So apparently the movie "The Hunger Games" came out in theaters last night, and apparently it was very good (or so they tell me). People all over the internet and radio are saying the movie was amazing, and so true to the book, and they can't wait for the next installment. Even adults are raving about them, talking about how beautifully written they are and how inspired they feel reading about the adventures of Katniss (the heroine).
But I have a question. And before some of you start groaning, let me assure you I am asking this in all seriousness and sincerity.
What is the message of these books?
Yes, I have read them, and I found them to have entertainment value, but since everyone seems so taken with them I was wondering if I'm perhaps missing some underlying something that makes them so attractive?
So! If you like, I would appreciate it if y'all would comment and let me know your thoughts. :) I'm not trying to start an argument; I am genuinely curious about the series and why it is so popular, even among grown men and women.
~Grace
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Because I have no time...
Here's a little something I like to call a "Grace-has-nothing-interesting-to-say-at-the-moment-so-she's-going-to-post-Youtube-videos" post. ^_^
This is probably the most random thing you have ever seen (or will ever see).
This was sent to me by a friend and it's veddy cool.
So anyways...there's my filler-post for the week. I might post about colleges later tonight/tomorrow. :D
~Grace
This is probably the most random thing you have ever seen (or will ever see).
This was sent to me by a friend and it's veddy cool.
So anyways...there's my filler-post for the week. I might post about colleges later tonight/tomorrow. :D
~Grace
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Parish Mission Talks: Night Three (and Other Happenings)
So Wednesday night was the final night of our parish's Lenten mission. The topics Father Warkulwiz discussed were basically on how to pray and pray well. He talked primarily about how difficult it is to pray and not be distracted (I wholeheartedly agree). He used a story about St. Bernard to illustrate this:
The Saint was traveling to another city with a young friend. This friend spent the first day in looking about him and appreciating the beautiful surroundings. In contrast, the priest kept his head bowed and his eyes fixed firmly before him. The friend noticed this, and towards the end of the day, asked St. Bernard why he did not look around him at the scenery. The saint replied that he was trying to avoid distraction while praying. The young man scoffed and replied that he had no trouble focusing while he prayed. The priest smiled and said, "If you can say one 'Our Father' without being distracted, then I will give you this fine donkey on which I am riding." The young man agreed and, after a moment, began to pray.
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name....can I have the saddle and bridle as well?"
Overcoming the temptation to become distracted during prayer is a hard struggle. Fortunately, the more you pray, the easier it is to focus, until you have no trouble at all (*sighs dreamily at the thought*). The same applies to visiting Our Lord in a Holy Hour frequently. The first hour might seem to drag on and on, but each time you go, the time passes faster until an hour doesn't seem like enough.
Another point he talked about was how important it is to be consistent and confident in prayer. He mentioned the story of the woman who kept pleading with the judge until he ruled in her favor. He also told us that praying to Mary is the best way to reach Our Lord, because she takes our prayers and perfects them, and then offers them to Jesus.
After the talk, Father did Exposition and Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament, and it was beautiful (even if I did miss the cue to start the "O Salutaris"...).
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this year's mission. Usually I don't really because we tend to invite very...charismatic priests. But this year was quite enjoyable, and I hope Fr. Warkulwiz comes again next year. :)
As a side note: I wanted to ask you all to please please please pray for the soul of a woman from our parish who died quite unexpectedly last Saturday evening. The circumstances of her death were...not the best, and she desperately needs our prayers. :( Thanks!
~Grace
The Saint was traveling to another city with a young friend. This friend spent the first day in looking about him and appreciating the beautiful surroundings. In contrast, the priest kept his head bowed and his eyes fixed firmly before him. The friend noticed this, and towards the end of the day, asked St. Bernard why he did not look around him at the scenery. The saint replied that he was trying to avoid distraction while praying. The young man scoffed and replied that he had no trouble focusing while he prayed. The priest smiled and said, "If you can say one 'Our Father' without being distracted, then I will give you this fine donkey on which I am riding." The young man agreed and, after a moment, began to pray.
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name....can I have the saddle and bridle as well?"
Overcoming the temptation to become distracted during prayer is a hard struggle. Fortunately, the more you pray, the easier it is to focus, until you have no trouble at all (*sighs dreamily at the thought*). The same applies to visiting Our Lord in a Holy Hour frequently. The first hour might seem to drag on and on, but each time you go, the time passes faster until an hour doesn't seem like enough.
Another point he talked about was how important it is to be consistent and confident in prayer. He mentioned the story of the woman who kept pleading with the judge until he ruled in her favor. He also told us that praying to Mary is the best way to reach Our Lord, because she takes our prayers and perfects them, and then offers them to Jesus.
After the talk, Father did Exposition and Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament, and it was beautiful (even if I did miss the cue to start the "O Salutaris"...).
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this year's mission. Usually I don't really because we tend to invite very...charismatic priests. But this year was quite enjoyable, and I hope Fr. Warkulwiz comes again next year. :)
As a side note: I wanted to ask you all to please please please pray for the soul of a woman from our parish who died quite unexpectedly last Saturday evening. The circumstances of her death were...not the best, and she desperately needs our prayers. :( Thanks!
~Grace
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Parish Mission Talks: Night Two
Our parish is holding its annual Lenten Mission talks this week, and tonight was the second in a series of three talks.
This year the talks are being given by Father Warkulwiz (sounds like a dwarvish name from LOTR, right??) from the Apostolate for Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. The theme, I believe, is "Prayer and Praying." I am ashamed to admit that I was half-asleep last night (I have an excuse! I only got six hours of sleep the night before and had had only one cup of coffee all day!), so I don't remember much. But I'm very glad I was awake tonight because it was awesome.
He talked about confession and penance, and how important they are, and yet how much they're dismissed these days as superfluous. This is caused mainly by our fallen human nature, of course, because we don't like to take responsibility. The story of Eden is a perfect example. Several saints have commented that if Adam and Eve had simply repented instead of blaming each other, then we might still be in Paradise (oy!). He went on to say that the sin of Adam and Eve was caused not only by greed, but by pride, because they didn't think God should rule over them. They wanted to be independent of His laws, and they wanted to be the ones to say what was right and what was wrong. Sound familiar? :P
He went on to say how much we have been desensitized to sin, due to media we consume, news-stories we hear on television, or pop-culture telling us "hey, it's all good...no worries." We encourage this because we have an inborn desire for comfort. And nothing can make us more uncomfortable than our conscience. So we try to shut it out, turn it off, anything so that it won't bother us anymore. And eventually we succeed.
But therein lies the problem. We all have to have someone to tell us what's right and what's wrong, so if we remove our conscience -- and God -- then we turn to the "higher authorities" in our government or in Hollywood. They give us their version of the ten commandments: thou shalt not overpopulate the earth, thou shalt not vote against abortion or contraceptives, and thou shalt not be a hater. Like, vote for gay marriage and legalize drugs, man. The greatest sin in their eyes in intolerance. Except of course their own intolerance for the Truth.
Another thing he talked about was "the butterfly effect". Usually used in reference to the unpredictability of weather patterns (you know...a butterfly flapping it's wings in China can cause a tornado in Kansas?), it holds true in the case of sin, as well. Every little sin we commit -- no matter how small or private -- has a massive impact on the rest of mankind. He told us a story about St. Francis de Sales that went like this:
St. Francis heard the confession of a young man who told him that he was guilty of telling a vicious lie about one of his friends. The priest told the young man that for his penance, he must take a pillow to the top of the bell tower, cut it open, and shower the feathers on the city below. After he did this, he was supposed to report back to him. Confused, the young penitent did what the priest instructed. It was a very windy day, and the feathers flew far and wide. When he got back to St. Francis, the priest said, "Now for to complete your penance, go and retrieve all the feathers from the pillow." The young man, shocked, replied, "But Father, I cannot! Those feathers are spread halfway across the kingdom by now!" St. Francis smiled sadly and said "It will be easier for you to collect all of those feathers again than to remove the lie you told from every ear that it reached."
One of my favorite parts of the talk was when he mentioned the Latin Mass. :D Everybody knows the worst sin you can commit is to receive the Holy Eucharist in a state of mortal sin, right? What you may or may not know is that more and more Catholics today are committing that sin. According to Father, this is due to poor instruction in catechism, the mind-set of "oh, I didn't really mean to do that...God'll understand", and new liturgical movements. *jaw drops* I can't believe he actually said that! *collects self* He explained that back when we had to go up to kneel at the altar rail to receive Communion, there was much more ceremony, ergo: reverence. Today's casual Masses and frequent changes to the liturgy make it impossible to reach that same level of focus on the real purpose of the Mass (i.e. the Sacrifice).
So! Overall I thought the talk was amazing. Even if it did make me want to crawl into a hole somewhere and never come out. ;) :P
~Grace
This year the talks are being given by Father Warkulwiz (sounds like a dwarvish name from LOTR, right??) from the Apostolate for Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. The theme, I believe, is "Prayer and Praying." I am ashamed to admit that I was half-asleep last night (I have an excuse! I only got six hours of sleep the night before and had had only one cup of coffee all day!), so I don't remember much. But I'm very glad I was awake tonight because it was awesome.
He talked about confession and penance, and how important they are, and yet how much they're dismissed these days as superfluous. This is caused mainly by our fallen human nature, of course, because we don't like to take responsibility. The story of Eden is a perfect example. Several saints have commented that if Adam and Eve had simply repented instead of blaming each other, then we might still be in Paradise (oy!). He went on to say that the sin of Adam and Eve was caused not only by greed, but by pride, because they didn't think God should rule over them. They wanted to be independent of His laws, and they wanted to be the ones to say what was right and what was wrong. Sound familiar? :P
He went on to say how much we have been desensitized to sin, due to media we consume, news-stories we hear on television, or pop-culture telling us "hey, it's all good...no worries." We encourage this because we have an inborn desire for comfort. And nothing can make us more uncomfortable than our conscience. So we try to shut it out, turn it off, anything so that it won't bother us anymore. And eventually we succeed.
But therein lies the problem. We all have to have someone to tell us what's right and what's wrong, so if we remove our conscience -- and God -- then we turn to the "higher authorities" in our government or in Hollywood. They give us their version of the ten commandments: thou shalt not overpopulate the earth, thou shalt not vote against abortion or contraceptives, and thou shalt not be a hater. Like, vote for gay marriage and legalize drugs, man. The greatest sin in their eyes in intolerance. Except of course their own intolerance for the Truth.
Another thing he talked about was "the butterfly effect". Usually used in reference to the unpredictability of weather patterns (you know...a butterfly flapping it's wings in China can cause a tornado in Kansas?), it holds true in the case of sin, as well. Every little sin we commit -- no matter how small or private -- has a massive impact on the rest of mankind. He told us a story about St. Francis de Sales that went like this:
St. Francis heard the confession of a young man who told him that he was guilty of telling a vicious lie about one of his friends. The priest told the young man that for his penance, he must take a pillow to the top of the bell tower, cut it open, and shower the feathers on the city below. After he did this, he was supposed to report back to him. Confused, the young penitent did what the priest instructed. It was a very windy day, and the feathers flew far and wide. When he got back to St. Francis, the priest said, "Now for to complete your penance, go and retrieve all the feathers from the pillow." The young man, shocked, replied, "But Father, I cannot! Those feathers are spread halfway across the kingdom by now!" St. Francis smiled sadly and said "It will be easier for you to collect all of those feathers again than to remove the lie you told from every ear that it reached."
One of my favorite parts of the talk was when he mentioned the Latin Mass. :D Everybody knows the worst sin you can commit is to receive the Holy Eucharist in a state of mortal sin, right? What you may or may not know is that more and more Catholics today are committing that sin. According to Father, this is due to poor instruction in catechism, the mind-set of "oh, I didn't really mean to do that...God'll understand", and new liturgical movements. *jaw drops* I can't believe he actually said that! *collects self* He explained that back when we had to go up to kneel at the altar rail to receive Communion, there was much more ceremony, ergo: reverence. Today's casual Masses and frequent changes to the liturgy make it impossible to reach that same level of focus on the real purpose of the Mass (i.e. the Sacrifice).
So! Overall I thought the talk was amazing. Even if it did make me want to crawl into a hole somewhere and never come out. ;) :P
~Grace
Friday, March 9, 2012
Greetings and Salutations!
Some of you may know me from the Fairy Tale Novel Forum as Lady Maeve. Some of you may know me in real life as Grace M. Some of you may know me from both. :)
If you do know me, you know that I:
~have quite a few opinions (and don't mind sharing them)
~love reading Chesterton and St. Thomas Aquinas
~am a Traditional Roman Catholic
~am a political junkie
~am obsessed with Gregorian chant/traditional Catholic hymns
~want to major in theology and music in college (once I get there)
~and I am a writer/soon-to-be-published-authoress.
And there you have my resume. ;-)
The purpose of this blog will be to show you what else I'm interested in, what's going on in my world, and, on occasion, a place for me to rant/poke fun at liberals/people who just don't get it...you have been warned. ;-)
Seriously though, welcome to my blog, and I hope you enjoy reading my crazy posts.
~Grace
If you do know me, you know that I:
~have quite a few opinions (and don't mind sharing them)
~love reading Chesterton and St. Thomas Aquinas
~am a Traditional Roman Catholic
~am a political junkie
~am obsessed with Gregorian chant/traditional Catholic hymns
~want to major in theology and music in college (once I get there)
~and I am a writer/soon-to-be-published-authoress.
And there you have my resume. ;-)
The purpose of this blog will be to show you what else I'm interested in, what's going on in my world, and, on occasion, a place for me to rant/poke fun at liberals/people who just don't get it...you have been warned. ;-)
Seriously though, welcome to my blog, and I hope you enjoy reading my crazy posts.
~Grace
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