Sunday, Fourth week of Lent 2023,

Today I volunteered to read the 1^st & 2^nd reading at mass at my church.   The readings were kind of disjointed a little bit from the main Gospel which was from John 9: 1-41.  That gospel chapter features a somewhat common miracle of Jesus, that of giving a blind man sight. It also features the aftermath of said miracle where the scribes & the pharisees intensely questioned the young man about how he managed to gain his sight with the formerly blind man ultimately accusing the scribes & pharisees of being blind themselves.   The 1^st reading was from the First book of Samuel chapter 16 where Samuel anoints David to be the next king of Israel. I’m not sure how David being anointed king ties in with a blind man from birth being healed other than hoping people knew the backstory on the 1^st reading with Israel’s king Saul sinning before God & subsequently God choosing a different king.  Maybe somehow that connects to the opening line of the Gospel where Jesus’ disciples ask whose sin caused this young man to be blind since birth but I am still not seeing a clear connection.   The 2^nd reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 5: 8-14 does dovetail nicely with the Gospel where St. Paul instructs the Ephesians to live as children of light which is needed for sight and not as children of darkness. So, I did get that connection.  

Afterwards my church was looking for more volunteers to participate in the various ministries including altar servers who assist the priests with the celebration of the mass, lectors aka readers of the old testament & new testament books except the Gospels, eucharistic ministers aka people who distribute holy communion to people in the church & bring it to those to sick to come to church, and ushers who usually collect the monetary offerings of the congregation during the offertory and maybe on Christmas & Easter try to find seats for all of the Creasters that show up.    I am hoping they were able to find some more volunteers because they are needed in my church.

Of course, my church isn’t the only one who needs volunteers.  At another event I volunteered for, that of Catholic Engaged Encounter aka the marital prep weekend many Catholic diocese mandate young couples go on before the big Catholic wedding day, one of my fellow volunteers relayed how his daughters were always getting roped into serving as alter severs at his church because no one shows up to volunteer to assist the priest as an alter server.   Even on that Engaged Encounter weekend while there were a total of 11 volunteers to help 9 couples check in & show them where their rooms are the group had to invite another married Catholic couple in from Michigan to lead the two day long talks to the engaged Catholic couples about how to make a marriage last long term and how they deal with things like trying to chauffer kids around to various afterschool activities while still trying to put dinner on the table in a timely fashion & still manage to love/appreciate their spouse through all of this.  

So, on this point halfway through Lent I began to ponder the state of volunteering in America.   The average American spends 52 hours a year or about 1 hour per week.  I found that volunteering is down overall in America with only about 25% of them doing so on a regular basis and with more older people than younger people and more women than men.  Most only volunteer for one particular charity or cause with most being tied to a religious organization.   And ultimately making these kinds of connections through volunteering is what fosters those bonds/friendships that bring about a great sense of happiness.   

Meanwhile, the average American spends two & ½ hours watching television with me spending perhaps more time that I should on that.    I am presenting this entry onto my blog when I should have probably entered the previous two weeks worth of Lenten 2023 entries before this one.  The reason why I am not is because those previous two weeks worth of Lenten 2023 entries remain undone.  Why? Because I’m spending two & ½ hours watching YouTube or playing my newest addicting videogame 2248 instead of writing.  I’m halfway tempted to post my score on Facebook only as a warning for others to not download this game because of the amount of time it will suck out of your life. 

The idea of Lent it to repent, to turn back to Christ.  As Fr. Mike Schmitz point out in his homilies on YouTube & probably on the Hallowed app we are to become like our rabbi Jesus and do like he does.    So, would Jesus watch 2 & ½ hours worth of TV every day?  OK never mind that TV wasn’t invented until the 1920’s and not made available widely until the 1950’s and most people are probably getting their TV through the Internet which wasn’t invented until the 1960’s and even then wasn’t capable of handling streaming videos until the mid to late 2000’s.   My point is if Jesus were around today how many hours a week of TV would he be watching?

I have a feeling the answer would be none.  I’d think he’d take up Mark Wahlberg’s suggestion from Friday’s Hallowed Lenten 40 meditation about fasting from TV & social media and turning that time into prayer and volunteering to be the light to people in darkness be it the darkness of hunger or homelessness or depression. 

OK, good idea in theory.  However, part of me to quote Alice from Alice in Wonderland (not sure this was in the original Lewis Carroll book or just a line in the Disney 1951 movie) “I often give myself very good advice, but seldom if ever follow it.”   

Considering I spent approximately 1 & ½ hours volunteering this weekend, but I took two three hour naps this weekend because of lack of sleep from the nights before.   Time I should have spent on laundry & cleaning up the disaster area better known as my apartment I spent watching YouTube channels talk about how Paramount + is ready to ditch is woke/broke fabled franchise “Star Trek” and how Disney sucks because they haven’t had a true villain since Mother Gothel in Tangled. 

I only have three weeks left of Lent before Easter when I’m supposed to greet the risen Jesus as a new creation only to lament that I seem like a hopeless creature of darkness and feeling completely helpless to overcome my sinful ways that antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus. 

The opening song of Mass was a very familiar one-“Amazing Grace”.    Can grace still save me?   Why do I prefer the darkness to light?  Why am I not repenting and following the ways of the light? 

Please Lord, help me to become that perfect person you want me to be.  Please help me overcome my sinful ways.   

 

Friday, 3^rd week of Lent, March 17^th, 2023 AKA St. Patrick’s day

Ah the one saint’s feast day everyone in the United States celebrates whether they are Irish Catholic or not.   The city of Chicago once again proudly dyed their namesake river a shade of Kelly green instead of its usual putrid green.  There were big post Covid joyous parades and drinking celebrations as well.   Only downside to the celebration is Cardinal Blaze Cupich is holding every Chicago Catholic to the Lenten Friday meat abstinence rule.  However, if you’re dying for that pickled beef brisket & cooked brassica oleracia just hop on a plane & head to Boston.  Cardinal Patrick O’Malley will tell you where you can get the best corned beef & cabbage in Beantown.   

Now the obvious answer to why St. Patrick’s day is such a big deal in the US is because 4.5 million Irish people immigrated to the US between 1820- 1930 with the bulk of them probably between 1847-1852 including my ancestors.    As to why Polish, Jewish, Flemish, Italian, Mexican, Ugandan, Chinese, Japanese, Sudanese, Pakistani, et-cetera-y join in the fun of the jigs & reels is because, in my humble opinion, the Irish were the 1^st to undergo the great American immigrant hazing ritual.  This is why everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day because every immigrant group to the US has experienced the following things that the Irish experienced 1st. 

The Irish were the first group of immigrants to get a political backlash thanks to the Know Nothing party of the 19^th century a.k.a. the KKK before the KKK existed.   The Irish were the 1^st to get badly stereotyped such as a police van being referred to as a “Paddy Wagon” because allegedly every criminal was named Patrick & probably under arrest for getting themselves involved in a drunken barfight.  The Irish were the first to be discriminated against as when I heard Irish paternal Grandmother talk about how her Irish grandparents often saw signs stating Irish need not apply.  The Irish were the 1^st to believe in something other than the mainstream Protestant religion of the US with many of those US Protestants fearing the Pope implementing Catholic Cannon law on every person in the US if ever an Irish Catholic became President.   Nowadays being a Catholic politician is no big deal especially since most Catholic Democratic politicians are Catholic in name only.   The Irish were the first immigrant group to take the crappy jobs no one else wanted for even crappier pay.  The Irish were the first to maybe speak a different language since I’m sure there were a few who still spoke Gaelic when they arrived to the US shores.  The Irish were the first to influence the culture in a great way with Country music owing a debt to the Irish folk singers and of course their fiddle playing.  The Irish were first to “Americanize” their traditions into something else For example, the traditional Irish St. Patrick’s Day feast is loin of bacon to be drunk with a pint of Guinness stout not corned beef & and a German style green lagger.  And yes, the concept of celebrating a day of ethnic pride in all the Irish American immigrants have accomplished was the forerunner to things like Cinco de Mayo, Chinese New Year, and Paczki’s on Fat Tuesday.     

As aforementioned before I am a descendant of those proud Irish American immigrants.    This means something arises deep within my Irish soul every year.    Every year I enjoy the Irish soda bread my local Jewel puts on sale along with McDonald’s Shamrock Shakes.  I listen to some classic Irish folk & drinking songs.  I make sure I have a Shamrock & the color green on every St. Patrick’s Day.   Maybe I’ll watch an Irish themed movie. (Disney’s “Darby O’Gill & the Little People”, or maybe John Ford’s “The Quiet Man” or I might check out Oscar nominee “The Banshees of Inisherin” instead).  I know I’ll go to my in-laws house sometime this weekend to celebrate with a corned beef & cabbage dinner even though my mother in law is only 1/4 Irish making my husband & my brother-in-law only 1/8  Irish.  So that’s how I’ll celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

But, part of me is begging the question-how would St. Patrick celebrate his heavenly birthday?   

Maybe some of you know St. Patrick’s life story.   My husband often reminds me that the greatest Irish saint is in fact a Britton.   He was living in a Roman colony somewhere of the coast of modern day Wales when he was kidnapped by Irish pirates & turned into a slave.  He spent many years living in Ireland as a herder until he finally got the chance to escape & return home.  When he did he kept having visions to return to the land of his captors & evangelize the Celts & the Druids.    Legend has it he often slept with rocks as his pillow & endured other pains for repentance of the souls of the Irish people.    To this day if you wish to make a pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick’s aka the mountain St. Patrick spent 40 days & nights fasting & praying like Jesus in Ireland it is recommended that you walk there barefoot in penance for your sins.    I’m sure Patrick would want everyone to evangelize about the good news as summed up by the famous John 3:16 and maybe he’d be in agreement with Chicago Cardinal Blaze Cupich’s assessment that it’s important to maintain that Lenten fast & to do other acts of penance as well like go to confession.       

So, to this end I went Daily Mass.  I prayed my Rosary & I did the Stations of the Cross too.   I was dead tired while working my work shift today despite trying to drug myself with a free Irish Oatmilk latte and some free Pepsi my work offers employees in the breakroom but I offered it up to Jesus.    And as I write this tonight, I ponder the prayer of St. Patrick.

As I arise today,
may the strength of God pilot me,
the power of God uphold me,
the wisdom of God guide me.

May the eye of God look before me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God speak for me.

May the hand of God protect me,
the way of God lie before me,
the shield of God defend me,
the host of God save me.

May Christ shield me today.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit, Christ when I stand,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Amen."

 Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone. 

 

And the Oscar winner I should be watching is?

If I mention the names Romeo & Juliet-how many people would know whom I’m talking about?  I would say most of us since most of us have some level of a high school education including the high school diploma.  Most middle school or high school English teachers probably choose this play of all of Shakespeare’s plays to introduce young people to the bard of Stratford on Avon because they’ll assume the average adolescent can easily relate to a drama of teenagers being madly in love with someone their parents will absolutely hate.  This of course leads to a wider question- Why is William Shakespeare’s plays even taught in middle school/high school English classes.   There are other famous playwrights like Sophocles, Moliere, Arthur Miller, Neil Simon, Tom Stoppard, Ibsen-why the focus on Shakespeare?  

Well, besides trying to stretch kids brains with Elizabethan “Thee”s and “Thou”s  and reminding kids of the 1700 words that got into the English Language thanks to William Shakespeare’s plays, the reason why most English teachers focus so much on Shakespeare is because William Shakespeare pretty much invented every conventional dramatic plot point in existence.   A play told from the villain’s perspective-"Richard III".  Battle of the sexes-“Taming of the Shrew”.  Revenge plots- “Merchant of Venice”.  Stuck in outlandish situations for comedic affect-“Midsummer’s Night Dream”. Presenting a Jane Austen romantic comedy 200 years before Jane Austen lived-“Much Ado about Nothing”.  Crossdressing genderbending-“Twelfth night”.   Heck Shakespeare even invented science fiction-“The Tempest”.   Even nowadays playwrights when they get writer’s block find ways to creatively steal those Shakespearean plots like when Tom Stoppard rewrote Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” from the perspective of two minor characters and it became a major hit for him.  

There are of course numerous other classical books/works of literature that most English teachers will present to their students as part of their pedagogy to show common values and themes everyone with a basic high school diploma should know.   The premise goes we need to keep these stories alive to pass along the life lessons/morals to the next generation.  

This leads into my strange segue into the 95^th annual Oscars presented this past Sunday, March 12^th, 2023.   I was hoping Stephen Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” would have won best picture.  “The Fabelmans” is of course an unofficial autobiography written in the language Spielberg knows best-cinema.    Spielberg, of course is one of the most recognized film directors of all time.  To date he has directed over 60 projects and produced hundreds of others.  However, when it comes to the Oscars, he only has two for directing.  As for Spielberg’s other Oscar Losses, some of Spielberg’s best known movies-  “Raiders of the Lost Ark”,  “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, and “E.T.” have all been nominated for best picture and lost respectively to Warren Beaty’s “Reds” (1982), Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall”, (1978) and Richard Attenborough’s “Gandhi”  (1983) .  Now of those six films I’ve mentioned I wonder how many people have seen all six and of those which would you want to see again?  Furthermore, forty years from now which ones of those films will people still want to watch?   I think the answer is obvious since most people don’t care about the Communist takeover in Russia in 1917 or have the time to watch a three-hour epic about the life of Mahatma Gandhi or are ready to cancel Woody Allen because of the incestuous relationship he had with his teen aged stepdaughter Soon Yi Previn.   

There are other films I think Spielberg would recommend people would watch for forty years from now as well.  In a documentary on Stephen Spielberg he mentioned he always watches the epic “Lawrence of Arabia” every year since it came out.   It’s been awhile since I’ve seen Lawrence of Arabia, as stated I’m not sure nowadays if I have three hours to waste on an epic about the life of T.E. Lawrence & the founding of Saudi Arabia.    Still, it did win the best picture Oscar of 1963.

Furthermore, Spielberg’s last movie/Oscar nomination was a remake of the 1960’s West Side Story.  I’ll admit Spielberg/Tony Kushner provided a much better book/screenplay than the original movie and at least Spielberg make sure Maria & her brother Bernardo were played by Hispanic actors instead of white ones in dark makeup.   Yet, the 1960’s movie with Natalie Wood/Richard Beymer was still a great film on its’ own & won the 1961 best Oscar.   Do audiences no longer care about old movies?

Maybe it’s a numbers game.  There are over 500,000 moves that have been officially made since the invention of the Edison’s Kinescope camera in 1891.   I just don’t have time to watch all of those films and I feel most people don’t either especially when you factor in TV shows to binge watch & books to be read & video games to be played all night as well.

Still, I feel there should be a set of films everyone should be watching for various reasons.  For example, I thought “The Wizard of Oz” was one of those ubiquitous films everyone alive since 1939 has watched.  I was shocked when I learned my husband never watched “The Wizard of Oz”.  Why?  My husband doesn’t watch black & white films and of course the ‘39 film starts off with Judy Garland longing musically for a rainbow in sepia toned Kanas.   That film has had such a cultural impact poor Idina Menzel had to wear green pancake makeup for months when she brought the Wicked Witch of the West to life in the musical “Wicked” even though author L Frank Baum made no reference to the shade of the Wicked Witch’s skin color in the original Wizard of Oz book.    My husband’s prejudice against black & white films also means his is missing out on some the greatest film ever made per the American Film Institute’s top 100 films like “Citizen Kane” considered the greatest film of all time.    Prior to 2020 if anyone wanted to be a filmmaker they would have to study D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” because D.W. Griffith’s movies wrote the book on cinematography.    Unfortunately, all of those great camera techniques on “Birth of a Nation” were used to glorify the start of the K.K.K.  and everyone is wondering why D.W. Griffith wasn’t cancelled out back in 1916.   

I’ve quickly reviewed the list of all of the 95 winners for best picture.  How may of us have watched the 1^st Oscar best picture film “Wings?”  How may of us have watched last year’s best picture winner “Coda”  or the winning film from 2013 “Twelve Years a Slave” or 50 years ago “The Sting?” .   As far as I can tell “Casablanca”, “The Godfather.”, some of the musicals (“My Fair Lady”, “Sound of Music”,  “An American in Paris”, maybe even “Chicago”) possibly “Gone with the Wind” (not sure of having the 1^st African American actor-Hattie McDaniel to win an Oscar in 1939 negates the fact she won that Best Supporting Oscar for playing a southern slave) and “Ben-Hur” are the only ones that seem to be viewed on a routine basis.   Legendary mystery/horror director Alfred Hitchcock was nominated six time for an Oscar and lost each time and yet we’re all familiar with the “Psycho” shower scene more so than a lot of other films from 1960.     As for other non-Oscar wining films I’d say most people have seen the Star Wars franchise along with the Rocky, James Bond, Jurassic Park, Marvel Cinematic Universe,  DC Cinematic Universe,  Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Terminator franchise, even if you haven’t seen all the movies in the franchises. (I’ve been told to avoid any Terminator movie made in the 21^st century)    If you’re a girl you’ve probably seen all Disney princess movies a dozen times.      Depending upon your age you may have watched all of the Looney Tunes shorts from the 1940’s, 50’s & ‘60’s on TV along with Tom & Jerry and other Tex Avery creations. 

Still, I’m curious dear readers-if English teachers expose students to various books/plays to provide them a well-rounded literature background, what kind of movies should everyone know about so when I name drop Luke Skywalker & Princess Leia everyone will immediately get what I am saying?  What are your random thoughts?      

 

Sunday, Second week of Lent 2023.

Like the 1^st Sunday of Lent the 2^nd Sunday of Lent features the same Gospel story every year. “The Transfiguration”.  It’s a very popular story where Jesus brings his BFF Peter, James & John up a mountain to reveal the true Godhead that He is and have a conversation with His Abba.   In fact I turned this biblical story into a teleplay I sent to Dallas Jenkins for his consideration for The Chosen TV series.   At this point a snowflake in Hell might have a greater chance for existence than for my dream of  becoming a writer for that show coming true.   Nonetheless, I can still dream.

The reason why the Catholic Church brings this biblical story up every 2^nd week of Lent is a reminder of what lies at the end of Lent, the complete glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.    My church’s permanent deacon said as much in his homily where he reminded us prior to the Transfiguration St. Peter was actively dissuading Jesus from journeying to Jerusalem only to have Jesus shout to Peter “Get behind me Satan.  You are thinking like Man does not God”.     In fact every Sunday, not just Easter Sunday, is a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Because of this, Sundays are never considered part of Lent.   If Lent is all about fasting, Sunday is all about the feasting.    This means that a Catholic like me could theoretically take advantage of a loophole in Lent.

So, today I took advantage of that loophole.   I enjoyed a mint chocolate truffle my sister-in-law Jennifer gave me from her collection of chocolates from her Candy Stop business.  It was good, melted in my mouth and I was able to savor it.  

I am also trying to limit myself to eating out during this Lent.  I knew I couldn’t completely give it up since for Fridays during Lent I often need to pick up a veggie pizza from a local pizza place on my way home from work.  Still, it’s better to buy a bag of Starbucks coffee beans to get a month’s worth of coffee from home for roughly the same price as about a week’s worth of coffee from the Starbucks drive through.  

Having said this, last Sunday I called my old friend Heather and this Sunday I did decide it was better to visit an old friend and to enjoy a great brunch at Juicy-O’s than be stubborn on the whole fasting from dining out situation.  It was a great day and a great brunch.  Until that great brunch started to disagree in my stomach and I turned Sunday into a literal day of rest.

But I’m OK with it.  I know God loves me and starting this week I’m hoping he will give me the hope to overcome my sinful ways.

 

 

 

 

Friday, First week of Lent 2023.  

Yesterday I felt really sick to my stomach so I all I did was rest and work my job.    Today I also was feeling sick but not sick enough to justify calling in sick to my job.    

I listened to the Friday Challenge with Mark Wahlberg who quoted Opus Dei founder Saint Josemaria Escrivá philosophy of the Holy Moment.  Where instead of going back to bed, you wake up and begin your day.  No hitting the snooze alarm.   Although Mr. Wahlberg gives this strange caveat to this.

“This challenge is not to fast from sleep. This challenge is to win the morning.  If you wake up earlier, that means you need to go to bed a little bit earlier.  If your obligations don’t allow you to get enough sleep and wake up early, then talk with God.”  

 Maybe I’m focusing on the wrong deadly sin.   In fact I heard on TV recently some new study where lack of sleep leads to an increased appetite.    This could be why I had a giant soft pretzel the side of my head along with a salad tonight for dinner and-

 

Saturday, First week of Lent 2023.

I hit the snooze button about 3X because I didn’t get to bed until 1 am because I was out late with my husband and some old friends until almost midnight.

 

Wednesday, first week of Lent 2023.

Today I went to daily mass.  My husband, the protestant that he is, believes church is something that should be done once a week on Sundays.   I, the good Roman Catholic who believes the celebration of the Holy Eucharist is the summit and source of my faith wonders why I am only going to mass on Sunday, once a week.   

The reason why it’s important for good Catholics to go to Mass instead of just any old Church can be summed up on one complicated supercalifragilisticexpialidocious word-transubstantiation.  We Catholics believe at a certain point in the mass the priest takes the humble communion wafers and cup of two buck chuck and miraculously turns their essence into the flesh and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.    So, if you visit a Catholic church, which I would highly recommend, you WILL be in the presence of Jesus Christ, king of the universe.  Don’t believe me, read all of John chapter 6 aka the one chapter literal bible protestants refuse to take literately.    Now, if this is what every Catholic believes you think the churches would be packed each and every day for 24 hours a day.     They’re not.  Lately they’ve been very empty which is a shame.   If, as Pope Francis stated the Church is a field hospital for our souls then I believe more people need to visit to prevent themselves from condemning themselves to the spiritual morgue.     Yes, most priests/God knows it’s a little hard to make daily mass a priority since most people have to work to be able to tithe their income into the offertory basket.  Still, I would highly recommend going to a daily mass once or even twice a week if you can swing it.

Furthermore, I did find myself being a bit more virtuous afterwards.   I prayed my rosary after mass with a group inside of the church and kept mind wondering to a minimum.  Afterwards, I was invited to join the church’s Legion of Mary.  As much as I am flattered with the idea of taking my relationship to the Blessed Virgin Mother to a deeper level I fear they won’t let me join once they’ve read how I have “Breaking Bad” thoughts while praying or start a petition to get me excommunicated for daring to compare the Blessed Virgin Mother to the Jewish mother stereotype.

Still, I strangely felt energized today.   Instead of sleeping on my day off I took advantage of my building’s laundry room which lucky for me had all 3 washers/dryers working and everyone else in the apartment building either at work or taking advantage of the cheap laundry deal the local laundromat offers on Wednesdays.    I also donated about 10% of my clothes to the Salvation Army including the clothes hamper.   I took trash out, cleaned up the kitchen, and wrote a bit in this blog.   God did greatly energize me today.  Thank you God.

Now, if I could just avoid the temptation to not sleep in.   

 

Tuesday, First week of Lent 2023.

I started this day off with good intensions for about 5 minutes, and then those good intensions quickly went away.   Today was a day of just feeling depressed and wanting to be so lazy about life.  In fact, I was so lazy about today that I am writing about it six days later.  

I didn’t feel like exercising.  I did pray rosary with the usual brain clutter about everything and everyone except Jesus.  I did work but felt overwhelmed with the amount of calls coming in and worried how I was going to resolve all these issues customers have with my company.  I’m not sure if I resolved any.   I walked away from my pledge to stay away from secular YouTube only to binge watch anything but religious YouTube for hours.  

The Christian life in some way should always be Memento Mori-Latin for “You’re going to die!”  Of course we Christians know we aren’t going to die permanently, we will be raised up on the last day to enjoy the eternal bliss of Heaven or the eternal torture of Hell.  You would think the thought of me burning in an unquenchable fire of pain and agony would be enough to motivate me to follow God’s commandments for. His sake.

Yet, the daily mediation for tonight, second week of Lent, talked about the importance of perseverance and God’s saving love.  The Hallowed app I’ve been using had a guest presenter Immaculèe Ilibagiza talked about her harrowing story of surviving the Rwanda genocide of the 1990’s by staying in a Christian Minster’s 3’X4’ bathroom for 21 days with 7 other Tutsi women.   She talked about the enemies of Christ are always trying to attach us but we need not be afraid.  God has won the battle.  We just need to listen to God tell us “We are his beloved son, we are his beloved daughter.”  I need to ponder His words.

Maybe I could still be saved.

 

Random thoughts on Lent

Monday, 1^st week of Lent, 2023. 

OK I woke up, brushed my teeth & washed my face, made my husband’s lunch, made my lunch, did all but one of my daily exercises (found equipment I needed after I was done), read the daily readings of the Catholic daily mass, and then I as usual messed up my daily rosary routine.

This is how the rosary is supposed to go.  On the cross/crucifix you pray the Apostles’ creed of what you have theoretically believed since the moment of your baptism even if your baptism took place hours after you were born.  On the big beads you pray the Our Father prayer because it’s the only prayer Jesus said and, we, His followers, obviously have a moral obligation to pray it frequently.  On the small beads you pray the Hail Mary prayer. The small beads are stringed together in groups of 10 hence the term decade of the rosary.

 Side note here, we in the Catholic church do not worship Mary.  Praying to saints is not the same as worshiping.  We worship God alone.  And, when we in the Catholic church wish something to really get done in our favor we hope in the pure immaculate goodness of the Mother of God to perhaps lay upon Jesus the mother of all guilt trips, which she could if she chose. Seriously, she could tell Jesus- “You know if it weren’t for my ‘yes’ your whole plan to save the human race would have been royally messed up. Do you know what they did to unwed teenage mothers in Nazareth back in the day?”

Getting back on topic, after praying to Mary 10 times in the hope that she’ll convince God winning the Powerball jackpot could be a good thing, we land on the next big bead.  We then proclaim the Glory Be prayer followed by the Fatima prayer (optional/Google it to learn more) and we’re back to another Our Father.  We repeat this process five times around the rosary for a total of 5 Our Fathers, 50 Hail Marys, 5 Glory Be & Fatimas and end with the Hail Holy Queen prayer on the little metal that connects the loop ends. While praying the rosary we are to contemplate stories from the New Testament known as Mysteries, but we all know God is whodunit.  The four major mysteries of the rosary are: The Joyful baby Jesus mysteries, the Sorrowful killing Jesus mysteries, The Glorious triumphal Jesus sequel mysteries and most recently the Luminous mysteries which covers all highlights of Jesus’ life on earth since you would need to spend an eternity to read all the books about Jesus according to St. John The Evangelist.   Which group of mysteries you ponder is suggested but not dictated by the day of the week.  The time to pray a rosary is supposed to run anywhere from 16 minutes if you go bullet train style on your bead all the way up to 40 minutes if you wish to add biblical verses, additional commentary and/or prayers to make sure you aren’t just mindlessly reciting a bunch of prayers.   

Having said all this, now this is how I end up praying the rosary most days.

Realize oh crap it’s close to 7 am & I have to get to work/start work from home soon. I stop reading my Time news feed and get on my knees to pray my rosary to ensure my day at work won’t go from Purgatory to Hell.   I start the aforementioned Apostles creed & work my way up the chain with the one big and three smaller beads.  On the first Our Father bead I remind myself what day of the week it is and what corresponding mysteries I should ponder.  I then announce said mystery aloud in my room in as few words as possible.  For example, today is Monday, Monday is the Joyful mysteries ergo the 1^st mystery is the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel to Mary.    I usually just go “The Annunciation.”  and pray the Our Father.   Somewhere between the first “Hallowed be your name” and “Thy kingdom come” yawn for about 15 seconds.  Why?  I’m functioning on my average 5 hours of sleep plus or minus 10 minutes each day at this point of the day.   At the start of the 1^st. Hail Mary on the 1^st decade think “Man I need coffee” while my mouth states how Mary is full of grace.    Midway through decade two remind myself I have to take chicken out of freezer & place in refrigerator so it’s defrosted by dinnertime. After this brain detour I completely forget which mystery I am supposed to be focusing on mid-decade two. I yawn again before the start of decade three and try and remind myself which day of the week/mystery I’m supposed to be thinking about only to then daydream about a possible screenplay to write on the beginning of Genesis.   (FYI I’m supposed to be thinking about Christmas on Joyful Mystery #3).  I get back to pondering about Joyful Mystery #3 with Elvis’ “Here Comes Santa Claus” playing in my head.  Yawn again in the middle of Joyful Mystery #4 and begin thinking crystal meth might be the solution to the frequent yawing. Suddenly I am pondering the TV series “Breaking Bad” instead of Jesus’ Presentation in the Temple.  Realize the time and rush to get through Joyful Mystery #5 as fast as possible while thinking about the Dallas Jenkins Chosen version of this mystery/biblical story also while trying to mentally figure out where the nearest Starbucks is to me that isn’t attached to a Target.  

Ultimately, I worry I’m going to Hell because it seems I can’t even pray right.  I should be giving my full 100% concentration to the Lord My God who should be the sole focus of my life.  It’s no wonder when I stopped by after work to pick up a few ingredients my husband needed to cook dinner I picked up a bag of pastel M&M’s.   They’re still in the freezer which should be something, I guess.