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Lent and Joe Biden

February 17, 2010 by Vanessa Leave a Comment

Today I was reminded that Lent is a time not just to make a sacrifice
for God but to make a meaningful sacrifice.  We should be transformed
in the next 40 days into a more perfect person.  Into a person who is
more like Christ.  Giving up chocolate is a difficult thing but how
does that prepare you for Easter?  I do believe that giving something
up can prepare you for Easter but it needs to be done very
intentionally.  Maybe everytime you reach for a Twix and remember you
can’t have it, you pray for someone you don’t particularly like.  After
40 days of this something will definitely have changed in you.  Of
course you don’t just have to give up something.  Fr. Jaime put it that
we need to do something that we find joy in and is life-giving.  Kraft
and I are still trying to decide what to do as a family during Lent but
in general we would like to be more intentional with our time.  Less
TV.  More prayer.  Less fast food.  More cooking.  Less criticism.  More confession.  Less negativity.  More love.

WASHINGTON - FEBRUARY 25:  U.S. Vice President...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Back
when I was at Notre Dame, I was so spoiled.  I remember being so
excited for Lent every year.  At Notre Dame it is so easy to really put
a lot of time into your spiritual life.  There’s a bajillion
Masses everyday.  Prayer services all the time.  A really great
community.  Beautiful prayer spaces.

I wish I was spiritually in a
place where I was excited for Lent again.  Instead, I had forgotten
today was Ash Wednesday until I was flipping through the channels on TV
and saw Joe Biden with ashes on his head.  I know I need to work on my
spiritual life when Joe Biden is what gets me thinking about Lent.
Well, that’s what Lent is for.  Improvement.  Spiritual improvement.
Soul boot camp.

Just a quick side story.  Possibly my favorite story
about my mom.  She has had bangs for as long as I can remember.
Bangs are pretty tricky for someone putting ashes on your forehead if
you don’t get them out of the way.  She never ran into any problems
with this until we moved to The Woodlands.  Fr. Domec is a no-nonsense
kind of guy so he’s not about to go moving people’s bangs out of
the way to get to their forehead.  So when my mom was up to get ashes,
he just put the cross on her nose.  My mom was mortified but she
couldn’t do anything about it.  She just had to walk around the rest of
the day with a smudgy cross on her nose.  Oh man, God sure does have a
sense of humor.  Rest assured every year after that my mom has pinned
back her bangs.

Happy Lent, friends.  May it be a fruitful one.

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Filed Under: Reflections, The Church

Ash Wednesday

February 17, 2010 by Vanessa Leave a Comment

Ash Wednesday

Image via Wikipedia

The Squeaker received her very first ashes today.  She was so happy afterward smiling at everyone and laughing.  It was strange that I felt more emotion upon seeing her today than I did at her baptism.  I think it’s because there were so many logistics to worry about with the baptism and being the center of attention is always difficult. 

But today was different.  No one was watching us.  We weren’t up in front of everybody.  We were able to just be a family in the sea of sinners.  It was great.  I was so proud of O getting ashes.  I’m not sure why I felt such joy and pride when I saw her with a smudge on her forehead.  It’s just so beautiful that she is part of the Mystical Body of Christ.  Because she is a sinner she can also be redeemed.  Oh, our little sinner. 

While I was not as present to the Sacrament of her Baptism as I should have been, what I always love about baptisms and what always makes me cry whenever I attend them is the potential that the person carries for being marked by Christ.  That baptized person could do so much to build the Kingdom.  They could be the next Pope, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day.  They could be a saint.  Maybe that’s what struck me about O tonight.  She is among us sinners now but she has such potential in her lifetime to recognize this sinfulness and do all she can for the glory of God.  She can work to beat hell just like the rest of us. 

May she become great, but great is God’s eyes and not necessarily great in society’s eyes.

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Filed Under: Reflections, The Church

A “Natural” Lifestyle

February 17, 2010 by Vanessa Leave a Comment

I am reminded so often how anti-children our society is.  It makes me really sad.  I could really write at length about this but I am going to focus this entry on what happened at yoga the other day. 

I have really come to appreciate yoga in my life.  I even really appreciate all the advice and home remedies I get talking to yoga moms.  Most of these moms are really into this “natural” style of living.  Making sure they feed their family all organic food.  Having natural births.  So on and so forth.  But where this “natural” stuff stops is when it comes to conceiving a child.  One of my prenatal yoga teachers (who was also pregnant at the time) told us repeatedly in class and still mentions it in postnatal classes how she is for sure done having babies.  On Tuesday she brought it up again.  Another person in class was saying how she wanted to have another baby and she responded with, “Why would you want to do that?  I am definitely not having anymore kids.  My husband got fixed.” 

How in the world is having your husband “fixed” a natural thing to do???  This is coming from a group of ladies that believe you should squirt breastmilk in your baby’s eye if they have pink eye instead of getting an antibiotic.  In using vinegar water instead of hydrocortisone cream to clear up a rash.  In calling contractions, urges because contractions is too negative of a word.  (Not that I think that any of this is unreasonable.  I would actually do all of these things.)  So where does the disconnect happen between this belief that we should live as naturally as possible and then doing unnatural things to not have a baby.  It doesn’t make sense.  The most natural thing in the world is to get married and have babies.  If you are married you are supposed to have babies.  Not on your timetable but God’s timetable. 

I was recently talking about this with another person and they made a good point.  “We have forgotten that we are subjects of God.”  We forget that God is the one in charge, not us.  God sends us babies when God wants to and if we choose to get married, we have to accept this.  Marriage is inherently tied to being open to new life. Not just when it is convenient.  Not just when it is good for our career.  Not just when we think we can afford it.  Not just when it fits into the “plan”.  But always.  I know it is hard to give up this control and leave it in God’s hands.  Really hard and inconvenient sometimes but it’s how God intended.  

It’s natural.

Filed Under: NFP, The Church

I had forgotten

February 15, 2010 by Vanessa Leave a Comment

Last Saturday during the homily Fr. Mike told us that St. Ignatius is getting serious about proactively encouraging vocations to the religious life.  Because of this, the vocations committee decided it would be a good idea to play the “Fishers of Men” video from the USCCB at Mass.

[Side Rant: Now I usually really hate it when priests do stuff like this during Mass.  Call me traditional but I just think a homily should be a priest talking to his congregation and helping illuminate the Word through his own words.  I’ve seen technology used in homilies before, like sound clips, videos, and powerpoints.  Most have been distracting and usually take a stretch to relate back to the readings.  I believe that there is definitely a need for creativity in homilies to reach all the people that go to church but creativity does not mean gimmicky which is what I think happens sometimes.]

All of this aside, this video is absolutely fantastic.  I showed it at the school retreats we had last year.  I think this is creatively reaching youth and showing them how amazing a call to the priesthood actually is.  So many people think that being a priest or brother or sister is a boring but this video really shows that it is anything but.

As I was sitting in this pew watching this, something that one of the priests said struck me.  “I get to live everyday in complete and total service to God.”  I remember I used to think this all the time when I worked at the Houston Catholic Worker house.  The work that is done there is just so obviously good and righteous and God’s work.  So I understand what this priest meantin the video.

What struck me though was that I had not told myself this in a long time.  It has been awhile since I have laid down to sleep at night and thought to myself that my day was in complete and total service to God.  I had forgotten that, no matter what I do in life, my work should be work for God.  This is what we are all called to regardless of our vocation.  My vocation is to be a mother and wife.  Although my days are now more “simple” when compared to my Catholic Worker days or my teaching days, my work should still be dedicated to working for God.  Or how Fr. Bill Wack likes to sign his emails: Working to beat hell.  Sure working in a clinic serving undocumented people is service to God but I need to see how playing airplane with the Squeaker as equally service to God.

So, as Lent is quickly sneaking up on us, one thing I am going to focus on is my vocation and how I can “beat hell” by loving my daughter and supporting my husband.

Filed Under: Reflections, The Church

Olympics

February 15, 2010 by Vanessa Leave a Comment

Cropped transparent version of :Image:Olympic ...

Image via Wikipedia

I love the Olympics.  Love it.  I didn’t get to watch the whole opening ceremony but I was able to watch the beginning and the parade of nations.  I’m never too excited to watch the cultural part of the ceremony but I was very impressed with Vancouver’s.  It was pretty amazing that they gave their aboriginal peoples such a huge spotlight.  It was beautiful to see each tribe honored individually and their representatives given so much time on stage.  I just can’t ever imagine the United States doing the same.  I don’t have any idea how Canada has treated their native peoples but the way the Native Americans have been treated in this country has been and is still appalling.  Maybe one day, even despite the awful history, our nation will sufficiently have made it right and will be in a place where they can justly and without guilt give tribute to the native peoples of our land and showcase this to the world.

Ok, onto fluffier stuff.  My favorite part of the opening ceremony is that I love, love, love seeing what outfits the athletes are wearing as they come in.  I know, I am ridiculous but it’s true.  It’s so interesting what athletic garb each nation chooses to showcase to the world. 

One of the commentators mentioned how all the athletes stand lined up in the parking lot as the ceremony gets started waiting for their country to be called.  What a funny mental image.  The world’s athletic prowess all waiting in alphabetical order on the asphalt outside like a high school graduation practice.  I especially had to laugh when the Bermudan athletes walked in wearing blazers, ties, button-up shirts and Bermuda shorts.  They must have been cold in that parking lot.  Thank God they are in the Bs. 

Fast forward to actual competition.  I really love clothing design and what it says about the person wearing it.  As I was watching the snowboarding competition (which I really love) I was totally taken aback when the US competitors were wearing jeans.  Not just jeans but jeans with that fake faded and torn look.  What?  Can you really compete at the Olympic level in fake-torn-and-faded jeans?  Then to put this even more over the top, as I looked at the pants more closely, I realized they were actually just ski pants printed with the fake-torn-and -faded-denim look.  Holy cow.  Snowboarders.  What badasses. <<cough*sarcasm*cough>>

Another thing I love about the Olympics is how different it is from professional American sports like football or basketball.  These athletes are not rich.  (Well, most aren’t)  They just love the game.  And I love hearing all the personal side stories.  One figure skater who is married and has a 5 month old is at the Olympics despite his wife being laid off from two jobs and them barely being able to make end’s meet.  Then there is Chinese couple that figure skated as partners for many, many years until one day he asked her to marry him.  They are competing right now as the oldest couple in figure skating.  Ancient compared to all the teens competing with them and they are really rocking it. I live for Bob Costas and his human interest stories.

Oh, Olympics, how I love thee.

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Filed Under: Fluff

Austin Half Marathon

February 14, 2010 by Vanessa Leave a Comment

Today was the Austin Half and Full Marathon.  Hung and Kraft ran the half marathon today.  Hung had been training and did a great job, especially since this was his first official running competition.  My husband, on the other hand, decided to not train for this.  At all.  In fact, the last time he ran was over Thanksgiving weekend and it was a 15 minute jog from his haircut to the Farmer’s Market.  Now, I will readily admit that Kraft has much more endurance than I do.  I think we can attribute his endurance to his steadfast stubbornness. 

We ran the marathon in 2008.  I don’t talk about it much because we really sucked at it and it was probably one of the dumbest things we’ve done.  But we did finish it at the amazingly slow time of 6hrs 15mins.  Anywho, we ran so much for that I figured that even though neither of us have seriously run in a couple years we could still make a decent showing if we were to run seriously again.  Wow, was I wrong, at least about me.  On Saturday Hung and Kraft took Olivia to the race expo to pick up their packets and I went  for a run around Town Lake.  I thought that running a marathon means you’re a runner for the rest of your life.  Nope.  I couldn’t run more than 30 seconds at a time.  I wuffled (walked/shuffled) 1 and 1/2 laps around the S 1st – Pfluger bridge loop.  Man, I suck at running all over again.  I was pretty depressed by this and now extremely worried about Kraft who would have to run 13 of those laps today.  If I couldn’t even muster up the ability to run half a mile, how the heck was he going to do 13.1?  Well, he did and in pretty good time.  He finished the half marathon in less that 2hrs 50mins.  Well, color me impressed.  And the finisher shirts were awesome. 

Race Name: LOVE AUSTIN.
Training shirts: GONNA RUN AUSTIN.
Race shirts: RUN AUSTIN.
Finisher shirts: RAN AUSTIN.

Very witty.  Congrats to all the runners today.

Filed Under: Family, Mi Vida

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