Gaudete Sunday

So, the joy theme here has been put on hold as I forget that I have a blog and, hence, forget to write things. I have no excuse really.

Here are the beautiful new vestments that the Institute of Christ the King uses for Gaudete Sunday and Laetare Sunday.

These photos are a little too purple.  The actual color of these joyful vestments is this!

Happy Advent!

Happy New (Liturgical) Year!!!

Abbe Awesome strikes again.

Lookie here!

I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago, but I am just now recovering

 from my shock and awe at the above sight.  Have you seen that video with the ginormous incense holder and Pope Benedict?  I felt like he looked in that video.

My friend attended her first (and possibly last?) Latin Mass on this day, Nov. 3rd. 

I had to let her know it isn't always like this.

Beautiful to the initiated.

Odder than odd to the uninitiated, for sure.

Gaudete!

I just love the Latin word gaudete.  Part of that stems from the fact that I'm somewhat of a nerd and part of it stems from the fact that I want more "gaudete" in my life and in others' lives.  Gaudete can mean joyful or anything that has the word "joy" in it.

Gaudete Sunday is the 3rd week of Advent where rose colored vestments are worn, anticipating the birth of Christ.  The rose colored vestments are also worn on the 4th Sunday of Lent which is called Laetare Sunday, anticipating the resurrection of Christ! 

But why stop there?  I want every day to be a gaudete day. Gaudete week?  Perfect.  Gaudete month? No problem.  I am on a quest to bring gaudete into my and my husband's life, my children's lives, and into the lives of my friends and family.  I see a lack of it everywhere, even in lives of those who SHOULD be joyful. That seems to be a pity, doesn't it?

Step 1:  Increase prayer life.  That's always a "duh" but I don't follow through the way I'd like.
Step 2:  Find examples of saints or regular joes who brought or bring people joy.
Step 3:  Implement said examples.  Yikes.  Have I mentioned I'm lazy?

I needed to hear this...

Emphasis mine.

"When we realize how special the gifts are that we intend to give to our children, we will not be surprised by the difficulty that we face in doing so. Parenting with the goals we have as parents, is exhausting work. Wouldn't it be easy to drop your kids off at a local school, go off to work with adults all day, pick them up after work, have a dinner together (maybe) then send them to their rooms to play video games, watch TV and finally fall asleep? Surely, the world's way is easier. What makes our way hard is that it is opposed by every evil thing around us. This is why we are offered eternal rewards by God for doing this work...because it is impossible. Only a man or woman who trusts in God's help would even dare to undertake the work. We have to learn to embrace the difficulty and realize that our salvation is in that difficulty."

WM

Father/Son Football Game!

Now, THIS will be good. Get ready for a lot of injuries and, of course, great photos. Click on the link below for more info:

Saint Louis Catholic: Save the Date: the Battle of the Oratories on October 17

Our Newest Priest

Canon Aaron Huberfeld was ordained on July 1st this year by our beloved (former) Archbishop Burke in Florence, Italy.  He is now at St. Francis de Sales and I was able to snap a few photos of his first mass and blessing.  It was an absolutely splendid day.

 

While You Were Gone

This is pretty typical of Abbe Awesome...

Special Intention

The Everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost Heart. This cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with loving arms and weighed with His own Hands, to see that it be not one inch too large and not one once too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His Holy Name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.

~~~St. Francis de Sales~~~

Another Leaf

My goal of this blog is either to make my husband laugh or to make someone I don't know cry (or laugh - I'll take both).  They're both impressive skills, don't you think?

Anyway, I'll start with this:

and try this (and, yes, it IS duck duck goose):

How 'bout this?

And finally:

As much as I miss them, I am sure there are others who are filled with more sadness than I...

Please pray for the health and perseverance of our good Sisters Adorers.

Happy Birthday!!

Another year...

A New Leaf

I follow a mother's blog that I just love.  And once she said that she wrote her blog (mainly) to make her husband laugh.  I have tried to figure out what direction I want this blog to go and I think I will follow her lead.  I am better at making people laugh than giving insightful political commentary.  In fact, I don't care. OK, that's not true, I do care, just not enough to write about it.  I do not want to have a soporific* influence on my audience.  I get enough of that at home!

*sop·o·rif·ic/ˌsäpəˈrifik/

Adjective: Tending to induce drowsiness or sleep. Yawn. That definition made me sleepy in itself.

Stay-At-Home-Moms

Let's face it. Staying at home with the kids is always eventful but rarely exciting. I find myself falling into the I-would-never-buy-my-own-autobiography frame of mind more often than not. Yes, it is a sacrifice to raise children. Yes, it is noble. Yes, yes, yes. But it is certainly not very eventful.

So, at the moment I am trying to write this I have one child who needs a diaper change and the others are bouncing a huge ball, that I did not buy, about to break the few nice things I've allowed out of the china cabinet. THIS is the excitement in my life.

What is a mom to do? If you are a mom who stays home with your kids, what do YOU do to make your life more interesting? If you are the spouse of said mom, what does your wife do???

Inquiring minds really, really, really want to know.

_____________________________________
Update: August 2010

Wow, can you tell I was in the middle of winter and COOPED up?  Life is better now.  Plus, I got no answers. Boo hoo for me.

It's On My To-Do List: The greatest of these...

I was reading one of my favorite blogs (favorite as in, wow, she writes so well) and she hit on a theme that I've been thinking about a lot lately. Charity.

It seems that Madame Delena has hit a snag in her idea to collect coats for the needy. The snag was simply the words of someone telling her she might have a hard time getting people to cooperate. While that may be true I told her she should go along with it. Different people have different ideas of charity. Some give gobs (or a little) of their money. Some volunteer non-stop. Some believe their vocation unto itself is charity.

I remember somewhere in the depths of my addled brain a story about a priest who would make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches daily for the hungry. Apparently this was a lot of work and he did not receive much help. He received a substantial check from a man who thought his generousity would be appreciated by the priest. The priest returned the check stating, "Make your own sandwiches." Or something like that...

There's also the story about the boy standing on a starfish-laden beach, throwing the starfish one by one into the sea to save them from their certain death. A man comes upon the boy and says, "You cannot possibly save all of these starfish. There are thousands of them! It doesn't matter!" "It matters to that one," the boy replies as he throws another into the waves.

I prefer the second story to the first. Perhaps I don't like the way the priest is behaving. Perhaps I want the rich man to get into the trenches. Perhaps I *am* that rich man (minus the riches). I would think any well-run charitable organization or a one-person-coat-collecting-charity can attest that money is important, but the actions speak louder...

Oh Marty, Marty, Marty

If you prefer Palestrina to Haugen, this link is for you.

I think at my next cocktail party I'm going to have a game where I say a line of a Haugen song and the first person to sing it will win...another cocktail.

The Poor Souls in Haiti

Praying for the Dead:

Réquiem ætérnam dona eis Dómine; et lux perpétua lúceat eis. Requiéscant in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Yee haw! Time to edumicate the chitlins!

Bitter, nasty, patronizing.

It seems these are the virtues of some.

I found an article on Andrew Breitbart's BigJournalism.com commenting on another article which slams homeschooling. The gyst is that uneducated, trailer-habiting, christian, submissive wives are homeschooling and that the government should have a better hold on these people. Right.

AccuWeather.com - Weather Forecast

We are 20 degrees BELOW normal temps. I read the other day that trying to explain global warming to someone like me would be like trying to explain calculus to a 6 year old. Choice. I also read that the warm air is being pushed to the Arctic right now. Hmmm. Well, that explains everything. f of x anyone?

Have I mentioned that I hate lying?

Yesterday, 1/9/2010
High Temperature:
Actual: 15°F
Normal: 37°F
Record: 65°F

Low Temperature:
Actual: 0°F
Normal: 21°F
Record: -16°F

Liar McLiarsons

I cannot stand when people lie to me.

A lie has many facets to it, but the one that really digs at my craw is that when you lie to me you are telling me TO MY FACE that you think that I am stupid. And, funny enough, I'm not stupid, and I sure do know that you are lying to me.

So, it is this incessant lying that is making me just want to spit. It is EVERYWHERE! WHY do people find it necessary to lie? Why is it not considered a big deal?

I have come to a point in my life where I never lie. I may have to keep my mouth shut more often now than I used to or be more creative such as when someone asks, "Did you like the cake I made you?" "Oh, that sure was some cake!" I'd reply. Or, "That must have taken you quite some time to make!" I'm not saying I didn't like the cake, I'm just not really answering the question...with a smile, of course.
UPDATE 1/12 My son accused me of lying when I changed my mind on something within the time frame of about 1 nanosecond. So, uh, is that really lying? If so, I misspoke when I said I never lie anymore. Or, rather, I lied.

9 degrees of separation

It is 9 degrees here and my Buff Orpington chickens are huddled in their coop. They are fortunate that they were born with their own down comforter otherwise I'm not so sure I wouldn't be eating chicken for dinner tomorrow.

Chickens? Yes, it's a representation of my foray into the world of living outside my comfort zone. Plus, it makes my life more interesting. They have actually proven to be excellent pets. I give them water, food, grit, straw, and an awesome coop and I get eggs in return. It isn't exactly a zero sum solution - I'm in the red and they are definitely in the black (although today they might be in the blue with chattering beaks). But the eggs are delicious and it has been rewarding taking care of FOUR chickens. I just hope they survive this cold!

Enough already!

Welcome to my attempt to start a blog.

Trip along with me, why don't you?