This week has been a whirlwind of emotion. Heavy emotion, containing the loss of a Pope and the beginning of Lent. Two things you know will eventually come, but don’t really look forward to. All reminding us that we depend on God for everything, even our peace of mind when the very air seems to be quivering with unease. Of all that I’ve read this week (and I’ve read quite a lot) these thoughts from Elizabeth Scalia keep coming back:
“But on consideration, this almost seems typical of Benedict, particularly if his health is failing. He would have hated a long drawn out affair with pilgrims waiting within the basilica courtyard for his death. If John Paul went out like the sustained note of a grand organ, fading into silence, Benedict simply senses his tiredness and the hour, closes up his piano, and bids us adieu. Ratzinger, in the end, is still Ratzinger: he does his work, kisses it all up to the Holy Spirit and moves on, not particularly concerned about the peripheral yakking of man or media.”
***
My Valentine
***
Speaking of love, I read this post a few weeks ago by Gabrielle over at One Grand Adventure, after a click-fest off of the Austin Catholic New Media site. I was struck by her humor, honesty and trust – a young single woman, looking for love.
“Some days I wonder if I will always be single- and if I will turn out like the dear old maids from Arsenic and Old Lace. I hope that someday I will find a man who can love me for everything that I am not, but I would rather die alone than settle for anything less than the love I already feel. I believe that God loves me for who I am. I believe that God wants me to be happy. I believe that if God wants me to fall in love then I will and if He does not wish it that I will get a dog. I believe that God has a plan and that incessant worry will not hurry any grandchildren for my Mother to spoil. I do not believe that pacing by the phone will hasten my Prince Charming’s arrival. I do believe that if he shows up in white armor on a white steed that I might don my army fatigues and supply the children with paintball guns and orders to fire at will. I believe in lots of things.”
***
Looking for meatless meals that you can really cook without being a gourmet chef? Thank you, Catholic Icing, for this nice list!
Need some awesome Lenten prayer inspiration? Well, here ya go… They’re old and beautiful!
***
More lovey-dovey stuff:
Did you read this post from Deirdre over at Like Mother, Like Daughter?
What a love story! :)
***
I was brought to tears on Ash Wednesday morning when I ready the Pope’s Ash Wednesday Address. In his message, he had this to day about none other than Dorothy Day:
The ability to oppose the ideological blandishments of her time to choose the search for truth and open herself up to the discovery of faith is evidenced by another woman of our time, the American Dorothy Day. In her autobiography, she confesses openly to having given in to the temptation that everything could be solved with politics, adhering to the Marxist proposal: “I wanted to be with the protesters, go to jail, write, influence others and leave my dreams to the world. How much ambition and how much searching for myself in all this!”. The journey towards faith in such a secularized environment was particularly difficult, but Grace acts nonetheless, as she points out: “It is certain that I felt the need to go to church more often, to kneel, to bow my head in prayer. A blind instinct, one might say, because I was not conscious of praying. But I went, I slipped into the atmosphere of prayer … “. God guided her to a conscious adherence to the Church, in a lifetime spent dedicated to the underprivileged.
Who, 8.5 years ago, would have EVER thought that Joseph Ratzinger would be quoting Dorothy Day in his very final days as Pope. It is not an accident, not a little snippet he jotted down just before he sat down in his gilded chair. No. This was intentional. And this is the Church – that the likes of Pope Benedict XVI, once the rule keeper, ‘God’s Rottweiler’, would team up with Dorothy Day, a rebel, a protester, a rule-breaker a Marxist turned Catholic. She is a hero in my eyes, and evidently an example our Holy Father choose to use in this time – an example of ‘coming back’, of struggling with our faith and the world and choosing God. That is why we love him, and that is why her cause is being examined for canonization. My heart swelled with pride for this beautiful Church and our beautiful Pope, who would call to mind her bravery and passion on such a day. Only God can make such a thing.
***
homemade Valetines are the best!
:) from a cute little girl
the inscription: “you are as sweet as a rose your here is as soft as a paetl and your close are as lit as a left”
a painting by my son
As lit as a left?? Awesome.
Thanks for the link to Deirdre’s post! Isn’t she a cutie?
That was just such a great love story!! And honest – revealing the hard times as well as the happy ones. And then the ending!!! So wonderful!!
That Valentine from your daughter! A keeper forever :)
Yes and yes and yes about Dorothy Day! She is a personal hero of mine. One of my favorite books is this one, http://books.google.com/books/about/A_Retreat_With_Oscar_Romero_and_Dorothy.html?id=sEcNAAAACAAJ. Maureen Murray asked me to read it when I started at St. Mary’s. There are so many other books by Dorothy Day that I am longing to read. I am having trouble reading the 3 I’m supposed to be reading concurrently right now though! There is a great movie about her, Entertaining Angels, with Moira Kelly starring in the lead role.
C made that same painting at art class last week- is Jonathan in his class???