Baptized on Holy Ground

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I am officially a godmother! We recently returned from a weekend trip to Colorado where we gathered with friends and family to witness the baptism of our beautiful baby niece in an incredibly reverent and holy Catholic mass. Since the minute she was born, this little girl has been surrounded by grace. Her mother was very recently confessed at the time of her birth, ensuring that this baby was born from the womb of a woman in friendship with God. One of their very first outings as a family was to mass, a weekly ritual in which this sweet infant has been in regular attendance ever since. When we all met in Colorado for her celebration, it was clear that her entrance into the Catholic Church was also especially blessed. 

The baptism was held at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Christ the King Chapel in Denver, CO. This is one of two seminaries in the state of Colorado and complete with all the beauty one would expect to find on such holy ground. Entering this sacred space, my thoughts turned to all the holy men who had prayed here. In fact, it is said that the architect who designed the seminary was not a Catholic when he began, but after doing the research to ensure it was a liturgically-correct design, he was converted to the Church founded by Jesus Christ upon its completion. 

Saints rendered in exquisite stained glass silently watched the proceedings from beneath graceful stone arches and vaulted ceilings. Our niece was baptized in holy water before a stunning gold and marble altar. Here, in this sacred space where priests are made, one baby girl was welcomed into the Lord’s protection in a full baptism mass. This singular ceremony was a tremendous gift from the presiding priest, a formator at the seminary. He is also  the man who had walked my sister and her husband through RCIA and welcomed them into the Church and joined them together in holy matrimony just two years  ago. Now, all three of them met again to celebrate the fruit of that conversion and union. 

For her part, our sweet little niece dozed soundly in her mother’s arms throughout the entire mass, perfectly at ease in the Lord’s house. She didn’t even make a peep when the cool holy water of baptism was poured over her tiny head, as if somehow conscious of the Lord’s perfect love and mercy washing over her. Her tiny angelic face was untroubled as she received her passport to Heaven before an assembly of smiling grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends, and of course the cloud of witnesses celebrating the inauguration of a new member to the faith of Christ.

Festival Season

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‘Tis the season for celebration and good cheer in the Midwest. Here, one can experience everything from the county fair demolition derbie to pierogi culture in Whiting, IN to the delicious Italian ice served at Italian Fest all in a single weekend. We were blessed to be able to make the rounds to all of our favorite festivals this year where we of course enjoyed the cuisine and the shows unique to each.

Wake Up to the Sound of Freedom

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Image from Christian Broadcasting Network

I’m a bit late to this train so I’ll forego a full synopsis of Sound of Freedom as most know by now what it’s about. Suffice to say, everyone should see this film. Premiering on July 4th as a wake up call to Americans, this movie shed light on the horrors of child trafficking in gritty detail. Most of us have grown up being entertained by action flicks like Taken and quoting lines originally delivered in Liam Neeson’s epic tones. While these kinds of movies may hold us in rapt attention and even elicit strong emotions at various points, Sound of Freedom is an entirely different experience. 

One of the most shocking things about this action thriller is that it isn’t fiction as most are quick to assume before entering the theater. This tale of hellish evils and miraculous rescues is as real as it is unbelievable. The mission of the main character, Tim Ballard who is played by Jim Caviezel, throughout the movie can only be described as a calling from God and one that required no small amount of divine intervention. Tim’s tireless and heartbreaking work has finally brought child trafficking to the world stage for all to see. It’s nearly impossible to imagine how children, the utmost pure and innocent in our lives, could be so cruelly abducted and put to such evil uses but Sound of Freedom makes it possible. Among the stories told in the film, one of Tim’s very first rescue missions was of a boy who was just eight years old, though as we learn throughout the movie, many are sold into this industry much younger than that. 

Even as I write this, I struggle to articulate the effect Sound of Freedom had on me. Of course, while watching in the theater I was overcome with anger and despair with the rest of the audience. However, days later, some of the most horrific scenes still played on repeat in my head and the sad, mistrusting faces of the kids portrayed in the movie often still come into view. My relatively sheltered mind simply could not fathom how such evil could be allowed to exist in the world and I don’t pretend to have found an answer. More than 300,000 kids are trafficked around the world every year and the United States is the industry’s largest consumer. 

As many have already stated in countless reviews of the movie, I don’t have the faintest idea how we solve this problem. Perhaps the first steps are to make ourselves aware of it by watching Sound of Freedom and to pray for the children sold into the living hell of child trafficking and everyone sent by God to rescue them. 

The Best Laid Plans

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I’m in that strange stage of life where all the people I grew up with are settling into jobs and families and lives of their own. All of the beloved traditions that lit up our childhood and always magically came around every year now require thought, time and planning. I can still recall a time, not so long ago, when I wouldn’t have dreamed of missing Christmas in Colorado with my big sister and my parents and yet, for two years in a row now, that Colorado Christmas has been reduced to phone calls. 

Of course, there was always a very good reason. With marriage and adulthood comes an ever more complicated schedule and life happens. Jobs change, people move, other family members need help, there are bills to contend with and increasingly expensive plane tickets. There are always extenuating circumstances for not following through with even the best laid plans. And adulthood certainly isn’t all scheduling difficulties. There are weddings and baby showers to attend and the joy of welcoming new members into the family. I’m thrilled to have a new niece and nephew to love and spoil. I am godmother to one of them and I can’t wait. 

I can see all sorts of different futures, all wonderful and perfect and yet horribly imperfect at the same time. Each and every one of them is full of love and possibilities but none of them look quite like the glorious childhood that I had. I’m still young enough to remember with total clarity all of the reasons why I loved growing up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and why, back then, I passionately promised to raise my own kids in a similar fashion. However, I’m also now old enough to realize that probably won’t happen, at least not quite like I would have pictured it. 

I suppose everyone finds themselves caught in a similar struggle at some point. We can’t know the future after all and so it’s impossible to truly know what will ultimately be best for the ones we love. But as every seasoned parent in my life assures me, you figure it out. With God’s help all things are possible and life has a funny way of working out in the end. Of course there will be difficult decisions and hard times but so long as we do our best with what He gave us and are always turning toward Him in all things life will go on and bring with it unnumbered blessings.

To Isengard!

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I can’t help laughing every time I glance out our kitchen window and see that our tomato plants have shot up another couple of inches. We’re trying our hand at some light gardening this year. The vegetables are getting so tall that I fear if we’re not careful the they’re liable to start befriending hobbits and marching on Orthanc. Hopefully they’ll kindly bless us with a good harvest before they set out on the war path.

The Only One That Matters

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There is a popular belief today that more experience, even failed experience is better. People like to reference Thomas Edison’s discoveries with the lightbulb to prove this point. While taking failure in stride is a necessary practice in any career, I no longer believe the argument holds water when it comes to dating.

Taking a job for the experience will likely land you many more career prospects in the future. Taking a relationship for the experience is a cruel and manipulative exercise in futility which will not ultimately bring you any closer to finding your forever person. The only acceptable reason to enter into a relationship is because you genuinely believe that it may be your last relationship. Any other goal is a death sentence to the romance. You are dooming yourself and your partner to failure before you’ve even begun.

Some like to argue that this kind of casual companionship is acceptable so long as the goal is just to have fun and both parties agree to it. I disagree. Desensitizing yourself to failure in romance will only deaden your ability to recognize success when it does come. A lifetime of settling for mediocre, seasonal flings will never impart the skills necessary for attracting your future spouse. Learning how to manipulate a person’s feelings is in complete opposition to learning how to love them. If you really do want to find your future spouse you should be loving them as if you’ve already met them by maintaining a virtuous, properly ordered lifestyle. That person is out there in the world somewhere right now, making mistakes of their own and in need of your prayers.

Finding the love of your life is far more difficult than the movies make it out to be. It will likely be one of the greatest tests of your patience. You may have to go on a lot of first dates in order to find your one and only but you never will if you settle into a habit of companionship with the wrong people. It doesn’t matter how pleasant or convenient that companionship may be. If you can’t see yourself marrying that person someday you shouldn’t agree to a second date. 

People like to boast about the quality or quantity of the frogs they’ve kissed as if these make them an expert dater but the only love experts I care about aren’t dating anymore. In the end it doesn’t matter how many almosts, puppy loves or catastrophic mistakes you’ve had. The only one that matters is the one that wasn’t a frog at all. When it comes to romance, getting it wrong is easy. Getting it right is something you’ll only ever do once.

A Baby Catholic’s Movie Review – Nefarious

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Photo by Mathias Reding

I’ve never been one to enjoy a horror flick. All the jump scares, supernatural happenings and excessive gore are decidedly unwelcome on my movie list. My imagination tends to run rampant after viewing scenes like these and suddenly every little creak in my house is cause for alarm. Of course, as a Catholic, I know that this alarm is completely irrational and I’m often comforted by the fact that a priest has visited and blessed our home. However, the imagination is still on occasion a force to be reckoned with. Thus, I religiously steer clear of horror films and was wary of this one despite it coming highly recommended by the hubby who kindly screened it for me first. After a bit of convincing and promises that he would hold my hand the entire time, I did eventually agree to watch Nefarious. 

This psychological thriller was not at all what I was expecting and one that I think everyone, Catholic or otherwise, should make time to see. This is far from the typical bloody Hollywood depiction of demonic possession. The true horror comes in the shocking doses of reality seeded throughout the fictional flick as psychiatrist, Dr. James Martin, interviews a convicted serial killer hours before his scheduled execution. Over the course of this disturbing conversation the devout atheist doctor is forced to confront impossible coincidences which shake his world view. It quickly becomes apparent that the interviewer may in fact be the interviewee. Throughout the exchange, the killer, Edward Wayne Brady, claims to be a demon and works to convince Dr. Martin that he has been brought to the prison by design and will himself have committed three murders before their time together is up. 

Although the majority of the film transpires in a single room over the course of a single conversation, it’s not one that you’ll be able to pause for a popcorn break. Viewers are held on the edge of their seats for the entire hour and 38 minutes as they follow Dr. Martin’s investigation in which he attempts to answer the question, insane or possessed? Viewers are also left to debate the rational atheist’s qualifications to answer such a question which is sure to spark some interesting discussion when the credits start rolling. 

For current believers, this movie serves as a wake up call through its perfectly horrifying illustration of the battle being waged for a single soul. In an interview with Church Militant, the writers and directors, Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, described the effect their newest film has had on its Catholic audiences when they said that people are leaving the theater and running to confession. While this is a highly engaging and entertaining watch, it also asks and answers many theological questions which might be barriers for non-christian individuals who are considering coming to the faith. At the very least, Nefarious is causing Catholics and atheists alike to think about what it is they believe and why.  

For my own part, I came away from this movie completely overwhelmed with gratitude to God for coming into my life and purifying my soul through baptism when He did. As often mentioned on this blog, I am a convert to Catholicism. Although in my upbringing I would never have gone so far as to deny the existence of a higher power, my entire childhood was spent blissfully ignorant of the peril my unbaptized soul was under. Thankfully, God blessed me with two amazing parents who, despite being born again Catholics themselves, always instilled generally christian values in my sister and I. I believe it was these values which ultimately guided us both to the faith. Through the holy sacraments of initiation and of marriage, I have been blessed with the graces necessary to continue to turn toward God in all facets of my life and I am eternally grateful to Him for that. Nefarious highlights the urgent need for all people to receive the sacraments and be similarly blessed.

Only In Colorado

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While trying to find a photo for today’s Friday post I stumbled across this gem that my mom sent me a couple of years ago and couldn’t keep from smiling. Only in Colorado can you go hiking with your local priest to some remote, snow melt, mountain lake and be a witness as he celebrates mass there. Although this is an experience that I’ve yet to be blessed with, I’m praying for the day that the hubby and I make it back to Colorado and get to do some wilderness trekking with the Father.