Monthly Archives: January 2012

Because Religious Freedom Is Cool

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Mary| 1 Comment

There are 195 bishops in the United States.  At the time of writing this, 101 of them have spoken out against the new HHS mandate, which requires that sterilization and contraception, including controversial abortifacients, be among the “preventive services” coverage in almost every healthcare plan available to Americans, including health plans offered by religious organizations.

In short: this requires Catholic organizations to violate basic tenets of their faith or shut down.

Rather than writing a post about this, I thought I’d link to one that sums it up quite nicely.  Please—Catholic or not— spread the word and sign the petition.

This injustice is not something that need solely concern the Catholic Church — if the federal government can force Catholics to act against their consciences, they can force anyone to act against their conscience, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Atheist, and by the same pitiful reasoning.

Posted in Pop Culture

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You Call This A Blog Post??

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Mary| 3 Comments
Business-y Items:
  1. I know the email subscription system is no longer working.  To say that I’m working on fixing it would be somewhat misleading…but I can tell you that I am working on working on getting things set up correctly.In the meantime, you can get the post updates sent to your phone via twitter (and I only use it for post updates, so you won’t be getting spammed all day with me telling you what I just ordered at Starbucks—but if you’re curious, it was probably a White Chocolate Mocha).  OR just remember that I post on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7am Pacific Standard Time.
  2.  Just because I’m excited: As of two days ago, the church and the reception venue are officially booked for the wedding on December 22nd of THIS YEAR!  331 days, people.  331 days. :)

Back on topic…only to tell you that I really have no topic.  It has just been one of those weeks that leaves me needing a break from the world of comment boxes and the Internet—despite the list of post topics staring at me from the sticky note on my desktop.

So, to make up for my lack of words today, a quote from Saint Thomas Aquinas, on words, and The Word, Jesus Christ:

…since we cannot express all our conceptions in one word, we must form many imperfect words through which we separately express all that is in our knowledge. But it is not that way with God. For since he understands both himself and everything else through his essence, by one act, the single divine Word is expressive of all that is in God, not only of the Persons but also of creatures; otherwise it would be imperfect. So Augustine says: “If there were less in the Word than is contained in the knowledge of the One speaking it, the Word would be imperfect; but it is obvious that it is most perfect; therefore, it is only one.” “God speaks once” (Jb 33:14).

So… I guess God’s not a blogger.  ;)

Just for fun: pray a rosary today!  Come on. You know you’ve got 15 free minutes somewhere in your day.

Posted in Other Rants

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What’s Your Problem With Harry Potter?

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Mary| 39 Comments

I was seven years old when the first Harry Potter book came out. My parents didn’t want me to read it.

Being the good girl that I was, I left it pretty much at that. Mom and Dad didn’t want me reading it, so I didn’t read it. …Plus, I’m sure it sounded scary to me at the time (I was kind of a wuss).

What my seven-year-old self could not perceive at that time was that a lot of people saw the “no Harry Potter” rule as absolutely ridiculous—and viewed my parents (and the many parents out there with similar rules) as ridiculous for enforcing it. The Harry Potter books awakened in so many people worldwide a love for fantasy, story, and the written word. And I know many people who claim, to this day, that their lives are better for having read the Harry Potter books (seriously). How could that possibly be a bad thing?

This is the argument most hear (or think they hear): Harry Potter is a wizard, and wizards and witches are evil, so the Church says it’s a sin to read Harry Potter.

To be clear, it’s not a sin to read Harry Potter. The reason my parents didn’t want me reading Harry Potter when I was young was not because they thought it was sinful; it was because they were protecting me. The fact is that magic is real. Spells are real. The occult is real (and creepy). And when you mess with that stuff, bad things can happen (demonic possession, unfortunately, is not just something that happens in the movies).

Now here’s what most say when they hear that: But Harry Potter uses magic for good! He fights evil with it! This is clearly a good vs. evil story.

Suddenly there’s a distinction between good magic and bad magic. And really what matters is how you use it. You can see how this could be confusing for a little kid. If you’re a good person, you use magic for good, and if you’re a bad person you use it for evil. But in reality there is no such distinction. Our faith is clear on this:

CCC 2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others – even if this were for the sake of restoring their health – are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.

Again, the Church doesn’t make up this rule for fun. Demonic possession is real, and you want no part in it. Ergo, stay away from magic.

But ok. Seriously, Mary. It’s just a story. There’s no such thing as Hogwarts, and Harry and his friends do not exist. Most people who read it don’t try to become wizards afterward, and if they do, there’s probably something else a little off about them in the first place.

Fair enough. But when I was a little kid, I had my share of daydreams in which I married one of the cartoon Disney Princes (and don’t even pretend like you didn’t do the same, ladies!), or got to travel to The Land Before Time and hang out with friendly, talking dinosaurs. Of course, I knew it was all make-believe…but man…how excited would I have been if had found out there was actually a way to be part of those stories! With Harry Potter, there sort of is (Tarot Cards, spell books, etc).

I know I’m going to get tons of comments about how incredible the character growth is and what a powerful story it is, magic aside. And that’s great. I’m all for good story. But I support those parents who choose to not allow their children to read Harry Potter. There are plenty of other great books out there that don’t blur the lines between good and evil. And for all of the virtue that Harry Potter practices, there is just no getting around the fact that he uses magic to accomplish it, and in doing so, cooperates with evil.

Not exactly a role model I want my seven-year-old to have.

And just for fun…

Also. Before you comment: calm down.

:)

 

Posted in Pop Culture, Stuff Catholics Do

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When Taking A Stand Isn’t Easy

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Mary| 4 Comments

Raise your hand if you saw or re-posted the link to Google’s “End Piracy, Not Liberty” landing page (or something of the like) yesterday.

*raises hand*

yay!  Isn’t taking a stand for something you believe in fun??  As young people, we seem to have this natural itch to be involved in some sort of activism.  We do crazy things like participate in protests, participate in awareness campaigns, or join the Peace Corps.   And, usually (though definitely not always), doing such things amounts to a good and productive use of our time.

But let’s get real for a second.

To be clear: I’m glad so many people are against SOPA—it’s a scary bit of legislation.  I’m even glad so many people took a stand against it and (hopefully) called their congressman/congresswoman to make sure SOPA/PIPA don’t get passed (because if all you did was post the link, you missed the entire point of the exercise).  …And if there were no one at all re-posting the links, awareness wouldn’t have gotten around.  I get it.  Re-posting is good.

Is it bad, then, that I’m a little annoyed with the tendency to pat ourselves on the back for “taking a stand” when it seems to amount to nothing more than following the crowd?  If you stand up in a football stadium when your team scores a touchdown, are you really “taking a stand,” or are you just caught up in the moment with everyone else?  …Who doesn’t like a touchdown?  Especially when the other team winning means you essentially lose your right to free speech?

My point?  Good job for taking a stand against SOPA/PIPA.  It was the right thing to do.  But there’s more good to be done.  You just may not get as many “likes” on Facebook for standing up for it.

Example:

39 years ago this weekend, it became legal for a woman to take the life of the baby developing inside of her.  And around the country this weekend, hundreds of thousands of people will participate in peaceful protests against that law—mourning the loss of over 50 million lives taken since 1973.

You probably won’t hear much about these protests in the news.  Unfortunately, standing up for life hasn’t proven quite as popular as standing up for free speech has these past couple of days.  But if you re-posted the anti-SOPA/PIPA links yesterday, why not re-post this?

 

Posted in Other Rants, Pop Culture, Stuff Catholics Do

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7 Steps to Being Young & Catholic

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Mary| 27 Comments

Ok, so I’ve gotten some questions from readers asking about the specifics of how exactly to do this—that is, how is one to go about being “young and Catholic” in the world today?

Below is a battle plan of sorts…

1.)  Regular Mass and Adoration

The non-denoms have it right when they say that relationship with Christ is what your faith has to be grounded on.  But you won’t get there if you don’t make it a point to schedule time with Him.  For this reason the Church makes it mandatory for all of us to go to mass every Sunday and on Holy Days of Obligation—but mass is offered every day of the week.  Sure, I have friends with whom I only check in for an hour or so a week, but the people closest to me in my life I talk to on a daily basis.  It’s true that we can pray to Christ whenever we want and wherever we are (and we should!).  It’s also true that you’ll never be more united with Christ than in those moments after you receive Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament.  How close of a relationship do you want?

Reality Check: Many of us young people can’t make it to mass on a daily basis (especially if we’re not at a Catholic school or do not have a particularly vibrant Catholic parish nearby).  To those I say first of all to still try.  If you have trouble getting up every morning at 6:30 to make it to 7:30am mass, make it a goal to go to daily mass one day out of the week.  Christ will honor your sacrifice of sleep.  :)  If you can’t make it to mass and receive Christ in the Eucharist, make a spiritual communion instead.  And find out the hours of your parish’s Blessed Sacrament (or Adoration) Chapel.  Make it a habit to spend at least an hour in there a week.

 

2.)  Regular Confession

We’re talking once every two weeks.  …Seriously?  Yes.  I know the typical rule of thumb nowadays is once a month, but I personally find myself needing to go more often than that.  And for me, it’s much easier to answer the question “Did I go last week” than, “Have I gone yet this month?”  Let’s face it: we all do little things that hurt our relationship with Christ on a daily basis.  What kind of friend would you be if you didn’t say, “I’m sorry”?  And besides, who couldn’t use more grace?

Reality Check: A lot of us are afraid of confession.  It’s not that we can’t do it every two weeks, it’s that we don’t want to.  But I promise you, after the first time you go to confession saying, “It has been two weeks since my last confession,” you will want to come back the next time being able to say the same thing.  Make it a habit and you won’t be sorry.  No one regrets having his or her sins forgiven.

 

3.)  Spiritual Reading

If you’re not reading the Bible, or something written by a saint, or a sound theologian of the Church, you’re going to find it difficult to grow in your faith.  Our love for God grows the more we know about Him.  Plus, reading will make that hour a week you’ve just committed to spend in the chapel go by that much quicker :)

Reality Check:  Where am I to find said books?  The Bible is a good place to start!  The word of God in the very words of God—can’t get much closer than that!  Other books I recommend: Introduction to the Devout Life (St. Francis De Sales), I Believe in Love, True Devotion to Mary, Confessions of Saint Augustine.  Send me an email if you want more suggestions.

 

4.)  Be honest.

If your friends don’t know that you’re Catholic, there’s a problem.  You don’t have to turn into the crazy religious kid who doesn’t talk about anything but church, but do let your friends (religious and non-religious) know that you’re Catholic.  Going to confession on Saturday?  Invite your Catholic friends.  Headed to Mass?  Invite all of your friends (but politely let the non-Catholics know beforehand that communion is only for Catholics living in a state of grace).  Speak up if someone bashes the Church, and maybe skip that frat party on Friday if you know that it will lead to you having to go to confession on Saturday.

Reality Check: It’s a little late for some of us.  We have friends who already know us as someone we no longer want to be.  Time for a heart-to-heart.  Lay it all out on the table.  Write a letter if you don’t think you’ll be able to say it all.  Look, I know I used to do this or I told you I’ve done that, but I’m trying to change.  I’m going to take my faith more seriously and as my friend I just wanted you to know what’s going on with me. But please: Don’t drop your friends for Jesus.  He wouldn’t do that, and it’s not a very good witness to faith if your friends think you dropped them because they’re “not holy enough”. Now, you may find that you can no longer take part in certain activities and as a result some friendships may naturally fade away, but make it a point to be upfront and honest so it’s not perceived as a personal attack.

 

5.)  No really, be honest.

You don’t have to pretend that you’re perfect now that you’ve decided to take your faith seriously.  In fact if you do, no one will take you seriously.  Your Facebook statuses do not all have to be about Jesus or taken from the Bible.  You’re allowed to have a social life outside of church.  You can listen to non-Christian music.  Most importantly, when you mess up, own up.  It’s human to struggle.

 

6.)  Find Catholic friends

Like I said, don’t ditch your non-Catholic friends (so long as they’re not leading you into sin).  But it’s important to have friends within the Church, too.  Why?  Because being a Catholic is difficult, and human beings are not able to survive without friends.  Sometimes you just need the friend next to you in the pew, or someone to call when you don’t understand the Church’s teaching on something.  They don’t need to have the right answer for you, but you need someone who understands the struggle, and who can encourage you in faith.

Reality Check:  That’s nice, but what if the only other Catholics in your town have gray hair?  Two suggestions: 1) Pray, pray, pray that God will send a friend your way.  And keep an open heart—be a friend to everyone.  He could be preparing your non-Catholic friend’s heart to receive His truth through your friendship.  2) Make friends with the old people!  They’re probably awesome and full of stories and great advice.

 

7.)  Do well in school (and/or at work).

Chances are good that God is not calling you to drop out of school and go off into the desert to pray.  It could happen, but it’s more likely that He is calling you to live your life for Him right where you are: in school, at work, at the gym, etc.  You really want to be a good witness of Christ?  You have to strive for excellence in all that you do.  Period.  In other words: Do your homework.  You may not be able to get straight A’s, but you better try your hardest.  Offer your hard work up to Christ as a prayer.  Jesus didn’t cut corners, so neither can we.

Reality Check: When asked, “Is it befitting a cardinal to ski?” Blessed JPII replied, “What is unbefitting a cardinal is to ski badly.”  :)  Seriously.  You cannot be a Christian and settle for mediocrity.

Bottom Line?  Do good, avoid evil.  Easier said than done, of course.  But be encouraged!  You are not alone in the struggle.

Posted in Ask Mary, Pop Culture, You & God, Youthful Antics

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