Got the Blues

When I became a parent, it changed me in many ways. I have learned about an entirely new level of selflessness, I have grown in my faith, I have felt an indescribable joy greater than I ever thought possible.

But one change has occurred that completely blindsided me. Never in my wildest dreams could I have seen this coming! You may find it hard (nay, impossible!) to believe, and yet, it's true.

I...don't...mind...Blues Clues.

Blues Clues. The kids television program about a little blue dog and her owner, Steve. Ever seen it? Ever laughed at it? Ever made fun of it mercilessly? Yes, yes, and yes for me. It came out around the time that my brothers and I were too cool for kids shows, and my dad had a very impressive Steve impersonation. Ask him about it sometime, I'm sure he'd indulge you! (right, Dad?)


So my entire experience with this show until now has consisted of mocking, sneering, laughing and pointing. Then we got Netflix. Under the kids 2-4 section of "Instant Watch" shows, up pops an adorable little blue dog. "I wanna watch that one!" says Max. Sigh. "Ok, Max, anything for you."

And honestly, it's not too bad! It teaches problem solving, drawing, music, puzzles of all kinds, and I actually don't cringe when I watch it. Ok, Steve is still a little over the top. (a little?) But now that I have a three year old, I realize how much he appreciates the over-the-top acting.

As is Max's way, as soon as we were done watching the show he wanted to play Blues Clues himself. So I came up with this fabulously genius idea to bring our game to the grocery store! We made a little notebook for our clues, then I told Blue (Max) that the puzzle we were trying to solve was "What's for dinner?"

We went to the store and I pointed out the three clues as I found them: tortillas, enchilada sauce and ground beef. We drew a picture of each clue in the notebook with a special red crayon before we put them in our cart. Then we puzzled and puzzled until we came up with the answer. Enchiladas!

It turned out to be a great way to keep Max occupied at the store, and Lucian did his part by chewing on the red crayon until we needed it. I never thought I'd say this, but... Thanks, Steve.

Beatification Bash

JP2, We love you!

For many of my friends and myself, Pope John Paul II was a life-changing figure in our spiritual development as young Catholics. First, he was the only Pope we ever knew, having been chosen before we were born. But second and more importantly, he lived his faith fearlessly and absolutely, calling every one of us to do the same. He was famous for exhorting the Catholic youth of the world to "Be not afraid!"

So it was with enormous joy and excitement that we gathered yesterday to celebrate the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Beatification is the second of three steps in the process of being named a saint in the Catholic church, and we can now refer to our late Holy Father as Blessed John Paul II!

In honor of the occasion, we invited our friends over for a party to celebrate the formal recognition of the man we already knew was a saint. We feasted on brunch food, sweets, and an amazing Pope John Paul cake courtesy of the Cahill family.




Then while the kids ran wild around the house, the adults engaged in an intense game of Pontifical Pursuit! (hat tip to John for the game title...) Men were pitted against women in this Papal version of Jeopardy to answer trivia questions about the newly Blessed pope. I went into the game expecting a civil, respectful test of knowledge, but boy was I in for it! These people are crazy competitive! It was a blast.



As I was the host of the game, I can say completely impartially that the women TOTALLY CREAMED the men! Well, in all honesty, it was pretty close until Final Jeopardy: the men wagered it all, the women were more conservative... and they both got the question wrong. Not exactly a stand-up-and-cheer ending, but a win for the women nonetheless. Go Team Vaticana!

Since it was Divine Mercy Sunday, and Blessed JPII had a special devotion to Jesus' Divine Mercy, we ended the party by praying together the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I think it was the perfect way to end a celebration of the holy, humble, Blessed John Paul II. (Pray for us!)





And now, here's your chance to play a round of Pontifical Pursuit! I've picked out a few of my favorite questions, and you'll have the chance to win... um... my undying love and affection? Leave a comment with your answers, and you CAN'T PLAY if you were at the party!

1. This Italian doctor and mother, beatified by Pope John Paul II, chose to save the life of her unborn child at the risk of her own life.

2. To the closest whole number, how many trips to the moon and back could Pope John Paul have taken with the number of miles he traveled as Pope?

3. How many saints did Pope John Paul beatify: 200, 700, 1300, 2100?

4. What Latin phrase did Pope John Paul use to describe his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary?

5. Name six languages Pope John Paul II could speak fluently?

6. What was Pope John Paul’s favorite movie?

7. Which one of these four items does Vatican City make on its own for the Vatican household: Beer, Honey, Perfume, Butter?

He Is Risen!

"Just as the sun’s rays in springtime cause the buds on the branches of the trees to sprout and open up, so the radiance that streams forth from Christ’s resurrection gives strength and meaning to every human hope, to every expectation, wish and plan." -Pope Benedict XVI Easter Message

What a beautiful Easter celebration we had this year! If only we had the ability to be in many places at once so we could have spent the holiday with everyone we love, it would have been the perfect day. (Liam, we were thinking of you!! But we'll see you really soon!) I know I'm a week late on posting these pictures, but time just got away from me. I hope they were worth the wait!

The kids woke up and got dressed as soon as they scarfed down breakfast- then outside we all tumbled for an Easter basket hunt! Louie was a sight to see when he discovered the contents of his Easter eggs; I don't think we could have pried them from his hands as he opened one after another, stuffing his face with jelly beans and M&M's.

Max quickly located his basket in the top of his jungle gym. I think we could have left the two of them alone with their spoils for the rest of the day and they would have been perfectly happy. But the fun was just beginning!

After the hunt, we made our way down to Grandma and Grandpa's house, where the kids were greeted by Grandparents, Great Grandparents, more sweets and an Easter Egg hunt! They had a great time hunting down their eggs in the backyard while we basked in the sun on a gorgeous April day.

Then the rest of the family began to show up and we feasted until we were absolutely stuffed. Do you want the menu? I thought so.

Roast Turkey
Glazed Ham
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Scalloped Corn
Green Beans
Walnut Craisin Salad
Dinner Rolls
(did I forget anything?)

And for dessert: Strawberry Cheesecake and Apple Pie! (I didn't even get to the apple pie, I was so over-full... but nothing can keep me away from a cheesecake!)

While we digested, we played various games- Buck Euchre for some, Telephone Pictionary for others, Couch Basketball for the rest (ever played that one? It involves sitting on the couch and watching basketball on TV. Very strenuous.)

As the food/sugar comas began to set in, people started to clear out and head home to nap. The kids were wired and going strong, but I could barely keep my eyes open. We were the last to leave, and thankfully the boys' sugar buzz wore off by the time we got home so we could all crash for the night.

Happy Easter to all! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Anticipation

Do you know the legend of the first Easter Egg? The story goes that after the Resurrection, Mary Magdalene went to the Roman Emperor to proclaim the risen Christ. She brought an egg as a symbol of the resurrection: the hard outer shell gives way to new life within, just as the stone in front of the tomb gave way to Jesus risen from the dead.


The emperor regarded her as a fool and said, "No more could a person rise from the dead than that egg you are holding could turn red." At that moment, the egg in Mary's hand turned red!


On Saturday, we celebrated the Easter Vigil with egg dying and Chinese takeout with my parents. Max had a great time coloring eggs, especially plopping them into the cups of colored water... we had a few casualties because of his overenthusiasm, but overall he was very careful.


The Easter Vigil Mass didn't start until 8:00, so our plan was to bring Louie in his jammies so that he could sleep through it. Ha ha. The kid never closed his eyes, but even though he was exhausted, he was in a good mood and quiet for the nearly three hours we were there. Thank you Lord! And thank you, Mom, for carrying him around for a good chunk of the service- he's no light load!


The Mass began with the lighting of the new fire and the procession with the Easter candle. Paul took Max outside to watch the fire being lit, and he got to carry his very own lit candle into church. I watched for them to come into the church, waiting, waiting, until finally- the very last ones to enter- they came walking slowly down the aisle. The sight nearly took my breath away! My little baby boy suddenly looked all grown up in his suit, in a state of total concentration that I've never seen before. He carried the candle to our pew and got to light the candles of Grandma and Grandpa before being relieved of his burden. I think he was proud and terrified to be holding actual fire! (I was nothing but proud of him)



Grandpa spent most of Mass with Max, bouncing between the potty, the gathering area, and the pew, but I found out afterward that he sat Max down for each of the readings and tried to explain it in words he would understand. The reading that peaked Max's interest the most? Pharaoh's chariots being drowned in the Red Sea. "What's a chariot? Is it like a boat? Does it fly? Who rides a chariot? Does it swim? Is it like a horse?" Kudos to Grandpa for fielding those questions!

We all left feeling tired but joyful. Alleluia, Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed.

Max at Mass, Lenten Edition

The triduum liturgies are the most solemn of the Church year, and they all have plenty of long stretches of silence. Very prayerful and beautiful, unless you have two children under four who don't yet have the word "silence" in their list of vocabulary words. Then these solemn liturgies become one long exercise in patience and humility (at least, they can be... not sure I succeeded)

Max had some major volume issues at the Holy Thursday Mass. Thankfully, most of his outbursts were not severely embarrassing, but of course he chose the best (i.e. quietest) times of Mass to express himself... But I'll get to those details later.

Lucian was just one big squirm ball. I ended up taking him out of church during the Gospel, and he spent the rest of the Liturgy of the Word literally running from end to end of the gathering space. "Yeah, Mom," he seemed to be saying to me, "You bring me to a two-hour Mass that doesn't even start until 7:00, and you expected things to be different?" No, no... I just hoped...

In the middle of the homily, I suddenly saw Paul carrying a very unhappy Max out of the chuch for a timeout. He hauled him around the corner to a bench, then came back to try to hear part of Fr. Creagan's message. Suddenly, the hallway lights started flicking on and off. Hmm, wonder who that could be? So Max got moved to a bench even farther down the hallway, out of reach of all light switches.

But pretty soon, a little girl went walking down the hallway (probably to the bathroom or something else harmless) and Paul saw Max start to talk to her. As he got closer, he could hear our poor, tortured son saying, "Help me. Help..me. Help...me." Oh. my. goodness.

After awhile, we all ended up back in the church- Lucian had settled down, and Max was ready to give it another shot. Still a little unclear about the meaning of "Whisper", Max set about making friends with the people in the pews surrounding us. "Are you sort of nice?" he asked to the man directly behind him. Thankfully, the man answered in the affirmative. We don't want any sort of mean people around us during church, now do we?

Then during the Sign of Peace, Max took it upon himself to shake hands with everyone in his reach and proclaim a loud "Peace be WITH YOU!" to each of them, followed at the end by a resounding "Peace, PEACE to EVERYONE!!" That one drew some chuckles.

At this point, we were nearing the end of the Mass, when everything is quiet and there is a procession to carry the Eucharist to the chapel. Paul preempted some possible Lucian issues during the silent moments and decided to bring him out until the end of Mass, so I stayed with Max and did the best I could...

As I explained to him that the procession was to bring Jesus to the chapel, Max thought for a moment and asked, "Is Fr. Creagan Jesus?" Well, no, not exactly... I attempted to explain that Jesus was in the "Holy Bread" (Max's term for the consecrated Hosts) that we receive at Communion. "No, Fr. Creagan IS Jesus!" he argued, to the amusement of the poor souls trying to pray around us. I left it at that and decided we would discuss more later.


As the procession left the church, Max started to get very wiggly. He tried to escape a few times, and I barely got my hands on him to keep him in the pew. He took a break from wiggling long enough to tell me emphatically, "I want to go to the dance party!" Then there was no stopping him, so I gathered all of our jackets, Mass bag, purse, baby bottle, blankie, and hightailed it after him before he could get too far away. He beelined it directly to the chapel and I managed to catch him just before he ran in and began his own dance party right in front of Jesus, three priests, a deacon, the entire choir, and half of the congregation.

Whew.

The rest of the Triduum liturgies were much, MUCH easier than Holy Thursday, and Easter was absolutely wonderful. But I'll have to save those stories for another day. For now, I'll leave you giggling and sighing about how glad you are that it wasn't YOU at Holy Thursday Mass with my sons.

Lord Have Mercy

My friend Angela at Cahill Chaos took this beautiful photo on Palm Sunday, and I just had to share it with everyone. Today is Good Friday, the day that we remember the death of our Lord... and I don't really have any profound words to share that couldn't be summmed up with one look at this picture.

On Palm Sunday, we celebrated the return of Jesus into Jerusalem. He was greeted by crowds of cheering people who lay palm branches on his path. He was treated like a king. Less than a week later, that same crowd was calling for His execution.

I know that when we got home from Palm Sunday Mass, I stuck our palms behind the crucifix in our bedroom like I do every year. But it wasn't until seeing this picture that I was struck by the juxtaposition of these two symbols. In one glance, I can see the entirety of Holy Week: how quick we are to throw down our palms and take up the cry, "Crucify Him!"

But the Lord knows our weakness and loves us just the same. Our God is merciful.

I am so thankful.

Today begins the Divine Mercy Novena; if anyone would like to join me in praying it, the daily prayers can be found many places including here. It concludes on Divine Mercy Sunday, May 1... also the day of Pope John Paul II's beatification!

Have a blessed, prayerful Good Friday.

Spring Cleaning

Lent: a time to clean up my interior mess...

Holy Week is here, and I look back and wonder... where has Lent gone? Usually I feel as though the season of Lent drags on and on, and I spend my time waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel. Don't get me wrong, I really do love Lent- it's a time to reflect on God's work in my life, and how well (or poorly) I've been responding to Him. It's a time to join our tiny little sacrifices to Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross in hopes that we can understand even in the smallest way what a great Gift our Savior is.

But to be honest, I generally spend less time meditating on the Cross and more time meditating on how many days are left until I can eat my chocolate again. I think that's what was different about this year. In addition to the usual "giving something up", I decided to make it a point to take some serious steps to kick my prayer life into gear. And through these whirlwind forty days, I've been getting hit over the head with three different themes again and again and again and again.

The first is humility. Book club women, you can probably guess where this one came from! There is not a page in St. Teresa's Interior Castle that doesn't deal with the virtue of humility. Literally everything hinges on the understanding that without God, we can do nothing. Really, nothing. St. Teresa doesn't mince words when it comes to this one, and as hard as it is to hear, it's true that nothing good I've ever done has come from my own power.

The second is penance. I have been reminded that even though everything is in God's hands, He still welcomes my small gifts, my small sacrifices, whatever I am able to offer Him. Every time I take a hard situation and offer the hardship as a gift to Him, He takes it and multiplies it a trillion-fold and pours it right back out onto us. I should be welcoming every little injustice, every sideways glance, every papercut as an opportunity to suffer with Christ Crucified for the sake of the world.

The third, and my favorite to think about, is mercy. I said before that I am learning that without God I can do nothing. But the important counterpoint is that with God I can do EVERYTHING! Not just some things or most things, but EVERYTHING. Because of His great mercy, we have become His daughters and sons- all we have to do is say "yes" every day to the gift He offers us.

So this week is Holy Week already, but instead of thinking about Lent coming to an end- back to the daily grind- I have decided to take my Lenten resolutions into the Easter season and beyond. I don't know if the clarity I have right now will last, but I'm planning to keep the windows of my soul squeaky-clean as long as I can!