Abbey-Roads2

Housekeeping Meme

Angela Messenger has this fun Housekeeping Meme. She tagged everyone with a washing machine. I (Cathy of Alexandria) checked my basement and it appears that I DO have a washing machine!

And yes - so do I - oh! there’s my boxers!

Aprons – Y/N?
NO!

Baking – Favorite thing to bake:
Stouffer’s dinners and Connie’s pizza from Kowalski’s.

Clothesline – Y/N?
NO!  They ugly up a yard!

Donuts – Have you ever made them?
As a matter of fact, yes.

One homemaking thing you do every day:
Wash dishes.

Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze?
No. Why?

Garbage Disposal – Y/N?
Me.

Handbook – What is your favorite homemaking resource?
Joy of cooking - the book.

Ironing – Love it or hate it?
I absolutely HATE ironing. That’s me standing by the dryer waiting to pull items straight out. Though on the rare occasions when I do iron I’m a big fan of heavy starch. Box starch-which is really hard to find these days. - that’s Cathy’s response and I’m all on board with her.

Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it?
Yes, in the kitchen, in the bedroom, in the den, in the living room, in the hall, in the basement - I have several.

Kitchen: Design & Decorating?
It’s half done - very magazinish - don’t ever buy a Viking stove however.

Love: What is your favorite part of homemaking?
I did not know that’s what I do. 

Mop - Y/N?
Scrub on hands and knees - I have white tile.

Nylons - Wash by hand or in the washing machine?
I don’t believe I ever owned any!

Oven - Do you use the window, or open the door to check?
Open the door - the window is so dirty it’s opaque.  (Can that be cleaned?) 

Pizza - What do you put on yours?
Tons of cheese, sausage, spinach and olive oil, with very little tomato sauce.

Quiet - What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?
It’s always quiet…what do I do?  Blog and look for topics to blog about.

Recipe card box - Y/N?
Heavens no - if you don’t know how to cook, recipes won’t help.

Style of house -
English cottage.

Tablecloths and napkins - Y/N?
Paper napkins, yes.  If I have company - always fabric.

Under the kitchen sink - Organized or toxic wasteland?
Very organized.  Extremely organized.  Uber organized.

Vacuum - How many times per week?
Once a month - the cats and I hate the noise.

Wash - How many loads of laundry do you do a week?
3 or 4.

X’s - Do you keep a daily list of things to do and cross them off?
Of course not!  I’m not Martha Stewart!

Yard - Who does what?
I do a lot, but I also have a gardener.

Zzz’s - What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?
Checking my email.

Gotta go - my nylons are in the dryer!

Thanks Cathy - I tag Keevin, the house-husband! 

Spirit Daily had a piece today entitled “Cardinal Silences Spiritual Director” - always a catchy headline.   The Cardinal in question is Cardinal Keeler of Baltimore, and the spiritual director is Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh, the famous Carmelite scholar.

It all has to do with alleged apparitions of the Virgin to Gianna Talone-Sullivan, whose apparitions actually began at the parish of St. Maria Goretti in Scottsdale, Arizona years ago.  The apparitions are now taking place in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and Our Lady has identified herself as Our Lady of Emmitsburg no less.

The events are similar to the phenomena in Medjugorje, accompanied by more or less identical messages.  (Does that make them authentic?  No, because most seers are familiar with published accounts of supposed apparitions and mystical revelations.)  The local diocesan commission evidently has decided there is no evidence of anything supernatural occurring there, yet pilgrims continue to come.  The Cardinal requested Fr. Kieran’s superiors to order him to refrain from speaking about or attending the events associated with the alleged apparitions.

Locally, in the Twin Cities metro area, another seer claims to have messages from the Virgin on a regularly scheduled basis.  Our Archbishop pretty much banned the locutionist from having prayer meetings wherein the Madonna visits.  These were held in her local parish as well, and like Gianna, they were asked to leave and now meet in a hall nearby.  Again, the similarities to Medjugorje are unmistakable.

I was just surprised to find out a friar of the Discalced Carmelites, a noted scholar, was the spiritual director of this woman.  I can more easily understand someone like Fr. Robert Fox being the spiritual director of “Little Mary” the local woman who receives Our Lady’s messages.  Fr. Fox has long been an apostle of the message of Fatima, which would seem to me to dispose him to be more receptive to new apparitions and messages.

Whereas Fr. Kieran, the man who translated the works of John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, for the Institute of Carmelite Studies, would seem to me to be far more skeptical of such mystical phenomenon, and therefore less likely to be involved.  After all, the Carmelite friars of his province have a bit of a reputation for being somewhat more progressivist.  (Of course, that depends on who you talk to.)

I was reeled in by Kavanagh’s name however, and checked out the website associated with the Emmitburg apparitions.  It seems very Medjugorje to me, with similar repetitive messages, perhaps a bit more wordy, that repeat virtually the same things as Medjugorje visionaries have, as well as Little Mary.  Here is a portion of the most recent message:

“This is the time to gather as many as you can, because there is not enough time left.  Too many evil things in the world are trying to supersede what is good.  God will no longer stand for it!  Even though many people do not believe it, when they see what is about to unfold and then do believe, there is not enough time to change.” - Foundation of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary

I don’t know what to make of these things.  I’m not attracted to the phenomena, especially when Church authorities declare there is nothing supernatural occurring.  When a Cardinal of the Catholic Church asks an eminent Carmelite priest to refrain from any involvement with the alleged apparitions, well, that tells me something is off.

In previous apparitions, those approved by the Church, the Madonna has usually left signs of her presence, and revealed something Church authorities could recognize as authentic and worthy of belief.  Vague messages, repeated over and over, obviously just aren’t enough to convince the Church these events are credible.

If such events are false, what would be the motivation behind it?  Is it diabolic?  If so, it seems to me the end result would be to discredit the Church and the hierarchy, to foment deeper division through mistrust, and ultimately, a slackening of faith, as well as authentic piety and devotion.  If the more spurious events throughout the world turn out to be false, I suspect a terrible spiritual apathy and skepticism would be the inevitable result.

If the revelations are authentic, then the average Christian, striving for holiness while keeping the commandments and faithful to Church teaching, exercising themselves in works of piety and charity, would have nothing to be concerned about.

(The above photo is one of the seers from Garabandal in ecstasy.)

This was one of St. Catherine of Genoa’s (pictured) greatest fears - she knew by experience its insipid corrosion.  I doubt if anyone can write about it enough.

“Shamelessness has become acceptable among us and is creating such moral devastation that a concerted effort is being made to try to stem a tide of obscenity.” - Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand

At “Tea At Trininon” Elena Maria Vidal posted a link to Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand’s essay in the New Oxford Review concerning language.  The corruption of language, or rather its decline, segues well with the erosion of morals that has subtly occurred during the 20th century.

In my post concerning Fraternal Correction, I mentioned how a friend, when charitably bringing to my attention my own tendency to compromise with contemporary values, awakened me to a fresh understanding of the accumulated tarnish due to the world’s slow stain.

My friend showed me an ad in a magazine of a woman posed provocatively in a swim suit.  He suggested to me it was soft porn.  “It is not!”  I insisted.  I asserted we see this stuff all over media, and I called him a prude. Nevertheless, as the discussion continued, I realized he was right. In the 1950’s such ‘bare-naked ladies’ photos would have been considered pornographic, and currently these images are mainstream.

Total nudity is accepted in film, partial nudity is acceptable on television.  Fashion has degenerated to street walker levels, and the pop music industry wallows in filth.  Dr. Von Hildebrand points to the decline of language, fully aware that the decline coincides with the general moral decline of Western civilization.  I don’t think I’m overstating this at all.

“One of the most striking phenomena of the society in which we live is that many of us have lost the sense of the propriety — and impropriety — of words…We live in a democratic age. Whatever the benefits and merits of democracy, it often results in a leveling down, a putting of all things on one and the same level. This is deadly in our religious life.” - Dr. Von Hildebrand

I have to believe this is in direct correlation to media and entertainment.  All of us are affected by it.  Talk shows from the 1980′ on, exposed us to average people discussing personal issues in their lives that would never have been talked about in polite company in the past.  Sitcoms like  “Cheers,” ”Ellen,” “Friends,” “Will and Grace,” and more currently, “Desperate Housewives” consistently push the envelope.  We all know this, others have decried the amoral character of the entertainment industry for decades, so I’m not going to carry on about it here.

I repeated yesterday what the Popes have said, that the modern world lacks a sense of sin.  Having said that, I still believe a sense of sin exists on some level in most people’s consciences.  What is truly lacking is a sense of shame.  Many are no longer ashamed of their sins.  Shame isn’t cool.  Presidents justify lying, women and men exalt in their promiscuous behavior.  Remember last year when George Michael defiantly defended his night-time cruising as something gay people do?  There is no shame - if anyone expresses shame, they are encouraged to get over it.  It seems the only thing to be ashamed of is shame itself.

Dr. Von Hildebrand continues in her essay; “Some time ago I had a talk with the head of a college in Switzerland. Although the students there came from “good families,” he told me that he could not get used to the fact that the girls use a language of such coarseness that, years ago, their words would have made soldiers blush. They no longer “felt” that these words betray an inner attitude totally devoid of the most elementary feeling of “shame.” How right Jeremiah was when he lamented the fact that people “are not at all ashamed, they know not how to blush” (6:15).” - New Oxford Review.

The world’s slow stain is a very real thing, infecting nearly everyone bombarded by the secular, anti-Christian propaganda our culture is saturated with.  Our morals and values are easily compromised by repeated exposure to what is otherwise improper.  I believe we need to be vigilant and prayerful, without becoming prudes or puritans, elevating our hearts and minds above the vulgarity so omnipresent in our culture.

Dr. Von Hildebrand states it much better than I do in her conclusion:  “What I am advocating is not a return to prudery, Jansenism, or Puritanism. It is the recognition that there are things that should make us blush. Woe to those who no longer know how to blush. Let us learn to chastise our vocabulary so that it produces heavenly music.” - New Oxford Review