Canary in the Coal Mine

Today as I was scrolling through my facebook newsfeed, I was thinking about how many of our problems could be solved if we realized the great value and importance that sex has in a relationship... between a married man and his wife, and how destructive it can be elsewhere.

From one post from a single pregnant woman in her thirties about how she finally feels confident and valuable again, to another young man ranting about how men can't earn sex if a woman's not interested, to the newsfeed infiltration from "feminists" about some occasion of a man mistreating a woman due to something or other. I feel like all of these things and so many more could be solved if we would just learn (or relearn, really) to save sex for marriage.

The current "feminist" agenda seems to be all about pointing fingers. But what is it actually accomplishing? Is the "rape culture" any less prevalent just because now people have named it and can have lofty conversations about it's perils? Are woman being treated any better because now it's "public knowledge" that a woman can dress however she wants and it doesn't mean that she's required to have sex with any given man? (Sorry for all the sarcastic quotations, you get the picture.)

Our consciences are supposed to be our canaries in the coal mines of our lives. Have we just stopped listening for their chirping? Is mainstream media and business just a new white noise that drowns them out? Will our fate (or at least the fate of our morality) be the same as the coal miners, when those canaries stop chirping?

St. Pope John Paul II, pray for us!

Pain in the Neck

So I must have slept on my neck wrong or something because yesterday when I woke up I could not turn my head to the left. It wasn't that bad at first but it got progressively worse throughout the day, culminating with me sitting in a restaurant at dinner with my chin on my collar bone unable to move my head at all, and a drive home from dinner that required many guardian angels.

Anyways, it gives me a perfectly good excuse to stay home and do nothing the things I've been needing to do for weeks today. I was planning on going to 9am Mass and then a Casino in Oklahoma with my mom for Mother's Day (her idea), but seeing as I could barely move at 7:30 when my alarm went off, I had to take a rain check. (She went alone, let's hope those penny slots are paying out as we speak.) I cleaned the kitchen, living room, my bathroom, and am working on laundry now. It's crazy how I moved into this apartment in February and still have hardly anything on the walls. My closet is fully functioning and so is my bathroom, but for some reason I just can't motivate myself to finish my bedroom. My bookshelf and the cute reading chair I found are still in my mom's garage, and I have several frames still sitting on the floor, with the intention of putting together a saint wall.

I suck lately. There are so many things I want to do but I have no motivation for some reason. The only things I actually do are the things I have to do. I used to be so much more fun and put together. Part of it is the impending doom that is summer in Texas. On the bright side... only five months until October? Another part of it is that I'm really good at convincing myself that my excuses are valid, and I'm REALLY good at watching Netflix. Like, Olympic Sport good.

I don't even carry a planner anymore, which for those of you who have met me even once, you know that's outrageous. But I do have a "to-do" list, and I've already checked a few things off of it today, so I better get back to it.

Patron Saint of Motivation, pray for me!

Transcendent

I found myself in Spanish Mass again today. I'm not sure what keeps drawing me back.

I only understand about every third word, and I know about half of the responses, not including the Creed.

I know nothing about the priest, and even less about the congregation. From what I can tell though, the priest is just very good at doing what priests ought to do: preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today's Gospel reading from Luke was about the Road to Emmaus. I LOVE this Gospel passage, and I LOVE Luke's Gospel, particularly chapters 19 to 24. Father was preaching about how the Mass is valid and true whether the people sitting in the pews believe in it. It's always good to hear the Truth.

Another thing I like about the Spanish Mass is when Father says "let us give thanks to the Lord, our God" and we say "es justo y necesario." In English we say "it is right and just," but in Spanish it translates to "it is just and necessary." It makes me think, and I just like it.

There's something so crazy about the fact that I can hear Father's homily, barely pick up the gist of what he's trying to say, but still, somehow, my soul is lifted up and my heart is moved, and I just KNOW that he's saying something really brilliant. I was also noticing how beautiful it is that a priest's vestments serve to separate their person from the things they are doing. When they're wearing them, Jesus is using their lips to say His words and their hands to consecrate His body. Just as the confessional is not a place where one confesses to a priest who brings your sins to God, the communion line is not a line where one goes up to a priest to receive Jesus. Instead, Christ Himself is giving away His own body to His people, and He does it so freely, without reservation, completely in love. Love is real.

For those of you who are interested, I'll recount the recent Colorado excursion in my next post.

SAINT POPE JOHN PAUL II, pray for us!!!