Because a Scooby Do Ending Makes Everything Better

And because I know you want more, click on the cartoon to get to the Doug Savage weblog of sticky note fun.

Pax

A Few Reasons Why I Didn't Give up Facebook for Lent

There has been a huge push among Catholic Facebook users to give up their Facebook presence for the 40 Days of Lent as part of their Lenten Sacrifice. They see this as a way to strip away the "distraction" that Facebook may have become in their lives so that they can redirect that time toward God.

I did not join them. There are a few really important reasons why and I wish to share them with you:

Most of my extended family; all but three of my siblings, most of my nieces and nephews, my cousins, their husbands, wives, and children are all on facebook. As we have grown older and become separated geographically, Facebook is an immediate and very fun way to communicate and keep in touch with my family. I probably reply to my Cousin's daughter whom I have never met, but who is a college student in Texas every day. It is really nice that I have gotten this chance to get to know her. I would hate to give that up.

My nephew was in a skiing accident last Saturday and I have been able to ask all of my friends on Facebook to pray for him, and to connect them to his Facebook page Praying for Ben Smith where they can post prayers for him. There is such power in this for his family who are dealing with a long road to recovery. I have great friends and they are really stepping into the breach to show my sister and her family the power of Christian community on the Internet via Facebook.

I am also posting a snippet every day from the book I have chosen to use as my Lenten Reflection: Quantum Grace by Judy Cannato. The obedience of doing this every morning is helping me to stay faithful to my reflection on the book and has the ripple effect of sharing a bit with others (Catholic , non Catholic Christians, and non believers ) who are friends of mine on Facebook. To me this is a way for me to evangelize.

So, you see, I will be staying on Facebook. I will be posting daily updates about my nephew's progress as he heals of his injuries, and I will be posting my own progress as I move through the season of Lent. Oh and I will be posting responses to other people's posts in my normal, sarcastic, humorous style, because God gave me a sense of humor and I am pretty sure She doesn't want me to give that up for Lent.

Pax

What He Said!

Everyone seemed to universally love the Doritos ad at the Superbowl that depicted the "tough" little boy. Everyone thought it was hilariously funny. Well I didn't, but my objections ran much deeper than that. I was livid after seeing that commercial, and for exactly the reasons spelled out in this wonderful article by Dennis Prager.

my favorite excerpt is this:

Those who argue that the boy was just defending his mom may well be right. But that only further reinforces the point of what a dysfunctional scene the ad was portraying: A leering man, a mother dressed in a sexually provocative way, and a sexually aware child who essentially serves as man of the house at the age of five.



Read it here.


So, call me a prude if you want, but give me the Betty White ad any day of the week.

Pax

Bye Bye Bayh

from the Senate anyway.

Evan Bayh is going, going, gone baby gone from the Senate as of the end of his current term of office. Why did he decide not to run again when he had $13 Million already socked away in his reelection war chest? Maybe it was just that he took a look at what has been happening on the political landscape and decided he would rather bow out gracefully than lose, which is something he has never had to face as a political candidate in his three runs for office.

I can't say I will be sad to see him go, but this will make our Senate race all that more interesting depending on who runs as a Democrat against Dan Coates next year.

Pax

The Truth Will Make You . . .

Slow?

So, I was reading a few Mini Marathon training message boards over the weekend and one of them was discussing the Nike + training module which happens to be the one I use to help me track my progress when I train. There is a little computer chip in my shoe that connects wirelessly to my IPod and it keeps track of my distance and pace and stuff like that so that I don't have to think about it.

What the message board was saying was that NIKE + has a real problem with calibration though and if you aren't careful can really get off track. So just to be safe I did three- one mile calibration walks on the track at the YMCA today to calibrate my NIKE+.

The good news is that the miles were no problem at all, I wasn't winded and my IT problem in my leg didn't flair at all even when I went full out for the middle mile just to test how fast I could really go.

The bad news is that each of the miles was a little bit off; meaning when my IPod said I was done with my mile I wasn't quite done with the seventh lap on the track. so when I completed the seventh lap I had to hit the calibration button each time to make it right. The first time it was way off. The last time it was actually a little bit over a mile.

So I finally think I have it right, but with the calibration being that touchy, I wonder just how accurate it really is. It added back all of the time I thought I had gained in my per-minute splits, so maybe I am not really getting as fast as I thought I was and what I was doing was not quite walking as far as I should have been.

Oh well. now that I know that about the IPod NIKE + I will just have to be more dillegent about calibration, especially when I start training outside on the road in the spring.

Just goes to show, you keep learning new things when you start a new activity.

Pax

Champions for Life

This Video is Awesome:

Champions For Life from American Life League on Vimeo.

It's Time to Show Your True Colors . . .

And Bleed Blue!

I may have mentioned that THE COLTS ARE IN THE SUPERBOWL on Sunday.

I am so excited I can hardly wait. I am again having the fashion dilemma of how to pair my official Jeff Saturday Jersey with dress slacks for Mass. Because I have to support my team.

I also have a huge amount of admiration for this team and the way they have acted. They don't trash talk, they are very humble about why and how they got to where they are, and they really deserve to be in this game.

Another thing that has always impressed me about this team is that they have a team of Chaplains to support the spiritual needs of the entire team, not just one guy who is a figure-head for show. I have had he privilege of meeting the Catholic Chaplain on that team, and I know that he takes his job very seriously as the "surrogate pastor" for the ten Catholic players and their families and the Catholic support staff.

You can read all about him, and his impression of the team in this article.

Fr. Pete has been blessed to have a great job doing what he loves for a team he loves.

I just hope that no one gets hurt on Sunday, and if they do their best the Colts pull out one more Victory this year and we bring that beautiful trophy home again.

Pax

Wow, What She Said!

This article is a very reasoned response to the movie The Pregnancy Pact that was on Lifetime last week. I watched the movie and was impressed with the message.

The article explains why we as Catholic parents hold our children to a higher standard of moral life than society expects for people of their same age level. But it also holds us accountable for the responsibility of a constant dialogue with our children, so that they understand why the moral choices that we are asking them to make are the right choices.

One of the most powerful statements in the article is this:

The idea that these messages should be impressed on our daughters in a unique way will raise some eyebrows. Shouldn't the message be stressed equally with boys and girls? Although boys are responsible for their sexual choices, the lion’s share of the consequences of misused sexuality usually falls squarely on young women. Therefore, the girl must set the pace of the relationship, knowing that their ability to bring life into the world carries a singular responsibility. Only she can choose - a choice that begins not with whether to become a parent, but whether to become sexually active.

read the rest of the article here.

These conversations aren't easy but they must become part of our daily life with our children, so that they can understand that we know how difficult it is, but we have faith that God will give them the strength to make the right choices.

We also have to let them know that no matter what, we will always love them and support them, because like God our love comes without conditions. Besides, if we are pro-life then we love the child regardless of the circumstances of conception.

I think I'm going to go talk to my daughters.

Pax

The Truth Shall Make You Free

Or in this case, the truth is scaring so called "women's rights groups." to the point that they are clamoring to get it off the air.

The truth in question is the story of the fifth pregnancy of Pam Tebow, which included a life threatening illness and drug therapy that was dangerous to the growing baby inside her. When her Dr.'s suggested that she would be better off to abort the child for her own good and the good of the possibly "damaged" child, she chose to allow the child to be born, trusting that whatever the outcome of the pregnancy, God was in control and she and her husband could handle whatever was to come. Of course, we all know the outcome was a healthy baby who grew up to be a strong Christian voice in a very secular world.

This is the story that is going to be told during a Superbowl commercial. Interesting that women's groups are calling this story one that "uses sports to divide."

Interesting (as this article states) that these same women's groups have been silent about the objectification of women that is rampant among many other Superbowl ads.

Go figure.

Pax

Just in Case You've Been Living Under a Rock . . .

The Colts are in The Superbowl again! It was an amazing game -- of which I missed the entire first half because I was being an obedient student and was sitting in class learning about The Theology of The Blessed Trinity. -- But Fr. Denis was compassionate and let us out of class early so I got to hear the entire second half (which the Colts totally dominated both offensively and defensivly) on my drive back home from St Meinrad.

Anyway I just wanted to give a shout out to my boys in blue and let them know that I will be watching a little more than commercials on Superbowl night as they take on the New Orleans Saints. It might be a close game, but I think my boys can do what they do best, win, win, win.

I don't know if you are all aware that Our Colts have a Haitian connection? Pierre Garcon, the second year wide receiver is from Haiti and has relatives who still live there and were injured in the earth quake. He placed a Haitian flag on the table where they presented the AFC championship trophy last night to honor all of his countrymen and women who died two weeks ago. It was so moving.

Oh, just as I did two years ago, in honor of my boys for the next two weeks all of my blog posts will be in Colts blue.

ø¤GO COLTS!º°¨¨°º¤ø °¨¨°º¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø¸GO COLTS!¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø ø¤º°¨¨¨°º¤ø ¸„ø¤GO COLTS!º°¨¨°º¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø,„GO COLTS!¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø ø¤º° ....Copy and paste and keep the BLEED BLUE wave going! GO COLTS

PAX

Wisdom of the Saints

I think I may have said before that I get a daily email called Daily Blessings which is a short quote from one of our brothers or sisters in Christ that the Church has designated as part of the Communion of Saints I find that these short messages of hope and support can really help me in my own journey of faith.

I want to share Today's message with you.

Faith renders meaningless such words as anxiety, danger, and fear, so that the believer goes through life calmly and peacefully, with profound joy, like a child hand in hand with his mother. - Blessed Charles de Foucault (1858-1916) Priest

It fits right in with what I have been working on in my own journey of faith lately concerning how fear can hold us back. We must learn to reject this fear and allow God to nurture us and take away our fears and anxieties.


If you would like to receive daily blessings, click here.
Pax

Amazing things happen when you stop trying to be what you want and just be . . .

By the way; you know what dog spelled backward is, right?


Pax

God is Talking Again

I want to introduce you to a new friend of mine. His name is Spencer and he is six years old. He lives in a comic strip called Knocking on Heaven's Door Spencer lives with his mom and his dad and his little sister Ruby and has a pretty normal life except that Spencer's best friend is God and he has the most amazing conversations with God on a daily basis.

Spencer and his family are the creation of Comedian Tommy Blaze and Mad Magazine Illustrator Nate Fakes. If you are like me and have really missed Calvin and Hobbes you will love Spencer. You should give it a try. Follow the link above, which is also permanently on my sidebar and read through them for yourself.

Pax

Patting Myself on the Back

Yesterday as I was getting ready for class Sr. Rachel (the coordinator of our Spiritual Direction Internship Program) said that she had been on the Internet Googling articles on Journaling as a prayer form and came across one that was written by little old me. She also said that it was a very well written article and she was impressed by it.

Wow, to have that said to me by someone that I really admire about something that I wrote is extremely humbling and pretty darn cool.

I only wish I could remember which article it was, because for the life of me I can't.

Pax

Middle Aged Spirituality

So one of the books I have to read this semester for my internship concerns the topic of Spirituality for the transitional (middle) age. The book I read was Passage Through Mid Life by Paul Robb SJ.

The book was a total revelation for me. Fr. Robb discusses how fear can keep us from growing closer to God or becoming what God wants us to be. We, if we want a relationship with God and to become the "best version of ourselves" we need to find out where that fear is coming from and root it out.

In some cases, the fear comes from something that happened in our childhood. Our development as an emotionally, spiritually whole person gets stuck where the fear became so overwhelming that we can no longer grow in wisdom and favor with God (Luke 2:52).

What we need to do is go back and deal with that inner child . We need to try to heal whatever caused that fear and hurt in that child so that we can grow beyond it. By caring for our inner child, we can become emotionally and spiritually whole as an adult.

It might sound like psychobabble, but it makes sense from a Christian perspective. Jesus tell us that if we are willing to become as humble as a little child we will be the greatest in His kingdom. (Mat 18:4). How humbling is it to revisit our childhood hurts and traumas and work on making ourselves stronger, and more whole? When we humble ourselves in the site of the Lord, He will lift us up.

So, what fear is holding you back? Where do you need to care for your inner child so that God can lift you up and grant you the abundant life you so richly deserve? Get to work.


Pax

150 Days with the Psalms

Today's Psalm: 134

Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD

Who stand in the house of the LORD through the long hours of night.

Lift up your hands toward the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.

May the LORD who made heaven and earth bless you from Zion.

This one is for my brother Mike, who for the last year has -- along with many other men and women been bravely stationed in Iraq (and Afghanistan ). For those who stand, in the long hours of the night doing what we cannot do for ourselves, we ask the blessings of a loving God.

Interestingly, my brother is Jewish, and since the Old Testament Psalms are a part of the bible that we share I hope he will accept my prayer for him in the spirit in which I extend it.

Pax

New Year and All . . .

in less than 16 hours it will be a New Year. I'm not really all that fond of resolutions, mostly because historically I am really good at making lists of things I know would be great for me to change about myself or my environment, and then not being able to follow through with those changes because of any number of factors, not the least of which is lack of will power.

So this year I have decided that instead of resolutions I am going to write out a few wishes for the new year:

I wish faithfulness to God's plan for our lives for myself, my husband and my children.

I wish that all of us would be more attentive to our overall health; body, mind and spirit.

I wish that care for the environment were something that everyone took more seriously.

I wish that all the people I loved could achieve at least one of their wildest dreams.

Pax

The Naughty List, Jack

The Naughty List, Jack

Lights Please:

And Joseph went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,

to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

While they were there, the time came for her to have her child,

and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling

clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock.

The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear.

The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news

of great joy that will be for all the people.

For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.

And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."

and suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying

"Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us."

So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.

When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child.

All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds.

And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.

Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had hear and seen,

just as it had been told to them.

Merry Christmas Everyone