Notre Dame Scandal

The most aggressively pro-death president ever is scheduled to give the commencement speech at Notre Dame University according the the university's website. What's the problem you say? What's the big deal? How is it a scandal?

Here's the big deal: Notre Dame is supposedly a Catholic university. The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is a grave evil and to participate in it, even indirectly is a mortal sin. By having the current President speak is implicit approval. The current President's agendas are in direct opposition to the Church and her teachings about the sanctity of life.

Scandal, according to the catechism is: any sinful word, deed or omission that disposes others to sin, or lessens their respect for God and holy religion. To give scandal is a serious moral sin. It doesn't just mean doing something shocking or outrageous.

Also, to me, it is supremely ironic that it is Notre Dame proposing this. Notre Dame means Our Lady. Our Lady, who said yes to God which could have meant her death by stoning according to jewish law. Our Lady, who carried the Deliverer of our sins.

Please, contact the university at the link below to sign the petition and let them know of the scandal and outrage they are committing.

http://notredamescandal.com/

Falling Off The Wagon

I have not only fallen off the Lenten wagon, I must have rolled down a big hill because I can no longer even see the wagon! I'm not proud of it but I am not feeling guilty, either.

I had had two weeks of constant headaches and nausea. This is well after any caffeine addiction should have worn off. I tried every remedy possible. I can deal with headaches since I used to get migraines several times a month but I cannot, cannot deal with nausea. So, I drank a Coke, purely for medicinal purposes. It worked. I can't explain why. But, I have had others since.

I will get back on the wagon. I know that I missed an opportunity to offer up that suffering but I think that the Lord will know I did try. At least I hope it will count for something.

I hope your lenten promises are going well.

Almost Perfect

My dear husband is almost perfect. He certainly is perfect for me. No, he doesn't say the romantic things that I dreamed my husband would say. Nor does he do overtly romantic things that my dream husband would do. But, he would wear cologne that he thinks smells like bug spray, just because I like it. And he will run to the store, just to get me something I am craving, or an ingredient I am missing, regardless of the weather or what he was in the middle of doing.

The only thing my husband isn't is irish. The poor man is german and polish. German and polish! When I told my Dad, with some fear and trepidation, that my fiance was not irish there was a
L O N G pause after which he said, "Well. I guess that's ok".

For the rest of you who are not fortunate enough to be irish:

May the good saints protect you
And bless you today
And may troubles ignore you
Each step of the way

Good one for Lent

From Mary, Day by Day:

Run to win. Everyone who competes for a prize abstains in every way. .. I chastise my body and train it lest after having preached to others, I myself shall become a castaway. 1 Cor 9:24-27

Reflection: Those who love Mary must silence within themselves the desires of the senses. They must also silence the disordered longings of the passions. St John Eudes

Prayer: O Mary, you well know all the temptations that exist in the world. Help me to curb my evil desires and practice self-discipline, so that I may safeguard my union with your Divine Son.

Tantrum over

I'm over my lenten tantrum and back to my normal outlook, at least for now. Thank you Charlotte and Entropy for the good advice. I appreciate it and any prayers you sent my way.

For me, I think it would be worse to let lent go by without trying to do something. We're supposed to persevere in the face of difficulty and I worry that if I let go I'd really slide far, far away. First it would be not doing anything for lent and then before I know it I wouldn't want to go to Mass. That's at least how bad I was feeling.

So, no Coke still and my husband and I are doing yoga three times a week together. I bought a dvd for beginners. If you cut through all the mystical filler they put in, it is ok. It is basically stretching, breathing, relaxing your body and focusing on different areas of your body all at the same time. The best thing about the dvd is that if we need to quit five minutes into it, who is to know?

I hope you are having a beneficial lenten season!

I. Don't. WANNA!

Somehow I have regressed to being a snotty, rebellious three year old kid who doesn't want to do what is good for her. I've been whining and mentally stamping my foot with each word: I (stamp) Don't (stamp) Wanna! (stomp, stomp, stomp). In my book a stomp is a bigger and more obnoxious sound than a stamp.

I am having serious trouble with lent this year. I feel angry and rebellious. I don't want to give up anything. I've contemplated doing nothing. I have never in my life done nothing for lent. I've rationalized, is there any merit to it if I just go through the motions? I don't want to give up Coke. It is the real thing, you know. But it isn't really. Christ is the Real Thing. Do I really want to face Him and say, "yeah, You weren't worth giving up pop for forty day, nevermind the sacrifices and suffering you endured for me".

While my brain seems to get the point of lent the irrational part has staged a coup and refuses to cooperate. I haven't broken down yet. My poor guardian angel must be working overtime.

Please offer a couple prayers that I get over it.

Shame on YOU, Mr Penn

Dear Mr Penn ( and all the other commie-homo-loving suns of guns),

Do you remember the story The Emperor Has No Clothes? No, I am not talking about Obama; he is the president, not the emperor. The tailor convinces the naked emperor that he is wearing a fabulous outfit. All the courtiers, afraid of offending the emperor, also agree that the outfit is fabulous. They outdo each other in their compliments. The emperor parades around town convinced he is wearing sumptuous garb, when in fact, he is naked. This continues until a little boy persists in saying, "The emperor has no clothes!" The courtiers, the well-education, smug advisors shush the ignorant little boy. They know best! They know and will enlighten others! Yet the boy persists in telling the unpopular truth.

Why do I relate the story, Mr Penn? You are the tailor and the advisors, the homosexual agenda is the emperor and those who continue to say that active homosexuality is morally wrong are the little boy. You expound on tolerance, insist that gays have the 'right' to marry. You are sewing a batch of lies and making what is perverted, normal.

There is no shame in telling the truth. Personally, I'm not worried what my grandchildren will think when they look at me. If they are raised right, they will know right from wrong and what is moral from immoral. I'm more concerned with what the Lord will say to me at my judgement if I don't speak the truth. The shame is yours, Mr Penn, for such lies. I do agree with you on one thing. Everyone should be treated respectfully. Everyone.

Sincerely,

Mairin

PS: I think it was quite shabby of you not to have included your wife in your acceptance speech.

Mary, Day by Day

You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not overcome it. Mt 16:18

Reflection:
Peter was entrusted with the Church, the Mother of human beings, but John was entrusted with Mary, the Mother of God. John loved her like his own mother and was loved by her as her own son. St Peter Damien

Prayer:
O Mary, you are the Mother of the Church as well as the Mother of God. Keep me close to you so that I may be a true child of God and a faithful member of His Holy Church.

~~ From the book Mary, Day by Day

A Small Incomplete List of Things That Annoy Me

1. When people put an 'h' in words like string or strong. It is not pronounced Shtring. It makes you sounds Shtupid!

2. The misuse of borrow and lend. I will borrow something from you and you will lend it to me.

3. The misuse of scent and flavor. Are you going to eat that candle?

4. "No problem" or "Uh-huh" or "yeah" in response to being thanked. The appropriate response is 'you're welcome!'.

5. Public grooming. I do not want to see you floss your teeth, pluck your eyebrows or clip your nails. You need to go home, in your bathroom and do it there. Understandably, if you are at work and the broccoli you ate is now decorating your front teeth, you can floss in the restroom - NOT at your DESK.

6. Tuneless humming. While it might sound good in your head, it is not quite as delightful to the rest of us.

7. Paris Hilton. Why is she famous?
She looks like an afghan dog.

8. White people who try to sound 'homie'. Or dress like a 'homie'. Yo! You look shtupid!

9. Boys who wear their pants so low their undies are on display. When I see this, I want to yank their pants down to their ankles. It is unlikely they would be able to chase me after said yanking.
10. People who hate entire groups of based on color, religion, political belief...

11. Parents who don't clean up after their kids or teach their kids to clean up. Ditto for dog owners who walk their dogs for the express purpose of dog pooping in someone else's yard. As delightful as your dog is, his poop is not my delight. Pick it up or keep it in your own yard.

12. Celebutards who support or respect the president only when they agree with him.

13. The continual ads on Facebook about weight loss, diets, botox, wrinkles..etc. I don't care how old Jennifer Aniston is or how young she looks. We should all have a fleet of chefs, a personal trainers, make up and hair people.

14. People with bumper stickers that implore 'Save the Whales' and demand 'Keep Abortion Legal!'

15. Comedians who use profanity and vulgarity to hide the fact that they are not funny.

16. Men who don't open doors for women. Yes, I know. There are probably tons of women who hate when men open doors, those chivalrous few, but this is my blog, not theirs.

17. Mascara ads that show models with thick, full lashes, failing to mention that said lashes are augmented with falsies.

18. A society which thinks that Jessica Simpson is fat! The girl has an honest to goodness female body. She looks healthy, not emaciated or androgynous. The wardrobe choice, is another topic altogether.

19. That people feel entitled to know every detail about well known people. I think it is shameful and disrespectful that pictures of Rhianna taken after she was assaulted have been published. It is bad enough she was treated that way but to add insult to injury, literally, by publishing those pictures is beyond belief.

20. That the media no longer presents information impartially. They are there to report, not spin or push an agenda.

21. People who claim to be ardent Catholics or any type of Catholic but support things that are clearly in serious defiance of church teaching. Also those who try to pervert or subvert the church. Why don't they just create their own church instead of tearing down the one true Church?

How's this for a non-threatening learning atmosphere?

Student Sues L.A. College Over Right to Give Anti-Gay Marriage Speech
Monday, February 16, 2009
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles college student is suing his school, saying he was deprived of his right to freedom of speech. Jonathan Lopez says a public speaking professor berated him in class for making a speech opposing same-sex marriage. He says the professor wouldn't allow him to finish and called him a "fascist."

Lopez is represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization. In a letter to the group, the dean says she considers the complaint "extremely serious in nature" and has begun a disciplinary investigation.

But the dean also wrote that two students were "deeply offended" by the speech. She quoted one as saying "this student should have to pay some price for preaching hate in the classroom."
Lopez made the speech at Los Angeles City College in November, days after the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.

Apparently this is the College of 'Do As I Say, Not As I Do'. Preaching hate, huh? What is this college teaching other than its own agenda? It is certainly not teaching students to think and speak for themselves. The dean's comments are troubling. I think 'extremely serious in nature' is her response to the fact that the kid dared stand up and speak the truth. Let's be honest, that investigation is going to go no where. The education system has churned out enough blank-minded little robots so that one who hasn't been programmed correctly speaks out they are horrified. This is scary!!! Pretty soon it will be a hate crime to say anything.