Marital Infidelity in the media

Does anyone else get bothered by all the marital infidelity in the media? 

Honestly, this never used to bother me, or maybe I just never paid attention to it.   Before I got married I watched lots of shows that had all sorts of cheating and lying and horrible things, but I guess I got desensitized to it.  It's weird, and cool that marriage can re-sensitize you to some things.

I think someone (maybe Kristine?) blogged about something like this in relation to her children.  Something like seeing children hurt makes you automatically sad because you think of your own child and how horrible it would be if he or she was hurt. 

I think the same thing is happening in my mind with marriage. 

Every time I see someone cheat, or flirt on tv or in a movie when they have a husband or wife it makes my skin crawl.  Sometimes even if I'm enjoying the rest of the show I just want to turn it off because it's so offensive.  I think, "Ugh, how could you do that to your husband or wife?  How could you then just turn around and go back to them pretending you didn't cheat on them and lie to their face?"  Ugh.  It grosses me out.   More than that it gives me irrational nightmares.  Not that nightmares are usually rational, but you know what I mean, Jon would never do that (I am also pregnant and pregnancy dreams are usually crazy).  I wish netflix had better descriptions on its movies so you'd know which movies had marital infidelity in them along with other offenses.   

I suppose it's something that comes when you learn to appreciate marriage and your spouse and what this Holy Sacrament means in your life.  I can't even imagine that this happens all the time in real life.  Shame on you mass media for making it seem commonplace, fun, and daring. 

Marital infidelity tears marriages apart, it ruins relationships, it scars husbands, wives, children, and society.  Blech.

It makes the world believe LOVE doesn't really exist anymore.  God is love.  Work the logic friends.  Marriage makes God and his love known to the world in an amazing way.

Let's pray for stronger marriages and those who have been hurt by marital infidelity.  The world needs it.

(I'm starting to meld blogs now, I like the prayer thing on the food blog so I'm going to do it here too.)

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Dear God,

  thank you for Jon my amazing husband.  :)  Help all of us who are married to always be faithful to our marriage vows and to you God.  Bless and comfort those husbands, wives, and families who have been scarred by marital infidelity and help them to once again believe in love and in you as the source of all love.  Amen.

my Vision board? How about a vision list?

So my friend from High School (Natalia) has in the last little while become a really inspired/inspiring mom.  She gave birth to her little Tiana just a few weeks before Mikey got evicted from the Mom motel and (I think) little Tiana has changed her mommy's life.  It seems Nat has become really excited about being a mom and wants to tell everyone else that being a mom can be amazing!

 She's started a business called Tutu Mama and now she's doing a series of vlogs for moms where she is basically trying to light a fire under our bums for whatever inspires us.  Great idea.  I love how energetic and inspired she is!  Way to go Nat! 

Well anyways, she has been asking her blog readers and vlog viewers to make vision boards on pinterest or the old fashioned way a la collage.  Since I neither have the desire to register for another (probably cool, but at this point unpractical for me) time vacuum, and I don't own a plethora of magazines, I'm going to make a rather bland....Vision list!  Ha ha!  Sorry for being so boring Nat.

Here it goes.
Things I'd like to be really good at...or good at again.

Making time for prayer and meditation. Gosh it was so easy in college wasn't it? I just need to drag myself out of bed early in the morning so I can worship my amazing God. It's ridiculous how lazy I am in the morning, really.  If my children could form more coherent sentences to describe my morning behavior, I'd be in trouble.



Playing piano, guitar, sax, flute, violin. - It saddens me a bit to think about how much I used to practice and play some of these instruments and probably how lethargic my fingers and embouchure have gotten in the last few years.  C'est la vie.  My arms are stronger from toting babies around and my vocals have improved from singing many a lullaby.  There's hope yet.

Making sourdough bread. - I know I can feed a sourdough starter, because it bubbles happily.  I know I can make good bread with conventional yeast.  But gosh darn that sourdough just does not taste good, look good or have good texture.  But I WILL get it.  Gah.  Tips?

Blogging more frequently...... Ha ha ha!  I don't know if I actually feel a need to get better at this, or if I just feel bad for the people who have me on their blog roll.  They probably think I've given up, but alas, every 3 or 4 months I do blog.  Hopefully it won't be so long until my next installment.

Couponing.  I am totally inspired by my friends who are saving loads of cash or getting paid to buy stuff.  I know it would be a great asset to our family's budget if I could get toothpaste, toilet paper, or Kleenex for free.  One of these days when I get life a teeny, tiny, bit more organized, I'm going hunting on blogs for those organic and all natural coupons.  Gosh I wish they had coupons for organic produce.  Ha ha! 

Putting pictures into albums or frames.  Some of you from high school and college who saw my room will probably remember seeing photos taped to the walls in creative shapes.  No, I don't still do that in our apartment, but now the poor pictures just sit in boxes, or even worse, in folders on the computer never to be printed out.  At least they're on facebook, right?  I have been blessed with so many amazing experiences in my life and I have taken a lot of pictures of those experiences, but gosh no one else is seeing them!  I suppose it'd help if I could hang a picture straight.  I don't know what it is.  It's like cutting paper, I can't cut straight either.

Canning/jarring fruit and other stuff.  To be honest, we don't have a pantry so this isn't really do-able at the moment unless I want to stock Mikey's closet with jars full of peaches and tomatoes.  But after reading food blog after food blog about canning and "putting up" summer fruits, it makes me want to seize the opportunity and stuff things into jars!  When we have more space, and when Jon and I learn to break things less often, this will happen.

Reading!  I used to read so much, but at the end of the day all I seem to want to do is veg out.  We have so many amazing books on the shelves that could probably really help out my spiritual life and general human maturity.  Seriously, we have a pretty nice looking Catholic library in here and so far Jon is the only one making use of it!  The most reading I've done in the last few months is thumbing through my Medicinal Plants of the world book (reference book, not exactly a book you delve into) checking out herbal remedies. 

It's not an incredibly exciting vision list, but that's as far as my "dreams" go at the moment.  Not exactly glamorous, but exciting in their way.  I don't know about you, but perfecting a stellar sourdough boule would be crazy fantastic! 


But here's another short list of things I will be doing, for sure in the near future.
-Making cheese.  I found a recipe for paneer/queso fresco/cottage cheese on saveur.com that looks super easy and I'm going to make it.  Did you know that those were all the same thing?  Yeah, me neither until I watched a few youtube videos tonight.

-Putting a bunch of photos into an album.  My fabulous friend Annie gave me a coupon code for Snapfish last week.  It's one of those photo sharing/printing websites.  I printed out a huge load of photos from when Clare was born up until now and they will finally be out for viewing pleasure in our living room!  Woohoo!  Thanks Annie!



Any tips for my aspirations?

I'm a doctor mama.

Clare walked into the bathroom this morning with her kiddo laptop and said, "I'm a doctor mama. I'm going to check you."


I said, "You're a doctor just like Dr. Platz?"

She said, "Yes just like Dr. Platz. I'm going to check you 'cuz your heart hurts."

She sat down on the floor and started typing on her toy laptop and said, "Don't move, I'm going to check you."

"Where's your stethoscope?" I said.

"Oh, let me go get it."

She got my old book light which actually does look like a medical instrument and proceeded to check me with it and now she is insisting that I stand on the scale. Ha ha ha!

Should we start saving for Med School now?

how much I LOVE to cook!

I recently sent an email to my sisters in law with some recipes that I make on a regular basis.  I thought I'd share in case anyone was bored with their usual repertoire and in need of new recipes. 
In no particular order.

Yucatan Lime Soup


Jon's fav (we had it at a restaurant on our honeymoon after a snorkeling excursion and he had me find a recipe when we got home! Ha ha!)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/yucatan-lime-soup-recipe/index.html


Filipino Adobo - serve over rice!

1lb chicken (pork ribs or country style ribs work too)
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of vinegar
2 tablespoons of water
4 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
Pepper to taste

Put all the ingredients in a pot (the liquid should come half way up the chicken) and bring up to a boil. Don't stir until it boils (my grandma says that it gets sour if you stir it before it boils). Once it's boiled then stir it and turn the temp down to low and let it simmer for half an hour or more until the chicken or pork is tender. That's it! Enjoy!


Beef Pastel - Filipino Beef Stew (Pie)

This is actually supposed to be a beef stew with a pie top crust. I don't usually make the crust.

Ingredients
1lb stew meat (Mom uses sirloin since she doesn't usually use the slow cooker)
1tbsp butter or olive oil (grandma says use butter)
1/2 c onions
1 can mushroom soup
2 potatoes
2 carrots
1c peas
mushrooms (as much as you like)

Brown the beef lightly. Drain meat and set aside. Heat butter in pan, add onions and beef and saute until the
beef is completely brown. Add the can of mushroom soup (no water). Simmer on low-medium heat until beef is almost tender. Add potatoes and carrots, cook until almost done. Add mushrooms and peas, cook a bit more. Season with salt and pepper.

If you want you can do it in the slow cooker to make the beef really, really tender. Just add the vegetables (besides the onions) into the slow cooker an hour or two before you want it to finish.

Quiche!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/spinach-and-bacon-quiche-recipe/index.html

Beef and Spinach Burritos

http://shallwecook.blogspot.com/2009/02/beef-and-spinach-burritos.html


Tilapia Parmesan  (You know, for Fridays)

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Broiled-Tilapia-Parmesan/Detail.aspx#


Indian Butter Chicken

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?RecipeID=24782&servings=6


Shepherd's Pie

Sorta goes something like this.
Saute ground beef with chopped onions and garlic.
Add veggies (carrots, peas, green beans)
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add a tablespoon of flour and a bit of water to make a bit of gravy-ish substance.
Throw into a casserole dish, top with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with a bit of cheese. Pop it in the oven until everything is warm and the cheese has melted.

Hot wings (or thighs or drumsticks)
Marinate chicken in buttermilk +salt and pepper for an hour or two.
Toss into a bag with breadcrumbs and a bit of whole wheat flour.
Bake in a 400 oven for 30 minutes until just about done.
Toss in 1/4cup of hot sauce and a tablespoon of butter.
Return to oven for 10 minutes.

(Variations) Plain Breaded Chicken or Lemon Pepper Chicken
If you just want to make breaded chicken this works too without the hot sauce step. I've also tried making lemon pepper chicken this way by marinating in lemon juice before, adding lemon pepper seasoning to the breading, then tossing in lemon and butter at the end.

 
I also love to drool at the recipes on Saveur.com  and davidlebovitz.com 
 
I find allrecipes.com very helpful too.  Happy Cooking!!
 
 

..how important Guardian Angels are.

A conversation I had with Clare today while we were getting in the car.

          Clare:  It's (seatbelt) too tight!!

          Me:  Your seatbelt has to be tight.  Your seatbelt protects you while you're in the car.

          Clare:  No, my angel protects me.


Duh.  I should know better.  Ha ha ha!

...that I knew nothing about liturgical music in College.

This post may catch some of you off guard. This post may even upset some of you, but I feel this needs to be said so that I can come clean with all of you. It’s somewhat of a confession. It also lets you in on my educational journey. I’ll get on with it then.


I knew nothing about liturgical music in college. During my junior year I was blessed to have been chosen to serve as peer minister of music. I happen to have some musical abilities and had been in many choirs and church choirs at the time. For some reason this led me to believe that I was qualified to lead music at Mass.

I tell you now, I am not qualified to lead music at Mass. Retreats? Sure. Praise and Worship sessions? Sure. Campfires? Sure. Mass? No, definitely not.

Throughout high school I was part of choir and at my Catholic high school, the choir provided music at Mass. During my 12th grade year our choir changed leadership and our protestant calculus teacher took over the duties of choir director. She was anglican I believe. She was full of faith, full of vibrancy and had a special love for praise and worship music. This is where my interest in Praise and Worship music entered. At first I was hesitant and constantly thinking, “We shouldn’t sing this music, it’s protestant.” At some point I voiced this opinion to one of the teachers at my high school who responded, “So? It speaks about Jesus doesn’t it? It’s Biblical isn’t it? What’s wrong with it?” At the time this answer satisfied me and from there my desire to sing the faith filled ballads grew.

Fast forward to college. At the Campus Ministry Masses where I went to college our choir sang “Catholic Top 40”. You know the songs - On Eagles Wings, You Are Near, One Bread One Body etc. When I was chosen to be the music minister I began to think about “spicing”things up a bit. I decided that I’d add in some praise and worship music because I knew that many people at the campus ministry came from a “Life Teen” background and I knew that “Life Teen” was heavily influenced by praise and worship music. I thought that it would make Mass more inviting and familiar to freshman coming in from “Life Teen” parishes. I also happened to like a lot of PnW songs from my high school experience.

To all of you who I led in song, I apologize. To all of you who questioned my choice of music after I took the music ministry in a new direction, I apologize. I did not know what I was doing.

After I graduated and while I was discerning I came to an appreciation of a few things, namely sacredness and reverence. At the time, I was discerning religious life and the order that seemed to strike me the most was the Benedictine Order. Benedictines are known for (among other things) being contemplatives and for their liturgy. Through spending time with the Benedictine Monks in Mission and the Sisters of St. Walburga I came to an appreciation of chant and polyphony. I began to more fully understand why the Church claims these forms of music as her music. This appreciation grew even more as Jon and I talked and grew closer and has grown even more so in our marriage. Somehow I began to understand how chant and polyphony don’t disrupt the silence that should envelop your soul while at Mass. I began to understand that music at Mass shouldn’t distract you from Christ, it should invite you to focus more precisely on Him who you came to worship.

Last year we were fortunate to go to half a workshop (at my parent’s parish in BC) on Liturgical Music by a UBC Music Grad named Peter Mulholland. We missed the first half which was an overview of Liturgical Music from the beginning of the Church onward. During the second half we learned about what the Popes have said about liturgical music, how it is supposed to be evaluated (how to tell which music is fitting), how liturgical music flows with and out of the liturgy, and we even learned how to chant a bit. It was so incredibly enlightening.

Did you know that the music at Mass should be evaluated by Holiness, Universality and Goodness of Form? Did you know that what the Pope said about liturgical music has been ignored by many Bishops? Did you know that the songs at Mass are supposed to be replacements for the antiphons? Did you know there isn’t really supposed to be a Recessional hymn? Did you know that the Church favors the Organ as the instrument for Mass Music? Did you know that when Readings are chanted there are specific intonations to designate specific statements? Did you know that different readings during Mass have specific chants? How intricate!!! How beautiful!!! How much is being lost in our quick and generic song choices!

Do you know that feeling when you hear the truth? It’s as if you hear Christ’s voice and a light goes on in some room of your soul. That’s what it felt like to discover the beauty of liturgical music in this workshop.

Unfortunately, many people like me have made mistakes (though with good intentions) with Mass music. I can understand that if music sounds nice and if it speaks about Jesus that you could think it’s appropriate for Mass. But if you contrast it with the beautiful music our Church has claimed for herself and pair that with what our Vicar of Christ has said about music, I don’t see how some of the music that is played at Masses today can be accepted.

Mass music is supposed to lift our minds and hearts to God. The Mass is supposed to help us transcend time to meet with Christ himself in the Blessed Sacrament. Our souls should be filled with reverence, solemnity and wonder while we behold Christ at Mass. Doesn’t it seem fitting that the music at mass should be reflective of this?

When I think of playing music with the electric guitar and people dancing around in silliness during Mass as a result of my Music leadership my heart is heavy. I want everyone to learn what I’ve learned. I want all music ministers to know what the Church says. I wish I had bothered to ask, learn, seek, and study what the Church says about Music while I was a music minister. I pray no one was scandalized by the music I chose and sang.

God help me. If only I had more humility. Forgive me for my mistakes!

UIOGD. Sing well, pray well, Christ deserves it.

If you want to know more about liturgical music and read the documents from the Vatican many of them can be found on the Adoremus website.

....why I shouldn't worry about my children's future

For the last couple of weeks I’ve caught the end of the show “The Biggest Loser.” After this show there’s one called “Parenthood.” Last week “Parenthood” looked interesting, so yesterday, I thought I’d stay up and watch an hour of it.


In this episode two parents find out that their daughter (I think she’s supposed to be 16 or 17) has begun having sex with her boyfriend. The girl’s parents find this out in a terrible way when the girl accidentally calls her parents on her iphone by hitting it with her foot during sex. When her parents answered their phone while they were in the car they heard ….something they did not want to hear.

A little later, the girl’s mother confronts her and asks her if she’s having sex with her boyfriend, to which the girl responds, “no, no, no.” A few days later she comes to her mom and says, “Okay yes, we’re having sex.” Her mother responds with a look of shock and begins to ask her if she’s using condoms and “being safe”, if she’s being forced, etc. The girl says she’s using a condom and that she wasn’t being forced, to which her mother responded with more looks of disbelief and nothing else. When her father finds out he avoids her and tells her mother that he doesn’t have anything to say to her. At some point during the show the daughter breaks down and doesn’t understand why she’s being shunned and judged by her father and her mother only says, “we wish that you would have waited”. Her father at some point says, “I don’t ever want you to get hurt.”

This episode at first glance would seem pretty normal for a modern family. As I watched it, I empathised with these people more than I ever have with characters on a television show because I realized that this is the world in which I am parenting my children. I had a few panicked moments of horror saying over and over to myself, “THIS CANNOT, WILL NOT, happen to Clare or Mikey.” I was stuttering in my thoughts with sheer terror at the situation the parents in the show were faced with. I kept thinking, “What would I do? What would I say? How would I react?”

Towards the end of the show the father was talking to his sister (who is a parent of an incredibly rebellious teen who had at that point in the show run away). Of his emotional distance from his daughter he said, “I figured what she needs now is space”, to which his sister responds saying something like “When they think they know better than you and when they push you away that’s when you need to show up, to push harder, to be there. It may be too late for me.” I thought that was great. That’s exactly what a parent needs to do, to show up for their work, to guide their children, to lay down the law and show them how to pull themselves out of the miry clay.

It was strange watching this show as a Catholic parent. I found it odd that the girl’s parents didn’t seem to have any idea of why they were upset by their daughter having pre-marital sex. They also didn’t seem to address what they wanted their daughter to wait for. They merely said, “We wish you would have waited.” These parents seemed ill prepared to talk to their daughter about this situation and the only questions they posed to her were to ask if she was using a condom and if she was being forced. I fear this is the case with many parents today.

Most parents will acknowledge that they are upset about their child losing his or her virgininty, but don’t understand why and don’t know what to say or how to talk to their children. I hope and pray this never happens to us as parents and I feel more and more blessed and hopeful because I know that Jon and I are equipped with Christ’s truth. Thank God for John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. Thank God we have heard the good news and know the freedom that the Church proclaims about human sexuality. God help us when our children hit their teen years (or pre-teen years) and start to feel society’s pressure to have pre-marital sex.

This show just reminded me that we as parents need to pray SO hard for our children. Please pray for us as we struggle to raise up holy souls. Dear God use us in our brokenness and help us to be instruments that bring you glory.

Gah, what a horrible episode. I don’t recommend that show, but I guess I’m glad that watching it stirred up this reflection.

UIOGD.

....that I need prayers this week.

Hi,
just asking for a few quick prayers this week.
Please pray for:
1. Thursday night I'll be starting week 1 of 3 weeks of Theology of the Body with our Confirmation class. We're talking about Masculinity and Femininity.

2. Friday afternoon we leave for the Confirmation Retreat. We're running our own this year and not just joining with another parish. Jon and Clare will be hanging out with Grandma. I'll be taking Mikey with me. I'm not worried about anything on the retreat, but I am worried that Mikey is all of a sudden going to go out of character and be a psycho, screaming, noisy baby. Lots of prayers please.

3. Please pray for our teens this weekend as they learn how and why to defend the Kingdom of God.

Thanks!!!

UIOGD.

...that Holy is not the same as "okay".

Do you ever have conversations in your head? Do you ever test out conversations and have them play out in your mind? I have been doing this a lot lately, mainly because I've been thinking a lot about a few big decisions we'll have to make when the kids get older. The decision I've been thinking a lot about lately is school. But before I get into that, let me give you some background.

For the past year I have had the honor (or should I write honour? Hee hee!) of being on the Seattle Archdiocese's Womens commission for Marriage and the Family. It's basically a committee of women and a few married couples who have been nominated and approved to serve the Archbishop in finding out what Catholic Married couples and Families in the Seattle Archdiocese need most. So we've been talking a lot about raising up good and holy Catholic families by supporting and properly catechising those entering Catholic Marriage. Etc, etc.

During the preparation of our document for the Archbishop we've come across the idea of raising saints. I was told, by my good friend Fr. Oakland, at Michael's baptism that my job (and Jon's) as a parent is to raise up Michael as a saint. This is no easy task or light order. That statement hit me like a ton of bricks. Thanks Father! I need to raise saints? I need to do my best to make Clare and Michael saints? Yikes! I mean, I knew this when I got married, but it hit me in a different way, a more tangible way at Michael's baptism when Father res-iterated our duties as good Catholic parents.

So back to the conversation in my head. I've been thinking about what to do about Clare's schooling, since we'll be headed that way in a few years. I really don't want her to go to public school because that's not something I did for elementary school, nor is it something Jon did.

My personal preference would be to find her a wonderful Catholic school for her to attend that we could afford. This is no small feat, since Catholic schools are incredibly expensive here. They were a large chunk of money in Canada where I grew up, but at least there, they were subsidized by the government. Here people pay almost double of what my mom did.

Then.....there was the third option. The option that I didn't want to acknowledge at all. The option that I wasn't open to at all. The option that I have so many horrible stereotypes in my own head about. Homeschooling.

Now I know many people who are going to homeschooling route. Many of them are cool, young, trendy, Catholic moms my age. Many of them have degrees. Heck, I even know some amazing young adults who were home schooled. I love and respect these people. But for some reason the word homeschooling in my head just conjures up images of denim jumpers, awkward children, cultish people and snooty families.

I have almost convinced myself that it's okay though. Almost.
So the conversation that was going on in my head last night as I was brushing my teeth, was me trying to convince person x (anyone really, probably more myself) that homeschooling is the best option. Here's how the conversation played out:

person x: What the heck? Why would you home school your kids?

Me: Because right now it seems like the best option financially and spiritually.

person x: Why don't you just send them to public school?

Me: because I don't want them to be so influenced by the junk that's floating around in our culture and I want them to be solid in their faith.

person x: But there are lots of kids that go to public school that turn out okay.

Me: But that's just it. I don't want my kids to be "okay".

And this is where the conversation stops and my reflection begins again. Whenever I hear people say, "but we turned out okay. You turned out okay." I used to think, "yeah ....but" and then I never had a quick answer. The answer is this: I don't want my kids to be "okay" I want them to be Holy. I want my kids to be the least messed up emotionally and spiritually as they can possibly be. If this means I have to home school them so that they know their faith, trust their parents, and don't buy into the lies our culture tells them about...well everything, then so be it. If God gives me another wonderful option, then Thanks God!


Anyways. I thought I would share my insane conversations. Sometimes they're pretty good.

Oh, and speaking of another option. Ha ha! Last night, I heard about this amazing school, which
happens to have lower tuition, is less than 20 minutes away from us, and just happens to be so solidly Catholic that they teach the children LATIN. Crazy eh? I wonder if this is one of those Abraham type situations where God tests you to the breaking point and just says, "Okay, nevermind. I just wanted to see if you'd be obedient." and then hands you what you were looking for all along. I feel like that happens to me a lot.

Here's the link for that school.

Veritas Academy Kenmore, WA

UIOGD

...how beautifully you created the female body.

Last weekend Jon and I were listening to a great cd while driving to my parent's house. It was a talk given by Dr. Alice von Hildebrand. The talk was entitled "Women as the Guardians of Purity."
You can click on the title for the text. **(later note. This is not the exact text, but the bulk of the talk is here). You can order the cd (for $1) here. It was a very refreshing and enlightening talk.

I sometimes slump into the "I know it all" sort of mentality when it comes to things like what the Church teaches about human sexuality, because I've taught it to a few teenagers a few times. Then I listen to something like this by a real theologian and I realize how little I actually know. (Maybe the title of this post should be" ....how little I know." Heh.)

A few things that struck me about the talk were how she talked about the female organs being hidden and veiled. Now if you follow along with me, in the Theology of the Body we know that the female body is supposed to be an archetype for humanity and the Church. So our bodies are considered sacred and holy and show the world that we are supposed to be recipients of Christ and bear forth fruit to the world like Mary. This is pretty amazing.

So imagine my surprise when Alice Von Hildebrand makes this even more amazing by going further. She says that biologically the female organs are veiled. In medical terminology they are veiled by a membrane called a hymen. She says that medically there is no reason for the hymen. I haven't really checked up on it, but I'll take her word for it. So we all know when this is broken in the female body. Okay... yes. But think about this.

When Christ dies on the cross his last words are "consummatem est" or "it is consummated". He was referring to His marriage to the Church. Now what happens after this? The veil of the temple is torn in two. The (now I'm quoting Fr. Frank Schuster) profanis (common people) and the fanis (sacred) are now free to mingle because Christ has conquered death. He is now joined to his bride the Church. We are now free to live eternally with God if we so choose.

At this point, my brain pretty much explodes. Really exciting. How cool is that? The female body is such a well designed sign. God did a lot of planning! How cool is it when we can understand some of his mysterious and glorious ways!!

Well, I hope I made your brain explode for the day. Theology of the Body is really amazing.

Ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus.

Contemplating the title of the blog

I've been thinking a lot about the title of my blog and it served its purpose very well while I was discerning my vocation, but I think lately it's been taking a back seat. I'd like to revive the name a bit by starting my new posts as continuations of the sentence. We'll see how well this works. For those of you who actually read my blog, you know I'm not the best at updates on .....anything really. So hopefully this new mini-resolution will help me keep the blog on my mind.