7 Quick Takes: Beach days, WYD & Tolkien

1.

I finally made it to the beach this week! And it was later in the day so it was nice and cool out, instead of boiling and humid. It was so good and refreshing to just lay there and read a book, the sounds of the waves just washing over me. I plan on doing a lot more of this before summer ends.

2. 

Picked up my Divine Office today, and nothing felt better than the familiar thin sheets of paper, the red letters, the rhythm of psalm-antiphon-psalm-antiphon-psalm-reading. It was like drinking from a cool glass of water after subsisting on nothing for so long. I'm ashamed to say I stopped talking to God for a while, back when I was still working in South Dakota. And it hurt. I felt like God had gone silent on me, so I did too. I've been going to Mass again, and adoration. And now, today, I opened up my book of prayer. One that had sustained me for many long, hard months.

What do you do when you feel spiritually dry? Distant?

3. 

Found this heartwarming little story amid all the World Youth Day Rio preparations. Two small stories in this wide world; simple faith.

 

4.

Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament… There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth...The only cure for sagging or fainting faith is Communion.

Who doesn't love a little J.R.R. Tolkien? I found this quote at just the right time, just when I needed it.

5.

It's been a rough few weeks, a rough news cycle, a rough economy, just rough. We've seen, played across our screens, and our Twitter feeds, some really dark places in the human heart. But I think we, as Christians, need to be the ones to keep hoping, keep praying, keep believing that God is alive and working and healing.

6.

And if I do speak, I still want it to be holy and broken. I want to find this pain and minster out of it because it’s through His own broken body we find our healing.

This. This beautiful post from over at Deeper Story about being and knowing God in the silent places and the broken places.

7.
So my quick takes this week were kind of a downer, I know, but this is what I felt these things needed to be said. Let me know what you think about anything I've mentioned above and if there's anything you want me to pray for.

This week, though, you should really be catching any World Youth Day coverage you can. Here are some places I like to follow along at:

For the telly - EWTN, CatholicTV
For the internet - SaltandLightTV, Magis,
For the Twitter - WYD official, The Jesuit Post guys, USCCB

WYD Cross & Icon on Sugarloaf Mtn, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

the book of mercy

image from here

We were at Friendly's. Home from college, old high school buddies. Maybe we were a little too loud, a little too boisterous. The waitress had been rude the whole meal, was slow with the orders and the water, though the place was empty. When it came time to pay we thought to shortchange her on the tip but one of my friends put in extra, more than what was even normal. When asked why she said, "Maybe the waitress was having a bad day."

Mercy--

Old man and his dog, fresh from the groomer's, weathered face, flannel and Levis: farm uniform. At the end of the leash he's holding is a little tan and white dog with a bow on its neck, wagging his little tail furiously. The man says its name is Larry. He bought Larry from the local rescue after his last dog died. It was his first rescue. Larry had been abused in his old life, bullets still lodged under his skin, but you can't see them now, only the bow on his collar and the way his tongue hangs out the side of his mouth when you pet him.

Mercy--

High school friend, known him since middle school, all of us going through all the awkward and angsty teen years together, is killed in Afghanistan. Everyone in three towns shows up to line the streets from the local base where his family received his body and back here, keep him company on the last drive home. At his wake and funeral the place is packed and there are so many people standing, being there, they had to close off the roads.

Miles and miles of mercy--

an ode to the brothers ratzinger

As young women, as young people, as young Catholics, starting our lives in this New Millenium we are so often bombarded with this culture's idea of how we should live our lives.

We're told that wealth, power, and living for ourselves will make us happy. We're told that if we look like and act like Kim Kardashian we will have everything we need to be fulfilled. We're told that if we contracept ourselves to death and abort anything that stands in our way we will be the enlightened, self-actualized successful women of the 21st-century Elizabeth Gilbert always thought we could be. 

But you only need to watch an episode of Mad Men, 16 & Pregnant, Jersey Shore to see that these are ALL. LIES. If you let it, this world will take all the individuality, the love, the grace that God has given you and sterilize it right out. 

Which is why I'm so thankful that Christ has given us so many holy examples and friends in the saints. What's more, He's given us the great leadership and example of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.

Jesus, take the wheel.

And, frankly, I think Papa Benedetto sometimes gets kind of a bum rap. So this is just a brief post to let him know (since he is obviously one of my most devoted readers!) how much I appreciate, love, and pray for him.

Watching him since he was first elected Holy Father, I have seen a man who has completely and utterly poured himself out for the Lord and His people. A man who has utterly put aside his own desires for the will of the father. A man who would much rather be hanging out in Bavaria eating apple strudel (seriously - it's in the book) but has given himself over to be used as a "little pencil" in the hand of God. Can you think of any better lesson for our time? 

Georg, his brother, who is quite the success in his own right, recently wrote a book that is really an autobiography, memoir, and interview about his life with his brother, the pope. I've just started reading it but so far it's an extremely fascinating inside look at not only the exterior circumstances of their lives, but also their interior lives.

The power of a simple life, lived well and rightly for the Lord, cannot be denied. 

Our Lady of Altotting, pray for us