At laaaaast!!!!

The blog is now working again. Deo Gratias!  Unfortunately this is a busy time of year, but hopefully between the two of us, we will be able to start making more frequent posts again. Thank you all for being so patient!

Still having technical difficulties... I think I'm going to make a trip into town soon and see if I can get it to work there. Thanks for your patience!

We're very sorry for not posting anything as of late. We are currently having technical difficulties, which won't allow us to type anything more than a title. So sorry! Thank you for being patient! God bless you all!

Native Land

Native Land

by
Sir Walter Scott

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung

Cardinal Burke

I found this over at Orbis Catholicus Secundus. Thanks for sharing this, JPSonnen!

Calling all Catholics between the ages of 18-35!!!

"Many people have asked the Canons of the Institute when they would be offering a program of solid spiritual, doctrinal and moral formation geared specifically to young adults. When young people leave home for the first time and begin to study or work with those who do not know Christ, their faith is quickly put to the test. To them especially apply the words of Scripture: Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you (1 Pt 3:15).

The day has arrived! The Institute of Christ the King now presents Sursum Corda, a nationwide initiative to foster the spiritual lives of the young adults in our apostolates. For the third year in a row, Sursum Corda is offering a social and spiritual weekend for young people ages 18 and up, June 21-24, 2013. The event will be held on the beautiful grounds of Mundelein Seminary in Illinois. Canon Aaron Huberfeld, Rector of St. Mary's Oratory in Wausau, will be the chaplain for the camp, and several other canons are sure to be there as well.
 

The program includes daily Mass, prayer in common and opportunity for confession, faith formation classes and discussions, and other social activities for the young men and women. The weekend begins with check-in at 3:00 PM on Friday, June 21 at Mundelein and will end on Monday, June 24 at 12:00 PM.

The cost is $250 per person with a $100 deposit required at registration. The number of participants is limited, so register today!

See pictures from last year's Sursum Corda weekend, which was a tremendous success."

           -ICKSP

Will you answer the call? How will you answer the call? Don't just say no; pray and think about it for awhile. But don't wait too long! Moderation in all things...including prudence.

We Have Been Awarded!

First of all, we thank Rose M. from The Golden Road for awarding us!  We're so honored (...and apologetic for not getting this published sooner!)!!!

Secondly, since there are two of us answering these questions, we'll be doing it in two colors.  Blue for Madeline, and Orange for Esther.

So, here we go!

Rules

*Acknowledge the person who passed the award to you and provide their link.
*Include the award logo on your blog.
*Answer the ten questions posted below.
*Make up your own ten questions for the next people.
*Nominate blogs and link those you have especially enjoyed reading. The number you can select is up to you.
*Notify each individual that you have nominated them.

1.  What is your favourite accent? (British, Irish, Scottish, etc.) 

That is a very difficult question!  I love all accents!  But at the moment, I'd have to say Spanish... think Antonio Banderas... I love it!  I also dearly love the three mentioned in the question. 

I don't know exactly how to describe my favorite accent, but it belongs to an incredible friend.

2.  Your house is on fire; you have 60 seconds.  What is the one thing that you grab? (Yes, I stole this question from the movie Leap Year.  If you haven't seen it, you should.  It is marvelous.)

Aside from a family member, whatever books I could carry!

My wooden Crucifix.

3.  You are taking a ramble through the woods heedless of time or place.   Suddenly, you find yourself miserably lost.  What do you do?  (Hysteria is a acceptable option.)

Been there...  I pretty much lost it, and began looking around in terror for a landmark.  Then my friend who was with me (you know who you are) and I stopped and stayed put till we heard my Mom calling.  So I guess my answer would have to be stay where I am so as not to get more lost, and hope someone comes and finds me.

I would start praying to St. Christopher and St. Joseph!

4.  What is your worst fear?

I only have two fears.  One is lice... I know.  Weird.  The other is a fear of things I can't see.  (For example, spiders don't bother me at all until I know there is one alive somewhere in my vicinity, but I can't see it at the moment.  Then the panic sets in.)

God.

Haha! That response was direct and to the point.

5.  If you could instantaneously be fluent in one language, which would it be?

Latin.  Or Italian.  I would love to speak Italian.

 French...that would be really nice.

6.  Would you rather have plain vanilla/chocolate ice cream or a sundae with all the toppings?

Sundae with all the toppings!

That depends on what I feel like at the moment, but right now (being Good Friday) I would take all the above.

(That one's a little outdated now, sis... :-))

7.  Would you rather watch a scary movie while at home alone or ride the largest roller coaster in the world?

Ouch!  I would assume "neither" isn't an option?  I guess I'd have to go with the movie.  I'm not fond of sickness in my stomach.

 I won't do either...I know my limits :D

8.  You're stranded on an island for a year.  Choose one fictional character to have on the island with you.

AH!  That's like asking who my favorite literary character is and I never could answer that question!  Awwww man!  Let's see...  Robinson Crusoe comes to mind automatically, but I've never read it, and really know nothing about him, so I'll choose someone I know and love.  I think I would go with Jeeves.  He would see that I was well cared for no matter what the situation was (as we have a fine example of in Season Four of the TV series "Jeeves & Wooster" in the episode "Bridegroom Wanted").  Can I take Wooster, too?  Just for the fun of it? 

That is a very difficult question... I'm going to have to go with Fr. Anthony Norris from "By what Authority?"  I couldn't go a year without the Sacraments. Hey, Madeleine, if you can take Wooster surely I can take Isabell...

Haha!!!  Alright... I guess...

9.  What is one of the most thrilling things you have ever done?

I've never done anything thrilling.  I guess standing on an overhanging rock/cliff/thing overlooking a mountain range in Virginia.  That's about as close to thrilling as I can get...

I went to the Good Friday Liturgy at an Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest apostolate where they sang the Miserere Mei (I'll post a link to that later)

10.  You are swimming with a group of friends when a slashing fight breaks out, describe your methods of warfare and survival.

I try to stay back and be unnoticed till they all do one another in.  (It works.  I know.  I won a mean snowball fight that way! :-))  Then I run.

I would probably focus on the survival thing...fights amongst friends are just uuuuugly! Or at least so I have heard, I haven't ever experienced a real one.

We tag:

Alexandra at The Breathings of My Heart 

The Ladies at Dear Philothea

Clare Ryan at The Catholic Young Woman
The Leaguettes at The Daydream

1.  What is your favorite book (Or books... I'll be generous ;))?  Why?

2.  If you could meet anyone (real) you wanted, past/present/future, who would you choose?

3.  If you could live in a fairy tale, which would you choose?

4.  You've discovered a time machine!  When and where are you going?  Why?

5.  Your favorite movie comes to life around you.  Would you love it, or hate it?  What is the movie?

6.  What is your happiest memory?

7.  What is your favorite season?

8.  To which Middle-earth race do you belong?

9.  BBC automatically brings to mind _______?

10.  What is the last book you read?

Feast of the Annunciation

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary

 

And she conceived of the Holy Ghost

 

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.

 

Behold the handmaid of the Lord

 

Be it done unto me according to Thy word

		Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.
		And the Word was made Flesh.
		And dwelt among us.
		Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.
		Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
		That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
		Let us pray. Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that, we to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an Angel, may by His Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord.
		Amen.

 



"I have trodden the winepress alone..."

Why, then, is thine apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that tread in the winepress?  I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me; I have trampled on them in my indignation and have trodden them down in my wrath; and their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all mine apparel.  For a day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my redemption is come.  I looked about and there was none to help: I sought, and there was none to give aid: and mine own arm hath saved for me, and mine indignation itself hath helped me.

~ Taken from the Lesson in the Mass for Wednesday in Holy Week

First Post

Hello to all of our readers who have obviously not joined because of me. :-D You probably wouldn't guess that I was the one who actually initiated the starting of this blog, but it's true (even that would have eventually happened without my help). I apologize for my lack of contribution, but I see that Madeleine has done a beautiful job without help. She has even threatened to kick me off if I didn't post something (jokingly of course). SO here I am at last. Someday I will post something hopefully more interesting to read, or if it isn't interesting maybe it will at least be amusing, if not amusing, maybe it will at least be one of those things that you're just reading because- nobody really knows why. You know those times when you're just sitting in front of the computer and you don't really have anything else you want to do, but you don't have the will to get off, so you start reading things for no reason...and the hours roll by...uh huh! that's what I'm talking about.

Anyway, so, yes, this is me. I hope to contribute more in the future and that I will not make any of you want to leave. Please forgive my 3 am post. Better late than never, right? Maybe you don't agree...

God bless you all and I hope you have a blessed and fruitful last week of Lent.

-Esther

P.S. I will be changing my name in the very near future to something else.

The Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ

God's timing is amazing! Yesterday, I was thinking (yes, I know.... dangerous occupation.... I should try to refrain from indulging...), and I don't know why it suddenly hit me with such force - I've always known that Christ's Passion is an ongoing thing - but I guess I thought of it in a different way or something.  Anyway, it suddenly hit home to me that we are adding to Christ's Passion right now.  Every time we sin now, we are making his sufferings - over a 2,000 year time gap - worse.  Mind blowing.  So I was mulling over this, and trying to mentally compose a post on the thought.  Last night I was using The Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ for a rosary meditation to help me concentrate, and I read the following words to which I can add nothing:  

"We read in history that several penitents being enlightened by divine light to see the malice of their sins, have died of pure sorrow for them. Oh, what torment, then, must not the heart of Jesus endure at the sight of all the sins of the world, of all the blasphemies, sacrileges, acts of impurity, and all the other crimes which should be committed by men after his death, every one of which, like a wild beast, tore his heart separately by its own malice? Wherefore our afflicted Lord, during his agony in the garden, exclaimed, Is this, therefore, O men, the reward that you render me for my immeasurable love? Oh, if I could only see that, grateful for my affection, you gave up sin and began to love me, with what delight should I not hasten to die for you! But to behold, after all my sufferings, so many sins; after so much love, such ingratitude; — this is what afflicts me the most, makes me sorrowful even unto death, and makes me sweat pure blood: And His sweat became as drops of blood trickling down upon the ground.  So that, according to the Evangelist, this bloody sweat was so copious that it first bathed all the vestments of our Blessed Redeemer, and then came forth in quantity and bathed the ground.

"Ah, my loving Jesus, I do not behold in this garden either scourges or thorns or nails that pierce Thee; how, then, is it that I see Thee all bathed in blood from Thy head to Thy feet? Alas, my sins were the cruel press which, by dint of affliction and sorrow, drew so much blood from Thy heart. I was, then, one of Thy most cruel executioners, who contributed the most to crucify Thee with my sins. It is certain that, if I had sinned less, Thou, my Jesus, wouldst have suffered less. As much pleasure, therefore, as I have taken in offending Thee, so much the more did I increase the sorrow of Thy heart, already full of anguish. How, then, does not this thought make me die of grief, when I see that I have repaid the love Thou hast shown me in Thy Passion by adding to Thy sorrow and suffering? I, then, have tormented this heart, so loving and so worthy of love, which has shown so much love to me. My Lord, since I have now no other means left of consoling Thee than to weep over my offences towards Thee, I will now, my Jesus, sorrow for them and lament over them with my whole heart. Oh, give me, I pray Thee, so great sorrow for them as may make me to my last breath weep over the displeasure I have caused Thee, my God, my Love my All."

Etiquette

Hello, Everyone! 

I really do apologize (again!) for my remissness in posting on this blog!  I'm trying to put posts together on a few topics, all of which are about books very dear to my heart, and all of which (on the very account of my attachment to them) require some extra thought.  Maybe I should try concentrating on one at a time, huh? ;)  Also, I believe my fellow contributor, Esther, is finally planning to come to life and actually contribute! ... (It's about time!) ... just in case you were doubting her actual existence!

In the mean time...

Rose M. contributed the insightful post Etiquette of Today, or the Lack Thereof on Clare Ryan's blog The Catholic Young Woman, and since it had a great deal to do with the topic of my own most recent contribution here, I would like share it with you!  Enjoy!

Where Have All the Gentlemen Gone?

 "Where have all the gentlemen gone?"  It's a question I've asked myself many times.  That's the kind of man I want.  A man who can lead.  A man I can trust.  A classy man.  In a world that makes heroes out of vampires, werewolves, and fire breathing dragons, where are the Men?

The feminists took a wonderful and beautiful thing from us when they told our men that we didn't need them anymore.  It was the feminist, and no one else who decided that woman was inferior to man.  Chesterton in his book What's Wrong with the World says of woman's domestic calling:

"Woman must be a cook, but not a competitive cook; a school-mistress, but not a competitive school-mistress; a house decorator, but not a competitive house-decorator; a dressmaker, but not a competitive dressmaker. She should have not one trade but twenty hobbies; she, unlike the man, may develop all her second bests. This is what has been really aimed at from the first in what is called the seclusion, or even the oppression, of women. Women were not kept at home in order to keep them narrow; on the contrary, they were kept at home in order to keep them broad. The world outside the home was one mass of narrowness, a maze of cramped paths, a madhouse of monomaniacs. It was only by partly limiting and protecting the woman that she was enabled to play at five or six professions and so come almost as near to God as the child when he plays at a hundred trades. But the woman’s professions, unlike the child’s, were all truly and almost terribly fruitful."

Misunderstanding the meaning of equality, the feminists took away our womanly purpose and dignity, and replaced it with the questionable privilege of sharing the work world and having the almighty career.  They liberated us into chains of masculinity.  They refused to be treated with the special consideration that is due to womanhood, and our men took the hint.  We have been treated like one of the guys.  But there is good news.

Dominic de Souza of The Catholic Author in his post Not GENTLEmen, but gentleMEN says,

"Men aren’t only chivalrous because they should be, in an ideal world. They don’t rise above their natures just because it makes them feel better. Women EXPECT it of them."

In another post, Beauty Beheld, Mr. de Souza says the following of woman:

"She is attitude and soul, intelligence and intuition – a complete package. And she is powerful. She has power beyond imagining in her charm, attention and most often, her smile. A smile on a woman’s face is a solvent to melt the hardest wall. The power these glorious creatures hold seems insane. Men have struggled to understand why a determined, beautiful and principled woman can cut through any armor and touch his heart. Men don’t let anyone get in there, especially not other men. Our beating heart is usually surrounded by a wall of indifference, cynicism or defence.

"All of that is pure paper to a good woman, who can go right through our armor the way Christ walked through walls."

Colleen Hammond in her book Dressing with Dignity, says,

"Genuine, God-given, inner femininity appeals to men.  It stirs up in them their genuine. innate masculinity and the desire to protect, revere and defend the gentle sex."

We have the ability to inspire men to greater and better things.  Rather than ask where all of the real men are, we should look closer to home.  We should look into ourselves and ask "Where have all the real Women gone?"

We ladies can do something about it.  We can begin a counter cultural rebellion of our own.  We can show the world that we don't have to be a slave to a career to prove our worth.  It's time we realized that womanhood is a privilege, not a curse.  Instead of competing with men, why don't we embrace our differences and try to compliment one another?   Why not build them up instead of beating them down?

I want to be the kind of girl a man would die for.  What about you? 



My apologies...

I wanted to drop in and say that I'm sorry for my ridiculous lack of posts!  I may not post much this month, but I promise I will try!  I have many post ideas running chaotically about in my brain, I just have to make myself sit down and sort them out.  I fear for the moment this little apology will have to do!  God bless!