*deep breath*.....wow. life is so much better when once you've found a normal (and i mean that in the strictest sense) parish to attend. normal parishes really make the idea of "universality" true. normal is good. so.....after my appalling experience of a "mass"(see below), i had to go to a later one and so ended up at St. Rita's in Dallas. it is one of the more popular churches in my area and i can see why! it only makes sense that the one normal church that is surrounded by kooks is the most popular! at any rate, the whole experience was SO(i cannot emphasize that enough) refreshing that i just went through that Mass with the biggest sense of relief. yay for St. Rita's!!! now mind you, it wasn't Assumption Grotto by any means.....but at least it was valid. and licit. life is very good at the moment.
in other news.....i am VERY excited because in a few days i will be united with my roomie, megs, and the mcnally siblings!!!! megs comes in on friday and the mcnally duo joins us on saturday. it will be SO awesome to have familiar faces around me again. i cannot wait!!!! and then on sunday i get to go home and see my family!!! very very cool and very excited. ok, gotta go to bed. tomorrow's a full day with P.T and O.T in the morning and then lunch with Mari, Ruth and Charles' daughter. cheerio!
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
WOW. and i thought it couldn't get worse...
hello dear readers!!!
i know you must all be so surprised that i've written so much right after the other, but things need to get off my chest and this is the best way to do it, short of yelling and screaming to my wall. needless to say, i think you would appreciate it and sympathize with me more than my wall. AGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEVER in my ENTIRE life have i been subjected to such an AWFUL experience! i thought St. Mark's was bad, but THis!!!! St. Philip's definitely takes the cake!!! it wasn't even MASS! it was completely illegitimate, illicit, and disgusting!! AGGGHHHH!!!!!!! *Deep Breath* ok, i'm going to calm down. *another DEEP BREATH*. so, this morning i decided to try another church, St. Philip's, because St. Mark's just didn't cut it for me.(see previous post). so, i walk in and start to get a little nervous when i see signs, not for "CHURCH", but for "WORSHIP CENTER". bad feelings arise..... and then i see the inside. oh dear. it was one of those circle churches that couldn't decide on a center focal point and so decided to make the seats go all around. and there were no kneelers.....again. the seating was in a sort of stadium setting, so i guess it would be good if a concert or game were going on. so i, deciding to be calm until absolutely pushed, went in and got a seat. i didn't genuflect because there wasn't a tabernacle of ANY sorts IN SIGHT!!!! i couldn't find ANYTHING!!!! whatever. so then i decided to kneel and say my prayers before mass. that was the beginning and the end of any good experience for me at that church. the opening of the mass(if you could call it that) was confusing and all over the place. but then it got familiar as the readings started. and that part of the mass was fine. then came the homily. i couldn't decide if it was when the priest said "we don't come to mass primarily to adore Christ, but to nourish ourselves" or when he said "people who do not try and sing, or who kneel when the rest of the community stands during the eucharistic prayer, are not simple people(taken from the 1st reading about lady wisdom who calls those who are simple)", that did it for me. i think i would have to go with the first quote. correct me if i'm wrong, but i thought that adoration of Christ should be our PRIMARY goal and focus of EVERY action and thought throughout our day!!!! ESPECIALLY the Mass, which is His gift of Himself to us!!!!! how could not our Primary point in attending BE but to adore Him!?!?!?!?!! GOSH! C'mon!!! well, i thought it couldn't get any worse. until i saw the white wine and the thick tortillas that they used for the consecration. which i didn't see until after they had consecrated it. "WOW." i thought, "it can't get any worse than that!" and you might agree with me. but then came what i guess you would have to call "child eucharistic ministers". ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!!! so that was the block that broke the camel's back. i got up and, for the first time in my life..... i left.
ok, i'm done. thanks for bearing with me and hopefully my next experience will be better as i try to find a glimmer of faith in this God-forsaken state. you know.....excluding my run-ins with the churches.....everything else has been WONDERFUL! God-willing, i'll find a church that is at least reasonable, if not awesome. but we'll shoot for the awesome. ciao!
i know you must all be so surprised that i've written so much right after the other, but things need to get off my chest and this is the best way to do it, short of yelling and screaming to my wall. needless to say, i think you would appreciate it and sympathize with me more than my wall. AGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEVER in my ENTIRE life have i been subjected to such an AWFUL experience! i thought St. Mark's was bad, but THis!!!! St. Philip's definitely takes the cake!!! it wasn't even MASS! it was completely illegitimate, illicit, and disgusting!! AGGGHHHH!!!!!!! *Deep Breath* ok, i'm going to calm down. *another DEEP BREATH*. so, this morning i decided to try another church, St. Philip's, because St. Mark's just didn't cut it for me.(see previous post). so, i walk in and start to get a little nervous when i see signs, not for "CHURCH", but for "WORSHIP CENTER". bad feelings arise..... and then i see the inside. oh dear. it was one of those circle churches that couldn't decide on a center focal point and so decided to make the seats go all around. and there were no kneelers.....again. the seating was in a sort of stadium setting, so i guess it would be good if a concert or game were going on. so i, deciding to be calm until absolutely pushed, went in and got a seat. i didn't genuflect because there wasn't a tabernacle of ANY sorts IN SIGHT!!!! i couldn't find ANYTHING!!!! whatever. so then i decided to kneel and say my prayers before mass. that was the beginning and the end of any good experience for me at that church. the opening of the mass(if you could call it that) was confusing and all over the place. but then it got familiar as the readings started. and that part of the mass was fine. then came the homily. i couldn't decide if it was when the priest said "we don't come to mass primarily to adore Christ, but to nourish ourselves" or when he said "people who do not try and sing, or who kneel when the rest of the community stands during the eucharistic prayer, are not simple people(taken from the 1st reading about lady wisdom who calls those who are simple)", that did it for me. i think i would have to go with the first quote. correct me if i'm wrong, but i thought that adoration of Christ should be our PRIMARY goal and focus of EVERY action and thought throughout our day!!!! ESPECIALLY the Mass, which is His gift of Himself to us!!!!! how could not our Primary point in attending BE but to adore Him!?!?!?!?!! GOSH! C'mon!!! well, i thought it couldn't get any worse. until i saw the white wine and the thick tortillas that they used for the consecration. which i didn't see until after they had consecrated it. "WOW." i thought, "it can't get any worse than that!" and you might agree with me. but then came what i guess you would have to call "child eucharistic ministers". ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!!! so that was the block that broke the camel's back. i got up and, for the first time in my life..... i left.
ok, i'm done. thanks for bearing with me and hopefully my next experience will be better as i try to find a glimmer of faith in this God-forsaken state. you know.....excluding my run-ins with the churches.....everything else has been WONDERFUL! God-willing, i'll find a church that is at least reasonable, if not awesome. but we'll shoot for the awesome. ciao!
Friday, August 18, 2006
"NEW"
ok, so, you move and all of a sudden there is only NEW. new people, new experiences, new bedroom, new food(which is VERY good, i might add), new feelings, new confidence.....someone should be BANKing on this stuff!! :-) anywho, I've been in Dallas now for about a week and i'm LOVING it. Charles and Ruth, the couple that i work for(ruth is the lady i take care of), are so generous and fun to be around. ruthie is so easy to take care of, and so accepting and loving....it's AWESOME. last saturday she and i went to the new dance movie, Step Up, and we both loved it! she, surprisingly enough, loved the music and the dancing!!!!(she is really hilarious when it comes to that) :-). she owns the movie Chicago, which should give you a good idea.:-) and last night i had my first night out and went to this young adults group dinner and discussion thing. which, in all reality, is a not-so-young adult group getting together to discuss certain topics. i don't know if it was desperation for anyone younger than 50 to talk to that made me like it, or whether it was just good, but at any rate.....i had fun. i met this other woman who was semi-new to the group too and we ended up talking about whatever things for about 1 1/2- 2 hours after the discussion was over. and i found out that she takes ballroom lessons at this place really similar to the dance revolution studio(where we had Moni's dance party) so i'm gonna start going to that, and i was SOOOO excited to learn about that, because i've been wanting to get really started in lessons for AWHILE now!!! so YAY!!!! and the group is having a pool party this saturday that i think i'm gonna go to, so we'll see what happens! which leaves me having to find a new church for this sunday.....last week's experience shall NOT be recreated.
The Church Experience: yes, i actually need a new paragraph to describe this. this past sunday i went to St. Mark's Church in Denton and it was AWFUL. not as bad as other "masses" i've been to, but it was pretty bad. first, i walk in and there are no kneelers. there aren't even any pews!! there's just chairs set up like a freakin' AA meeting. actually, i don't really know what an AA meeting looks like, but at any rate.....oh, and i couldn't see the tabernacle ANYWHERE. i didn't know where to genuflect or what i was genuflecting To!!!! and then the "band" was right up there on the altar. the visiting priest took the cake though. he was just so LAX about everything! it was ridiculous! and his homily(which was mostly stories....i really don't like that) didn't really say anything strictly wrong, but the way he said things made it seem like they could've easily been taken the wrong way. i left there so much more confused about what he thought, than enlightened as to my faith. and then of course he had to ask everyone to hold hands during the our father(which i didn't do), and then there was the typical "greet your neighbor" deal, which, quite frankly....WHY can't that wait until the social afterwards??? oh, that's right! everyone leaves after communion! or right after the blessing! it was just awful. so, it's on to a new experience(let's hope for a good one!) at a new church. i got REALLY(and i mean REALLY) excited because i found that they have a byzantine church not too far away that has divine liturgy!!! God bless the kartause for giving me that experience! ok. i'm done writing. now you can start reading! i miss you all SOOO much and i think about you every day. Keep me updated to your happenings!
The Church Experience: yes, i actually need a new paragraph to describe this. this past sunday i went to St. Mark's Church in Denton and it was AWFUL. not as bad as other "masses" i've been to, but it was pretty bad. first, i walk in and there are no kneelers. there aren't even any pews!! there's just chairs set up like a freakin' AA meeting. actually, i don't really know what an AA meeting looks like, but at any rate.....oh, and i couldn't see the tabernacle ANYWHERE. i didn't know where to genuflect or what i was genuflecting To!!!! and then the "band" was right up there on the altar. the visiting priest took the cake though. he was just so LAX about everything! it was ridiculous! and his homily(which was mostly stories....i really don't like that) didn't really say anything strictly wrong, but the way he said things made it seem like they could've easily been taken the wrong way. i left there so much more confused about what he thought, than enlightened as to my faith. and then of course he had to ask everyone to hold hands during the our father(which i didn't do), and then there was the typical "greet your neighbor" deal, which, quite frankly....WHY can't that wait until the social afterwards??? oh, that's right! everyone leaves after communion! or right after the blessing! it was just awful. so, it's on to a new experience(let's hope for a good one!) at a new church. i got REALLY(and i mean REALLY) excited because i found that they have a byzantine church not too far away that has divine liturgy!!! God bless the kartause for giving me that experience! ok. i'm done writing. now you can start reading! i miss you all SOOO much and i think about you every day. Keep me updated to your happenings!
Sunday, August 06, 2006
BIG move....More Prayers!
Dear Readers, whoever you may still be,
I'm MOVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm moving to Dallas for a job as a home aide to this woman who had a stroke about a year ago. i will be taking care of her while her husband is at work. i am possibly the most excited i've been since highschool graduation! i will be living in their house in my own suite and i would have a car as well. VERY excited about that. and i probably won't have to be buying food either, unless it's special stuff that they wouldn't normally buy, so i'll basically be banking the money that i earn that doesn't go towards loan payments. anywho, i'm very nervous and i won't know any young people down there for a few weeks so if you could all say a prayer for me that would be much appreciated! i'll try and be good about posting all my adventures in my new city! peace out!
I'm MOVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm moving to Dallas for a job as a home aide to this woman who had a stroke about a year ago. i will be taking care of her while her husband is at work. i am possibly the most excited i've been since highschool graduation! i will be living in their house in my own suite and i would have a car as well. VERY excited about that. and i probably won't have to be buying food either, unless it's special stuff that they wouldn't normally buy, so i'll basically be banking the money that i earn that doesn't go towards loan payments. anywho, i'm very nervous and i won't know any young people down there for a few weeks so if you could all say a prayer for me that would be much appreciated! i'll try and be good about posting all my adventures in my new city! peace out!
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