Thursday, October 29, 2009

My Brother Passed Away

For those of you that do not know much about me, I am the oldest of nine children. I have five brothers and three sisters. Four of my five brothers are in wheelchairs.

On Tuesday evening, my brother Michael (the oldest boy) passed away in CHOC Hospital due to complications to the flu.
My brother Daniel was also in ICU at the time, and is still currently there. Christopher was taken in to the hospital around midnight that night because he started to look sick and the doctors at the hospital wanted to make sure we brought him in before it was too late. He is currently still in the hospital. They will keep in the hospital until he is able to handle all of his regular feedings.

So, if you could say a prayer for my parents and brothers that would be amazing.
Michael is in the red chair, Daniel in the purple chair, Christopher in the blue chair, and Simon is in the green chair.


God Bless

Friday, October 23, 2009

A World United



My husband and I just arrived home from a trip to Spain. We were there for his business, part of which was attending the largest pro-life event in Spain's history. It was a huge event, where our friend, Eduardo Verastegui spoke to 2 million people marching for the "derecho de vida" (right to life) in Spain. The streets of Madrid were absolutely jam packed with young, old, religious, and lay people declaring their desire for an abortion free country. It was beautiful.

I also had the blessing of making it to mass daily, and when I sat through homilies that I couldn't always understand entirely, there was still so much to meditate upon in these beautifully crafted churches, with all of the art directed towards the beauty of Christ and His saints. Yet, these gorgeous places of worship were hardly being used by the residents of the surrounding areas. The Sunday mass I attended looked like a daily mass at my home parish.

The trip gave me some great perspective as international travel usually does. One of the things that struck me was that the fight against relativism and for orthodoxy is worldwide. It is easy to focus on the terrible direction our nation is heading and the current issues with the USCCB, and our parishes, but the struggle is everywhere. It reminded me of the weakness in our humanity and how alike we are in our concupiscence. We were surrounded by many solid Catholics over there, one in particular who is Opus Dei lay consecrated, and they are all fighting the same battles we face here. They are striving for their own holiness and trying to evangelize in every way they can with those they encounter.

While it was sad to see that the same struggles exist outside our country just as much as they do within it, I felt so strongly the bond of those of us who are united throughout the world through the precious Body and Blood of Christ. What a beautiful unity we have within our Church. While we can see the same scandals across the world, within their midst are people striving to be saints, people who understand that we're made to know and love Christ. Holy Mother Church is powerful and the gates of hell will not prevail against her. Our army is strong and we've all read the book, and we know who wins in the end. We are united in our weakness, but more than anything, in the grace of our Creator, and in the blood of our Savior.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

God Knows Best


"He who asks of God in faith things needed for this life is sometimes mercifully heard and sometimes mercifully not heard. For the physician knows better than the patient what will avail for the sick man."


Starting ten days ago, I started a novena to the Holy Spirit. I was praying that Joey would get a job in San Diego before the end of the novena. Eight days in, not only did Joey get the job, but also an apartment. AND not only did he get the apartment, on that eighth day, the apartment complex was able to give him an even better deal than all the previous deals that we had gotten in the past!

God definitely knows what the best timing for His will is. Like I started with, this quote is something that is really hard for me to follow, however, it is times like these where He pulls through, and goes way beyond my original hope!


PRAISE GOD!!!

Friday, October 16, 2009

No photo for this one!

As I was looking though my cousin's photographer's blog to look at a sneak peek of wedding photos, I was reminded of an ever growing trend of pre and post wedding photos: boudoir shots. These are pictures taken of a woman in her undies, sometimes less, normally at a hotel room or her home, then put into an album and given to her husband.

So far I can't find one good thing about these photos. The most common defense I've heard is "but only my husband will see them." Not so much. First of all, your photographer will and possibly any assistants he/she has. The files will be on their computer for who knows how long, and if they have full rights to the photo they CAN use them for marketing purposes (websites, brochures, sample albums) without telling you. Second of all, everyone at the album making company from the person who receives the submission to the person double checking the order will see this. And if they are guys, the images WILL catch their eyes and stick in their minds. Men are very visual creatures!!!

Another thought I've had is what is a guy to do with this album???? Having it around is likely to cause more temptation to lust. It's our job to lead our husbands to heaven - presenting them with an opportunity to fall into sin is quite the opposite.

The other most common argument I've heard is "at least he's looking at photos of me and not random women." It's so sad to see how widespread and almost commonplace pornography has become. Women are willing to tolerate it and to some extent promote it. Lust is lust is lust no matter who you are lusting after. It's our job to speak up and protect the guys we know and love (and even the ones we don't know yet).

So yeah, in the words of my husband "boudior shots suck."

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Praying before Work

I have often wondered how you can be an example of Catholicism when you are working in a secular workplace. Obviously, actions speak louder than words (something I am sure we have all heard a thousand times!).
However, I have also recently stumbled upon a prayer book that has a prayer called "Prayer before Working". It was then that I realized how important it is to start of your work day praying. It makes doing any kind of job worthwhile.

Here is the prayer:
Prayer Before Working
We beseech Thee, O Lord, to direct our actions by Thy holy inspirations, and carry them on by Thy gracious assistance, that every prayer and work of ours may begin always from Thee, and through Thee be happily ended. Amen.
St. Joseph.
Pray for us.

For those of us who are also still students, this prayer book also has a prayer called "Prayer before Study". I find this prayer to also help me stay focused on the fact that the reason I am able to learn and go to school is through the Grace of God.

Here is the prayer:
Prayer Before Study (adaptation from St. Thomas Aquinas)
Ineffable Creator, Thou art called the true font of light and wisdom, and the origin of all things. Pour forth a ray of Thy brightness into the darkened places of my mind; disperse from my soul the twofold darkness into which I was born: sin and ignorance.
Grant me keenness of mind, capacity to remember, skill in learning, insight to interpret, and eloquence in speech.
May Thou guide the beginning of my study, direct its progress, and bring it to completion.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Holy Mary, Seat of Wisdom.
Pray for us.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

opposite of anger



Something Alena said reminded me of something I just read... It said that while the other emotions had opposites (love/hate, desire/aversion, joy/sadness) anger does not.

It seemed wrong to me, but I can't think of what the positive of anger would be.

Any ideas?

Catholics Come Home


In church a couple Sundays ago they played a sample of some commercials that they are going to show in a couple months around the Seattle area. At the end of it everyone was tearing up, even our priest who had shown the video at least 3 other times that weekend.

It was a video from "Catholics Come Home." So beautiful! Ok - it's not working to embed it, so click here: http://www.catholicscomehome.org/epic/epic120.phtml

Turns out the largest religious group in the US after Catholics is fallen away Catholics. (Where is our sticking power people?) So these videos are designed to go out into TV land and get them back.

I guess they did this campaign in Phoenix and 90,000 Catholic came back. 90,000! That's enough to have to start new parishes just to deal with them all!

So prayers that we get all the resources needed to pull this off. And check out the website: http://www.catholicscomehome.org

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Help for Pregnant College Students


Just wanted to share a great article about a joint venture initiative by Belmont Abbey College in Belmont N.C. and a crisis pregnancy center called Room at the Inn. Together they have created the first campus-based maternity and after-care residence for pregnant college students. What an awesome model for other Catholic Universities!

Click here to read the article.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The Importance of Living a Moral Life

Unlike what society tries to tell us, there are not many different moralities. There is one truth and one morality. We know this because God is the basis for morality and because God does not change, neither does morality. As a follower of Christ, it is important to understand that it is Christ that we should center our lives around. There is no way that we can separate our actions from the morality that we know is true. If we act one way, that is the way we are. We are the choices we make.

Morality is linked with happiness and cannot be separated from it. Secular society tends to see morality and rules as restricting. The reason they feel this way is because in order to be a moral person, sometimes we must sacrifice immediate goods and wants in order to reach something higher and better for us in the long term. It is important that we recognize that morality answers the question “What should I do” and therefore we realize that morality is not about a list of wrongs and rights, but an opportunity for us to choose something that is higher than what our humanity alone can allow us to achieve. Most people feel that morality is about what we cannot do. They expect that all moral choices involve suffering and sadness. What most people miss, is that morality is not choosing the hardest thing possible. It is about choosing the right thing. Sometimes, choosing the right thing initially might be difficult or uncomfortable. Other times, it is the most exciting, breathtaking moment. Either way, choosing what is right ends up making us the happiest ten times out of ten.

Most of the time people sum up morality into a few subjects; abortion, homosexuality, religion, and abstinence. Although these are decisions that are very obviously moral dilemmas, they are not the only moral situations that we experience in our lives. Everyday we make decisions that lead us towards our final end. Each decision we make changes the distance between us and our goal, heaven. Sometimes, we make decisions that bring us giant steps towards our final goal. However, other times we might not be making much process because we are not choosing what is in our best interest. It is in the simple decisions that we are able to form the habits that will be able to help us when the bigger problems come towards us.

Virtues are extremely important. There is one main reason for this; virtues are habits. They are the good habits. The ones that work with reason and attempt to perfect our free will so that choosing what will lead us to our highest goal will become what is most natural to us. Building up virtues allows our sensitive appetites not to have power over us. Virtues are dependent on the fact that our intellectual virtues are learned through wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of the truth and moral life. Because we are creatures of habits, building positive habits that lead to becoming a person of virtue is one of the most important lessons that we can learn. If we are able to become completely virtuous, choosing the right choice would be the only reasonable choice to make.

Just the way that virtues are so crucial to keeping a virtuous moral life, vices are an obstacle to leading a virtuous moral life. Similar to virtues, vices are also formed through habits, however these habits overpower the reason instead of working with reason to make decisions. Although vices are habits that work against our final goal, the human inclination to be good is always there and therefore allows every person to always have hope. However, when you sin, it is like your soul gets sick. It increases the difficulty for one to stay away from sin. God's punishment for sin is that He allows for us to have it, and enjoy at the time. Once you have experienced it, it makes it difficult for you to withhold the next time. Similarly, sin breeds sin. People do not want to be alone in their sin. This is why when one sibling gets in trouble, they spend their time-out trying to get the rest of their siblings in trouble as well so they do not have to go through it alone.

Moral virtues depend on the intellect. Intellect is also a habit. This habit helps us to understand what is happening and understand the truth. But just like every habit, in order to keep this habit we must use it often. If we cannot understand what is good because we are not practicing this virtue, it can lead to vices. Wisdom is one of the highest intellectual virtues because it is so important in informing the will and therefore informing our reason. It is also through knowledge that we are able to understand how all things lead to God. If we do not continue to try to be informed, our intellect will not be able to inform our reason and will allow ourselves to become weak and more prone to vices.

It is important to understand the difference between formally evil acts and materially evil ones. A material acts are the acts in and of themselves. It asks question about the actual events that occurred in relation to the act. Formal acts are the factors involved in committing the act. Here we must ask the questions relating to the intention and the knowledge that the person committing the acts was experiencing at the time the act was committed. Because of this, an act could be materially wrong but not formally wrong. Similarly, doing something materially right, could not be formally right because of the intention that it is done with.

The will consists of commonsense, intention, choice, deliberation and consent. The will makes decisions based off of it's intellect and understanding of the situation at hand. The will's movements are internal and external. Internally, the intellect moves itself. Externally, the will is drawn to the good. However, the will is not always drawn to the highest good. At some points, the will suffices with the lower good. We should always be striving to align our will towards God because God is our ultimate good. The intention is also crucial to understanding the actions that the will chooses. It can influence the end of the action and the means that one uses in order to get to the end. The value of a choice depends on the object one is choosing. Deliberation is important because it allows us to search for the answer and be able to act with knowledge. Different choices rely on different amounts of deliberation. The amount of time spent on deliberation for an action should relate directly to the intensity of the decision. Finally, consent is crucial to the choice. One must allow themselves to commit the action in order for them to be help responsible for that action.

The passions are critical to the understanding of the moral life because they are known from their experiences. While emotions and feelings are vague, passions are precise. Unlike society's view that passions are the be-all and end-all, passions are not good or evil in and of themselves. They can lead to virtues or vices, but they are neutral. Our concupiscible passions are the ones that have a sensible good or evil. They are love, hate, desire, aversion, pleasure, and sadness. While are irascible passions are the passions that we have difficulty in attainting. These passions are hope, despair, fear, and anger. It is important to understand that our passions are important to be involved in our intellect. However, our intellect should direct our passions to the highest goods. Because our passions are neutral, it is important that we make sure our intellect guides our passions to the highest moral good.

The cardinal virtues are prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice. Prudence allows us to use practical reason when trying to decide the true good in each circumstance. Justice is important because it gives what is due to our neighbor. In justice, we are called to respect each human being. Justice is a habit that is very important to keep a solid grip on because it is a habitual way of thinking. Temperance guides our concupiscible passions and balances our emotions. “It ensures the will's mastery over instincts and keeps desires with the limits of what is honorable” according to CCC 1809. Fortitude, then, deals with and moderates our irascible passions. It “enables ones to conquer fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions.” (CCC 1808) This is important because without using temperance and fortitude we can easily loose control of our passions.

Although our society seems to think that conscience is something you feel when you are about to make a decision about something that is important, conscience literally means with knowledge. From society's point of view, it is often linked to the idea that you should listen to your heart. However, the church clearly shows that conscience means to make a decision with the knowledge that you are given. There are three functions of a conscience. First, you must identify what the action is from a moral viewpoint. Then, you must identify whether an act is a good act or an evil act. Finally, you must evaluate the action. The only way that society can say that you should always follow your conscience is if your conscience is well informed and properly raised.

Grace is given to us through the theological virtues. The three theological virtues are faith, hope, and love. The grace that God gives us allows us to succeed. He gives us exactly what we need at every part of our life so that we can choose to become closer to Him. It is important that we recognize that grace is given to us in order to make us whole again. Without grace, it is impossible for us to survive in this world. Unlike the cardinal graces that are only acquired through practice, God's grace and theological virtues are given to us as a gift to aide us in our decisions and throughout our experiences so that we are able to be united to Christ. However, because of God's undying love for us, He allows us to reject those virtues and turn our back on Him. However, this always leads to sadness and not happiness.

The ten commandments are important to society. The reason God gives us these laws is not to hinder us or to not allow us to enjoy our time here on earth. He gives us these laws because it is important for us to realize that if we commit theses acts and do not follow the commandments, we will be the ones hurt in the end because doing these things leads to sadness. Just like every society, we need laws in order to make sure that our society's citizens can lead good, healthy, moral lives. People often feel that laws take away from one's freedom. However, there is no true freedom in choosing against God's laws. Doing so will only lead to slavery. The ten commandments are a summary of the entire moral law.

The beatitudes are also important. It is interesting to know that each of the beatitudes leads to the next one. If you follow the first of the beatitude, and are poor in spirit, then you will mourn because you know that you cannot live on your own. One can continue to see throughout the entire beatitudes how each one leads to the next. That is why it ends that those who follow these commands will be in the kingdom of God. Interestingly, the beatitudes are follow by what is known as the antitheses. These talk about the ten commandments. Jesus in the new covenant takes the commandments another step higher. For example, killing someone emotionally with one's anger is also under the commandment that you shall not kill.

God is love. When you love someone, you want to do what they ask of you because that makes them happy. The same goes for Christ's commandments. As christians, we should want to follow the commandments because Christ tells us to follow them for our own good. Because He tells us this, and we love Him, it is only right that we would follow the commandments that He gives to us. Through this class, I was able to understand more clearly why God gives us laws. Unlike society teaches us, the only way to be free is to know your purpose and our purpose to be united with God in heaven. Therefore, the only way that we can find true freedom and happiness is if we follow what Christ teaches to us and follow the laws that He gives us. If He did not love us, He would not give us laws that lead us to Him. But, in His overpowering love, He guides us to Himself so that we can achieve our purpose in life.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Weddings




Well we just got back from a wedding in LA. This was the first wedding that I actually had to leave early (and not because of the babies!). It was at the old LA cathedral - they just refinished the floors, took out the altar (and St. Vibiana herself) and left everything a hollow shell. I fully realize that the church was decommissioned, but something just felt so wrong. We were tempted to drive everyone out of the Temple just like Jesus. I know there are several other Christian churches that have been transformed into restaurants/event venues, but something about knowing that Jesus' true presence used to be there just irked at me.

The beauty of struggling to get through this wedding was finally understanding why the church conducts weddings as it does and has not fallen for the secular notion of "personalize everything." It was a "church" setting with Rev. Julie and her roman collar (I won't even get into that one) and the processional had secular music which honestly made it feel more like a fashion show. Now I get why we need the more solemn music for weddings within the context of the mass: it's about Jesus!! While it may be your wedding day, the focus still needs to be on Christ, just like it needs to be for the rest of your life.

There were 2 bible passages read and part of the verdict from Goodridge vs. The Dept. of Health, Massachusetts, 2003. That'd be the case that said it was unconstitutional for gay couples to "marry." For the first time in my life I felt truly offended. It felt like a complete mockery of the sacrament and of the Christian beliefs they were professing to have those words in their ceremony. If we would have known that passage was being read during the wedding I don't think we would have gone to support them now that we know how they feel about marriage and knowing that they will not support and defend all real marriages - even their own. Sad day. Anywho this taught me why it was important to have the Liturgy of the Word be a part of the ceremony - we should all be reading and hearing it as much as possible and it should just be a natural part of our lives and something we look to when we are celebrating or grieving or anything in between.

The last thing I think I finally understand is why the Church does not let people write their own vows. From the perspective of a bride it sounds really romantic and great...not so much from a guests' point of view. I didn't really care to know that my cousin loves her new husband "like a fat kid loves cake." This is something that can go on a card or can be said in private. The choices that we have for vows really truly spell out the responsibility that we are undertaking. Promising to "love you forever because you are my soulmate" is no where near the same as vowing to love your spouse "or better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."

Anywho I guess this post is somewhat of a vent for me. I'm really struggling with the way weddings are being treated in my family. Next up: another cousin has decided to "elope" to Hawaii and have a regular wedding reception when they get back because they can't afford a wedding (silly me thinking that the reception is the expensive part!)...please pray for my sanity. I never thought it'd be this difficult to convince Catholic women that having a Catholic ceremony isn't a financial or social burden!


Thursday, October 1, 2009

Act of Kindness of the Day


Give a gift of 15 minutes of your time, wherever or whenever it is needed.