"Your hottest outfit is your cassock." - Chiara
You are leaving for Scotland in less than 24 hours and you have not packed, have not checked the weather, have exchanged no money and have only a vague idea where your passport is but...you DO know where every single Tridentine Rite Mass in all of the UK is and have telephone numbers for several FSSP priests. True story.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Regret does not a rape victim make...
http://feministing.com/archives/008670.html#comments
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-mac_donald24feb24,0,7810608,full.story
More to come on this later. For now, read the article and the comments on feministing.com. The article is excellent.
The comments on feministing on the other hand, make me want to scream, cry and pray for a really long time...probably in that order.
How did feminism get so warped?
How did feminists move from the vision of empowering women to this?
To encouraging women to behave in ways harmful to their physical, mental and spiritual health? (Dressing immodestly, drinking to excess, engaging in promiscuous behavior?)
To making women once again, the victim because of their anatomy?
To demonizing all men?
To praising women when they act in a certain way, but condemning men when they act in the same way?
To delegitimizing the experience of women who suffer from the heinous crime of rape?
The list goes on. When will we realize that we cannot encourage women to engage in sinful behavior and then blame men when the women are hurt by their sins?? When will we acknowledge that women are hurting because what they are doing is wrong and is harmful to themselves?
Jennifer Roback Morse explained that in today's culture, our only criterion for sex to be "good" is that it is consensual. So when women end up feeling hurt and confused after a sexual experience, when they have an experience that, in their judgment was "bad," they assume it must not have been consensual. If we admitted that promiscuous and unchaste sex is damaging, women would be able to understand why their experiences leave them in so much pain. Not because they were non-consensual, but because by their very nature they are harmful.
I am not a "rape apologist" as the girls who comment on feministing love to call it. Rather, I am trying to support, respect and give validation to all those women who truly have been raped, especially those whom I have known personally. I refuse to let their horrific experiences be lumped in with girls who get too drunk to function, DECIDE to have sex with a boy and then cry rape in the morning.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-mac_donald24feb24,0,7810608,full.story
More to come on this later. For now, read the article and the comments on feministing.com. The article is excellent.
The comments on feministing on the other hand, make me want to scream, cry and pray for a really long time...probably in that order.
How did feminism get so warped?
How did feminists move from the vision of empowering women to this?
To encouraging women to behave in ways harmful to their physical, mental and spiritual health? (Dressing immodestly, drinking to excess, engaging in promiscuous behavior?)
To making women once again, the victim because of their anatomy?
To demonizing all men?
To praising women when they act in a certain way, but condemning men when they act in the same way?
To delegitimizing the experience of women who suffer from the heinous crime of rape?
The list goes on. When will we realize that we cannot encourage women to engage in sinful behavior and then blame men when the women are hurt by their sins?? When will we acknowledge that women are hurting because what they are doing is wrong and is harmful to themselves?
Jennifer Roback Morse explained that in today's culture, our only criterion for sex to be "good" is that it is consensual. So when women end up feeling hurt and confused after a sexual experience, when they have an experience that, in their judgment was "bad," they assume it must not have been consensual. If we admitted that promiscuous and unchaste sex is damaging, women would be able to understand why their experiences leave them in so much pain. Not because they were non-consensual, but because by their very nature they are harmful.
I am not a "rape apologist" as the girls who comment on feministing love to call it. Rather, I am trying to support, respect and give validation to all those women who truly have been raped, especially those whom I have known personally. I refuse to let their horrific experiences be lumped in with girls who get too drunk to function, DECIDE to have sex with a boy and then cry rape in the morning.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
On Fasting (what makes it worth something...)
POST FROM A FRIEND:
Not to knock physical penance, as i am sure that that has its time and place. But just a reminder that there is more to Lent than giving up chocolate. A Challenge? Yes. Easy? No. Worth it? Most def.
Isaiah 53:
2 They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God.
"Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?" Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.
...
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD'S holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice--
Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
RESPONSE:
I think that this reinforces the idea of the tripod. Certainly fasting and abstinence from certain foods is worthless when not done in conjunction with prayer and almsgiving.
The question is - why do we fast? Penance is well and good, but there are other ways in which fasting brings us closer to God. Personally, I have a few reasons. Everything in life, especially food, comes relatively easily to me, and I take my eating habits for granted. Fasting reminds me that I can do without. Fasting for me includes not just the dietary restrictions, but, for example, no unnecessary shopping as well. Another reason is that by depriving oneself, and by struggling a little, we are forced to rely more heavily than usual on God, or rather, we are reminded that we rely on Him 100%.
I don't know if you read the Pope's Lenten Address for this year, but I think your post is fitting. He concentrated on the almsgiving aspect of Lent. In a literal sense, fasting allows us to free up some money to give towards helping the poor and increased prayer can also include increased prayer for others.
PS some more on Biblical fasting and how it can bring us closer to the Lord: http://www.new-life.net/fasting.htm
Not to knock physical penance, as i am sure that that has its time and place. But just a reminder that there is more to Lent than giving up chocolate. A Challenge? Yes. Easy? No. Worth it? Most def.
Isaiah 53:
2 They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God.
"Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?" Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.
...
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD'S holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice--
Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
RESPONSE:
I think that this reinforces the idea of the tripod. Certainly fasting and abstinence from certain foods is worthless when not done in conjunction with prayer and almsgiving.
The question is - why do we fast? Penance is well and good, but there are other ways in which fasting brings us closer to God. Personally, I have a few reasons. Everything in life, especially food, comes relatively easily to me, and I take my eating habits for granted. Fasting reminds me that I can do without. Fasting for me includes not just the dietary restrictions, but, for example, no unnecessary shopping as well. Another reason is that by depriving oneself, and by struggling a little, we are forced to rely more heavily than usual on God, or rather, we are reminded that we rely on Him 100%.
I don't know if you read the Pope's Lenten Address for this year, but I think your post is fitting. He concentrated on the almsgiving aspect of Lent. In a literal sense, fasting allows us to free up some money to give towards helping the poor and increased prayer can also include increased prayer for others.
PS some more on Biblical fasting and how it can bring us closer to the Lord: http://www.new-life.net/fasting.htm
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
You might be a Catholic nerd if...
... you are distressed because the hymn you have stuck in your head is not liturgically appropriate.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
More Hildegard
Therefore I compare them to stupid craftsmen who are building a large building, yet do not follow the wisdom of previous craftsmen who are well-trained in the use of their tools and knowledgeable about how to plan and raise a building; but they carelessly and foolishly trust in themselves, wanting to excel others in wisdom, and build their buildings such that they will be shaken by storms and thrown down by the winds. For they will not be built on rock, but on sand.
And thus do those who trust to themselves in their pride and seek to seem wiser than the early Fathers; they do not want to walk according to their covenant, but lay down shaky laws for themselves at their own will, and thus, leaning not on Christ but on their own unstable conduct, they are often stirred up to sin by the temptations of the Devil. Scivias, Book 2, Vision 5
I desire the faithful person to be humble and content with what his predecessors instituted for him. Scivias, Book 2, Vision 5
And one who despairs of his sins and believes that their great weight makes it impossible for him to be saved is faithless; he shall not attain to life, for he contradicts the One Who gives life to all. But is any of these is led by penitence and truly seeks Me, he shall find Me, for I reject no one who comes to me with a sincere heart. Scivias, Book 2, Vision 5
And thus do those who trust to themselves in their pride and seek to seem wiser than the early Fathers; they do not want to walk according to their covenant, but lay down shaky laws for themselves at their own will, and thus, leaning not on Christ but on their own unstable conduct, they are often stirred up to sin by the temptations of the Devil. Scivias, Book 2, Vision 5
I desire the faithful person to be humble and content with what his predecessors instituted for him. Scivias, Book 2, Vision 5
And one who despairs of his sins and believes that their great weight makes it impossible for him to be saved is faithless; he shall not attain to life, for he contradicts the One Who gives life to all. But is any of these is led by penitence and truly seeks Me, he shall find Me, for I reject no one who comes to me with a sincere heart. Scivias, Book 2, Vision 5
I mean, when you bump into someone in front of the tilapia fish...
... you know there's something greater behind it all.
AKA Lenten plans:
So Lent begins tomorrow. Very exciting. A friend of mine and I have decided to follow the Black Fast for Lent for a number of reasons. My only modification? "Crust of bread" definitely means "luna bar." : ) In addition, no shopping.
NEW ADVENT: The Black Fast
This form of fasting, the most rigorous in the history of church legislation, was marked by austerity regarding the quantity and quality of food permitted on fasting days as well as the time wherein such food might be legitimately taken.
In the first place more than one meal was strictly prohibited. At this meal flesh meat, eggs, butter, cheese, and milk were interdicted (Gregory I, Decretals IV, cap. vi; Trullan Synod, Canon 56). Besides these restrictions abstinence from wine, specially during Lent, was enjoined (Thomassin, Traité des jeûnes de l'Eglise, II, vii). Furthermore, during Holy Week the fare consisted of bread, salt, herbs, and water (Laymann, Theologia Moralis, Tr. VIII; De observatione jejuniorum, i). Finally, this meal was not allowed until sunset. St. Ambrose (De Elia et jejunio, sermo vii, in Psalm CXVIII), St. Chrysostom (Homil. iv in Genesim), St. Basil (Oratio i, De jejunio) furnish unequivocal testimony concerning the three characteristics of the black fast. The keynote of their teaching is sounded by St. Bernard (Sermo. iii, no. 1, De Quadragesima), when he says "hitherto we have fasted only until none" (3 p.m.) "whereas, now" (during Lent) "kinds and princes, clergy and laity, rich and poor will fast until evening". It is quite certain that the days of Lent (Muller, Theologia Moralis, II, Lib. II, Tr. ii, sect. 165, no. 11) as well as those preceding ordination were marked by the black fast. This regime continued until the tenth century when the custom of taking the only meal of the day at three o'clock was introduced (Thomassin, loc. cit.). In the fourteenth century the hour of taking this meal was changed to noon-day (Muller, loc. cit.). Shortly afterwards the practice of taking a collation in the evening began to gain ground (Thomassin, op. cit., II, xi). Finally, the custom of taking a crust of bread and some coffee in the morning was introduced in the early part of the nineteenth century. During the past fifty years, owing to ever changing circumstances of time and place, the Church has gradually relaxed the severity of penitential requirements, so that now little more than a vestige of former rigour obtains.
As for prayer, I'm thinking Mass every day, Confession and Adoration once a week. Plus of course all those manifold daily prayer sessions when my stomach is grumbling because vegan food is, well, not so amazing.
As for almsgiving, I'm still working this one out. I'm hoping that my volunteer activities for this semester pan out and that I will soon be baby sitting infants or tutoring young children or both. But as for something special...I don't know. Giving the money I save fasting to the poor seems to easy, and there isn't much caritas in it... many prayers tonight will hopefully put me on the right track for tomorrow! : )
AKA Lenten plans:
So Lent begins tomorrow. Very exciting. A friend of mine and I have decided to follow the Black Fast for Lent for a number of reasons. My only modification? "Crust of bread" definitely means "luna bar." : ) In addition, no shopping.
NEW ADVENT: The Black Fast
This form of fasting, the most rigorous in the history of church legislation, was marked by austerity regarding the quantity and quality of food permitted on fasting days as well as the time wherein such food might be legitimately taken.
In the first place more than one meal was strictly prohibited. At this meal flesh meat, eggs, butter, cheese, and milk were interdicted (Gregory I, Decretals IV, cap. vi; Trullan Synod, Canon 56). Besides these restrictions abstinence from wine, specially during Lent, was enjoined (Thomassin, Traité des jeûnes de l'Eglise, II, vii). Furthermore, during Holy Week the fare consisted of bread, salt, herbs, and water (Laymann, Theologia Moralis, Tr. VIII; De observatione jejuniorum, i). Finally, this meal was not allowed until sunset. St. Ambrose (De Elia et jejunio, sermo vii, in Psalm CXVIII), St. Chrysostom (Homil. iv in Genesim), St. Basil (Oratio i, De jejunio) furnish unequivocal testimony concerning the three characteristics of the black fast. The keynote of their teaching is sounded by St. Bernard (Sermo. iii, no. 1, De Quadragesima), when he says "hitherto we have fasted only until none" (3 p.m.) "whereas, now" (during Lent) "kinds and princes, clergy and laity, rich and poor will fast until evening". It is quite certain that the days of Lent (Muller, Theologia Moralis, II, Lib. II, Tr. ii, sect. 165, no. 11) as well as those preceding ordination were marked by the black fast. This regime continued until the tenth century when the custom of taking the only meal of the day at three o'clock was introduced (Thomassin, loc. cit.). In the fourteenth century the hour of taking this meal was changed to noon-day (Muller, loc. cit.). Shortly afterwards the practice of taking a collation in the evening began to gain ground (Thomassin, op. cit., II, xi). Finally, the custom of taking a crust of bread and some coffee in the morning was introduced in the early part of the nineteenth century. During the past fifty years, owing to ever changing circumstances of time and place, the Church has gradually relaxed the severity of penitential requirements, so that now little more than a vestige of former rigour obtains.
As for prayer, I'm thinking Mass every day, Confession and Adoration once a week. Plus of course all those manifold daily prayer sessions when my stomach is grumbling because vegan food is, well, not so amazing.
As for almsgiving, I'm still working this one out. I'm hoping that my volunteer activities for this semester pan out and that I will soon be baby sitting infants or tutoring young children or both. But as for something special...I don't know. Giving the money I save fasting to the poor seems to easy, and there isn't much caritas in it... many prayers tonight will hopefully put me on the right track for tomorrow! : )
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