that are applicable to desolation in general and those should be reviewed and followed in dealing with spiritual apathy. Adoration is totally within adhering to Rule #6 of intensifying our prayer life when in desolation.

You know your Catholic when..

you walk in your sleeping child's room to say goodnight and quietly start to pray "Hail Mary full of grace" and he finishes the rest of the prayer in his sleep.
That was my monkeyboy last night so I guess we must be doing something right.

Show me the way to go home!

When I lived in the UK, I quite enjoyed going to the pubs with my mates. The English are very animated with their songs in the pub or on their way home from the pubs. This one was one of my favorites that actually now that I think about it, I never heard sung in the pubs, but at work or just goofing off. 

At this point I've been away from home for nearly 3 weeks. It was great to visit Finland, the Netherlands and Europe in general for my work purpose, but I am ready to go home.

 

We are not alone.

We do not know what love is!

"Love consists, not in the extent of our happiness, but in the firmness of our determination to try to please God in everything" - St. Teresa of Avila

I think that is one of the most concise and clearest explanations of love I have ever heard.

Joy, joy, joy! During Lent?

Is that even possible? Doesn't it seem awkward? Not at all!
Lent is the time for joy, perhaps now more than ever. How do YOU recognize a Christian?

In Roman times Christians were exhorted that when asked by Roman soldiers to carry their packs for the obligatory mile, to carry it instead for two. Now they could have very well been executed had they not carried it for the obligatory mile so perhaps they could have done this carrying job begrudgingly, but no instead they happily carried the soldier's pack for not only the required mile but for two miles, joyfully. They used this opportunity to tell about their joy in Christ, the joy of Christianity. Sometimes they didn't evangelize with words but image being a soldier and running into this one group of people over and over again. These strange people who not only do the task they've been ordered to do, on pain of death, but do the job with joy and carry out not just what is obligatory but do extra, willingly. One starts to wonder, "Why are they so joyful?", "There is something different about them" and "I want that joy too."

Is it any wonder then that christianity was spread predominantly by the Roman army? The same Romans who persecuted Christians were the ones who in the end were directly responsible for spreading Christianity. Paradoxical, isn't it?

It's amazing what joy can do. So live a truly Christian joy filled life because people will see your joy and want it too. It's really the easiest way to evangelize. We are sinners in need of a savior but our God saves and lent is that time where we prepare for his saving action. So indeed, it is a time for joy!