tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50675775985094848902024-03-05T12:52:00.162-05:00Transformed By GraceDiscovering authentic womanhoodFUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.comBlogger163125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-35291413845025314242017-04-04T00:15:00.001-04:002017-04-04T00:27:31.172-04:00Why a Fashion Show?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuyFs0YjHHKJPugJZ2aDliqYYFZ0hNmuZkF01PZNIT8d-VkKh7aS7OEP3yzdr5K0JrdCD_ZMRhhbrHV6El5YahmjgTO8MHGtR9h7Dvl6LjplTg2glUn62Bru4DBf6_s_iSqXXfZSAvHQKj/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuyFs0YjHHKJPugJZ2aDliqYYFZ0hNmuZkF01PZNIT8d-VkKh7aS7OEP3yzdr5K0JrdCD_ZMRhhbrHV6El5YahmjgTO8MHGtR9h7Dvl6LjplTg2glUn62Bru4DBf6_s_iSqXXfZSAvHQKj/s640/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">To the Ladies of Franciscan University,</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. You are. And I know you
know that, but do you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe it</i>?</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">That is the reason we wanted to have this
Fashion Show. At the beginning of the school year the Women’s Ministry Core
Team was on retreat and we got into a really deep conversation about the fact
that we sometimes struggle to see our own beauty because we get trapped in webs
of lies, negativity, and comparison. Fighting those lies and negativity has
been the theme of our mission this year, and we wanted that to culminate in
this final event. Our goal with this Fashion Show is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">to empower you, in a fun and engaging way, with the truth, knowledge,
and understanding needed to embrace your body and fight the lies of comparison
and negative self-image</b>. By providing some practical tips about how to best
fit and flatter your unique and beautiful body, we hope to help you begin to
feel fabulous in your own skin.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">I know that some might be skeptical of our
choice to have a Fashion Show because they might think it is either too
superficial an approach or too patronizing to judge some clothing as being
better than others. Allow me to briefly address both of these concerns, because
I believe them to be valid ones, and explain why we still chose to have this
event.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">It is true that our clothing is NOT US. We
cannot be superficial and think that it is. Yet why does it hurt so much when
someone criticizes our choice of clothing? Why do we take that personally? If
there was no connection between our personhood and our clothing, then this
would not be the case. But it is. The reason why is that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">our clothing does say something</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">about
us</i>, even if our clothing is not us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">It is because we recognize this truth that
we believe a Fashion Show is a worthwhile endeavor. We want to give women the
tools to say with their clothing the truth about who they are, and that truth
is that they are BEAUTIFUL. This desire to express in a visible and material
way a deep and profound truth is an extremely CATHOLIC notion. One might even
call it sacramental. It is why babies are given white garments when they are
baptized or why religious sisters wear veils.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">St. Gianna Molla says that, “We must be
living witnesses of the beauty and grandeur of Christianity,” and yes, we
witness to others in a profound way with the clothing we wear. But we also
witness to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ourselves</i>. We know that we
are beautiful but we can forget this, just as we can “forget” that Christ is
present in the Eucharist. That is why the Church helps to remind us, with
outward signs like kneeling, of the reality before us. Just as the habit of
kneeling reminds us that the Body of Christ before us deserves our reverence,
so can the habit of dressing ourselves in beautiful clothing remind us that the
body before us in the mirror deserves our reverence too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">It is my greatest hope and prayer that you
would come to know and believe that you are beautiful, and if anything that is
done or said in this Fashion Show helps you to realize that, I praise God for
it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">In the Fire of Christ’s Love,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Alyssa Snyder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Student Head of Women’s Ministry,
2016-2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Please join us for our Fashion Show Wednesday April 5 at 8pm in the Gentile Gallery! Snacks and alcoholic beverages will be provided (with ID).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alyssa is a Junior at Franciscan studying Humanities and Catholic Culture, Theology, and Philosophy. She is a native of Texas where she lives with her family in a blue-roofed house on top of a hill. She is passionate about the Truth of the Lord's Incarnation and loves spending time discovering and discussing ways in which others have incarnated the Gospel in film, history, literature, politics, and art. Her favorite saints are St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena because they both personify St. John Paul II's "feminine genius" in her mind.</span></span></span><br />
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FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-32246823201296088312017-03-24T12:19:00.001-04:002017-03-24T12:20:04.846-04:00Your Will, Your Way <div style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYfkqcXofojZpvwF8rPp_81i1vB9cs6vpccvx5EOFw7Net8r9pcPNt2Hjmc2fWDmQcO4RSEbaa6t4JBl0p-9Gp-2Y2F_n2OQPQSHXPTTAnV1e4ekVhfM5S9hUUGTuWINsRy8JnyLaIkeJ/s1600/SURRENDER-e1427199585468.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYfkqcXofojZpvwF8rPp_81i1vB9cs6vpccvx5EOFw7Net8r9pcPNt2Hjmc2fWDmQcO4RSEbaa6t4JBl0p-9Gp-2Y2F_n2OQPQSHXPTTAnV1e4ekVhfM5S9hUUGTuWINsRy8JnyLaIkeJ/s400/SURRENDER-e1427199585468.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“It will be my joy to say: Your
will, Your way.”</span></div>
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-<i>Lay Me Down</i> by Chris Tomlin </div>
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Sitting in the
Portiuncula Chapel today, I prayed a rosary. While meditating on the sorrowful mysteries, it really hit me how much
Jesus suffered for us. He was reduced to
almost nothing—physically, mentally, and spiritually. He was separated from who He is, so that He
could be with us forever and ever because His love is THAT STRONG.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Meditating on Christ’s suffering, I
started thinking about myself and how often I say “Jesus, I Trust You” and then
a few minutes later go back to chasing my selfish dreams and participating in
the “world.” Or how often I tell Him “I
surrender to You” and then start making my own plans. How often do I speak words to the Lord of my
Life, unaware of their weight, their truth, their meaning, and most importantly
their <i>promise</i>. But as I
sat in the Portiuncula and took in all the hurt He went through for me, for you, for us—His
children--<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I started to reflect on the idea of truly, truly surrendering.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Why would I ever want my life to be
in <i>my</i> hands, the hands who nailed Christ to the cross through my sin, my
fallen nature? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Why would I want my life to be in <i>my</i>
hands, hands restricted to time and the limits of human nature? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Why would I want my life to be in <i>my</i>
hands, when I can barely figure out what to wear or what to eat for breakfast?<o:p></o:p></div>
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No, my life should be in <i>His</i> hands, the
hands that were pierced for me and still looked at me with love; the hands that
gave me His body to hold and consume; the hands that hold me when I can barely
make it through the day. Those are the
hands, the loving, beautiful, healing, eternal hands that my life should be in.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My sisters, surrender is not a
trap, but rather a beautiful source of freedom.
It is a freedom in which we are able to lay down at the feet of our Lord
and give Him everything. It is a freedom
in which we are truly allowed to live our lives the way the Father has designed
them to be—in the fullness of truth. In
surrender, we have freedom from fear, from worry, from anxiety. In surrender, we can be full of joy and
peace. In surrender, we need only follow
His sweet voice and the rest He will take care of. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As I sat and stared at Jesus in His
most beautiful form, He gave me the words to live my life by forever and ever:
“Your will, Your way.” Since this night,
I have felt so peaceful because I wake up each day and whisper these words to
Him. I will never take them back
because the truth is, I know that Jesus will lead me where He wants me to be,
and for the first time, I am completely willing to go wherever that may
be. For the first time, I am fully ready
to be the woman He designed me to be, and that, that is the source of my peace
and joy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So where are you? Are you holding back that little piece of
your heart because you’re scared to give it to Him? He loves you…</div>
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<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Are you worried He is calling you
out of your comfort zone?</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Think about
St. Peter…</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Do you fear He will lead you far
from the person you once were? He might,
but in order to transform you so that you might grow. He’ll be with you the whole way…<o:p></o:p></div>
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Are you afraid to let someone love
you because you’ve only been hurt by love?
His love is perfect…<o:p></o:p></div>
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Do you think you’ve sinned too
much, that there is no way the Father could ever use your life and make it
beautiful? He hung on the cross for the
sole purpose of mercy and forgiveness.
He forgave the soldiers who beat His very flesh. Nothing you could do could separate you from
His ocean of mercy…<o:p></o:p></div>
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Do you fear a lack of control? But control is stressful! Give Him a chance…<o:p></o:p></div>
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The things
holding you back from Him are all the more reason to let Him in. He is Truth.
His plan is so much greater than you can even begin to imagine, and not
a single one of these reasons could ever be great enough to hold you from
surrendering everything. Look at the
saints, look at priests and religious, look at Pope Francis. Look where these people have come from. They are just like you and me…they each had
a past. The reason their lives are
beautiful stories is because they let the author write the story the way He
planned to. They <i>surrendered.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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Let Him write your story. Hand over your fragile heart, and let
yourself become His. Set yourself in the
arms of Love. He will not disappoint
you. Whisper this to Him: “Oh Jesus, I
surrender myself to You. Take care of
everything.” And trust that He will.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-indent: 0px;">Shelby Hawks is a freshman at Franciscan from the sunny state of California. She enjoys long walks on the beach (like for real) and could sing you every word to every Taylor Swift song if needed. Shelby can be #spotted in the library, in the Portiuncula, or drinking Chai tea in the JC Williams Center. She loves to write (especially about Jesus) and is so excited to be sharing her passion with the readers of this blog. She gives all glory to God for her talent to share His love through her writing.</span><br />
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FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-78674358055011071082017-02-15T17:31:00.000-05:002017-02-15T17:31:26.171-05:00<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
Finding a Light in the Darkness: My Battle with Depression and Anxiety</span></h2>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">You’re
worthless. You’re a burden to everyone. No one is ever going to love you. </span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">I’m sure some of you have been a victim to these
lies. Throughout much of 2016, these were the thoughts that attacked my mind
regularly. I’ve battled with anxiety and depression for years; however, during
the first half of this year, the battle was vicious, and I often was left
bleeding and broken, desperate to escape these illnesses that haunted me. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some days, life simply felt dull, gray, and joyless.
Other days, I felt immense pain and grief so strongly that it felt as if someone had
died. But really it was just a part of myself that felt as if it had perished:
the part of myself that could feel happiness and joy.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I no longer saw the worth in myself or in
living. With the waves of intense panic attacks and deep depression, simply
being alive felt like a daunting task. Everyday felt like I was walking around
with a weight on my chest, endlessly trying to catch my breath</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. </span></i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Being alive </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">hurt.</span></i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I know some of you, if not many, can understand what
I am describing. But many people I opened up to couldn’t seem to grasp what I was
experiencing. When someone explains that they are having negative thoughts,
people always preach to look at the bright side and think positively. But there
was no bright side in my head. No ounce of light could penetrate the darkness
that clouded my mind. My depression and anxiety affected me so greatly that I
could not differentiate between the lies that they fed me and my reality.
Sometimes it was obvious that these lies were not the truth. But other times
they came shadowed in thoughts that seemed perfectly normal. The lies merged
and weaved themselves throughout the inner workings of my brain so seamlessly
that these twisted and dark thoughts appeared to be perfectly sane.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was no longer apart of reality. I was
completely drowning in my darkness, and it felt like no one would ever save me. I decided that, at some point, I was going to end my life.
</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">If I could describe myself in one word,
it would be </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">hopeless.</span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Eventually, I realized that I could not live this
way any longer. Truly by the grace of God, I asked for help. Eventually, I was
able to pull my way out of the darkness I was so entrenched in. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Since seeking help, I can already see the grace of God
in my life. I’ve met so many beautiful people and had many beautiful
experiences that I would have missed out on if I had taken my life in my own
hands. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">With depression and anxiety, and any other mental
illness, almost every day is a struggle. Sometimes getting out of bed feels
like running a marathon. Sometimes just sitting in class brings unbearable pain
with the anxiety it causes me. Every day is a challenge, and I’m not saying that
going to adoration or mass everyday will fix a mental illness. But the closer I’ve
grown to God, the more I can see His hand in my life, the more I can trust that
He has a plan for me, and the more I know that my suffering will not be fruitless. I still
have days that I feel extremely depressed, anxious, worthless, inadequate, and that
I just honestly would rather not be alive. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">But I grasp onto God. I </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">have</span></i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> to trust that I am here for a reason. Trusting in God is
extremely difficult sometimes. To me, trusting God can feel like jumping off a
cliff into a deep, dark abyss, and just praying He will catch me as I fall. A
leap of faith you might call it. But that’s what God is calling us to do. To let
go. To leave everything in His hands. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Maybe you aren’t dealing with depression or anxiety,
but everyone is dealing with something. Everyone has wounds that are still
aching, burdens that feel too heavy to bear. And sometimes the weight is so
unbearable, we feel like it is too difficult to go on. That we should give up.
That we are too weak, inadequate, or worthless. And, in extreme cases, that we
simply cannot continue being alive. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">No matter what you are struggling with, trust that
God will reach through the thick of the darkness and hold you in his arms.
Trust that when you let go, he will take control. He will never leave you. God
never lets anything happen that would interrupt his divine plan for you. And no
matter how hard it is to believe, he has a plan. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the weight of the world is on your
shoulders, know that you don’t have to carry it on your own. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Have hope. He has a plan for me. He has a plan for
you. Trust. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“I plead with you—never, ever give up on hope, never
doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.” – St. John
Paul II</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">If you are struggling with anxiety and/or depression, please do not feel like you are alone. There are many
resources out there to help, some right here on Franciscan’s campus. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There are two groups here on campus sponsored by
the Counseling Center that are designed to help students learn
skills to manage depression or anxiety. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">For depression: </span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lifting the Spirit</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">7 week group </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tuesdays @ 6-7 pm </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">February 7- March 28 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cost: $30</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Interested in this opportunity? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Please contact Dan Pinciaro</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">DPinciaro@franciscan.edu</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> For anxiety:</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Quenching the Anxious Spirit</span></i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">7 week group</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thursdays @5:30-6:30 pm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">February 9-March 30</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cost: $30</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Please Contact Dan Pinciaro</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">DPinciaro@franciscan.edu</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I love you, and I'm praying for you.
Remember--you are never alone</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq-LUpTLsQGXqQ2OAgxMuFeJApxCizLggmWTJYZugxMs0HCpGR2v0w5aXhFkmbDclM2zh56EXR3GVwuGaltLUj8_ULKNc6nzT7110L_hlKmDrouFpLBqp2-IZ4v-2x6iiKrg9cYJMQS3N_/s1600/IMG_0564.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq-LUpTLsQGXqQ2OAgxMuFeJApxCizLggmWTJYZugxMs0HCpGR2v0w5aXhFkmbDclM2zh56EXR3GVwuGaltLUj8_ULKNc6nzT7110L_hlKmDrouFpLBqp2-IZ4v-2x6iiKrg9cYJMQS3N_/s320/IMG_0564.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jacque Anderson is a Junior at Franciscan University majoring in English with a Writing Concentration. She has a passion for serving others, especially women, through writing and relational ministry. Some of her other passions include health and fitness, taking photos, and reading. Her biggest role models are JPII, St. Teresa of Calcutta, Fr. Michael Scanlan, TOR, and Father Mike Schmitz. You can learn more about Jacque</span><a href="http://jacquelynfay.weebly.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> here</span></a>.FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-5431600135029720132017-02-08T11:53:00.000-05:002017-02-08T11:53:16.421-05:00Repost: "To Pray Always Is to Desire Always" <span style="background-color: white; color: #272727; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #272727; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px;"> In the wake of Saturday's "Beloved" event, which brought hundreds of women together from across the campus of Franciscan University, and focused on the theme of "Desire," we thought it would be fruitful to share some of Christopher West's thoughts on desire. As we enter into the middle of the week, take some time to reflect on and pray with the words below.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #272727; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px;"><span id="goog_670633609"></span><span id="goog_670633610"></span> </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezsx0YtYbzORtnCGL2ViqQEbZbjPepFqrhREgbqAncZZye41XuaJ2S3wD5T3FkO8ChPHvbvunZl-RDLh4-7OhhtkRXgy4AespvkNINJ28pH2n8VBE6Ncmy5FWc8eGdfNTjPX8h_5aVKWU/s1600/15375375972_a1a7bcbb02_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezsx0YtYbzORtnCGL2ViqQEbZbjPepFqrhREgbqAncZZye41XuaJ2S3wD5T3FkO8ChPHvbvunZl-RDLh4-7OhhtkRXgy4AespvkNINJ28pH2n8VBE6Ncmy5FWc8eGdfNTjPX8h_5aVKWU/s640/15375375972_a1a7bcbb02_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #272727; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image source: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tom_hall_nz/15375375972/in/photolist-pqEPBb-pBuckZ-aDoNQM-5C1tee-iamj74-aF99Fk-qf9MxY-opB8GS-oguF3C-nZDVk2-nBXAVB-ei4NcA-dPiMnT-nFWofK-cMSPGh-9Xv5g2-cZ2PyN-pMpyxc-GHq5SC-4n6pRJ-G94Du5-irM5dM-5Lx6Dv-jtJo4W-ecSKCV-oouXcP-b7BH2a-fDkZkx-ehjefo-egZEXb-rvHsj2-gt5WkY-aEmgyf-qB3Ziv-jFYcS-ecSKH4-jt2tJ2-iakNWc-byDUgx-dwaoJU-dPiLXt-audxpD-pDzTBP-ot1rjA-fcPVkJ-9n3993-ecYKkS-8avZmA-moUtA8-bxRFuR" target="_blank">here</a></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #272727; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 20px;">_______________________________________________</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #272727; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #272727; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20px;"> "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #272727; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">L</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #272727; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20px;">uke tells us that the purpose of the parable we hear in this Sunday’s Gospel reading is to teach us “the necessity … to pray always without becoming weary.” Is this even possible? It depends how we understand prayer. Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “The Fathers of the Church say that prayer, properly understood, is nothing other than becoming a longing for God.” Let that sink in. The Christian life is never a matter of annihilating our longings. It’s a matter of redirecting them towards their true object. It’s called prayer. To “pray always,” then, as this Sunday’s Gospel admonishes us to do, one must learn how to live within the painful “ache” of constant longing for heaven, for the Marriage of the Lamb. To the degree that we remain “attached” to the pleasures of this world, we have not yet learned to pray. “So brethren, let us long, because we are to be filled,” says Saint Augustine. “That is our life, to be trained by longing; and our training through the holy longing advances in the measure that our longings are detached from the love of this world.” How do we pray always? Augustine concludes: “Desire is your prayer; and if your desire is without ceasing, your prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.” Lord, teach us to pray!"</span></div>
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Christopher West's Blog, and this original post, can be found at:<br />
<a href="http://corproject.com/cor-thoughts-173-to-pray-always-is-to-desire-always/">http://corproject.com/cor-thoughts-173-to-pray-always-is-to-desire-always/</a><br />
<br />FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-60095585910717326662016-11-16T13:14:00.000-05:002016-11-16T13:14:01.028-05:00What is Beauty, Really?<br />
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<span class="posted-on" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #6d6d6d; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Originally posted on <a href="https://awomanofintegrity.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/what-is-beauty-really/" rel="bookmark" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #da1050; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2016-10-24T09:25:22+00:00" style="box-sizing: inherit;">October 24, 2016</time></a></span><span class="byline" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #6d6d6d; display: inline; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> by <span class="author vcard" style="border: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="url fn n" href="https://awomanofintegrity.wordpress.com/author/awomanofintegrity/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #da1050; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s;">Integrity Blog</a></span></span></h3>
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What is beauty, really?</div>
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<span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2710" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Beauty is something <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">good</em>. Beauty is something <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">true</em>. It cannot be without truth or goodness, or it isn’t </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2711" style="box-sizing: inherit;">really</span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2712" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> beauty.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.7; margin-bottom: 1.5em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
<span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2717" style="box-sizing: inherit;">For example, makeup is a good thing in and of itself. It’s totally fine to wear it to enhance your natural beauty and to feel more confident about yourself. That’s a very good thing. But when we wear so much makeup that we no longer look like</span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2718" style="box-sizing: inherit;">ourselves</span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2719" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, we become someone we are not. We become a false version of beauty.</span></div>
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<span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2724" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://awomanofintegrity.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/stocksnap_34msyvuys0.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #da1050; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s; word-break: break-word;"><img alt="stocksnap_34msyvuys0" class=" wp-image-713 aligncenter" height="223" sizes="(max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px" src="https://awomanofintegrity.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/stocksnap_34msyvuys0.jpg?w=335&h=223" srcset="https://awomanofintegrity.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/stocksnap_34msyvuys0.jpg?w=335&h=223 335w, https://awomanofintegrity.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/stocksnap_34msyvuys0.jpg?w=670&h=446 670w, https://awomanofintegrity.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/stocksnap_34msyvuys0.jpg?w=150&h=100 150w, https://awomanofintegrity.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/stocksnap_34msyvuys0.jpg?w=300&h=200 300w" style="border: none; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.75em auto; max-width: 100%;" width="335" /></a></span></div>
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<span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2724" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Men are great. And if we fall in love with one who helps us to become more of who we are, we win at life. But if we fall for one who leads us down a path that causes us to change in a way that makes us </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2725" style="box-sizing: inherit;">who he thinks we should be</span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2726" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, we are no longer ourselves, but rather, a false version of ourselves.</span></div>
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<span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2731" style="box-sizing: inherit;">These are the sorts of traps the world lays at our feet. “Be sexier!” “What he really wants!” “If you lost weight you’d be great!” “If you just did this other intense thing you’d be more awesome!” “Make sure you InstaSnapTweetFacebookBlog post every second of your life to prove your worth!” and, sometimes, as a Christian, even: “You’re not praying enough to be pretty!” “If you just went on this mission trip you’d be good enough!” </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_3018" style="box-sizing: inherit;">These are the things that supposedly make us beautiful.</span></div>
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But in reality, these are crap lies that need to be laid to rest.</div>
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True beauty lies in being authentic. It lies in being true to who we are. And who we are isn’t defined by the world. It’s defined by Christ. Consider him your new Merriam-Webster.</div>
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By definition, and according to many great philosophers, beauty is transcendent, meaning that it exists beyond our ordinary understanding. In fact, some would say, that it exists beyond time. The definition of beauty also explains that beauty is something that “pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit” (Merriam-Webster, and, well, I’m guessing Jesus (especially since I have dubbed him our new dictionary)).</div>
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Given that it exists outside the ordinary, that it always demonstrates truth and goodness, and that it exalts (i.e. lifts up or elevates) the mind or spirit, I think it’s pretty safe to say that beauty is basically an encounter with God (pretty sure I heard a nun on Oprah or something say that once too, so let’s give her credit. Yay nun!).</div>
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Because beauty can be an encounter with the Divine, that also means that things that are beautiful somehow reflect the Creator, just as an artist’s work reflects the artist.</div>
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<span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2761" style="box-sizing: inherit;">This means that all beauty </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2762" style="box-sizing: inherit;">must </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2763" style="box-sizing: inherit;">be true and good, to really be something that images God.</span></div>
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<span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2768" style="box-sizing: inherit;">If we think of it that way, then it makes sense that we don’t want to fall into the trap of false beauty, in men, makeup, extracurriculars, and the like. We want to find the most authentic form of beauty within these things – because, as I mentioned, they are not bad things if they help us to </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2769" style="box-sizing: inherit;">become who we really are</span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2770" style="box-sizing: inherit;">.</span></div>
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And that’s exactly what God wants for you! For you to become who you really are! He gives us these encounters with beautiful things to help us come to exactly that: the most true, real, good, and beautiful version of ourselves.</div>
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<span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2780" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Ultimately, the most authentic form of beauty is found in Christ alone. He is the only </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2781" style="box-sizing: inherit;">real</span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2782" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> beauty that will satisfy us forever. But he does give us wonderful gifts in the form of people and things to help us to have a glimpse of this wonderful life he has planned for us, and wants us to begin living now.</span></div>
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<span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2787" style="box-sizing: inherit;">So at the end of the day, the question really is this: how do I live that out? How do I know if it’s real beauty, and how do I become that? (Because I would hope that we all want to </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2788" style="box-sizing: inherit;">be</span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2789" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> beautiful, our truest self, and good.)</span></div>
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The answer is more simple than we think. It’s really just this: be besties with Jesus. Read Scripture (so you can hear him and recognize him by coming to know him). Participate in the sacraments (so you have a tangible encounter with him). Pray (converse with him). These are the building blocks of the foundation of any real friendship. Getting to know someone, talking to them, listening to them, spending time with them.</div>
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<span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2799" style="box-sizing: inherit;">And then, in coming to know Christ, we will love him. In loving him we will want to share that love.</span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2801" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> And real love forgets about me because I’m thinking more about you. Which is exactly what Jesus did on the cross. </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2806" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The author and source of all beauty, became ugly, beaten, bloody, and bruised. And he did all of it thinking not of himself, and whether or not he looked good up there on that cross, but thinking about you and me, and how much he didn’t want to see </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2807" style="box-sizing: inherit;">us </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2808" style="box-sizing: inherit;">up on that cross. He did it in love.</span></div>
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<span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2813" style="box-sizing: inherit;">So that’s really it. That’s the answer to what real beauty is, and how to become it. It’s all about getting to know the Guy who designed it all, and sharing him with others. Through that love we become like him, which is what we were made for all along: a life </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2814" style="box-sizing: inherit;">in </span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2815" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Christ. For. Ev. Er. How beautiful is that?!</span></div>
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<em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2817" style="box-sizing: inherit;">“</span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2818" style="box-sizing: inherit;">We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God´s compassionate love for others.</span><span id="m_6293060750795880594yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1476928090443_2819" style="box-sizing: inherit;">” </span></em><em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">St. Clare of Assisi</em></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><a href="https://awomanofintegrity.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/image3-e1475617957819.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #da1050; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.2s; word-break: break-word;"><img alt="image3" class=" wp-image-667 alignleft" height="140" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" src="https://awomanofintegrity.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/image3-e1475617957819.jpg?w=150&h=140" srcset="https://awomanofintegrity.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/image3-e1475617957819.jpg?w=150&h=140 150w, https://awomanofintegrity.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/image3-e1475617957819.jpg?w=300&h=280 300w" style="border: none; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-right: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; max-width: 100%;" width="150" /></a>Ashley Ackerman</strong><br />
Ashley Ackerman is a daughter, sister, and friend. She loves talking and learning about the mystery of femininity, something she is certain she will never fully uncover in her lifetime. She works as a high school teacher in Virginia, a job that allows her to be her goofy-Jesus-loving-grumpy-without-coffee self every single day.</div>
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FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-4990347531323594222016-04-27T12:32:00.002-04:002016-04-27T12:32:55.948-04:00Deeply Love One Another<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I've been wrestling a lot in prayer with attachments to others and with relationships. And I've discovered that when it comes to loving others, there are two extremes: to be too attached to people or to be too afraid to be attached to people.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For most of my life, I lived in the first extreme. I cared far too much about what others thought about me, and I placed too much emphasis on my relationships with others and not enough on my relationship with Christ. My relationships, instead of leading me into greater holiness, detracted from my relationship with Him because I gave them a higher place in my heart than Him. There was always a certain grasping in these relationships: it seemed that no matter how much love these people showed me, I was always hungering for more, grasping for things that I didn't think they were giving me, expecting more than was reasonable from them.</span></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But now that I've progressed a bit in the spiritual life, I find myself falling into the second extreme. Every time I feel a deep love stir in my heart for another person, I live in a state of fear that I'm falling back into that first extreme. So instead of examining this love or allowing it to grow, I try to squash it or run from it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There's this relationship in my life right now that is extremely important to me. This person is a spiritual mentor to me, and she's teaching me so much about what it means to be a holy woman of God. She’s become such a big part of my heart that I can’t imagine my life without her in it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And honestly? That terrifies me. I live in a state of fear that I'm too attached to her, that my love for her is unhealthy, that our relationship gets in the way of my relationship with God.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I begin to feel this deep love for her rise up in my soul, my first instinct is to run. Squash it. Root it up out of my heart and throw it far from me. Because obviously this deep and <i>incomprehensible</i> love that I have for her isn't from God--it must be from my own grasping, my own brokenness, my own need that I'm grasping for her to fill.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><u>False</u></b>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In prayer, the Lord has been opening my heart more and more to the truth that He wants me to be in this relationship. He wants me to have this deep love for her. He wants to use her love to change me. He wants to use my love for her to soften both of our hearts to His love for us. Through her spiritual motherhood, He wants to teach me more about what it means to be a daughter. And through my spiritual daughterhood, He wants to teach her more about what it means to be a mother. </span></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“My children, I will be with you only a little while longer … I give you a new commandment: love one another.” -John 13:33-34.</i></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is our faith, sisters. It is <b style="font-style: normal;">Incarnational</b> -- He could have saved us in any way, but He chose to come in the Incarnation -- to come as a human person that we could see and touch, to use a human body as the instrument of our redemption. And He chooses to come to us physically in the Eucharist, to give us His Body and Blood in order to continually sanctify us and draw us closer to Him. And just as He wants us to encounter His love in His real presence in the Eucharist, <i>so He uses <b>others</b> to bring us to a deeper encounter with Him.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Faith is <b>not</b> a solitary journey.</i> It's not meant to be. Our God is a communion of persons -- three Persons, one God. And just as the Trinity exists in community, so are we meant to exist in community. We can't go it alone. We need others: friends, spouses, spiritual mentors, teachers, siblings, parents. And when I live my life in fear of being too attached to others, when I try to squash the love that stirs deep down in my soul for others, I miss out on the way that He wants to move through those relationships to transform my life. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ultimately He is the only one that can fulfill all those desires that we feel so deeply, but that doesn't mean that others aren’t part of His plan to do that. He works through others to fulfill those desires.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And this relationship in my life? The love that stirs so deeply in my heart, a love that seems to reach into the abyss of my soul, a love that scares me and yet brings me an incredible amount of peace and joy--this is <i><b>His</b></i> love. I’m not capable of loving that deeply and selflessly on my own. This love flows from my love for Him. Because I love Him with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind, I am free to truly love this beautiful and incredible spiritual mother of mine as myself. "Love of neighbor is inseparable from love for God" (CCC 1878).</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And the love that this spiritual mother has for me flows from His love. When she loves me, she is truly and freely loving me, but only because it is His love being poured out into her soul. He could fulfill my desires in any way, but He chooses to do it in an incarnational way--to use her love to show me how deeply He wants to fulfill my desires. When I think of this deep love that I have for so many in my life, I’m reminded of the quote from Les Mis: “To love another person is to see the face of God.” Through my relationships, I see the love that God has for me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sisters, there is nothing wrong with desiring relationship. There is nothing wrong with desiring to be loved, affirmed, wanted, cherished by others. There's nothing wrong with being attached to others--as long as we're attached first and foremost to Him. When we set our sight on Christ and our focus on our relationship with Him, others are going to come into our lives. He's going to bring other people into our places of need, and He's going to use their love to change us and to show us His own love for us. And what a beautiful gift. What a blessing to know that we do not walk this journey alone, to know that a love that stirs so deeply in our souls is a participation in the love of Christ. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Be not afraid</b> to love deeply, to seek relationship. Just remember that He loves us first and that He loves us most. When we allow this truth to be the penetrating force and guiding principle, we are truly free to love deeply and to love selflessly. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So here's to deeply loving others. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Catie Destatte is a senior Theology and Catechetics major. She has a passion for writing, Mama Mary, ministry to women, and evangelization. Her life motto is Totus Tuus Maria, and she tries to live that out in her every moment. After graduation, Catie will be serving as a missionary on a college campus with St. Paul's Outreach. You can find out more about her <a href="http://www.you-steadymyheart.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span>FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-74582200880864455302016-03-25T10:10:00.001-04:002016-03-31T19:25:50.972-04:00We Lost God<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today is Good Friday. Today we celebrate the liturgy of Our Lord's Passion and Death on the Cross for the sake of our redemption.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilfl8WLbd66-Rpi0ADII5Kghh31BlZnU7o8nW2XPAtjFgAm427SCp7Jh59eb79MR0y8cgb1f5d0JrVfugs6XR1Ll23cFPSfWUtg2T2etDuVw5K8z6Mg8MrXmCEV4OnYbSD9o7ohNwHxeaG/s1600/velazquez_christ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilfl8WLbd66-Rpi0ADII5Kghh31BlZnU7o8nW2XPAtjFgAm427SCp7Jh59eb79MR0y8cgb1f5d0JrVfugs6XR1Ll23cFPSfWUtg2T2etDuVw5K8z6Mg8MrXmCEV4OnYbSD9o7ohNwHxeaG/s640/velazquez_christ.jpg" width="418" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Being raised in a nominally Catholic household, I never really celebrated Good Friday until I came to Franciscan. Even then, my freshman year I wasn't capable of really entering into the mystery, and my sophomore year, I was in Austria and travel plans fell apart so that my group could only make it to the Easter Vigil. Last year was the first year that I fully entered into the Triduum. On Good Friday last year, I had an experience that shook me to the core. So much so that I know that every year on this day, I will remember this experience and feel the sobering reality of what we celebrate today.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last year on Good Friday morning, I went to confession and it rocked my world. I felt so ready to go to the liturgy and fully enter into the mystery and receive our Lord with a clean soul, with no sin standing between us. I also happened to be serving as a member of the Liturgy Committee, and because of something that I had to do for committee, I was unable to receive the Eucharist at the Good Friday liturgy. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now ladies, I can't fully explain what happened next, because a year later, I'm still struggling to fully comprehend it. All that I can say is that being unable to receive Our Lord that day was devastating for me. It broke my heart in a way that I first thought was completely irrational. After all, there have been plenty of times when I refrained from receiving because I didn't feel well or for various other reasons.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But for some reason, this time, I felt as if my heart was being wrenched open. After all of my responsibilities of cleaning up after the liturgy were finished, I made my way to the Eucharistic Chapel in CTK, sat before the empty tabernacle, and quite literally wept. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At first I was frustrated with myself. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>What the heck, Catie. You need to get more sleep. This is completely irrational.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But then suddenly a line came into my head that I had been pondering for quite a while before this, and the Lord shed a light on the</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> hot mess of emotional turmoil</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that was going on in my soul.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There's a poem written by Msgr John Duffy called </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>I Sing of a Maiden. </i>The poem is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">about Our Lady the morning after she gives her </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fiat</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the Word becomes flesh to dwell in her womb. Cardinal John O'Conner, the founder of the Sisters of Life, was so struck by this poem that a line of it is engraved on the medal that all of the sisters wear as a part of their habit.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The line is: "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And nothing would again be casual or small</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but everything with Light invested, overspilling."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Lord used this line to open my eyes and show me what a gift He was offering me by arranging things so that I could not receive Him. So I'm going to share with you the insight that I received, in the hopes that it will help you to enter into the full reality of what we celebrate today.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sisters, the mystery of the Incarnation was an earth-shattering event that forever altered history. The Word became flesh and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dwelt among us.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> From the moment that our Blessed Mother gave her yes to the invitation of the angel, our God, the One who created the world and formed each of us in our mother's womb, has </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dwelt among us,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on this earth, forever leaving His presence with us</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since that incredible event, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">t</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here has never been a single moment when He has not graced us with His presence</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><u>Except</u> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for those three days between His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We rejected Him. We condemned Him to death. Because of us, He suffered excruciating torture and carried a heavy wooden beam up a rocky hill, where He humbly and willingly allowed Himself to be nailed and to suffer three hours of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">worst pain imaginable</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And after He surrendered His spirit to the Father and died on that cross, we lost Him. For three long days, we were without our God. There was no Holy of Holies, no Incarnate Word. His body was in a tomb, but His soul was in hell, awaiting the moment when He would come back to us and forever free us from the power of sin.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But for those three days, He did not dwell among us. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And the turmoil that I felt not being able to receive, the grief that I couldn't understand, the tears that didn't seem to stop no matter how hard I tried to talk myself out of being upset, they were all a gift from Him, for He wanted me to fully enter into the reality of what His death meant for us. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, I know very well that even if our tabernacles are empty, He still dwells among us now. In fact, I even know where we keep Him during that time. I know that I will never fully understand the agony that Mary and the Apostles felt for those three days. But thanks to that experience, I will never not understand the significance of this day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These three days mark the darkest days of history, but tomorrow night, we will celebrate the resurrection of Our Lord, when once more "</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">everything with Light invested</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" will spill over into our souls. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 18.2px;">Catie Destatte is a senior Theology and Catechetics major. She has a passion for writing, Mama Mary, ministry to women, and evangelization. Her life motto is Totus Tuus Maria, and she tries to live that out in her every moment. Along with being a member of Women's Ministry Core Team, she's involved in Capture My Heart Core Team, Liturgy Committee, and Totus Tuus Maria Household. Her five great loves are JPII, St. Peter, tea, praise and worship music, and the ocean. Along with Shannon, one of Catie's roles in Women's Ministry is to run this blog. You can find out more about her </span><a href="http://www.you-steadymyheart.com/" style="color: #4d469c; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18.2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 18.2px;">.</span>FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-67413626236926599452016-03-16T17:17:00.000-04:002016-03-16T17:17:47.094-04:00Seven Saints to Help You Through this Year of Mercy<div class="p1">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As Uncle Jesse said, “Have Mercy!” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">With this Year of Mercy in full swing, here are some saints to befriend during this jubilee year.</span></div>
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<span class="s2"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>7. </b><span class="s3"><b><a href="http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=434">St. Vladimir</a></b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span class="s1">Have you ever completed an examination of conscience with the Ten Commandments? Ever get to “Thou shall not kill," think to yourself, “Didn’t murder anyone this year!” and move on? For some of his life, St. Vladimir could not have said as much. Vlad the Bad was a 10</span><span class="s4"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> century Russian ruler who killed a fair share of people. He converted after witnessing the successful spread of Christianity through the testimony of Christians.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Known as the penitent thief, Dizzy experienced firsthand the mercy of Jesus as the two hung on crosses beside each other. Just read <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2023:40-43&version=RSV" target="_blank">Luke 23:40-43</a>--you’ll see what I mean.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>5. and 4. Sts. </b><a href="http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5358"><span class="s5"><b>Peter</b></span></a><b> and </b><span class="s5"><b><a href="http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=91">Paul</a></b></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This pair needed mercy like nobody’s business. Peter denied Christ three times; imagine how Petey felt when Jesus came back and told him to not be afraid. Paul persecuted Christians before experiencing a conversion and becoming the greatest missionary of all time. These two are perfect examples of how God not only forgives us, but also gives us the grace to become leaders of His Church.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s2"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>3. </b><span class="s3"><b><a href="http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=78">St. Maria Goretti</a></b></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">God’s mercy can manifest itself in the relationships we have with one another. For example, when this saint was attacked and stabbed to death, she forgave her assailant. He eventually repented, converting to Catholicism. He was present at her canonization.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">St. Augustine’s pre-conversion life sounds like that of a typical rowdy high-schooler. Parties, drunkenness, and impurity enslaved him. Eventually, God’s mercy, the beauty of the Gospel, and the prayers of his mother, St. Monica, led Augustine to the Church. Today, he is renowned as one of the greatest minds in Catholic history.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s2"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>1. </b><span class="s3"><b><a href="http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=510">St. Faustina</a></b></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Divine. Mercy. If you are looking for a best friend for this Year of Mercy, Faustina is your homegirl. Her diary should be at the top of your reading list this year. Venerate the image of Jesus with red and white rays shining forth from his heart, pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet, read Faustina's diary, and you have yourself a solid holy hour.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>“‘I am love and Mercy Itself. There is no misery that could be a match for My mercy, neither will misery exhaust it, because as it is being granted – it increases. The soul that trusts in My mercy is most fortunate, because I Myself take care of it.’” – </i>The Diary of St. Faustina</span></span></div>
FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-41771246833851362522016-03-03T16:16:00.007-05:002016-03-03T16:16:46.514-05:00Why I Don't Wear a Purity Ring (But, yes, you'll still see a band on my finger)<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">A household sister and friend of mine recently wrote a personal blog post about the problems with “Purity Culture”, specifically the “purity ring,” and I wholeheartedly agreed with every word of it. When discussing her post with another friend of mine I couldn’t help but notice the confused look on my friend’s face, even though she shared my mutual distaste for “purity culture.” When I asked her if she was confused by my position she said she was confused not with my negative opinion of purity rings but with the fact that I wear one despite my apparent distaste for them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">“What?” I said, “I don’t wear a purity ring…” but my eyes had already fallen on my left ring finger where the sterling silver ring bearing a heart and a cross that I had received for my Confirmation was positioned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Oh!” I exclaimed, “This isn’t a purity ring it’s just…well…actually I’m not quite sure what you would call it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">I’d like to assure everyone reading this at this moment that I am not in fact crazy and I really don’t think I’m stupid. But believe me when I say that I never considered this ring to be a purity ring, despite the fact that in hindsight, it probably appears so to everyone I encounter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The truth of the matter is that this ring of mine represents so much more to me than some trite pledge to remain chaste for my future spouse, but to explain all of that I am going to need to back up a bit and start from the beginning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">I’ve never really bought into the whole “purity culture” thing, even from the beginning. The first time I ever really considered the topics of sexuality and religion at the same time was in sixth grade. But unlike a lot of Christians out there my first intellectual consideration of “purity” wasn’t at some youth rally or church group that was telling me to “save myself” for marriage. I’m not going to lie, I was a pretty naïve little sixth grader so if someone had said this phrase to me I probably would have asked what exactly of myself I was supposed to be saving for my future husband (A lock of my hair? My baby teeth?). Fortunately, I had an amazing religion teacher in sixth grade who took it upon herself to write her own middle school curriculum based on the Theology of the Body that had been articulated by JPII (a revolutionary idea at the time because there weren’t really even curriculums out there for high schoolers yet).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">But unlike a lot of theology teachers and youth group leaders who only dive into TOB to talk about sex (specifically how you shouldn’t be having it but should rather be “saving yourself for marriage”) I distinctly remember how my teacher chose to introduce our class to the subject. She wrote two questions on the board and had us consider the answers:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Good luck trying to find two other questions that are equally important and equally terrifying to a sixth grader.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">After posing these questions and allowing us to share our responses, my teacher then began to gradually unfold over the next few weeks the profound truths that can be discovered in JPII’s Theology of the Body. It’s important to point out that the answers she gave to these questions focused on one important thing: Love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">We are created lovingly by Love for love. God is our Father and we are His children. The Love exchanged and shared within the Trinity is so good and life-giving that God desires to share it and let it overflow so He creates us out of love to share His Love with us. And within each human being he gives us the ability to love and to be loved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">I know, there’s a lot of love there, but the important things to take away from all of that are the answers to the questions my sixth grade teacher posed to us:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Who am I?</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I am “one who is loved and one who loves”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Why do I exist?</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I exist “to love and to be loved.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Why am I sharing this? Quite simply, it’s to emphasize a point. In my experience I learned that the discussion about my human identity doesn’t begin with a discussion of my sexuality; it begins with a discussion about <i>love</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The problem with most of the “purity culture” that we find in many Christian circles is that, while it may have good intentions, oftentimes it is no better than the secular world in where it places its emphasis: on sex. This ultimately comes across as a hollow and empty message because sex disconnected from our deeper identity of love <i>is</i> hollow and empty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Because at their root, the virtues of purity, chastity, modesty, etc. have NEVER first-and-foremost been about sex. They have always been about the human identity which is wrapped up in love. But because part of my personhood (or identity) is <i>embodied</i> (i.e. I have a body), these virtues have repercussions for what I do with my body.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">But Satan, along with much of the world, is really messed up because he twists my understanding of love and the body. If my identity is tied up with loving and being loved, Satan is going to do everything in his power to make me feel unlovable and incapable of giving love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">A moment of true, personal vulnerability here: I’ve always really struggled with both of these lies, but I’m going to especially focus on the first one in this blog post. Satan has done a pretty good job of convincing me my entire life that I must be unlovable because despite the fact that “on paper” I seem to have my life completely together, I’ve always had a hard time making friends. Going further and really solidifying this lie in my mind, Satan has never once failed to tell me that I’m clearly unlovable because no man has ever found me lovable enough to ask me out on a date.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Verily Magazine recently posted an article written by a man explaining why he doesn’t ask out the seemingly “perfect” girl that he knows. One of the reasons he gave in the article boiled down to attraction (perfect as she may seem, he just might not be attracted to her). It was a well-written article and the rational part of my brain appreciated the wisdom of his insights. But as soon as I read it I felt that familiar dark shadow creeping into my mind and whispering again and again, “Well there’s your answer: you’ve never been asked out by a man because no man has ever found you <i>attractive</i>.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now, I knew that this was a lie of Satan’s the moment I heard it, but that didn’t make it any easier to shake. Weeks and weeks that same lie spun around in my head, inflamed by the fact that every aunt, sibling, parent, hairdresser and optometrist I encountered over the Christmas break wanted to know if I had any romantic prospects looming on the horizon. To have to keep insisting that “No, I have nothing to report,” while deflecting comments like, “That can’t be true, a girl like you surely has admirers!” was a trial, to say the least.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">But here is where we get back to my supposed “purity ring” because every time that the lie that I was unlovable popped into my head, I would glance down at the ring I wore on my left ring finger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">You know, I didn’t always wear it on my left hand. Until about a year ago I had always worn it on my right. I only changed it last spring after going to confession with a little Eastern European priest who was the spitting image of Padre Pio. He told me that at the heart of my spiritual battle was the struggle to remember and trust that Jesus loved me despite my imperfections. He told me to wear a piece of jewelry to remind me of that truth whenever I began to doubt it. I walked out of that confessional and slipped the ring from my right hand to my left and haven’t looked back since. Before that moment it had always been just a pretty piece of jewelry, but after that moment it became an important symbol of truth in my life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">You see, this ring for me is NOT a purity ring because I don’t wear it to remind myself that I’m waiting for the love of the perfect man. No, I use this ring as a constant reminder that <i>the perfect Man already loves me</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Satan’s lie that I’m unlovable is just that, a LIE, because Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried <i>for me</i>. He descended into Hell <i>for me</i>. And on the third day he rose again from the dead <i>for me</i>. This isn’t some fairy tale or analogy that Christians made up to feel better about their lives. It <i>happened</i>, and I profess this truth every time I recite our Creed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">But because I’m not just a spiritual being it sometimes takes more than words to get this truth to sink into my thick skull. Remember, I’m an <i>embodied</i> creature and so sometimes it takes visible, material, embodied things to get through to me. That’s why Jesus gave us the Eucharist, as a physical reminder of His love for us. But because we can’t physically carry the Eucharist around with us all the time (darn!) we sometimes need even more material reminders of spiritual truths.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Think of scapulars, Marian consecration chains, saint medals, prayer cards, rosaries, crucifixes, and sacred art. These remind us of <i>already existing</i> <i>realities</i>. They aren’t just some visible way to show others about some resolution we hope to complete in the future. They’re not conditional like a purity ring is (<i>if</i> I remain chaste until marriage <i>then </i>I will be pure) but rather unconditional (Jesus can and has purified me <i>despite</i> my sins and the lives of Mary and the saints prove it). While purity rings focus on the past (what you have or have not done) and the future (what you can expect as a result) sacramentals show us all of time in one eternal moment (whatever you’ve done in the past or will do in the future, Jesus loves you then, now, and always and He gives you eternal life to live with Him in Heaven forever.) Sacramentals, like my ring in this instance, remind us of our profound dignity and worth because they remind us of the love God has for us <i>right now</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Knowing then this profound dignity and worth that I possess, I am given confidence to demand that others treat me (which includes my body) accordingly. The virtues of purity, chastity, modesty, etc. are then the natural <i>conclusion</i> to the thesis of love. If I believe that I am loved freely, totally, faithfully, and fruitfully by God then I will seek to live out this perfect model of love (after all, God <i>is</i> love) in all my interactions with others. When I begin my self-understanding with the understanding that I am made to give and receive the perfect love that is modeled by Christ, I won’t want to settle for anything less.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thus, purity, chastity, and modesty <i>make sense</i> and <i>flow naturally </i>from this true understanding of love. They are not some arbitrary dictum handed down by power-mongering old men in funny hats who think sex is bad and we need to “protect” people from its corruption and temptations. People who think this is the Catholic Church’s understanding of human sexuality have clearly never read a word of Pope St. John Paul II (or St. Edith Stein or St. Thomas Aquinas or St. John Chrysostom or anyone else for that matter).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">We shouldn’t begin our discussions of the human person and their sexuality talking about sex or abstinence or modesty like the “Purity Culture” does. We shouldn’t do this because the Christian exhortation isn’t to go forth baptizing all people in the name of the purity ring, the pledge to “save ourselves,” or the slogan that “modest is hottest” (honestly, anyone who utters this phrase, let them be anathema!) The Christian exhortation is rather to go forth baptizing all people in the name of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Father</span> and of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Son</span> and of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Holy Spirit</span>. The Christian mission is Trinitarian, and what is the Blessed Trinity but a Communion of <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Love</span>. Christians are not called to build up a “Purity Culture;” we are called to create a Civilization of Love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Because ultimately people, they’ll know we are Christians by our <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Love</span>, not our purity rings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 18.2px;">Alyssa Snyder is a Junior studying Humanities and Catholic Culture, Theology, and Philosophy. She is a native of Texas where she lives with her family in a blue-roofed house on top of a hill. She is passionate about the Truth of the Lord's Incarnation and loves spending time discovering and discussing ways in which others have incarnated the Gospel in film, history, literature, politics, and art. Her favorite saints are St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena because they both personify St. John Paul II's "feminine genius" in her mind.</span></span></div>
FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-55029856780185129842016-01-10T23:02:00.000-05:002016-01-10T23:02:13.167-05:00Men and Women in Star Wars: Their Complementary Struggles, Mission, and Genius in "The Force Awakens"<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ALERT: <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Major spoilers ahead!</span> </b><br />
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I’m not ashamed to admit that I was super excited to go see <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i>. Finally, the Tuesday
before Christmas my whole family got our schedules coordinated enough to head
off to the theaters after dinner. </div>
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But I’m not going to lie, as excited as I was to see the
most recent installment of the franchise, I was also a bit nervous when it became
clear from the previews that one of the central figures would be a woman. Why
did this make me nervous? Well, let’s just say that I’ve disagreed with some of
the more radical feminist undercurrents that seem to have become a staple in
Disney’s movies over the past several years; so much so that I even wrote a
blog post about it a year ago (which you can check out <a href="http://fuswomen.blogspot.com/2014/10/feminine-strength-of-character-what.html" target="_blank">here</a>). However,
someone at Disney clearly read my blog post (haha, at least I’d like to think so!)
because I’m pleased to report that I was pleasantly surprised by the plot and
character development exhibited in the most recent episode of the Star Wars
saga. </div>
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Was it absolutely perfect? No. But ultimately I think the
plot and the characters of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force
Awakens</i> dramatize the struggles facing both men and women in the current
culture. Most importantly, the plot highlights how the struggles men face are
different from the ones that women face, and how the weaving together of these
struggles creates a galaxy with a cultural crisis much like our own (even if
that galaxy is one that is far far away). But the thing I found most refreshing
about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i> was that it
doesn’t just dramatize the masculine and feminine crises of our culture; it
also has given us two new characters (Rey and Finn) that, in my opinion, are
struggling against these crises and I think have a reasonable chance of
succeeding (that is, if the writers don’t decide to mess this up). It is Rey
and Finn’s story, captured and dramatized in this new movie, that I believe is
worth watching in order to gain a deeper insight into our own human experience.
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Masculine Crisis</span></b></div>
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There are several major male characters in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i>, but I couldn’t help
but notice that there was a common thread uniting them, diverse as they were.
It occurred to me that Luke, Han, Kylo Ren, and Finn were similar in that they
all were running away from something. The astonishing thing to me was that they
all seemed to be running away for the same reason: fear, and this fear was a
fear of failure. Luke and Han run away after Ben Solo turns to the Dark Side, a
perceived failure on their part as his teacher and father; Kylo Ren (Ben Solo)
runs away from the Light Side out of the fear that he will fail to be powerful
without the power of the Dark Side; and Finn is tempted to run away from Han,
Rey and the Resistance on Takodana because he fears that the Resistance is sure
to fail. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Expulsion of Adam and Eve</i> by Aureliano Milani</td></tr>
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I think it is no coincidence that these major male
characters are similar in their running away and their fear of failure. In
fact, I believe this is one of the central struggles that all men face as a
result of original sin. If one turns to the account of the Fall in Genesis,
Adam’s silence is deafening. He must have been close by in the garden if Eve
gave him the fruit, but he fails to intervene and protect her from the wiles of
the serpent. Dr. Larry Crabb expounds on this idea in his book <i>The Silence of Adam </i>in which he examines
the question of why men fail to act. His answer lies in the claim that most men
draw their sense of worth and identity from their competence. Thus, when life
presents situations that test this competence or reveal men’s inability to
“handle the situation” they feel like failures. <i></i></div>
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Katrina Zeno in her book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Discovering
the Feminine Genius</i> points out that Genesis reveals what happens when men
feel this sense of failure: they either (A) “become paralyzed by fear and
retreat into passivity” or (B) “try to dominate the situation.” In Genesis,
Adam does both of these things, first by running away and trying to hide from
God and then by his domination of Eve (“he shall rule over you”). </div>
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This biblical truth is clearly dramatized on the big screen
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i>. Luke, Han, and
Finn retreat into passivity while Kylo Ren goes further and doesn’t just seek
to retreat but also tries to dominate others, specifically the woman Rey. All
of these men are afraid that their competency has failed and out of fear their
first instinct is retreat. If this fear continues to grow it leads to the desire
to dominate others, just like Kylo Ren is doing. </div>
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But it is important to note that this clear lack of
masculinity doesn’t always appear as such on the outside. We live in an age
where the Evil One whispers in the ears of men that the truly “masculine” thing
to do is to avoid situations where failure is an option. This is essentially
the “I don’t play games I can’t win” attitude. While it might come off as an
aloof and stoic macho toughness because it avoids all chance of vulnerability
or failure, in reality it is the exact opposite and is marked by cowardice. This
is where we find the characters of Luke, Han, and Finn towards the beginning of
the movie.</div>
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On the flip side of this cowardice is the lie the Evil One feeds
men that “real men” are marked by the sheer power that they have over others,
specifically women. This is essentially the idea that the more money you have,
men you have beaten up, and women you have slept with, the more you are a man.
While this may appear to be the pinnacle and maturation of masculinity it is actually
its exact opposite, and is the embodiment of immaturity. “Men” who seek to
dominate others in this way may seem big and scary, but if you remove the mask
(a-la Kylo Ren) what you will find is the immature face of a little boy. I must say that
the casting of Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, while criticized by some, brilliantly
emphasizes this point. It is the fear that his power is insufficient that
eventually leads him to the Dark Side, just like it did with his grandfather
Anakin Skywalker. </div>
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Hmmm…I think a wise little green creature may have been onto
something when he warned that fear leads to the Dark Side. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Feminine Crisis</span></b></div>
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But fear is not something reserved only for the men in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i>. We also see Rey
struggle with fears of her own, but these fears are different from the ones
haunting her male counterparts. Unlike the men who fear a failure in their
competency, Rey fears her own identity which likewise tempts her to run away.
As Finn is being tempted to run away from the Resistance on Takodana, Rey is
simultaneously running into the forest after having a flashback forcing her to
face her identity and the fact that the Force is calling to her. She knows in
her heart that she is someone important and special, but is not willing to
accept this yet because of another fear holding her back: the fear that she is not enough and that she is unlovable and forgotten.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
As of yet we know very little about Rey’s backstory but what
we do know is not very cheery. She was left alone on Jakku as a young girl and
believes that she must wait for someone to return to claim her. But Rey is
having to face the reality that no one will likely ever return. With these
circumstances it is easy to see how she might feel forgotten and unlovable, so it
would make sense that she would not feel worthy of human affection or any sort
or a supernatural call (one could even use the language of “vocation” here). <br />
<br />
Like I said, at the heart of this fear of being unlovable and forgotten is the fear that she is not <i>enough</i>. Turning back to Genesis we see the same fear take hold of Eve's mind. Eve begins to doubt that her identity as a daughter of God (who she <i>is</i>) is not enough; so she takes the fruit hoping that it will make her more like God and less like the person she is currently. Eve's desire for autonomy which leads her to grasp at the fruit is an inclination we see paralleled in the character Rey. <br />
<br />
Rey must have parents, specifically a father, but he
has failed to act in her life by abandoning her. In the absence of someone to
look after Rey and defend her (namely her parents) she has been forced to take
on a hardened independence and a degree of autonomy. It is this autonomy, like Eve's desire for autonomy, that marks the separation of woman from man and from God. In the words of Katrina Zeno, “when men fail to
act, women develop an independency that excludes a real communion of persons.
The result is isolation.” This could not be more accurate in describing Rey’s
life. She has experienced isolation for so long that encountering another
person (like Finn) or her identity and past (linked to her parents) is going to
be a difficult experience for her: one that she might initially brush off but
can’t outrun (you can’t flee your identity after all).</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A Story for Our Day</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i>
we have a universe of men that have retreated into passivity or dominance and
women who have hardened their hearts in an effort to avoid confronting their
fear of being unlovable and forgotten. Hmmm…sound familiar? I don’t know about
you, but I think this is the exact cultural phenomenon that men and women from
our galaxy face on a daily basis. I can’t speak for the men out there, but I
know that Rey’s fears of being unlovable and forgotten, tied up in an inability
to recognize the dignity and worth of her identity and resulting in the
temptation to grasp at “independence” and autonomy is something I struggle with almost
daily. And interacting with women through Women’s Ministry I can testify that
I’m not the only woman out there with this struggle. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
So the internal conflicts in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i> are human ones that we can relate to, but the
thing that excites me is that the plot and character development thus far in
the new installments give the audience characters struggling with, but also
struggling <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">against</b>, the persistent
cultural crisis they find themselves in. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Fr. Francis Martin, a theologian, says that a saint is
someone in whom God works out the problem of the age. The problems in our own
age are the same as in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i>.
In the characters Finn and Rey, we witness two people, a man and a woman,
working through the struggles, fears, and insecurities of the men and women of
their world and our own. They may not be perfect at it (in fact, they both have
a long way to go) but in the words of St. Josemaria Escriva “A saint is a
sinner who keeps trying.” Finn and Rey are our heroes not because they emerged
from the battle unscathed but because they continue to fight despite the
injuries they have already sustained.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Finn: Demonstrating the Masculine Mission</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
By far my favorite character to come out of the most recent
film is Finn. He is a character of heroic virtue, despite the fact that he’s
far from perfect. In fact, that’s why I like him: we get to see his character
grow and mature so much, even within the span of this one film. Is he there
yet? No, but I see great things in the future for Finn and the role he will
play in this story.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Jason Evert in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theology
of His Body/Theology of Her Body</i> says that the mission of every man is to
protect, serve, and sacrifice. The model for this masculine mission is
obviously Jesus Christ whose passion and death counteracted Adam’s failure to protect,
serve, and sacrifice for Eve. Jason Evert says that this masculine mission is
specifically lived out when men “use [their] strength to cherish women and
protect life.” </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
At the beginning of the movie we see Finn as a Stormtrooper
attacking a village. But when ordered to slaughter the innocent townspeople
(including women and children) he is the only Stormtrooper who does not pull
the trigger on his blaster. Is he protecting, serving, and sacrificing in this
scene? No, but this is his first step in the right direction. Shortly after,
Finn releases Poe Dameron from captivity but by his own admission he does this
because he needs a pilot, not because it’s the right thing to do. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
The first time we see Finn actually put his own interests
aside to protect another doesn’t come until a few movie minutes later. What prompts
him to step outside of himself for the first time? The answer is a distressed
cry from a woman (Rey). She is being attacked and he runs to help her. Is he
very effective at this? Well, maybe not. She’s an “independent woman” after all
and is pretty capable of fending off the attack on her own (at least initially).
Several times Finn takes her hand in this “escape-from-danger” scene and this
is something that Rey does not take too well to, to say the least. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
But my opinion is, can we really blame her? Based on the
circumstances of Rey’s life it would be highly unlikely that she would
willingly accept help from a male stranger as this would be an admission of
weakness and the potential for danger. But Finn continues to offer his help and
when he comes-to after getting knocked over his first question is whether or not Rey is OK. I’m aware that <a href="http://catholicpsych.com/2015/12/22/psychology-in-the-star-wars-the-force-awakens-the-male-hero-has-vanished/" target="_blank">some</a> are a bit
more critical of this scene and the role of the male characters in general, but I give Finn a solid “A” for effort in his
first attempt at chivalry, even if the execution is a bit flawed, which
admittedly is largely because of Rey’s own reaction to the situation. For now,
simply note that the conflict between Finn and Rey in this scene is the direct
result of the masculine and feminine crises of their culture (a culture of
masculine passivity and a hardened “independent” femininity). </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Finn is able to finally embrace the masculine mission to
protect, serve, and sacrifice only on Takodana when he understands that Rey is
in great danger. Maz Kanata tells Finn that Rey and BB-8 need him and the
audience sees the understanding dawn on Finn’s face as he takes up the only
weapon available to him, even if it’s an unfamiliar lightsaber, to try to
defend her. He is unable to get to Rey in time and sees her being carried off
by Kylo Ren into his ship. Remember, before this scene Finn was about to run
away from the entire Resistance movement. But he changes his mind after
witnessing Rey’s capture and insists on helping with the attempt to rescue her
despite the danger to himself. For a character that was initially caught up in
the interests of the First Order and then in his own self-interest, Finn demonstrates
a tremendous amount of virtue in his selflessness regarding Rey. Such
selflessness is even more laudable when one considers that even Han Solo was
not so quick to embrace this masculine mission (recall that in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A New Hope</i>, Han only rescues Leia when
he finds out that there would be a large monetary reward for doing so).</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Finn selflessly puts his own fear and interests aside to protect,
serve, and sacrifice for Rey<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i>Critique
him all you want but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> is the
embodiment of the masculine mission right there. Bravo, Finn. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rey: Revealing the Feminine Genius</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
But don’t think I’ve forgotten about our heroine Rey. Where
would our story be without her? After all, the entire plot is able to happen
because of one characteristically feminine choice that she makes: rescuing BB-8.
She hears the cry of BB-8, rescues him, takes care of him, and refuses to let
him be sold and become an object of use. I recognize that BB-8 is a droid and
is not a human person, but in the Star Wars universe droids like BB-8 and R2-D2
are personified and treated like people, so I’m going to consider them as such.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Now, I have always considered droids like BB-8 and R2-D2 to
have certain “childlike” qualities in their innocence, humor, devotion and
all-around “cuteness.” So Rey’s choice to rescue BB-8 and care for him is a distinctly
feminine and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maternal</i> characteristic in
my mind. Furthermore, when Rey later hears the cry of a distressed child at the
cantina on Takodana she seeks out the source of the cries, drawn to them like any
mother is drawn to the sound of a crying child.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
While Rey may not be a mother herself and has no experience
of her own mother that she can recall, what these two instances reveal is that she
still possesses a maternal instinct despite her otherwise hardened and “independent”
persona. This is because the tendency to care for and nurture a helpless
creature is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">natural</i> for women. Motherhood,
even of a spiritual kind, is part of who every woman is. To be a woman is to,
in some sense, be a mother. At the heart of this maternal nature is a woman’s
natural and intuitive orientation towards <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">persons</i>.
This is the “feminine genius” that St. John Paul II speaks about that every
woman possesses by the very nature of her being a woman. A woman truly living
out this feminine genius has the ability to “see” the reality of who a person
is beneath the external qualities of their success, actions, or possessions. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
To demonstrate further this unique ability of woman to “see
the person” we are presented with the character of Maz Kanata. She is
physically characterized with large lenses over her eyes, demonstrating her wisdom
and innate ability to read the inner motivations and thoughts of other
characters. While she is no Jedi herself, we know that she shares a powerful
connection with the Force which is the source of this ability within her.
Likewise, Rey will later be able to read the inner thoughts and fears of Kylo Ren
when she is beginning to tap into the Force for herself. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
But the ability of woman to see into and be more oriented
towards the “other” has another consequence. The pain of others becomes a pain
that the woman experiences herself, and this pain is often manifested in the
form of tears. Hardened as Rey is, we still see her cry at multiple points in
the movie, an act that is not often seen from other movie heroines. But
contrary to what one might think, shedding tears does not diminish a woman’s
strength. Paradoxical as it may sound, Gertrude von le Fort in her novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Song at the Scaffold</i> claims that “to
tremble is to be strong.” </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTgGLcnBJxuLdEBIhqee5jWaorBozkNR9W2Ug9vObOVDvNv-3nkEBCKvDPBe4KVbpDj53R7pFXgq7PGQMwAnFesfBXwxsSPR4LV46vPHxTz8HQHpLApz3ys5bPAUidI-mdCFG_S4BaJDL7/s1600/pietaN7KO038C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTgGLcnBJxuLdEBIhqee5jWaorBozkNR9W2Ug9vObOVDvNv-3nkEBCKvDPBe4KVbpDj53R7pFXgq7PGQMwAnFesfBXwxsSPR4LV46vPHxTz8HQHpLApz3ys5bPAUidI-mdCFG_S4BaJDL7/s320/pietaN7KO038C.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 18.2px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i>Pietà</i> (detail) </span>by Niccolò Frangipane (1593)</span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It is true that a woman shedding tears can be shedding tears
of silliness and vanity, but to acknowledge this fact is not the same as believing
that the tears of every woman are therefore silly and vain. As Alice von
Hildebrand says in her book <i>The Privilege
of Being a Woman, </i>“Tears can be expressions of what is best and noblest in
man.” A woman who cries in the face of immense tragedy, injustice, or cruelty
is not a weak woman. Furthermore, she is not a weak woman <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>precisely because she is crying</i></b>,
for she has seen the suffering before her and has chosen to make it her own. In
doing this, she gives the proper response to the tragedy at hand. As von
Hildebrand wisely points out, “We live in a world in which tears are called for
daily.” </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
When Finn is lying on the ground injured and unconscious,
Rey weeps over his body. In doing so she is responding properly to the
situation at hand (“Blessed are those that mourn”). But even more importantly,
this is a moment in which Rey is imitating the actions of another sorrowful
woman: The Blessed Virgin Mary. There is a reason why Mary is called the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mater Dolorosa,</i> or Sorrowful Mother.
Like Rey crying over the body of Finn, Mary likewise cried over the body of her
Son as he was taken down from the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
In her spiritual motherhood and feminine sensitivity to
persons manifesting itself in tears, Rey reveals the feminine genius that we
see embodied most perfectly in Mary. But the parallels between Rey and Our Lady
do not end there.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Salvation Will Be Born of a Woman</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Based on the plot of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Force Awakens</i> one could reasonably make the prediction that Rey is going to
become the central character in the next several films (the parallels between
her and Luke were not coincidental, I’m sure). Now, the choice to create a
female protagonist in a film series whose target audience includes both men and
women is a bit of a gutsy move, and one could argue it is a move motivated by a
feminist ideology bent on tearing down men in an effort to extol women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And normally, I might agree with that
position. But I think, if the plot of the future movies is handled correctly,
there can be some serious truth about the heroic role that women play that can
come out of it, and not just the rhetoric of a confused ideology.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
I’d like to begin my defense of Rey’s central role in the
plot with a quote from Gertrude von le Fort’s book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Eternal Woman</i> (and if you’ve never read this book, you should
seriously check it out). Von le Fort says that woman, specifically the virginal
woman, “always comes to the rescue when there is a need.” This is precisely
what Rey does in rescuing BB-8 and it is this action that draws her into the
larger plot of the movie, a plot that will require her to come to the rescue
again and again.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Now, some might argue that von le Fort’s claim that women
will “come to the rescue” when there is a need may sound like a position that eliminates
any role for men. But consider what else von le Fort says on the matter before
you discredit her entirely: “The highest vocation of woman is always by way of
a last expedient, and we grasp the astonishing significance of a St. Catherine
[of Siena] or a St. Joan [of Arc] only when we know who had already failed on
the missions that later became theirs.” There is precedent within the realm of
Catholic orthodoxy for von le Fort’s claim that woman will always come to the
rescue when there is a need, but notice this is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">only as a last resort</i></b>
because those (men) that came before them had already failed on these missions.
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
As von le Fort says, “The need of woman coming to the rescue
indicates that…there is some lack of man power.” I think it has already been
sufficiently demonstrated that this galaxy far far away is one with a serious
lack of the necessary “man-power.” Perhaps this lack is most significant in the
characters Luke and Kylo Ren who both possess the powers of a Jedi. Both of these
men have succumbed to fear and failed in their masculine mission, one by
fleeing and one by seeking to dominate. With the betrayal of Kylo Ren to the
Dark Side and the flight of Luke to isolation, there are no Jedi left to
maintain balance in the Force. According to von le Fort this is precisely when
woman is called to the rescue because historically “when the male line fails,
the daughter becomes the heir.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
No surprise here, but in our story that “daughter” is Rey.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
But what exactly does it mean for woman to come to the
rescue and become the heir? Von le Fort answers that, “For woman coming to the
rescue means, in the strictest sense, that her action is not activity in
itself, but surrender, which is but another form of the womanly ‘Be it done
unto me.’” </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Stop. Read that last sentence again and let it sink in,
because this is the key to von le Fort’s entire argument.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCIH2BPWYKgZOr5PDM2Z7s8miljgZxM9optB2G1-X06mn6ltNV5diBZDlq8JXjFBzY0xBZCnREu6lc3rRBjwNKSDGuQu1tW5VuutCl0Yqqz2BqWOFM0PCAC02Cw2agJo0VRuLMS14N7k0p/s1600/1annunc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCIH2BPWYKgZOr5PDM2Z7s8miljgZxM9optB2G1-X06mn6ltNV5diBZDlq8JXjFBzY0xBZCnREu6lc3rRBjwNKSDGuQu1tW5VuutCl0Yqqz2BqWOFM0PCAC02Cw2agJo0VRuLMS14N7k0p/s400/1annunc1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Annunciation</i> (detail) by Fra Angelico (1433-34)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Von le Fort’s reference here to the Annunciation is no
accident. After all, the world was in serious need of rescue after the Fall and
mankind was doing a pretty poor job of trying to change that. So what did God
do when the line of mankind failed? The heir became a daughter of Israel. Yep,
you guessed it: Mary. Mary’s virginal surrender to God in her <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fiat</i> is the very act of heroism that
makes the defeat of “The Dark Side” possible because “the Light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn 1:5).</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
And who is it that Mary surrenders to? God. He is all things
spiritual, immaterial, and life-giving. In the Star Wars universe one can
describe the Force that way. Like Mary, Rey must learn to surrender herself to
the Force, to “let it in” as was said in the movie trailer. This surrender
means embracing her identity as having its roots in the Force, just as Mary’s
identity was rooted in her identity as a daughter of God the Father. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
When Mary surrendered to God, all of creation was saved.
Salvation entered the world <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">through a
woman’s act of surrender to God</i>. This is the heroic moment of woman and it
is such an integral part of the world’s salvation that Mary is given the title
of Co-Redemptrix. Mary, a woman, participates in the salvific act of the man
Jesus. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
We have been given a plot in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i> where the universe needs saving and that
salvation appears to be coming through the woman Rey, just as salvation came to
this world through the Virgin Mary (“When the fullness of time arrived, God
sent His Son, formed from a woman…so that He might redeem those who were under
the law” Gal. 4:4-5). But the role Mary plays in the salvation of the world is
significant precisely because it is different from the role that Christ plays. What
this tells us is that the heroism of Mary, as the perfect model of womanhood,
is different from the heroism of Jesus who is the perfect model of manhood. If
the salvific role of Rey is to continue to be a truly feminine image, it must
model Mary’s salvific role; but this salvific role is not one of “Redeemer” but
is one of “Co-Redemptrix.” </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A Hidden Heroine</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Now in order to justify this seemingly “lesser” role of
woman as “Co-Redemptrix” rather than “Redeemer,” I’m going to need to backtrack
a little…but stay with me. This is a position that is crucial to understand and
yet is so often misunderstood that I’m not going to cut any corners in trying
to explain it.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Rey clearly possesses a supernatural call from the Force
which, despite her hardened external persona, she still demonstrates a natural
intuition for. It is this natural intuition for the spiritual that is a
distinctly feminine quality which (thank goodness!) the screenwriters decided
to include in her character. Untrained as she is, Rey has a very strong natural
connection with the Force. Case in point, she demonstrates a greater command of
the Force than Kylo Ren in her confrontation with him despite the fact that he
has much more experience than her. Likewise, Maz Kanata also exhibits a strong
natural intuition for the Force. It is no secret in our own galaxy that women
are naturally more in-tune with the spiritual life even without much formal
instruction. This is why there are usually more women at church than men. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Now don’t misunderstand me: I’m not saying that women are
spiritually superior to men. But I am saying that it is more in women’s nature
than men’s nature to be receptive to the unseen and immaterial (and therefore <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">spiritual</i>) forces in the universe. This
does not mean that women can then “sit back and relax” in the spiritual life
though, because “to whom more is given, more is expected” (Luke 12:48). But I
digress.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
One of the central points of von le Fort in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Eternal Woman</i> is that women are
naturally more spiritual because they are, by their very nature, characterized
by what cannot be seen and is hidden from view (i.e. the immaterial or the
spiritual). They are characterized by the hidden because their primary sexual
organs (whose presence makes them a woman) are hidden or “veiled” inside of
their bodies, unlike the primary sexual organs of a man. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
In Star Wars, the hidden, immaterial and spiritual part of
reality is the Force. Some may critique <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Force Awakens</i> for giving Rey a stronger natural connection to the Force
than her male counterparts because they see this as just another way that
Hollywood has tried to build women up by tearing men down. And that might have
been Hollywood’s intention, but this is the one instance where I actually think
the result may have turned out for the better because Rey’s natural affinity
for the Force reveals a fundamental difference between men and women while
characterizing the unique “genius” of woman. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
But before you go around proclaiming that “girls rule and
boys drool” because of women’s innate spirituality, take a moment to really
understand the nature of this feminine genius and its connection with the hidden
act of surrender. The genius of woman, and her most profound gift, is her
natural predisposition for the spiritual. Woman is therefore uniquely
characterized by her spirituality in a way that man is not. This is the
“privilege” that Alice von Hildebrand (a reader of Gertrude von le Fort) is
thinking of when she writes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Privilege
of Being a Woman.</i> But remember that what is “spiritual” is also what is
“immaterial” and is therefore what is “hidden” or “mysterious.” Therefore, woman
is more naturally spiritual <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">precisely because she is more naturally hidden</i></b>.
And when we say “natural” here, we mean natural in the sense of “this is how
God created woman to be before the Fall.”</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhujoWkppEu6_2UIzmD4KTY_PCKgxl9c7YTYGHRSGEFdUt5t6zZh9bT4uZhFji4vbQvoZdg1C0fl9Tmj_7vvIEk7JFi7jhhdxD-IHXhukPMsTGJggiegX7icU3W4l1DMyS5yw7mDN9A-pYF/s1600/6corona1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhujoWkppEu6_2UIzmD4KTY_PCKgxl9c7YTYGHRSGEFdUt5t6zZh9bT4uZhFji4vbQvoZdg1C0fl9Tmj_7vvIEk7JFi7jhhdxD-IHXhukPMsTGJggiegX7icU3W4l1DMyS5yw7mDN9A-pYF/s320/6corona1.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
<i>The Coronation of the Virgin</i> (detail) </div>
<div>
by Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1472-73)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This natural “hiddenness” is what leads von le Fort to say
that the symbol of woman is the “veil” because “the veil is the symbol of the
metaphysical.” She points out that the veil has never represented woman’s
diminishment, despite what many people began to believe in the 20<sup>th</sup>
century. Rather, the veil has always been a symbol of woman’s profound <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">exultation</i></b>.
Woman, wherever she appears most truly exalted, always appears in a hidden and
humble manner “under a veil” even if that veil is a figurative one. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
It’s no surprise then that the most exalted woman in all of
time (the “Eternal Woman” that von le Fort speaks of) is the Virgin Mary. Furthermore,
the moment of Mary’s greatest exaltation, the moment that merited her title of
“Queen of Heaven and Earth” is the precise moment of her surrender to God in
the Annunciation, a surrender allowing herself to be “overshadowed” by His Holy
Spirit. Her veil then becomes a Veil of Flame and the Crown of her Glory. In
case you didn’t catch that, Mary’s veil is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">literally the Holy Spirit</i></b>. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
Remember that von le Fort said that “For woman coming to the
rescue means, in the strictest sense, that her action is not activity in
itself, but surrender, which is but another form of the womanly ‘Be it done
unto me.’” Why is this important? Because the moment of Mary’s exaltation when
she heroically “comes to the rescue” is also the moment that she is
“overshadowed” and “veiled” by the Supernatural. In other words,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> when
Mary is most heroic she is also most hidden.</i></b> When she is most exalted
she is also most veiled. This truth has profound implications for what women are
called to do when they are called to “rescue the world.” </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Gertrude von le Fort gives a bit of clarity in the very next
line: “From this it follows that the activity of woman withdraws of its own
accord, when the need for it no longer exists. In this circumstance woman’s
objective achievement finds its extraordinary, its largely thankless, therefore
deeply veiled, recognition; but it finds there also its limitations. This is to
say that the significance of woman in historical and cultural life cannot
basically be dependent on her objective cooperation; it is much more profound
than this.” </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Translation: The heroism of woman has limitations and the
beauty of these limitations is that they ought to be applied by the woman
herself of her own accord. Therefore, woman has a more profound significance in
historical and cultural life than may be objectively or visibly apparent because she withdraws of her own accord. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
The heroism of woman is her act of hidden surrender. Therefore, if
woman’s act ceases to be one of hidden surrender it ceases to be heroic. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As von le Fort says, “At the moment when the
stronger power no longer desires to surrender but seeks self-glorification, a
catastrophe is bound to ensue.” What does this mean for the character Rey? I’m
not sure what the screenwriters have in mind, but if they cared about portraying
the true feminine genius, they would be attentive to a character who represents
the other half of humanity: Finn. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Symbiotic Salvation </span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Why should Rey not be the sole savior of her galaxy? Why
must Finn somehow be involved? I think the answer lies in understanding why
Mary is unable to be the sole savior in our galaxy. As Gertrude von le Fort
says, “The salvation that woman brings ranges far beyond her; its proper
fulfillment, its success upon earth, is man’s appointed mission.” It is true to
say that Mary brings salvation, but to stop there is to leave out the best
part: the life, death, and Resurrection of the man Jesus.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
It is Christ who is the world’s Redeemer, but it is through
Mary that Christ enters the world. Mary is the “gate” between Heaven and earth.
It is in her womb that the spiritual and the material worlds meet. Mary’s
heroic act of surrender allows the material world to encounter the spiritual
world. Through her surrender, we are able to encounter the supernatural force
that is God-Made-Man (Jesus).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As von le
Fort says, “Woman has, in the utmost sense of the word, been the bearer of
salvation. This does not apply to the sphere of religion alone—but because it
is true in this sphere, it is valid in general.”</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Like Mary, a woman acting heroically is not the savoir
herself but is the one who brings salvation forth by helping men to fulfill
their appointed mission of protection, service, and sacrifice. It is the
difference between being the Co-Redemptrix and being the Redeemer. I mentioned
St. Catherine of Siena and St. Joan of Arc earlier. Recall their missions:
helping men (the pope in St. Catherine’s case and the king in St. Joan’s) to
fulfill the mission God had called them to. Here, woman is man’s “helper” just
as Eve is Adam’s helper in Genesis. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
But to call woman a helper is not to imply that she is less
than the man. Remember that when a woman is most veiled, she is also most
exalted. Dr. Deborah Savage points out in her article “The Nature of Woman in
Relation to Man” that the Hebrew word translated as “helper” in Genesis doesn’t
mean “servant” or “slave” but rather “divine aid.” Eve is Adam’s partner and
equal given to him by God, and as such she can help him to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">live</i></b> and to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">become</i></b>.
In the words of Katrina Zeno, “The woman helps the man discover his own
humanity, his own capacity for relational self-giving.” How awesome!</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
It’s clear that Rey has already been an important part of
helping Finn discover “his own capacity for relational self-giving.” In doing
so, Rey has helped Finn gain competency in this area, a crucial aspect of his
coming to understand his own worth and masculine mission. I would love to see,
in future movies, a plot in which Rey helps Finn grow even more in his “spiritual
competency” (cough, cough…the Force) and that he learns to use this competency
to better protect, serve and sacrifice for others (perhaps even as a Jedi himself).
I would also love to see Rey (or perhaps Leia) help Kylo Ren come to this same competency,
facilitating his return to the Light Side of the Force. And based on the ending
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i> I think there’s
already a good indication that Rey will convince Luke to return to his
masculine mission. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
This more “hidden” role that I hope Rey will eventually take
to allow Finn and the other male characters to fully step into their masculine
mission is a humble one, I’ll admit. And some people, perhaps even devout
Christians, might really criticize me for saying that such an apparently
“lesser” role is representative of woman’s nature. But I would urge such people
to look again at the idea that is at the heart of Christianity, an idea that is
radically counter-cultural and is seemingly preposterous. This central idea is
one that maintains that “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9), that
“the last shall be first” (Mt 20:16), and that “the meek…shall inherit the
earth” (Mt 5:5). At the very center of Christianity is the virtue of humility
and the act of surrender yet Christianity maintains that these moments of
weakness and apparent failure are really moments of triumph and exaltation (again,
the moment woman is most veiled is also the moment she is most exalted).</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
Scripture gives us two images of this humble surrender, one
feminine and one masculine. The first, as we’ve already discussed, is the image
of feminine surrender: a humble woman <i><b>veiled </b></i>by the Holy Spirit. The second
image is the masculine one: a humble Man hanging <i><b>naked </b></i>on a cross. Both man and
woman are called to humble surrender. Both are called to give totally of their
selves. Both are called to make heroic acts of love. And these acts of
surrender to heroic, self-giving love are moments of triumph and exaltation for
both Jesus and Mary, despite their apparent weakness and failure. Yet the
simultaneous weakness and triumph of these acts is distinct for men and women.
While the veil is drawn over the woman the veil is torn away from the Man (quite literally, not only in Jesus' nakedness but also in the tearing of the temple veil).</div>
</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmF1JXob0rck8bWrZVD9Sp-cTz0dzyXGgBMJdIbL4I-CMaH4N-_k0WLn_v6YYKuiWD-PGM23Qvjr6dFxrO6r5dKJ2BpHoWgeP4tm4I2XLPqk7HlLQNisOU9HBN4MU1kc3DCZ1SwZTdyFZb/s1600/02marble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmF1JXob0rck8bWrZVD9Sp-cTz0dzyXGgBMJdIbL4I-CMaH4N-_k0WLn_v6YYKuiWD-PGM23Qvjr6dFxrO6r5dKJ2BpHoWgeP4tm4I2XLPqk7HlLQNisOU9HBN4MU1kc3DCZ1SwZTdyFZb/s320/02marble.jpg" width="230" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Crucifix</i> by Benvenuto Cellini (1562)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It is this distinction that makes the humble and yet
triumphant and heroic acts of man and woman complementary, just as the sexual acts of man and woman are complementary. Both the heroic and the sexual acts of man and woman are acts of
surrender but the masculine acts are acts of initiation and the feminine acts are acts of
reception. The point is that salvation (a new life) needs both. In order for us
to be saved Christ “needs” us to be receptive to His gift of self but the
Church also needs Him to give Himself to us. Christ and the Church, man and
woman, are complementary in their salvific roles, and this is a “great mystery”
(Eph 5:32). If one diminishes the salvific role of man, one diminishes the
salvific role of Christ. Likewise, if one diminishes the salvific role of woman
one diminishes the salvific role of the Church. To emphasize one sex over the
other, regardless of whether it is the masculine or the feminine sex, is to
quite literally eliminate the possibility for salvation of any sort.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
So where does this leave us with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i>? I don’t have any more insight into the minds of
the writers than anybody else when it comes to the plot for future movies. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i> the writers have given
us two main characters who have the potential to work together to bring
salvation to their galaxy. This is encouraging, and I applaud Hollywood for the
effort. That being said, there is still plenty of opportunity to derail this
complementarity and make the newest installments all about Rey, to the
detriment of Finn and quite honestly, everyone else. While Hollywood could
literally put any collection of rubbish together, call it a plot and still make
tons of money (ahem, Episodes I—III), if they are looking to present something <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">true</i></b>
in these movies (as all great art should) then they will not waste the perfect
set-up they have written for themselves in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Force Awakens</i>. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Perhaps one of my favorite scenes from the movie is the one
in which Rey and Finn are flying around in the Millennium Falcon as they are
chased by TIE fighters. This is a great example of a man and a woman working
together in an interdependent manner. Neither is dominating the other and I
think it’s safe to say that they would not have survived this situation without
their mutual cooperation. This is the type of scene we need to see more of in
movies: a scene characterized by the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">interdependent cooperation</i></b> between
men and women. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Please Hollywood, I beg of you, give us more of this. It’s
OK if the characters are broken and struggling with the wounds that
characterize the men and women of their day (and ours). But show us models of masculinity
and femininity fighting on, side by side, despite these wounds. Show us men and
women helping and sacrificing for each other. Show us men and women working
together to save their galaxy. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Because who knows, maybe, just maybe,
if enough people saw it, that galaxy wouldn't be that far far away after all...</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; line-height: 18.2px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alyssa is a Junior at Franciscan studying Humanities and Catholic Culture, Theology, and Philosophy. She is a native of Texas where she lives with her family in a blue-roofed house on top of a hill. She is passionate about the Truth of the Lord's Incarnation and loves spending time discovering and discussing ways in which others have incarnated the Gospel in film, history, literature, politics, and art. Her favorite saints are St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena because they both personify St. John Paul II's "feminine genius" in her mind.</span></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><i></i>FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-10473482378459634762016-01-08T19:39:00.000-05:002016-01-08T19:39:27.892-05:00Our Good, Good Father<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have a confession to make. I have been in serious spiritual desolation for the last four months. And y’all, it <i><b>stinks</b></i>. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. <u>But</u> it’s the Year of Mercy! And this morning, our good Father hit me over the head with His mercy!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This morning, as I was trying to pray morning prayer, I reached the end of the intentions portion, and I realized that I didn’t have the strength to pray for anything that wasn’t already scripted for me. So instead of trying to spout off the thousands of intentions I know that I should pray for, I opened my hands and my heart to God and cried out, “Father, you know the intentions of my heart even better than I do, and I don’t have the strength to pray for them myself, but I give you this empty vessel I call a heart and hope that it’ll be enough for You.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And despite the fact that it’s a very meager gift for the King of kings, I think it was the most pleasing thing I could have given Him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe this is the mercy of God—that it is more pleasing to Him when we come to Him with empty hands and breaking hearts than when we come to Him with what we think is perfection and righteousness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Because the reality is that we’re never going to be sinless or perfect in this life. There will always be something within us that is lacking, that needs to strive for a higher degree of perfection. It’s the price that comes with being fallen creatures in a fallen world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And you know what? I think God prefers it that way. If we were already perfect, or if belief in God were the only necessary requirement for Heaven and it didn’t matter how we lived or sinned (a common misconception in our modern culture), then we wouldn’t need a Savior now. We would only have needed Him to die for us that one time 2,000 years ago, and we wouldn’t need Him now. We don’t still need a Savior if we’re already saved, right? Sure, we might still really love Him—after all, how can you not love someone if you truly believed that He died for you? But we wouldn’t need Him, not really.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But here’s the thing: God is a Father. And like any good father, He wants His children to need Him. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So often, I’m tempted to think that I need to pick myself up from my sin and make myself perfect before I can approach my Father’s throne. But more often than not, I can’t do that. Most of the time, when I approach that throne, I do so with empty hands. And sometimes, I have to crawl my way to that throne, because I don’t have the strength to pick myself up and walk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And as I was praying about that this morning, you know what I heard Him speak to my heart? Well obviously you don't, so I'm about to tell you: He <i>prefers</i> it that way. He <i>wants</i> to be the one to pick us up. <b>He doesn’t want the finished product. He wants all of us, all of our brokenness, because He wants to be the one to fix us, to make us whole.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There’s this song that I love. I want you to take a few moments to listen to it now, because I think we all need the reminder. It's called Good Good Father, click <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWXxDHvfY3U" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Oh I’ve head a thousand stories of what they think you’re like, but I’ve heard the tender whisper of love in the dead of night, and you tell me that you’re pleased and that I’m never alone. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You’re a good, good Father, it’s who you are, it’s who you are, it’s who you are, and I’m loved by you, it’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’ve seen many searching for answers far and wide, but I know we’re all searching for answers only you provide, cause you know just what we need before we say a word.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The mercy of God lies in the fact that He loves us. Not because of who we are, but because of who He is—goodness itself. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today, I’m thankful for my brokenness in a way that I have never been before. Because it is only when I acknowledge and embrace my brokenness that I can clearly hear that tender whisper that reminds me who I am—a daughter loved and cherished beyond belief.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px;">Catie Destatte is a senior Theology and Catechetics major. She has a passion for writing, Mama Mary, ministry to women, and evangelization. Her life motto is Totus Tuus Maria, and she tries to live that out in her every moment. Along with being a member of Women's Ministry Core Team, she's involved in Capture My Heart Core Team, Liturgy Committee, and Totus Tuus Maria Household. Her five great loves are JPII, St. Peter, tea, praise and worship music, and the ocean. Along with Shannon, one of Catie's roles in Women's Ministry is to run this blog. You can find out more about her </span><a href="http://www.you-steadymyheart.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; line-height: 18.2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px;">.</span></span></div>
FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-78894107159220764942016-01-03T15:33:00.000-05:002016-01-03T15:33:05.976-05:00The Wise Men<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Behold, Wise Men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying,
‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in
the East, and have come to worship him.’ When Herod the king heard this, he was
troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” (Matthew 2:1-3)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You know the rest of the story all too well. After Herod
poses as a well-wishing fellow adorer, the Wise Men continue on their merry way
and find the child with his mother. They prostrate themselves in worship and
present their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They intend to give Herod
the stable address, but an angel in a dream conveniently prevents their return
to the king by hanging a huge detour sign over the palace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Matthew’s account of the Christmas story is worth meditating
upon. I love to picture Jesus nestled in the protective arms of Mary. Picture the
rich kings, born in the grand halls of Eastern palaces, now adoring a little
baby born in the poverty of a stable. The Wise Men make me think of what gifts
I myself can present to the Christ child, or of the great courage needed to
leave every security and seek Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With all this rich material for prayer, I often pass over
the details of Herod as historical background info.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this time, I was really struck by one
simple, seemingly insignificant sentence:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all of
Jerusalem with Him.” (Matthew 2:3)</span></i></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To be fair, I can understand why Herod is troubled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few men from Persia show up on his doorstep
babbling about a certain star and their intent to worship a new king of the
Jews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surely, this situation made a
light bulb go off for Herod. It must have reminded him of Balaam’s prophesy: “A
star shall come forth out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel…Edom
shall be dispossessed.” (Numbers 24:17-18). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ok, I know we aren’t biblical scholars, and even with Advent
readings we aren’t exactly experts on Old Testament prophesies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First you should know that Herod is an
Edomite (non-Jew), who was appointed by the Romans as king. He is troubled by
this star and newborn king because he knows that He is the Edomite Balaam says
will be dispossessed. He knows his kingdom will be overthrown and he will lose
his power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So Herod is troubled. Fair enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But all of Jerusalem with him?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Aren’t these the people who have been waiting for a Savior?
Who lived through slavery in Egypt? Who wandered in the desert? Who were exiled
in Babylon? The prophesies aren’t warning them of this new king—they are
reassuring them that he is indeed coming! They know he is the Prince of Peace
who is coming to restore unity, to destroy their enemies, and to establish a
new Kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They know that Jesus has come to save them from their
brokenness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, the gospel says
that all of Jerusalem is troubled. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How
does this make any sense? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am judging Herod,
and I’m judging Jerusalem even more! They are troubled by the birth of their
Savior. And yet, I can’t help but become embarrassed. I see myself in Herod. I
see myself in all of Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As the Savior of all mankind, Jesus came to save even Herod and
welcome him into the eternal kingdom. Herod is troubled because he doesn’t want
to give up his earthly kingdom and power. Like Herod, I too am troubled when
God asks me to give up my attachments and power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has asked me to physically get rid of some
of my belongings and to mortify my own will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He has even asked me to give up certain friendships. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s painful. Believe me, I cling to my
possessions, to certain people and to my sense of control. Why? Because, like
Herod, I don’t trust that what He has for me is better. But Jesus is
trustworthy, and he empties only to fill. He will take our earthly possessions only to
give us his eternal riches in heaven. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I know all too well that I am like the people of Jerusalem--enslaved
to sin and wandering in confusion. Although they only had prophesies promising
a Savior, I have the fulfillment. I know that Jesus has already become
incarnate and come to save me from my brokenness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And still, I am troubled when he comes to
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How often have I avoided confession
because I am troubled by the very mercy that will flood my soul and free me
from the bonds of sin and death? How often am I troubled by the need to pray or
go to Mass, seeing it as a mere item to check off on my to-do list?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This Christmas season, let’s throw away our foolish troubles.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be not afraid--He has come to save us!
Let’s rejoice that Jesus has come to fill us with greater riches than we can
imagine (even if he empties us first). Let’s celebrate that He has come to save
us from our brokenness and our sin. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s run to him in Bethlehem with the Wise
Men who left everything they had to worship a tiny baby under a shining
star.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="yiv8393068883" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441566493041_17557" style="line-height: 15pt; text-indent: 0pt;">Mari Seaberg is a junior nursing major from Gilbert, Arizona. Her favorite saint is St. Alphonsus Liguori, a Doctor of the Church. As a member of Women's Ministry Core Team, Mari</span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441566493041_17556" style="line-height: 18.2px; text-indent: 0pt;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441566493041_17555" style="line-height: 20px;"> feels called to "give myself in service to the women of this campus because the Lord </span></span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441566493041_17544" style="line-height: 15pt; text-indent: 0pt;">has repeatedly shown me what a precious gift femininity is, lived out so uniquely by each individual woman. I hope to give of myself and to become a better daughter of the Father in the process."</span></span></div>
FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-41838116602493952352015-12-22T17:19:00.001-05:002015-12-22T17:19:28.789-05:00Saying "Thank You" this Christmas: the Art of the Handwritten Note<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Christmas Day is quickly approaching and hopefully we’ve all been preparing for its arrival in various capacities. As Catholics, the Church gives us the whole season of Advent as a time of very specific preparation for the coming of Christ, and this is great. After all, Christ’s Incarnation is a tremendous gift to us and we need to be preparing to receive Him with gratitude into our hearts and giving God thanks as a result. (A hint: this is why it’s so important to go to mass at Christmas. In the mass we celebrate the Eucharist which literally means “thanksgiving” and we are thanking God specifically for His presence in our lives)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But the point of this blog post is not to help you prepare to thank God for the gift of Christ in your life. No, this blog post is a bit more secular (but no less important) because it’s intention is to help you prepare for receiving and giving thanks for all of the other gifts you’ll be receiving at this time of year. This is because practicing receptivity and gratitude with one another helps us practice receptivity and gratitude with God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just like it’s important to pray to specifically thank God for the gifts He has given us, it is also important to do something else to specifically thank others for the gifts they give us: write thank-you notes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now I realize that handwritten thank-you notes (and handwritten notes in general) are considered a bit of a “lost art” these days, but the truth of the matter is that even if writing thank-you notes <i>isn’t</i> done, it doesn’t mean it <i>shouldn’t</i> be done. It should.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Margaret Shepherd in her book <i>The Art of the Handwritten Note: A Guide to Reclaiming Civilized Communication</i> says that, “when you have been given a gift, a handwritten note is the <i>only way</i> to communicate your feelings of…gratitude. You don’t have to do more than send your words on paper, but you must not do less. You deserve that black cloud over your head when you don’t write, because your silence has made someone think you don’t care.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Those words may seem a bit harsh, but compare it to neglecting to thank God in prayer: He still knows that you love Him and are thankful for the blessings He has given you, but the fact that He knows you are grateful does not excuse you from expressing your gratitude to Him in prayer. It’s the same with thank-you notes. Yes, Aunt Marge may know that you are thankful for the new catechism she bought you, but you still need to express your thanks in a handwritten letter too which you either hand-deliver or send in the mail.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All of this being said, it can sometimes be intimidating to even think about sending out thank-you notes to everyone who will give you a gift this Christmas, but just like we have time to prepare for Christ’s coming, we still have time to prepare for the writing of thank-you notes. To help you with the process I’ve included some tips below, some from the experts and a few I have learned myself over the years that makes the process easier and dare-I-say-it, even enjoyable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You know Christmas is coming. You know you’ll be getting gifts (maybe you already have). This also means that you know you will be writing thank-you notes. Do yourself a favor and prepare for this now! Before Christmas even arrives treat yourself to some nice stationary or thank-you cards. You don’t need to spend a million dollars but if you find some nice paper and buy a “special” pen for the occasion you might actually look forward to writing thank-you notes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This should go without saying, but thank-you notes should be handwritten, in ink, by you. Not typed. Not scratched out with a pencil. Not filled into a blank space. Buy stationary paper or thank-you cards that are<i>completely blank</i> on the inside. Why is this important? Margaret Shepherd says, “A handwritten note is like dining by candlelight instead of flicking on the lights, like making a gift instead of ordering a product, like taking a walk instead of driving.” A handwritten note has heightened appeal, it’s unique, it can be treasured for a lifetime, it is virus-free, and it offers your attention without immediately demanding theirs. In short, it shows you <i>care </i>about the person who cared enough about you to give you a gift.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are a million excuses for not writing a thank-you note, but none of them are good ones. Here are a few common examples and truths you can use to fight them:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“I’m too Busy” — </i>The truth is that everyone is busy. One of my household sisters shared a reflection this past semester about the Widow’s Mite in which she said that the widow is more admirable in the eyes of Jesus because unlike the others she gave from her poverty, not her excess. What we often lack most in our world is time, so when we give of our time, it is one of the greatest gifts we can give. The person who gave us a gift gave us more than a gift, they gave us their time as well. We can give them five minutes to thank them for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“My Handwriting is Terrible” </i>— Almost everyone can find fault in their own handwriting, but that’s probably because it’s <i>your own</i>. The person receiving your letter probably won’t think twice about it because they are not as critical as you are of yourself. In addition, they will probably be so overjoyed to receive a handwritten letter that they will excuse <i>a lot</i>. My brother has some of the most difficult handwriting to read that I have ever come across, but I will struggle through reading it because handwritten notes from him are a rare and precious gift.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“I Don’t Know What to Say” </i>— That’s OK. “Thank you” is a good place to start, and if you keep reading there will be a few more specific pointers to help you out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“I Already Thanked Them in Person”</i> — Good. Nice people thank people when they get gifts from them, but you still need to send a handwritten note. Margaret Shepherd says, “A verbal thank-you can get lost in the chaos of the occasion. A note lets the giver know for sure that you really appreciate their efforts…If you open twenty presents in front of twenty friends, each person has received only five percent of your attention. With a handwritten thank-you note, each person will feel one hundred five percent thanked and a few of them will be one hundred percent pleasantly surprised.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is the thing I have found most helpful over the years when it comes to writing thank-you notes. The prompter you are in writing your thank-you notes, the easier it is. I try and write them the same day that I receive a gift. It’s the easiest way. This is why it’s so important to have the necessary supplies before you ever unwrap a gift. The longer you put it off, the more it will hang over your head, the bigger the task will seem, and the guiltier you will feel. Thanking people should never be a penance. If you go to a Christmas party and get a gift, write the thank-you note for it as soon as you get home (including putting it in an envelope and addressing it). I have a rule that I don’t un-box a gift or put it away until I’ve written a thank-you note.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Write the date</i> — This is something I often forget, but it’s so wonderful when you look back at an old letter or card you’ve received and it’s dated. It makes it more real because it anchors the note to a specific moment in time that a person was thinking specifically about you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Salutation</i> — This is simple: “Dear Grandma” or “Dear Janie” is usually just fine. When in doubt, address someone as you would address them in person (You typically don’t use your friend’s first and last name when you greet them so you don’t need to include their last name in your salutation)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Opening</i> — Express your sincere thanks in a short and concise sentence. Be sure to mention the specific gift they gave you (I.e. “You were so nice to give me Scott Hahn’s newest book” <b>NOT</b> “Thanks for the gift”)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Talk About It</i> — Follow your statement of thanks with a brief sentence talking about how you have used or will use the gift. Or mention your love of this specific item. (I.e. “I know I will enjoy reading this book as Scott Hahn is one of my favorite authors”)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Windup Phrase</i> — With a thank-you note this is usually something like “Thank you again” but it can also be something like “I hope to see you soon” or “I will be praying for you this Christmas season.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Closing</i> — Picking the right valediction requires a bit of prudence to know what’s appropriate for the person you are righting to. “Sincerely” is more formal. “Fondly”, “Yours” and “Love” are for those you have a closer relationship with. I’m a fan of “In Christ” but this could cause unnecessary tension if sent to a non-believer, so use your best judgment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Signature</i> — It’s your name, simple enough. Usually your first name is sufficient for those you are close to, but a more formal relationship (like the one with your boss) may require your first and last name.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I said it earlier but expressing your gratitude in a thank-you note should not be a penitential action. While you should send thank-you notes, and the rules of common decency require it, do not view it as an obligation. Margaret Shepherd says, “Expressing gratitude is not an obligation; in fact, it is one of the most intense pleasures you can have.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This may seem like a selfish motivation, but writing thank-you notes will make you feel <i>good</i> because you know it’s the right thing to do. There’s also something wonderful about filling a blank white card with the love you have for another person in your own words and in your own handwriting. It just feels so <i>personal</i>, like a gift of <i>yourself</i> to another <i>person</i> in appreciation for the gift they have given you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So start preparing now, while it’s still Advent, to have a heart ready to receive and be thankful this Christmas season. Buy a couple of cards, write a few kind words of gratitude in them after you unwrap the present, and seal the envelope (maybe with a kiss!) I challenge you to this small act of love this Christmas season. Who knows, you might really brighten someone’s day.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; line-height: 18.2px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alyssa is a Junior studying Humanities and Catholic Culture, Theology, and Philosophy. She is a native of Texas where she lives with her family in a blue-roofed house on top of a hill. She is passionate about the Truth of the Lord's Incarnation and loves spending time discovering and discussing ways in which others have incarnated the Gospel in film, history, literature, politics, and art. Her favorite saints are St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena because they both personify St. John Paul II's "feminine genius" in her mind.</span></span></div>
FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-60128340980958901082015-12-18T14:13:00.003-05:002015-12-18T14:14:25.820-05:00Interior Shack<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At mass a couple Sundays ago I was struck (distracted?) by the massive Nativity Scene that had been set up in Christ the King Chapel. It wasn’t the Nativity Scene itself that distracted me, of course, but my own wandering mind. You see, lately I’ve been seriously struggling in my spiritual life. Prayer (when I do it) is dry and seemingly fruitless, full of distraction and wandering thoughts. The prayer lives of everyone else around me seem so much better in comparison and I’m self-conscious that they’re going to discover my secret and judge me for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I feel like I can relate really well to the Israelites wandering around in the desert, wanting what their neighbors had and feeling self-conscious because they didn’t have it, falling into sin and repenting, only to fall back into sin again. That has been my frustration lately as bad habits and little sins that I thought I had snuffed out have crept back into my life which has caused me to be full of self-doubt and anxious as I struggle to remember my identity as a chosen and cherished daughter of the Father. As a result, I've resorted to grasping at any bit of power or control I come across which means I’ve insisted that nothing is wrong with me and I’ve been obstinate, rude, self-centered, and angry towards others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And the worst part about it is that, just like the Israelites, I have no excuse. I know how I’m supposed to act (I too know the 10 Commandments and have “prophetic” friends who call me out when I mess up) so I know I’m wrong when I do these things but I still do them anyway and can’t seem to shake the lies I’m believing about myself. Quite simply, I’m frustrated with myself for having fallen into the same old sins that I always fall into because shouldn’t I <i>know better</i> by now? And knowing what it is that I keep doing wrong, shouldn’t I be able to <i>fix</i> it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It feels as though my “interior castle” (in the words of St. Teresa of Avila) has become more of a shack: a hollow, dilapidated structure that is barely standing and that has cracks in the walls that allow the cold wind to whip through. And no matter what I do, I can’t seem to make my interior shack back into a castle. Heck, I can’t even repair the holes in the walls!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Just like with the Israelites, there’s an <i>emptiness</i> on the inside. Something is missing, and I can’t do anything about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What is it that is missing? Jesus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Israelites had the 10 Commandments and the prophets. They knew what to do and what not to do. They knew all of these things, but they still couldn’t “fix” or save themselves. For that, they needed Jesus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That’s why Jesus had to come and save them. That’s why he had to become a little baby at Christmas. That’s what we are preparing for during Advent: our Savior.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And here’s the good news: Jesus wasn’t born in a castle. Jesus was born in a stable. Jesus was born in a <i>shack</i>. Just like the Nativity Scene in Christ the King shows, that stable was shabby and hollow and had holes in the walls where the wind could blow through. He wasn’t born at a nice, warm, attractive inn because “there was no room at the inn.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So as I looked at that Nativity Scene I realized that this Advent the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> has been preparing my heart (even if I haven’t done anything to prepare it myself). He did this by hollowing me out, by letting me experience what life is like without Christ, what it was like for the Israelites to struggle and fall over and over and over again. He has let me experience that struggle and that fall to remind me that I <i>need</i> Him to come and to awaken in my soul a deep longing for His coming like the Israelites longed for the coming of their Savior.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And like the Jewish people I still miss it sometimes. I fail to see how Christ is present in my life and acknowledge His divinity. But that’s OK because He comes anyway. Jesus Christ, my Savior, is coming at Christmas, and there’s nothing I can do to stop Him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The only question that remains for me is whether or not I’m going to turn Him away by saying there’s no room at the inn, or if I’m going to offer Him the shabbiness of my hollow inner heart and allow Him to be born there. I pray that I would have the humility to let Jesus Christ, my God and my Savior into my broken, hurting heart and I pray that you would do the same.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 18.2px;"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 18.2px;">Alyssa is a Junior studying Humanities and Catholic Culture, Theology, and Philosophy. She is a native of Texas where she lives with her family in a blue-roofed house on top of a hill. She is passionate about the Truth of the Lord's Incarnation and loves spending time discovering and discussing ways in which others have incarnated the Gospel in film, history, literature, politics, and art. Her favorite saints are St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena because they both personify St. John Paul II's "feminine genius" in her mind.</span></div>
FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-47219661693308509582015-12-13T10:12:00.000-05:002015-12-18T14:14:32.754-05:00“The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.” (Ps 46:4)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYu1BOa7A4JON5jwL6QPY5UnQPgHTC_RXE6dgdd12MuNOQkxgeUTUZrbyEVPteNug-dFt8sK64X-1Dp9n7Zu9H-r91j4LWxjFroItD9BwtLD1xT-hFyMwVBj63dUVjx8IMfD-ytk4H0XLa/s1600/A2HZBJHW6J.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYu1BOa7A4JON5jwL6QPY5UnQPgHTC_RXE6dgdd12MuNOQkxgeUTUZrbyEVPteNug-dFt8sK64X-1Dp9n7Zu9H-r91j4LWxjFroItD9BwtLD1xT-hFyMwVBj63dUVjx8IMfD-ytk4H0XLa/s640/A2HZBJHW6J.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Happy
Gaudete Sunday!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This third Sunday of
Advent the Church invites us to rejoice with her as we continue to approach the
celebration of God coming among us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
celebration of the Liturgy is a bit more festive, and children everywhere
rejoice as we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">finally </i>get to light
the pink candle on the Advent wreath!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
I was reflecting on the beautiful Scriptures for today, I was struck by a
simple theme: God is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with</i> us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that by this time in Advent the phrase
has become so familiar that we (or at least I) have a temptation to gloss over
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think that would be a
mistake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because as I reflected further,
I was also struck by what the Scriptures do <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i>
tell us in union with that line: nowhere connected with this promise of the
Lord being with us is the promise that all our troubles will be erased, or that
difficult situations will be eradicated, or that what we found difficult
yesterday will be made easy today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
are simply told, “He is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with </i>us.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Twice
in today’s first reading for Mass we are reminded to sing joyfully and fear
not, because “the Lord is in your midst.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
tells us that He has removed the judgment against us…He has taken it upon
Himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
tells us to not fear misfortune and not to be discouraged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because He is with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The misfortunes
will still persist, this side of heaven, and yet we are still called to
rejoice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because He is with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
know that sometimes I fall victim to thinking that once I really entrust
everything to the Lord, and trust Him with all my heart, the external
situations, especially the difficult, ones, will change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Christ never promises that to us – yet
He does promise to be with us, and that makes all the difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oftentimes it is these very situations – the
ones I wish were different or that the Lord would take away – that the Lord
uses to keep me close to Him, aware of the earth-shattering reality that He is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Emmanuel…God-with-us</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
truth of Him being with us brought me to another place in Scripture where we
hear this uttered: a town of Galilee called Nazareth, where we meet a virgin
betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The angel says to Mary, “Hail, favored
one!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Lord is with you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this encounter, Mary is also reminded of
the singular presence of God with her, and invited to make a gift of herself to
Him in a way that no other human has or will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She is invited to rejoice in the Lord’s presence with her, and to invite
Him in to dwell even more intimately within her very womb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As she makes this act of trust and abandonment,
she does not know all the answers, or how everything will turn out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is not promised that all her troubles
will go away, that everyone will understand her, and that life will be easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she is told to rejoice at the Lord’s
presence with her, and as she makes this gift of self to her Lord, He comes to
dwell with her…and because of this, He now dwells with each and every one of
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
we reflect on Christ’s presence with us, we have two options as to how we
respond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can respond in a similar
manner to Peter’s initial reaction at the overwhelming presence of Christ’s
mercy, and in pride want Him to leave us to do it ourselves: “Depart from me,
Lord, for I am a sinful man.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know
that many times this is my response: in my prideful presumption of
self-sufficiency, I want to solve my problems myself, and run away from the
uncomfortable and humbling experience of having to accept help from the Lord,
or from other people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, as I know
from repeated experience, this does not end well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Lord is relentless in His love, and
promises that He will not go away; He pursues us more passionately than we can
ever pursue Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
we embark upon this second half of Advent, may our response to Emmanuel,
God-with-us, be that of the free, total, faithful, and fruitful response of our
Lady, who knew that all she had was gift: “He has looked with favor upon his
handmaid’s lowliness…The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is
His name.” She knew and rejoiced in her littleness!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Come,
Lord Jesus, and be with us in our littleness, in our brokenness, and in those
situations that are difficult and less than ideal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Into those very places, come with your strong
and healing presence, and may we have the courage to rejoice that you are with
us there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May we rest in the truth of your
promise that you rejoice over us with gladness, renew us in your love, and sing
joyfully over us as a Bridegroom rejoices in His bride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">******************************** </span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWyXD-Ra-UiJK3ACLdlkNofQIrx-tBkyxb3sDZd4_xyK_IrHx6Xx5vabL6-BqDfEqqjWaObtJTqKMMESmfSwCq5H-j76PViSMCXO3GS_hcyg7cISeG3XohXnzuUKqbnMSViMNTNDP0OYud/s1600/Sr.-Anna-Rose-web.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWyXD-Ra-UiJK3ACLdlkNofQIrx-tBkyxb3sDZd4_xyK_IrHx6Xx5vabL6-BqDfEqqjWaObtJTqKMMESmfSwCq5H-j76PViSMCXO3GS_hcyg7cISeG3XohXnzuUKqbnMSViMNTNDP0OYud/s400/Sr.-Anna-Rose-web.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sr. Anna
Rose is our fearless leader here at Women's Ministry. She graduated from
Franciscan with a degree in History and Theology before entering the
Franciscan Sisters TOR of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother. She's in her
second year of temporary vows, and her story can be found </span><a href="http://www.franciscansisterstor.org/about-us/meet-the-sisters/sr-anna-rose/" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.
Sr. Anna Rose leads our Women's Ministry team with such patience and
love. If you see her around campus, be sure to give her a big hug! And
as always, please pray for her.</span>
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FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-18929219742077929942015-12-06T13:50:00.001-05:002015-12-06T13:51:40.472-05:0010 Tips for Surviving Finals Week<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig3oXeWY77lrfkYobicDSeW0BgsIHLQESree0d1_48Ysfuj2s9m6VFf0zLXx6BEEVhVqSGbyaV13RKSMBuHSa5_0UZPxBEVYyYwUEcgxhyLhdUsllqT4S1v0yi4oQDW05Wa23ypWyWAc61/s1600/10+tips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig3oXeWY77lrfkYobicDSeW0BgsIHLQESree0d1_48Ysfuj2s9m6VFf0zLXx6BEEVhVqSGbyaV13RKSMBuHSa5_0UZPxBEVYyYwUEcgxhyLhdUsllqT4S1v0yi4oQDW05Wa23ypWyWAc61/s640/10+tips.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, ladies, finals week is among us once again. In honor of this
long-dreaded (am I exaggerating? Maybe.) occasion, I thought I'd write up a
little post on 10 tricks I've found over the last three and a half years to
help survive the week, in no particular order.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">10. Take some time to exercise, even if it's only 10 minutes.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">You may feel like you don't have the time to spare, but make it.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/21/exercise-reduces-stress-levels-anxiety-cortisol_n_3307325.html">Studies</a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">show that exercise reduces stress and
improves your ability to focus and study.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2013/exercise.aspx">Certain surveys</a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">have even shown that exercising tends to
be more effective at reducing stress than taking a break from studying to troll
the internet or watch TV.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">9. Eat more veggies and protein.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm probably the worst offender when it comes to eating junk
during finals week, but I've found from personal experience that when I eat
more starches and less veggies, I'm<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>exhausted</i>.
There's nothing wrong with carbs, but maybe instead of having that pasta for
lunch, you should have a salad with some protein on it, especially if you want
your afternoon to be productive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">8. Prioritize.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Make a list. Seriously. Do it. It helps. Write down everything
that you need to get accomplished in order of how badly it needs to be
accomplished. Or, better yet, break it up. On Monday, I need to accomplish
these three things. On Tuesday, I need to accomplish these three things. When
you finish something, cross it off. There's nothing quite as satisfying as
crossing things off a to-do list. If you finish all you need to get done for
the day and you still have more study time, move on to working on the items on
tomorrow's list.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">7. Break up your studying.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Set timers. Work in 20 minute increments and take a 5 minute
break. Do this 5 times and you've already done over two hours of studying! Then
take an even longer break--go for a run, have coffee with a friend, read old
posts on the women's ministry blog (ahahah), or spend some quality time with
Jesus in the chapel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">6. Don't pull an all-nighter.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022https\:\/\/www\.harrishealth\.org\/en\/news\/pages\/sleep-key-doing-well-exams\.aspx\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink">Experts say</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>that
it's much more effective to sleep before an exam than it is to cram all night.
Try to get a solid 4-5 hours of sleep if nothing else, but I recommend doing
whatever works best for your body. One of my best friends can survive on 4
hours of sleep every night for a week. I can't--I need a solid 6 or 7 in order
to function. Know yourself well enough to know how far you can push your
limits--and don't take a chance on crossing those lines before a huge final.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">5. Make time for prayer and the sacraments.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You're going to find a million and one reasons to put off prayer
and skip daily mass (my vocation is to be a student, right?), but don't. If
there's one thing I've learned from going through finals week 6 times, it's
that I can't do it without grace. Every time I think that I don't have the time
to spare and I do it anyway, the Lord in His infinite faithfulness always
multiplies my time so that I can get everything done. Take some time<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to just sit with Him, ladies. It'll
de-stress you like nothing else.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">4. Set aside some time for fun.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is going to be the last time that you'll be on campus with
all those people you love for a while--if you're going to Austria or
graduating, this is even more important. Yes, we are here to be students, but
studying is not the only part of our lives that matter. Have a coffee date with
that friend you've been too busy to catch up with. Get off campus if you can. Watch
a movie or have a dance party with the girls on your wing (unless it's exam
hours). All work and no play does not make for an A (yes, that poetry was
intentional...and bad).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">3. Do something nice for someone else.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During finals, I tend to be very self-centered. I focus so much on
my stress, my anxiety, my work, my problems that I'm not aware of the people
around me and the ways that they're stressing out. I also tend to complain far
more during finals than any other time (which believe me is saying something).
If you catch yourself doing that, try to stop. Be positive. Bring your friend
locked away in the library a candy bar or a cookie from the pub. Ask your
friends how they're doing and if there's anything you can do to lighten their
stress. It helps to stop focusing on yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">2. Skip the coffee.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You may think I'm crazy for saying that, but I'm serious. Try
drinking tea. It has caffeine but doesn't make you crash the way coffee does.
Drink water and Gatorade. If you feel yourself getting drowsy, snack on
something salty (pretzels always do the trick for me). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">1. Remember that there are more important things than your GPA.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Grades are important, but they're not the most important thing in
the world. When I was a freshman, one of my professors told me something that
has stuck with me ever since: "Catie, you are more than a number. You're
more than the grade you get on my test." The same holds true for you.
There's only so much you can do. Give finals all you've got, and be okay with
the outcome. In 5 years, the grade you got on that math final won't matter.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You got this, ladies. Know of my prayers for you this week.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">*************************</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihV1dWbT3gEXiqJazEneGEfz2LxkJNc_MlXDmffj6S9diILpLHk4VG9kSttFKgqStC9Rx71Z0w_aLu0fJwpQZhZmfPI38z8jA743n2586w67iqquJ1k-PkPJXVOlSfLDEGRdE_rGfmcK5C/s1600/catie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihV1dWbT3gEXiqJazEneGEfz2LxkJNc_MlXDmffj6S9diILpLHk4VG9kSttFKgqStC9Rx71Z0w_aLu0fJwpQZhZmfPI38z8jA743n2586w67iqquJ1k-PkPJXVOlSfLDEGRdE_rGfmcK5C/s320/catie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Catie Destatte is a senior Theology and Catechetics major. She has a passion for writing, Mama Mary, ministry to women, and evangelization. Her life motto is Totus Tuus Maria, and she tries to live that out in her every moment. Along with being a member of Women's Ministry Core Team, she's involved in Capture My Heart Core Team, Liturgy Committee, and Totus Tuus Maria Household. Her five great loves are JPII, St. Peter, tea, praise and worship music, and the ocean. Along with Shannon, one of Catie's roles in Women's Ministry is to run this blog. You can find out more about her <a href="http://www.you-steadymyheart.com/" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span>FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-74885909515103791452015-11-27T15:50:00.000-05:002015-11-30T08:40:32.978-05:00A Note to Single Catholic Women about the Tragedy of Our Generation<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This blog post goes out
to all those single Catholic women who are striving for sainthood, practicing
chastity, reading Theology of the Body, and waiting for the right guy (or just
any guy really) to come along and pursue your heart. Yes, you’re single, and
yes, you’re a little bitter about it. You’ve definitely spent a conversation or
two complaining to your closest female friends about how all the Catholic men
must be blind because there’s no other explanation for why there are so many
beautiful, funny, smart, and holy women that have never once been asked out by
a man! And, I regret to admit, we tend to view this entire situation in which
we find ourselves to be a tragedy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But I read something this
summer that challenged this perception I had of myself as some tragic heroine
alone and suffering because the corrupt culture has made all the good men too
cowardly to pursue women’s hearts. Gertrude von le Fort in her book “The Eternal
Woman” says that, “Our period sees the unmarried woman…as something tragic” and
I think that statement rings true with many unmarried Catholic women. But to
give some context to what von le Fort is saying one has to realize that she is
writing after World War I during which almost an entire generation of young men
died in battle, leaving a large number of young women unable to get married,
though they might have wanted to.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But von le Fort disagrees
with the belief that this generation of unmarried women was something “tragic.”
She says that “The one whom we negatively call the unmarried woman is in a
positive sense the virgin.” Now, a statement like that needs a bit more
explanation to pull out the full meaning of what she’s trying to say. She is saying,
essentially, that when we refer to single women as “single” or “unmarried” we
are defining them <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">negatively</i> by what
they <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lack </i>(i.e. a husband)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i>A fuller understanding of who these
women really are comes only when we define them <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">positively</i> not by what they lack but by what they <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have</i>, and this is their virginity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now I recognize that in
our culture today it seems problematic to claim that all unmarried women are
virgins because not all unmarried women are virgins in a physical sense. But
it’s important to remember how Sacred Scripture defines virginity. 1
Corinthians 7:34 says, “The virgin is anxious about the affairs of the Lord,
how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about
worldly affairs.” The difference between a virgin and a married woman to St.
Paul is not some physical condition but a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">spiritual</i>
one. The virgin is anxious about the affairs of the Lord in a way that a
married woman is not. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What do we learn from
this? Mainly that all single women are called to embrace their identity as
virgins and this is possible even if they have already “lost their virginity”
because of how the Lord defines virginity spiritually.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But back to Gertrude von
le Fort. She claims that the unmarried woman is not tragic precisely because she
is a virgin. So what’s the big deal about being a virgin? Well, von le Fort
says, “From dogma, history, saga, and art, the idea of virginity emerges, not
as a condition or a tragedy, but as a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">value and power</i></b>.” Christianity
proclaims the value of virginity by placing the title “Virgin” next to the
title of “Mother” in Mary’s name. Mary’s perpetual virginity along with her being
the Mother of God are both protected and cherished dogmas of our faith. But
even pre-Christian people understood the inherent dignity and value of virgins
by upholding virginal goddesses like Athena, Diana, or Minerva or saying that
it was only a virgin (or her spilt blood) that could break curses and avert
magical spells away from an entire people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Unfortunately, we live in
a world that has completely eliminated the profound reverence that once existed
for the virgin. Now, to be a virgin is seen as a horrible condition that one
must throw away at the soonest possible moment. In a culture that additionally
has eliminated the reverence it once had for motherhood, women are the clear
losers, for their inherent dignity is not recognized in either state of life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While our faith has done
a good job of exalting motherhood (as is should) in response to this culture of
death, we can sometimes exalt being a wife and mother to the point that not
being those things (i.e. being an unmarried woman) is somehow viewed as
“tragic.” And thus, the phenomenon of a generation of single Catholic women that
views their situation to be a tragic one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But here’s the real
truth: The tragedy of our age is not a generation of single Catholic women. In
fact, virginity is the vocation of EVERY woman. This virginal vocation isn’t
changed or negated when a woman gets married, but rather fulfilled. Likewise,
if a woman enters religious life her virginal vocation becomes a consecrated
one. But to think that you are somehow “vocation-less”, even temporarily, if
you are not married or a consecrated religious is simply not true. We don’t just
sit around and hope that one day God will hit us on the head with our vocation;
we have a vocation (or call) right now, and as single women that vocation is a
virginal one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Gertrude von le Fort is
adamant that virginity is not a temporary condition lacking fulfillment but is
“complete” within itself. She says that “the Church affirms that the virgin is
as one destined to be a bride, but she does not see her only at the side of a
man.” Even though “expectant bride” is one aspect of virginity, it is not her
full significance. More significantly the virgin, as she stands alone “like the
solitary flower of the mountains, far up at the fringe of eternal snows, that
has never been looked upon by the eye of man”, reveals the “ultimate value of
the individual as such, a value not justified by mere human qualities.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Von le fort continues,
“The virgin proclaims that the creature has significance, but only as a glow
from the eternal radiance of the Creator. [She] stands at the margin of the
mysteries of all that is apparently wasted and unfulfilled…she stands at the
brink of all that has seemingly failed. Her inviolability, which, if it be
purity, always includes a depth of pain, denotes the sacrifice that is the
price for the insight into the immortal value of the person. This explains why
the liturgy always places the virgin beside the martyr, who bears witness to
the absolute value of the soul.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But here it is important
to make a clear distinction: the virgin is exalted with the martyr because both
proclaim the “ultimate value of the individual as such.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we must remember that martyrs are not
tragic figures even though they suffer greatly. Likewise, the virgin is also
not a tragic figure, though her very existence will always include the “depth
of pain” von le Fort mentions. Thus, while the virgin herself may not be a
tragic figure she stands on the “margins” and “brink” of tragedy. She witnesses
the tragedy and suffers the depth of pain in her heart, but it is never her
virginity that is tragic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What, then, is the
tragedy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I believe that the true
tragedy of our age is not a multitude of single Catholic women but rather a
generation of spiritually dead "Catholic" men. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, I am speaking in
broad generalities here. It would be ignorant (and a bit bitter) to claim that
there are no good young men striving for holiness that are willing to ask women
out (even though it may sometimes feel this way!). But, on the whole, we are
experiencing an age where men are leaving the Church in droves, and the vast
majority of those that remain are only engaged minimally (for more information
and statistics supporting these claims please check out The New E<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">MAN</span>gelization
website found <u><a href="http://www.newemangelization.com/the-man-crisis-in-the-catholic-church/" target="_blank">here</a></u>). Now, I don’t know about you, but these are not the
types of men that the typical novena-saying, TOB-reading, and chastely-living
woman typically finds attractive. Not to mention, this woman is typically not
viewed as being very attractive (at least by a worldly standard) to the average
minimally engaged “Catholic” man. And herein lies the tragedy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After WWI the tragedy for
Gertrude von le Fort was not that a generation of women would have to remain
unmarried virgins; it was that a generation of men had perished on the field of
battle. This was the true tragedy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes, as a single Catholic
woman I often feel deep within my heart the loss of a generation of true men.
But the question I must ask myself is "For whose sake am I feeling this
loss? For my own or for these men?" <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Because in a tragedy, it
is not those left standing onstage at the end of a play that are considered
"tragic"; it is those who have perished during the play, either due
to circumstance or their own misguided actions. Likewise, the tragic characters
of our generation are the men, and as the survivors left standing we should be
struck by how unnecessary and truly tragic their spiritual death has
been. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So I implore you, pray
for this generation of men and offer up your sufferings for them. The Catholic
Church has always taught that our prayers for the dead are efficacious. So too
are our prayers for the "spiritually dead." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And here's the other
thing about being a Christian: tragic stories are always given
"comedic" ends. In a plot twist that no one saw coming, a Man who had
suffered a terrible death and lain in a tomb for three days burst forth to new
life. Just as in comedy, the story ends with a joyful wedding and celebratory
feast, with the Divine Bridegroom wedding his human Church and offering his own
Flesh to be the food at the table. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just because there is a
tragic generation of spiritually dead men doesn't mean that this is how the
story ends. The dead can come back to life through the divine power, love, and
mercy of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Think of the example of
Lazarus. Jesus raised this dead man back to life. But remind yourself why. It
was because Martha ran eagerly out to Jesus to beg for his intervention. She
knew that if anyone could raise Lazarus from the dead it was Christ, not
herself. And yet, even though the power was from God, it was begged for by a
human woman. And God heard the cry of the grieving woman, wept himself for the
tragic loss she brought before Him, and answered her prayer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ladies, this is what we
are to do. I have heard St. Martha described as a patroness of Hope because of
how she responded to the tragic death of Lazarus. Like her, we too are called
to be women of Hope even when facing the tragedy of the spiritual death of our
generation of men. You, as a woman, cannot save them; but God can, and he wants
you to beg him to do so with sweat and tears and eager longings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr0MgV6QPZPxOhkXnQ9G57cwiYqF2_a_syQw0IUzZuAWMhvuX3dFdp381Uv7TInpF7XKe8dG6PdbsBkKltiBBWenY4anHsnNqpIdaAX7F2_mKjVOgfUyJKdtQJi3VE6wp1Ero5a5UaTN-/s1600/12189021_1063357350382298_2404199718835474345_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr0MgV6QPZPxOhkXnQ9G57cwiYqF2_a_syQw0IUzZuAWMhvuX3dFdp381Uv7TInpF7XKe8dG6PdbsBkKltiBBWenY4anHsnNqpIdaAX7F2_mKjVOgfUyJKdtQJi3VE6wp1Ero5a5UaTN-/s400/12189021_1063357350382298_2404199718835474345_n.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God told St. Catherine of
Siena that her tears and eager desire for the salvation of souls could bind Him
like a chain. This is the power God gives us as women. Use it! The Enemy wants
you to take the pain and loss you feel in your heart and wallow in your own
self-pity, becoming consumed in a view of yourself as a tragic figure. Don't
allow the Evil One to have this power over you! Rather, have pity on your
brothers and bring the tragedy of their spiritual death before God with eager
desires for their conversion and resurrection. God has promised to have mercy
on the human race despite its sin and imperfection. Remind Him of his promise.
Do you want to be women of strength and power? Embrace the strength and power God
has given you! He has given us strength to suffer and power to petition Him. So
accept your sufferings and lay them at his feet, petitioning Him for the
salvation you wish your brothers to have. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">St. Catherine was the
quintessential "single Catholic woman", unmarried yet not a
religious. Did she wallow in self-pity at the "tragedy" of her
virginity? No! She had souls to save, recognizing that the true tragedy of her
age was a generation of spiritually dead priests, bishops, cardinals and popes.
So she prayed, and fasted, and offered her sufferings to God for their sake.
And you know what? He listened to her and answered her prayers. Men condemned
to die for the grave crimes they had committed converted at the last hour and
entered the Kingdom of Heaven because of her witness and prayer. Be that woman
like St. Catherine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I said earlier that the
blood of a virgin was believed by the pagans to be powerful enough to save an
entire civilization. Likewise, the sufferings of the Catholic virgin also have
the power to save her entire generation when she brings her petitions to the
Lord and unites her sufferings with the sufferings of Christ on the
cross. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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end with only one question: What are you waiting for?</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #454545; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; line-height: 18.2px;">Alyssa is a Junior studying Humanities and Catholic Culture, Theology, and Philosophy. She is a native of Texas where she lives with her family in a blue-roofed house on top of a hill. She is passionate about the Truth of the Lord's Incarnation and loves spending time discovering and discussing ways in which others have incarnated the Gospel in film, history, literature, politics, and art. Her favorite saints are St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena because they both personify St. John Paul II's "feminine genius" in her mind.</span></span></div>
FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-59608794001484441252015-11-18T13:47:00.001-05:002015-11-18T13:50:30.642-05:00Women of the Word: the Failure of BathshebaHave you ever been in a situation where you knew doing something was wrong, and you did it anyway?<br />
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Maybe that thing was your idea, or maybe it wasn't. Maybe you let yourself be convinced by others that it was okay, when in your heart of hearts you knew that it wasn't.<br />
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I've fallen into this, sister. Too many times, I've gone along with something I knew in my heart of hearts was wrong, either because I was too afraid to speak up or because I let myself be too influenced by the opinions of others.<br />
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Are you familiar with the story of Bathsheba? She was the wife of Uriah, a man of great character. He was faithful to his God and king, unwilling to back down from his duty to his king and country even when urged to do so by his Kind, David (2 Samuel 11:6-11).<br />
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I think it's safe to assume that Bathsheba too was a woman of character. How could she not be when she was married to such a man? And yet, Bathsheba is most well known for her sin of adultery with David.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, 'Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?' So David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, 'I am with child.'" 2 Samuel 11:2-5</i></blockquote>
Sisters, I think that Bathsheba fell into the same trap that we so often fall into. In her heart of hearts, she had to know that her sin with David was wrong. But she let it happen anyway. She didn't speak up, either because she was too afraid of what David would do or because she let herself be influenced by his opinion. And this failure to speak out led to some serious consequences: she conceived a child, her husband was killed in David's attempt to cover it up, and the child she bore died as punishment for David's sins with her.<br />
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Now thankfully, Bathsheba's story doesn't end here. She goes on to be David's most beloved wife and gives birth to Solomon, the great king of Israel. She receives the greatest honor possible: she is considered a prefigurement of Our Lady and is mentioned in the genealogy of the Messiah.<br />
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Dear ones, our Lord had mercy on Bathsheba. Despite her failure to speak out, He showed His goodness to her. And He does the same to us: when we fall, He picks us back up. He gives us the grace to turn from our sin and cowardice and be molded into something great.<br />
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In his second letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul writes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Since we have the same spirit of faith as he who wrote, 'I believed, and so I spoke,' we too believe, and so we speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence."</i></blockquote>
In this world that we live in, there are going to be many times when fear and the opinion of others will make it difficult for us to speak out. But dear ones, we must. If we won't speak the truth that this world so desperately needs, then who will?<br />
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Let us not fail as Bathsheba did. Let us have the courage to speak up, both with our words and with our actions.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNScwrZrqEiWOMy1FP4NqhBegunPN2r3J8XE6rhuV6qtn1VHGkcA25vm7KJQ_5wcRIN6wXUa0QQbwALe6Uu9vL2nQsvNXLU_ZzqCWyc1LEfPvmxzV_WOEZrqb7RGpwok5TJWK4sBvaFmo/s1600/couragetospeakup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNScwrZrqEiWOMy1FP4NqhBegunPN2r3J8XE6rhuV6qtn1VHGkcA25vm7KJQ_5wcRIN6wXUa0QQbwALe6Uu9vL2nQsvNXLU_ZzqCWyc1LEfPvmxzV_WOEZrqb7RGpwok5TJWK4sBvaFmo/s640/couragetospeakup.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Catie Destatte is a senior Theology and Catechetics major. She has a passion for writing, Mama Mary, ministry to women, and evangelization. Her life motto is Totus Tuus Maria, and she tries to live that out in her every moment. Along with being a member of Women's Ministry Core Team, she's involved in Capture My Heart Core Team, Liturgy Committee, and Totus Tuus Maria Household. Her five great loves are JPII, St. Peter, tea, praise and worship music, and the ocean. Along with Shannon, one of Catie's roles in Women's Ministry is to run this blog. You can find out more about her </span><a href="http://www.you-steadymyheart.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">.</span>FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-1796738902758827172015-11-06T13:48:00.002-05:002015-11-06T13:48:56.990-05:00Rations<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">I don't know about you, but I ration things. I ration my time, my energy, my money, my friendship, my chocolate (</span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">I'm a selfish hoarder when it comes to sweets</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">). I make choices every day about how I want to spend these things. How much time can I afford to spend listening to that friend who really needs me? How much energy should I devote to this paper? How many moments should I spend sitting with the Lord in silence when I have a million other things demanding my attention? How much money should I throw in that collection box and how much should I spend going out with friends?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">A couple months ago, during a Steubenville Youth Conference Holy Hour that I was working, the priest said something that struck me.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><b>God's love does not have rations.</b></i><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">STOP. </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Rewind</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">. </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Repeat</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><u style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">God's love does not have rations.</u><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYA5hNO2gQdHJIgw7vPjDqvGt5NA1Kw3iu4VVneYihy0k81rFxcAAlLZHL0NUsvuyYMy5fTyP_xByQQ0FZsXLg8JOx3sArTWUQyPdHhDOdO34-t4B96yfWe51GllxVwEgFeYh3YCUm0HY/s1600/norations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #b4a7d6; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYA5hNO2gQdHJIgw7vPjDqvGt5NA1Kw3iu4VVneYihy0k81rFxcAAlLZHL0NUsvuyYMy5fTyP_xByQQ0FZsXLg8JOx3sArTWUQyPdHhDOdO34-t4B96yfWe51GllxVwEgFeYh3YCUm0HY/s640/norations.jpg" style="border: none; padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></div>
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">There's never a day when He doesn't stop loving us. There's never a day that He says "that's enough, this is too much, I've given too much love to her, I'm gonna stop."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Isn't this our greatest fear? That if we give people the chance to see us for who we really are, they're going to realize that we're too much for them? Or that people will only see us as another thing to ration their time and love to and not someone worth giving it all for?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">I don't think it's too presumptuous of me to assume that you have felt this way one time or another.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">I know I have.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">During those moments of adoration that night, the Lord spoke a truth to my heart that I know I'll have to continue to learn over and over again for as long as it takes for me to truly understand:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">His love for me will never run out.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">He doesn't have a limited amount to give to me. He doesn't have to ration His love, His energy, His patience, His forgiveness, His time. And what's more, He doesn't want to, no matter how unfaithful I might be.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">In my limited ability to love, so often I have the mentality that if someone isn't returning the rations that I've given them with equal rations of their own, I don't want to ration anything else out. Well, she clearly doesn't love me as much as I love her, so I'm going to stop wasting my love and energy on her.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Can you imagine what life would be if our God had that mentality?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Thankfully, He doesn't.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">No matter how little patience I have for that son or daughter of His that I just can't seem to love the way I should, His patience for how slow I am at figuring out how quickly everything will fall apart when I try to remain in control will never run out.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">No matter how little energy or motivation I have for giving my all to the things that I've committed to (*cough cough* schoolwork, work, ministry, my family *cough cough*), His motivation for moving my heart to greater love for Him and His Church will never run out.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">No matter how unwilling I am to forgive that person who still seems to have no awareness of the ways they deeply hurt me, His willingness to forgive the sins I commit that hurt Him and His children will never run out.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">No matter how quickly I am ready to cut down on the time that I give to Him in prayer each day, the time that He spends pursuing my heart and showing me what I mean to him will never run out.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">No matter how little love I show Him in the things that I do and the people that I meet, His love for me, love that took Him to a gruesome and painful death on a cross for the sake of my soul, </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><i>will never run out.</i></b><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><i><br /></i></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Dear ones, if we rely on our own strength, it's not surprising that we need to ration. On our own, we don't have enough. But when we turn to Him, He pours out an abundance.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">So the next time you feel tempted to ration something, turn to Him. Ask Him to multiply whatever it is you feel that you don't have enough of. The God of Abundance wants to give. Let Him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">What are you rationing in your life right now? What do you need an abundance of?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Catie Destatte is a senior Theology and Catechetics major. She has a passion for writing, Mama Mary, ministry to women, and evangelization. Her life motto is Totus Tuus Maria, and she tries to live that out in her every moment. Along with being a member of Women's Ministry Core Team, she's involved in Capture My Heart Core Team, Liturgy Committee, and Totus Tuus Maria Household. Her five great loves are JPII, St. Peter, tea, praise and worship music, and the ocean. Along with Shannon, one of Catie's roles in Women's Ministry is to run this blog. You can find out more about her </span><a href="http://www.you-steadymyheart.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">.</span>FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-45202526602378319822015-10-23T19:45:00.002-04:002015-10-23T19:46:06.377-04:00Broken Love<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things.” -1 Cor 13:5,7</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Have you ever encountered someone who was really hard to
love? Who kept you at arms’ length no matter how much you tried to love them?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sisters, there’s someone like that in my life right now. Our
sweet Lord has very clearly brought this person into my life for me to love in
a special way, but that’s not always easy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And you know why? Because she’s broken.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And often, loving people who are really broken brings out
our own brokenness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All too often, I want to quit. Give up. Throw in the towel.
Lord, I can’t. I know you asked me to love her, but she won’t let me in. and
when she does, she pushes me away again. It’s just too hard to love her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then I realize: what if the person that loved me at my
most broken had said that same thing about me? What if my fear of being hurt
and my hardness of heart had deterred her from loving me? What if she had
chosen to throw in the towel instead of pursue me with that relentless love?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If she had done any of those things that I’m so tempted to
do now, I would still be a broken, empty, hard woman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love bears all things, sisters, even the most broken things.
Real love does not insist on its own way or its own timing, but rather, as
Winnie the Pooh says, “Love is taking a few steps backward, maybe even more…to
give way to the happiness of the person you love.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe sometimes in love, we need to step back from what we
think love should be in order to realize what love really is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love is messy. And painful. And honestly, quite
heartbreaking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But more than all of that, love is a choice. A choice to
will the good of the other person despite what might be easiest for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sometimes that choice means that we have to confront our own
brokenness. Sometimes it means that we have to keep going when we want to give
up. Sometimes it means that we have to bear some pretty heavy stuff. Sometimes
it means that we have to allow our own hearts to be broken. But always it means
that we will find that all the brokenness we had to face was worth it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lord, cast out any
fear of painful love that exists in our hearts. Root up our own ideas of what
love should be and reveal to us what it actually is. Help us to meet the
brokenness of others with the love with which you met us. When we are
confronted with our own brokenness, help us to rejoice rather than to hide.
Increase in us the virtue of ardent charity, that we may love each person we
meet with Your love and not with our own.</span><o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i>
<br />
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FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-56213508617091137102015-10-18T19:00:00.001-04:002015-10-18T19:00:14.784-04:00Happy Lord's Day: Glory and Suffering<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him,</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." </i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>He replied, "What do you wish me to do for you?" </i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>They answered him, "Grant that in your glory</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>we may sit one at your right and the other at your left." </i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. </i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Can you drink the cup that I drink</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" </i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>They said to him, "We can." </i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink,</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>but is for those for whom it has been prepared." </i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. </i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Jesus summoned them and said to them,</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>lord it over them,</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and their great ones make their authority over them felt. </i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But it shall not be so among you.</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. </i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For the Son of Man did not come to be served</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Mk 10:35-45</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i></i><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>I am the ten. If someone were to have the gall to ask for such a favor from the Lord Himself, my first reaction would be annoyance, too. James and John exhibited incredible boldness, to the point of irrationality. Jesus had just predicted his Passion for the third time, and yet James and John immediately ask to “sit one at your right and the other at your left” without hesitation. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I wonder if James and John knew that to do so would mean enduring a thousand sufferings, exercising obedience even until death. Based upon Jesus’ response, it seems as though the brothers sought only the glory of the Lord; they failed to recognize the responsibility and suffering that were required of them to earn such a reward. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet even more astounding to me than the blind request of the brother disciples was the reaction of the other ten. They, too, had heard Jesus predict his Passion. They, too, chose to ignore his suffering and focus instead on the glory for which James and John had so boldly asked. They became jealous, perhaps, of the two brothers who thought they were so close with Jesus to ask to dwell in eternal glory with him. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I pray that God would give me the grace to beg so ardently for suffering, even when I know the intensity of that suffering. I do not think that the disciples intended to beg for suffering, but Jesus offers it to them nonetheless: “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.” </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A heart of the world rejects suffering. Too often, I find myself avoiding even the tiniest displeasure; I tend to have that worldly heart. This summer, I begrudgingly read St. Thérèse’s autobiographical <i>Story of a Soul. </i>I was shocked by her desire for suffering and by her writings, which inextricably intertwined love and suffering. She says: </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #222222; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="color: #323333;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do not believe that you can love without suffering, without suffering a great deal... It is our <i>poor</i> nature that is there! And it is not there for nothing! ... This is our wealth, our livelihood! ... It is so precious that Jesus came to our earth in order to make it his own. Let us suffer bitterly, without courage! "Jesus suffered with <i>sadness</i>! And without sadness does the soul suffer!?" And we would like to suffer generously, nobly!... Celine! What an illusion! that would be!" (LT 89, 26. April, 1889)</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not only are we opposed to suffering, wishing to surpass it in favor of glory; we allow ourselves to suffer only when we suffer “nobly,” that is, without complaint and with courage. How silly are we in the eyes of Jesus! Like James and John, we want only the rewards of suffering. We fail to recognize the suffering itself as the means by which we can climb to Heaven. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just prior to this Gospel, Jesus called his disciples together to tell them that “[T]he Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.” The disciples did not desire condemnation, mockery, ridicule, scourging, and death. In their shortsightedness and humanity, they did not see the merits of suffering because it is painful. Through Jesus’ pain, however—in Jesus’ moment of ultimate defeat—he redeemed the world. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He wishes for us to participate in his suffering so that we might know life in him. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When we reject suffering, we reject all that follows. What a gift it is to be able to participate in his suffering so that he might transform us! </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #323333;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Deliver me, Jesus, from the desires for earthly glory and material success. Help me to choose to suffer, not in vain, but alongside you on the cross. Transform my heart in suffering and grant me peace and joy in your name. Amen. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">************************</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNOjgfiVOtmI13xPXm3oZMLpTEJ0ksP-Jt8-JI0t6FrsPXoiBwvbzUb-mJc_mSSTMFBW5CAg-iroaAoxCqK9XXjpcsRMLkGf9dxNj_ObDsN1ICoqyywQVOl_Ot2vlqDmtFmPxmSPUteWVz/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-10-18+at+9.29.50+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNOjgfiVOtmI13xPXm3oZMLpTEJ0ksP-Jt8-JI0t6FrsPXoiBwvbzUb-mJc_mSSTMFBW5CAg-iroaAoxCqK9XXjpcsRMLkGf9dxNj_ObDsN1ICoqyywQVOl_Ot2vlqDmtFmPxmSPUteWVz/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-10-18+at+9.29.50+AM.png" width="236" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="line-height: 18.2px;">Rebecca Vodola is a sophomore English major and an intent to Totus Tuus Maria household. She hails from Connecticut, where she </span><span style="line-height: 18.2px;">enjoys</span><span style="line-height: 18.2px;"> hiking with her family. </span><span style="line-height: 18.2px;">Rebecca loves drinking tea, carrying on Italian family traditions, going to morning Mass, and reading. </span></span><span style="color: black; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">Her favorite books include</span><i style="color: black; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"> The Phantom Tollbooth</i><span style="color: black; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">, the Harry Potter series, </span><i style="color: black; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">The Book Thief</i><span style="color: black; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">, and </span><i style="color: black; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">Hard Times</i><span style="color: black; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">, but she reads anything and everything, including receipts on the kitchen table. </span><span style="color: black; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">Some of her favorite saints are St. John Paul II, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, and Our Lady Undoer of Knots. Rebecca learns more about our beautiful Catholic faith each day. You can find out more about her <a href="http://onemorecatholic.blogspot.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></span></div>
FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-60447733666973092802015-10-12T16:04:00.000-04:002015-10-12T16:04:13.476-04:00His Gaze<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ymmoSdYUcCurlrUSeeT5uKtrbeQdGHsZnOqA-z0vPcZqLvFyKvDM-BBDm-OqFIjSW-OQiXXGFwFxE6thKIA-BkTwOOf6yvKJy-IwEaCAgjPSxGTEErBXGtvEDXY_ICN8ciN5gaf0m4MJ/s1600/christrichyouth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ymmoSdYUcCurlrUSeeT5uKtrbeQdGHsZnOqA-z0vPcZqLvFyKvDM-BBDm-OqFIjSW-OQiXXGFwFxE6thKIA-BkTwOOf6yvKJy-IwEaCAgjPSxGTEErBXGtvEDXY_ICN8ciN5gaf0m4MJ/s400/christrichyouth.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think all of us have probably experienced, at one point
or another, being in the presence of another who, we feel, can “look right into
our soul.” They seem to be able to, in
one glance, uncover and know what is going on within us…and depending on who
that person is in relation to us, it could produce feelings from comfort and
belonging to unease and fear. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I sat with this Sunday’s Scripture readings, this is
what came to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This week’s Gospel
account from Mark (<a href="http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/101115.cfm">http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/101115.cfm</a>),
the story of the rich young man, is one that I’m sure we’re all very familiar
with, and can teach an infinite amount of lessons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I noticed this time, though, is that THREE
times throughout the story, we’re told that Jesus <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">looks at</i></b> someone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first time, His gaze is directed toward
the young man who desires to inherit eternal life; twice after that, Jesus
looks at His disciples before addressing them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And it made me stop and think, what would this gaze look like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do I stop long enough to remember that I am
always in His gaze?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do I see, and
“hear,” from finding myself in His gaze?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After sitting with these questions, I came away with a few random
musings, which I share here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First, in considering His gaze at the young man: Jesus <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">looks </b>at him, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">loves </b>him, and then <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">speaks<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b>to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do I let myself be confronted by this truth
before I speak to the Lord, or before I open myself to hearing Him?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>St. Ignatius of Loyola, as he instructs us in
coming before the Lord for a time of prayer, counsels us to first “raise [our]
mind and think how God our Lord is looking at [us].”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This step is so simple, but so
important!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before we can receive
anything or speak anything back to the Lord, it’s crucial to remember who it is
that is that we’re addressing….and that before anything else, He is looking on
us with LOVE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once I do this, and let myself rest in the truth of who
is gazing upon me (LOVE Himself), and how He is gazing upon me (with LOVE),
then I’m able to more fruitfully receive whatever it is He might want to speak
to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to look back at this
particular example of the young man: Our Lord gives him a difficult
message!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Jesus, looking at him, loved
him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing….”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus loved him enough to tell him where he
was lacking – to tell him where he needed conversion so as to be able to be the
person Jesus knew he could be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes
it’s hard to receive a word of truth from the Lord!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if we remember that it’s coming from Love
Himself, it can help make something that might be bitter to receive, a bit
lighter and sweeter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Christ, when He
challenges us, always does so with LOVE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His voice is convicting, not condemning; inviting, not accusing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That gaze is penetrating, and can convict us
of areas of sin, always with a voice of love, mercy, and compassion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A voice that does not have these things is
not the Lord’s voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(side note: this
is why it can be helpful to talk to a spiritual director, confessor, or trusted
and mature friend when we’re having trouble discerning the Lord’s voice)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another thing about His gaze…it can be
uncomfortable!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knows everything about
us, and this can be hard!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m going to
use an illustration from a favorite story of mine, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chronicles of Narnia</i> by C.S. Lewis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As many of you are probably familiar with,
Aslan, the great Lion, is representative of Christ throughout the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe</i>, four children stumble into the magical
world of Narnia, and encounter both good and evil as they battle on the side of
Aslan to save the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find the
description of the children’s first encounter with Aslan similar to how
sometimes I feel in the presence of the Lord!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">People who have not been in Narnia
sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the children had ever thought so, they
were cured of it now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For when they
tried to look at Aslan’s face they just caught a glimpse of the golden mane and
the great, royal, solemn, overwhelming eyes; and then they found they couldn’t
look at him and went all trembly.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet once they come into His presence, and He greets them,
all fear is gone: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">His voice was deep and rich and somehow
took the fidgets out of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They now
felt glad and quiet and it didn’t seem awkward to them to stand and say
nothing.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jesus is so desirous of our coming to His presence, even
if we feel like we have nothing to say, or aren’t prepared, or aren’t
worthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He just wants us to come, as we
are right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A third thing about the gaze of Christ: at the end of the
day, it’s the only one I need to worry about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It can be so easy for us, especially as women, to fall into the
comparison game – a game which we will never win.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While it’s good to always strive to do our
best, and be good stewards of what the Lord has entrusted to us, it’s also good
to balance that with the truth that we are created in His image to be us, not
the person next to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This truth about
our dignity can be easier to recall when we remember that when we are looking
at Christ, nothing else matters; or maybe more accurately, everything matters
as it should matter, in relation to HIM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To use another example from Narnia: when one of the children, Edmund,
finds himself in the presence of Aslan (who he’d betrayed), and the White Witch
(who is accusing him of this wrong he’s committed), C.S. Lewis describes it to
us in this way: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You have a traitor there, Aslan,” said the
Witch….But Edmund had got past thinking about himself….He just went on looking
at Aslan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t seem to matter what
the Witch said.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWC4kluuqvWLMRlQep8mfZvsTeK99SXn7YKX3YTCS_Du4VWWr5SOJp6KxVyslMl-h-O2MWByQ2UR2RHnBX0gfEzFd5dHmHVxaDPcorEPfVOAOlenKwWD_wEY7w3dgMOc943keX-zhHNxRO/s1600/0d7c8b3b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWC4kluuqvWLMRlQep8mfZvsTeK99SXn7YKX3YTCS_Du4VWWr5SOJp6KxVyslMl-h-O2MWByQ2UR2RHnBX0gfEzFd5dHmHVxaDPcorEPfVOAOlenKwWD_wEY7w3dgMOc943keX-zhHNxRO/s400/0d7c8b3b.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This can also be a helpful image for us in coming before
the Lord…no sin or event from our past (or present!) is enough to make the Lord
stop looking at us with love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He desires
us to approach in confidence, and to hear the truth about ourselves from Him,
and Him alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can be a temptation to
let our sins and imperfections hinder us from approaching Him, and this is the
last thing He wants!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So as we continue the journey through this semester,
ladies, I encourage you to take a few moments throughout your day to encounter
the Lord, and let Him encounter you, just as you are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His gaze, though thoroughly penetrating, is
always first and foremost a gaze of love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He looks at each of you and says, “behold, you are VERY good.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May this truth be for us a battle cry each
day as we strive to live in this truth and the abundant life that Christ came
to give us, His beloved ones. </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
****************************<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sr. Anna Rose is our fearless leader here at Women's Ministry. She graduated from Franciscan with a degree in History and Theology before entering the Franciscan Sisters TOR of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother. She's in her second year of temporary vows, and her story can be found <a href="http://www.franciscansisterstor.org/about-us/meet-the-sisters/sr-anna-rose/" target="_blank">here</a>. Sr. Anna Rose leads our Women's Ministry team with such patience and love. If you see her around campus, be sure to give her a big hug! And as always, please pray for her.</span></div>
FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-39940011273304652262015-10-09T17:00:00.001-04:002015-11-30T08:42:22.672-05:00Stop Asking If Men and Women Can Be Friends<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKwgfN4kkwzcq_x9mJ9S63Y2-V3SoElsPclEfSQdFIRpPhaIlmEFF_ZkvcWnB0Hd4MhM-jgnMBUqlkmFPuM9P1PjYB4H9SM2qecOhikWAelNDNGzYBrvYYv0kBM2sT-HLvoMoNWX4wprd-/s1600/umbrellasbridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKwgfN4kkwzcq_x9mJ9S63Y2-V3SoElsPclEfSQdFIRpPhaIlmEFF_ZkvcWnB0Hd4MhM-jgnMBUqlkmFPuM9P1PjYB4H9SM2qecOhikWAelNDNGzYBrvYYv0kBM2sT-HLvoMoNWX4wprd-/s400/umbrellasbridge.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Can men and women be friends?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a question that I’ve seen circulate the Facebook and blog circles for a while now. I think it’s a question that becomes especially relevant at this time in our lives as young adult Catholic women when we begin to recognize just how deeply our feminine hearts crave masculine intimacy, and yet for many of us a romantic relationship doesn’t appear to be anywhere on the horizon. It especially becomes a question on the minds of many young women as they seek to live virtuous lives of purity, chastity, and modesty both internally and externally.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You see, this is a question I’ve been wrestling with a lot lately. I’ve read opinions on both sides of the argument (that women and men can’t be “just friends” vs. the opinion that it is healthy, normal and good for men and women to have authentic pure friendships) and I’ve discovered that it is not an easy question to answer. This is because such a question touches on many related and “controversial” topics: the nature of courtship, casual dating, flirtation and “emotional chastity” just to name a few, and all of these topics themselves exist with a vast spectrum of differing opinions.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But I’m tired of reading opinions on this matter; I’m looking for the TRUTH. I want to know where the line in the sand is drawn if for no other reason than the practicality of knowing what I need to confess when I go to the sacrament of Reconciliation. But where can I find the objective truth on this matter when the opinions of faithful Catholic people seem to be all over the place?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, it recently occurred to me that I needed to bring this question to prayer and ask the Lord what the answer was because I wasn’t receiving any clarity from the internet (go figure). And when I say “recently” I mean several months ago because I kept asking the Lord to answer this question and he kept giving me one response: silence. Until this week.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was getting really frustrated with the Lord (to say the least) and so I cried out in prayer, “Jesus, why won’t you answer my question?” And you know what his response was?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You’re not asking the right one.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I felt instantly better now that I had an explanation for why my prayers on this matter had gone to God’s voicemail for so long, and then I remembered that I’d still like to have some clarity on this matter of men and women and friendship. So I said, “What question should I be asking, then?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Don’t ask whether or not men and women can be friends. Ask rather how you are called to love the men in your life.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because here’s the truth of the matter, ladies: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are called to love every man in our life. Period</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. If we keep getting preoccupied with the status of the relationship we have with men, then we’ve missed the boat entirely. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And yes, I know that there are different types of love that we can have for men. That’s why God said to me, “Ask rather </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">how</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> you are called to love the men in your life.” But it never should be a question of “whether or not” I am called to love them. I am.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But what does this look like practically? Well, that’s a whole different, difficult question. There’s very few “practicals” in something like the Catechism. If we want to see what practically lived and embodied holiness looks like, we usually have to look to the lives of the saints.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So you want to learn how to love? St. Maximilian Kolbe teaches us that “the Cross is the school of Love.” And what do we learn from the Cross about Love? That it is radically Passionate, radically Pure, and radically Painful.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Passionate Love</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m currently taking an entire class on another great saint, St. Catherine of Siena, and this understanding of the school of Love being the Cross puts a beautiful context to her words when she addresses the Lord in prayer, “And what is my nature, Boundless Love? It is Fire, because you are nothing but the Fire of Love.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Love, true Love, as it is revealed to us and embodied by God, is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fiery</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This is why St. Catherine of Siena is always using the language of fire </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and desire</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in her writings. She embodied a beautiful zeal for souls and passionately loved every person she came into contact with. And Catherine came into contact with many men, of all different sorts: priests, politicians, prisoners and popes. And Catherine loved them all passionately. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As Christian women we are called to love everyone in a truly passionate way, and yes, this includes the men in our lives as well. Christ desires to consume us in the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">passionate</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> fire of his love on the Cross. There’s a reason we call Christ’s death “The Passion.” It’s literally the spousal consummation (i.e. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">passionate consuming</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) of Christ’s love for us. Likewise we should strive to “consume” the men around us with the blazing charity in our own hearts. What exactly does this look like? Well, in order for the passionate love in our hearts to consume the men in our life properly it also has to be a…</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pure Love</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s the other important thing to remember about fire: it’s purifying. Anything that is not the fire itself will be burned away in a blazing flame, and this is true of love too. The fire that should be blazing in our hearts is love and if God is Love then </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the Fire in our hearts is God</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Anything that is not of God will be burned away if we allow Him to properly fan the flames of desire in our hearts. This means that the passionate love we must have for the men in our lives must be free from all traces of lust. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To love the men in our lives as brothers is no easy thing, even for women. While we may not tend to fixate on physical fantasies (though we are certainly not guiltless in this arena) we do tend to fixate on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">emotional</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> fantasies. I am certainly not blameless in this area but I find that in moments where I catch my mind slipping if I can bring it back to the Cross, and refocus my desire there, Satan becomes powerless. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For true love doesn’t </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">use</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> another for my pleasure. Looking at the Cross reminds us of that. True love is not use, it is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gift</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. And this gift of self is so far from self-seeking pleasure that it oftentimes results in the actual antithesis of pleasure: pain. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Painful Love</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To love the men in our lives in a simultaneously passionate and pure way necessarily means that we are going to suffer. Holding our burning hearts in the purifying flames of love is going to be painful as we allow all that is not of God to be burned away. But Christ shows us on the Cross that the cost of love is pain.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a reality that the Lord definitely revealed to me this past summer when I asked Him to teach me how to love and He consequently broke my heart. And ladies, having my heart broken by the Lord </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hurt</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I mean actual physical, emotional, and spiritual </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">anguish</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. There were times when I would wake up in the middle of the night weeping heavy, salty tears in my pillow and repeating the phrase “Jesus, I trust in you” because I could not say anything else. In those moments I wasn’t even sure that I trusted in the Lord and that He had a plan for my suffering but I couldn’t allow myself to think that the sword that was piercing my heart was for nothing. And it wasn’t. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the Lord allows hearts to be pierced it is always for some purpose. At the Crucifixion there were two hearts that were pierced: one was Jesus’ and one was Mary’s. Jesus’ heart was pierced so that he might share with us His abundance of mercy. Mary’s heart was pierced so that in it being broken open by the Lord she was able to receive not only the suffering Christ into her heart but all suffering people everywhere as well. This means that loving the men in our lives means that to encounter them it will pierce our own hearts, just as the heart of Mary was pierced as she encountered her son dying on the cross. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So we called to love the men in our lives in a passionate, pure, and painful way. How this is lived out practically with each of the men in your lives is going to be different based on the circumstances of their relationship with you. This is because at times that relationship is going to call for an emphasis on spousal love (Passion), an emphasis on fraternal love (Purity), or an emphasis on maternal love (Pain). Just remember that our feminine hearts were created to love the masculine in all of these ways and as long as we keep the Cross always before us as our school of Love, we are loving as the Lord desires us to love.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Alyssa is a Junior studying Humanities and Catholic Culture, Theology, and Philosophy. She is a native of Texas where she lives with her family in a blue-roofed house on top of a hill. She is passionate about the Truth of the Lord's Incarnation and loves spending time discovering and discussing ways in which others have incarnated the Gospel in film, history, literature, politics, and art. Her favorite saints are St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena because they both personify St. John Paul II's "feminine genius" in her mind.</span></div>
FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-66958048216244110292015-10-03T19:57:00.004-04:002015-10-27T22:18:05.628-04:00Happy Lord's Day: soft and childlike hearts<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They were testing him.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They replied, "Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her."</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But Jesus told them,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Because of the hardness of your hearts</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">he wrote you this commandment.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and be joined to his wife,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and the two shall become one flesh.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So they are no longer two but one flesh.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Therefore what God has joined together,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">no human being must separate.'"</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He said to them,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">commits adultery against her;</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and if she divorces her husband and marries another,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">she commits adultery."</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">but the disciples rebuked them.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Let the children come to me;</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Amen, I say to you, </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">will not enter it."</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then he embraced them and blessed them,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">placing his hands on them.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mk 10:2-16</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I first read this Gospel, I was a little confused.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First Jesus is talking about God's original plan for marriage and how divorce, though it was permitted by Moses, is not actually cool. Then it seems like we've reached a totally different subject and He starts talking about children.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first reaction was, 'Yeah, these are both great, but what the heck do they have to do with each other?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then my intelligence kicked in and I realized that the Church wouldn't put these two together for this Sunday's Gospel reading if they didn't have something to do with one another (side tangent, here's a good example of why the Magisterium is the ultimate interpreter of Scripture and not me--I don't see the big picture without a little nudge from those wiser than I).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Divorce was not a part of God's original plan for man and woman. It was permitted under the Mosaic law because of the hardness of the Israelites' hearts. Their hearts had become hardened, jaded, stony. They were no longer soft, trusting, easily loving. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can relate, Israelites. It seems to me that the older I grow, the more jaded I am. With each passing year, as I move further into adult life and reality, I have to fight even harder to not let my heart become hardened by this world and all of the stresses that come with it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You know who has hearts that are soft? Hearts that haven't been hardened or jaded by this world? Hearts that are trusting? Hearts that easily love and are easy to love?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Children.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">See the connection yet?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In this Gospel passage, Jesus is telling us that if we want to enter the kingdom of Heaven, we need to allow our hearts to be softened. We need to look to the example of children, who don't allow negativity to stop them from fully living, who don't allow worry and anxiety to get in the way of trusting that their every need will be provided for, who love without counting the cost or caring if they're loved in return. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With childlike simplicity, we don't need concessions that keep us from living the way God intended us to in the first place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With childlike simplicity, we can trust that all we have and all we are come from the hands of a loving Father who will never abandon or forsake us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With childlike simplicity, we can know that even if following God's plan doesn't feel easy, He will give us the grace we need to overcome any obstacle and find the true treasure that He promises us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't know about you, but that sounds a heck of a lot better than what the Israelites had under the Mosaic law.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lord, soften my heart with Your love. Help me to learn from the example of the children around me. Help me to turn to You like a child, with all trust that You will provide for my every need. Help me to surrender those things that threaten to harden my heart to You and Your people--worry, anxiety, selfishness, pride. Help me to know that Your plan is all good.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Catie Destatte is a senior Theology and Catechetics major. She has a passion for writing, Mama Mary, ministry to women, her younger siblings, and evangelization. Her life motto is Totus Tuus Maria, and she tries to live that out in her every moment. Along with being a member of Women's Ministry Core Team, she's involved in Capture My Heart Core Team, Liturgy Committee, and Totus Tuus Maria Household. Her five great loves are JPII, St. Peter, tea, praise and worship music, and the ocean. Along with Shannon, one of Catie's roles in Women's Ministry is to run this blog. You can find out more about her </span><a href="http://www.you-steadymyheart.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #4d469c; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">.</span></span></div>
FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5067577598509484890.post-50645588363803736272015-09-26T19:51:00.001-04:002015-10-27T22:18:17.209-04:00Happy Lord's Day: a great responsibility<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>"At that time, John said to Jesus,</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>'Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.'</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>Jesus replied, 'Do not prevent him. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>who can at the same time speak ill of me.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>For anyone who is not against us is for us.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>because you belong to Christ,</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>'Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>it would be better for him if a great millstone</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>were put around his neck</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>and he were thrown into the sea.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>It is better for you to enter into life maimed</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>than with two hands to go into Gehenna,</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>into the unquenchable fire.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>It is better for you to enter into life crippled</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.''"</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><i>Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">Whoa. I don't know about you, but this Sunday's Gospel feels a little heavy. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea."</span></span></div>
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Ouch. It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around our necks than to cause one of these little ones to sin. </div>
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Our Lord's words seem pretty tough, but that's because He's trying to teach us something important about sin. </div>
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Sisters, we carry a great responsibility. I'm going to make an assumption and say that if you've chosen to come to Franciscan to study, it's because you're serious about your faith. We are so privileged to be in such a formative environment where we have incredible opportunities to grow in our faith. As a senior, I think I can safely say that there's nowhere like Franciscan.</div>
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But to risk sounding cliché, with that great privilege comes a great responsibility. We are being formed in our faith to an extent that most other Catholics in our country aren't. This is a great gift, but it also means that we're held to a higher standard.<br />
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Because sisters, Jesus' words in this Gospel passage are directed to us. We know the seriousness of sin. We know the seriousness of leading others into sin. Therefore, when we do it, it's far worse than if we didn't know.<br />
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Jesus' words to us seem pretty drastic. Cut off your hand and foot? Pluck out your eye?<br />
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He's saying a lot of drastic things to make a point to us:<br />
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<i>Get to heaven, daughters, and take as many people there with you as possible.</i><br />
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We're privileged to be His followers, sisters. Let's embrace the responsibility that comes with that privilege. Let's remember that there's nothing Jesus wants more for us than for us to spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Let's do everything we can to root out the sin in our lives so that we can get there, and let's do everything we can to take as many people with us as possible.<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Catie Destatte is a senior Theology and Catechetics major. She has a passion for writing, Mama Mary, ministry to women, her younger siblings, and evangelization. Her life motto is Totus Tuus Maria, and she tries to live that out in her every moment. Along with being a member of Women's Ministry Core Team, she's involved in Capture My Heart Core Team, Liturgy Committee, and Totus Tuus Maria Household. Her five great loves are JPII, St. Peter, tea, praise and worship music, and the ocean. Along with Shannon, one of Catie's roles in Women's Ministry is to run this blog. You can find out more about her </span><a href="http://www.you-steadymyheart.com/" style="color: #4d469c; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: black; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">.</span></div>
</span></span>FUS Women's Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095428224857790820noreply@blogger.com0