During the past year my 6 year-old son was diagnosed with autism, Tourette syndrome, and celiac disease. My 8 year-old daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia and anxiety disorder, and my 3-year-old daughter was also diagnosed as having celiac disease. Then a letter came from the school saying my son was colorblind. My husband took the letter, crumbled it and threw it across the yard. It was the last blow in a series of too many blows. I was received into the Church at last year’s Easter Vigil after 20 years of agnosticism. As I learned of my children’s autism and dyslexia diagnosis I was also learning about the Catholic faith. Praying the Rosary gave me strength and helped me understand. As I fought against…
Learning, Cracking and Sharing The Mysteries of Catholicism
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Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Silicon Valley. The millions of qwerty keyboards and clicking mice were taking a break and I was at a picture perfect picnic with my favorite atheist in-laws. I sat listening to the laughter of playing children and enjoying the slight breeze when enter stage left my 18 year-old brother in-law, “Hey I found out my favorite teacher, who I think is super smart and cool, is actually Catholic.” “Oh really? That’s good.” I replied. “No seriously” he exclaimed loudly, as if he had just discovered cold fusion, “He is Catholic and smart and cool.” Staring at him in disbelief I decided to ignore the unintentional insult (as ahem..a smart and cool Catholic myself) and quipped “Congratulations, you finally found one.” Enter stage extreme left my mother in-law, “I heard a bunch of women decided to make themselves Catholic priestesses and were excommunicated.” “Huh, that’s crazy.” I said. “Ya, I know!” she responded, ” I can’t believe they were excommunicated!” And so we went, tumbling down the slippery slope of media driven, uneducated “let’s talk about Catholic stuff because you’re Catholic now” careless conversation that I am endlessly forced to endure out of politeness. Honestly, what I really want to say to them is this:
But… I don’t say that because my husband won’t let me (and I can be an idiot too). Instead, I try to get them to understand the teachings and how much goodness there actually is in Catholicism. But usually my voice drifts in one ear and out the other because “Houston, we have a problem” and actually, and more accurately, “Houston, we’ve had a problem —an image problem.” I’m not here to argue that the actions of members of the church didn’t, in part, create that problem either. However, we need to continue to admit the wrongs, stop them from ever happening again and then refocus on the positive.
I’m humbly asking @Pontiff. If you haven’t already, can you please start a focused #catholic positivity campaign? The church needs PR! We need to re-educate the secular masses on what we are about! What is our tag line? What is our mission? Please, I need some help talking to the in-laws! I need my husband to understand that yes his hobby may be Jiu-Jitsu but mine is not being Catholic…it’s way more than a hobby! Let’s advertise because, “The market for something to believe in is infinite!” and faith is more important than Coca-Cola…even if they want to buy one for the whole world.
The following is a passage from “Exercising Your Soul” by Gary Jansen. I highly recommend this book! What is The Holy Spirit? “A man stood outside a church in the middle of a busy city and watched as passersby went about their daily business. Many were shuffling off to work, others were walking around in shorts with newspapers and brown paper bags, still others seemed lost and in need of directions. Around noon, the man looked up at the tall steeple and fixed his gaze upon the thin iron cross that sat on the top. Every once in a while a man on his way to lunch or a woman on her way to the drugstore for cotton balls would slow down and look…
1 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. 3 His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. 4The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. 5Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and…
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. 2 And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, 3 and they came to him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck him repeatedly. 4 Once more Pilate went out and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And he said to them, “Behold, the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take…
The Washing of the Disciples’ Feet. 1Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, 3 fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, 4 he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the…
O.k.- yes that’s me. I’ve finally grown enough in my faith that I feel ready to have a “real” about page. And yes, this is me in my baby-mobile where I spend an insane amount of time driving around town to therapy session after therapy session. Unfortunately these sessions are not for me and therefore you, my dear readers, get to remain in shock and awe of my psychosis —please enjoy it (I do). All kidding aside, I am honored that anyone reads my blog (I believe it is probably divine intervention) and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I started this blog because I felt a calling from God to do so and I hope to pass on what I…
Things I Didn’t Know I Loved
By Mara Faulkner, Foley Poetry Contest winner
via Things I Didn’t Know I Loved | America Magazine.
I didn’t know I loved the wrangle of phones and human voices, rough, insistent
until I entered this silence and closed the door. I didn’t know I loved
this silence until the hooked voices reached for me. I didn’t know I loved
didn’t really know I loved the treeless prairies until green bars grew up
between my eyes, the airy sunset, and the moon. Didn’t know I loved
the thorny green thickets of my self
contrary and bear-haunted, until I took the straight smooth road
and found it strewn with death. I didn’t know I loved
black bears lumbering through my dream toward my sister
whom I didn’t know I loved
even though I’ve lost her now in the blind thicket and she
doesn’t love me any more. I didn’t know I loved
my mother until her rose-heart burst and bled
red petals into her chest, didn’t know I loved
the garden of her flesh. And you, my God
under her ashes so silent and cold, I didn’t know I loved
you until you woke every morning in my little stove
so lowly in your prison house of wood and flesh and fire
so eager and so needful of my hands. I didn’t know I loved
my hands—clumsy, tender—until they stirred the fire and found
these words.
Mathew 16: 24 “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” “What’s With All The Suffering”? the Atheist asked the Catholic… as they walked into a bar. The Catholic was crying. “I don’t love Jesus enough” she said and ordered some wine. “He suffered for me and I’m not suffering for him”. The Atheist laughed and ordered a beer, “Come on!” he said “People are poor, abused, starving all over the world and you are worried about Jesus?” Yes, she said looking deeply into her wine, “Because they are Jesus…and I gave up wine for lent.” 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father;…
I’ve always wanted to be deep, serious and mysterious. Instead I’m goofy, spacy and obvious. Don’t get me wrong, I like who I am, but it doesn’t stop me from daydreaming that someday I might be mistaken for an international spy (who just happens to be holding a 3-year-old as part of a complex disguise). It’s similar to the cloudy, dreamy hope I have every Sunday at mass that the person in front of me, after hearing me sing, will turn around and exclaim breathlessly, “Wow, your voice is incredible! You should be in the choir!”. Ya— that’s just not going to happen, but I keep on dreaming. Last night I was in my, “I’m deep and serious” mode when I went into confession but…
