A Wonderful Variation on Striped Sock Yarn

Swinging by Jimmy Beans Wool to pick up another ball of Bunny Hop to finish out my first-ever Christmas-deadline knitting, I found these yarns. Yes, I fell prey to picking out one of the Saturn variety to try out. My first stashing, y'all. I don't know whether to laugh or cry!

Jupiter Natur Color

Regia Galaxy Jupiter has swirls and pools of colour in shades inspired by the patterns of Jupiter's clouds.

Regia Galaxy Saturn Janus

Each of the colorways seems to be named after the moons of Saturn and reflect their spirals and ellipses.

Introverts and Extraverts: The Light Bulb Goes On

Then a few years ago Dr. Richard D. Grant taught me the difference between introverts and extraverts.

Introversion and extraversion don't refer to shyness and boldness. They refer only to how you charge your emotional batteries. Introverts gain energy from internal contemplation, centering, and quiet time. Extraverts gain energy from external people, places, and things.

...

Books are written for introverts. Audiobooks are recorded for extraverts.

Introverts rarely say what they are thinking.
They say only what they have thought. Introverts think to talk.

Extraverts talk to think.

This was a very enlightening way for me to consider the differences between these two personality types. I will be copying part of this into my quote journal as a reminder. Go read ... or listen to ... Roy H. Williams' Monday Morning Memo here.

Twilight Before Christmas

Well, that didn't take long ... and from reading Twilight in 15 Minutes, I have a feeling this is probably about as good as the move.

I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart ...

We all know, I'm not always happy. I know full well that my crosses are so much lighter than those of others and I am grateful for it. Generally, like most people, I soldier on in my own little arena of struggles, and do not dwell on them too much. This is possible because of the joy and optimism that growing closer to God has brought me.

As I said, we know it is not possible to always be happy. Last week the convergence of a number of factors hit me in just the wrong way at the wrong time and I was overcome with sorrow. In fact, I remember a distinctly odd moment of sending a garbled reassurance to Jesus that it wasn't that I lacked faith or trust but I had to get through this moment first ... right before I bent over the kitchen sink and sobbed for a while. I realize that Jesus needs no such reassurance. I was actually clarifying things for myself while giving in to emotional distress.

However, perhaps because of that same garbled emergency message, I had the experience of receiving consolation while giving in to sorrow. In my mind's eye, there was an arm round my shoulders gently patting me, a head tilted against my own, and a murmuring "There, there, Jules. It's ok... ." Notice there were no promises of making everything ok, of me getting to sit back and let someone else take up the problems. I didn't expect that. I also didn't expect such clear consolation and sharing of my moment either, however.

After a good cry cleared my system, I was able to move on through my day. It wasn't miraculously filled with joy. Actually, I was not in the best of moods. However, I was able to overcome the impulse to snap at people, to ignore what I didn't want to face, and to avoid shutting myself off from the world. In short, I was given the grace I needed to fight my battle of the moment. It was enough. By the afternoon I had regained much of my usual optimism.

In the week that followed, the memory of that consolation would occasionally float into my mind and it was warming. I have never had such a clear indicator of "not walking alone." Usually a memory of sorrow does not bring joy but this memory did. The difference was that Jesus was there with me.

Which all brings me to the point that yesterday was Gaudete Sunday, which reminds us to rejoice always in all situations. That memory flooded through me as I was in front of the tabernacle during Mass and it was a cryative time (crying and sensitive ... Rose's term). And joyful.

Yesterday's readings from In Conversation with God just underscored my experience even more.

The world's happiness is a poor and transitory thing. The Christian's happiness is profound and can exist in the midst of difficulties. It is compatible with pain, with illness, with failures and contradictions. our Lord has promised: Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. (John 16:22) Unless we separate ourselves from its source, nothing and nobody can take away this joyful peace.

To have the certainty that God is our Father and wants all that is best for us gives us a serene and joyful confidence even in the face, sometimes, of unexpected hardships. In those moments which a man without faith would consider to be meaningless and deadly blows of fate, the Christian discovers God, and with Him a much greater good than he seems to have lost. How many obstacles vanish, when in our hearts we place ourselves next to this God of ours, who never abandons us! Jesus' love for his own, for the sick and for the lame is renewed, expressed by different sufferers in different ways. "What's the matter?" he asks; and we reply, "Its my ..." At once there is light, or at least the acceptance of his will, and inner peace. (J. Escriva, Friends of God, 249)

We will have difficulties, as everyone always has, but whether they are great or small these contradictions will never be able to destroy our happiness. We have to expect the setback as part and parcel of ordinary life, and we cannot put off being happy until some impossible time arrives in which there are no contradictions, temptations, or sorrows. What is more, we should have no opportunities at all for growing in virtue if we had no obstacles to overcome.

We need a firm foundation for our happiness. It cannot depend exclusively on changeable circumstances like good news, good health, peace and quiet, enough money to bring up the family comfortably and having all the material possessions we would like. All these things are good in themselves if they do not separate us from God, but they are unable to provide us with real happiness.

Our Lord asks us to be happy always. Let each man take care how he builds. For no other foundation can anyone lay other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 3:11) Only he can be the support of our whole life. There is no sorrow which he cannot alleviate: Do not fear, only believe, he says to us. (Luke 8:50) He knows everything which is going to happen in our lives, including those things that will result from our stupidity and lack of sanctity. But he has the remedy for them all.

Very often, as we are doing now in this time of prayer, we shall have to come to him in the Tabernacle and have a conversation with him which is both serious and intimate. And we shall need to lay bare our soul in Confession, and in personal spiritual direction. There we shall find the source of happiness; and our gratitude will show itself in greater faith, in an ever-increasing hope which banishes all sadness, and in our care for other people. For yet a little, just a very little while, and He that is to come will come, and shall not delay; (Heb 10:37) and with him come peace and joy; with Jesus we find meaning in our life.

This is the cause of our joy. This is what we long to share with others who have not yet found Jesus. "Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; rejoice, again I say, rejoice."

An Eyewitness Account from Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

These young sisters dressed as
indigenas peregrinas (Indian pilgrims)
for el Día de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe,
celebrated every December 12.

Read this wonderful account at Mexico Cooks! of the feast day celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe right where Juan Diego met Our Lady.

Note to self ...

... when one has been in the habit of always sending Halloween cards to college-bound children's friends, one must not think that just because they are juniors that they will not miss those cards. This evidently results in said child receiving many queries about missing cards.

I still love y'all ... and I am not going to make that same mistake at Valentine's!

Another Reason to Visit Pittsburgh

I love strolling through cemeteries no matter the size but monuments like this one in the Allegheny Cemetery just call out to me. Who would have thought that there would be so many interesting memorials there? Of course, in the summer, it would be that much more inviting for lingering and speculating upon why this gentleman feels he must go on working even now.

Accepting Nominations - Catholic New Media and Innovation Awards

Who is the best in Catholic New Media? Where are the innovators in Catholic evangelization? I want the world to know. So this year I am rolling out the first annual Catholic New Media and Innovation Awards. The purpose is to find and highlight the best in Catholic New Media and acknowledge those using innovate ways to evangelize the faith.

This is something I have wanted to do for some time now. It is my hope that this informal award will bring attention to those working tirelessly and unselfishly to promote the good works of the Catholic Church and share the gifts of our faith.

Here are the rules:

1. Open Nominations
2. There are no specific categories. I prefer to keep the nomination field broad and defined only to new media and innovation. It will be fun to see what suggestions people send to us.
3. Jury Panel = me. The awards are subjective but based on my experience, expertise and input from those who are kind enough to send me their thoughts.
4. Winning entries will be posted on this blog and will receive a glowing email with congratulations from yours truly. Wow!

OK, so there's no red carpet, banquet, or celebrities fawning over the winners. Just me and my platform to share the good works of generous people. I'll probably announce the winners on a Catholic radio program or perhaps EWTN or Catholic TV if they'll have me. First things first. Send me your nominations. I promise to thoroughly review them and announce the winners in early January.

I set up a special email account for nominations and related correspondence. Please send you suggestions and comments to: awards (at) lovetobecatholic (dot)com

Looking forward to hearing from you.

I got this via email, but you can check it out here also. This will be interesting.

Worth a Thousand Words

Ball Point Pen: Study for New Mother by Belinda Del Pesco

Dignitas Personae, the Vatican's New Instruction on Bioethics

Find it here.

That link should take you to the English translation. If it does not, simply scroll down.

Or you can read it LifeSite.

Among the topics covered in the instruction are in vitro fertilization, cloning and stem cell research. I am printing this out and will read it with much interest.

John Allen has a summary and some commentary.

You Spell It Pittsburg. I Spell It Pittsburgh.

Actually I tend to spell it both ways. Then I am embarrassed for spelling it whichever other way I did before.

Now, I find that I am not the only one with Pittsburgh spelling confusion.

Father Pitt has the whole story.

Why have I been spelling Pittsburgh at all?

That, dear readers, is something which I shall reveal in the very near future.

Just What I've Been Wanting for Christmas!

Advertisement

From Dr. Boli's Celebrated Magazine where it is a toss up as to which is funnier, the advertisements or the Letters to the Editor.

Rest in Peace, Cardinal Dulles

We have received news from the New York Province of the Society of Jesus of the death of Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ, the dean of American theologians, and the first American Jesuit named a cardinal, has died this morning at the Jesuit infirmary at Fordham University.

RIP.

I received this email from Father James Martin just now. My first reaction ... "Oh no!" I had no idea of Cardinal Dulles' age or state of health. Looking at the photo in the linked article, I see that he is older than I imagined him from reading his excellent writing. He shall be greatly missed and I pray that his time in Purgatory is short and he is soon enjoying the Beatific Vision (a.k.a. Heaven).

Update: More personal reflections can be found on their blog.

Worth a Thousand Words

Moon Beam, Potawatomie Indian Maiden, 1909, found at Old Picture of the Day

We Read the Presidential Citizens Medal List With Interest This Year

We were interested in Erwin Morse and Jeffery L. Miller who are the founders of the Honor Flight Network. It transports veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to the senior veterans – World War II survivors, along with those other veterans who may be terminally ill.

Of course, everyone on the Presidental Citizens Medal list was worthy of interest but our special interest came because Tom did the Honor Flight website. So we're proud to have a part in this noble venture.

I also was pleased to see Gary Sinise on the list. I was very impressed with a radio interview I heard a while back where he talked about his ongoing efforts to supply Iraqi children with school supplies (and he's a Catholic convert ... so that just makes it better).

The Selfless Stranger and the Four Year Old Boy

Sounds like a Christmas story doesn't it? In a sense, it is the truest sort of Christmas story, the sort that Christ himself prompted.

Christopher Closeup has the story up on their podcast feed of Tisha Young, a woman who donated her kidney to a 4-year-old boy she didn’t even know, thereby saving his life – and Tami Gappa, the mother of the 4-year-old, talking about what that choice has meant to her family.

I happen to be a bit more attached to this story than most, though all their interviews are interesting (and now in iTunes! Woohoo!). A friend of mine knew of the Gappas story and it was her prayer request on Happy Catholic that brought the story to Tony Rossi's attention.

The Insights We Can Gain From Atheists

Author and Rolling Stone journalist Randall Sullivan's personal experiences of the supposed apparition site at Medjugorje. The best writing I've encountered on spiritual themes. Hugely entertaining. Occasionally infuriating. Impossible to pin down. Honest. Brave. Sullivan has that rare quality in a writer, the quality of the genuine. If only Christian writers could write like this. But that's the thing. When God uses an atheist, sometimes the atheist, after a genuine conversion, will reveal a light in our faith that the rest of us have never seen.

I've seen several people mention The Heelers Diaries lately, from whence comes the above insightful comment and recommendation of The Miracle Detective. Check out the complete list at the link.

It is horrifying to think that an image that had received so many prayers over the centuries could be so blithely destroyed. Then again, the Church could reply that works of religious art are intended to be not receptacles for prayer, but windows to a higher reality; that one prays through, not to, an image. A statue of Mary is not Mary, and maybe it's better to melt down the images from time to time before they turn into idols.

I am reminded that I reviewed The Miracle Detective long ago, as well as Virgin Trails which is about an atheist who nevertheless becomes interested in going on Marian pilgrimages. Heeler Diaries' observation applies to both books, as you might surmise from the above excerpt from Virgin Trails.

Both are books that earned a permanent place on my groaning bookshelves and which I need to reread. And, of course, both are recommended.

Sweet Deal for HC Readers from Aquinas and More Catholic Store

Because there are only two weeks left before Christmas, we'd like to help make the rest of your Christmas shopping easier by giving you and your readers a coupon for free priority shipping on orders over $55 at our store.

Just enter the code BloggerSpecial into the coupon field during checkout.

In order to ensure delivery by Christmas, we're encouraging our customers to place their orders by Thursday, December 18 at the latest if they want priority shipping (this date is only applicable to in-stock items). Don't wait too long to get great Catholic gifts for everyone on your list!

Have a blessed Advent!

Thanks y'all!

Worth a Thousand Words

False Barbed-Wire taken by DL Ennis of Visual Thoughts

DL says, "Actually these are seed heads on an ornamental grass…in my garden." Nature. So amazing. Especially when revealed by an excellent photographer.

Daybook ... HC style

Cooking: Curried Beef with Potatoes and Peas ... so good I made it twice in the last two weeks. Next up will be Turkey Bone Gumbo that Sara Roahen kindly sent me the recipe for. I'm having to break it up into steps as I never have all the hours in one day that a true gumbo needs.

Talking: Serve the People: a Stir-Fried Journey Through China ... the lagniappe offered over at Forgotten Classics.

Reading:

• Just finished the above-mentioned Serve the People.
• Also finished Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines. It's like someone took the Summa Mamas and got them to knit and talk and write it all down, with simple patterns. Look for a little lagniappe to be posted over at Forgotten Classic in the near future from this book.
  
• Getting ready to dive into Eating India.
  
• Thoroughly enjoying rereading A Jesuit Off Broadway for our Catholic women's book club.
  
• Also getting so much from Mother Teresa's Secret Fire ... honestly I could practically excerpt every page here. Except then they wouldn't be excerpts would they?

Listening: it's a toss-up.

• Christmas music, especially the newly purchased Tony Bennett's "A Swingin' Christmas." iTunes had a song from it as last week's free download and it was pretty good. Tony's no Dino, but good enough and Count Basie's band backing him up sealed the deal. Plus look at that cover. So good in so many ways.
  
  
  
• The January Dancer by Michael Flynn. The guy knows how to tell space opera, y'all ... AND how to examine story telling while telling a story. So far - brilliant.
• The Catholic Foodie ... yes, you read that right. Catholicism and Food. Two of my favorite things ... in a podcast from Jeff Young. He's only on episode two but I'm likin' it so far. Also, he has some good stuff on his blog. The story about the baked potatoes cracked me up! Here's a tip from James Beard that has never sent me wrong ... one hour at 450 degrees, Jeff. Not 350.
  

Watching: finally saw Hellboy. Entertaining but it was no Pan's Labyrinth. I liked the Father and Son stuff though and the fact that Hellboy's free will was tied to the fact that "Son" was his truest identification with the person who truly loved him for who he was (that would be the Father, y'all). I'll watch Hellboy II ... when the library has it!

ALSO watched Craig Ferguson from Monday night. It was his first night back after attending his mother's funeral in Scotland and he spent the show talking about her. As he told the camera, he's always tried to be honest and it didn't feel right to be "on" when he didn't feel it. It was a combination of humor, reminiscence, and a son's love for his mother. Not the usual late night fare and we really appreciated his honesty. Which is why we watch him in the first place ... well, and the fact that his honesty usually is funny.

Congratulating: Chase Bank. Yes, our bank. Either we have the friendliest, most helpful Chase branch in the U.S. or they have radically improved banking customer service above the competition. Stopped in this morning to try to unsnarl a knotted tangle created by a family member (who shall remain unnamed) who is handling household expenses for the first time. Turns out it was not all their fault as the bank hadn't linked checking to the promised overdraft protection. Chase was so helpful and we looked through all our other accounts as well for any problems. And banking lessons will continue in our home when all gather for the holidays. Doesn't that sound like so much fun? (ha!)

Knitting: I never have been one of those people who had lots of projects "on the needles." Until now. Knitting Rose's afghan, I also cast on a simple hoodie for Hannah to provide something simple when my brain couldn't handle complications. Then I found I really missed knitting socks, so cast on one that I am halfway through because then ... talking to my mother, who always has scoffed at the idea of knitting socks, she mentioned that she was waiting for that pair of socks I said that I'd knit to keep her feet warm on winter nights. SCREEEECH to a halt with all else, order yarn ASAP, and start knitting like the wind. Yes. The. Wind. Almost done with the leg of the second sock. Whew! Then I have to work my way back to finishing some of these other projects!