"I want grandchildren."

It was a very long week at work in Japan. Stress, lots of work to do, deadlines. You know, just another week.

So when it came time to finally leave on Friday, I was ready to take a nap in my 30-minute taxi ride from work back to my hotel.

Alas, it was not to be so.

In all my trips to Japan so far, I've had a good handful of taxi drivers. Some repeated. Some terribly slow. Some terribly fast. Some using their phones to translate their Japanese to English just to tell me the traffic is "slow as molasses". One really attractive Japanese woman who drove like a maniac, cutting everyone off, and probably bringing dishonor to everyone's families. But this particular Friday commute home, my taxi driver actually spoke decent English!

Because he was able to speak English, he initiated small conversations. You know, apart from me telling him, "go to this hotel using the expressway and exit here."  He asked me how long I was staying in Japan and what I do. Stuff like that. Then silence for a while.

He then asked me for permission to ask me how old I am. I laughed and told him my age. He then proceeded to tell me that his son is also the same age as I am. And that his son got married only two months ago.

We were stopped in traffic so then he kind of turns around to say that he wants grandchildren. I could see the smile on his face. From the joy I saw in his face, I could tell that it was such a sincere, genuine desire amplified by Japanese pride in family and progeny. A certain pride and desire that seems to be diminishing back home in the United States.

I affirmed him saying that yeah, I hope he gets to have grandchildren soon!  More small talk, and we arrived at my hotel.

As I'm writing this blog post, this moment with the English-speaking taxi driver happened just yesterday. I've reflected on it some since then.

This desire to have grandkids, through the example of my taxi driver, speaks of a love that is fruitful. A love so profound that when husband and wife come together, it can result in Another. And the cycle goes on. And on. And on. And on. And I got a practical taste of that which is so good, so true, and so beautiful in the simple desire of my taxi driver.

This resonates with me. A lot, actually. I think of all the times that I hang out and pray with the elderly in nursing homes as well as my own grandparents at home, now that they're back from the Philippines.  They're always so proud to have grandkids.

So as for me...yeah. God-willing, I want grandchildren too some day.

- JD

Toyota Crown Japanese Taxi // Integrity Exports
Japanese grandfather // Grandparents.com

She Stared Into My Soul

I entered in, and already there weren't too many seats so I spent some time looking around. Spotting some familiar friends, I saw an empty seat and made the awkward gestures of "is that seat open?". A quick nod, and I even more awkwardly climb over my friends to get to my seat.

Between my friends was actually a third.

There was one moment where she stared at me for a while, and I couldn't help but stare back. A long stare.

I looked into her eyes.

She looked right back at me.

We shared a deep and profound moment. Maybe I had a deep and profound moment, though she probably didn't comprehend it as such.

She wasn't just looking at me. She wasn't looking through me. She was looking at me. And she smiled.

In this deep and profound stare, I realized that I mattered to her, but not in the typical way people matter to others. As she looked at me, I knew it didn't matter to her what my awesomeness and shortcomings are. She didn't care.

As I looked at her, I realized what an amazing gift she is to be here staring right back at me.

She stared into my soul.  I stared into hers.

And it was amazingly awesome to just have that brief moment of profoundness.

After a few moments, she went on to her usual fidgeting, playing with her dad's watchband, throwing her padded book at me, and snuggling in her mom's arms. She didn't even cry.

Here's the context:
It was Palm Sunday, and I was running a little later than normal for being early to Mass. Because of that, and because of the increased attendance due to the significance of the day, I found it challenging to find an open seat in a pew. Luckily, I spotted my two friends and the empty seat next to them, and they had their 11-month old daughter with them.

She's absolutely adorable! I've known her since she was a few months old in-utero.

(42) Week 15! :-D #100picsofbeauty #livesonograms #overcomingchallenges

A photo posted by JR (@r4nd311) on Nov 9, 2013 at 10:25am PST

This was a profoundly deep moment for me exchanging stares with her because how often do I get the chance to just really look at someone deeply and to be looked at similar way? It just made the moment so much sweeter because I know her parents love her so dearly, and I know of their struggles before having her.

And all this during Mass.

Awesome.

- JD

Not a review on "The Drop Box"

Sometimes I get the opportunity to watch special movie screenings. That's how I was able to see When The Game Stands Tall starring Jim Caviezel. Apparently a group of people from my parish is part of some program where they get to hear about different special movie screenings, typically films that are faith-based.  And that's how I got invited to watch The Drop Box.

They heard about the special 3-day screening for this movie and shared it with all. No amount of north Texas ice and snow stopped us from getting a pretty decent crowd to go see this movie. Fortunately, the night of our last major snow fall, all the snow earlier in the day had already melted. Just in time for the final day of this special screening!

I hadn't really heard about it until I got invited to this screening. I didn't even watch the trailer until the day I saw the movie. But when I saw the trailer, I knew that it would be a powerful film. It's actually less of a movie and more a documentary.

The Drop Box tells the story of a South Korean Christian pastor named Pastor Lee who created a baby drop box at his church so that mothers can anonymously drop off their baby.  From there, he makes sure the baby is taken care of and if possible, he adopts the baby as his own.

Abandoned babies are a growing problem in Korea, but oftentimes they don't survive after being abandoned out in the elements. The documentary highlights this unfortunate backdrop. Mothers abandon their baby because they feel that they cannot take care of the child, or they would bring great shame upon themselves because of their difficult circumstances such as pregnant but not married, unwanted children, the baby has a disability, friends at school ridiculing, family disowning, etc. Really sad stories.

But The Drop Box isn't necessarily about Pastor Lee. Yes, it tells his story and his motivations for doing the work, but it also highlights the stories of the children that get dropped off in the baby drop box. Many of these children have pretty serious disabilities like Down Syndrome, physical deformations, mental illness, etc.

This movie was a challenge to watch. Not because it showed graphic scenes or gross medical things, but because it really showed the love that Pastor Lee has for these children when everyone else gave up on them. And that's beautiful. I mean, the middle-aged man sitting on my right was sobbing the whole time, and the woman next to me admitted after the movie that she tried not to "ugly cry" the whole time. As for me, yeah, I totally wept too.

After watching this movie, after seeing the work that Pastor Lee does, after learning the stories of many of the kids with special needs that he and his wife adopted, I left the movie questioning where I am in my Christian faith.

But in a good way.

Here are some themes that stuck out to me:

Capacity and Depth of Love
Seeing Pastor Lee totally give of himself as a father for these abandoned children really shows his vast capacity to love. His own son is severely disabled and requires a lot of attention, but somehow Pastor Lee is able to give each child the tender love and care they need. Late nights, lots of children crying, and all the usual beautiful burdens of raising children. He and his family currently takes care of 15 children that came to him via the drop box. 15. Children.  And always open to more. Crazy.

My primary sentiment after watching the movie was being in awe of Pastor Lee's capacity and depth of love. I mean, clearly no normal human being is able to do the work he does without such a heart as he has, but truly the only reason he does is because of his Christian faith and love of God.

Not only was I in awe of his capacity to love, but it really made me think about my own capacity and depth of love. Do I love others enough as they deserve? Do I love even those that were rejected by the world? Can I give more? Can I love more?

Recognizing the dignity of others
With all the crazy things happening in this world, I'd say that a major cause of our problems in humanity stems from our inability to recognize the inherent dignity of others. And that's what makes watching The Drop Box so cool! It's because Pastor Lee shows us by his example what it looks like to recognize the dignity of each baby, no matter their circumstances or shortcomings. I mean, the man truly loves each child as his own, and through the eyes of fatherhood is Pastor Lee able to recognize the dignity of these little ones.

One of the things I love about being Catholic is that it really teaches me to recognize the dignity of others, even if they don't recognize it themselves or in others. Seeing Pastor Lee work with these children and raising them as his own made me reflect on how I view others. These children were abandoned because they were too much of a burden, but they deserve dignity and love like any other children.

Do I view others as a burden to myself, or do I recognize their dignity?

Humility
The film highlighted some of the necessary work that Pastor Lee has to do.  I have a lot of friends who have recently had their own kids, and it's fascinating to me the work and sacrifice it takes to raise kids. Honestly, sometimes I have IM conversations at work about baby diarrhea.

It requires a certain kind of humility and love to endure these sufferings. What surprised me is that Pastor Lee is elderly yet despite all the difficulties, the late nights, and the challenges of raising children with special needs, he serves and loves those children without complaint. It takes great humility to do the work he does.

Do I consider the needs of others before my own needs? Do I do what needs to be done even if I don't feel like it?

Life Lessons
The Pastor Lee quote pictured above really sticks out to me. He was talking about how he loves kids with special needs because they teach him how to love. They teach him many things. He learns more from them than they learn from Pastor Lee.

That made me go whoa. Whereas most people see kids with special needs or even kids in general as burdens, it's cool to hear how Pastor Lee admits that these children teaches him many life lessons, perhaps even more than he teaches them life lessons.

What can I learn more about the beauty, truth, and goodness of life in those that I encounter?

Pro-Life
While the movie is not overtly pro-life in terms of the movement, it still has a very pro-life message. The pro-life message resonates through the very example of Pastor Lee in his depth of love for these adopted children, recognizing their dignity, and serving them with humility. Perhaps that's why abortion is a thing in our country because we don't recognize that we have the capacity to love greatly, we don't recognize the inherent dignity of our fellow people, and we're not willing to have the humility necessary to love others authentically with self-sacrificial, life-giving love. So, it was entirely refreshing to learn about Pastor Lee and his work because it is work that goes unnoticed, and we can learn a lot from his example.

How can I engage in further pro-life work in addition to what I'm already doing?

I really wanted to have a small group discussion right there in the middle of the theater hallway after the movie because the entire movie is a beautiful nugget at which to continue to chew on. What does it mean now that I've seen it? How have I changed because of this film? How shall I respond?

Pondering this, I will. And I'm totally getting the DVD/Blu-ray.
- JD

PS After the movie, they played a pre-recorded screening event for the movie to give further background, insight, and shameless plugs for ministries that help out families. In it, they talked to the director of the movie. I just wanted to mention that he felt intrigued to do this movie because he saw a headline in the L.A. Times (this one), and he needed something for the Sundance Film Festival. He actually spent time in South Korea helping Pastor Lee and the kids, and because of that time spent with him and filming, he converted to Christianity. That's awesome! One does not simply engage in works of mercy and not feel the Holy Spirit's tug on the heart to discover the source of the beauty, goodness, and truth in serving abandoned kids with special needs. Please pray for him!

Pictures // TheDropBoxFilm.com

In Sickness And In Health

Last year, my housemates and I started a tradition of Bro Night Tuesday's. Basically, it was a designated night for us to hang out as a household because our schedules were all over the place.

One particular Tuesday, it was only me and one of my other housemates who were available to hang out. He pitched the idea of going to visit his grandfather in rehab and then going downtown nearby for dinner. I was totally down for the idea! I know my housemate previously told me how earlier in the year his grandfather had some bad health issues that resulted in him going into rehab. At that time, he recently had another health scare so my housemate really wanted to visit him.

I have decent experience in visiting nursing homes for the sick and elderly. But that's with the specific mission of ministering the Holy Eucharist and praying with my residents. This visit with my housemate was simply just that--a visit.

We go, we arrive, and we go to his grandfather's room. His grandmother was also there.

I got to meet my housemate's grandparents, and that was truly wonderful. I got to talk to his grandfather for a bit, and much of the time I stood in the background listening to my housemate and grandmother talk to him. Here before me lay a frail, elderly man but despite that, I truly experienced his full personality, mind, and wisdom. His mind was still sharp though his body slow.

What really resonated with me, and still does, is seeing my housemate's grandmother interact with her husband. I could tell that she was tired, and I know she visited him every day. Even then, with such tender love and care she made sure her husband was comfortable and got what he needed whether it was sips of water or readjustment of leg positions among other things.

I don't know that my words can adequately illustrate what clicked in my mind. But here in that rehab room that day, I experienced what authentic, married love looks like.

Those marriage vows found in Catholic wedding ceremonies came to mind. Something to the effect of:

...to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

In sickness and in health.

That offering of self for the good of the beloved, in particular when the beloved is in a time of sickness and suffering.

We live in such a throwaway culture in regards to love. It's difficult to find beautiful examples of what authentic, self-sacrificial love looks like. For me to have this bro night and witness this brief, beautiful example of my housemate's grandparents gave me a lot of hope and desire to love my future wife in such a self-sacrificial way.

In sickness and in health.
- JD

My housemate's grandfather passed away weeks later after our bro night visit. He converted to Catholicism just a few days before passing away.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Holding hands // The Guardian

While people-watching at the airport the other day...

Oh the gloriousness of stock photos!

... I saw something really awesome!

I was at the airport this past Saturday waiting for my grandparents, aunt, and cousin to pass through U.S. Customs. My grandparents are moving back from the Philippines, and my aunt and cousin are immigrating.

Obviously, with Customs being the way that it is, and the fact that my grandparents are advanced in age, it took a long while for them get through. My parents and I were waiting at international arrivals for a long while. Lots of Facebook Likes and some retweets while I was waiting.

Also during that time, I was watching people pass through. Lots of sweet reunions among family and friends as I waited there tapping through apps on my iPhone waiting for my own family to pass through the sliding doors.

But one reunion in particular stood out.

A mother with her twin toddlers (a little boy and little girl) passed through the sliding doors. Not even 10 feet, and they all see the father waiting at the end of the roped off area. The little girl JUMPS OUT OF THE STROLLER (it was riding low enough), AND RUNS TO THE EMBRACE AND KISSES OF HER FATHER. The little boy, who seemed a little distracted by some toy or something, took a few moments before he caught on, and he himself jumped out and ran towards his father as well.

I was just observing this from my seat off to the side. I don't know how long the mother and children were gone and what country they flew from, but it didn't matter. Seeing just the excitement and the love being shared and the joy being expressed seeing this father reuniting with his family speaks a very resonating truth about its goodness and beauty.

Seeing those toddlers run up to their dad was unlike anything else I had seen among children reuniting with their fathers that I saw that day.  But I can only imagine what kind of relationship the father has to his kids for them to run up to him like that. It's awesome.

I kept thinking how I desire that type of relationship with my own (future) kids (God-willing) to have a moment just like that.

But for now, I can strive to be the best man I can be and love in authentic ways.
- JD

American Airlines Terminal 3's Main Hall @ Chicago O'Hare // Wikipedia

All The Preparations

For whatever reason, the theme of preparation has been really prevalent in my life lately. Not necessarily personally, but all around me.

The past month or so has been particularly busy for me since I've been spending a lot of my weekends helping my parents prep their house so that they can put it on the market to sell. They're wanting to downsize and reduce expenses since everyone but my parents has moved out of the house. My grandparents, my bro, and myself. Just not my dog.

I'm not as handy as my dad, but I still helped do minor home improvement tasks, cleaning, and packing. Most upsetting for me was not the packing or cleaning, but the total repainting of my bathroom which took me weeks to do originally, but only a weekend to paint over what I originally did. That's okay. Maybe sponge effect is a hard sell for potential homebuyers.


In program management terms, my parents' house is way behind schedule in putting it on the market. But, despite the months and months of repairs, pacing, and cleaning, I think the end result is quite a sellable abode. In other words, the preparation, delspite how stressful, time consuming, and wallet consuming that it was, indeed was worth it. The end result is a surprisingly presentable house. I've never seen that
house so clean and organized!

Over the break, my parents were able to finally put their house on the market AND find a rental house as a temporary solution. All the preparation in packing and cleaning has culminated in this moment.

On the other hand, one of my housemates just got married after the turn of the new year. Over the past several months, I would often be chilling at home and see him and his now-wife come in and start working on wedding preparations. Sometimes I wouldn't see him many nights during the week because he'd be out doing wedding prep with her. I guess I take for granted just the amount of hard work wedding planning requires, especially for them because they're getting married out of state (she's from Arizona). But interacting wth my housemate and hearing him talk about the wedding preparations helped me realize how stressful that can be. BUT! Oh man. Don't get me wrong. He was so anxious and so joyful that he's marrying the girl of his dreams. All the preparations are worth it, even if it sucks at the moment in preparation. The wedding was freakin’ awesome because I know, from a close perspective, how much work they put into it. Please pray for them! That their marriage is truly a beautiful sign of love that is free, total, faithful, and fruitful!

On an even different note, I spent a recent chunk of 33 days doing a devotional. I blogged daily with reflections for it. This devotion makes an act of total consecration to Jesus Christ through His Blessed Mother, Mary. Before making that act, I went through weeks of daily prayers and reflections focusing on different themes. After the fact, it's been pretty awesome. It's easier for me to see God's grace working in my life. And it's a little easier to respond to that grace.

I guess these are the few ways that have really highlighted the notion of preparation for me lately.

That's very fitting, considering that Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas, is a time of preparation. Preparation for what? Celebrating the arrival of the Word Made Flesh. The Birth of Christ.

Big deal, truly.

These preparations helped me be more aware of the importance of preparation when anticipating something major. And I begin to appreciate the season of Advent in a real and practical way.

Merry Christmas (still)!
- JD

"Adoration of the Shepherds" by Van Honthorst // Wikipedia

I Got Scolded At Mass Today

I'll begin this blog post in saying that I attended an anime convention for the first time in my life yesterday. And long story short, because that placed me across town and because of the hospitality of friends letting me crash at their place after said anime convention, I decided to venture forth where this Catholic has never gone before in terms of parishes visited.

With that said, I knew that my crashing at a friend's place meant that I would be in the near vicinity of a Catholic parish that I've always wanted to visit. This parish is Mater Dei, which is a Latin Mass parish in Irving, TX. My motivation for even visiting Mater Dei is simply to experience Mass done in the Extraordinary Form again. No English. It's all done in Latin. Pretty cool!

Apart from me stumbling through Mass as I attempted at following along with what everyone is doing in terms of postures and trying not to get lost in following in the Missal to see the English translation of what was being said, I was particularly jarred by how the priest scolded us.

During announcements to the congregation, the priest (Fr. Longua) opened up in saying that sometimes a father has to scold his children. That makes sense to me because how often has my own father scolded me for things... Then he made reference that he, as a Catholic priest and father to us as a congregation (not in the same sense as God is our Father in heaven), needed to scold us. Okay...

Apparently last Friday for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (it's a holy day of obligation for us Catholics (and that we should go to Mass)), some woman with a lot of kids had a crying baby. Her husband wasn't present due to work. Apparently, one of the parishioners at Mater Dei harshly scolded the mother for having the crying baby and told her to go to the crying room (some churches have designated areas for parents to calm their kids).

And mother-of-crying-baby got really upset. She was already stressed out already from looking after her kids and dealing with her crying baby. And now someone is upset at her.

And the priest scolded us that this happened.

He said that it's okay for babies to make weird noises. If a baby makes a sad noise, we're free to share a sad moment with the baby. A happy noise merits a happy reaction and moment from us.

Fr. Longua mentioned that under no circumstances is it cool for us to be totally unwelcoming and harshly tell mothers to get out when crying babies happen. This parish (really any parish) should be welcoming because it's already tough to be welcoming and for someone (one person) to harshly tell this mother to get out of Mass is unacceptable. But I wouldn't say he scolded us out of anger. Very father-like. You know, very disappointed, but still forgiving. I knew that him scolding us was not a gesture of malice, but really from a place of love and desire for us to be better versions of ourselves.

Actually, it was awkward because as he was saying these things, I wanted to raise my hand and make the classic Mean Girls reference and yell out "I DON'T EVEN GO HERE!" so as not to be guilty by association with my fellow pew warmers.

*He

Haha, but I love what Fr. Longua said because it is applicable to me. I haven't personally given mothers death stares or vocally expressed them to excuse themselves, but it's important for me to keep in mind Fr. Longua's words. He also said something cool, and I paraphrase him in saying it is selfish of us to be upset/frustrated/angry about crying babies at Mass. We should focus on the Mass and not the crying baby. If we react in an upset/frustrated/angry way, the focus has then turned onto ourselves and not the Mass. This is kind of a big deal when one realizes that the Mass is about worshipping God by encountering Him in His Word and Flesh in the Eucharist. That is our focus. Not ourselves. Nor what's going on with others.

See, crying babies at Mass are definitely a thing at my home parish. Man, sometimes the 9AM Mass is a cacophonous symphony of crying babies and that can be quite distracting. In recent years, I've taken such moments to be opportunities to really refocus on the Mass rather than the baby crying. It's difficult. It takes practice. Even as I've practiced, I still let my focus go wayward sometimes. But I never react in a negative way to the sound of crying babies at Mass.

Actually, the sound of crying babies at Mass is a good thing. It means that a baby exists in the midsts of the pews. This means that the love between husband and wife has indeed been fruitful. A crying baby is a beautiful sign that the Church is growing. Not just the domestic church (ie. the family), not just for the local church (ie. the parish), but the Church as a whole (ie. the Body of Christ) is growing! This growth points towards the fruitfulness of the love that Christ has for His Bride, the Church. And that's really cool.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that beautiful fact when I'm too frustrated with a crying baby. Sure, it is indeed courteous of parents to excuse themselves (without being harshly told) when dealing with their crying baby. And even if they don't, it's still on me to focus on what I should be focused on.

In the end, I'm grateful that Fr. Longua scolded us. It needed to be said. I needed the reminder of what my focus should be on during Mass.

Mass isn't about me.
- JD

Mater Dei altar and consecration // Mater Dei on Flickr
Crying Baby // BabyWorld
She Doesn't Even Go Here // WiffleGif

Proud

So I didn't pack a lunch this morning.

And because I didn't pack a lunch this morning, I fully intended to spend money at my work's cafeteria.

I've been training with a coworker for the past week and a half, and he's normally one to bring his own lunch and eat at his desk.

However! Today, he happenchance'd to invite me to eat lunch in the cafeteria as an easy way to meet up for me to transition over to his area (since he works on the completely opposite side of the plant from me).

I got to meet a few of his buddies at lunch as I enjoyed a delicious taco salad. Pico de gallo. Mmm.

My coworker-who-is-training-me is expecting his third child to be born here very soon, and that was a topic of discussion during our consumption of foodstuffs at lunch. I kind of got the vibe that his two buddies eating lunch would make fun of him. You know, because it's totally bro to make fun of the bro who is tied down in marriage having kids (sigh).

But he said something that resonated really well with me like a resounding chorus of djembes. Why djembes? I dunno, but it was awesome. In the discussion about kids, he briefly talked about his two-year old daughter who is now beginning to talk. He said something to the effect of, "The best word in the world is 'daddy'." He continued on with something like, "There's nothing more awesome than being called 'daddy' by your children."

Because of my initial shyness around new people, I didn't outwardly express my agreement with him apart from a nod and a big smile. On the inside, I briefly reflected on how awesome of a profound thing that he just said. Without a doubt, I know he has a sense of pride because I could sense it from him as he made these comments.

To me, it just makes total sense! Why shouldn't a father feel immense pride to hear his own kids call him what he is? A daddy! A father!

You see, in this brief moment, he modeled what authentic masculinity is to me. And that sort of pride, that sort of comment, resounds well with me because that's something I hope to one day experience. A very full and authentic expression of what it means to be a man.

Daddy.
- JD

Picture of father and daughter from Or So She Says...

Not So Fast After All

I was in California a few weeks ago visiting family, particularly  my cousins who I haven't been in a long while. It makes me feel old that they have kids now, but that's okay because it is such a blessing to see my (extended) family growing and growing!

The trip was a little challenging to me because I have family who live in the Los Angeles area and the San Diego area. I had this brilliant idea of renting a car to freely move about between the two major SOCAL cities to see my cousins.

OH! But such danger it is to be a single, engineer who has the power to rent cars!

What made my brilliant idea even more radiant is that I decided to rent a convertible to traverse the streets of California with the top down! (#BucketList)

My loyal steed during my trip: a 2014 white Mustang convertible.

I think I was driving in California completely wrong. How is it that I, in the fast car, wasn't driving fast enough?

I knew something was going horribly wrong when 30+ Prii (Prius, plural) passed me during my 4 days in southern California...

And suddenly the notion of humility became very real to me.

- JD

Prius photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Face Value

I've probably mentioned before in my blog, in person, or made references on social media about my rather lengthy commute to work. 62 miles from home to work. That's 124 miles a day. 620 miles a week. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time in my vehicular device getting to and from work.

Thankfully, the majority of my commute is spent on highways going opposite of traffic. It only takes me about 1.25 hours to get to go those 62 miles. That's about ~10 hours a week spent driving just for work. That all sounds totally undesirable by some, but my situation isn't as bad when I'm able to carpool half way. I try not to complain because I'm grateful for my job, and I have coworkers who go 70 or 80 miles, one way, to work. Then I found out about the engineer who lives in Florida and flies home every weekend...

Considering all that, that's a lot of highway time! With a lot of time on the highway comes all the frustrations of driving on the highway. A frequent circumstance I encounter while gracing I-35 with my car's tires is getting stuck behind the slow vehicle.

Usually it's a semi, and for the purpose of this blog post, I shall interchangeably use "semi" or "truck" to refer to the "slow-moving vehicle".

Babe's And Billboards

I think it was earlier last year in the spring when I was driving towards Dallas through Denton on I-35E. I noticed a big billboard that simply said "Behold the King of Kings" with a picture of the Nativity. 

I didn't take this Instagram...

"That's pretty cool, but...it's awkward because it's sooooo not Christmas right now. Maybe this is accidental in leaving the billboard up...", were my thoughts. I didn't think too much about it and went on my merry way (but not merry in a holiday way, because it 'twas not the season). I mean, being up here in north Texas, it's not uncommon to see Christian billboards. (Do you know how many pro-life ones I pass by on the way to work? Lol.)

There was another non-holiday instance of me driving through the Metroplex, and I noticed the same billboard. This time in a completely different location! And I was like, "Dang, whoever is sponsoring this billboard ...they're intense! ...or forgetful-because-it's-still-not-Christmas." But now, I had the opportunity to look at the billboard more closely and such a closer look revealed something that I wasn't expecting.

Babe's?!?! Whaaaa!

I had no idea that one of my favorite restaurants had any sort of Christian affiliation with it!

And so they definitely do, according to their Visions & Values on their website.

Since I'm writing this in the Christmas season (which for Catholics, is celebrated as an entire season and not just a single day...ends January 12th this year), I really do get the opportunity to behold the King of kings! I'm celebrating His arrival! Word made flesh! God humbling Himself as a babe (not a chicken house)!

Y'all, that has so much theological richness to it that I can't hope to even begin to talking more about it! But, I'm appreciative of the fact that Babe's has billboards all over the place reminding me to behold the Him.

===Update 1/5/2014===

I unintentionally seemed to have posted this blog post on the weekend of the Epiphany of the Lord, where the Church celebrates the three "Wise Men" coming to see the babe to worship Him. Seeking the Child in Jerusalem, they asked King Herod where to find Him. After visiting Herod, they went on their way

and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. (RSV-CE Matt 2: 9-11)

At this morning's Mass, our priest highlighted that the Epiphany used to be an even greater celebration than Christmas itself! This is simply because here we have Jesus being revealed to the world...to other eyes besides Mary and Joseph. Quite a big deal! The "Wise Men" have come to behold and worship the King of kings! Upon hearing this stressed importance during the homily, I had a sort of epiphany about Epiphany.

Either way...today is the day which we celebrate beholding the babe as King as the three Orient kings did those ~2000 years ago.

While the Solemnity of the Epiphany is a once-a-year celebration, I think, going forward, these billboards that Babe's (Chicken Dinner House) has placed around town will be good reminders for me to go to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament--where I can really behold the King of kings truly present: body, blood, soul, and divinity.

Behold.
- JD

Picture of Babe's "Behold the King of Kings" billboard from The New MethoFesto blog

Close up picture from Humor Outcasts
"There's Myrrh" meme from Catholic Memes
Picture of Pope Francis holding monstrance with Eucharist from Catholic Philly

Hope: 10 Minutes With A Homeless Woman

Another year, and another Christmas Eve morning spent at Beautiful Feet! I blogged about my experience last year, and how that made an impact on me.

This year was pretty much a repeat, and while I don't want to rehash all that, I do want to blog about a particular moment during that Christmas Eve morning that stood out to me.

We had already sorted clothes and everyone was downstairs helping serve that "Thanksgiving-esque" meal graciously cooked by my brother Knights of Columbus. Space was tight with all the tables filled. Some of the homeless decided to eat at the tables outside, which was totally fine because the weather and sun outside late in the morning were quite beautiful!

I decided to walk outside too just to see who all was hanging around outside. I stumbled upon some of my parish peers engaged in conversation with this elderly woman. I didn't catch some of the beginning parts of that conversation, but I caught on and started paying attention when she started talking about the Virgin Mary.

And. How. Much. She. Loved. The. Virgin. Mary.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

So I guess she started giving a sort of life story and how Mary has given her strength and hope through her difficult times. Listening to her, we found out that she was in an abusive relationship, her now ex-husband molested their granddaughters, she used to be a cocaine addict, she's been assaulted physically, she currently lives in a homeless shelter, her teeth were knocked out by one of her relatives, many other homeless people don't like her and will throw things at her, and I'm sure she covered other sad events.

But what really threw me off and intrigued me was how she endured all these traumatizing things by keeping close to our Blessed Mother. She had learned how to pray the Rosary way back when, and she had a sort of conversion moment upon praying it. And since then, she's been devoted to the Virgin Mary! She said something about how praying the Rosary keeps her sane while dealing with the craziness of her homeless life.

What throws me off the most is how freakin' excited and joyful she was in expressing this love for the Virgin Mary. I didn't really sense sadness from her even as she explained her dark past. Haha she was even showing off her Rosaries and Mary medals and all this other Mary-related stuff she had on her! And I really liked how she told us that she knows the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal who live down the road.  Not only that, but how she utterly begs them for their ginormous Rosaries that they carry around with them! Haha, made me llol (literally laugh out loud).

Even more surprising to me was how she understood mostly what Catholics teach about Mary. She understood that we do not worship her, but rather honor her greatly because her Son honors her. And she totally understood that without her and her saying "yes!" out of love and obedience to God, we wouldn't have Jesus. She understood that Mary helps lead us to Jesus as He leads us to God, the Father. She also understood that she's surrounded by demons and how Mary protects her. (Side note: I forget which Catholic saint said this, but when he was interacting with demons, he asked them, "What are you most afraid of?" and the demons answered, "Mary." I mean, it's not like...Mary crushes the head of serpents or anything...)

Anyway...You see, I don't think most Catholics even understand some of these concepts of what the Church teaches about Mary. And she was here...telling us all this...and how her life relates to it all...with such joy and hope! So, I was definitely amazed and impressed.

Green Scapular

Because of her past and need for physical and spiritual healing, I felt called to give her the green scapular I had in my wallet (lately, I try to keep scapulars and Miraculous Medals with me to hand out). The green scapular is a devotion Our Lady revealed to a French religious sister named Sr. Justine Bisqueyboro in the mid 1800's. It centers on Mary's Immaculate Heart, and the prayer that should be prayed daily is, "Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death." The fruits of this devotion can be help in the areas of physical health, peace of mind, and spiritual conversion. After I gave her my green scapular, my youth minister friend gave her a brown scapular which is a totally different devotion with different fruits.

She so was grateful that we gave her these scapulars, and she pretty much took it as a sign. She said that these were amazing gifts for Christmas.

Then she went on her merry, joyful way. Towards the end, I got pulled away to help bring in more donated food into the building. But I couldn't help but be amazed at her joyful hope. She was so incredibly happy when she left, and that was really awesome to see! Geez, she seemed so happy even as a homeless person. I find difficulty in finding us who live in suburbia oozing with the kind of joy and hope she had.

Hanging out with her got me thinking about the theological virtue of hope the rest of the day, and I later looked up what our Catechism says about it:

1818     The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men's activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.

And how Mary plays in the role of hope for us all:

64     Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts. The prophets proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a salvation which will include all the nations. Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will bear this hope. Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith, and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel's salvation. The purest figure among them is Mary.

Awesome.

So in that short 10-minute conversation with the elderly homeless woman, I gained a better appreciation for the power of hope and how Mary can strengthen that hope. Without a doubt, the hope of heaven through Mary (through Jesus) is sufficient enough to sustain her, and it is definitely a blessing to have witnessed someone en fuego for the faith like her.

Please pray for her, that she may receive healing from her physical and spiritual sufferings and for her to find not just a house, but a home. And also pray for people of good will, who find it in their hearts to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

If I remember correctly, her real name is Tammy, but her street name that she goes by is Maria Cristo.

Faith. Hope. Love.
- JD

Picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help from Wikipedia
Picture of the Green Scapular from Our Lady of the Rosary Library

I feel like a bad citizen...

...because I had no idea who was the elderly man just in front of me.

It's been long while since I've gone to my own church for this very specific purpose. I decided to get in my usual line and was walking down the aisle of pews and caught glimpse of the end of the line.

So I got at the end of the line in that pew, not really paying too much attention to everyone else around simply because Jesus was out of His box, exposed in the monstrance.

There were like...6 people ahead of me. And one by one, they entered into the confessional until it got to be my turn.

I confess my sins, receive absolution, and leave the confessional. I make my way around the perimeter on the outside pews, and caught glimpse of the elderly man who went to confession right before me.

And I noticed, unmistakably, the polo shirt with the logo that I know only city council members wear.

As I passed by him, it dawned on me that he wasn't any ordinary council member but rather... the mayor.

I keep forgetting that he goes to my church! But after my awkward realization, I thought it was cool that I got to spend time in prayer with the mayor of my city in the pew before we went in for our confessions.

Admittedly, I feel like a bad citizen simply because I didn't acknowledge him (I used to work for the city, but I've never officially met him), but you know what, in that setting, I think it was definitely more appropriate to keep the focus on Christ rather than detract and distract by formally saying hello and awkwardly introducing myself.

But despite that, I thought it beautiful and awesome that I encountered someone in public office who professes the faith and is humble enough to admit that he's not perfect before God Himself, seeking forgiveness and absolution because the joy and peace of Christ are the remedy to the restlessness we experience as a result of sin. He's not perfect. Neither am I.

When I passed by him after confession, he had that sometimes stereotypical glow that Catholics have after having gone to confession, and it was cool to see him walk out of the church holding hands with his wife with a big smile on his face (she went to confession too!).

Let's pray for our public servants, especially those in public office--no matter what level of government! That they seek what is truly good for everyone and that they answer their call to serve the public!

- JD

Not A Review on Elysium

The other weekend, I had the opportunity to go watch Elysium after much deliberation about what movie to go see with my parents.  Apparently we chose the wrong time of summer to go watch a movie because not a lot of blockbuster hits are out right now? And my parents weren't at all interested in watching Disney's Planes, much to my dismay as an aerospace engineering nerd.

Elysium tells the story of one man's desire to go to Elysium, which is a  futuristic, space habitat orbiting the Earth.  The setting of the story is in the far future, year 2154, where the poor and less fortunate live on Earth, and the rich and privileged live on Elysium.  To further emphasize that difference in wealth and living, the citizens of Elysium have access to wondrous technology, and guard it very closely. They live a luxurious, comfortable life whereas the people on Earth live a rougher life without access to the most advanced technology. And I'll leave it at that so as not to spoil the story.

Perhaps I'm just turning into a Catholic nerd, but I find it interesting to pick up on the use of anything Catholic in Hollywood movies recently.  I've seen hints of Catholicism either be part of the story or make a cameo in some movies like Skyfall, The Avengers, Les Miserables (ok, Catholicism really oozes out of this one), For Greater Glory, The Hobbit, etc. just to name a few.

In Elysium, I definitely picked up on the religious sister seen at the beginning of the movie.  She plays a role in the main character's life and is the vehicle to present the "overall theme" of Elysium's story (though I would say not as effective as it could have been, but this is not a review).

Seeing her against the setting of this futuristic world in Elysium provides a visual example of a reality that unfolds here in real life, beyond the silver screen, by the Catholic Church. And it kind of struck me in a way that helps me better fully appreciate my faith.

In the context of Elysium, the fact that it is set in the far future and that a religious sister is present shows that the Church will still be around. Even if we, all humanity, endure through tough times, the Church will still have a presence here on earth. In the real world, deeper study into the history of Catholicism shows that we've been around for the past ~2000 years (since the time of Christ), and what's another 2000 more? Just as we've seen many changes throughout the course of human history in the best of times and worst of times, the Church has been present. Cool stuff! Perhaps as long as there are humans walking around this earth and/or floating in space, there will be the Catholic Church on earth until the end of the age.

Secondly, not only did I see a religious sister present in the movie, but it is obvious in the context of the story that she looked after orphans.  In reality, I find it easy to associate religious with works of charity and service to others.  Religious brothers and sisters take those vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. I see many communities that also run apostolates and have certain charisms like running schools, hospitals, orphanages, crisis pregnancy centers, homeless outreach, media, and countless other ways to reach out to others. Also, the religious sister in Elysium was appropriately seen on Earth, where the poorer people and less fortunate live and not on Elysium where the privileged and elite reside. This further illustrates how, in reality, religious communities are more frequently found in poorer areas helping the poor.

I'm a fan of the Franciscans of the Renewal

Lastly, the religious sister says a line that seems to be one of the main themes of the movie. She says something to the effect of "never forget where you come from." This is important to the movie because of the main character's trying journey to Elysium. And I wish I could say more but that would spoil the story! In the real world, seeing a religious brother or sister becomes a sort of reminder for me that there is a God and that their life is a visible sign of what it means to know, love, and serve the Lord. Seeing them reminds me of where I come from--I come from God, created in His image and likeness. And as a response to His love and commands, there is a Church comprised of His Body. These are the Christians, specifically Catholics. Seeing that religious sister in the movie reminds me that I'm Catholic, and that I shouldn't forget that I belong to God and His bride, the Church.

Awesome stuff.

I find it interesting to gain better appreciation of my faith through cinema. Despite Elysium's shortcomings in plot development, it had cool visuals and action in addition to the presence of a religious sister that helped me better appreciate my faith. I only wish her dialogue involved any God-centered words, but I suppose her simple inclusion was enough for me.

Never forget.
- JD

Elysium movie poster // Wikipedia
Capuchin Franciscans of the Renewal Community // Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

Scared to Die

Yesterday, going down the nursing home's hallway, I finally came up to her room and saw that the door was open. I knocked on the door out of courtesy but no response.  I enter quietly, and I see her there fast asleep.  I made a few attempts at calling her name in order wake her, and she eventually woke up. But she started crying as soon as she woke up.

I have the privilege of visiting nursing homes about once a month. Inspired to do this after doing a week-long service camp last summer, I am part of my parish's ministry to the sick at nursing homes. We visit Catholic residents at many of the local nursing homes in order to pray with them and to minister the Holy Eucharist to them so that they receive God in Word and Flesh because they normally don't have opportunities to go to Mass due to their current health situations. I've been doing this for about a year now, and just due to the nature of interacting with elderly and sick individuals, the reality of death is very apparent to me. But, on this particular visit to one of my usual residents, the reality of death was not something I, myself, personally related to in a profound way.

In the previous times I've interacted with her, she was coherent and very talkative and good-natured.  Sometimes she has short-term memory loss.  In recent reports from my fellow ministry volunteers, it seems as though her health has declined recently. Knowing this ahead of time, I wasn't sure what to expect upon arriving.

This happens frequently where I stop by a resident's room only to find them sleeping. And I usually make a few attempts to wake them up, and in her case this time, I was able to wake her. But like I said, she started crying.

I didn't know what to do but since she's a talkative one, I kind of waited for her to explain.  She kind of apologized for being a mess because had been crying a lot. And she said, in flowing tears, that she's scared to die. I didn't know what to say.

She further explained that she had a choking episode earlier in the morning.  Through this unfortunate experience, she realized she could have died had no one helped her. And after the fact, as I was dealing with this after the fact, the reality of death must have been ... totally real to her. 

I'm not gonna lie. I'm sensitive to death. And I nearly started tearing up out of sympathy for her because that's a certain kind of suffering that I can't totally fathom, but I understand. I mean, it's understandable to be scared to die. But since I've grown deeper into my Catholic faith, death for me personally is something less to be scared of, but I know that other people aren't at peace with the idea.

She went on for a bit expressing her fears, and I tried giving her some comforting gestures like pats on her shoulder and head and that's okay to be scared. I mentioned earlier that she has some mild short-term memory loss or has a short attention span. Thank goodness though, because I was half-expecting my interactions with her to be me having to listen to her cry for a long while.  But out of nowhere she stops crying and gets distracted by the TV that was on. That led to her noticing the verse of Scripture that someone had banner'd across the top of the wall above the TV:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Phil 4:13)

She explained that she's glad that [whoever] had posted that on her wall because it helps her deal with what her fears. I then felt it appropriate to let her know of a quote by St. Augustine.  I only offered it because it's something that I've been reflecting on a lot lately, and it just somehow felt fitting to give her:

...our heart is restless until it rests in You. (from his Confessions)

The way I was understanding her fear of death was that it is out of anxiety and not being at peace with the idea of death. A sort of restlessness.  In my own life right now, I'm terribly restless and have only found peace by resting in God (usually through Adoration of the Holy Eucharist). And it's been a frequent reflection of mine for a long while now.

She really liked that quote. I'm not sure that she'll remember it, and I regret not having written it down for her, but I could tell that it did strike a chord with her.

After that, I offered to read her Sunday's Gospel reading, though I read the shorter version. These were the parables that Jesus told regarding the rejoicing of finding the lost sheep as well as the woman who lost one of her coins and rejoiced after she diligently searched for it and found it. Since I read the shorter version of Sunday's Gospel reading, it didn't include the fan favorite: the parable of the prodigal son.  She really liked hearing the Gospel that I read, and she even offered her own personal reflection (briefly) from the reading.

And we kind of got back into the conversation of being scared to die. To which I then asked her if she wanted to receive the Eucharist (because she sometimes doesn't).  She was a little hesitant because she let me know that she wanted to go to Confession as well.  Haha, she actually asked me if I could hear her confession, but I told her that I can't do that since I'm not a priest, but I offered to have a priest come visit her at some point sometime soon.  She very much liked that idea.

She ultimately decided to receive Jesus in the Eucharist because she felt that it would help her deal with her restlessness and fear regarding death.  So after humbly obliging to rinsing out her dentures at her request so that she could talk better and eat better, I was able to minister the Eucharist to her.

After she received the Eucharist, she was just incredibly grateful for my visit.  And she was just really grateful for us praying together and her receiving the Eucharist. By that point, I had to leave to go visit other residents, and I assured her that I would continue praying for her and that I would call our parish office to have a priest come by and visit to hear her confession.

I left her room feeling really grateful myself for having had this opportunity.  This was my first time talking about the reality of death with a nursing home resident. They're usually A) asleep, B) wanting to talk about other things or C) incoherent.  It just seemed really providential that it all worked out this way.

I was thinking just now how this little episode visiting her kind of ties in with this past Sunday's Gospel. Would a lonesome sheep not be scared that he is separated from the rest? The woman who lost her coin was probably scared because she lost something valuable.  The prodigal son was probably freaking out once he lost everything and was fearful in coming back home.  Yet, as Jesus shows us, there's much rejoicing to be had whenever the lost has been found.  And when we know this and take it to heart, we have nothing to fear, not even death itself.

I did call my parish earlier today, and a priest will be visiting her soon! :-)

Her name is Judy. Please pray for her! ...that she finds rest and peace in God and that whenever her hour has come, she's ready to come home.

Pax.
- JD

The Return of the Prodigal Son (1773) // Pompeo Batoni, Wikipedia

Daddy-Daughter Time

I was just standing there outside, and it was really hot. It was really hard to focus. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw him, his wife, and a stroller.

Double-take.

Whoa! It was one of my co-workers! I didn't expect him to be out here with me considering our company is like...80 miles away...from where we were standing and he lives halfway to work compared to me.  I didn't immediately go over to say hi to him because we weren't done yet, but I kept watch from a short distance away.

During this time, I would look over his way and and every now and then, he'd check on his daughter in the stroller.  And what really struck me about this was seeing his face light up with such joy peeking in on the stroller seeing his daughter. Like, full on "play with baby" mode. Like, he even playfully dangled his Rosary for his daughter. Meanwhile, his wife was standing there deep in prayer.

I don't know. I thought that was really cool to see these moments of joy between a father being with his daughter. I just really appreciated seeing this scene standing out there in the heat.

After we all finished praying the full Rosary, I went over to say hi. He introduced me to his beautiful wife and just as beautiful and adorably cute daughter. Apparently today was his first time being out here!

Well, well. Being pro-life unites us all.

We were praying at an abortion clinic. Turns out his wife is hardcore for the pro-life cause and frequently helps out at a familiar pregnancy center in the city that they live in.

And ...how...interesting is to see this love that a father has for his baby daughter in front of an abortion clinic.

Awesome! What a marvelous witness that is to see this happen at a place that doesn't make it conducive to see the love a father has for his daughter. I saw a couple walk in and thought to myself that if they are considering an abortion, and go through with it, he'd be missing out on moments like this.

But! Praise God for randomly seeing one of my co-workers in this way at this place. Beautiful.
- JD

Dad and Daughter // Baltimore Times

Being Patriotic

From everyone's favorite brand-name in all things women's health:

from @PPAct

Yes, because the proper care of our citizens is totally American! And patriotic! :-)

Oh oh wait! Supporting women's health is patriotic.

Perhaps patriotism, according to PP, is wide-access to women's health so that its clinics can make lots and lots of money off of women's need for birth control and abortion and use that money to promote more and more birth control and abortion because women need even more birth control and abortion to pay PP to give them those services. Because those things are healthy for women.  And let's not forget that PP offers a wide variety of other women's health services (but not mammograms) And these things must be supported by everyone lest they be chastised for being totally un-American! Because anti-women's health is NOT patriotic!

If supporting women's health is patriotic, what does actual women's health fall under? Is that patriotic? What does actual women's health even look like?

Women's health ought to be the services necessary to make women truly healthy via medical professionals or properly self-informed women bringing about their total well-being and dignity without compromising other aspects of their health. Right? I mean, it's not entirely far-fetched that this is what actual women's health should be?  This might get awkward because I think this gets more into a Catholic definition and understanding of what women's health is.  And heaven forbid...Catholicness is NOT patriotic. In the meantime, let poor Catholic women do totally unpatriotic things because they're Catholic.

Anyway, supporting women's health is patriotic.  Actual women's health is probably not patriotic. Because it tends towards Catholicism.

It is more patriotic to support women's health through delaying pro-life legislation via filibuster even though such legislation would make clinics who offer abortion services and doctors safer for women so as not to have a repeat Gosnell.

from CNN.com

It is more patriotic to support women's health by making signs...especially signs that place more priority on women now than future women (who, by some miracle of science...start out as embryos and grow into fetuses...but they aren't really women, so it's okay to kill them, apparently).

from LifeNews.com

It is more patriotic to support women's health by yelling and screaming at others...and yes, even utter "Hail Satan!" at the camera.

To be truly patriotic is to express one's undying love and devotion to one's country with vigor.  So much so that we should almost be willing to die for our country. But this is America! Since we like convenience and the pursuit of only happiness, we must give up the lives of future generations (and future women) so that we can live as we wish because future generations are too burdensome and sometimes unwanted.  All in the name of women's health! Because supporting women's health is patriotic!

//endsatire

So, it's been an interesting week in Texas.  I think PP is quite on the defensive because things aren't working out in their favor.  I see that they've been tweeting about other pro-life legislation going on around the country and their opposition to it (or least you can infer). They have to resort to calling the support of women's health as patriotic in order to garner support while patriotic emotions are running high this 4th of July.  As they celebrate having hundreds of PP supporters at various capitols, I can't help but remember the half million of pro-life supporters that no one talks about.

Don't get me wrong...patriotism is a good thing! Women's health is a good thing! But...striving for these two very good things doesn't mean that we compromise the dignity of our country and woman.  This past week got ugly.

-raises glass-  But! Despite all her faults and blemishes, she still has beautiful spacious skies from sea to shining sea! I'm still proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free enough.  To the United States! Happy birthday!

Faith. Hope. Love.
Life. Liberty. Pursuit of happiness.
- JD

2013: Wedding #2

(Maybe I haven't specifically blogged about 2013's Wedding #1...but don't worry about that...but I do hint at it here: Quick Takes (Vol. 6))

This was the wedding that makes me feel really old.  You see, the bride and I go way back. The bride's father and I go wayyyy back since he was my Sunday school teacher (aka...CCD...or religious education teacher) back in 9th grade.

But fo realz, I feel old. I taught the bride how to march when she was a freshman when I was clarinet section leader.  That was like ... 9 years ago x_x. Perhaps I can take credit for her not tripping in her wedding dress down the aisle due to a glorious roll-step. 

I had the honor and privilege of being asked to Lector for the wedding Mass.  Simply because I'm a Lector normally for my parish and apparently I do decent job. If you don't know, during a Catholic Mass, Lectors proclaim the Word of God by reading aloud the readings of the day from Scripture for the Mass and congregation.

The Mass was beautiful! But I mean, what wedding Mass isn't beautiful because man and woman publicly declare to witnesses and God truly present of their love and commitment to each other? 

What makes this wedding experience unique for me is that the rehearsal, Mass, and reception were live-streamed over the Internet for friends and family who couldn't make it to the wedding. How cool is that?! One of the bride's uncles is tech-savvy (and the other Lector) and made it possible with a laptop, camcorder, and Samsung smartphone tether setup.  Same guy was also the other Lector.  It was fun and intriguing to me seeing him run those electronics to make it all work.  And apparently it was quite the success since I heard grandpa (the bride's) saying how he keeps getting texted by family members regarding their comments during the various segments of this whole wedding process. Kudos to that uncle!

Which, tangenting off that... Today was another big day for the bride's family because that same tech-savvy uncle got his papers signed officially ending (amicably) his involvement with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal as he pursues seminary to be a diocesan priest. 

#Lectors

So, as of today...he's officially a seminarian for my diocese!  He just needs to get accepted to the Catholic university/seminary that he wants to go to in order to take the next step.  Please pray for him! (and I hinted at him in this blog post: One of the Realities of Being Catholic)

At the reception, I got to hang out with my goddaughter! She's getting big and can walk so confidently now! Her dad was the youth minister of the bride, good friend of her family, and is the youth minister I volunteer for.  I'm thoroughly impressed with her skills at manipulating a fork. And dancing skills.  It's the little things in life.

Totes adorbz

Also, due to the miracle and magic that is smartphone tech...there's really no need for disposable cameras to use and capture memories.  The bridge and groom decided to use the app, WedPics...and I totally made use of it!  Perhaps you saw some other pictures floating around on Facebook/Twitter. ;-)

Anyway, Wedding #2...complete! Congrats to Jessica and Shea! Please pray for them in their journey together as husband and wife and that their marriage is a visible sign of love that is free, total, faithful, and fruitful.  

- JD