Easter

Back home, we usually go to sunrise Mass at the cemetery on Easter.

It's strange, how usually cemeteries are places that I think of as creepy or depressing.

I mean, we're standing on top of hundreds upon hundreds of dead bodies.

But on Easter, the Catholic cemetery in Memphis is a place of hope and joyful singing. People tell funny stories about dead relatives, and everybody's smiling in the middle of a place inhabited by the dead.

Because on Easter, we realize that we have nothing to fear in death.

We realize that death is just a stepping stone to eternity.

Christ has risen, and he is preparing a place for us in heaven.

So death has no hold over us, and there is no reason for us to be sad at the thought of it.

So we stand in the middle of the cemetery, surrounded by our loved ones who have gone ahead of us, and we face the rising son sun, and we sing praise to the Lord who has conquered death.

Happy Easter!

I'm praying for you!

:)

Holy Saturday

 I feel like this is the day in the church calendar that nobody really knows what to do with.

The passion is over, the resurrection has yet to occur.

But this is the day that God is dead. Christ, who made all things, has laid down His life, and on this day, God the Son is dead.

I don't even know how to begin to understand how this is possible.

God is completely One, and yet completely 3 Persons, and one of those Persons is dead. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are somehow left without the Son, meaning that the perfect community of God that is the Trinity is, on this day, different than it has always been. How can one member of the Trinity be dead? I can't explain it, and I can't understand it.

All I know is that if a Person of the Trinity was dead, if God the Son had died, then this must have been the saddest full day in all of existence, for all of nature must have ached at His absence.

Holy Saturday, the day God rested in the tomb.

I'm praying for you!

Good Friday

The most heart-wrenching sight in the entire world to me is a crucifix.

Jesus didn't just get killed in some private execution.

He hung naked on a cross in front of everyone.

He took on all of our shame and our sin and our misery.

And he hung there, bleeding and aching and gasping for breath, naked.

And nothing moves me to tears faster than an image of Him on that cross.

Honestly, every time I see a crucifix, I am overcome with a desire to climb up next to Him on the cross and just wrap my arms around His body, doing anything possible to comfort Him during His passion.

But I'm left kneeling in front of the image, crying at the thought that I have killed my God, and even with His dying breath, He has loved me infinitely.

I'm praying for you!

Washing of the feet

I think one of the most humbling experiences I've ever had was getting my feet washed in Mass on Holy Thursday.

It's really easy sometimes to try to think of things we should be doing.

We want to help people. We want to help ourselves. We want to do all of these good deeds to make up for our sins. We want to do penance. We want to do stuff in general. And way too often, we want to earn heaven. We want to be able to stride up to the pearly gates and say, "Look at me, Jesus. Aren't you proud of me?"

But what we have to remember is that we are completely helpless on our own. And we can't cleanse our own souls. We can't get ourselves to heaven. We can't really save ourselves or anyone else.

And so we have to let Jesus wash us. We have to come to him and collapse in front of him, completely worn out and filthy from our journey. And we have to allow Him to cleanse us and to heal us.

It's mortifying, to have all of your sin and filth sitting in front of Jesus, and to have him scrub it off of you. But He already knows it's there, and you can't hide it from Him, so you might as well go to Him and let Him wash your feet. Once your feet are clean, you can tread the same ground as Him and carry your cross to Calvary with Him.

I'm praying for you!

:)

I really don't understand when people say that Catholics are against love, that we want to destroy love, or that we don't respect love.

Because we literally worship LOVE. God is Love, which means we pray to Love. Our entire religion is dedicated to serving Love in every possible way we can.

I'm praying for you!

:)

Nothingness Part 4: Transubstantiation

So man was formed from nothing into something; we were given substance. We do not retain the properties of nothingness, we have been completely transformed into something. Although we share physical characteristics of the nothingness that surrounds us.

Bread is nothingness. Wine is nothingness. They have no substance in and of themselves. They are held in existence by God.

But then, God transforms them. He transforms them into Himself. He gives bread and wine substance. The chalice still appears to hold nothing, but it now contains something, God, the only true substance. It cannot at once hold nothing and something, so it cannot hold both wine (which is nothingness) and God (who is something).

Why still retain the appearance of nothingness?

Because God is humble. Christ came in human flesh, composed of nothingness. He humbled Himself to the point of becoming human, becoming a being composed of nothingness, and dying, the ultimate act of becoming nothing.

And on the same note, if man is something now that God has breathed life into him and given Him substance, then although Jesus took the form of nothing in human flesh, both His human nature and His divine nature were of substance, so he humbled Himself, but He did not negate Himself, for something and nothing cannot coexist in the same person.

Bread and wine, however, do not have substance. They are truly nothing, and so their "substance" is replaced by that of God, since they were not truly substantial in the first place.

This may be completely wrong, but this is my current reasoning for why God did not choose consubstantiation instead of transubstantiation (since I once had someone tell me that the first would make more sense since Christ had two natures in one person).

I'm praying for you!

:)

Nothingness Part 3: Contemplating the Soul

So everything's made out of nothing, including us, and everything will go back to nothing.

But we won't. For we are destined, if we choose it, to spend eternity with God.

So we will never return to nothingness.

But that means that we are no longer nothing.

I'm suddenly reminded that God said, "Let us make man in our own image," and I wonder if that means that man is to be something, man is to have true substance, when everything else will simply be nothing held together until it has served its purpose, when it will return to nothingness.

God gave nothingness substance. He breathed life into us. I don't want to say anything that's theologically incorrect, but that seems as if God has in some way gifted Himself to mankind, giving us His substance, not so that we are God, but so that God resides in us and thereby gives our existence true substance, so that we, who were once nothingness, now have substance and can reside eternally with Him.

I'm praying for you!

:)

Nothingness

So, if everything we know is made of nothingness and could blink out of existence forever in an instant if God willed it, why do we cling to things?

Think how ridiculous we look getting so attached to all of our stuff.

God is constantly trying to offer us himself, a relationship with our creator, really the only entity to have substance in and of Himself, the only Something in a world made out of nothing.

And we'd rather have nothing. We want our nice clothes and our fancy cars and our pets and our houses.

And God must be looking at us with pity, because we are so foolish. He is offering us Him, and we are steadfastly clinging to nothingness and proclaiming it to be something.

"But that's literally nothing, my child. I just made that up. It will vanish back into pure nothingness."

I'm praying for you!

:)

So, today/tomorrow is Palm Sunday, as you know.

Here in Spain, it's a really big deal, with processions and everything.

What really got me thinking today, though, were the palms.

The same palms that get waved around excitedly this weekend will be rubbed on people's foreheads in the form of ash next year. The same people waving the palms will have the palms rubbed on their foreheads (or as is the tradition here, dumped on their heads) to remind them of their mortality.

But I think it may be more than just a reminder that we will die.

I have a really good book that my brother gave me about a year ago, and I unfortunately don't have it with me in Spain to look up the author.

But in the first chapter, he talks about how God created everything out of nothing. And in fact, the only reason anything exists is that God is constantly willing everything into existence.

As in, we think of everything around us as so solid, so indestructible. Matter can't be destroyed. We tend to think of each other and of pretty much everything around us as more real than God, whom we cannot see or hear directly.

But really, all of this is made out of nothingness. We are made out of nothingness, and it is the constant loving will of God that stops every nano-particle from simply blinking out of existence.

It's a strange thing to contemplate. Much more than "From dust you were made and to dust you will return." You were made out of nothing.

Absolutely everything around you, in your room, even people, are formed out of nothing. And God is holding everything together, absolutely everything. He is actually the something, the only something in all of existence, who is weaving through everything and causing all things to exist.

I feel like I'm sitting in a bed, in a room, in a building, situated firmly on the Earth, held in place in space by the gravity of the sun. Everything seems so solid, so real.

But in reality, I am sitting in the middle of a vast universe of nothingness, all being constantly willed into existence by God himself. This bed, this room, my computer, even myself, could vanish back into pure nothingness at any moment if God willed it.

It's kind of a weird yet exhilarating experience to realize that God is really willing every subatomic particle into existence around you at this very moment.

I'll continue this train of thought with tomorrow's post.

I'm praying for you!

:)

“I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer.” - C. S. Lewis

I'm praying for you!

:)

The first in a series of examining news articles about the pope

The following article is from Nature and was published on the 19th. The comments in blue are mine.

Whether or not you are a believer, it is hard not to like the man. I agree. Pope Francis is awesome. In the few days since the white smoke began to billow from the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, the world has learned a little about Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 76-year-old elected as Pope Francis I. Technically, he's not the first yet, because there is no second. And he was elected as Bergoglio, then chose the name Francis. The first pope from Latin America or from anywhere in America, as archbishop of Buenos Aires he eschewed the trappings of the office, foregoing a mansion for a small apartment, preferring to take the bus than use a chauffeur, and dedicating himself to pastoral work in the slums. Yay! Go Cardinal Bergoglio! The affable Pope Francis has also already wooed the public (and much of a fawning media) with his disarming humility and common touch — and his obvious flair for ad-libbing and humour. It is clear that Francis’s papacy marks a break with the past, WOAH! Where are you getting this? a new distinctive and refreshing papal style, um, isn't every papal style distinctive? and an ambition to focus on social relevance and justice. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this, but I think you and Pope Francis might differ in what his ambitions are “How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!” he said. That's not really the same as "social relevance," whatever that is.

We also learnt that the man obtained his first degree in chemistry, a later one in philosophy and another in theology, and that he has taught literature and psychology at universities. Catholics go to college? AMAZING! Press release time! That broad education, academic bent and humility are hardly a surprise because Bergoglio is the first Jesuit pope. Um...ok...The Jesuits, the largest order in the Catholic Church, are its intellectual elite and known for their independent thinking. What? No! I absolutely refuse to call Jesuits the intellectual elite of the Church. And what exactly do you mean by independent thinking? I have a feeling you're referring to the many liberals and cafeteria Catholics among American Jesuits, and that's not independence. That's sad. They also vow to live lives of austerity and never to seek high office in the Church — let alone pope. Actually, they vow obedience to the pope. They're discouraged from seeking honors, but they don't take a vow against it. If they did, they couldn't be elected (or they couldn't accept the nomination, at least). They have focused on issues of social and economic injustice, and less on doctrine than do career clergy. Are you trying to say that focusing LESS on doctrine is a good thing? Oh sure, the Church doesn't actually need beliefs. There are so many more important things...They have long worked as missionaries, and are probably best known for their creation and running of some of the world’s top schools and universities. True, the Jesuit order at its core is a pretty awesome thing. Many are also scientists. As are many non-Jesuit Catholics. Why is this article so determined to split Catholics into ignorant people and Jesuits?
We know little about Bergoglio’s views on scientific issues, which he has hardly written about. I bet you anything they align perfectly with Church teaching, though. The hordes of scientists among the Church’s 1.2 billion baptized members would like to hear more. Hordes of scientists? What kind of writer are you? And his chemistry degree in itself says little about the Pope’s attitudes to science. Yeah, he probably hates it. He just got a chemistry degree to be sneaky about his secret hatred for science. But what is clear is that, contrary to widespread belief, the modern Catholic Church is science-friendly and Pope Francis will no doubt continue, and perhaps deepen, that tradition. YAY! That might be the best sentence ever. The Church’s strong support for Darwinian evolution, I'm not necessarily disagreeing, but do you have a source for Church support for Darwinian evolution specifically? for example, contrasts sharply with the backwards unscientific belief in creationism of many US evangelicals and lawmakers — a concept that Pope Benedict XVI rightly criticized in 2007 as “absurd”. Priests also gave us Mendelian genetics and contributed to the theory of the Big Bang. Contributed to? How about "proposed the Big Bang"? Because that's what happened. But yeah, priests are pretty smart.
Moreover, recent popes have substantially increased efforts to engage in dialogue AKA clarify Church teaching with scientists on a host of issues, from embryonic stem-cell research pure evil and genetically modified crops those are cool to in vitro fertilization, abortion and euthanasia those are all evil — and in the future will no doubt increasingly do so on advances in neuroscience and genetics, including prenatal screening. The Church is going to continue talking and teaching? What a surprise! Scientists who have taken part in such discussions tell of thought-provoking and constructive debates, this is sounding like legends told about the Loch Ness Monster or something now. Do you have any specific scientists in mind? with the Church being open to ideas She's always open to the Truth and often changing doctrines as a result. Excuse me? Now you're just making things up. Show me your sources! A damaging exception is its long-held opposition to the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV, You're right. We should probably just ditch all of our ideas about the sanctity of sex and life at conception in order to make non-Catholic scientists feel better after they talk to us and it can only be hoped that Pope Francis will have a more enlightened approach. I'm not sure you know what enlightened means...
But whereas doctrines can be tweaked, um...what? the Church will not compromise on its central dogmas, true! such as the sanctity of human life and that life begins at conception. So why can't you understand the thing about condoms? Science and faith can provide complementary world views, with progress in science informing and often challenging the rationale of Church doctrines, and vice versa: faith can often add much-needed dimensions of ethics and social justice to advances in science and their impact on society. Can't really disagree there. Science and faith definitely work well together. Clashes are inevitable between people of different beliefs, but both science and religion are best served by building bridges across the divides. Depends what you mean by "building bridges." If you mean "compromising on moral teachings," bridges will certainly not be built, thank you very much. How Pope Francis responds to issues where the two meet will be an important mark of the man. Where the two meet would be EVERYWHERE. There is nothing in this world unaffected by religion. 

I'm praying for you!

:)

When you follow her, you will not go astray.
When you invoke her, you will no longer be in doubt.
When she supports you, you will not fall.
When she leads you, you will surely come to eternal life.
You will find by your own experience that she is justly called Maria - that is, Star of the Sea.

- St Bernard of Clairvaux

I'm praying for you!

:)

"Words cannot express the perfection of his adoration. If Saint John leaped in the womb at the approach of Mary, what feelings must have coursed through Joseph during those six months when he had at his side and under his very eyes the hidden God! If the father of Origen used to kiss his child during the night and adore the Holy Spirit living within Him, can we doubt that Joseph must often have adored Jesus hidden in the pure tabernacle of Mary? How fervent that adoration must have been: My Lord and my God, behold your servant! No one can describe the adoration of this noble soul. He saw nothing, yet he believed; his faith had to pierce the virginal veil of Mary. So likewise with you! Under the veil of the Sacred Species your faith must see our Lord. Ask St. Joseph for his Lively, constant faith." - Saint Peter Julian Eymard

I'm praying for you!

:)

Yesterday at Mass, I'm pretty sure the priest was using two microphones at once, and the volume was too high on both of them, so every word the priest spoke was deafening.

Of course, I spent most of Mass trying my best not to scream and mentally complaining that I was sick, that I had a headache, that it shouldn't be that hard to figure out a sound system.

But then, during the Eucharistic consecration, the sound system ended up having an amazing effect.

When the priest broke the host, it didn't sound like a piece of bread snapping in half. It sounded like bones breaking.

And I realized, that's actually Christ, broken for us. He's not just suffering, he's completely destroyed for us. And we did that to Him. We broke his flesh. That heart-wrenching sound I heard wasn't just a symbol. That was actually Christ. And He actually was whipped, beaten, crushed under the weight of the cross, nailed, hung, pierced with a lance. He bled and He broke for us.

And you know what's really awful of me, but also I feel really human? When I realized that, after the momentary, "Oh my Jesus!" my next thought was, "Why do you have to remind me? Why do you have to make me feel guilty?"

One answer to that question is, "You are guilty." And it's true. As a human, I have participated in the murder of Christ. And the brokenness of Christ crucified hurts so deeply because I can recognize that it was rightfully my brokenness, that He took all of it upon Himself. And Jesus could have left me with that answer. But the answer Jesus gave me instead was, "It's not meant as a reminder of your guilt. It's meant as a reminder of my love and mercy."

We don't go receive Jesus in order that we can be shamed for the part we played in killing him, or so that we can  be reminded how horribly sinful we are. We go to Mass and thereby go to Calvary in order to witness directly Christ's infinite love for each and every one of us.

He allowed Himself to be completely broken and destroyed for our sake. God died to save humans. And all that pain, all that suffering, all that brokenness, He would have taken it all on Himself even if it was just to save one person. And if it were necessary, He would have died a thousand more times, for His love knows no limits.

I'm praying for you!

:)

I love everything about Pope Francis. I just want to hug him.

I'm praying for you!

:)

I'm praying for you!

:)

"You cannot acquire the virtue of hope by yourself; the Lord must give it to you. But another thing is how we use it, administer it, accept it... The way we look at it, hope is one of the three theological virtues, along with faith and charity. We normally give more importance to faith and charity. However, hope is what structures our path in life. One danger is that we fall in love with the path and lose sight of the goal; another danger is quietism: to be looking at the goal and doing nothing on the path. Christianity has experienced times when there were powerful quietist movements. These go against the commandment of God which says that we have to transform the world, to work." - Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio

I'm praying for you!

:)

"Neither theological knowledge nor social action alone is enough to keep us in love with Christ unless both are proceeded by a personal encounter with Him. Theological insights are gained not only from between two covers of a book, but from two bent knees before an altar. The Holy Hour becomes like an oxygen tank to revive the breath of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the foul and fetid atmosphere of the world." - Archbishop Fulton Sheen

I'm praying for you!

:)

Quotes about the Eucharist

When we receive Holy Communion, we experience something extraordinary – a joy, a fragrance, a well-being that thrills the whole body and causes it to exalt. ~ Saint Jean Vianney

I'm praying for you!

:)

I'm praying for you!

:)

So yesterday, I went to Confession and the priest didn’t give me any penance.

At first I was kinda upset and confused. You’re supposed to give me a penance to do. This feels weird, not having to do anything.

Then I realized that what I was actually saying was, “But I haven’t done anything yet. I have to do some work, earn your forgiveness.”

And yes, usually, God asks something of us in the way of penance, not as a way of earning forgiveness, but as a way of uniting ourselves to Him.

But yesterday, I realized that sometimes, God doesn’t want to give us lectures or have us do anything extra. Sometimes He just says “You’re forgiven” and we have to be content with the fact that His forgiveness is a completely free gift that we can do nothing to deserve (as is always true).

Sorry this is really rambly. 

I'm praying for you!

:)  

Some happy facts:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-happiest-facts-of-all-time

I'm praying for you!

:)

Quotes about the Eucharist

This quote is from Mary! And it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard:

“My Son so loves those who assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that, if it were necessary He would die for them as many times as they’ve heard Masses.” Our Lady to Blessed Alan

 I'm praying for you!

:)

You definitely have the right to laugh at me for the following display of chronic ignorance:

I'd always known we ate lamb on Easter, and that it was connected with Passover traditions.

I'd also always known that Jesus was the Lamb of God who gave us His flesh to eat on Passover.

What I had never connected was that the lamb we eat on Easter symbolizes the Lamb we also eat on Easter.

This was an amazing revelation for me, which only occurred because my host mom said they eat "cordero" on Easter, which made me think of the words "Cordero de Dios, que quitas el pecado de mundo," which we say during Mass.

And all the sudden, I just realized, we do! We do eat el Cordero on Easter!

Anyway, I don't know why it took me over 20 years to realize that.

I'm praying for you!

:)

So today, I was listening to a great homily about how God doesn't want burnt offerings of animals, and I figured I'd share my thoughts about it. (These are my thoughts, not what the priest actually said).

It's weird because I guess I'm just really dense and I'd thought that line about burnt offerings was just something like, "yeah, don't go killing animals. That's not cool."

But it isn't a hippie speech. And it isn't God being like, "ew, burning animals is icky. Don't do that."

And obviously, during much of history, God did ask for burnt offerings, so it's not like He once thought it was cool to burn animals but then He changed His mind, because God doesn't change His mind.

The priest today said that He doesn't like animal sacrifices because it's too easy. 

And that's the clincher. Because, although early on in our history, when we were just learning how to relate to God, sacrificing animals was fine. It was obedience. God said, "Make a sacrifice," and we obeyed Him by sacrificing animals. But the truth is that sacrificing animals is the moral equivalent giving someone one of your toys. It's what toddlers do.

And as we've grown as a race in our knowledge of God, as God revealed Himself to us and we've come to know Him more fully, we can't stay moral 2-year-olds. We need to mature in our interactions with God.

And sacrificing animals is too easy. Because it's an external sacrifice. I lose nothing of myself if I give you a goat. What we need to sacrifice is ourselves, our own hearts. This kind of sacrifice is greater, deeper, more personal. It's also more abstract for us to comprehend, which is why it requires more maturity.

Jesus gave us the perfect example. He sacrificed Himself as a Lamb. We can look at that and say, "Oh, it's like sacrificing a Lamb." But then we can look deeper and see that He sacrificed himself. He gave us the example going forward that we must take up our crosses and follow Him.

I'm praying for you!

:)

Quotes about the Eucharist

Once, St. Teresa was overwhelmed with God’s Goodness and asked Our Lord “How can I thank you?” Our Lord replied, “ATTEND ONE MASS.”

I'm praying for you!

:)

Quotes about the Eucharist

The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross. - Saint Thomas Aquinas

I'm praying for you!

:)

Quotes about the Eucharist

If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy. ~ Saint Jean Vianney

I'm praying for you!

:)

Quotes about the Eucharist

#1:

When the Eucharist is being celebrated, the sanctuary is filled with countless angels who adore the divine victim immolated on the altar.  - St. John Chrysostom

I'm praying for you!

:)