— 1 —
What makes a saint. Reading Simcha Fisher’s post on “Bathwater Saints”, thoughts on John Dear parting ways with the Jesuits, and the America Magazine article on Pedro Arrupe has made me ponder what it means to be a saint this week. One of the things that has become clear to me is that the saints practice obedience to God in a really radical way, like Pedro Arrupe accepting his removal from leadership and being obedient to Bl. JPII even if it hurt. In the case of John Dear, the dust hasn’t settled yet though it’s seeming (to my uneducated mind) like his work became an idol for him and his vows of obedience were compromised. Being obedient to God and to people in authority over us is hard (and I feel like a total hypocrite saying what comes next) but it’s what separates us from the world.
— 2 —
#first world problems. I saw this article about a women whose doctor refused to give her birth control on my Twitter feed. My first thought: OMG!!! Sassy magazine is now grown up!!! (Those who read Sassy in the good old days will understand this.) My second thought: maybe you need to find another doctor? I’m sorry you were inconvenienced, princess, but maybe this is for your own good. The Pill can cause blood clots, strokes, abnormal bleeding, nausea and a host of other side effects that a doctor needs to be aware of. Going to a walk-in clinic to get it filled is not a good move.
In all seriousness, I’m kind of amazed at how completely unsympathetic I am to this woman. Then again, I’ve had so many adverse reactions to birth control that I’m of the opinion that if you’re going to be on the Pill, you need to be monitored by a doctor. I also have PCOS (one of conditions that the Pill is usually prescribed to treat) and found that the Pill just masked my symptoms and meant that it took 5 years to be diagnosed (OK… to be fair, I was pregnant during a chunk of that time). The info gleaned from NFP (even with my crappy and erratic charting) has been more useful for treating my PCOS than the Pill ever was.
— 3 —
Consider the message you send. A couple of the mommy bloggers I read are obsessing about their sons’ girlfriends (and of course, they’re dating non-Catholics) and how their son is henpecked. Ummm… ladies? Consider that your son will likely date and marry someone very much like you so if you think your future daughter-in-law is a shrew, you might want to take a look in the mirror. The things we tend to despise in other people are the things we despise in ourselves. (Just sayin’.) And really… be thankful your kid is going to *church* on Sunday. If he’s going with his girlfriend, he’s at least hearing the Gospel (yes, the same one being preached at Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility, the parish you attend) and not drifting away from God.
— 4 —
Seriously y’all, attempt to show some grace. A teacher at a Catholic middle school in Butte, Montana was fired for becoming pregnant out of wedlock. (Story here.) It’s a contractual issue in which the pregnancy violates the stipulation about being faithful to Catholic teaching and she *did* sign that part of the contract so her hands are tied. (This is also Butte which is the hotbed of traditional Catholicism in Montana and it’s in the Diocese of Helena which tends to be a really conservative diocese.)
What I object to: Fr. Jim Martin, S.J. mentioned an article about it on his Facebook page and there are a few people who made really snotty remarks about how maybe the school should hire women who can control themselves. Yeah… y’all are doing a freaking lovely job of representing grace, Jesus, and the Church. How about giving her credit for choosing to keep the baby instead of having an abortion?
— 5 —
A special call for postcards. For those who haven’t heard of it, Postcrossing is a site where you can sign up to send a postcard to a random person internationally; and when that person receives the card, your address will come up so that someone can send one to you. I have an interesting collection of postcards from all over now and I even have an account for Daniel so we can collect them for him for when he gets older.
Anyway, one of the people who runs it is speaking at a conference and is talking about the joy of receiving a postcard in the mail. To sweeten it, she’s trying to collect a bunch of postcards for attendees so they can have THEIR. VERY. OWN. POSTCARD. from around the world. You don’t need to put your address on it but I know that a postcard from wherever you live would be FABULOUS to an attendee. If you’re interested, the details are here.
— 6 —
My special intention. For those praying for me since last week, I still can’t divulge the nature of my special intention but I appreciate all your prayers. If you’d like to know how to pray a bit more specifically, please pray for discernment for us and for the other parties involved. (And yes, Daniel is fine.) Thank you so much!
— 7 —
Orphans. Do you see these darling children?
L-R: Brett and Iris
Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and they were supposed to have met her on the 29th.
For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.
