Regnum Christi

Two of my fellow Americans and I are waiting outside our professor´s office to take our History of the Church oral exam. We´re supposed to start at 9:30, and we´re eager to start and finish, since it´s our last exam of the semester. 9:45 – no professor. 10:00 – no professor. 10:15 – you guessed it: no professor.

We´re all trying to ignore the elephant in the hallway with us: call it Constantine, the Council of Nicea, or the Arian heresy… instead, we´d like to distract ourselves and calm our nerves. A seminarian classmate joins us on the bench, and wants to jump on the bandwagon when he discovers we´re taking the exam orally. That gives us a better conversation topic than the elephant. Continue reading →

It is amazing to me to see how Christ works. The sin of this woman went from being what could have been the cause of her death to being the cause of her life. Christ was able to enter into her life because she recognized her sin. Her failure became the wound through which Christ could enter into her life. We can feel separated from God and unworthy to be in his presence because of our failures, but Christ looks on them in another way. He sees us and wants to renew us. God brings water to the desert (cf. 1^st reading). Even to where there is no life, God wants to enter there with His grace to convert us to Him. This woman was able to encounter God on this day because she saw that she was in desperate need. She received salvation, but it wasn’t so that she go on living as she was, but rather to go on living in a better way. She was forgiven and now her source of life became Christ.

The narration of the temptations in the desert in the Gospel of Luke finishes in verse 13, “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.” Would the devil come back to tempt Jesus more? When is the opportune time?

What time more opportune than at the cross? After the 40 days in the desert, scriptures tell us Jesus was hungry (Luke 4:1). On the cross, Jesus was very weak. There are three people or groups of people that shout at Jesus while he is hanging on the cross. Luke does not help us with any responses that Jesus gave to them. The prophecy of Isaiah comes to mind, “Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” (53:7) Continue reading →

Love is like a suitcase of deodorant. (not pictured: the 87oz jar of Jif- it never stood a chance… the boxes of Emergen-C, and all the Ibuprofen- I guess we have no excuse not to study hard)

It was a moment that all of us had secretly been waiting for since August; the moment when the “American directors” came to Spain for their formation course in February. Oddly enough about half of them are not American- God bless the USA.

And God bless everyone who sent us marvelous treats!!! Thank you! The entire community is definitely loving them. If anyone ever tells you that only Americans eat peanut butter like it’s going out of style, they are either ignorant, in denial or lying. Our Latinas put a serious dent in that jar of PB. Even our German sister agreed that is goes great with celery. Continue reading →

So many of the women I am close friends with would shudder to think of their husband’s losing his job and possibly having to go out and be the primary bread winner.  Many I know may be happy if some sideliner business or work adds some butter, but are deeply grateful and happy to see their hubbies win the bread.

Now, you may say, “Sara, you live in a Catholic bubble…come, get with the times!”

Let’s be about changing the times.  Among other recoveries with which God has blessed me, another recovery is a long-time recovery from feminism and its entanglements.  For me, feminism is like the arch-villain Venom in the Spiderman story (part III if you like movies).  I can visualize all that black goo cut away by my repentance and God’s merciful graces.  What is left is me and the protective armor of the real, “superhero” suit (God-given and God made).  I am left free to live and move and just be that beautiful child of God we are all meant to be, free from all that blackness.  Continue reading →

I´ve decided that with this semester´s schedule, Mondays are way too fast. Not that it goes by too fast (I don´t think that could happen on a Monday), but that my professors speak too fast. And think too fast. And list information too fast. And come to conclusions too fast. Disclaimer: Those are probably very subjective statements from a very secondary thinker listening to a second language. But anyway, Monday is fast.

There was this thought that kept coming through my mind last week during my Sociology class. This reminds me of something. Oh, I know. OCTOBER! The first month of class in Spanish was happening all over again. When I have to focus on each word now as much as I did then, I know there´s something unusual about the accent, or the speed, or something. Interestingly enough, it was actually an encouraging feeling, because since it felt strange to have to work my brain muscles so hard to understand, I realized how much less I have to focus in order to follow a lecture in Spanish now. Continue reading →

office decked out for my birthday this year

I still love being a priest, here are five more reasons why:

1. Birthday celebrity status – I must have received a world-record number of birthday cards from the kids last birthday. Took me literally hours to just read them all!

2. Mass Bell-Bombers – Little John Paul, all of 2 year-old, likes to run up and ring the bells whenever he gets a chance during mass. I love it!

Continue reading →

There was a period in my life when my siblings and I were homeschooled. This short stint did wonders for me academically and was ripe with moments that marked me for life. A common activity for the homeschooling group we were a part of was “co-ops”, don’t ask me what we did, because I don’t necessarily remember, but I think I learned how to bake a cake, identify different trees and certainly had tons of fun with my friends. On one such co-op day we went to Big Bone Lick State Park in Union, KY. Toward the end of our outing my mom went with another mom/friend of the family to go get something to drink or whatever moms did during those things. Before walking away she gave my 7 year old brother specific directions to sit down on the bench and wait for her to come back. He, like most little boys, sat still for all of about 10 seconds after she walked away. Continue reading →

What caught my attention this week in the gospel of the Prodigal Son, was the fact that he spent what he lost so quickly. It seems almost instantaneous in the gospel. So what were the riches that this son was able to spend so quickly? Money would probably have lasted longer. The wealth that he lost was that of being a son. He didn’t want to go back to his father to be part of the family anymore, but rather to be a worker. With God, we are always able to return to Him, not as slaves, but rather as His children. Our value is in the fact that we are loved by God, we can only lose this by losing hope that He will accept us as part of his family. God waits for us with open arms and waits anxiously for our return. This lent is a special time for us not only to look for forgiveness, but also to see the value God has given us by loving each one of us personally.

Fr Sylvester, Beatles fan

As the Beatles said, “we can work it out.” – Fr Sylvester Heereman LC

I don’t want to shock readers, but in the course of the Regnum Christi Renewal Convention of several days, sometimes people didn’t immediate agree on everything.

Don’t worry; no fisticuffs, profanity, name calling, yelling, screaming or hair pulling.  After all, these are practicing members of Regnum Christi.

That also means they do tend to have opinions and are more than willing to express them.  So there was passion, enthusiasm and sometimes a bit of heat.  All to help in listening to the will of the Holy Spirit. Continue reading →