Update on Curtain Climber

He's doing well, healing remarkably quickly. He doesn't act like he's in pain except occasionally. Thank you all for the prayers. I know that they have helped a LOT.

Prayers for Curtain Climber

Please pray for our Curtain Climber (aka Hot Stuff). He just spent the afternoon in the emergency room after grabbing a mug of hot cocoa and spilling it down his front. He's not in any danger, except for infection, but he has a lot of pain from second degree burns. He's currently sleeping through morphine, but he's going to have some suffering over the next few days. So please pray for him, that his pain won't be unbearable, and that he'll heal extra fast. This is no way for him to ring in his new year or approach his first birthday. Thanks.

Carmelite Final Promises

You may have noticed I've been more absent than usual recently. I'm trying, in addition to holiday cleaning, to prepare spiritually for OCDS Final Promises. For those who don't know, OCDS refers to the Secular branch of the Order of Carmelites, Discalced. A secular, sometimes referred to as "Third Order," is a member of a religious order who is not a nun, friar, monk, sister, or brother. In other words, we are attached to our order by prayer, spirituality, study, work, and charism.

The Discalced branch of the Carmelites was founded by St. Teresa of Avila, with the help of St. John of the Cross, in response to a need for reform in the then lax attitude toward the Rule of Life of Carmelites. In a time of great religious upheaval, Teresa found herself heading a convent where benefits and privileges were granted based on family wealth and favoritism, and where the rules were practically ignored. One of the rules that she reinstituted was the traditional habit, which included sandals, not shoes. Her reform was originally known by many popular names, but the name "discalced," meaning shoeless, was the one that stuck. St. John headed the male reform, at St. Teresa's request.

Today, the original Carmelite order (OC) and the Discalced Carmelites (OCD) make up separate orders with separate lines of authority and slightly differing spirituality, but they share a history and charism, as well as maintaining mutual "authority" over the Brown Scapular. The Brown Scapular, the symbol of both Orders, represents a smaller version of the brown habit of Carmelites. Both Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross have been named Doctors of the Church, and recently so was St. Therese of Lisieux, another Carmelite saint.

My name in Carmel is Mary of the Feet of Jesus. Please pray for me as I prepare to make my promises permanent on Saturday.

Update on Oldest Daughter

I'm sorry I didn't update sooner, but I figured those who really wanted to know either had already been informed (family) or had read the news on the blog of my Charming and Patient Husband. But for anyone who may have been missed by these two methods, I wanted to let you know that Firstborn Grandchild was born mid-afternoon and in good health, by emergency c-section. We haven't been able to see them yet, but they are in our prayers and hearts, and we can't wait to meet him.

Thank you to all who prayed or sent good wishes, and may God bless Mommy, Daddy, and Baby abundantly with joy, good fortune, and the meeting of every need.

Prayers and news

Just a quick prayer request for Oldest Daughter. Tomorrow she's having labor induced. Please pray that everything goes well, and that it's not too difficult. They're also moving household, so please pray that the baby's dad is able to be there when she gives birth.

Prayers for Pat

Please pray for the repose of Pat, a lady from my parish who was a truly incredible lady. She was a dynamic leader, a wise Christian, a friend to all, and an inspiration to the parish. She will be so very sorely missed. Please pray, also, for her family's consolation.

Divorce

No, not mine. My Charming and Patient Husband continues to sweep me off my feet. What I want to ask is for prayers for people who are going through divorce.


I know that divorce is a lamentable and destructive thing. I know that it hurts families and that many people view it far too lightly; but I don't want to talk about that right now. I want to discuss what people going through it experience.

Regardless of fault or blame, divorce is an extremely painful experience. Debilitating, even. It shakes the core of one's faith, hurts the soul like a bruise that won't heal, and rattles even the very self image. Anyone who is going through this trial, regardless of the reasons, needs prayer.

Divorce also frequently tempts the person -- even the person of strong convictions -- to do things he or she normally would not do. The combination of ache, loneliness, and sudden self doubt leaves a hole, one that many people try to fill with activity, pain relief, and new love. The unhealed soul is not ready for new love, and it can be far too easy to substitute physical intimacy for spiritual intimacy. Especially when feeling completely undesirable. Six months of raw pain and irresponsible behavior can lead to lifetime repercussions.

I know a couple who are going through a divorce. I won't go into details; those belong to the people involved. But I will say that they are both good people. And I know that they are about to be shocked by reactions they never could have anticipated. Please pray for them.

I am sure you know someone going through a divorce, too. Who doesn't, anymore? Pray for them, too. They need a special protection right now.

Doctors and Lab Tests and Sonograms, Oh My!

Well, last week was stressful, and this week promises to be at least as much so. I took the triple screen last week, which I do know has a possibility of false positives. It came out showing higher than usual odds of my baby having Down Syndrome, so tomorrow I'm scheduled for a level II sonogram an hour and a half away. (Our medical facilities here in town are pretty limited. Everything out of the ordinary is out of town.)

I've never been worried about Down Syndrome before, even though my last two pregnancies were also past age 35. I declined the triple screen for them; but this time, I've had this nagging worry that I should at least be prepared for the possibility. It seems like everywhere I go online, I am seeing people discuss Down Syndrome, how they found out, and how they wouldn't trade their child for anything. I appreciate that sentiment, and if I have a child with Down Syndrome, I think I will feel the same way. But for now, not knowing, I am really hoping and praying that this child does not have any problems.

Partly, I'm selfish. We have two children over 18, one of them moved out. We've been married 4 1/2 years and have not been able to have a honeymoon, or even a weekend alone, since we married, because we are constantly surrounded by our blessings. I'll be the first to say every child is a blessing, but it would be nice to be able to spend time with my charming and patient husband sometimes, too, without it being interrupted by bickering, diapers, and "can I haves."

And let's face it: I'm 40 years old, arthritic, overweight, tired, and depressed. I love being a mother, but I would dearly love someday to retire from being a mommy. I want to be grandma; I want to turn bedrooms into offices and libraries, and to send children home for dinner. I want to have a guest bedroom that it's a treat for a child to sleep in. In other words, I dream of the day I can move on to the next stage of parenting: grandparenting. I would love to take a honeymoon, and as it is we might be able to do that for our 25th anniversary.

The thought of having a child who will likely never move out daunts me and haunts me. It isn't that I don't love my children, you know. But I've spent the past three years in the same three rooms almost constantly, listening to electronic toy computers singing the alphabet, in-depth discussions about the merits of one handheld gaming system over another, and demands that I choose sides in arguments over whether a child did nine minutes in the kitchen or ten. Most of my adult conversations have been limited to a half hour, over coffee, before Joel leaves for work. Is it so selfish that I just want to think that one day -- some day -- I will be able to have adult conversations on a regular basis?

I find myself looking forward to tomorrow, for that reason. Three hours in the car with a grownup, and not a single child to interrupt. A chance to see the baby in greater detail, probably to find out if it's a boy or a girl, and ease my mind or learn to adjust. One way or the other, it's better to know than to worry.

And perhaps selfishly, I pray.

Urgent prayers

I think I'm about to get some crushing financial news, and if I'm correct it will mean losing our home. Not only that, but we will not be able to afford any other home, purchase or rental, and will be on the streets. Please, please pray.

update: Evidently you did. I won't go into the situation, but suffice it to say that I got better news than I expected, and we'll be able to keep our heads above water for another month. Thank you, pray-ers, and thank You, God!

quick prayers

Please pray for my little ones for the next hour. They got hold of some snail bait, and we're not sure how much they ingested, if any. Poison control said if there is going to be a problem it will happen in the next hour.

Thanks.

Update: It's been a little more than an hour since the incident, and the kids are showing no symptoms at all. God is great!

Prayer Requests

Please pray for my friend Mary, who was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Please continue praying for Mary Claire, my five year old cousin with cancer in her spine. I do not have any updates yet.

Please pray for my grandmother, Agnes, who is hospitalized with a severe infection.

Please pray for all people who are preparing to receive sacraments.

If you have any prayer requests you'd like to add, please feel free to add them in the comments field. Thank you.

Prayer Request

Please offer prayers for my sister in law, Susanna. She's been having dizzy spells and a couple days ago learned that her heart was beating too slow. Today she was taken by ambulance to the hospital where she's receiving a pacemaker.

Also, please pray for Keith. He was placed in their home in December as a foster child, with the intent to adopt. Susanna's health issue may jeopardize his situation.

Thank you! Your prayers are very, very much appreciated.

Prayers for another Mary

Please pray for my friend, Mary. She's a tremendous catechist, who actually volunteered to teach 7th and 8th graders. When the class filled to over 40 students, she would not hear of splitting them up. Yesterday she told me that spots were found on her lungs, and she is getting a biopsy on Ash Wednesday. She's a non-smoker who's already battled breast cancer.

Mary Claire

For all who have been praying, thank you. Mary Claire just went home after a week of chemo, and is doing far, far better than the doctors had even hoped. The tumor has shrunk a lot, so much that they are very optimistic. They are talking about increasing the chemo now that they know it's working, to treat this aggressively. Mary Claire is able to walk, and has regained the use of her bowel. It is better than the best case scenario they'd hoped for.

She's going in for another MRI soon, to find out where the tumor stands since finishing chemotherapy. Please pray that she's had a total healing, and please pray for other small children who are sick and don't understand what is happening to them.

Update on Prayer Requests

The important one, for Mary Claire: I haven't forgotten to fill you all in, and I am grateful for all of your prayers. The truth is, we haven't got any news yet. Evidently she did have surgery, and they removed as much of the tumor as they were able; but the tumor has entered the spinal cord, and they were unable to remove that part. She is receiving chemotherapy and radiation, and I do not yet know if either of these is helping. From what I hear, worst case prognosis is death, and best case prognosis is recovery with lifelong incontinence and possible paralysis. She still needs prayers, and so does her family.

The less important one, the "mysterious" one I posted before it: we were in a very deep financial bind that was beginning to seem insurmountable. It was beginning to look like we might lose our house. Today I learned that the situation causing our hardship has been corrected, and we should be able to begin to catch up on bills soon.

Prayer DOES work. Thank you. Thank you very much.

More prayers needed desperately

Please storm heaven for little Mary Claire. They biopsied her tumor, and it is cancerous. It has grown a lot since last week. They are checking now to see what kind of cancer it is, to determine whether it will respond to chemotherapy, but it's inoperable.

It is looking like her only real hope is a miracle. She's only five years old... please pray for her.

prayer request

Please pray for my second cousin, Mary Claire. She's five years old and has been diagnosed with a spinal tumor that stretches the length of her spine. She's going in for surgery today. Thank you.

prayer request

If you don't mind, I don't want to say what it's about, but God knows. Please, if you could offer a little prayer for a special intention, I'd be grateful.

20 Reasons to Pray for Chaz

In his pamphlet 20 Reasons to Abandon Christianity, Chaz Bufe devotes one chapter to each of the rants he has against Christianity. Most of his reasons for opposing Christianity are based on a faulty understanding of the faith; but a few show clear understanding of what Christianity teaches... in which case, his comments only hold water if Christian teaching is indeed false. The entire premise of most of his criticisms comes from an initial assumption that Christianity is false, and that there is no God.

It would be easy to gloss over the fact that most of his arguments rely on other religions being false as well. However, one can't help noticing that it's a lot easier in liberal circles to slam Christians than it is to slam Jews or Muslims. The fact is that all three believe in God, and all three share similar value systems. Chaz just chooses the easiest target in a politically correct world; because if he had attacked Jewish and Muslim people, he would (rightly) have to acknowledge being anti-semitic. Yet his arguments are anti-semitic, even if he never mentions Semitic races by name, because they still promote a false and hateful view of people who hold the truths that Jewish and Muslim, as well as Christian, people hold in common.

Now, at the risk of being long-winded, I will point out some of the more obvious flaws in Bufe's criticisms.

• Christianity is based on fear

The fears he cites are death, devil, and hell. Christianity does not build up fear of death, but relieves it; because in faith, one has hope of afterlife with God. Death itself is a reality, so the fear of it is not false at all. If the author denies this, then he's farther from reality than he realizes. As for devil and hell, if Christianity is correct, then the devil and hell should be feared. So the only workable argument here is to prove that the Christian faith is wrong, not to criticize it whether it be wrong or right.

• Christianity preys on the innocent

Clearly he does not understand Christianity. Christianity teaches us not to prey on the innocent. If all people practiced Christianity and followed the teachings of Jesus, there would be no predatory behavior on earth.

• Christianity is based on dishonesty

This argument is meaningless without evidence. Essentially he is saying "Christianity is wrong because Christianity is wrong." Brilliant, Chaz.

• Christianity is extremely egocentric

Apparently wanting to go to heaven is egocentric. So, too, according to this man, is the belief that God loves us. Here, he displays not just a total ignorance of Christianity but an ignorance of human nature itself. Love is a total giving of self; to love Someone enough to want to spend eternity with Him is completely loving. Of course, he uses contradictory logic here. The person who gives love is being preyed on; the person who receives love is self-centered. It sounds like what he's advocating is a complete disdain for anyone but self. And if you ask me, that is the height of egocentrism.

• Christianity breeds arrogance, a chosen-people mentality

And Chaz Bufe does not?

• Christianity breeds authoritarianism

Every "system" of governance breeds or is the result of some form of authoritarianism. The person who is not governed by ethics or morals is governed by law. One must hope that the law that governs him is at least ethical.

• Christianity is cruel

People are cruel. More specifically, some people are. And some will be cruel in any group. Some Christians are cruel (and they sometimes get into positions of power). Some atheists are cruel; some politicians, and some doctors, and some pamphlet writers are cruel. All forms of governance have sometimes slipped into cruel policies, Christianity included; but the inherent teachings of Christianity do not promote cruelty.

• Christianity is anti-intellectual, anti-scientific

It's hard to argue with that one, because different denominations approach science differently. However, as the Catholic Church teaches, truth cannot contradict truth; so the findings of science can be hotly debated on both sides without needing to check one's faith at the door.

• Christianity has a morbid, unhealthy preoccupation with sex

I had to do a double take when I read this one. Who has a morbid, unhealthy preoccupation with sex? A faith that, across most denominations, teaches that sex is sacred and beautiful, and should be an expression of love and tenderness, or a largely atheistic society that insists that sex must rule everything, from cologne ads to children's cartoons?

• Christianity produces sexual misery

See above.

• Christianity has an exceedingly narrow, legalistic view of morality

What qualifies him to define what is narrow? Even if he is correct, "narrow" and "legalistic" are only bad if the morality they describe is wrong.

• Christianity encourages acceptance of real evils while focusing on imaginary evils

Again, what qualifies him to define what is evil and what is not? He shows extreme intolerance.

• Christianity depreciates the natural world

I'd wager he's never heard a Christian sermon. Every church I've ever attended has taught the importance of stewardship, and caring for the natural world.

• Christianity models hierarchical, authoritarian organization

And why is hierarchical organization bad? Is it bad merely because he intolerantly says so? As for authoritarian, see above.

• Christianity sanctions slavery

Again, he doesn't know what he's talking about. No Christian church I've ever heard of sanctions slavery.

• Christianity is misogynistic

Actually, atheism is misogynistic. Atheism encourages people to use one another for selfish motives, because it has no moral incentive to require considering other people's needs. Specifically, the value system this author seems to be promoting is one that considers a woman's feelings irrelevant when using her body. The free sex mentality teaches that a man is justified in making a woman feel good "right now" in order to get sex, disregarding any emotional pain or physical disease she may suffer later, as a result.

• Christianity is homophobic

Sorry, but Chaz needs to get a dictionary. Disapproving of a behavior does not mean being afraid of people who practice it. As a matter of fact, Christians who seek to help people live chastely are showing a love for the souls of other people. It would be egotistical and unloving to seek one's own eternal life while not caring whether or not the next guy attains it.

• The Bible is not a reliable guide to Christ's teachings

How is a non-believer qualified to state what Christ's teachings are, better than either a believer or the Bible?

• The Bible is riddled with contradictions

This is too long a topic to cover adequately, but suffice it to say that what appear to be contradictions generally are not. In some cases they are different Biblical writers emphasizing different aspects of the truth. In other cases, seeming contradictions are reminders not to forget one thing in our zeal to pursue something else. Are justice and mercy contradictory?

• Christianity borrowed its central myths and ceremonies from other ancient religions

Perhaps, just perhaps, those other ancient religions began to grasp some truth that they had insufficient revelation to understand fully. Christianity is not a new truth; it is a fulfillment of truth previously not understood.

Let's pray for the conversion of Chaz Bufe.