40 Years of Sorrow

"Every year, this week in January is one of the hardest. Today is the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, when in 1973 the killing of children in the womb became legal in our country.

12 weeks in the womb

The image here shows one size of those children who have been willfully killed in the womb with the blessing of American law. An estimated 54,559,615 have been killed between 1973-2008 (http://www.nrlc.org), with another 1,212,400 between 2009-2011.

That's a total of 55,772,015. Nearly fifty-six million souls that never saw the light of day. That's an entire country's worth of people who never had a chance to even know what citizenship here on earth means.

According to Planned Parenthood's website, this country's biggest abortion buisness, there are two main procedures that are used to kill our children: one involves vacumming (aspiration), the other involves scalpels and then vaccuming ('Dilation & Extraction). Along with the description of these procedures, there are images that show in heartbreaking details the results of abortion.

Why is abortion still legal in our country? Why do we hedge votes, promoting politicians who dubiously support life--or advocate abortion outright? Why do we stand for judges who re-define the very meaning of life, excluding children in the womb from the very right to births?

We have been pressured to be silent about abortion. The false claim of 'personal' choices are touted as being more important than the protection of the life. And so we are uncomfortable even saying the word 'abortion', we fear offending others and we certainly don't want to get into debate.

Thus thousands of children continue to be killed every day by legal abortion.

Tolstoy wrote that 'All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.'  We have been given the source of Goodness Himself: Jesus Christ! We not only have nothing to fear, but all that we need to succeed. Let us confidently proclaim the Gospel of Life, in our prayers, words, votes, and actions--so that this anniversary might one day be overshadowed by the celebration of new life."

~Father Jacob Maurer

Our parish priest wrote this in the church bulletin. I couldn't help but post it here. 

Please pray for the right to life. 

May the Grace and Peace of God remain always with you,
~Katherine

The power of Love

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13:13

A couple of weeks ago the church we are now going to started to watch an episode of Father Barron's "Catholicism Project" every Friday. These episodes are amazing and I highly recommend them to you! Today the topic was Peter and Paul. Now, if you've read my past blogs you'd know that I had quite the heated discussion with my Presbyterian friend about "Peter and the Rock" and "Faith and Works" so this weeks episode brought back that memory and I was able to talk a little bit about it in the discussion we had after we watched the episode. Since I have already covered Peter and the Rock in one of my previous blogs, I want to talk about Faith and Works.

Back in the days of my heated discussion with my friend he was fully convinced that we are saved by Faith alone. Now this is not what we as Catholics believe. We believe that by both Faith and Works we are saved.

I showed him the verse in James, 

"Faith without works is dead" 

James 2:26

he then pointed me to Galations, 

"...knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ." 

Galations 2:16

I then asked if he believed if there were any contradictions in the Bible, he quickly said "No." then I asked how could these two verses exist and how could they only pick one to follow. He said that when you have faith you automatically do work...but you don't have to. (If that makes any sense.)

I then told him that if that was so then we are saved by Faith and Works. We are saved by Love which God is! I explained it like this "Love is an act. An act is a work. If we are saved by our faithful love then would not we be saved by our faithful work? Thus both Faith and Work."
I also said this in today's discussion and Father again agreed with me! It made me feel so absolutely great!
Also, one verse that really stood out to me that can be added to this discussion, was 1 Corinthians 13:13, which was in the video by Father Barron. This verse is, 

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 

1 Corinthians 13:13

Also I told my friend about this verse, in Romans 2:5-6 it says,

"But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶ who “will render to each one according to his deeds.” 

Romans 2:5-6

And two others I've found for this blog are, 

"…we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 

Cor 5:10

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

Mattew 7:21

Also in the video Father Barron said something wonderful. When we get to heaven we no longer need faith because we are there in what we had faith in. We no longer need hope because what we hoped in we have now achieved, but love remains because God is love and his kingdom is love.
So if love is an act, and an act is an action which is also a form of works, are we not then saved by both Faith and Works? I am not saying one is more important than the other. You heard the verses; without one, the other is worthless. It is like the Earth and day and night. If we were forever lit up with the sun nothing would grow; everything would burn up before growing. If we were forever kept in the darkness of the night nothing would grow because it would be too cold.
But with both, a coexistence of each other, the Earth flourishes with life. Thus, with faith and works we flourish in Jesus Christ.

I hope that makes sense. Sometimes I get into the moment and just write whatever comes to mind and then don't read it again. I come back later and realize nothing makes sense!

So...I guess I'll end here with just a quite saying one of the older folks said about protestants. "Without Catholics there would be no protestants."
Today's discussion was truly amazing. I felt reassured by the people there. Even at the end when everyone was leaving, an old man who was a Catholic convert thanked me for bringing up the topic! I feel so at home at this new parish. The people are friendly (although not quite my age group, I admit) and the priest there is superb! He is young, he understands both the old and young, he's humble and hilarious and smart! He is definitely one of a kind and I feel blessed to have ever met him.

May the Grace and Peace of God remain always with you!
God Bless, 

~Katherine

What if I told you that Jesus loves religion

And that by his coming as man he brought his religion to fruition

See this had to be addressed, the use of illogical terms and definitions

You clearly have a heart for Jesus but its fueling atheistic opinions

See what makes his religion great is not errors of wars and inquisitions

It's that broken men and women to participate in his mission

Clearly Jesus says I have not come to abolish

I came to fulfill the law and I came to fulfill the prophets (Matthew 5:17)

And lines about building big churches and tending to the poor

Sounds a bit like Judas when the perfume was being poured (John 12:5)

See His religion is the largest worldwide source of relief

For the poor, the hungry, the sick and repentant thief

Oceans of compassion, opening wide the doors

For single mothers, widows and orphans, married and divorced (James 1:27)

We all detest hypocrisy, and empty show is just the worst

But blaming religion for contradictionIs like staring at death, and blaming the hearse.

See the teacher will teach when the students are ready to listen

But those that choose to sit in the pews and refuse the good news

Is not the fault of religion. And If I have the Jersey and I'm playing for the Bulls

There's going to be some boundaries, regulations and some rules.

You can't have Christ without his Church; you can't have the King without his Kingdom

Sins of the Body and internal treason will never ever make me leave him

And that Jesus said it is done, is absolutely true

But he also gave us a mission with many things to DO.

Jesus says if you love me, you will Do what I command. (JN 15:14)

Go and Baptize in the name of the Father, Son & Spirit in Every Land. (MT28:19)

And on the night he was betrayed he took his men in the Upper Room

Take at eat this is my body take and drink my blood for you.

A New covenant you see, an act connected to the tree

,Do this time and time again in Memory of Me. (Mt 26:26-28)

And at last with crown of thorns beaten beyond comprehension

His eyes were looking for yours and mine; it was divine, no human invention.

So as for religion I love it, I have one because Jesus rose from the dead and won.

I believe When Jesus said IT IS FINISHED, His religion had just begun.

"You are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell wil not prevail gainst it." Mattew 16:18

May the Grace and Peace of God remain always with you!
God Bless, 

~Katherine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru_tC4fv6FE&feature=plcp

Thanks to Father Pontifex for this excellent response to the popular video "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus"

Power of God perfected in weakness

"...That I, Paul, might not become too elated, because of the abundances of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated." 2 Corinthians 12:7

Hi! Long time to write to. Due to the fact that I will never be able to tell you everything that has happened in practically a year I will just tell you about the major events coming up/most important.

1) My sister-in-law is going to have a baby!! She's due this December/January.
2) My sister, Jeanne, is getting married in a week and 6 days!!
3) I finished my second year at my community college! I have one more year left and then am hoping to transfer to WWU in Fall 2013

So much has happened over the past year, I can't even explain it. All I can say is that I have changed...a lot...and for the better I think.
Now, let me get to today's reading.
I want to focus on the second reading written by Paul to the Corinthians. This reading has confused many a Christian. He talks about weakness and a thorn in his flesh. This thorn, an ailment of some kind, he says was given to him so that he would not become to elated because of all revelations. People have always wondered what this thorn was and why he so desperately wanted God to take it away. He said

 "Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me..."

First, let me clarify that the "three times" is more of an expression, explained best by Father Robert Barron. He is saying that over and over again he has asked God to take it away, repeatedly asked...not just three.
What was it that was so painful he asked God to take it away so many times? What is this thorn he talks about? A physical ailment? Some say that perhaps he was going blind, or he was old and could not walk so easily. Was it a speech impediment? Some say perhaps he had a problem speaking which made it hard for him to preach the good news.
It's clearly not a simple problem in the passing moment. It's a long painful thing. Every person has a thorn in the flesh, something that bothers you like a stone in your shoe. I'm sure you've encountered your own difficulties that you've asked God to take away, I know I have. For myself I consider my anger, my impatience, and my lack of courage to preach the good news a thorn in my side.

However, it is apparent to me that that part of the passage is not as important as the rest. People often forget the rest of this reading because they are too busy wondering about Paul's thorn. The whole point of this passage is weakness, and what Paul is trying to say is that through our weaknesses power in God becomes perfected. God said to Paul,

"My Grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."

No matter what the suffering is, God's grace is sufficient. If you're connected to God then anything can, in principle, be endured. Paul does not rejoice about the many revelations God has given him but rather in the weaknesses that were given. 
Somehow the weakness of the cross is the revelation of the power of God. Isn't that incredible? Who would have guessed this?
Father Robert Barron had a couple of theories about why weakness, failure, and suffering can be power.
First, Suffering can force us to rely on the power of God. When I am content with my lives I rest in my own ego, God becomes an afterthought. But then I suffer, I fail, I come up against a brick wall, am blocked, I am forced in a  new way to rely upon God, to decenter myself away from the ego and to God. Nothing does this more effectively than suffering.

Second, sometimes suffering, the conscious bearing of suffering, can affect the taking away of sin. Paul said,

"I'm content with weakness, insults, hardship, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ."
Christ didn't fight evil on it's own terms, he didn't answer insult with insult, or persecution with persecution. Christ took upon himself the sin of the world and thereby took it away. He put a wrench in the works that usually governs human affairs. Violence meets with violence, injustice meets with answering injustice...etc. By bearing this he took away the sin of the world so we his followers could unleash power precisely through our suffering.

It's interesting, my mom had this theory....She once told me that the reason America was slowly losing it's faith was because we are too comfortable. Look at countries that are suffering, like Africa or South America.  There are entire towns, cities, that are Catholic that work toward building a stronger community in Christ so that they can endure their hardships. During the Great Depression in the 1930's faith communities were so strong because they needed Gods help to overcome the weaknesses of the world.
Now look at us. The numbers of Christians who are actively involved with their communities is decreasing. Oh sure, people are converting right and left but that's it. "There, I'm Christian. I believe in God!...Let's go have a party!"
Priests and nuns are getting older and not as many young men and women want to become priests or nuns to take these aging people's places. It's very sad to me, the morals of today upset me so much...I pray constantly for the Catholic people that they might open their eyes and hearts and become more involved with each other to spread the good news of our faith.

In conclusion to today's reading, Paul said,

"When I am weak, then I am strong."
 It is my weakness that allows the strength and power of God to surge into me and through me into the world. I hope that both you and I can look at our weaknesses in this way so that we can become closer to God and to his kingdom in heaven.

May the Grace and Peace of God remain always with you!
God Bless, 

~Katherine

Father Robert Barron, Word on Firehttp://www.wordonfire.org/WOF-Radio/Sermons/Sermon-Archive-for-2012/Sermon-600-A-Thorn-in-the-Flesh-Why-We-Suffer.aspx

"If Your Brother Sins Against You..." Plus utterly shocked.

(OLD POST! The date for this is, I'm guessing, September 4th 2011)
Matt 18:15-17

Getting right to the point, last Sunday's gospel reading was about forgiveness. Pointing out to a brother or sister his or her sins. Now look, I don't know any senseable particular person who likes to do this. Most of us shrink at the task of pointing out other peoples sins. Here's the thing, Christians are truth tellers. Jesus referred to himself as the way, the truth, and the life. That means we are obliged to live in the truth. Sin is always the path of untruth. The devil is called the father of lies. Untruthful form of behavior. Jesus is the way. How do you find the way? By finding Jesus who is the truth. Therefore we tell the truth, we operate out of the truth. We don't make excuses, runaway, hide...We tell the truther, we live out of the truth. And part of that is telling the sometimes telling hard truths about others.


Now that I have said this I want to tell you something.

This past Sunday something utterly alarming and so shocking happened that we have decided to change parishes.
Our new priest is...Not what we all had thought. When he got here there had been some disagreement in certain parts of the Mass as to whether or not we are allowed to kneel at certain times or not. We fought with it a little but just finally let the priest have his way. Now, we knew he was a little upset with us for arguing about it at first but we didn't think he would hold such an intense grudge.
Today during mass my family knelt after receiving communion, as was allowed by our priest. However, the priest had to go back to give communion to those who were unable to walk up. But as he was going back he noticed my family had knelt a little early. Apparently my newest family member, John's new wife, noticed he was shaking as he gave the final blessing. As we all went out to shake his hand and say good morning, I was still saying some prayers to myself as I always do. I got up and started for the door and as I got there I heard arguing and yelling, and when I looked I saw the priest was yelling at my mom.
Should I repeat that? Very slowly? Our new priest was yelling at my mom. Why? Because he said we can't kneel after receiving the body of Christ. Even though he did.
I want to say something but I can't because he is still a priest.
Anyway, he was yelling at her, shaking and crying! It was like watching a child throwing a fit about not getting his way! I came in too late to hear what he had said but I'll repeat what my family said.
My mom reached out to shake his hand and say good morning but he didn't move and yelled "What is wrong with your family? Why can't you just do this one thing I ask?" My mom didn't know what he was talking about and tried, calmly and kindly, to ask what he was talking about. He just continued to yell and such. I can't remember what he said after that, but when she finally understood what he was talking about, she tried to say that they didn't, in fact, kneel during communion. Once everyone had received communion the priest went back to give communion to the disabled, my family knelt as he passed by because he was still holding the body of Christ. Is that so wrong? They didn't disobey, they just knelt a little early!
Anyway, my mom told him she had gone to the Archbishops website to be sure what he was telling us to do was the right thing. When she tried to say this he got even louder, got right in her face and yelled "Don't you talk to me in that voice!" That's when I came out.
After my mom tried to explain he yelled "If you want to leave the parish leave! Just leave!"
At this my family was so shocked that they just started walking away, they didn't know what to do! As they walked he shouted out "You're all very disrespectful!"
I walked up, shook his hand and walked right past to the Hall, where we usually just meet together and talk, and walked to the bathroom. I didn't know what to do, I wanted to go back to him and yell at him and just give him a piece of my mind. I went to my car and called home(because at the time I didn't know why he had yelled) and when I discovered I was so close to jumping up and marching up those steps to the Church.
However, I recovered myself and waited till I cooled off before driving home.
It was the most depressing Sunday I had ever witnessed. We all gathered in our living room and talked about the whole thing. We concluded that we would be indeed leaving the parish and going to one who's priest was really great. (The one my brother had his wedding at) So anyway, I just needed to let some steam out.
I'm done ranting now, I think I'll continue praying for both the Parish, the priest and for our future in a very welcoming Church.

On a positive note, I finished the Bible on Monday the 5th! I was getting ready for work, rather upset that I had to stay behind and work instead of going to the ocean with my sisters, when I picked up the Bible and just read, read, read! I made it through the final book, Revelations though confusing as it was, I was very happy!

May the Peace and Grace of Christ Jesus remain always with you.
~Katherine

"Get Thee Behind Me..."

"Get thee behind me, Satan!"
Matthew 16:21-27

I wrote a small portion of this blog post on Sunday, and it took me almost a week to start it again. x)

Anyway, the reading for Sunday the 28th of August was about how Jesus talked to his disciples about him having to go to Jerusalem to suffer under the hands of the elders, chief priests and the scribes and also be killed. Now, this didn't sit to well with Peter. He said to Jesus,

"God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you."

Jesus' reply is one of the most shocking in this reading...

"Get thee behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as Human beings do."

Then he goes on to talk about how if we wish to follow him we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow him.

To me it seems as if he is saying to Peter "Stop telling me what to do but follow me."

Now think about it, we resist just as much as Peter did. If we were standing there before Jesus, the Christ, our Savior, the son of God, and he tells us he is going off willingly to die, wouldn't you be shocked and dumbstruck? You would say "Lord no! You are God's son, nothing like that could happen to you, and I won't let anything happen to you!" Unfortunately when we say this we stand in the way of God's plans. If Jesus did not die for us, who would have? Who would have stepped up to save our fellow man from sin?  

Jesus also accuses Peter of thinking as Humans, not as God. We think of safety, God thinks entirely of Love. Our mission is to spread the word with no fear of the consequences. Public humiliation, mockery, imprisonment and even death. But if this is what must happen if we are to spread the word, how would we feel if someone who does not fully understand what we are doing stands in front of us and says "No, you can't, you would get hurt..." It's not about us! It's about Him.
You have to ask, how do I love? How you answer that will shape your entire life.

"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" He did not say "Accept the cross if it comes" he says to Take it Up. To consciously and freely walk the path of suffering love if we are to be his followers. Take it up, actively!
You are meant to be a bearer of the divine love into the world, that is your mission. It takes a million forms but that it's basic purpose, and this will always involve suffering, because it means the path of self denial.

"What path are we walking? The path of self protection, or the path of Self emptying, self forgetting love? Everything else will depend upon that question."

May the Peace and Grace of Christ Jesus remain always with you.
~Katherine

"Upon This Rock..."

"But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."
Matthew 16:15-16


My blog today is about the scripture passage in Matthew, 16:13-20. This passage, I have discovered, is so conflicted between the Christian denominations. I myself ran into this conflict with my friend Colin.
Back in March he and I talked about it. Recall, if you will, the part of the passage here...

"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt 16:16-18)

According to my friend, Jesus was saying that he himself was the rock and that the church was built on him. 

However, this cannot be so. I have done so much research on this, I'm finding it quite hard to put into words!

So let me begin...I italicized the important words in the passage that I am going to be deciphering.

Four times in Galatians and four times in 1 Corinthians we have the Aramaic form of Simon's new name preserved for us. In out English Bibles it comes out as Cephas...That's not Greek, that's a transliteration(which means to represent letters or words written in one alphabet using the corresponding letters of another) of the Aramaic word Kepha.

Well what does Kepha mean? Why is it important? It means rock, the same as Petra. It doesn't mean little stone or pebble. What Jesus said to Simon was this "You are Kepha, and on this Kepha I will build my Church."

Does that make sense? 

Now I found an argument against this...

"If kepha means the same as petra, why don’t we read in the Greek, ‘You are Petra, and on this petra I will build my Church’? Why, for Simon’s new name, does Matthew use a Greek word, Petros, which means something quite different from petra?" 

The reason is that he had no choice. In Greek and Aramaic there are different grammatical structures. In Aramaic you can use Kepha in both places in Matthew 16:18. In Greek you encounter a problem arising from the fact that nouns take differing gender endings. You have masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns. The Greek word petra is feminine. You can use it in the second half of Matt 16:18 without trouble. But you can't use it as Simon's new name, because you can't give a man a feminine name(at least back then you couldn't. ;P) You have to change the ending of the noun to make it masculine. When you do that you get Petros, which was an already-existing word meaning rock. It's a rather imperfect rendering of the Aramiac...You lose part of the play on words. In English, we have 'Peter' and 'rock,' you lose all of it but really, that's the best you can do in Greek.

I took both Latin and Italian so I understand the whole grammatical situations. It makes so much sense to me.

However, those who have not taken another language don't understand this concept.

But if they really and truly wanted to understand the whole truth about this passage you would think one would go as far as looking up this bit of information. It is small, but small things make big differences.

Now, it is not only the translation that proves our belief, but also the interpretation and understanding of the structure of this verse. I would probably end up rambling for 3 pages before actually getting out what I'm trying to say so I found someone who described it very well...

"Look at the way Matthew 16:15-19 is structured. After Peter gives a confession about the identity of Jesus, the Lord does the same in return for Peter. Jesus does not say, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are an insignificant pebble and on this rock I will build my Church(That part is just great! Don't you agree?). . . . I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Jesus is giving Peter a three-fold blessing, including the gift of the keys to the kingdom, not undermining his authority. To say that Jesus is downplaying Peter flies in the face of the context. Jesus is installing Peter as a form of chief steward or prime minister under the King of Kings by giving him the keys to the kingdom. "
- Karl Keating

There, plain and simple yet quite thorough. Every time I am able to understand a verse in the Bible as much as there is knowledge of it, I become so happy! When I discovered these interpretations, guided to me by the grace of the Holy Spirit, I was crying tears of joy. I had the perfect refute to my friends accusations! =]

Ok, I got that cleared out of my system! Now let me talk a little bit about the Keys Jesus gave Peter. Our priest at Saint Aloysius did a very good job covering this, let me see if I can remember what he said, put into my own words of course!

In Matthew 16:19 Jesus says this;

"And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven."

First off, notice the word "Keys" is italicized and underlined. This word is connected with the other two words that are italicized. Why? Because Jesus gave Peter two keys. One key for binding; the ability to grant forgiveness, and one key for loosing; the ability to withhold forgiveness.(If I am remembering Fathers homily correctly...Might be vice-versa.)

Sound familiar at all? Since then, men known as priests have been given the ability and responsibility to forgive and withhold forgiveness of our sins confessed to them.

This is what I have to say about this past Sunday's reading. It is my favorite for two reasons. One: Because it shows us that Jesus passed on his authority to Peter and all the Pope's that were to follow. He made sure to take care of us through all generations. Number two: Because I get to show protestants the Truth about Peter and all the Popes.

May the Grace of God remain always with you!
God Bless,

~Katherine

The First Wedding and 2011 Renaissance Faire.

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 
John 2:1-2


August 13th came along. Us four girls woke up early to head over to the church to get ready since we were all bridesmaids. We got to the church and met up with the other bridesmaid and the bride herself. It was rather chaotic since we were running a little late and we needed to take pictures at 11:30. We were finally ready at 11:45 and we rushed about like ninja's making sure to avoid my brother and his groomsmen since they weren't allowed to see the bride. After the pictures of us and the bride and the bride with her parents, we four bridesmaids found John and had our pictures taken with the family. It was a very beautiful moment!
At 12:30 the bridesmaids went back into our little preparation room for last minute cleaning. Then all the bridal party(except the bride) met outside the main church area(haha oh my goodness I can't think of the name of that area.) and wait for 1 o'clock to come. We all got in place, the music started and we all headed down the isle.
Once we were all by the Alter I watched John's face as Vannessa appeared in her beautiful wedding gown. His face lit up in the biggest smile! I won't talk you through the whole ceremony because that would be rather boring for you so I'll just fast-forward to when the ceremony was over. They gathered the wedding party together for pictures in the Church and then we all drove to a park not too far from where we were having the reception, at Saint Patrick's church. 
The picture taking was pretty funny because the bride and groom gave us all really cool looking sunglasses which we wore through most of the pictures; Bride and groom included. ;) It'll make for a very entertaining moment when they're old and they look through their wedding pictures!
After that we headed to the reception hall and there was food and speeches and dancing and shear merriment! =) At one point, when my brother and his new wife preformed a choreographed first dance I did start bawling my eyes out. Mostly because I was reminded of how goofy my brother is, and all the great times we've had just goofing off.
So yeah, the bride and groom left at 10, we started cleaning and left at about 12:30 and didn't get home until about 1 o'clock AM! It was crazy and tiring but well worth it!

The next day was Sunday the 14th and I had planned to go to an event called the Renaissance Faire with some friends at around 12 after Church. After finding out the day before that half of them were not coming I discovered I would be left with Colin...Again. I didn't want that so I recruited my tow sisters, Marie and Anne and also our cousin Kasey. After Sunday mass we all rushed to the bathrooms and got dressed in our makeshift Renaissance costumes (EVERYONE at the event dresses up, it's so much fun!). Before taking off I found out Colin had also recruited 2 friends. When we got there I found out it was the friend of his I met and hung out with at Creation Fest, Claire. She's a pretty interesting girl. 3 years younger than me but she tries to act older, especially around Colin. She imitates everything he does, which, at times, gets rather annoying. It was hard enough dealing with one immature person...lol. The other friend of theirs was my sister Anne's age but she looked way older so she just talked with Colin and Claire.
I was rather disappointed in Colin that day. I invited him(and a bunch of others, mind you.) to this event and he acted more immature than normal. I don't know, just making little remarks here and there that would tick me off a bit, especially in front of my sisters.
Anyway, after watching a VERY cool acrobatic show held by a group called the Cavallo Equestrians(Soooo amazing!) We met up with Sarah, our old music coordinator at Church. She hung with us the rest of the day and I just kind of ignored Colin. At 4 there was the Jousting Tournament held by the same group. It was pretty sweet, though a little disappointing compared to 2 years ago the first time I went. I think one reason would be that near the end one of the guys hurt his hand as he and another were riding past each other as they do for jousting. It was rather sad but I did get to pet one of the horses that was ridden by the more good-looking rider. ;D
Anyway, at 5:30 Colin and the other two left and the rest of us stayed until it was over at 6.
All in all I had fun, I really enjoy that kind of stuff, it really gives my imagination a swift kick to the rear and now I want to start writing again.The problem is I have no time anymore. I worked almost everyday this past week, and on my off day, Tuesday and Friday I was too tired to do anything. (Ok so on Tuesday I did go hiking up Mt. Peak with my brothers James and Peter but then I was too tired to do anything else...)

Well, I guess I'm all caught up now! Yesterday I did have to work at the Farmers Market, but there's not much to talk about other than I worked 10 hours in 80 degree weather. x)

Now that I am all caught up, I think I'm going to do this blog a little different. I was thinking of, from now on, only writing about Sundays. After hearing the Gospel and Father's homily today I discovered I really want to share my own opinions on the readings. And this would help since I haven't really talked about my opinions on this amazing Faith we share.

So! Starting next blog it will only be on the Sunday's readings, and maybe whatever other religious things I did that week. I might do one tonight if I'm not too tired(I work today) since it is my favorite and the post widely conflicted reading I have ever known.


God Bless and keep you!
~Katie

What to expect next:
Sunday the 21st of Auguts Gospel reading. "Upon this Rock I will build my Church."

Where I left off.

 Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD. 

Psalm 25:6, 7

I decided I should start my blog posts with a Bible verse from now on, because I haven't really talked too much about my religious life. But if you haven't noticed, the pictures I've been posting with my blogs kind of portray my feelings.
Once I am all caught up with the recent events I will talk about some of my many realizations and discoveries in my faith. =)So, let me begin! I left off talking about my new job and I will begin thus the same way. The weekend I got my job, the 6th, was both exciting, exhausting and angering. Exciting in 2 ways. 1) I was scheduled to work at the Farmers Market from 7am to 4pm. Number 2) because my brother, James, who was in Ethiopia for a year, was coming home. It was exhausting because of how long I worked, 10 hours! That's the most I've ever worked for a paying job! It was angering in 2 ways also. 1) Because I had to work on the day my family was picking up my brother from the train station. I wanted to go so badly! And number 2) I rushed toward home as soon as I got off work, only to discover that Saturday mass started at 5, in less than 15 minutes. So(After seeing my family drive past me, frustrating!!) I turned the car around and headed to Church. Lucky for me I brought an extra shirt otherwise I'd be going to church feeling seriously dirty. Anyway, after that I got home and was really expecting a happy and lighthearted attitude, something refreshing from the work atmosphere(I found out my boss is a LOT like my dad...which isn't exactly a good thing...). I was wrong. For some reason my dad was in the worst mood. After we ate a quick dinner we sat around together and talked about everything. I was so tired I was falling asleep on the couch. All of a sudden my dad wanted us to do the dishes. Now we have(or had) a rule in the house that if you worked more than 8 hours at a PAYING job you got out of most chores. I reminded my dad of this but he dismissed it. Well...Let me just say I wasn't happy. I asked my mom who said I didn't have to, but than I got my mom yelled at by my dad, who in turn made me do dishes. Now you must be asking "Why didn't you just do the dishes and save the household the yelling?" I wish I could have, I really wish so. Looking back on the day I feel so foolish. But honestly, it is unfair when you have 4 other kids to do dishes for the easiest dinner in the world(Pizza) forcing the only working kid to do it as well. 
I gave up at first and did some of the dishes but my temper got the better of me(As you may have noticed this is my ultimate weakness. I am trying so hard to just let things go but lately it's been so hard!) and I stormed out of the kitchen, up to my room, got ready for bed and went to sleep. That was such a horrible night.
However, the next day was rather nice. August 7th was my mom's 50th birthday. Thankfully when I woke up my dad and two younger sisters were out shopping. I woke up to find my mom floating in our pool on one of two kayaks!
I went on the porch and talked with her a bit, enjoying her very delighted and happy attitude and then went down and talked with her. When my dad came home I just ignored his rude behavior and was obedient. The rest of the day was very nice, we went to the lake where we all got to try out my mom (and dad's) new kayak. It makes me very happy to see how happy she is when she is out on the water. =)
Later we had her open some gifts. A couple of the gifts were humorous, like the very large sunglasses, the tiara(AHH! I didn't like that one) and the jiggling-giggling baby doll...Haha!!
Over all it was a great and refreshing day. =)
The next day, August 8th, I had work which really occupied all of my day, and sadly it was a slow day so there isn't much to talk about. I didn't have work on August 9th until 6 to 9 so I really just used that day to relax.

On the 10th it was my friend Colin's birthday so I sent him a quick text...."So the other day I was walking down the road when I saw a frog sitting on a log and then the frog said Hi and started singing in an opera voice and then this crow comes because he's annoyed with the frog but he got shot down with an arrow by an indian who was hiding on the top of a powerline who was the frogs friend and then a llama walks down the road but it really wasnt a llama because it unzipped what appeared to be a llama and revealed a bunch of capuchin monkeys with machine guns who chased after the indian down the road and then I looked back and the frog was gone.............Oh yeah.....Happy Birthday too!"

 Apparently that made his day so it made mine as well. I noticed he seemed upset but I didn't want to comment on it unless he brought it up...which he didn't. So I ignored it and my mom convinced me to go to the lake with my her for kayaking at 12:30. 
That was very fun! We went all around the lake and then went on a walk around the lake as well. Walking was 1.5 miles, so I'm guessing kayaking was at least 1 mile. On the walk there were SO many huckleberries! I'm surprised people to sell them...*shrug*
On the way back we stopped by Safeway to grab lunch. As we were passing some sandwiches I remembered a very funny day that Colin and I experience after volunteering at Creation Fest. So I took a picture and sent it to him. Again, it brightened his day. We got to talking and I discovered his two siblings and mom were away in Colorado for a couple weeks and his dad was always at work. So, I kept him company by text. It gave me something to do as well since I had no work. =P
The rest of the day was pretty normal, fooled around during dishes and choked on some water, watched Batman: The Dark Night and then headed to bed.
On August 11th I worked from 12 to 8 which is closing, but I found out I was closing alone. At first I thought it'd be hard/kind of scary but I really enjoyed the silence.
August 12th was a bit crazy. I started work at 7:30 and opened the store with a couple of others as well as help unload a freight that was delivering our order for the weekend. I didn't get off until 2 then I headed home only to leave an hour or so later to go to Saint Andrew's church (A church about 20 minutes away) for my brother John's wedding rehearsal. 
As we rehearsed, reality set in. In only less than 24 hours my older brother, the goofball of the family, was getting married! Everyone in the wedding party was there, I could tell both he and his fiance Vannessa were seriously stressed and tired. We did our best and after two tries we had it down. After that we all headed to our house for the rehearsal dinner. We made a lot of food, but to my mom's disappointment only about half of the party came. Oh well...we had too much on our minds to really care. (Though I know that Vannessa was upset with her Maid of Honor for not coming.) Finally everyone left and we all got ready for the big day...............
Which will be coming in my next post! Thanks for the patience with me. ;)

God Bless!
~Katie

Nonreligious but very beautiful. I love the innocence of this picture.

Again with the putting off!

What is with me? Hmm? I said I would write more again the next day but obviously not.
Sheesh! So where was I? Well, let me think.
After Creation Fest things just mellowed down. On the 24th we went to my brother John's new house. It's right by a river so we spent the day swimming and roasting marshmallows 'round a fire. Even my dad came later, which is a first! It was very pleasant but I was so pumped up from the previous days that I really was kind of bored. That same night I watch the stars for a moment before bed. Space is, to me, among God's greatest creations. We have no idea how large it is, it goes on forever! Everything is sooo big and beautiful, yet powerful and dangerous. I love space, truly I do! But it's the creepy sci-fi junk that seriously freaks me out. Aliens? Pheh! If there are aliens then leave them be. They haven't bothered us! ;) (Yuuuuk! I can't stand even thinking of it! Gives me the chills, seriously!)
25th? Meh, I did nothing...Again!
Anyway, on the 26th I went to my brother's house again and helped out with some wedding programs that needed to be cut out and glued and such. We got about 100 programs done that night and the boys tied bows on bubbles...Haha! On the 27th we got news that my other brother(James) who was in Ethiopia landed in New York! One step closer to home. =) Later on I went up Mt. Peak with my neighbor and a friend from school(Who also knew my neighbor) it was very nice to go with a couple of girls for once. ;P Also found out that a job that I got an interview at said they were not hiring...which kind of ruined the day.
But on the 28th I had a lot of fun! I went up Mt. Peak again with 4 friends(1 of which was Colin and the others I knew from school) It was so much fun! I love going with groups! I was also invited to join Colin at a friend of ours house for a sort of adult bible study. I had been invited before but was leery of going just because I would be the only Catholic there and I wasn't sure what they would be talking about. However, after much chatting on a Catholic forum (Best darn Catholic question answering site EVER! http://forums.catholic.com/ ) and much prayer and a lot of Bible reading on my own time I felt I was ready so I said sure, why not?
So at 7 I met with them at our friends' house. His dad was the leader of the "fellowship" and his mom helped. So the topic for the day was "Unanswered Prayers". There were only a couple of people there, Colin and his older brother, a girl I didn't know and Mike. Anyway, the discussion began with the verse from the Bible "Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name." John 15
So the leader, Jerry, started on it like this "Is it true that God answers ALL of our prayers?" and he went on to give examples prayers for good weather, or prayers for a sports team to win, or prayers that something would be done to someone you dislike.
Their groups answer was something along the lines "It's the way you pray. You need the right faith, you need the right motive, you need earnestness,  and perseverance otherwise the prayer goes off to Limbo."
Interesting. Very interesting. I basically sat back and listened to how they discussed everything.(I was kind of taking notes for if we(My parish) ever starts a Young Adult group.)
At one point toward the end of the talk when Jerry posed the question to us again "Does God not answer some questions?" I finally got up the courage to say what WE, Catholics, believe.
"God answers ALL questions, but not always in the way we want them to be answered." This seemed to satisfy them for a bit and they seemed to take note, but then they just went on talking about motives and perseverance and such.
Oh well, plant a seed, right? =)
After 45 minutes of talking we played a game called "Catch Phrase" for about half an hour(I came to hate that game. I'm sooo bad at describing things!) and then we sat around a fire talking about everything from video games and movies to randomness. It was actually rather pleasant.
On the 29th I was so depressed. I have no idea what came over me. I went of Mt. Peak again with Colin and a friend of ours from school, but we finished in about 30 minutes and when I got home I wanted to do something more. Finally at around 8 I took off in my car and just drove around, I was so depressed! I sat in the parking lot of a soccer field for an hour listening to music and watching a kid kick a soccer ball around, who was soon joined by 2 others to play.
Finally I drove home to discover my little sister had not told my parents where I went so I had to face them. It wasn't too bad but it did not help with my mood.
So I got on facebook and was pleasantly surprised that Colin and the other friend were online and we began to talk. Within 15 minutes I was feeling better. =) I went to bed at around 10, but not before reading the Bible. I really wish I talked more about my experience with reading the Holy Book, because I'm finally in Galatians!! =) Almost done!
Anyway, on the 30th we finally went and did something! We all woke up early and got ready to go to the Ride4Us event that was taking place not too far away. It is a Pro-Life event where all the money goes to buying ultrasounds for pregnant women and doctor offices. Basically you can ride, walk, run or have fun. Half of my family did the 5k walk(3 miles) and me and my two younger sisters did the 10k(6 miles) walk. It was great! The area was beautiful and the sun was shining. After we finished the walk and lunch we volunteered with the Toddler Tent. I was really looking forward to playing with the tiny kids, but I was put in charge of a bouncy house. Gosh! Those kids are crazy on those things!! I'm surprised none of them snapped their necks! =S
Anyway yeah, I then went to Saturday night mass, but on the way home I stopped by a produce stand to turn in my application. I heard they were hiring so I thought why not? I got there and was told to come back in Tuesday for an interview. Yeah, that fast! I thought it was weird too. Soo that was pretty much that day. Overall it was great! =)
On the 31st I woke up relatively early and got ready to go to another event called the Scottish Highland Games. Lots of music and food but all Scottish! Bagpipes are so cool...Haha.
Anyway, I met up with Colin there, but was rather depressed when I discovered the other people I invited to come as well couldn't or didn't make it. We ran into two other friends...Lame. Plus, it rained. That really dampened everything! But I guess it was alright, I got to do something, haha. At around 5:30 the event was ending so Colin and I left and went our separate ways. I had to head to Red Robin for my brother's Finace's sort of bachlorette dinner. It was just a bunch of us bridesmaids talking and such. The only cool part was that I drove all the way home, on a 70mph road! x)
On the 1st I just chilled. I didn't want to think of what tomorrow might bring(Since I was going back to the produce stand for an interview) so I laid in bed and read the Bible. Later on at about 6 o'clock my mom and I went on a bike ride into town and back. Overall it was 6 miles, and only took 40 minutes! (Which is good timing for us. =P)
Now...for the day that changed my life!! Dun dun duuuuuuun!
I woke up at about 7:45 and got ready for the interview. It's a produce stand so I didn't really have to dress up or anything. I left and got there at 10 and met with the lady who I was told was going to interview me. After a couple of minutes of waiting she took me in the back and interviewed me. It wasn't bad, they were very desperate. However, in the interview she asked me some simple math questions and I froze up back. While I was doing one problem I said a quick prayer, and after I answered she said now I had to pass a sort of test. I was to go into the store for about 15-30 minutes and memorize as many prices as I could.
WHAT?? As I walked around I was more praying than memorizing. x) I think my prayers were answered(in a different way than I wanted) because it wasn't for a whole hour when she finally took me back and "tested" me. It was really really busy over there at the time so she had to stop halfway and go back in. In the meantime I went back in and memorized more. A half hour passed when she finally said I passed and that now she needed to talk to the owner who was in charge of everything. She told me I could stay or go home because he would be there in a couple of minutes. I said I'd stay.
Argh....I waited around another hour watching the chaos. The owner never even arrived. The lady was desperate though, I watched her go about with only 2 other workers. She finally stopped and turned to me "Can you work right now?" I said yes. "Ok good, you're hired. Come over here and watch me do this."
So I was hired on the spot. I HAVE A JOB!!!
For the next hour or two I stood by her while she did the register. It wasn't too bad and she was really nice about it. At about 2:30 after Tilling out (Or Z-ing out as they called it) I was able to go home. I was to work the next day from 8am to 2pm.
Thus my working life has begun again!!
I have a bit more to tell you but this blog post is already long enough as it is. So, I will continue again when I get the chance! I must leave for work now, haha.

God Bless!
~Katie.

                                                     
(Jesus working with his earthly father, Joseph.)