Our youngest child is wonderful.  He is nine, but is not 'normal' for his age.

He is just about to finish grade two.  He has an Individual Education Plan (IEP) which means some or all of his work is modified so he can do it.

We have four other children, all adults now.  They're a smart, talented bunch and are now making their ways into the adult stream of things.  Our little man will be charting a different path, it seems.

It is a hard thing to know when to push and went to leave things alone with him.  In some ways he seems non-exceptional.  He's known for a long time that we don't always understand what he's saying.  He has for years been able to compensate for our lack of initial understanding.  He has figured out many ways to get us to understand him.

Interestingly, now that he's in school and getting lots of help, we have more episodes of frustration on his part.  I can't say whether it's because he is being trained away from his natural methods of compensation, or if it's because he's trying things that are more complex and just hasn't got all the bugs worked out.

I think every parent has some anxieties about the futures of their children.  Having a child with a handicap multiplies and intensifies the anxieties.  Will communication difficulties prevent him from telling us things we should know?  Will his friendly nature lead him into unfriendly situations?  But really...don't other "normal" kids have these issues too?

Almost a year ago, our "stick-handler" (who is actually known as a coordinator of services) told us that we needed to start thinking about how Aaron will be cared for when he's an adult.  My first thought was that I just wanted him to get into grade two!  But of course the stick-handler is correct.  With other children, it is assumed that at some point they will be on their own.  With our youngest, we cannot assume that he will be able to reach this level.  Will he live with a sibling?  A group home?  Might he be able to live alone?

There was another mother, a very long time ago now, who had a very unusual Son.  I wonder if I might call on her for some advice?  She has some powerful connections!

Our son has a fascination with Bible stories.  It is because of his interest that I now know the Old Testament as well as I do (albeit in very simple language!).  I am actually beginning to know the chronology of the Hebrew Scriptures.  And I am seeing it with the simplicity of a child.  The Old Testament has more than its share of adventures and destruction in it, which suits our little man just fine.  He is definitely a "crash 'em up" sort of kid.  I only hope that he sees Scripture as more than make-believe.  On some level I am sure that he does.

Our little fellow has already received his First Communion.  He was with, or even a little ahead, of his age peers.  I was nervous about all this.  As a catechist who tries hard to follow Church teaching at all time, I did not want things made easier for our son just because of his handicap.  Although I was fairly certain he understood (as well as anyone CAN understand) the Eucharist, I was worried about his First Reconciliation, which I was not willing to allow him to skip.  I shouldn't have worried about our son's speech impairment.  Our priest, who did not have English as his first language, took the unusual step of asking me to come to our son's confession...to "translate" if need be.  That was the only time we needed to do this.

Now, since our son received his First Communion, it seemed like his behaviour deteriorated to the point where I was ready to have him stop receiving.  A priest counselled me otherwise.  As long as Our Lord is in fact being consumed (and we make sure that He is!) that God can apparently account for the foibles of little boys.  In a way this is comforting to me, as it makes our son normal for just a bit!  So we just watch.

Days are busy and fly by so fast.  So often I wonder if I've prayed enough.  It is not just our disabled son who needs prayer, but all of our children.  Frequently.  Constantly.

But no guilt, right?  I smile as I write that.  No one ever prays enough for anyone, I'm sure.

Our disabled children are a gift.  We need to understand that.  We need to humble ourselves, relax ourselves enough to receive, even if we do not always feel, the gift.  Just as parents are to help their children reach sanctity, so do our children help us.

Talking with other Catholic parents of variously intellectually disabled children it is so wonderful to see the effect an unusual child has on the family.  Parents who are accustomed to communicating with bright children are suddenly stumped.  This child CANNOT understand in the the way our other children understand.  It is a whole different game plan.  The parents cannot rely on the pat responses to situation.  If a standard-issue child needs something repeated 47 times to allow them to learn, a disabled child may need to have the same thing repeated 147 times...or it just might be beyond them.  And we must learn patience.  If we cannot master patience in ourselves, we must be humble enough to ask for help.

Children are all precious.  Children outside the usual are even more precious because of their vulnerability. They are the hot-house orchids among the roses.  God, give us what we need to tend them well. 

Pope Francis has been pope for what, four months now?

Another Canadian blogger referred to him as "confounding".  That word perfectly describes my feelings toward the Pope, too.

Pope Francis becoming fodder for blogs and homilies.  His style is so markedly different from that of Pope Emeritus Benedict XIV that comparisons are nearly impossible to avoid.  Those comparisons also occurred between Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II.

It distresses me that so many see the papacies of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis as an either/or situation.

They are two different men with two different backgrounds and styles.  We could add Pope JPII in there and make it three.

All of the popes I recollect (and that number is growing!) have been different in styles and all, perhaps excepting John Paul I have weathered some sort of critical situation.  All have managed to seriously annoy some quarter of the population, Catholic or otherwise.

We must either trust that the Holy Spirit knows what it's doing or we don't.

Pope Francis is the Pope.  So was Benedict.  They will or have done fantastic things and have or will probably commit some very human screw-ups.

We have a very limited part of the "Big Picture" available to us, due to our ages, backgrounds, linguistic limitations and prejudices of some sort or another.

I really think we need to remember that when we make comments about what this or that pope said or did. We must also remember how selective the media can be.  Pictures of Pope Francis doing this or that treat the situations as something novel.  Frequently all that is novel is that Pope Francis is doing them, but what is implied is that Pope Francis is doing something that Pope Benedict did not, such as hugging a handicapped person.

We must remember to be charitable and to remember that there are many things we do not know about what is going on with any Pope, and within the spiritual realm in which they spend so much of their time and energy.

We must be humble as they are humble.

Solemnity of Corpus Christi

First, allow me to apologize for the long absence I have taken from writing anything myself.  Life called.
I have been working for the past year and a half at a dry cleaner's, which left me little time or energy for writing.

Now, I must elbow my way past my husband, who has made himself quite at home on my computer.  I also notice that the format for blogger has changed somewhat, so we will see how this all turns out.

Today is the Solemnity of Corpus Christi...The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  Today we celebrate the gift that God has made to us in the Eucharist...the Body and Blood of Christ.

The gospel reading was the story of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes.  This story appears in all four of the gospels, which might just be a clue to its importance.  That the story of this miracle of Jesus' is read for Corpus Christi points to its being a "type" of the Eucharist.  This means that the story prefigures the actual gift of the Eucharist to us.  It's a sign.

For my last year of high-school, I had moved back to an area with low population of Catholics relative to its population of evangelical Protestants.  Having spent the previous three years in a Catholic school, this proved a shock to the system.  One weekend I spent at a Protestant youth retreat.  I remember someone questioning me about Catholic belief that Christ is fully present, Body and Blood, in the Eucharistic host.  She said "You must think He has an awfully big body!".  With no thought of my own, I blurted out "Loaves and fishes."  Both of the girls I was talking with became pensive.  I thought to myself "What a dumb thing for me to say!" Years later, I understood that what I had said was not dumb at all.  By multiplying the loaves and fishes for the gathered crowd, Jesus foreshadowed what He would do for us with His own Body and Blood.

The reflection on the gospel we heard today brought out another thought regarding miracles in general.  We were reminded that a lot of work, human work, was associated with the miracle performed by Jesus.  The apostles found the boy with the loaves and fish.  Then the throng of more than 5000 people was divided into groups of 50.  Jesus performed the miracle.  We are not told just how many actually noticed what was happening.  The food was distributed.  After the people ate, the leftovers were collected.

How many noticed the miracle?  With all the work we do in our lives, do we notice the miracles which God still performs for us?

To draw the reflection back to today's solemnity, I think we can point directly to the Most Holy Eucharist.  Do we realize what a miracle it is?  That little papery looking host is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus.

Do we notice this miracle?

Christmas Myths, and the Slaughter of the Innocents

Merry Christmas.  Here, I am reposting a couple of links to some of Jimmy Akins' work.  Interesting reading!

Did the Slaughter of the Innocents happen?

7 Top Myths about Christmas

Saint Agnes' Fountain

In case you ever wondered about the fountain made famous by Good King Wenceslaus (who was actually a duke, but anyway...), here you go.

And Merry Christmas.

Why Praise and Worship Music is Praise, But Not Worship

Father puts into words some of the many thoughts I've had on this issue over the years...

Why Praise and Worship Music is Praise, But Not Worship

Book Review: How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization

For both the dedicated Catholic and the sceptic, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization supplies much food for thought regarding the role Catholicism has played in western history. It should be in every library.

Dr. Woods has covered many subject headings including Morality, Science, Art and Law and provides well documented examples of the Church's contributions, often foundational contributions, to each one.  He also meets head on the discussion of the idea that the Church was responsible for the "Dark Ages".  And who says they were dark?  There is a concise and fair review of the "Galileo affair" which I think most would find interesting.

I found the book affirming and often surprising.  I do not think anyone would be able to walk away from this book and still believe that the Church was anti-science or anti-reason.  This book is an antidote to much of what we have been taught in schools and exposed to in the media.

The many footnotes are arranged at the end of the book, so that they are not distracting.  The off-white colour of the paper makes the book easy on the eyes.  There is a section which included photographs relevant to the subjects.

The one shortcoming of  this book, if it is to be used for serious research, is the index.  I wanted to find something that I'd read in the book about an experiment in flight in the 11th century, and I ended up having to go through the book page by page to find the reference, as the only index entry was the name of the obscure monk who managed to glide 600 feet.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone involved in RCIA, either as a catechist or a cathecumen.  I think the parent or catechist involved in preparation for Confirmation classes would also find this book very helpful in responding to young sceptics.

I wrote this review of How The Catholic Church Built Western Civilization for the free Catholic Book review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods, your source for Baptism Gifts and Oplatki Christmas Wafers. Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases. I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River.

I found this article on the historicity of the Septuagint was very enlightening.

http://catholicdefense.blogspot.ca/2012/03/did-greek-old-testament-include.html

Christmas Cookies; Revised Translation

Thank you WI Catholic, for THIS.

  I howled.

More on Liturgy

A thoughtful piece on liturgical rules, and Gaudete Sunday.

Jorge's Lesson in Love and Humility

From Vox Nova

Black Family spreads the Message in Ontario

This talented family is helping to get the life-giving message of the Gospels to people in Ontario.  This is very good news!

Catholic Kitsch

I love being Catholic

Some Friday Fun

http://youtu.be/m57m0XiRgBA

But seriously, how do you get to film a music video in a church?  Bah!

As the World Turns

My eldest daughter has been in THE big city, the centre of the universe, for a year now.  She already had a Bachelor of Arts in English but decided she wanted to be a chef.

So to Toronto. 

She finished her year of chef training which, although well promoted, was disappointing.  She persevered.  She is now working three jobs (two in her field) and barely covers her rent on a room.  Well, it IS Toronto...

At one job, she gives as little notice as she reasonably can that she wants a few days off to come see us.  If she gives more notice, she will not be scheduled to work in the time leading up to her departure.  She knows she won't be scheduled for a week or more after she gets back, either.

Another job she was hired for was supposed to be full-time days.  Although she didn't mind the job, it was not full-time.  She was sent to another location of the same business with the promise of more hours.  She did not like this position as well, as it took her away from food preparation.  And it wasn't full-time either.

The third job is intermittent, and again, doesn't actually have her doing food prep.

Now, one job is not scheduling her (no explanation) and the other didn't pay her for her last pay period.  The cheque was written incorrectly and instead of re-issuing the cheque, they said they add it to her next cheque which should have arrived today, but hasn't.

How is a person supposed to keep body and soul together in an expensive place if he doesn't even know if he'll be given what he's entitled to?

And how is a young person supposed to get a start in life if when he or she gives it the best they've got, they get nothing?

Our daughter has opted to come home and try life from here for a while.  She's already applied to several positions in our area.

Scripture tells us that a worker is worth his wage.

Would that all saw it that way.

Collective Guilt??

I read this today on Fr. MacRae's blog and it got me thinking in a few directions.

Fr. MacRae asks the cost of Fr. Marcel Maciel's transgressions.  This is a good question, but I wonder if he's taken the answer far enough.

What is happening to priests is scary.  Horrifying.  I have been feeling the tensions build over the years among priests I know.  I once went to a priest I knew reasonably well and quite innocently asked "I've heard rumours.  Are they true?"  This was a reference to something I'd heard about his assisting at another parish outside his diocese.  The news had surprised me but I was fairly sure he'd know what I was referring to.  The immediate look on his face, and his "Please do NOT start a conversation like that!" made me realise just how close to the surface are rumours of a far more sinister form.

The base reason behind the rumours is also horrifying.  There are actually people suffering at the hands of priests.  Given that priests are to uphold Christ's teaching, this is reprehensible.  But the facts tell us that the desire to inflict harm is a human problem, not a priestly problem.  It happens everywhere.

But knowing that this abuse has actually happened somewhere in the Church, inflicted by Church clergy affects the faithful in a profound way.  For myself, I often feel like the ground is shifting under me.  I am afraid to express my faith in someone, for fear of my confidence later being shown to be misplaced.  We are called to explain the joy that is within us.  I sometimes feel that it is easier to explain my faith than it is to explain why I maintain it in the company of those teachers who would profane it.

The ready claim of "child pornography" being tossed at any priest reminds me a bit of an advertising ploy that we often fall for...a product being touted as being "free" of something that it never actually contained...implying that other similar products are NOT free of it.  An example:  When cholesterol began to be seen as a bad nutrient for consumption (and I do not claim to believe this), peanut butter was sometimes marketed as "cholesterol free" as if this was a development.  In fact, peanut butter has never contained cholesterol.  No lie was actually told, but the implications for other products were certainly there.

Then there's the hanging questions...as a lactation counsellor, I saw some of the advertising material created by the makers of artificial infant food targeting new mothers.  While giving the government required lip-service to breastfeeding, one video I remember showed a concerned looking mother holding her very young baby.  In the background were quietly spoken questions like "How do I know my baby is getting enough?".  The video never actually answered that particular question, even though it is entirely possible to tell if a naturally fed infant is being fed enough.  But a "formula" manufacturer doesn't necessarily want you to know that.

Hearing a priest defend himself against child pornography charges is a bit like asking the question "So, when did you stop beating your wife?"  No matter how it's answered, it doesn't sound good.

Not only is every priest "guilty" in the eyes of many, but every follower is guilty by association.  This cross will continue to demand a huge toll on followers whose faith is focussed more on an individual than on Christ.  It also has a toll on those who do not understand how language and emotions can be manipulated to create a desired end.

A great many of my parents' generation have left the Church, nominally because of the 'scandals'.  I realize that sometimes this is just an excuse for leaving an institution that no longer suits them.  But this generation would also have been young adults at the turn of Vatican II.  Along with so many things that have changed in that time, the Church has become disposable.  When something is seen as dirty, you throw it out.

In my own generation, we have suffered lack of catechesis, and a sort of 'anything goes' mentality which makes the Church simply an option among many.  So you don't pick the option you don't like.  Who would like the option that may endanger one's children?

For my children, it's second generation catechetical failure.  I've tried to stem the tide, but they're young and they're hearing the news...and we've had a lot of news.  How relevant is something that they KNOW is bad?  After all, mum seems to be the only one telling them otherwise...

The legacy of Fr. Maciel will haunt us for a long time.  Pray for our priests!

The beginning of the End of Medugorje?

So how is the world going to deal with this?

Tale of Two Monasteries (Borrowed from Chant Cafe)

The link is in the title.  Emjoy

Hope in Everyday Life

Happy Easter!

Easter is a season of hope.  We see Jesus die, and then see Him resurrected, with the hope that we may also be resurrected on the last day.  We hope in things unseen, like heaven, and we hope that we will get there when we die.

But there is a lot of life that happens before our deaths.  How does hope affect us every day?

Well Easter tends to coincide with a lot of very worldly new beginnings.  People graduate from schools, which for many means the beginning of new careers.  For the young, this may mean new life in the world as a 'grown-up'.  Would they have bothered with all the work of studying, if they did not have the hope of reward (gainful employment) at the end?

Fields and gardens are planted in the spring with the hope of the produce to come.

In our own families, we see hope expressed frequently as people strive for better health.  Those with unexplained and undiagnosed illnesses can benefit greatly from the hope of a treatment or cure that can mitigate their conditions.  Having been in that state myself for a long time, I can tell you what a danger to self is the loss of hope.

Romans 8:24-25  tells us that hope is for something we don't or can't see.  Why would you hope for something which you already know and see?  

This explains a lot why people in dire circumstances can still hope.  This explains why people pray for solutions.  If you know what the solution is, you'd do it.  When you don't know what the solution is you hope.

Hope is not the same as wishing.  Hope is confident and active.  Wishing is sitting back and musing about how you'd like something to be.  I fully believe that wishing can become hoping, but it doesn't happen automatically.  Praying about something is hopeful.  We know God answers prayers, even if that answer is not always what we expect.  Wishing for a garden becomes hoping for a garden when you start planting seeds.  Wishing to be a doctor becomes hoping when you register for classes.

We Christians need to do a lot of hoping.  It seems the past years have been rife with excuses to lose hope.  People to whom we should be looking for inspiration are letting us down.  When we try to do as Christ has asked us through His Church, we are derided and called names, even by those with whom we worship.  Various media give us a seemingly endless list of reasons why, according to themselves, we should be embarassed to be who we are.

But we have Jesus, who warned us that we will be hated because He was hated first.  We also have the promise that God's ways will eventually conquer the ways of evil.

Catholics are told that we are to attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.  I think we can see this wisdom of the Church as a way of bringing us hope as it brings us Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in Thee..

“The High Ground” by Daniel Baird | The Walrus | June 2011

How might Cardinal Ouellette's presence in Rome change the Church?

“The High Ground” by Daniel Baird The Walrus June 2011