Viva il Papa!

God is so good. Where was I when our new pope was elected? I was home reading some Catholic blogs and one of them had a link to a live feed on St. Peter's square right on the chimney. I honestly didn't expect anything. I wasn't even sure what time it was in Italy. Only that it was dark out and for all I knew, the conclave could have been retiring for the night. I stepped away from my computer for a few minutes and then suddenly heard all the cheering coming from it. I ran back to my computer and much to my delight, shock and awe, the white smoke billowed out!

Praise God! I yelled that a few times. I couldn't believe they decided on someone already. There was no clear "frontrunner" said the media.

I posted on Facebook and im'd one of my closest friend,
HABEMAS PAPUM!!!


I anxiously watched the screen in anticipation, I saw the marching band come out and then the Swiss Guard. Eventually the cameras turned to the balcony and the lights were on. Finally it was announced

"Habemas Papum!"

He spoke in Italian so I didn't get most of what he said when he announced who was to be our next pope.

Some bishop from Argentina. Of course, I knew nothing about him. And perhaps I was a little disappointed because I had some others in mind. But it was only out of knowing them and not because I'm God or anything. Praise the Lord, He is in CHARGE!

So now we welcome Pope Francis! Praise to Jesus! I like him already. I love him already. And even my Atheist sister emailed me, shortly after his election, a big congratulations and said it was exciting for her too. She asked some questions of why they change their name and if he was the first non-european pope. I did my best to answer. Praise GOD! And she already seems to like him too. She likes that he takes the bus and is so humble. Praise God! How wonderful that would be if this was the man that spoke to my sister's heart and opened her to conversion. I can only pray.

And praise God for not leaving us without a shepherd for very long. Praise God for the chair of Peter. To see that the whole world was watching and the whole fascination with the Church's process for electing a new pope, it's just so edifying! It is a testament to God's power. People are responding to something that is not of this world and it's an amazing thing to witness!

Thank you Jesus! I know the bounty awaits us in heaven but God is so good to give us a taste of what's to come!

Going through the motions

I went to confession this weekend. I was over due. Something I needed to check off my to do list. So I went. I didn't feel deeply sorry. I didn't feel a whole lot. I just was doing what I had to do. Going through the motions. I know this is something some non-Catholic Christians observe with Catholics. The way we do things like rote prayers. Repetitions. "Works" based salvation, I think is what they think we believe and do. Going through the motions. Not always "feeling" it.

Here's the thing. Yes, I admit, I didn't have a lot of deep feelings about partaking in this sacrament. I was doing what I had to do because I wanted to partake legitimately in THE sacrament of Holy Communion. So, I did what I needed to do to and went to confession. And you know, afterward through pure grace, I felt AWESOME. I was overcome with great supernatural joy. I did nothing to deserve it. That's why it's called grace. I just went through the motion of going to confession and spoke of my usual habitual sins and viola! I was forgiven and I resolved to try and do better next time like I do every time I go to confession.

I think there are many ways to "work" out one's salvation. I think having the pressure to feel warm and fuzzy and have public displays of emotion is work. We're not always going to feel it. When praying, we won't always be present. We may let our minds wander. When going to Church, we may space out during the readings or the homily. We all go through the motions. It's o.k. Because we are saved by the grace of God. It always starts there. So God gave me the grace of pure joy after a lukewarm confession. And I was truly inspired by it that now I'm blogging about it.

This isn't a call for complacency. This is just a reminder that sometimes, it's o.k. to go through the motions as long as we're setting our sights on God. Showing love to God is about doing. Love is a decision. Me and my husband learned this through marriage prep. It is not a feeling. We get hooked on feelings but even the greatest Saints went through dry periods where they felt nothing. But they still went through the motions of prayer, partaking in the sacraments and being obedient to God.

Because the reality is that feelings come and go. Sometimes we have to go through the motions to maintain our connection to God. 

New blog :Finding Nate

I have a new blog where I will share my journey with my son who is ASD. Here's the first post!

Finding Nate: The Reluctant Mother: Finding Nate: The Reluctant Mother : Not for me God. I don't want that. I'll just have the two healthy children that are here and not tempt ...

It's sad when Evangelical Christians are more Catholic than Catholics...

I've never been a fan of Kirk Cameron. He's always annoyed me. I would have been a target audience for Tiger Beat when his photos were plastered allover the cover. But he's usually rubbed me the wrong way. When he became a born again Christian, it was only more ammunition for not liking the cut of his gib. When I had my own conversion, I still could not relate to him. He starred in those Left Behind movies which have a bit of anti-Catholicism in them. And when Kirk says the earth is only 6000 years old...facepalm!
But watch Kirk out Catholic a so called "Catholic" Piers Morgan when he defends traditional marriage and being pro-life. GO KIRK! You're gib isn't so annoying after all!

You know, I'm really fed up with these people who call themselves Catholic and use it as some kind of way to define themselves and then seem completely ignorant or downright hostile to what the Church teaches. Piers Morgan, Nancy Pelosi, Kathleen Sebelius et al have no right to define themselves as Catholic. I think it would have been funny if Kirk asked Piers something like;
"Aren't you Catholic?"
and Piers would respond,
"Well, yeah."
"Doesn't the Catholic Church believe in traditional marriage and the right to life?"
"Uh uh, but... 7 states have legalized gay marriage..."

But unfortunately if we keep having these nominal Catholics in the public square conveniently dressing themselves in the mantle of Catholicism while preaching the exact opposite of Church teaching, the public will have no idea what the Church stands for. Sad indeed.

Things I've learned as a Catholic: We win

It will be a long battle. We have everything against us. Popular culture is against us. The president is against us. We are hated throughout the world. But it doesn't matter. We win. The battle was won in heaven. As long as we stay true to God nothing can stop us.  Our biggest mission is to save souls. Clever soundbites would be nice. Fair media coverage would be nice. Rescinding the mandate would be nice. But we're battling something bigger than the government. We're battling Satan and he is not interested in sound logic and reason and in being fair. He is interested in destroying mankind. But we already know how it all ends up. We win. The gates of hell shall not prevail. God wins.

Things I've learned as a Catholic: The Church is always right...

Disclaimer: The Church is always right on faith and morals. The faith that has been deposited once and for all is free of errors. This is not to say that anything her members do outside of what she teaches on faith and morals will be free from error. The Church's only authority is on faith and morals and in that she is protected by the Holy Spirit from teaching error. So she will always be right when weighing in on any issue of faith and morals.

I had been meaning to write this post for quite a while because after fully coming into the Church 10 years ago, I've discovered that the Church is always right in matter of faith and morals and even when I ran into snags and disagreements with her, I've found that I have had to eat crow and that mother Church is always right. So I've been ruminating about this for a while but someone else beat me to it.
This timely article is much better at articulating how the Church is always right.
Time to Admit it: The Church Has Always Been Right On Birth Control

Well Mr. President, you've really stepped in it...

One thing is certain about our current president and it's this: Don't underestimate him.  I've seen it countless times. People questioned his ability to get things done. They wasted time doing things like questioning his qualifications and his intelligence. They even questioned his citizenship. Make no mistake. He is very smart. Very shrewd. Very cunning and knows how to play people. He has since taking office, been able to get a lot of his agenda done for better or for worse and all the while his opponents and supporters underestimated him. There were plenty of legitimate reasons to oppose the president but instead his opponents built strawman to knock down and all the while the president was able to do some real damage.
But guess what? He's guilty of playing the underestimation game himself. For as smart as he is, I'm surprised. He's underestimated the Catholic Church. Big mistake. Never ever underestimate the Catholic Church. If the Roman Empire couldn't destroy us, what makes you think you can, Mr President? You think because you have some Catholics in your cabinet and you had some Catholics support you on other issues that we'd just lie down and swallow this HHS Mandate? You think because some of us don't follow the teaching of the Church that well, that that meant we'd be o.k. with you trying to change what our Church teaches on artificial contraception and abortion?
You see, you're not dealing with just ordinary everyday people. You're dealing with a supernatural entity. As much as even her own members have tried to destroy the Catholic Church, she still stands and she still continues to grow and she uses attacks against her for the greater good. She'll still be standing even when the U.S. has failed. She's outlasted all other empires and these attacks are nothing new. Been there, done that. You've helped to mobilize conservative, moderate and liberal Catholics to fight against this unconstitutional mandate. In fact, you've helped to mobilize people of varying faiths to fight you on this.
Check out this article here to see the gravity of what you've done Mr. President. You've really stepped in it.
Memo to Obama: You've got a problem

Please, let's band together and fight this attack on our religious liberty. This mandate doesn't only affect Catholics. Please sign the White House petition to rescind this mandate.