The Joy of Lent

We've arrived! Lent is upon us, and we are called to unite ourselves to the sufferings of Christ in this grace-filled time. As I prepared for this season this last week, trying to think of some new penance to undertake, I kept thinking of the typical negatives: no chocolate, no meat, no sleeping on a pillow, etc. I was stumped trying to come up with something original, something that I could do while being pregnant, and something that would truly be a sacrifice that would help me grow closer to Christ. So rather than making a list of the negatives, I thought, "What virtues do I need to grow in?"

The one that dominated, was joy. Lent is not often associated with the virtue of joy, but in actuality, "Mortification only produces sadness when there is in its practice too much selfishness and a lack of generosity and love of God. Sacrifice always brings with it joy in the midst of pain, the happiness of knowing that we are fulfilling God's will, and of making the effort to love him." (1 Cor 8:10) While watching the Dominican Sisters on Oprah last week, I was reminded of the few precious moments I've been blessed to spend with them. Each time, it was so hard to leave because the joy of Christ which radiates from them, is so infectious. It is not that these women have an easier life than I, for they've given their entire lives over to Christ for the sake of the kingdom. It is a matter of perspective and a life of virtue.

This true Christian joy can be some of the best evangelization, and we are called to share it with everyone in our lives, especially those closest to us. During Lent, the Lord calls us to mortify ourselves, and there are certainly some tough penances we can take on, and we should feel the difficulty, as Christ's cross was not light. But it is also a time to be aware of the passive mortifications in our lives (the ones we can't control). Whether it's something as miniscule as picking up the trail of clothes your husband leaves around the house, or a great suffering like grieving the loss of a friend or family member, we are called to smile when we don't feel like it, to give hugs and kisses to those we love, to perform our daily duties with the people we do them in mind, and do everything with the love and joy of Christ.

For even as we mourn the passion of Our Lord, we always hope in the resurrection. So happy fasting, because it is in these moments that the Lord unites us closer to Him and reminds us that He is ultimately, all we need, or want.

As a way of expanding this virtue in your life, I challenge everyone to think of some way you can bring joy to those in your home on a daily basis, and those in your community each week, and take on a positive this Lent.

Australia's Anglicans are becoming Catholic!

This past Sunday marked a historic day for the Church, as Forward in Faith Anglicans in Australia voted unanimously to enter the Catholic Church! Praise be to God! This was brought about by Pope Benedict XVI's invitation to Anglicans in Angliconorum Coetibus. The Anglicans will still maintain aspects of their liturgy, but will officially be in communion with the Church. Let's keep praying for unity of all Christians as Jesus intended, and hope that more Anglican groups follow their example.

Here is the full article: http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=35460

Olympic Pride

For the first time I cannot say I have lived in Canada longer than I have lived in the United States. I will be an alien of twelve years this summer, and at the age of twenty-four, this makes my primary national residence split right down the middle of my life timeline.

My husband always bothers me about cheering for Canada in the Olympics and having pride in my home country. He accuses me of living in the past. Since I am currently a US resident, why wouldn't I devote my alliances to America?

The truth is that it is not about how long I have lived at a certain address. It is more than this-- Canada IS my childhood. Canada is my teddy bear, worn out because she was so loved. Canada is the comforting smell of my mom's perfume when she hugs me. It is my cozy and dry clothes, after swimming or skiing. Canada is a delicious homemade dinner after playing outside all day long. It is my first memories of Christmas, surrounded by family, food and a fire burning in the fireplace. In many ways, Canada is home... home to the child in me.

This year, my husband and I will be watching the Olympics from Australia. Of course, Michael had it coming when I asked him if he would be cheering for Oz, since this is where we currently live. I think he is finally starting to understand my commitment to the country on my passport. Who will you be supporting this Olympic season?

I can't stop thinking about this...

"The fruit of silence is prayer,
The fruit of prayer is faith,
The fruit of faith is love,
The fruit of love is service,
The fruit of service is peace."

-Mother Teresa

Sisters on Oprah

Tune in to Oprah next week (February 9th) for an interview with the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist.

For more information about their community, visit http://www.sistersofmary.org.

Holiness for Housewives

I think this passage is applicable to everyone :)

The mother of a family will tell you that she would be able to give herself much more to religion if she did not have the children to look after. A factory worker will compare her chancees with those of a lay sister. "I would be very religious," says the girl in the post office, "if it were not so impersonal, and I could serve God in a family." Everyone creates an imaginary kingdom of God on Earth, and sits outside its walls gazing enviously in its direction. But the kingdom of God is within you. Your purpose is to "seek God and feel after Him...although he be not far from every one of us."

Imagined sanctity is no sanctity. A religion that exsists in hypothetical circumstances cannot endure the pressure of actuality. To presume to a service of God that the present framework of life does not allow is sheer pride. What sort of service can it be that has its only reality in someone else's vocation? How can obedience to God's will (which is all that religion amounts to) rest on a concept that is not being realized and may never be?

If the mother looks upon her children as obstacles to the prompt response to grace, she is missing the whole point. If the children look upon their mother as preventing their development in God's service, then they have not yet begun to love God. If the workers write of their employers as a sheer waste so faras religious perceptions go, and if the mistress looks upon the maid as hired labor and not as a soul redeemed by Christ, then theere is a want of balance.

Your occupations, associates, material surroundings, health, and strength are there, are real, are the solids, are the substance from which the here andnow house of God is to be built. There is nothing concrete in a dream vocation.

Saintly Wisdom

"Though we should fall fifty times a day, let us rise again quite simply, without wasting thought in self-reflections on what we may have done or left undone. Such useless discouragements are often greater faults than the ones that so disturb us.

If we follow His plans for us, though heaven and earth should be overturned, in truth it does not matter whether we suffer or enjoy, so long as the Divine Will be accomplished."

--St. Jane Francoise de Chantal

Ephesians 5

I know I am a single woman but I love Ephesians 5. Of all the wedding reading this one is my favorite and I love when couples choose to have it read at their wedding Mass. I often see women struggle with this teaching and I think it is because many do not understand the passage. When Saint Paul talks about wives being in submission to their husbands he is not talking about domination. To be submissive means to be under the mission of something. This is why women, we need to marry men who have the mission of getting their family to heaven. Then we can trust, not worry, and love the idea of being submissive. I read a reflection on Ephesians 5 today and I think the following paragraph is beautiful.

"Note that St. Paul describes wives’ subjection to their husbands as the prototype for the Church’s subjection to Christ. Does the Church feel cheated because She is formed from the side of Christ? Does the Church feel slighted because She must follow Christ (to Her salvation)? Yet the hairs rise on the necks of feminists when women are made the prototype of the Church. Christ loves the Church. It is the object of His great affection. Women are made prototype to this image of Christ’s affection. How can one take offense? The wife should embrace the honor given her as prototype for the Church: that instrument of Christ, that bride of Christ, through which graces flow — through which all men come to their salvation. Women are the prototype of this worthy bride!"

As a side note, this is what women represent when they wear the veil at Mass. The Church is holy and so must be veiled. Women are a prototype for the Church so they veil themselves at Mass.

In Defense of Getting Married Young

When Joey and I first got engaged, many people started to question us. We were told that we were too young, that we hadn't experienced enough life yet. They told us to "enjoy college life" or "why don't you travel around the world?"
Because both Joey and I are both in school, we were told going to school and working would be to difficult. 


In my opinion, it definitely is not the right choice for everyone. 


That being said, it is important to follow God's will in your life. 


There are a lot of reason for getting married young. When your lucky enough to have met the person you are going to spend the rest of your life at such a young age, and God calls you to the married life, then it's God's timing. 


I remember reading an article when Joey and I were first considering when we should get married. It was called in defense of marrying young. In this article it talked about a lot of reasons that getting married young is not a bad thing. One thing they talked about was how when you are growing up your patterns and  habits change a lot. When you get into college, you start to settle into your habits, but because of not knowing how your rooming situations will change from year to year, some of your patterns and habits can change. Then, once you start living on your own, your patterns and habits really take hold. And once that has happened, it has made it increasingly harder to change your ways. However, when you get married young, your patterns and habits start to form to each others. I've noticed that there are a lot of things that Joey and I like or don't like, and a lot of them tend to be similar. Our habits and patterns tend to fit into each others because we've, in a sense, have grown up together. 


Another thing that was interesting was when people told us to "enjoy college life" or "travel the world". 
I have found that when people say "enjoy college life" or "travel the world", my first reaction is why wouldn't I want to travel the world or enjoy my college life with my spouse? 


At first glance, working and going to school would look like something that could be really difficult. Luckily, we haven't found this to be as difficult as it may sound. While working and going to school and being a wife can be difficult at times, I have found that working gives me something to do while Joey is at work during the day and I am not at school. 


One of the biggest problems that people were questioning us over was money. Obviously, you need money to live, so therefore, it is important. But, it is not the end all be all. We don't need to be in a mansion and have all of those extra courtesies.  Also, marriage is for richer or poorer. Not just when you have the good times rolling, but also when you have been hit so far down that you can't get back up.


Marriage is sacred and holy. It is a man and woman being joined together with God.


And those are a few of the benefits of getting married young.

Praise be to God!!

Thank you all for your prayers! I went to the perinatalogist today for a loooooong ultrasound (I'm talking over an hour!) where I received the good news that the placenta had moved 6.8 cm from the opening and the Doctor said I do not have to have a scheduled c-section!!!! Of course, I still need to confirm this with my Dr. on Friday, but he was hoping it moved 3cm so I'm pretty sure we have the green light to try for a nice, normal birth!!! Maybe God just needed me to be at peace with the idea of a c-section...who knows?? Now the waiting game begins (though apparently I'm already getting lots of contractions...)

Contraceptive Mentality Clear in New Homes

I just spent the afternoon with my mom and brother looking at some new model homes that opened in Irvine. It deeply saddened me to see how present the contraceptive mentality is in this area. The houses had for the most part 3 very small bedrooms and one huge master bedroom. I turned to my brother and said "obviously these builders do not plan for anymore to have more than 3 kids." Yes kids can share rooms but these rooms were so small it would be tough to get two beds in there. $700-900,000 and only enough room for a small family?? As someone who would embrace as many kids as God would bless me with I better start brushing up on my house building skills...

An Important Autobiography

I recently read Somaly Mam's autobiography titled "The Road of Lost Innocence". I was absolutely shocked by her raw and heartbreaking accounts of human trafficking and the sex trade of Southeast Asia. I feel very naive about how unaware I have been about the lack of human dignity found in this area of the world.

Somaly Mam is of mixed race, Kmer and Phnong, and because of her dark skin she faces much discrimination. This broken and unloved child spends her earliest days living on her own in a forest, until a man claiming to be her missing family takes her to his village. There he abuses and beats her, sells her virginity to a store merchant, and eventually sells her to a brothel in Phnom Penh. Somaly Mam describes the horrors found in the brothels and the severe mistreatment of the girls who are enslaved here. She recounts the girls being raped and abused, and even tells of a few girls who were killed. After discovering the advantages of finding foreign "clients", she eventually breaks the cycle and ends up marrying a Frenchman.

When she returns to Cambodia from France, she cofounds a non-profit, AFESIP and the Somaly Mam foundations, which have rescued thousands of enslaved girls-- as young as 5 or 6 years old. She shelters the girls and teaches them employable skills so that they too can rehabilitate and find their place in the world.

Overall, I find this book to be an important read. This truly is an inspiring story of strength and healing, but it also effectively spotlights serious issues that are occuring today all around the world (she mentions incidents even in our nation). The events she has endured are heartbreaking, but just as worst is the fact that this cruelty and horror is very common-- She is not the only one. We need to stand up for these silent girls and women who are being mistreated beyond words, and fight for the culture of life.

"It's still happening, today, tonight. Imagine how many girls have been raped and hit since you started to read this book. My story doesn't matter, except that it stands for their story too, and their stories are why I don't sleep at night. They haunt me." (61)

(I have to add a note that the foundation also distribute birth control to the sex workers due to a growing AIDS crisis. I am not sure whether this is justified protection for these girls, but ultimately I don't think it is a reason not to read the book and be aware of the issue).

Victoria's Abortion Reform Act 2008

A little over a year ago, abortion was "decriminalised" in the State of Victoria (where my husband and I are currently living) in Australia. As a result, abortion is available on demand up to 24 weeks gestation. From 25 weeks and up to birth, abortion is also legal if the woman has the consent of two doctors.

In addition, nurses and pharmacists can distribute drugs to cause the abortion of babies less than 24 weeks gestation, without consulting a medical practitioner. This is also possible after 25 weeks under the supervision of a doctor. The law also requires doctors who have a moral objection to abortion to refer a woman seeking an abortion to a doctor who will perform it.

Basically, Victoria has implemented one of the most liberal abortiona laws in the world. The unborn fetus has virtually no rights. There is no requirement to record abortion procedures or even report the negative effects it can have on women. Women seeking an abortion have no access to accurate information or speak to counselors about the risks involved for them and their child, so that they can make an informed decision.

I find it ironic that in hospitals of this developed country, one doctor may be making a great effort to save the life of a premature baby, while in an another room an infant, perhaps even older than the premature baby can be killed.

I realize this is shocking and discouraging, but I felt the need to write about this, so that we can pray for the Australian women facing difficult pregnancies, and for the health care practitioners that are standing up for life. The law is too new to study the effects it has had on the nation, but I have no doubt that consequences will soon follow.

The Catholic Church of Australia is speaking out against this Reform Act. Even Pope Benedict XIV observed during his visit to Australia for World Youth Day 2008:

"This secularist vision seeks to explain human life and shape society with little or no reference to the creator. Its presents itself as neutral, impation and inclusive to everyone. But in reality, like every ideology, secularism imposes a world-view. If God is irrelevant to public life, then society will be shaped in a godless image. When God is eclipsed, our ability to recognise the natural order, purpose, and the "good" begins to wane. What was ostensibly promoted as human ingenuity soon manifests itself as folly, greed and selfish exploitation".

I think that this message could easily be addressed to the United States as well... Let's pray for Australia's conversion to a culture of life and love, as well as for our own nation, to avoid following in these footsteps.

Going Organic

I am currently reading a book called "The Omnivore's Dilemma." The author of the book takes the reader through the life of a meal from growth to dinner table. I was amazed to find out just how much we have altered the natural growth of food so that it can be produced quicker and cheaper. I won't get into too many details because you can read the book (and you should) but I will tell you a few big things I discovered that have really convicted me. Did you know that cows naturally eat grass but the meat industry has forced them to eat corn instead? It is cheaper and fattens up the cows faster so they can more quickly become steaks and hamburgers. This might not seem like a big deal but it really is. Not surprising at all to me, this makes the meat a lot worse for human health. Something happens to the cow when it is forced to eat something so contrary to its natural diet that alters the nutrition of the meat. Eating grass fed meat and dairy is leaps and bounds better for our health. Imagine that, when we do things the way God designed, they turn out well and when we go against God's design, bad things result. It's almost as if God knew what he was doing.

A second shocking thing to me is the pesticides that are used on produce. The make up of produce has actually been altered by these chemicals. There is a vitamin (for lack of a better word) in vegetables that is extremely healthy for humans. That vitamin is created by the vegetable as a defense against the bugs the chemicals kill. They have found that vegetables treated with pesticides have far less of that vitamin than those grown organically without pesticides. It makes sense that over time the vegetables would stop producing that vitamin because it is not necessary. We are actually making our vegetables less nutritious.

So what does this all matter anyways? I have two thoughts to offer you today. First, I believe that we have dominion over the earth because God told us so but I do not believe that dominion is absolute. We do not have the right to treat God's gifts to us however we want. It is evident that when we abuse our dominion we negatively impact God's plan for his gift of food for us to eat. Second, I think this has big implications for women feeding a family. If you are a wife and mother one of your duties and privileges is feeding your family. Women should be aware of exactly what they are putting into the bodies of their loved ones and be sure that it is the best that you can give them. This is especially important if you have daughters. I have a good friend who is struggling with infertility and the doctors are attributing much of it to all the processed and hormone injected food she has consumed in her life. She now eats a strictly organic diet in the hopes of clearing up some of the issues. Girls are reaching puberty much earlier because they are receiving extra hormones through their milk and meat. Do we really want our nine year old to have the ability to become mothers?

Spring... is that you?

By the by - I like the blog's fresh look.