Monday, August 25, 2014

Little Happies -- It's Good to be Catholic


Hey there, friends! And welcome back to Little Happies, the happiest little link-up on the planet. Proven* to be happier than an antelope with night-vision goggles. So sit back, relax, maybe write a Little Happies post of your own, link-up, and enjoy!

*But not actually proven.

So, I'm currently in Johnson City visiting in-laws with the husband. But that didn't stop me from prepping this a few days ago. I reflected a bit on some of the little joys of the faith and came up with this special list for ya. So, this week's Happies are brought to you by Catholicism. What's not to love?

--one--




This song.

Have you heard of PJ Anderson yet? He's relatively new to the scene, Catholic, living in Nashville, and totally rocking at writing beautiful, holy music. This one's a favorite of mine, especially for Adoration. The often repeated line, "It is you, it is you, it is you that my heart wants," is exactly what I need to say more often to Jesus.


--two--



It's only in the past few years that I've come to know and love Venerable Fulton J. Sheen. 

You've heard of him right? 

He was an American Archbishop known for his very relatable preaching and his work on radio and television. If you've never seen him in action, I'd recommend heading over to youtube right now and just watching a few of his old recordings. Prepare to be sucked in.

Recently, I was reading this article that popped up in my facebook newsfeed, "The Curse of Broadmindedness" and was finding myself nodding in agreement through the whole dang thing. What a perfect reflection on our need to stop all this "to be intolerant is to be un-loving" nonsense, on our need to be "tolerant of people but intolerant of ideas," on our need to escape the "curse of broadmindedness" in our world today. I was thrilled to see a Catholic author -- who I assumed was just some young, spry thing, maybe writing this for a grad school class or something -- really attack these modern-day issues. So I honestly had a pretty good laugh when I discovered, after having read/skimmed the whole thing, that the author was actually Ven. Fulton J. Sheen. BOOM. The Sheenanator strikes again. (And don't ask me how his picture and name at the top of the article didn't catch my attention before I read it. I somehow just missed the obvious on that one.) How did he write something way back in 1932 that is still so relevant today? I suppose it's because broadmindedness is not a new issue, but I was still shocked by how his reflections still resonate with us in the present day. He truly was a great man.

That was a big buildup for the actual Little Happy here. While I pretty much love everything the man ever said, my favorite Ven. Fulton J. Sheen quote is:

"Hearing nuns' confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn." 

:)


--three--


Then there was this kinda weird but definitely fun BuzzFeed quiz:


I got St. Juliana of Nicodemia, who was secretly Christian and when her parents tried to force her to marry a pagan man, she said no and they killed her. But before they did, she spat at Satan and poured molten lead on her torturers. Then her fiance got eaten by a lion. Ummm... WHAT?!? This is supposed to be my patron saint? What does that even mean? Ha!

Alright, now it's your turn! Take the quiz and tell me who you get! Hopefully their story will be a little cray like St. Juliana's and we can all laugh at who our patron saints should actually be, according to BuzzFeed anyway. 


--four--



The Catholic faith also gives us C. S. Lewis, who wrote the above quote and made me feel a bit better about some of my suffering. Thanks, C. S.!


--five--

And finally, you know what else is really neat about our faith? It's universal.

No, literally, the word "Catholic" means "universal"!


While I realize that's no Little thing, there are just a few Little Happy things that spring from it:

The fact that I can enter a Catholic Church anywhere in the world and still feel at home.

The fact that all I have to say is "I'm Catholic" and with that comes my whole beautiful belief system.

And the fact that I have Catholic sisters across the country who support me and understand me better than most simply because we share the faith.

Yes, my friends, it's good to be Catholic!





22 comments:

  1. I got St. Cecelia... but that was a strange quiz... I just picked a random answer for some of the questions because there wasn't an answer for me. (Like the choices for what do you think of Rome?!)

    I love that quote from Fulton Sheen!

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    1. Yeah, that quiz was really weird, especially that Rome question. Perhaps we need to create a more normal version for people who want to give more normal answers? St. Cecilia is a GREAT saint, though. :D

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  2. Music is such a gift, thanks for sharing!

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    1. Of course! I hope you enjoyed his tune! :) He's very talented. And I'm pretty sure he has a new album coming out today! Or soon!

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  3. That was a strange quiz! I also got St. Cecilia.

    Happy Monday!

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    1. SO strange, I agree! St. Cecilia is a GREAT saint to get from such a weird quiz. How'd you and Katie both get such a normal saint?

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  4. First time I've visited your Little Happies but it was fun! I got St. Cajetan, I guess the quiz thought I was unemployed (sorta am, I guess!)

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    1. Hi, Lynda! It's great to e-meet you. And thanks for the comment. :) I've never heard of St. Cajetan. I'm about to look up his/her story. Sorry, can't even tell gender from that name. I'm assuming he? Anyway, I just hopped over to your blog and your story is beautiful! I hope and pray another adoption happens for you guys soon!! And I'm also hoping you'll join in on the Little Happies fun in the future. :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. Interesting! I got Saint Anthony:

    Saint Anthony, patron saint of lost items! Anthony was a Franciscian friar (no really, he was buddies with Saint Francis) whose extremely valuable book of scripture was stolen by a greedy student. He prayed so hard that the student was moved by the Holy Spirit to repent and return the book to him of his own free will. People pray to him when they lose stuff.

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    1. St. Anthony? That's awesome!! Do you lose/misplace things a lot? :)

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  6. I love this list, and I love being Catholic! That Sheen quote is all kinds of fantastic. I do have to be that person though... I'm pretty sure CS Lewis was Anglican; almost Catholic, but not quite. My saint was Saint Isidore of Seville. Apparently he was kind of a living encyclopedia and is the patron saint of the internet. Who knew the internet had a patron saint??

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    1. Thanks for letting me know about C.S. Lewis!! Oops!! I didn't mean to lie on the internet. But now I know and the mistake will not be repeated. Ooooooops! Also, patron saint of the internet? You totally win!!

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  7. It is SO good to be Catholic!! I'm grateful every day. Gotta love the universality - super helpful when travelling, and it's so fun to experience the Church in different parts of the country and the world.

    I love C.S. Lewis' writings, but sadly he wasn't Catholic...so, so close! My favorite is Screwtape Letters, close second Till We Have Faces.

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    1. Thanks for letting me know about C.S. Lewis! Total oops on my part. I guess I was just desperately wishing he was Catholic! I totally need to read the Screwtape Letters. I've been wanting to for a long time now. And since you say it's your favorite... done deal! :)

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  8. I love this post! It reminds me that I want to know more about Fulton Sheen, from what I know so far, he's great! I'm also a huge C.S. Lewis fan! Though the quiz was a little wonky, I got St. Michael! I love it!

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    1. YES! Fulton Sheen is totally worth getting to know better. :D Let me know if you stumble upon any more of his awesome quotes. Always looking for some good inspiration. :D And St. Michael!! That's a great saint! How is everyone getting such awesome saints from that wonky quiz? I mean, the saint I got was great too, but her story a bit weird. Hrmmm. What does this say about me?!? :P

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  9. Yay for being Catholic! It's the best! Hmmm...I'm not sure I trust Buzzfeed to pick a saint for me. ;) I got St. Isidore of Seville, patron saint of the internet, so I guess that's reasonable. My patron saint for this year (from the saint generator at conversiondiary.com) is St. Isidore the farmer, so maybe I need to stick with all saints named Isidore.

    Wait, C.S. Lewis wasn't Catholic. I thought it's rumored he might have converted at the end of his life though. We can hope. :)

    Do you read the blog of the woman whose son's survival (was not breathing for an hour, I think) is being investigated as a potential miracle attributed to Bishop Sheen? It's like watching history in the making. :)

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    1. I don't think I trust Buzzfeed for patron saint pickage either. Ha! But it's still fun to try. AND you got another St. Isidore. How neat!!

      Thanks for letting me know about C.S. Lewis. Oooops! Totally missed the point that he wasn't actually Catholic. Eeeek! I'm sure hoping he converted at the end of his life. It'd be a total win for our lovely Church. :)

      And yes! I've read posts by her before. It's SO neat that we can read the story via her blog!! History in the making indeed!

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  10. praise God for our Catholic Faith. you are so right, I appreciate the most when I am traveling I can see her "at home" in a Catholic Church. Fulton Sheen is amazing, I read his autobiography last year and loved it.

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    1. Praise God indeed! It's amazing that we can feel "at home" no matter where we are. :) And I'm totally interested in his autobiography now. Thanks for mentioning it!

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  11. Happy belated Monday! I hope your visit is going well. I got St. Arnulf of Metz - the patron saint of brewers! Ha... I'll spare you my thoughts on how awful that quiz was, but it was fun. :)

    I too love that I can travel anywhere and experience mass. I've done it in Switzerland, Ireland, and most recently Denver. We travel a lot, and it's always fun to figure out where the church is, what the times are, and know what to expect, even in another language.

    Although, when I went to mass in Switzerland, I was NOT ready for the free for all communion service! I'm used to nice, orderly lines, and everyone, including old ladies, made a DASH for the Eucharist regardless of where they were sitting. It was like everyone was running to meet their favorite rock star, which, in a really cool way, was very appropriate. :)

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    1. St. Arnulf! How random! And patron saint of brewers? That's actually pretty neat. Oh, and I totally agree with you on the awfulness of that quiz. We totally need to create a more legit one!

      You've been to Mass in so many awesome places! Ahhh! I totally want to be able to say I've been to Mass all over the world. How beautiful! Also, that Switzerland communion service is cracking me up! And also inspiring. They were so eager to get to Christ that the church became chaos!! It's an interesting thought! :)

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