Celebrating the Christmas Season

How are you celebrating Christmas?

Notice: I asked this question in the present tense. "But it's five days after Christmas!" I hear you say.
My question is valid.

How are you celebrating Christmas?

Now that I'm an adult, I'm still learning about how to celebrate Christmas. This year, one realization really came home to me: we celebrate a Christmas season. Advent and Christmas Day are extremely important, of course, but as a dear blogger friend of mine has pointed out, there are 16 days of the season following the big day.

16 days. That's over two weeks, and we are supposed to be celebrating during that time.

At least, I think we are.

It's a little hard to tell nowadays when Christmas merchandise goes on sale at 80% discounts the day after. Christmas music that has been playing for over a month on the radio disappears as soon as December 26 begins. Lights come off of houses before the year is out.

The party is over, the secular world says. Let's look at New Year's Eve now.

EXCUSE ME.

I'm trying to enjoy a fortnight of liturgical joy, and you want me to cut that short? No.

Society has it all wrong. Everyone seems to think that once the big day comes and goes, it's over. Just like that. If one were to turn this situation into a novel, everyone would hate the ending. There's build-up...anticipation...a climax...and...that's it. No denouement. No explanation of have things have turned out after the excitement is over. No bittersweet parting to journey across the sea with the elves. Nothing.

It makes sense that we should have a fitting ending for our preparation. If a person has prepared for Jesus' birth for four weeks, it's a bit of a letdown to have things end with Christmas Day.

I mean, Jesus is born! We have (hopefully) worked hard to prepare our hearts for His Coming, and He has arrived! Isn't that exciting?

I think it is. In fact, I think we should all take a page out of the books of the Redwall series and celebrate Christmas in a big way. At the end of every Redwall book, the heroes celebrate their victory with a feast. More often than not, the feast lasts three days. Can you imagine three days of eating? I'm not advocating for gluttony, but I think the Redwallers had the right idea. Victory of good over evil is a big deal and worth celebrating for multiple days.

Jesus' birth was also important to the salvation and redemption of the world. We should still be celebrating.

I don't know what the best way is to continue the celebration. Eating special treats is good, but easy to over-indulge in. Maybe some extra prayers, especially of thanksgiving, would be fitting.

I apologize for the rambling post, but I hope you have found something of worth in it.

What Are We Waiting For?

The tagline of Advent is "wait and hope." But why? Human beings are experts at waiting and hoping. Waiting and hoping for that new job, a team win, a positive outcome for Uncle Jeff's surgery, or that God will soon find you a spouse. There are an abundance of things we wait and hope for. So what does it mean during Advent?

The answer--like many things in the Church--is simultaneously simple and difficult. We are waiting and hoping for Christ to be reborn in our hearts at Christmas; that's the simple part. But Advent is more than just preparing for Christ to come into our hearts; we must prepare our hearts for him.

The King cannot enter a place unless it has been swept clean and the occupants welcome him with open arms. Just as Mary was made immaculate to receive the King, so must our hearts be scoured in anticipation of his arrival. But which products to use for this spiritual scrubbing?

During Advent, we recall the humility with which Christ entered the world, the faith with which the shepherds and wise men accepted the Good News, the love God showed the world in bestowing upon it his only son, and the hope for Salvation the Christ Child brought with him. The practice of these virtues--humility, faith, hope, and love--which are products of sanctifying grace, are what we use to cleanse our souls and ready our dwelling for Christ. With these, we remove the dirt, we light a lamp in the window, and we dim the noise which surrounds us so that we can hear Jesus say, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me" (Rev 3:20).

Literary Thank You's 2016: Me, Myself, and Bob by Phil Vischer

'Tis the season for gratitude. We here at FONAM are perpetually grateful for good reading material and are never shy of expressing our undying devotion to the greats like Jane Austen, JRR Tolkien, and Shakespeare.

 However, perhaps at times it is good to give our vociferous love of our standard favorites a rest and identify some of our more immediate reasons for thanks. With that in mind, I give you a book for which I am particularly grateful this year.

Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer

I never found out why it was called "Me, Myself, and Bob". I'm a little sad.

I will not lie to you. I’ve always been a bit obsessed with Veggie Tales. When asked in 2^nd grade to make a presentation about where I would like to move to if I could, I said Lombard, IL because that was where Big Idea, Veggie Tales’ production company, was located. To this day, my go to cleaning playlist is Silly Songs. I may even have a slight crush on Larry-Boy.

I. Am. That. Hero!

Me, Myself, and Bob was written by Phil Vischer, the co-founder of Big Idea and co-creator of Bob and Larry. It is the tale of an introvert’s struggles in the business world and the rise and downfall of the company that produced what is, in my opinion, one of if not the greatest piece of Christian media in recent times.

From the beginning of this book, I was shocked to discover how deeply I related to Vischer’s struggles, passions, and insecurities. His interest in creative storytelling as a teaching tool, his desire to blaze a trail for wholesome cultural content, and his determination to use both to evangelize are all eerily familiar to me. (In my job as a museum educator, I use artifacts and the art of interpretation to tell stories which equip people to find God in the beauty of the world.)

In his quest to use his creative gifts to evangelize, Vischer was swept up in wild success which led to soul crushing business failure as his company Big Idea went bankrupt in 2003. While this story arc was interesting, horrifying, and heartbreaking, the spiritual lessons drawn out by Vischer were even more captivating.

Vischer relates that after Big Idea failed he felt a deep sense of spiritual loss. After a period of numbness, he turned to prayer and spiritual reading to help reorient his life towards God. In this search he found that he had taken the success of Veggie Tales as a sign of God’s approval and, for 10 years, pushed himself to become the Walt Disney of Christian media. However, he made himself so busy with this mission he had assigned himself that never stopped to ask God if it was what He wanted. Looking back on the whole affair, he wrote:

“I started trusting God more and my dreams less. I realized that I wasn’t the sum of my achievements. I realized God had let my dream die, not because he didn’t love me, but rather because he loved me so much—because I was actually more important to him than any “good work” I could possibly accomplish. I had died, it seemed, and then come back to life. Or, perhaps, come to life for the very first time.”

Wow. How many of us define ourselves by our good works? I know I certainly do. I often measure my spiritual health by counting how many volunteer hours I’ve given and how long I’ve spent in prayer. I often think to myself “I’m doing [good thing] because God would like it” before asking him what HE’D like me to do with that time.

This Thanksgiving, let’s thank God for the special talents he’s given us, ask Him what he really wants, and accept failure gracefully when He sends it our way. If you need some good reading to accompany your tryptophan induced-napping, I would recommend picking up this book...or just watching some Veggie Tales.

Just looking at his picture makes me so happy.

“Remember: God made you special and he loves you very much!”

Nursery Rhymes Are Super Creepy

Did your parents ever read you nursery rhymes as a child? You probably were too absorbed in the pretty pictures and fun rhyming to pay attention to context, especially since, at that age, reading comprehension isn't really a thing. But when you actually pay attention to the words...well, nursery rhymes can get super creepy. Let's examine a few:

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater

Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater,
Had a wife and couldn't keep her.
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well.

So basically, a dude named Peter can't control his unfaithful wife. Simple enough. But then we get to the last two lines, which can be interpreted in two ways: either A) Peter imprisons his wife in a pumpkin shell, or B) he kills her and buries her inside the pumpkin. Either way, incredibly disturbing. Moving right along...

Ring Around the Rosy

Ring around the rosy,
A pocket full of posies.
Ashes! Ashes!
They all fall down.

This innocent children's rhyme (with accompanying dance) is often interpreted as being about the plague. Yep, plague. The first line is meant to refer to the red sores or rashes victims developed, and posies refer to an herbal remedy--given the time period, I'm inclined to guess poppies, from which opium is derived and which was frequently used as a painkiller. The third & fourth lines refer to the way victims, just before death, took on an ashy pallor and, you know, died. There is some debate as to whether or not this poem is truly a plague reference, given that it didn't pop up until the 1800s--a few hundred years after the plagues. But who's to say it wasn't developed as an historical reference? The next rhyme, too, contains historical references, albeit somewhat murkier.

Georgie Porgie

Georgie Porgie, puddin' and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.

This rhyme carries several interpretations, one of the most popular (and scandalous) being a reference to George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham, and his...ahem...intimate relationship with King Charles I. However, there is no evidence to substantiate the claims of this rumor, so I must leave you to draw your own conclusions.

There is also a theory that the poem references the Great Fire of London, which started in Pudding Lane and reportedly finished at Pye Corner. In this interpretation, the "boys" appear to be the firefighters hurrying to douse the flames, and Georgie Porgie is the arsonist running from the possibility of being caught. I personally do not favor this theory, because (unless some really creative interpretation happened) the second line would make no sense. In any case, my point still stands: disturbing sexual encounters or arson = both creepy.

There are plenty of nursery rhymes that are completely innocent, but there are many other, older ones--such as the ones listed above--that really send a shiver up your spine. I wonder who the authors were, and what possessed them to conceive such morbid poetry.

Another Top 10 List!

Do you remember a few years ago when a “Top 10 list of books which have stayed with you” was the status that you were most likely to see on your Facebook page? It seemed like everybody jumped on that bandwagon.

And it was a good bandwagon. As a communication undergrad, I learned that stories are a great medium for communication, and I think that the stories we value most have a lot to say about us.

Well, today, I’m not going to bring back the “Top 10” list for books. Surprise!

Instead, I’m reworking it for a different type of story – saint stories. As a child, I loved reading about the lives of saints, and their biographies have remained inspirational for me even to the present day. Like books, I think the saints we have found most influential in our lives have a lot to say about who we are. Here are ten saints who have been influential in my life.

1.      Mary – specifically, Our Lady, Undoer of Knots: Besides praying (both before- and after-prayers) before meals (yes…we say both at the same time, before we eat), the only other tradition my family has on a daily basis is saying the Rosary as a family. I’ve found great comfort participating in this Marian devotion on a daily basis. More recently, though, I’ve learned about Our Lady, Undoer of Knots. Even the title fascinates me. When I pray for Mary’s intercession under this title, I ask for her to undo the knots in my life. The knots can be anything from a sin I struggle with to a difficult situation to a confusing relationship, and everything in-between. Visualizing my struggles as knots provides a very concrete way for me to ask Mary for help; and I know Our Lady will help unravel them.

2.      St. Therese of Lisieux: I first encountered “Little T” when I read her autobiography, “Story of a Soul,” in eighth grade. I chose her as my confirmation saint, but I really fell in love with her “Little Way” later in high school and college. I say a novena for her intercession every year and love celebrating her feastday. The struggles Little T faced resonate deeply with those I have experienced in my own life. But, even more encouraging to me, is knowing that I don’t have to become the foundress of an order or a martyr to become a saint (although it would be incredible to be either, in a hard way). I can live a humble, simple life and still become a saint. The tricky part is actually doing it.

3.      St. Augustine: Saint Augustine is not a saint who I would put on my list of “favorites” like Little T (no offence meant, St. Augustine), but he wrote a phrase that has stuck with me throughout the years: “You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless til they find rest in you.” Sometimes I remember it when I’m praying about something, and sometimes it nudges me when I listen to 80’s rock music (I’m looking at you, U2, cuz you still haven’t found what you’re looking for).

4.      Pope St. John Paull II: Every time I think I’ve reached the next level of Catholic-fan-girl, I find something new to love about JPII. I am grateful to him for many things, including the “Theology of the Body” discussion group that I’ve been a part of for a year and half now. He is inspiring and so brilliant that I ache to be a better person. His example makes me want to be holy. Side note: some of the best memes I've seen on Facebook are of him.

5.      St. Mother Teresa: This is the way I refer to her, whether it is correct or not – I apologize. I read a biography of her life a few years ago and decided that she is the bee’s knees. She set an example for loving everyone we come across. “Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home,” she said, and “We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” It is easy to think I might be holier if I were serving the destitute in the slums of Calcutta, but Mother Teresa reminds me that I have no excuse – I need to be loving and serving the people I see in my own house and in my life every day. Also, I love this quote of hers: “We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.”

6.      St. Philomena: This fourteen-year-old virgin martyr is pretty amazing. According to catholic.org, she is the only saint to be canonized based solely on the miracles worked through her intercession – nothing really is known of her from a historical perspective. However, a nun reported that St. Philomena appeared to her in a vision and revealed more information about her mysterious life; she had refused to marry Diocletian, a Roman emperor, and was martyred for it. But she didn’t die after scourging, multiple attempts to shoot her with arrows, and drowning. She did die, however, from beheading. I was captivated by her story as a young teenager, and though my fascination with her has diminished, I still think she is an excellent role model. If such a young woman could face torture and die for her faith, I ought to be courageous, too.

7.      St. Francis de Sales: A friend once sent me a quote of St. Francis de Sales (at least, it’s attributed to him) that she thought I would appreciate. I did appreciate it. “Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew.” I loved it so much that every time I cleared out the texts in my dumbphone, I kept that one. Until I accidentally deleted it, at least. This man actually has many quotable quotes that hit where it hurts because they are spot-on, and his “Introduction to the Devout Life” is a great book to read.

8.      St. Joan of Arc: There was a time in my youth when I was convinced Saint Joan of Arc was going to be my confirmation saint. Her story captivated me – visions of saints, a call from God to lead the troops of France in war. Her bravery, her faith, her death – all spoke to me, a lover of adventure and action. I loved her, and I was very disappointed as a child because my birthday was just shy of landing on her feastday.

9.      St. Thomas Aquinas: This is another saint who is not necessarily a “favorite,” but he has influenced me all the same. I can read his works only piecemeal, but what I have read is extremely solid. He is brilliant. As a person who likes step-by-step instructions or explanations, I can say that his works fit the bill.

10.  Servant of God Father Emil Kapaun: This man is not a saint yet, but he’s on the road to canonization. And, he hails from my part of the country. Born in Pilsen, Kansas, this man served as a chaplain in the Korean War and served his fellow prisoners of war in the prison camp where he eventually died. If you ever get a chance, you should definitely read up on his life. Here, let me help you out. http://fatherkapaun.org/kapaun-contact-us/about-fr-kapaun . Now you have no excuse for not learning more.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about these amazing saints. I challenge you to think about the ten most influential saints in your life. Let me know!

Prayers of Thanksgiving

On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then said Jesus, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And he said to him, "Rise and go on your way; your faith has made you well." Lk 17:11-19

There are four main types of prayer: Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication (Petition). The focus in the Gospel above is on two: Supplication and Thanksgiving. All ten of the lepers cry out to Jesus in supplication, asking for his mercy. This is wonderful--God explicitly tells us to ask him for things when we pray  (Mt 7:7). However, that's not all we need to do: the one leper that returns shows us it is equally important for us to thank God for the gifts he gives us.

We would not even have the ability to ask God for things if he had not given it to us--a gift for which he deserves our utmost thanks. Asking God for something and then not thanking him for it is like the story of the man who lost his keys: he looked everywhere and couldn't find them. He was about to be late for work, so he got on his knees and begged God to help him. "God, If you help me find my keys, I promise I'll never yell at another driver again!" The man got up and grabbed his coat, running out to the garage for a second look. As he stepped out, his foot slipped on something. He bent down and picked up his keys. He said, "Oh, never mind, God! I found them!"

Every single thing we could possibly think of is a gift from God, and with each new day he heaps upon us new gifts, if we choose to accept them. We always thank others when they give us a gift; is it not logical, then, to unceasingly thank the person who never stops giving?

Belle on the Brain

“I want adventure in the great wide somewhere / I want it more than I can tell…”

My favorite Disney princess sings this line in one of the most personally moving scenes of the animated classic “Beauty and the Beast,” and this line has been running through my head all evening. Honestly, the brunette brown-eyed bookworm known as “Belle” has been on my mind a lot lately – not just today.

Maybe it’s the hype that is surrounding the impending release of the new live-action movie in March. Maybe it’s my school-loaded mind trying to escape responsibility by dwelling on happy memories and familiar storylines. More likely than not, it’s probably the fact that I’m working on a Halloween costume that is inspired by one of her dresses from the movie.

In any case, my ponderings on “Beauty and the Beast” and have led me to the conclusion that this is one of Disney’s best princess movies, and it’s not just because I share some of the heroine’s physical features – although my 4-year-old self decided that was a great reason to love the movie.

Brown hair. Brown eyes. Loves books. Has eyebrows. Met a horse once. Yup – me and Belle are definitely twinning.

http://images4.fanpop.com/image/polls/798000/798179_1312748294131_full.jpg?v=1312748532

No, my love for this movie goes much further than surface-level similarities. I believe Belle experiences real situations that even the most average person faces at some point in his or her life, and it is this resonance with reality that lifts this film above a veritable sea of Disney movies.

Reality vs. Imagination

During the first part of the movie, Belle yearns for the chance to live an adventure like the ones she reads about in books. She walks through town preoccupied by a story that takes her far away from “this provincial life.”

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve definitely connected with her situation. I’ve gotten lost in another world when reading books and living vicariously through the characters. I’ve also experienced the “book hangover,” where real life is so hard to jump back into because the book provided such an intense experience. I’ve wanted adventure and ached for that which I did not have.

And then Belle gets what she wants. “Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.” She goes on a quest to recover her father and ends up trading her freedom for his, resulting in her imprisonment in an enchanted castle that is ruled by a terrifying beast. The animated movie does not delve deeply into Belle’s reflections on her predicament, but the musical developed for stage productions explores her emotions here in the song “Home.”

"Home" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIEfW7bpEXg

“What I’d give to return to the life that I knew lately / And to think I complained of that dull provincial town,” she sings. I can’t claim any connection with her situation (imprisonment, loss of freedom and family), but I can certainly relate to her experience of accomplishing a dream only to realize it bears no similarities to the imagined conception of it. Disillusionment with a once-cherished idea is a universal experience, and one that Belle embodies poignantly.

Crossing Lines

As far as heroines went, I always thought of Belle as pretty flawless. She loves her father, gives the Beast a big second chance, and throws a mean snowball.

But then I remembered the West Wing.

Belle infiltrates the West Wing, the inner sanctum which the Beast expressly forbid her to enter. She nearly touches an enchanted rose before the Beast discovers her and flies into a rage, and then Belle runs away for fear of her safety.

All ends well enough, for Beast saves her from wolves in the snowstorm outside and Belle returns with him to treat his wounds and keep her promise. They argue about where the fault lies for Beast’s injuries:

Beast: “If you hadn’t run away, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Belle: “Well, if you hadn’t frightened me I wouldn’t have run away!”

Beast: “Well, you shouldn’t have been in the West Wing!”

Belle: “Well, you should learn to control your temper.”

Silence.

Belle wins. If Beast had better control of his emotions and hadn’t been so flustered by Belle’s appearance, they could have avoided this situation altogether. What’s the big deal with the West Wing, then?

The problem here is that Beast establishes a very clear boundary and Belle ignores it. He gives her as much freedom within the castle as he can without letting her leave and asks only that she not enter the West Wing. She violates this stipulation – not out of malice or revenge (although one does wonder, considering her plight), but out of curiosity.

Look at that face. Curiosity in its purest form.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/a8zmZV0akEs/hqdefault.jpg

The mystery is just too enticing – she must know the secrets of the West Wing. Although Belle is scared half to death by Beast’s reaction, she brings it upon herself by prying into a very personal place. She experiences the terrifying consequences of her decision, but she also puts the Beast through agony – the one place his secrets are safely hidden has been found out, his insecurities and vulnerability exposed.

I can recall times when I have asked one question too many, when I have been Belle in the West Wing of someone’s private struggles. This sort of trespassing does damage to our own souls and character, and it is easy to reflect on how this action or that decision has been detrimental to our own person – but what has our idle curiosity cost the other person? I think I’m not the only person who has encountered this situation before.

Beast might have serious flaws, but such flaws should never have been used as a justification for crossing a boundary he desperately needed to be respected.

Eucatastrophe

In his essay “On Fairy-Stories,” J. R. R. Tolkien defines eucatastrophe as “the consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn”…it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur.”

Every fairy tale ends with a happy ending, but Beauty and the Beast finishes with an ending that is worthy of Tolkien’s definition of eucatastrophe. Belle and the Beast don’t just experience a happy ending; they experience a happy ending that should not have happened.

Beast dies. (For the sake of this point, please ignore the fact that pretty much every Disney character who dies comes back to life). In many the other Disney fairy tales, the main characters don’t die (Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Aladdin, etc.). Belle held Beast as he died. Strike one.

Not only does Beast die, but whether or not the spell under which he was cast should have been undone is debatable. The spell stated that if before the last petal of his enchanted rose fell “he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return, the spell would be broken.” But Belle says “I love you” as the last petal falls. Should that really count as “before” the last petal falls? Her timing seems questionable to me. Strike two.

The spell also said only that the spell would be broken – i.e., that Beast would get to have his human form back. He was never promised to be given his life back if he should die even in the event that the spell was broken. Belle still would have ended up alone. Strike three.

In short, Belle should never have had a happy ending, but she still gets it. In fact, she gets a happy ending at the point at which it could not – no – should not be expected. So many things went wrong, but in the end, all inexplicably came out right. Eucatastrophe.

Tolkien says eucatastrophe is a proclamation of the Gospel in that it shows death does not have the final say and that there is joy beyond the realm of this life, but I think Belle’s unbounded joy at the realization of her happy ending is a universal experience. It might happen in a big way, but I think eucatastrophes happen all the time in the little ways: a random text from a friend, being asked out to a dance, coming home to fresh-baked cookies, the forming of a friendship. We don’t necessarily expect these hardly-hoped-for goods to come our way, and we can never assume that they’ll happen again, but these are the small miracles God gives us all the time without us deserving them.

This is the face every college student makes upon hearing that class is cancelled: eucatastrophe.

http://data.whicdn.com/images/88347380/large.jpg

There are so many reasons to love Beauty and the Beast, but I hope this reflection displays the real merit of this universally relatable film.

"Too Personal"

“‘He is my enemy,’ said Evan, simply; ‘he is the enemy of God.’

Mr. Vane shifted sharply in his seat, dropping the eye-glass out of his eye in a momentary and not unmanly embarrassment.

‘You mustn’t talk like that here,’ he said, roughly, and in a kind of hurry, ‘that has nothing to do with us.’

Evan opened his great, blue eyes; ‘God,’ he began.

‘Be quiet,’ said the magistrate, angrily, ‘it is most undesirable that things of that sort should be spoken about – a – in public, and in an ordinary Court of Justice. Religion is – a – too personal a matter to be mentioned in such a place….to talk in a public place about one’s most sacred and private sentiments – well, I call it bad taste…I call it irreverent.’”

What do you think you just read? A scene from a recent crime novel? A snippet of dialogue from a magazine serial I just read?

Guess again. The words I’ve quoted here originate in a book published over a century ago, “The Ball and the Cross” by G. K. Chesterton.

I hope you can see how relevant this passage is to our modern culture. When I picked up this book, I could not predict that I’d be floored by how applicable these words are to my own time. I felt as if rather than commenting on the society of his time, Chesterton had been granted a glimpse into the future and wrote for generations a hundred years away.

Maybe that is exactly what happened – I don’t know.

           
In any case, this passage resonated with me and I knew I needed to discuss what I found in these words.

I’ve grown up in a society where talking about God and faith has been discouraged. I’ve seen the above situation played out – not verbatim, but certainly in spirit – in situations from discussions about separation of Church and state to the awkwardness of bringing up my Catholic faith in non-religious settings.

           
“That has nothing to do with us,” society seems to say. Even within families this seems to be an issue. What’s the rule for Thanksgiving dinner? “Talk about anything except religion and politics.”

           
For a long time, I’ve subscribed to the view that religion underpins an individual’s worldview. It doesn’t matter if a person worships at the altar of God or at the altar of something lesser – fame, money, an ideal, science, oneself – everyone has a religion.

Religion provides the framework for life: if a person takes his or her faith seriously, that faith will help determine how this person lives. My Catholic faith affects how I work, who I go to for help, and (hopefully) how I interact with others at the most basic level. As even the magistrate recognizes, these are very personal matters and “one’s most sacred and private sentiments.”

Some might argue that religion is TMI, or too much information. It’s a topic that’s too personal, too taboo to mention in public. It makes people uncomfortable.

That’s my impression of how my modern culture feels. But, I would like to argue that when we lock out religion and discussions of faith, when we ban the topic from the public sphere, as a society we are saying that we don’t care about the one of the most fundamental elements of a person’s existence, and because of that, we don’t really care about the person.

It’s like saying that we want a person to create a public mural but their paints and tools and experience from art classes have to remain at home. Have you ever tried baking a cake without referring to the instructions or any of the lessons your mom taught you about kitchen safety? You just can't - at least, you can't do that and expect to have unburned fingers and a finished product anything like what you wanted it to be.
“Bring your skills and lesser qualities to work, but leave your immortal soul and your entire understanding of life at home.” That’s pretty utilitarian, but that’s how life seems sometimes. Forbid the thought that we should ever interact with integrated individuals who are the same person at home as they are at work or in the grocery store or at the park.

So what are we to do? We have two options: we can stay quiet about our faith and go with the flow like our culture tells us. Or, we could push ourselves to open up about our faith and how important it is in our lives. Religion is such a fundamental aspect of each individual that it shouldn’t be – it can’t be – swept under covers and kept out of sight.

So speak out. Tell the world what Jesus has done for you. Tell your coworkers and classmates and friends the real reasons why you act the way you do.

I know I’m going to keep quiet and mess up at times, but I am going to try to bring my Catholic faith to the world. It may not want such a personal element of me, but that is what I have to share with it.

Getting Deep About a White Christmas Dance Number

Today I am going to tell you all about my favorite movie dance number ever, gush over the many reasons why I enjoy it so much, and then get all deep about what I think it says about gender roles. In case you are wondering: Yes, I do tend to extrapolate large points out of frivolous movies. I also understand that Rom-Coms are actually horrible places to find any sort of truth about male-female relationships. However, I am just using this dance as an example to illustrate a larger point because I think it does so well.

Another disclaimer: I am no expert in dance so I cannot speak to the technical merits of this number. I can only talk about what I get out of it. As I address this, I’ll talk about the actors themselves, not about their characters as I think some of the things I address are best addressed to them, not their characters.

I’m really looking forward to this.

So, without further ado, I present,  “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing” from White Christmas featuring Vera Ellen as Judy Hanes and Danny Kaye as Phil Davis.

Now that you have watched the clip.  Go and watch it again and again.  Really let it seep into your soul.

Long have I loved this dance number.  Perhaps what I love most is that the point of the song is played out in the choreography. You can express yourself and get to know someone through dance in a way that you cannot in any other way. It is a beautiful point that is only driven home all the more by the effect that this dance number has on Judy and Phil’s relationship throughout the rest of the movie. But what would this scene be without the beautiful dancing?

I have always fawned over Vera Ellen’s lightness and precision of movement in the number.  I have dreamed of such grace while wearing such a dress.  I have pined for the opportunity to shine so thoroughly, to express myself by doing the things I “would not do at home [but that would] come naturally on the floor.”  One day I will dance like that!

Recently, however, I noticed something different. I realized that I had only been watching half of this dance.  I realized that I had been totally ignoring Danny Kaye.

Admit it.  When you were watching this, you weren’t paying any attention to the guy were you?

After I had this realization, I immediately turned around and watched Kaye exclusively through the whole dance. If I did not love this dance number before, I am totally enraptured by it now.  Danny Kaye is so graceful, so suave. He looks entirely contented, as if all is right in his world. And his dancing is so smooth.

I think one of the great beauties of this number is that the dancers always show great restraint in their movement and, in that, they are really able to shine.  At parts it is as if they are savoring the moment.  At others, it is a frenzy of activity.  This is especially interesting with Kaye.  If you watch him throughout the movie, he is a high energy guy. Seeing this kind of restraint from him is marvelous and impressive. And how about their easy chemistry, though? It’s so perfect that no one in the movie ever doubts that they’re going to get married.  Except Bing Crosby’s character Bob.  He calls Phil a “Weirdsmobile” at the idea…because Bob’s a a bitter, lonesome old man.

The progression of the dance is also worth note. It starts off slow with Kaye singing and Ellen coyly following along to his lead.  As they move down to center stage, you can see the dance becoming more flowery.  Ellen has bigger, more complex movements.  At one point (my favorite point), Ellen drops into a beautiful deep dip in synchronization to the word “naturally,” as if to punctuate the point of the song.  As the song goes on, Ellen more frequently runs off to start her own bit, which Kaye will follow and synchronize with.

In the last part of the number, the part where they return to center stage after dancing on the bridge and boat, I really enjoy watching their faces.  You can tell that they are both high on the dancing.  Ellen is in a flurry of activity and Kaye is totally working it, enjoying every second.  By the way, did you see that she trips over his foot right at the very end?

While they are dancing, did you notice that Ellen is always acting towards the audience. Kaye, however, is always paying attention to her and he seems to be overjoyed to be a part of the experience.  I think this goes to show again that the woman is basically always the star of any couple’s dance and the guy’s role is to support that. If you watch, you can see he is always paying close attention so as to catch his next move or to anticipate her needs.

Okay, so here I’m going to pull a comparison about men and women’s relationships.  If you become uncomfortable or angry and preachy when people agree with traditional gender roles and use Bible verses to do it, then you might want to retreat to a corner of the internet that always agrees with you.

I’m Catholic.  Often, at Catholic weddings, the Bible verse about “Women, be subordinate to your husbands.  Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and laid Himself down for her” comes up.  When I watch Danny Kaye dancing with Vera Ellen here, I cannot help but be reminded of this Bible verse.  According to this Bible verse, men have to be willing to support women and appreciate their God given beauty, even if it means dying to themselves.  Kaye doesn’t really get a lot of attention in this dance.  He’s doing a stellar job, but he's not really the star.  Ellen is.  His role in the dance is supporting her elaborate and elegant moves.

Ellen, on the other hand, is not enslaved by Kaye’s lead.  On the contrary, she works within his parameters and shines all the more brightly because of it.  If she had decided to preempt his lead to dip her, she might have wound up on the floor in an undignified heap.  If she was too good to be helped by him, she would have had a slow and ungraceful time of getting off that boat.  However, because she is willing to work with him, we get a ridiculously graceful and fluid product.

Think I’m full of it? What do they say right after they finish? Ellen: “I guess I got carried away.” Kaye: “And she carried me right along with her.”

Yeah, guys, leave it to me to draw a deep point about human relationships out of an Irving Berlin dance number.

Gandalf and Speech Pathology

“Look out for me, especially at unlikely times!” –Gandalf, "The Fellowship of the Ring"

I learned much about the field of speech-language pathology this week: presentations, CPR, paperwork, professional communication, and specialized computer programs are just a few topics that came up this week.

In the midst of this overwhelming sea of new information, I found my knees shaking a little.

Don’t misunderstand: I am excited to dive into this field and I believe this will be an amazing experience.

However, I also know that there is a lot for me to learn. I approach the coming months with confidence, but not entirely without misgivings about how smoothly the weeks will go.

But in the midst of this newness and change, I found encouragement for my speech pathology pursuits in an unexpected place: Gandalf, my favorite character from my favorite book series, The Lord of the Rings. (Props to Gandalf, by the way, for appearing at an unlikely time in this case, just like he did for Frodo and Bilbo.)

What does Gandalf have to do with Speech Pathology?

As I learned from a presentation given a few days ago, when a speech therapist works with a client, the intent is to help the client communicate or swallow more effectively.

Other than Gandalf’s obvious affinity for talking, there’s not much this evil-fighting, horse-riding, adventuring wizard has in common with a speech pathology student. What’s the connection?

The connection lies not so much in what we do, but in how we go about doing our business.

I’ll start by laying out what speech pathologists are supposed do when they have a client referred to them.

Before a speech pathologist sees the client, he or she does research prior to an evaluation. Speech pathologists find out why the client is coming to them and look at family history and medical history (as long as it is made available – medical privacy is important). If questions remain, the speech pathologist may seek more information from the family or the referring doctor. When they finally meet for the evaluation, the speech pathologist administers tests and/or examines the client and finds out what he or she (the client) can and cannot do. The speech pathologist, based on expertise and testing, then writes down their recommendation – the client should receive services, should not receive services, etc.

Guess what? Gandalf researched too. When Bilbo left his ring to Frodo, Gandalf decided he needed to find out what exactly this ring was. Taking on the roles of both concerned parent and knowledgeable professional, Gandalf notices something that might be a problem and looks into it. He has some pieces of the puzzle – Bilbo found this ring, had it for x many years, ring appears to have y magical qualities. This is clearly a ring of power, Gandalf decides. But which one?

Thanks to his research, the wizard learns the history of a certain One Ring (which the bad guy is desperate to reacquire): after passing hands multiple times, it went missing. Also, he discovers that placing the One Ring in a fire reveals an inscription that proves it to be the One Ring that controls all the other rings of power. Finding this ring was kind of a big deal.

Gandalf returns to the Shire, has Frodo perform the fire test, and bam – Gandalf has some recommendations to make.

Research, tests, diagnoses – turns out Gandalf and speech pathologists engage in pretty similar activities. Let’s not forget that, like Gandalf, speech pathologists make a journey with the people they work with. Gandalf travels to the Lonely Mountain and across Middle Earth with specific groups, and speech pathologists “travel” through therapy with their clients.

And finally, when the time comes for clients to move on without services anymore, the professionals take their leave: professional speech pathologists dismiss their clients, and professional world-savers let go of the reins and travel across the sea.

Speech pathologists may not perform on as novel-worthy a level as Gandalf, but it is encouraging to me to know that exciting events can be rooted in what originally appears as mundane and ordinary tasks.

Give Me the Lobster!

It's an integral part of human nature: we always want what we can't have.

I recently viewed an episode of "How I Met Your Mother," in which a main character, Robin, wants to pursue a relationship rather abruptly because she's been told the other party has given up trying to win her over. Her friend, Lily, draws a parallel between this situation and the "Lobster Incident": Robin was told she was allergic to lobster and could never, ever have it again. Though it almost killed her, she immediately went out and ate a giant plate of lobster. Lily's point was that Robin only thinks she wants this relationship because she wants what she can't have, now that the door has been shut on a possible future.

What is our obsession with the forbidden? Why do we have a compulsion to do what is bad for us, especially when we know it's bad for us? Two reasons: 1. We remember the experience of past pleasure as better than it actually was, and 2. We are constantly seeking happiness; that frequently translates into gratifying, instantaneous pleasure.

Regarding the first point
Our memories are flawed; we tend to romanticize the past. For example, when Robin was told she could no longer eat lobster, she probably wanted it because in her memory, the brief experience of satisfaction and pleasure was so great that she gave it precedence over her health. When we recall minor pleasures, even if they had negative effects, we tend to maximize the memory of the pleasure and minimize, if not eliminate, memories of the negative consequences.

Regarding the second point
We instantly want things we have been told to avoid--but have not experienced for ourselves--because we imagine a pleasurable outcome. We become curious to try things people have told us to avoid. We imagine the experience will somehow be different for us, or that the other person is (for some reason) trying to prevent us from having a new experience of pleasure. We are constantly seeking happiness, and foolishly believe this happiness will come from experiencing pleasure. We operate under the error that pleasure and happiness are equivalent.

In fact, the reality of happiness--joy--is quite different, and the journey toward it often is quite lacking in pleasure. We have to suffer for it. It seems contrary to rational thought, but we didn't make the rules--we simply follow the example of the person who did it first: Christ. As St. Elizabeth Ann Seton said, "Can you expect to go to heaven for nothing? Did not our Savior track the whole way to it with his tears and blood? And yet you stop at every little pain."

It is a truth universally acknowledged that joy, pleasure, or accomplishment achieved without effort is worthless and unsatisfying. We cannot go anywhere without moving; we cannot ever have the experience of true joy without first knowing true sorrow and pain. We would have nothing with which to compare the experience, and the moment would be worthless. It is the biggest conundrum of life that we have to deny ourselves the instantaneous pleasures within our reach that are bad for us in order to grasp at the beginnings of real, hard-won joy.

No matter how much you think you want that lobster, it will never be enough.

Books with a Letter Missing

In 2013, some clever Twitter user came up with the hashtag #bookswithalettermissing. This particular phenomenon resulted in some real gems, such as Here’s Waldo? (from Where’s Waldo?) and The Lion, the Itch, and the Wardrobe (from C. S. Lewis’ famous children’s book).

Just for funsies, I decided to do the same with the titles of books that I’ve read, each of which is accompanied by a synopsis of new the story bearing the altered title. The synopses pull material from the original stories, so they will make more sense if you are familiar with the books. So here’s to the [not-so-] fine literature that might have been.

1.      Jane Eye (from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte)

This romantic drama centers on a dark, brooding man and his love interest, a “plain” clothes private eye named Jane. Jane’s amazing eye for unusual details takes her from the boarding schools of young girls to the open spaces of England in this tale of mystery and suspense.

2.      The Cure of Capistrano (from The Curse of Capistrano, the original name of The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley)

A mysterious masked man has been wandering El Camino Real at night, attending to the sick, neglected, and injured of southern California. A corrupt band of governor-backed doctors feels threatened by this no-good do-gooder and seeks to put an end to the masked doctor’s work.

3.      Out of the Silent Plant (from Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis)

An Oxford don is tricked by his colleagues into taking charge of a strange new species of plant. Upon examination, he finds that the “silent plant” is full of alien creatures that, though exhibiting an understanding of his language, refuse to communicate with him. The colleagues, after learning about the discovery, greedily seek to recover the plant and force the creatures to reveal their wisdom.

4.      The Silver Hair (from The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis)

Eustace and Jill travel to Narnia to save Prince Rillian from his obsession with his youth and good looks (the prince’s worrying has resulted in the growth of a silver hair on his head, rendering him hysterical). The prince is plucked from danger and order restored.

5.      Little Hose on the Prairie (from Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder)

Laura Ingalls and her family move west and her biggest chore is to water the garden and the homestead trees. How can Laura accomplish this huge task daily when her only tool is a tiny hose?

6.      Mansfield Ark (from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen)

The sweet and humble Fanny Price refuses to participate in a poorly-rendered theatrical production of Noah’s Ark, the consequences of which are disastrous for the Crawfords and result in her marrying the man of her dreams. In an ironic twist of fate, however, the ark completed for the ill-fated drama saves the heroine and her family on her very rainy wedding day.

7.      Lint (from Flint by Louis L’Amour)

This is a Western tale about how a businessman from the coast defeats gunmen and cattle-rustlers using nothing but the lint from his pockets.

8.      Men of Ion (from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle)

Young Myles joins forces with some other squires to stop the bullying of the older bachelors. However, what originally began as a promotion of justice suddenly turns into extremely advanced scientific discoveries.

9.      The Princess Ride (from The Princess Bride by William Goldman)

A father begrudgingly rides on a princess-themed amusement park ride, but quickly finds that it is far more exciting than he believed possible. Filled with fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, and miracles, this ride is more than he bargained for – and probably not entirely age-appropriate for his four-year-old daughter.

10.  Rewall (from Redwall by Brian Jacques)

The peace-loving creatures of the Abbey decide they must re-wall their outer defenses. But, due to some terrible timing, Cluny the Scourge arrives on the scene and the construction plans put the Abbey in mortal peril. A young mouse with mixed-up priorities leaves the defense of his home to other creatures and roams the countryside in search of a mystical sword.

The Tragedy of Peter Pan

Peter Pan is a delightful adventure that conjures pirates, fairy dust, mermaids, and being up long past bedtime. Peter Pan himself is the magical boy of eternal youth that can steal you away from your window and carry you to Neverland. But, as the book points out, there is no such thing as eternal youth--everybody must grow up. Except one.

Peter Pan is famous for insisting that he will NEVER grow up. Consequently, he will also never mature. He will retain his youth along with his juvenile worldview and emotions. While it is wondrous to see the world through the eyes of a child, a child's comprehension is very limited, and their entire focus is on their own well-being. Peter Pan is extremely limited in this respect, and his millennia as a never-aging child give him a rather sinister quality.

For example, after he first meets Wendy and turns to go, she entreats him to stay by saying she could tell him lots of stories. The narrator tells us that Peter "came back, and there was a greedy look in his eyes now which ought to have alarmed her but did not" (Barrie 26). He wants Wendy (or rather, her stories) for himself, and he intends to take her. While persuading her to come, Peter "had become frightfully cunning. 'Wendy,' he said, 'how we should all respect you'" (27).

He does convince the Darlings to accompany him to Neverland. It's a long way, and they get tired. Sometimes, they fall asleep and drop out of the sky, and Peter catches them, but "he always waited till the last moment, and you felt it was his cleverness that interested him and not the saving of human life" (32). 

While the Narrator is describing Neverland, he notes that "the boys on the island vary, of course, in numbers, according as they got killed and so on; and when they seemed to be growing up, which is against the rules, Peter thins them out" (39). That is one of the most disturbing things the Narrator has told us yet--Peter kills off the Lost Boys if they get too old. Another rather violent suggestion the Narrator makes is in the discussion of each boy's unique, perfectly-fitted entrance to their tree-house: "if you are bumpy in awkward places or the only available tree is an odd shape, Peter does some things to you, and after that you fit" (56).

Peter's undiminished hatred toward adults is also evident throughout the story, from his ban on all talk of mothers to the moment when he deliberately takes as many quick, short breaths as he can because he heard a saying that doing so kills grownups (65). It is indicated that Peter was abandoned as a baby and afterward came to Neverland; his resentment and abhorrence for adults is obviously a result of this incident. It is ultimately this that makes him tragic: he can never grow up, and so he hates those who can and will never understand the things they understand or have the love they have.

All of these examples show that eternal youth, especially when that means perpetual childhood, is actually a horrible fate. Peter is only capable of a child's selfish love and seems to have lost his appreciation for the sanctity of human life. He has become extremely manipulative and cunning. He plays with others' lives casually and eliminates them when he is bored. Additionally, because of his immature state, he is incapable of the relational love between a man and a woman: "'You are so [strange],' he said, frankly puzzled, 'And Tiger Lily is just the same. There is something she wants to be to me, but she says it is not my mother'" (81). 

Perhaps the most tragic moment of all occurs when Peter is looking back through the window at the happily reunited Darling family and the newly adopted Lost Boys, and knowing that "he was looking through the window at the one joy from which he must be forever barred" (126). All Peter can do is forget and find new children, all over again.

Peter's whole personality is summed up perfectly by the Narrator's description of every child: "Off we skip like the most heartless things in the world, which is what children are, but so attractive, and we have an entirely selfish time, and then when we have need of special attention we nobly return for it, confident that we shall be embraced instead of smacked" (85). Peter can never grow up to be the one doing the embracing. And that is tragic.

You Before Me

Nearly everyone has heard of the book-turned-movie Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. If you haven't, you've clearly been living under a rock. However, the title alone says a lot--when I first saw it, I thought, "Gee, that's pretty selfish." And guess what? It is.

This book/movie is being presented to society with #liveboldly as its moniker, and tries to skim over the assisted suicide part. AHEM. That's right, assisted suicide.

The book is about mid-30s William Traynor who, because of an accident, is now a paraplegic, very nearly a quadriplegic. A young female caregiver is hired, and she soon realizes she is a babysitter to prevent him from attempting suicide again. He has agreed to behave for 6 months, after which time his parents have agreed to take him to an assisted-suicide facility in Switzerland, where they can legally get away with it. Once she learns this, our narrator tries everything she can to get him to realize life is worth living. By the end of the six months, Will actually has the gall to tell her that, while he does love her, she is "not enough," and he still wants to die. What a crushing blow, in more ways than one! First, he tells her she's not good enough. Then he adds insult to injury by saying he's going to kill himself, AND HE WANTS HER TO BE THERE. And do you know what? After an initial, angry refusal--she does it!

This is so horrific on so many levels, but for the sake of time I will only address the most prominent: Will's assisted suicide.

Ponder this for a moment: murder is universally recognized as wrong, isn't it? When somebody kills another person, completely unprovoked, they are punished and sent to prison. Why? Because it is wrong. No one has the right to take the life of another. In this, we recognize the value of human life. Why is it suddenly different when someone wants to take their own life? It isn't.

The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in their Iura et Bona ("Declaration on Euthanasia") declares that "No one can make an attempt on the life of an innocent person without...violating a fundamental right, and therefore without committing a crime of the utmost gravity. Everyone has a duty to lead his or her life in accordance with God's plan. That life is entrusted to the individual as a good that must bear fruit already here on earth...but finds its full perfection only in eternal life. Intentionally causing one's own death, or suicide, is therefore equally as wrong as murder; such an action on the part of a person is to be considered as a rejection of God's sovereignty and loving plan. Furthermore, suicide is also often a refusal of love for self, the denial of the natural instinct to live, a flight from the duties of justice and charity owed to one's neighbor...although, as is generally recognized, at times there are psychological factors...that can diminish responsibility or even completely remove it" (Decleration on Euthanasia 5).

It is important to understand that euthanasia is an action or omission that causes death with the intent to eliminate suffering, as was Will's intent in asking for his own death. It is never acceptable to permit the killing of any human life. In fact, "The pleas of gravely ill people who sometimes ask for death are not to be understood as implying a true desire for euthanasia; in fact, it is almost always a case of an anguished plea for help and love" (Euthanasia 6-7).

Yes, suffering can be horrible and debilitating, but "suffering, especially suffering during the last moments of life, has a special place in God's saving plan; it is in fact a sharing in Christ's passion and a union with the redeeming sacrifice which He offered in obedience to the Father's will" (Euthanasia 7).

Suffering can help one grow in the virtues of humility and patience, among others. Absolutely every life is worth living, no matter how difficult to live that life is. It is not up to us to decide when we are finished. We did not give ourselves life; we cannot, under any circumstances, take it away.

If you are interested in reading the entirety of Iura et Bona, please visit this link to the Vatican website with the full document: Declaration on Euthanasia