Journeys of a Catholic Poster Girl

Watch this.

It is required Lenten viewing at least once a Lenten season. Tonight’s as good a night as any.
The soundtrack is also excellent.

“Through Heaven’s Eyes”–Stephen Schwartz, The Prince of Egypt

A single thread in a tapestry
Though its color brightly shines,
Can never see its purpose
In the pattern of the grand design.

And the stone that sits on the very top
Of the mountain’s mighty face
Doesn’t think it’s more important
Than the stones that form the base

So how can you see what your life is worth, or where your value lies?
You can never see through the eyes of man…
You must look at your life
Look at your life through Heaven’s eyes.

A lake of gold in a desert sand
Is less than a cool, fresh spring.
And to one lost sheep, a shepherd boy
Is greater than the richest king.

If a man lose everything he owns,
Has he truly lost his worth?
Or is it the beginning
Of a new and brighter birth?

So how can you measure the worth of a man
In wealth, or strength or size?
In how much he gained, or how much he gave?
The answer will come
The answer will come to him who tries
To look at his life through Heaven’s eyes…

And that’s why we share all we have with you,
Though there’s little to be found.
When all you’ve got is nothing, there’s a lot to go around.

No life can escape being blown about
By the winds of change or chance
And though you’ll never know all the steps
You must learn to join the dance.
You must learn to join the dance…
So how do you judge what a man is worth
By what he builds or buys?
You can never see with your eyes on earth
Look through Heaven’s eyes!
Look at your life
Look at your life
Look at your life through Heaven’s eyes!

From Magnificat (with some of my own additions):

Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was born on August 28, 1774, in New york City, to a wealth and distinguished Episcopalian family. She was baptized in the Episcopal faith and was a faithful adherent to the Episcopal Church of England. Her mother died when she was a child and her father was a physician. In 1794, Elizabeth married businessman William Seton, and they raised five children in New York City. Her husband suffered a catastrophic business failure which forced the family to sell their home and depend on the kindness of relatives. William contracted tuberculosis and Elizabeth and Anna, one of their daughters, accompanied him to Leghorn, Italy, where he sought a cure. Sadly, he died there, and Elizabeth and Anna went to live for a time with the Felicci family, wealthy Italians who were friends of William’s. Impressed by their deep faith, Elizabeth decided to convert to Catholicsm upon her return to America. She made her professsion of faith in 1805, much to the displeasure of her family. At the behest of Bishop John Carroll, Elizabeth established the her Catholic school in Balitmore in 1808, which was open to all students regardless of their family’s ability in pay. In 1809 she founded the Daughters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Her two boys were educated at Mount St. Mary’s and joined the American navy. Elizabeth lost two of her daughters, Anna and Rebecca, to tuberculosis. Her daughter Katherine survived. Her community spread to New York state, and as far as St. Louis, before she died on January 4, 1821. She was declared a Saint (the first American-born) by Pope Paul VI on September 14, 1975.

From St. Elizabeth’s writings:

O Father, the first rule of our dear Saviour’s life was to do your will. Let his will of the present moment be the first rule of our daily life and work, with no other desire but for its most full and complete accomplishment. Help us to follow it faithfully, so that doing what you wish we will be pleasing to you.

Lord Jesus, who was born for us in a stable, lived for us a life of pain and sorrow and died for us upon the cross; say for us in the hour of death, “Father, forgive,” and to your Mother, “behold your child.” Say to us, “This day you shall be with me in paradise.” Dear Saviour, leave us not, forsake us not. We thirst for you, Fountain of Living Water. Our days pass quickly along; soon all will be consummated for us. To your hands, we commend our spirits, not and forever. Amen.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is one of my favorite saints. I’ve seen the movie A Time for Miracles many times, and it helps butress my own feeling of vocation. In my ideal life, I would like to be her–married to a man she loved, children, a nun, a foundress, a teacher, etc. Her life was hard, I know. But still, she encompassed every part of a woman’s life in a truly unique way.

In grade school my parents took us to Emmitsburg to see St. Elizabeth’s home and school. You can still see the original school house she and the sisters used. St. Elizabeth is buried on the property, along with her children. It is a beautiful and peaceful place.

Some links:

On her life

Seton shrine in NYC (lower Manhattan)

The Emmitsburg Shrine (National shrine)

I seriously need to do a books/movies update, so here’s what you have to look forward to:

BOOKS

–Rediscovering Catholicsm

–Left to Tell

–The Choice

–The Gift

MOVIES

–Evening

–Knocked Up (Yes, it does belong on CPG–trust me!)

Excited yet? 

“My God, I choose all. I will not be a saint by halves.”

–St. Therese of Lisieux

St. Therese is my patron saint.

OK, so I’m not very original in my choices. She has been called the most popular saint of modern times, the “First Lieutenant” of Our Lady. Lots of people have been drawn to her and her “little way,” and I, as a fourteen year old considering saint options for Confirmation, was certainly not the first to feel this way.

But there are some nice parallels.

She entered the Carmel on my birthday–April 9. She died of TB–I was lucky enough not to have that fate, thank you. But, having had it (several times), I can relate to what she endured. She was about my age when she died. (I hope to outlive her. :))

If you perform a cursory study of her spirituality, it can seem very girly and soft and make it sound like Therese was a pretty simple girl, spiritually. It’s easy to imagine her life as a middle-class French girl, then moving into the convent, and it’s easy to think that she just sort of went along. It was easy for her to follow her “little way.”

But it wasn’t. She had long “dark nights,” attacks of scruples, a predisposition to depression. It was hard for her to be happy. And she got annoyed and irritated just like the rest of us. I find that comforting.

Her poetry is often enlightening, and L’historie d’ame (”Story of a Soul”) is invaluable. Theresian scholarship is deep, and it’s very easy to immerse yourself in the writings of, and about, this Doctor of the Church. Her Oblation to Merciful Love is particularly insightful.

So if you want to read more about her, try:

For kids (this is the book I read before my Confirmation)

A good primer

for family movie night (it’s very well done, and you can also find it at Target!)

For the house (I found a cheaper version at my diocesan bookstore)–this is the statue Therese kept in her family home, and that played a role in her miraculous healing when she was 11.
Also:

This is a great book about Celine, the sister Therese was closest to.

OK y’all who read Jane Austen books and never know when “Michaelmas” is?
It’s today. As in Sept. 29th, the feast of St. Michael (and Raphael and Gabriel, but given that St. Michael is sort of the one who beat Satan in battle, the day gets named after him :).
So when Mrs. Bennett tells Mr. Bingley that she heard “he’d meant to give the place up entirely by Michaelmas,” you now know what the heck she’s talking about.
Don’t worry. You’ll thank me later. Now go watch Pride and Prejudice.

And I guess since my middle name is Michele this might count as a feast/name day for me. I’m not sure when St. Emily’s feast day is, but St. Therese’s (my confirmation saint) is on Monday. Which is then followed on Oct. 2 by the rest of the Guardian Angels.

“None of that now, none of that…And you playing fingers in the holy water!”

–The Quiet Man

Running on fumes (and Target Swiss trail mix) here, but I have to post this one note about today’s Parish Council retreat.

Our theme this year is “preserving tradition, embracing change,” since we are celebrating our Parish’s 50th anniversary next August, but we have just received our first new pastor in twelve years, and we have a (relatively) new Pope and Bishop.  (The Bishop came the December after B XVI was elected.)

Anyway, one of our deacons came to our retreat today to discuss this topic, and he kept mentioning Fiddler on the Roof. This is funny for a few reasons. One, my senior year of high school, this was our musical. We must have watched the movie about a million times, I had friends in the chorus and the pit (Tiff did the bottle dance solo!) and on the crew. Fiddler had a huge presence in our lives. So whenever anyone says “Tradition” we immediately think of Tevye and dancing in the barn. (OK so that’s a different number, bear with me.)

Besides wanting to burst into song everytime Deacon John mentioned this, or said the word, I had been teasing Mike (the originator of the Best Quote Ever, see below) that he needed to watch Fiddler because he’d never seen it (the way AMC runs it, which is pretty constantly, I have to say this surprised me.). So as soon as we broke for lunch, I told Mike one of our first orders of business as a Council Executive Committee (I’m Secretary, he’s the President-elect) was to watch Fiddler. Because, really, you cannot appreciate the references until you’ve seen Topol dance around the barn and sing, or watched all of Anatevka get down to “Tradition.”

A take on them from Fr. Z:

We must all challenge ourselves to make each and every document of the Holy See our own, in some way appropriate to our vocations.

You have, I am sure, been deeply moved and edified by the new roadie document from the Card. Martino’s office.

To help you get your start in making the roadie doc your own, here are some suggestions from the Curt Jester.

Be serious, now.

The following are some of the highlights of the new document.

• If you are carjacked one mile, go with him two.
• If yor are hit, turn the other signal.
• Do not let your air bag become puffed up like the Pharisees
• Let not the sun go down on you road rage
• Carry your cross daily, or at least have one hanging from your rear view mirror.
• When you enter a freeway that is backed up, go and move to the lowest place and not try to merge into the front. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
• Do not talk about your Honda so that it can be said of you “That he did not say it of his own Accord.”
• Hydroplaning is not the same thing as walking on water, avoid it.
• Before Jesus performed the miracle at Cana, he appointed a designated driver.
• Do not say “Are we there yet”, but rather “It is good to be here.”

ME: But of course, as everyone knows, there are 15 commandments. Moses just dropped 5 on the way down from Sinai. (If you don’t get this, you need to rent History of the World Part 1. And I do mean NEED to.)

Last night I watched The Painted Veil, based on M. Somerset Maugham’s novel of the same name. The book’s protagonist is a 25 year old British woman, Kitty Fane, whose husband takes her to the interior of China in the 1930s to fight a cholera epidemic (and to punish her for the extramarital affair she had with one of the British consulates in Shang-hai–Hong Kong in the novel). As part of Kitty’s experiences there, she works with a small group of French nuns at their convent/orphanage/infirmary, which has been hit hard by the epidemic and the tidal wave of orphans it leaves behind. Mother Superior, played by Diana Rigg, is sort of a spiritual guide for Kitty, who opens her eyes to her life of selfishness and re-ignites her relationship with her husband. (Or gets it started, really, since it was essentially non-existent.)

While the nuns play a much bigger part in the novel than the movie, it was nice to see a positive potrayal of nuns for once in Hollywood, even though Mother Superior confesses to being a bit naive when she joined the order in France. In the book she is much more self-sacrificing and her role in Kitty’s conversion (so to speak) is much more active. In the film her relationship with Walter almost usurps that role. But seeing the lives of service and compassion these nuns have for their Chinese brethren is inspiring to watch, and I was glad to see a positive portrayal of convent life in the movies.