About a week into Christmas break, I realized I hadn't posted anything on the faithful blog in a while, maybe a week. I checked and realized that it had been closer to two. And I didn't want to take time away from my reading (The Brothers Karamazov with Thom) or spending time with awesome Virginia people (too many to name) to give to the wonderful world of the interwebz. So I embarked on an unannounced Christmas break hiatus. And now, I have returned! I might post stories from Christmas break. I might not. I haven't decided yet.
For now, I want to share something that appeared in my Facebook world this morning. It is a short, encouraging piece about femininity and fitting into our female bodies and our female selves.
I read it at the perfect time -- after I read a Buzzfeed blurb bashing Taylor Swift as an anti-feminist. That might appear later when my frustration has slowed from a boil to a simmer and I can put together more coherent thoughts than !!!adifha uar8wer7y893hefzduyf7igusitr!!!!! WHY???? adhifahty f f8e6yr7yweh auify7aie!!!!!!! Oh, the title is fairly catching as well -- here's the link again to "On Skinny Jeans, Daughters, and Singleness."
Showing posts sorted by date for query thom. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query thom. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Monday, April 2, 2012
Someone Else's Thoughts on Lent
I woke up yesterday, and it was Palm Sunday. (Actually, it's a debate among Shelly, Brother Bear, Thom, and myself -- I may have gone to bed the day before, and it was Palm Sunday. Does a feast day start on the calendar day, or with Vespers the night before? This will have an impact on my Lent next year and possibly on my work habits this year.) Although I knew it was coming, the day still shocked me. Where did Lent go? I swear it just started....
Some Lents pass me by, and this one has not. God's been heavily at work in my life, including on a retreat this past weekend. However, it still doesn't feel like the end of Lent.
As Lent ends, I want to share this reflection from Building Cathedrals, a blog by a group of Catholic women. This post is for all those who wonder what a Lenten sacrifice is about and all those who struggled this Lent.
Some Lents pass me by, and this one has not. God's been heavily at work in my life, including on a retreat this past weekend. However, it still doesn't feel like the end of Lent.
As Lent ends, I want to share this reflection from Building Cathedrals, a blog by a group of Catholic women. This post is for all those who wonder what a Lenten sacrifice is about and all those who struggled this Lent.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Day-Maker #59
Thom's utter delight and pride in shaving Brother Bear's head. Do my friends have child-like hearts? I think yes!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
On Brides and Churches
Sunday, as Thom, Shelly, and Brother Bear went to the zoo (which Brother Bear really wanted to see), I stopped in Alexandria to attend a bridal expo with Wendy. She got engaged on Christmas Eve and is starting the process of wedding planning. God blessed us by putting me in DC the weekend of the expo: she needed a girl friend to go with her, and I am sad that I am not around for her wedding planning.
We spent the end of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon waiting in line (it was worth it -- we were the first ones in!), tasting wedding cakes, and listening to vendors advertise. Wendy put her name into several drawings for discounts and gift cards and impressed vendors by her early start on her planning. LB's wedding is the first wedding I am seeing from near the inside, and I am shocked by the amount of planning required, although, having run large events, I shouldn't be. Now with Wendy, I am seeing even more of the beginning of the process and it is quite amazing the culture and business world that has sprung up around weddings.
[Side Note: It is also fascinating how much is geared to the bride, rather than the groom or the couple. But that is a separate train of thought.]
After the expo and lunch, Wendy dropped me at the Metro and I traveled into the city for Mass at the National Basilica. Although I have visited on numerous occasions, I have never attended Mass in the main church. We knew the liturgy would be crowded and planned to get there at least two hours early. To my shock, when I walked in at 3:30 (Mass was at 6pm) the building was packed. Every pew upstairs was full and the folding chairs facing CC TVs in the side chapels upstairs and down were rapidly becoming occupied.
I get easily overwhelmed by large crowds, so I made a beeline for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. I had barely knelt down, however, when a security guard told us we had to leave -- this part of the church was being closed off to prep for Mass. With great difficulty, I pulled up some tile in the back of the church and tried to make myself large enough to hold floor space for four people.
Eventually, the other three made it from the zoo and Emily joined us, having abandoned her studies for the evening. We spotted an other Catholic alum from the College, in town with the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus, and Thom drew in three of his friends from Jersey, so we ended up with nine people in space enough for four.
At first I had a lot of trouble making Mass a holy time -- again, don't like large crowds and the vibe of the place before Mass was more like a street festival than a solemn liturgy. However, in the middle of the Eucharistic prayer, as I stared toward the altar, the people packed into every available space distracted me. This time, however, I realized the profundity of the moment -- thousands upon thousands of people, so desperate for Jesus and His justice that they packed themselves into this building, and other churches across DC, to meet Him and draw closer to Him. So what if I was rubbing elbows, knees, backs, and shoulders with eight of my closest neighbors? We were here for what matters: the little white wafer that has the power to transform us and the world.
We spent the end of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon waiting in line (it was worth it -- we were the first ones in!), tasting wedding cakes, and listening to vendors advertise. Wendy put her name into several drawings for discounts and gift cards and impressed vendors by her early start on her planning. LB's wedding is the first wedding I am seeing from near the inside, and I am shocked by the amount of planning required, although, having run large events, I shouldn't be. Now with Wendy, I am seeing even more of the beginning of the process and it is quite amazing the culture and business world that has sprung up around weddings.
[Side Note: It is also fascinating how much is geared to the bride, rather than the groom or the couple. But that is a separate train of thought.]
After the expo and lunch, Wendy dropped me at the Metro and I traveled into the city for Mass at the National Basilica. Although I have visited on numerous occasions, I have never attended Mass in the main church. We knew the liturgy would be crowded and planned to get there at least two hours early. To my shock, when I walked in at 3:30 (Mass was at 6pm) the building was packed. Every pew upstairs was full and the folding chairs facing CC TVs in the side chapels upstairs and down were rapidly becoming occupied.
I get easily overwhelmed by large crowds, so I made a beeline for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. I had barely knelt down, however, when a security guard told us we had to leave -- this part of the church was being closed off to prep for Mass. With great difficulty, I pulled up some tile in the back of the church and tried to make myself large enough to hold floor space for four people.
Eventually, the other three made it from the zoo and Emily joined us, having abandoned her studies for the evening. We spotted an other Catholic alum from the College, in town with the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus, and Thom drew in three of his friends from Jersey, so we ended up with nine people in space enough for four.
At first I had a lot of trouble making Mass a holy time -- again, don't like large crowds and the vibe of the place before Mass was more like a street festival than a solemn liturgy. However, in the middle of the Eucharistic prayer, as I stared toward the altar, the people packed into every available space distracted me. This time, however, I realized the profundity of the moment -- thousands upon thousands of people, so desperate for Jesus and His justice that they packed themselves into this building, and other churches across DC, to meet Him and draw closer to Him. So what if I was rubbing elbows, knees, backs, and shoulders with eight of my closest neighbors? We were here for what matters: the little white wafer that has the power to transform us and the world.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Franciscan makes an annual pilgrimage to DC for the March for Life at the beginning of each winter semester. Last semester, I learned that Brother Bear (another MA theology student) had never been to DC. So he, Shelly, Thom, and I decided to make a trip of it. We headed southeast on Friday to spend three nights at my house in NoVA and take DC by storm!
We left Steubenville running ahead of a winter storm, which pursued us all the way across Pennsylvania and down through Maryland, finally catching us as we ate a nine-thirty dinner and planned for the next day. Saturday, we decided, we were going to see all the city! Our ambitious list included: Arlington Cemetery, "the Smithsonian," the Capitol, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the White House, and all the monuments and memorials. To make the list more realistic, we narrowed down "the Smithsonian" to a list of priorities (Natural History or Air & Space) and nixed the Jefferson Memorial as too far to walk.
Saturday morning we chipped ice off my car, hit up Mass, and headed into the city. The whole day, we trekked through ice and cold, but it stopped dripping pretty early on and my boots kept me warm. We kept running across clergy, religious, and groups of people with various diocesan names and pro-life slogans on matching articles of clothing. We made it to everything on the list, although we did not get into any of the government buildings (in spite lengthy contemplation about visiting Obama).
We witnessed to historic DC monument-moments. The Washington Monument has signs up explaining why it is closed: earthquake damage. The recently-opened MLK Memorial has a quote on one side that will be changed soon, to better reflect what King actually said.
We left Steubenville running ahead of a winter storm, which pursued us all the way across Pennsylvania and down through Maryland, finally catching us as we ate a nine-thirty dinner and planned for the next day. Saturday, we decided, we were going to see all the city! Our ambitious list included: Arlington Cemetery, "the Smithsonian," the Capitol, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the White House, and all the monuments and memorials. To make the list more realistic, we narrowed down "the Smithsonian" to a list of priorities (Natural History or Air & Space) and nixed the Jefferson Memorial as too far to walk.
Saturday morning we chipped ice off my car, hit up Mass, and headed into the city. The whole day, we trekked through ice and cold, but it stopped dripping pretty early on and my boots kept me warm. We kept running across clergy, religious, and groups of people with various diocesan names and pro-life slogans on matching articles of clothing. We made it to everything on the list, although we did not get into any of the government buildings (in spite lengthy contemplation about visiting Obama).
We witnessed to historic DC monument-moments. The Washington Monument has signs up explaining why it is closed: earthquake damage. The recently-opened MLK Memorial has a quote on one side that will be changed soon, to better reflect what King actually said.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
On Matilda
In the book by Roald Dahl, rather than the movie, Matilda's gifts are caused by an excess of brain power. So, in the end, when she is challenged in the classroom, her ability to send erasers and china dolls flying through the room goes away.
I'm like Matilda. Except my excess brain-power flowed into a blog. I figured out the reason my posts have felt forced and uncreative lately: now that I am being mentally challenged in school again, my energy goes elsewhere and does not need an outlet. With this pseudo-apology, I offer a Cliff's Notes version of adventures of the past few weeks:
Part I: The Crazy Weekend
*A few Fridays ago, right before the faith study that Victoria is leading, I got a text from Percy, asking if I wanted to travel to PA the next day. So the next morning, I went to western PA to hang out with him and Mama and Papa Percy.
* While there, I visited the Croatian Club with a cousin of Papa Percy. It reminded me of the Lodge in Everybody Loves Raymond or the Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo in The Flintstones. I didn't know places like that existed. I played the Percy cousin in a brief game of Boccie on their indoor court. (I won.)
* The Percy cousin is dating his high school sweetheart, fifty years after the fact. It's adorable -- I didn't know things like that happened outside The Baby-Sitters Club!
* I, like the Magi, returned by a different route. Not because Herod was following me, but to avoid tolls. I decided that when I am traveling through the middle of nowhere, I prefer state routes and back roads to highways.
* That night, I was supposed to see A Midsummer Night's Dream on campus, but they were sold out. Instead, Thom (Are you keeping track of new characters? This is his intro.) grabbed his pipe and we all went out star-gazing, then watched A Few Good Men. The conversation after turned to the Penn State football sex-abuse scandal; the two are arguably related.
* The next day we visited the largest statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is two hours north of Steubes. She is 33 feet tall; with her base and sunbeams, she stands 50 feet above the ground.
* The story of how she came to be there is full of miracles. If you want to hear, ask me!
* I left a few petitions of my own with her; I'll let you know if I add to her stories.
Part II: The In-Between
* I met a group of students starting a social justice group on campus, focusing on the fact that justice goes beyond partisan politics. I went to their first meeting and I'm excited to see where we go!
* Shelly and I found the one place in Steubenville open 24 hours! Tim Horton's is the Dunkin' Donuts of Ohio. Because Shelly is a die-hard Michigan fan, she got into some friendly banter with Ohio State fans, which resulted in our order expanding free of charge.
* Sunday with the day of "hypo-allergenic cake-pops." Translation: egg-free, lactose-free, gluten-free chocolate-covered deliciousness.
Part III: Home Again
* I made it back to NoVA for Thanksgiving, despite the entire Atlantic Ocean dumping itself over my car for 8 hours of mountain driving. I picked up my sister from her school on my way down, which added a little bit of time to my travels.
* I was blessed enough to have Julia and LB at my house that evening for birthday festivities! And I saw Wendy the next day for the same purpose.
*Thanksgiving happened with all the family home! We haven't been all together for years, so it was a momentous occasion.
* I brought home a mountain of books, but haven't done enough work. Something I predicted, but which will make the next week challenging.
I'm like Matilda. Except my excess brain-power flowed into a blog. I figured out the reason my posts have felt forced and uncreative lately: now that I am being mentally challenged in school again, my energy goes elsewhere and does not need an outlet. With this pseudo-apology, I offer a Cliff's Notes version of adventures of the past few weeks:
Part I: The Crazy Weekend
*A few Fridays ago, right before the faith study that Victoria is leading, I got a text from Percy, asking if I wanted to travel to PA the next day. So the next morning, I went to western PA to hang out with him and Mama and Papa Percy.
* While there, I visited the Croatian Club with a cousin of Papa Percy. It reminded me of the Lodge in Everybody Loves Raymond or the Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo in The Flintstones. I didn't know places like that existed. I played the Percy cousin in a brief game of Boccie on their indoor court. (I won.)
* The Percy cousin is dating his high school sweetheart, fifty years after the fact. It's adorable -- I didn't know things like that happened outside The Baby-Sitters Club!
* I, like the Magi, returned by a different route. Not because Herod was following me, but to avoid tolls. I decided that when I am traveling through the middle of nowhere, I prefer state routes and back roads to highways.
* That night, I was supposed to see A Midsummer Night's Dream on campus, but they were sold out. Instead, Thom (Are you keeping track of new characters? This is his intro.) grabbed his pipe and we all went out star-gazing, then watched A Few Good Men. The conversation after turned to the Penn State football sex-abuse scandal; the two are arguably related.
* The next day we visited the largest statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is two hours north of Steubes. She is 33 feet tall; with her base and sunbeams, she stands 50 feet above the ground.
* The story of how she came to be there is full of miracles. If you want to hear, ask me!
* I left a few petitions of my own with her; I'll let you know if I add to her stories.
Part II: The In-Between
* I met a group of students starting a social justice group on campus, focusing on the fact that justice goes beyond partisan politics. I went to their first meeting and I'm excited to see where we go!
* Shelly and I found the one place in Steubenville open 24 hours! Tim Horton's is the Dunkin' Donuts of Ohio. Because Shelly is a die-hard Michigan fan, she got into some friendly banter with Ohio State fans, which resulted in our order expanding free of charge.
* Sunday with the day of "hypo-allergenic cake-pops." Translation: egg-free, lactose-free, gluten-free chocolate-covered deliciousness.
Part III: Home Again
* I made it back to NoVA for Thanksgiving, despite the entire Atlantic Ocean dumping itself over my car for 8 hours of mountain driving. I picked up my sister from her school on my way down, which added a little bit of time to my travels.
* I was blessed enough to have Julia and LB at my house that evening for birthday festivities! And I saw Wendy the next day for the same purpose.
*Thanksgiving happened with all the family home! We haven't been all together for years, so it was a momentous occasion.
* I brought home a mountain of books, but haven't done enough work. Something I predicted, but which will make the next week challenging.
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