Good Friday

Today, I thought it would be appropriate to re-post something that I wrote back in November: "Blood Donation."

May your day be filled with grace, as we accompany Christ to Calvary.

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This blog soon to be found at setapartblog.blogspot.com

Pray for Priests!

Why yes, I am turning into a little Pope Francis nerd! I'm not ashamed. I just read his Chrism Mass homily, and it is like BAM (and why yes, I do write like I talk)! Go read it... just do it! You won't be disappointed.

Actually, you'll probably be moved and stirred with a desire to pray for our priests, that they might be strengthened with holiness and love for the people they shepherd.

I've worked in various church/chapel offices for the past eight years or so, and so I've been privileged to get a more "behind-the-scenes" view of our priests than many people do. I am more and more convicted, every single day, that the holiness of the Church very much depends on the holiness of our priests. Is the laity called to evangelize? ABSOLUTELY! Is the laity called to holiness? OF COURSE! We are all meant to be great, great saints! But Christ has given us our shepherds for a reason. I am coming to see, more and more every day, the enormous role that the spiritual leadership of our priests plays in the overall zeal and holiness of a parish. I am also understanding, more and more, the intense responsibilities that they carry. Being in charge of souls (and many administrative duties as well), is NOT by any means an easy burden! It is a labor of love and grace, yes. But it is still quite a labor.

Therefore... dear brothers and sisters, we need to support, love, and above all, pray and sacrifice for our priests! Stop complaining that you didn't like Fr. So-and-So's homily - when was the last time you prayed for him, or affirmed him, or had him over for dinner, or even said hi to him after Mass? I am guilty of this as well (behind-the-scenes, you always see more of a person's faults than you might otherwise, and same goes for our priests. Luckily, you often also see more of a person's strengths, love, gifts and hard work!). Fr. So-and-So will be responsible to Christ for how he fulfilled his vocation. However - and here's the kicker - so will we! Are we going to be loving, obedient, spiritually mature children of our fathers? Or are we going to be the rebellious little kids who throw temper tantrums and yell "I hate you!" whenever things don't go our way?

(There is a place for not going along with whatever Fr. So-and-So says, by the way, whenever it's contrary to Church teaching, filled with liturgical abuses, etc. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about this - and that is a topic for another day.)

Something that a guest speaker said to my youth ministry class in college has always stuck with me: "Don't shoot your shepherd." Over this Triduum, let's do the opposite - let's lift up our priests in prayer, sacrifice, and lots of love! Let's lift our shepherds up to the Shepherd.

Happy Holy Thursday! I'm praying that we can all enter into the mysteries of our salvation in a profound way this weekend, so that we all become more in love with and united to Christ than ever.

P.S. Just a reminder... in a few days, this blog will be found at setapartblog.blogspot.com. Be ready!

Pope Francis-ness + New Blog Name!

First off, Pope Francis had his first general Wednesday audience today! You need to read it (I can also recommend his Palm Sunday homily)!

Secondly, the time has come: I hath decided on the new blog name! It's quite simple: Set Apart. I think there will be a lot to unpack there... and all in good time, my friends! I'll be telling you more soon.

So, this blog will soon be located at setapartblog.blogspot.com (now, be nice and no one steal the url before I make the switch)! It will probably happen either this Saturday or Tuesday, depending on how much time I have to work on it. I'll keep you updated!

And now... this:

And this:

Courtesy of Catholic Memes

Change: It's Coming.

It's time to get into the Holy Week mood!

And by that I mean, I'm going to kill this blog... and then bring it back to life.

I'm going to baptize it.

It is going to die to itself, and then rise to new life.

First, crucifixion.

Death.

But then... rebirth.

Renewal.

Resurrection.

Bam.

Okay, it's not really that dramatic.

Athough these brief, one-line sentences are meant to give it that effect.

Basically, I've been mulling over the idea of making some changes to this blog... like, for instance, the name of it. This is probably provoking a whole spectrum of emotional reactions from you (all six of you!), from "OH MY GOODNESS, NOOOOOOOOO" to "I hated the name anyway!" and everything in-between (such as "eh, whatever, it's cool"). In any case, I'm going for something easier to pronounce, easier to remember, easier to spell, and more reflective of my writings. When I began this blog, it was an exciting little experiment. But experiments change and grow and develop over time; blogs are living, breathing organisms that... okay, I'm done with the biology analogy. You get the point. At any rate, the temperaments thing started out fun, but I didn't find that I was able to focus my blog around it... nor did I ever completely intend to. Although the current name still captures my own personality well, the time has come to say farewell. DPP, a little piece of you will live on in our hearts (until we forget that you existed. Sniff sniff).

I'm open to suggestions, although I do have some ideas! I have no prizes to offer you... just a little piece of the interwebs on which you will have made your mark. :)

I know, I know, the underlying question: but what about my vast readership? How will you know where to find me, if I change the name (and hence, the web address as well)? I've thought about this too, and the answer is stunningly simple: I will tell you! Once I figure it out (and make sure that the domain name is available), I'll give you a couple days of warning. This will give you time to say your goodbyes, wipe away your tears, tell your friends, ready your Google Reader, etc. When I make THE SWITCH, you will know it's coming. I'm thinking maybe right before or after Easter? Going liturgical is always a win. So anyway, this post is your official pre-warning warning!

Okay, 'nuff of this for now! Enjoy your weekend, people. I've got some important reading and movie watching to do...

Exhibit A: a book on Catholic culture. Exhibit B: a movie that is full of Catholic culture.

 

Saints I Love...

You don't need me to tell you: it's St. Patrick's Day! Although I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I want to teach my teens about him tonight, I hope you're celebrating - in a happy, holy way, that is! St. Patrick was a great evangelist, so let's beg his intercession today. Seriously, if you don't know much about him, please look him up! If you can get captured by pirates as a teenager, escape, then come back later and convert the nation, all through the power of the Holy Spirit... that's a pretty big deal (and that's just the outline)!

I don't think I really need to explain myself here:

I'm going to steal a line here from Brian Regan, my favorite comedian: "I don't think we're honoring this man properly." But, I have hope that many of you will! So go out and have a fun night... just make sure that you become more of the person you were created to be, not less. That's true fun anyway, right? Oh, and if by God's grace you end up having a super awesome conversation about the faith at a party tonight, I want to hear about it! One of the fabulous things about being Catholic is that you're allowed to evangelize over a beer, if you want (if you're at least 21, of course, and in moderation). Get on out there and make St. Patrick proud!

Second, you may have noticed that I simply cannot stop talking about St. Therese! I wasn't going to... but then I ran across this quote... and then this picture with the quote... and so I just have to share (I'm sure St. Patrick doesn't mind):

Isn't her face just so radiant??

Anyway... let's give thanks for our fabulous fellow Christian friends who run toward heaven with us! And for those who cheer us on from heavenly glory: St. Patrick and St. Therese, pray for us!

An Open Letter to Families

To cool families everywhere:

Thank you! First off, thank you for being awesome. I know you may not always feel awesome, like when your kids are going nuts in public places and you think everyone hates you. But I would like to let you know that, while I can't speak for everyone, most of us do not hate you at all! Personally, I love you. You are fabulous!

I like families! I like seeing you at Mass, and at Wal-Mart, and at the library, and when I'm walking down the street on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Thank you for being a witness to the fact that children are really great! Thank you for having your kids, for loving your kids, for raising your kids. Society doesn't really appreciate you, I know. But for what it's worth, I do! And I know lots of other people who appreciate you, too. I know we don't say it enough.

After spending four years at a wonderful college, almost exclusively with people my own age, I came to an important conclusion: that's not real life! As fun as it was, I wouldn't actually want it to last forever. My life would be impoverished if I never got to hang out with people both older than me and younger than me: with 2-year-olds, 88-year-olds, and everyone in between (and older, and younger)! The family is where all of these people are most likely to collide - and I love it! I want in.

As a single 20-something living on my own, away from my own family, I need you. You might assume that my life is exciting; that since I'm young and unattached, I am having much more fun without you. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Actually, one of the coolest things I possibly could be doing is to hang out with you. Where's all the action at? Not at my apartment... when I walk into a room, it's just as I left it (and before you get the wrong idea, it's neither clean nor organized). It takes a long time for my fridge to go from full to empty. Unless I turn on some music, it's quiet. These are all probably really exciting concepts to you... but to me, your home is the one teeming and overflowing with life! Whether it's babies crying or a toddler spilling cheerios on the floor or grade school kids practicing the piano or middle school kids agonizing over pre-algebra homework, there's bound to be something going on!

Here's the thing, though: I don't want to intrude on your private sphere. I know that you're busy, and things are crazy, and that you're probably often sleep-deprived. While I'll say hi to you and have a friendly chat when I see you, I'm not going to want to impose or be a nuisance. I know you've got a lot going on. So if you're okay with others joining in on your family life from time to time, I'm going venture a guess that most of us are probably going to need an invitation. I'll just lay it all on the line right now: I don't mind if your house is messy. If your baby spits up on me, that's life... I have this nifty little contraption at my place called a washing machine, so bring it on. If your kids aren't perfectly behaved, it's okay (what would that even mean, anyway?!). If your high schooler has some 'tude from time to time, I won't judge you or think you've failed as a parent. Really, I just think you're cool and I want to hang out with you - whether that means playing with your kids while you do laundry, coming over for dinner, or going along to the park with you. (This letter was inspired by a great family I know that often sits with me at Mass, and invited me along to the movies with them today.)

Dear families: you inspire me, and every time I see you, you give me a chance to encounter something much more real than what I can find just sitting here in my living room. Thank you for being wonderful and bringing me so much joy! My life is certainly better and more full because of you.

In love and gratitude, and on behalf of all those who feel the same way,
Katie

Little (and Loving it)

So... super excited about this!

#understatement

We have a Papa! I feel like I can just be a little girl again, because he's going to take care of me. Yay! I'm especially excited to start soaking up everything that he tells us (probably more intentionally than I ever did with Benedict. I feel like I'm in an endless game of catch-up with all the riches that he gave the Church... but in a good way!). 

Today, I got to pondering all of this awesome Pope-ness, and a couple of things dawned on me. So often, I can only see my mistakes, my failures, my weaknesses, my sins. While it's not easy for anyone, I think there can be an extra level of torment present when you're involved in a ministry. Not only do I do things to screw up my own life, and those of my family and friends; I also am potentially mis-directing and failing to reach an entire population (large or small) who are desperately in need of Jesus.

Oy.

But before you start wallowing along with me, here is the beautiful, joyful reality of the matter: we are too little to mess up God's plans! A good friend of mine was visiting over the weekend, and we had a super blessed conversation about this (one of those fabulous, God-is-definitely-speaking-to-me-through-you conversations, if you know what I mean). The bottom line is that yes, I screw things up. But God can handle that! I'm absurd, and putting waaaayyyy too much importance on myself, if I think that I can singlehandedly wreck the plans of the Alpha and the Omega. Therefore, if I don't use the exact perfect analogy in a teaching, young people can still love Jesus! If I leave a room too messy and someone is (justifiably) unhappy with me, they aren't going to leave the Church. If I talk too fast and don't make sense 100% of the time, the entire volunteer team is not going to quit on me. And even when my sins abound, his grace abounds all the more (see Romans 5:20).

I just have to smile when I realize how little I am. I really shouldn't worry so much!

I'm learning from the best!

I'm not trying to justify my dumb mistakes, poor decisions, or the times I give in to temptation. It's all stuff I need to work on - and areas where I need to let the Holy Spirit work on me. I also do think that we can drive people from Christ, if we are not reflecting him, particularly those of us who take on certain roles in the Church (I seem to recall a Scripture verse about a millstone being tied around my neck??). The clergy abuse scandals, unfortunately, are the first thing that come to the minds of some people when they hear the words "Catholic Church." I get that.

However... if God calls you to something, he knows what he's about. He knows you - sins, failings, and all! And he already had that built into the plan. Not because he wants us to screw up, but because he's bigger than that. Just take some of those not-so-holy popes from our history: even though God wanted them to be holy and awesome, of course, he was still able to protect the Church and keep us rooted in the truth when they flopped. Even when the captains were corrupt, they didn't sink the ship!

So while we're talking about all this, we should definitely pray for Pope Francis. I get freaked out by the responsibility of being a youth minister in a small parish; but it kinda puts it all in perspective, when I realize that I'm not in charge of the universal Church, you know? But on the bright side, even Blessed Pope John XXIII used to tell Jesus at night, "It's your Church, Lord... I'm going to bed!" Pope Francis is a child of God too, with a fabulous heavenly Father to watch over him and take care of him. He's also allowed to be little!

So whether it's your job, your ministry, your relationships, etc., do the best you can on the human end of things. Don't make excuses, don't slack - put in a full day's work. But then entrust it to our heavenly Papa, whose grace will do the rest. Be at ease! We are simply not big enough to screw up everything and everyone, permanently (we do think in those extremes sometimes, don't we?). Let's not give ourselves so much credit! Jesus can handle it.

O blood and water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You.

My daughter, why are you giving in to thoughts of fear? I answered, "O Lord, You know why." And He said, Why? "This work frightens me. You know I am incapable of carrying it out..."


Do not fear; I will not leave you alone. Do whatever you can in this matter; I will accomplish everything that is lacking in you. You know what is within your power to do; do that. The Lord looked on me with great kindness; I thought I would die for joy under that gaze.

-excerpted from the Diary of St. Faustina

(paragraph 881)