Jun 15 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday: Vol. 176

Category: 7 Quick Takes Friday,Catholicism,Memes — Lindsay @ 4:32 pm

— 1 —

I just discovered that Twitter has a bot called Pentametron. It searches tweets based on syllabication for the ones that are written in iambic pentameter! Then it organizes them by rhyming into a sonnet at Pentametron.com! It doesn’t delete hashtags, and it doesn’t screen for profanity, but it can read numbers and Twitter handles as words. This is one of those times when technology and art hold hands and it is glorious.

— 2 —

A Goodreads friend shelved a book as “not sure” that I am not certain I believe exists. It’s called Canceled: The Story of America’s Least Wanted, and it’s roughly about a reality show on abortion. America votes, the woman kills her child. I loved the satire of Bumped, but Canceled sounds like it might go one step too far. I’m intrigued, but I’m scared.

— 3 —

Forget trashing the dress. Make it into a baptismal gown for your children! I have never heard of anyone doing this before, but I wound up at Fairy Godmother Creations in the midst of some other research, and I am hooked. I cannot think of a better use for a wedding gown. Unless the style mom chose was particularly timeless, some women won’t want to wear their mother’s actual dress. You can deconstruct mom’s dress and use pieces for daughter’s wedding dress, sure. But what better way could you have to use the dress you wore on the day you joined with your husband in lifelong love than to put that same dress on the fruit of your love: your baby, being brought into the Church?

— 4 —

I found another fantastic Potter gift on Etsy! This one is a keychain that says “Accio keys.” Love it!

— 5 —

Happy Meatday! Today is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, so I’m pretty sure you have a moral obligation to eat bacon today.

— 6 —

Related to the above, I came across a Pinterest board called Meatless Fridays. It’s entirely photo memes like the above, and not meatless meal recipes, but that doesn’t matter today! My bacon cheeseburger-eating self says, “Hooray!”

— 7 —

Through Monday night, you can get $2 in free MP3s at Amazon’s MP3 store with the code MP3S4ALL. I used $.99 of mine on the “Prayer of St. Francis” by Sarah McLachlan. I wanted Maroon 5′s cover of “Pure Imagination,” but they only sell that as partr of an album. What should I buy with my other $1.01?

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May 03 2012

A Beginner’s Guide to the Bond (Review: “101 Questions & Answers on Catholic Marriage Preparation”)

Category: Catholicism — Lindsay @ 11:36 pm

I work for a university parish. My pastor gave me 101 Questions and Answers on Catholic Marriage Preparation to read as I prepare to add marriage preparation to my duties at work. I’d already taken the day-long marriage packet workshop offered by the diocese, so I knew the finer points of completing the paperwork. I don’t have any experience counseling couples and am not married or a vowed religious myself, though, so I needed some supplementary training.

photo by Billy Quach

I found the book interesting on several points. The authors offer a wider perspective on the history of marriage preparation in the Church in the U.S. than I’ve seen anywhere else. It’s probably my age, but I hadn’t known that the six-month-plus prep period was so recently instated. I also had no idea that mixed marriages (a Catholic to a non-Catholic) couldn’t be celebrated physically in the church building before Vatican II. I am not a fan of recent innovations that the authors condone, such as the unity candle or writing your own vows. In movies and TV, the spouses who write their own vows rarely make any promises (which is what vows are); they just read love letters out loud. I will concede that they are sometimes allowed. I just don’t like them and don’t want to encourage them.

This is a good beginner-level book for anyone who is Catholic and is thinking about marriage, who isn’t Catholic and is thinking about marrying a Catholic, or who might become Catholic and wants to know why the Catholic Church makes such a big deal about marriage. The short answer: It is a big deal! It’s never too early to start preparing for the rest of your life.

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Dec 27 2011

Trusting in the Truth (Review: “How to Find Your Soulmate Without Losing Your Soul”

Category: Catholicism,Life — Lindsay @ 10:00 pm

I spent the day today after-Christmas shopping with my mom and sister. I don’t see my family very often since they almost all still live in Maryland, so I try to make myself available to them as much as I can when we’re together. It seems appropriate for a season like the Christmas season, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus into his human family and the Holy Family as a group (this year, on Dec. 30). Being around family and friends makes me acutely aware of my in-between state in life, though. I’m not married or even dating anyone, and my youngest sibling is 15, so it’s extra awkward when my mom gets excited by evidence of Santa’s arrival on Christmas morning. She’ll have a great time when grandchildren come, but I don’t know when that will be.

photo courtesy of Grand Velas Riviera Maya

If you’re anything like me, a Catholic 20-something struggling to navigate the gap between your childhood family and the family you may one day build, you can appreciate the lonely, out-of-place feeling that often surfaces this time of year. As Catholics, we are called to practice chastity, grow in holiness, and seek godly spouses, but the specifics can be difficult to understand. How to Find Your Soulmate Without Losing Your Soul: 21 Secrets for Women is the latest offering from Jason and Crystalina Evert, noted chastity speakers associated with Catholic Answers. Jason’s first book, If You Really Loved Me, changed my life when I read it in college. I’ve reread it since then, but that book is aimed toward a younger audience. Thankfully, as Jason has grown in age and wisdom with his wife (whom he met because they were both chastity advocates!) and four young children, his writing has grown as well. He is now reaching out toward people like me, those who know that there must be something better than the hook-up culture. There is, and this book begins to unpack the alternative.

Read the rest at Austin Catholic New Media.

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