This woman is a truly amazing speaker, and what a voice for life!
Her name is Gianna Jessen, and you may have heard of her before. She was born alive after an abortion attempt. Incredible story! My favorite line from this speech is, "If you think I am a fool, it is just another jewel in my crown."
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
The Church Suffering
One of Michael Voris' recent videos, which is very spiritually encouraging for those of us in Dioceses that are toeing the line of Protestantism.
This program is from RealCatholicTV.com
This program is from RealCatholicTV.com
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Catholics and Heretics
For Las Vegas Catholics, there is this fairly new blog called Catholics and Heretics.
They cover topics about our Diocese. I think the information in this blog will be important for informing faithful Catholics here in Vegas of what is going on in the different parishes. There are some disturbing things happening around the different churches in town, but how would we know about it, except for this blog?
I hope information continues to be posted, because it is encouraging to know we are not alone in our struggle to keep faithful to Holy Mother Church.
If any of you Vegas readers check out this new blog I hope you will pass the link along to other faithful Catholics of your acquaintance here in town. We should not be silent - we should spread the word about what is occurring so that we can do something about it (#1 - PRAY)!
They cover topics about our Diocese. I think the information in this blog will be important for informing faithful Catholics here in Vegas of what is going on in the different parishes. There are some disturbing things happening around the different churches in town, but how would we know about it, except for this blog?
I hope information continues to be posted, because it is encouraging to know we are not alone in our struggle to keep faithful to Holy Mother Church.
If any of you Vegas readers check out this new blog I hope you will pass the link along to other faithful Catholics of your acquaintance here in town. We should not be silent - we should spread the word about what is occurring so that we can do something about it (#1 - PRAY)!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Children Wearing Mantillas
Women choose to veil in church for many different reasons. I myself have more than one reason to veil. When I first started wearing a mantilla to church I felt self-conscious and thought that everyone must be staring at me, but once Mass started it helped me focus on worship and prayer. Like a hat that was capturing my thoughts and keeping them in my head.
The "casual" feeling I had at Mass before was replaced with a deeper seriousness about what was taking place. Around the same time I started dressing in my "Sunday best", which was a conscious effort to prepare myself for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Not to get on my soap box, but when you show up to Mass wearing shorts and flip flops its easy to take it as something as common as going to the grocery store - not as the miracle that occurs before your very eyes as Heaven itself is opened up to us.
When my daughter was old enough to keep something on her head without instantly tearing it off, I also put a mantilla on her. And now that my youngest is old enough, she also wears a mantilla. Together, the three of us must be a sight.
And these days, I know for a fact that people do stare. The number of women who veil in my parish is small enough, and I think it is probably safe to say that my girls are the only children who veil. Every once in a while I see a young lady, maybe around 14 or 15, who veils. But never have I seen little girls veiling in any parish in Las Vegas.
We have gotten a variety of different responses about the girls veiling. Either we get smiles and nods, or we get sneers and shocked frowns. Before and after Mass, some of the older ladies will coo at the girls and say how cute they are.
I taught them to veil just as I am teaching them modesty in their comportment and in their dress. It is never too early. During the summer, while my 3 year old's friends strip down to their undies at the park to splash in the splash pad, mine stays covered up. I know that there is nothing "wrong" with a naked toddler, but 1) I don't know what creeps could be lurking around, and 2) I don't want her getting used to being naked in public. Even if it is as a child. Naked at home is fine when there is privacy. But not in front of strangers.
And wearing a mantilla in the presence of the Sacred Species is one of those things that I think are never too early to learn, along with humility and obedience to the Lord. I also make sure that our shoulders and knees are covered at Mass.
Where do you stand on children wearing a mantilla to church? What about covering shoulders and knees?
The "casual" feeling I had at Mass before was replaced with a deeper seriousness about what was taking place. Around the same time I started dressing in my "Sunday best", which was a conscious effort to prepare myself for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Not to get on my soap box, but when you show up to Mass wearing shorts and flip flops its easy to take it as something as common as going to the grocery store - not as the miracle that occurs before your very eyes as Heaven itself is opened up to us.
When my daughter was old enough to keep something on her head without instantly tearing it off, I also put a mantilla on her. And now that my youngest is old enough, she also wears a mantilla. Together, the three of us must be a sight.
 |
| Ivy, playing "church" at the apartment in Milan where we were staying last year for a vacation that started with Violet's baptism at the Vatican. |
And these days, I know for a fact that people do stare. The number of women who veil in my parish is small enough, and I think it is probably safe to say that my girls are the only children who veil. Every once in a while I see a young lady, maybe around 14 or 15, who veils. But never have I seen little girls veiling in any parish in Las Vegas.
We have gotten a variety of different responses about the girls veiling. Either we get smiles and nods, or we get sneers and shocked frowns. Before and after Mass, some of the older ladies will coo at the girls and say how cute they are.
I taught them to veil just as I am teaching them modesty in their comportment and in their dress. It is never too early. During the summer, while my 3 year old's friends strip down to their undies at the park to splash in the splash pad, mine stays covered up. I know that there is nothing "wrong" with a naked toddler, but 1) I don't know what creeps could be lurking around, and 2) I don't want her getting used to being naked in public. Even if it is as a child. Naked at home is fine when there is privacy. But not in front of strangers.
And wearing a mantilla in the presence of the Sacred Species is one of those things that I think are never too early to learn, along with humility and obedience to the Lord. I also make sure that our shoulders and knees are covered at Mass.
Where do you stand on children wearing a mantilla to church? What about covering shoulders and knees?
Thursday, September 16, 2010
In Defense of the Holy Father
I generally shun celebrities, generally turn my nose up at them and generally care little about what they have to say. Most of them are highly uneducated in the ways of faith and spew out a whole lot of nonsense. But there are a couple that I follow on Twitter, and one of them is Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller. Even though he is an atheist, he is a smart and funny atheist who knows the government's place, and I admire that. But today he posted these Tweets about the Holy Father (my comments about the exchange in italics).
pennjillette - I guess the pope believes - the best defense is a good offense. This sure is offensive, wrong, and very desperate http://tinyurl.com/2uzfly7
pennjillette - The pope compares atheists to Nazis? Lucy, you gotta lot of 'splaining to do! http://bit.ly/aQv2QY
To which I had to respond and defend our Holy Father! If you read the article attached to his link, you can see what the real message is. So I said:
TheLasVegasMama-@pennjillette I thought u were a critical thinker, but u r deliberately misunderstanding. He said atheist EXTREMISM. That's not u, so chill
And to my great surprise, he actually responded. Here is the exchange that followed.
pennjillette - @TheLasVegasMama - I have no problem with extremism, it's the ideas and actions that matter.
TheLasVegasMama - @pennjillette Rite. Idea of no God=xtrme action of genocide. 1 DOES NOT always follow the other, but it CAN-thats the point the pope made.
pennjillette - @TheLasVegasMama - he could have used some communists as examples, they really were atheists.
(Let me point out here that I thought it was interesting that he was not disagreeing with what I said but that he actually brought up yet another example of how evil atheists can be, so I thought it would be ironic to point out how often atheists perform evil deeds. So tongue in cheek, I responded with the following)
TheLasVegasMama - @pennjillette Agreed, history does give us numerous athiest examples to choose from. :)
But he totally missed it, and who knows what he thought about what the smiley face meant.
pennjillette - @TheLasVegasMama - why would you smile after that? Atheism without freedom has been terrible, but why the emoticon? That sums it up
TheLasVegasMama - @pennjillette b/c though its true, I was conveying a tongue in cheek tone. Why does the emoticon bother you?
TheLasVegasMama - @pennjillette BTW its probably too hard to explain here why tongue in cheek at that moment, but it was based on your previous response.
TheLasVegasMama - @pennjillette I should have added an "ohhh snap!" instead of the :) which would have better conveyed the point. Or not.
It all ended there because he didn't answer after that. Who knows what he thought, maybe that I was a just another member of the hoi polloi. I kind of wished that he understood what I said, but then the other part of me took over - the part of me that is just plain sad for him that he has not opened himself up to God yet. And I say "yet", because through Him all things are possible - even the conversion of confirmed atheists. I skimmed through some of his other Tweet responses to other followers and realized that he has a very uninformed notion of what "religious" means, and what "religious people" are.
We should all be praying for him to open himself up, and for the Lord to soften his heart.
pennjillette - I guess the pope believes - the best defense is a good offense. This sure is offensive, wrong, and very desperate http://tinyurl.com/2uzfly7
pennjillette - The pope compares atheists to Nazis? Lucy, you gotta lot of 'splaining to do! http://bit.ly/aQv2QY
To which I had to respond and defend our Holy Father! If you read the article attached to his link, you can see what the real message is. So I said:
TheLasVegasMama-@pennjillette I thought u were a critical thinker, but u r deliberately misunderstanding. He said atheist EXTREMISM. That's not u, so chill
And to my great surprise, he actually responded. Here is the exchange that followed.
pennjillette - @TheLasVegasMama - I have no problem with extremism, it's the ideas and actions that matter.
TheLasVegasMama - @pennjillette Rite. Idea of no God=xtrme action of genocide. 1 DOES NOT always follow the other, but it CAN-thats the point the pope made.
pennjillette - @TheLasVegasMama - he could have used some communists as examples, they really were atheists.
(Let me point out here that I thought it was interesting that he was not disagreeing with what I said but that he actually brought up yet another example of how evil atheists can be, so I thought it would be ironic to point out how often atheists perform evil deeds. So tongue in cheek, I responded with the following)
TheLasVegasMama - @pennjillette Agreed, history does give us numerous athiest examples to choose from. :)
But he totally missed it, and who knows what he thought about what the smiley face meant.
pennjillette - @TheLasVegasMama - why would you smile after that? Atheism without freedom has been terrible, but why the emoticon? That sums it up
TheLasVegasMama - @pennjillette b/c though its true, I was conveying a tongue in cheek tone. Why does the emoticon bother you?
TheLasVegasMama - @pennjillette BTW its probably too hard to explain here why tongue in cheek at that moment, but it was based on your previous response.
TheLasVegasMama - @pennjillette I should have added an "ohhh snap!" instead of the :) which would have better conveyed the point. Or not.
It all ended there because he didn't answer after that. Who knows what he thought, maybe that I was a just another member of the hoi polloi. I kind of wished that he understood what I said, but then the other part of me took over - the part of me that is just plain sad for him that he has not opened himself up to God yet. And I say "yet", because through Him all things are possible - even the conversion of confirmed atheists. I skimmed through some of his other Tweet responses to other followers and realized that he has a very uninformed notion of what "religious" means, and what "religious people" are.
We should all be praying for him to open himself up, and for the Lord to soften his heart.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Vegas vs. L.A.
I was down in L.A. this week, and as we were driving back into Las Vegas this morning I saw a sign for a club at the Encore. Its called "Surrender":
I am sure you can see the snake and the apple. Surrender to sin, and to the devil? No thank you. When you believe that the devil exists and can see his influence in mankind, this kind of lure is not an innocuous marketing campaign, its a personal invitation from Beelzebub himself.
Yesterday I went to a Traditional Latin Mass... with Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony, incense, bells, a cadre of altar boys that executed with almost military precision - the whole nine yards. I left feeling elated, like I really had tasted Heaven, and the earth had fallen away from me. I always feel that way after a TLM. I wish we had something similar in Vegas, but as it stands we bately have a Mass celebrated without liturgical abuse.
That is one thing I love about L.A. They have a TLM! That, and my family is there. If not for the enormity of the city, the constant driving, the smog, and the traffic, I would be more amenable to moving. My family is asking that we move there, but I am torn because I enjoy my life here.
Besides, living in Sin City serves as a constant reminder that the Evil Beast wants you for his own - and you guard yourself accordingly. In some ways L.A. is more dangerous because sin is subtle and hidden. But again - they have the TLM!! So its a tough thing to decide upon. Besides, it would all be contingent of Phillip finding a job there so for now that is the biggest obstacle.
I am sure you can see the snake and the apple. Surrender to sin, and to the devil? No thank you. When you believe that the devil exists and can see his influence in mankind, this kind of lure is not an innocuous marketing campaign, its a personal invitation from Beelzebub himself.
Yesterday I went to a Traditional Latin Mass... with Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony, incense, bells, a cadre of altar boys that executed with almost military precision - the whole nine yards. I left feeling elated, like I really had tasted Heaven, and the earth had fallen away from me. I always feel that way after a TLM. I wish we had something similar in Vegas, but as it stands we bately have a Mass celebrated without liturgical abuse.
That is one thing I love about L.A. They have a TLM! That, and my family is there. If not for the enormity of the city, the constant driving, the smog, and the traffic, I would be more amenable to moving. My family is asking that we move there, but I am torn because I enjoy my life here.
Besides, living in Sin City serves as a constant reminder that the Evil Beast wants you for his own - and you guard yourself accordingly. In some ways L.A. is more dangerous because sin is subtle and hidden. But again - they have the TLM!! So its a tough thing to decide upon. Besides, it would all be contingent of Phillip finding a job there so for now that is the biggest obstacle.
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