Aahh! My eyes!

Go to The Crescat and get a load of this picture.  I am not surprised at all that the wearer has his back to the camera.

Catholic Carnival #157

This week’s Catholic Carnival is being hosted at Kate Wicker, and what a Carnival it is!  I haven’t had a chance to look at all the articles yet, but there is something for everyone this week, whether you’re thinking about an upcoming primary election, doing some serious Lenten preparation, or anticipating the Super Bowl.  Follow this link to the Table of Contents!

Fun Monday

Angie over at the Lurchers is this week’s hostess, and she gives us the following assignment:

So continuing in the spirit of “being interested in people”, I would like to know, or see, what’s on, in or under your bedside table! So open those draws and bare your soul to us! Is there anything special there that has a story or a memory that you can tell us about? Books that you keep there to delve into from time to time? Trinkets that you don’t know where else to put? Let’s see!

I will give you the boring list, but there’s a picture at the bottom of this post for all you visual folks!

First, the actual bedside stand on the far side of the bed:

On the top shelf: a flexible gooseneck lamp, for reading/crocheting in bed; my journal and a pen for writing down prayer intentions and requests (read over every night before turning off the light, and again in the morning before crawling out from under the covers)

On the lower shelf: a mug warmer for my nightly mug of herbal tea; nail scissors and a cuticle trimmer – sometimes an emery board; a composition book for notes on the reading group book; leather-bound Douay-Rheims Bible; paperback copy of The Way of Divine Love by Sr. Josefa Menendez (reading group book); package of Crayola Twistable Crayons for marking passages in Bible; old journal; the Autobiography of St. Margaret Mary; The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Fr. John Croiset, S.J.; The Deceiver byLivio Fanzaga; They Knew Jesus by George W. Cornell; The Way of A Pilgrim; and a few devotional pamphlets – one on the Sacred Heart, Msgr. Bozyk’s Holy Communion Prayers, a Byzantine booklet of Examen and Confession prayers, and a Sacred Heart holy card.

Then on the dressing table on the other side of the bed:

A carved wooden box, lined in velvet, from Turkey (purchased in Istanbul near Hagia Sophia), containing a Sacred Heart badge, a St. Anthony chaplet w/instructions, a ring Rosary, a St. Jude chaplet, a Precious Blood chaplet w/instructions, a St. Ann chaplet w/instructions, a Crucifixion chaplet, and a miniature Crown of Thorns; generic muscle rub for achy muscles; lavender salve for dry hands & feet; a 100-knot chotki, lemon cuticle cream; an emery board; the tv remote; my alarm clock; and the 4-volume Philokalia with the Master Reference Guide (Philokalia from Amazon.com and the Guide from Light & Life Publications).

The white linen dresser scarf is part of a set of three inherited from my great-aunt Edna, and was probably made by her or one of my other great-aunts. The edging is hand-crocheted and is about size 30 thread (one-third the size of the crocheted tablecloths available in stores).

Be sure to visit Angie and from there go around to see everyone else’s bedside stash! Have a wonderful week!

Humility isn’t born of a full belly

Lent – the Great Fast – is fast approaching, and the checs and I will be trying to do a much more ‘traditional’ Lenten fast than in years past. This is going to entail some changes in the weekly grocery list, as the old-fashioned Byzantine Great Fast menu eliminates meat (including fish), dairy foods, eggs, olive oil and wine. (Shrimp and other shellfish are OK though). This means that the four of us, confirmed carnivores all, will be essentially vegan for the 7 weeks beginning February 4.

Why bother? I thought the same thing. As this is not meant to be any sort of scholarly research paper there won’t be citations and links to online Bibles for the Scriptures I’m going to paraphrase shortly – I think most of them are common enough that you’ll agree I got them right. What follows are my thoughts on what I think I can hope to gain by following a much stricter ascesis during this Great Fast than I’ve ever done.

The olive oil prohibition in particular got me to thinking, until a verse from good ol’ Psalm 23 lit up in my brain – “Thou anointest my head with oil…..” Honored guests, in the time of Christ’s life on earth, were anointed with perfumed olive oil. Olive oil was practically used as currency. The Pharisees and others of more-than-modest means dressed their hair and beards with oil. By denying myself the use of olive oil, I am inwardly telling Christ, “I am not worthy, I have humbled myself as someone who is too lowly to be received as an honored guest at your banquet” – the feast of Pascha will symbolically represent the reception of me, a sinner, to the Heavenly Banquet, drawn in by Christ Himself.

Meat, and fish? Well, the Great Fast is supposed to be a time of taming the passions, which some early Church Fathers say that meat inflames. And with today’s concern about cholesterol and mad cow disease, 7 weeks away from meat probably wouldn’t hurt any of us. As for the fish, there’s the mercury scare and all that. But wait, there’s more. St. Paul wrote, more than once I think, about spiritual children having to be fed on milk and pablum, not being ready for meat. Denial of meat foods takes us back to that sense of pure trust in God for all that is good for us, a simple childlike faith – we are not ready for the spiritual gymnastics of a Teresa of Avila or a John of the Cross – once again we are prostrate before His great mercy – “Lord, I am not worthy….”

The Psalms mention in several places that the person in pursuit of holiness shall “nurse at the abundant breasts” of the Wisdom of God. We deny ourselves milk and cheese so as to leave no worldly obstacle between our desire for wisdom, and God’s delivery of it to our hearts.

I almost wrote that I didn’t ever see any connection in regards to wine. Writing this, I believe that the abstention from wine is to discourage spiritual gluttony – too much wine makes people giddy, silly and useless – too much of the things of God, if we are not properly prepared (through practice of prayer, regular conversations with a spiritual father or mother, frequent reception of the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion), can lead to delusion, errors and……..pride.

Basically all this denial is meant to foster humility. Pride is the root of most, if not all, sin, and if we make a serious attempt to grow in humility we cannot help but become less prideful. “I must decrease, but He must increase.” We humble ourselves for the period of Lent in order to more fully feel, at Easter, that “Christ is risen from the dead! By death He conquered death, and to those in the grave He granted life.”

Here are two prayers, from the book Byzantine Catholic Prayer for the Home, from St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church in Seattle:

Prayer of the Great Fast: O Lord Almighty, God of powers and of all flesh, You dwell on high, but watch over the humble. You search the heart and the innermost being of man, and clearly perceive his secrets. O Eternal and Ever-Existent Light, in You there is no change nor even a shadow of change. O Immortal King, accept our prayers which at this present moment depend upon the multitude of Your mercies, and which we offer to You from defiled lips.  Forgive our transgressions committed in word, deed, or thought, committed with knowledge or through thoughtlessness.  Cleanse us from every kind of defilement of body and soul, and grant that we approach all the nights of this present life with a watchful heart and sound judgment, awaiting the glorious coming and day of revelation of Your only-begotten Son, Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ who will come with glory as Judge of all, granting to everyone according to their deeds.  Let us not fall and become slothful, but rather, help us to be on guard and ready for good works.  Let us turn from our former ways and be ready to joyfully accompany Him into the divine inner-chamber, where the sound of rejoicing never ceases, and where there is indescribable delight in those who behold the inexpressible goodness of Your countenance.  For You are the True Light that enlightens and sanctifies all things, and all creation praises you + forever and ever.  Amen.

The Prayer of St. Ephrem:  O Lord and Master of my life, keep from me the spirit of indifference and discouragement, lust of power and idle chatter.  (Prostration)

Instead, grant to me, Your servant, the spirit of wholeness of being, humble-mindedness, patience and love.  (Prostration)

O Lord and King, grant to me the grace to be aware of my sins and not to judge my brother, for You are blessed now and ever and forever.  Amen.  (Prostration)

O God, me merciful (+ and bow) to me a sinner.  O God, cleanse me of my sins and have mercy (+ and bow) on me.  O Lord, forgive me, for I have sinned (+ and bow) without number. {Repeat 4x}

O Lord and Master of my life, keep from me the spirit of indifference and discouragement, lust of power and idle chatter.  Instead, grant to me, Your servant, the spirit of wholeness of being, humble-mindedness, patience and love.  O Lord and King, grant to me the grace to be aware of my sins and not to judge my brother, for You are blessed now and ever and forever.  Amen.  (Prostration)

May all of you have a grace-filled, blessed, holy and joyful Lent, and may the Lord of all grant all that is necessary for your salvation, now and always.

Laugh with me, please!

Living in a college town means that sometimes one is drawn into that older-teenage/early-twenties “gotta party 24/7″ without one’s consent.  Witness the following exchange between me (Sleepy Blogger, or SB) and an unknown guy (Party Guy, or PG) last Friday night, or rather Saturday morning at 3:08 a.m.:

phone:  (sing “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof;  that’s my ringtone)

SB:  hello…..

PG:  Hey!! Is the party still goin’ on at Little Village?  I had something else to do and just now remembered it, so are you guys still over there or what?

SB:  oh, I’m so sorry, but you have the wrong number…..

PG:  Oh, Man!  I’m so embarrassed!  But hey, listen!  Do you wanna party?  We don’t have nothin’ to do and the night’s still young, ya know?  So how about you hook up with us and we can have some good times?

SB:  no, I couldn’t do that, my kids are all asleep and I think I’m too old …..

PG:  We have BEER!!

SB:  I don’t drink…..

PG:  Well, OK but you don’t know what you’re missin’ out on!

Usually I turn off my phone when I go to bed, but it was on that night because I was charging the battery…..needless to say I’ll be charging somewhere else in the future!  I don’t think he ever realized that he was talking to someone old enough to be his mother.

Why I Wear Pants

In recent issues of both the New Oxford Review and The Remnant, there have been intelligently written, thoughtful, solidly orthodox and eminently charitable articles discussing the issue of ladies in pants. The author of the Remnant article promises, lest readers think he is putting all the responsibility on women to keep the shape of their anatomy out of the visual range of men, to pen a sequel and discuss the man’s side of this issue. I am anxious to read this, as his first article sometimes seems to imply that men are uncontrollable voyeurs. I ought to add that one must subscribe to the online edition of the NOR to view the entire article, and only a teaser of Mr. McCall’s article in The Remnant is available online.

I took the liberty of doing a little informal poll of about 10 women….the first 10 women I ran into whom I knew well enough to ask, “why do you wear pants?” Without exception the response was “because it’s just more practical, plus it’s warmer in the winter.” Mr. McCall makes good points, but he hasn’t managed to convince me.

He cites a notification by Cardinal Siri regarding the wearing of pants by women, and comments that His Eminence keenly observes that “the wearing of pants, proper attire for men, by women is motivated by a desire to compete with men and even a desire to be a man.” (Mr. McCall’s paraphrase of Cardinal Siri’s document).

I have no idea whether my wearing pants means I want to compete with men. Since I work in a field which includes both men and women, I guess one could say that this is true for me, but a spirit of competitiveness isn’t why I am sitting here in jeans typing away. If I am good at what I do, I will be able to earn enough money to make a living. If not, I will rapidly lose my customers. Whether or not I wear pants has so bearing on whether I am competent at my job or not. And I truly have no desire to actually be a man. (There is an opportunity for snark here but I will resist the urge and remain serious).

Mr. McCall lists three objections to the issue:

First, dressing in a womanly fashion will make us look different from the rest of the world – make us look abnormal.

Second….women cannot fulfill their responsibilities because some activities cannot be done in a skirt.

Third, women have complained that they are too cold in skirts.

He responds to each of these objections:

Is it better to ‘fit in’ to the look of the modern woman or ‘fit in’ to heaven?

A simple test of modest and feminine behavior can be summarized: if you can’t do it modestly and gracefully in a skirt, you shouldn’t do it at all.

[It] may be true (that women are cold in skirts), but is it not due…to the abolition of appropriate undergarments for women?

First, of course it is better to fit in to heaven, rather than the look of the modern woman. There are pants, and then there are pants. (just like there are styles of skirts that are inappropriate). We are to be ‘in the world, but not of the world.’

Second, I’d be a lot happier if I never had to climb a ladder to paint a wall, change a lightbulb, or decorate the top of the Christmas tree. I’d also love to have the time it takes to mow the grass and weed/cultivate my garden, so I could spend it with my kids and our dog. But if I waited around for a man to do those things that need to be done around my house that “can’t be done modestly in a skirt”, I’d be sitting here in the dark with the police knocking at my door to give me a citation for my yard being an eyesore. I’m both parents in this household, and it is often necessary for me to do ‘manly’ tasks that many, if not most, ladies can ask a man to do.

Third, I have quite a collection of leggings, tights, etc. to wear under skirts. There are any number of layers to put under a skirt in order to be warm out there for the purchasing, and many of them quite inexpensive.

As a pledged member of the Confraternity of Penitents, I am obligated by the Rule and Constitutions of the Confraternity to not dress in a manner that causes me to appear different from the average woman on the street, within the confines of our clothing guidelines, which can be summarized as follows: no prints, no stripes, only clothing of neutral colors and blue (no green, pink, red, purple, orange; only black, brown, beige, tan, gray, shades of those colors and blue are permitted), and we are to wear a visible Cross or Crucifix daily. My personal Cross is one I made myself, of Sculpey clay in the form of a Greek cross with the letters IC XC NIKA and a Byzantine cross inscribed upon it, worn on a black satin cord. To wear skirts 24/7 would definitely set me apart in dress from the majority of the ladies with whom I am in contact daily. It might give people the impression that I am a religious sister, which I am not. It also could give the impression that I am less competent and capable at my job than I actually am.

I am a professional tailor, and am called upon daily to tailor garments from private school uniforms to bridal gowns. It is necessary that I appear relatively indistinguishable from those customers who pay me to tailor their clothing for proper fit and comfort. I believe it is necessary for me to appear as a “modern woman” in order to inspire confidence in my ability to properly fit and alter many different types of clothing – this means to me that I may dress in what some may view as ‘worldly’ garments.

Does this make me a near occasion of sin? I don’t think so. If I ever became convicted that the appearance I present to the world was at a disconnect with the interior “me” that God sees and judges, I would dress in modest skirts and never be seen in public in pants.

I have left out a great deal of both articles….some of Mr. McCall’s statements are downright inflammatory, and I think I’ll wait until he writes the sequel to discuss them both again, in further detail.

Catholic Carnival #156

This week’s edition of the Catholic Carnival is up, right here.  I’ve already perused a couple of the articles, and they’re pretty good!  I chose an oldie post for this week’s issue; one I don’t think many people read when it was new.  Check it out!  And be sure to look at the other articles as well – don’t miss this great weekly opportunity to expand your knowledge of our beautiful Catholic Faith, and to visit other Catholic bloggers.

I’m thankful….

to have found such a wonderful parish as mine…..I just checked my voice mail and my only message was from one of the other readers at my parish, calling to let me know that she thought I’d done a very nice job with the Epistle on this Sunday past.  I should say first of all that when one is a reader in a Byzantine church one is really a singer…..the Epistle is chanted just as the rest of the Divine Liturgy (we do have a couple of readers who actually read, but I sing).  Second, this past Sunday’s Epistle was one of those that I don’t think you’ll ever hear in a Novus Ordo parish – 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.  I am too lazy to look it up in the NAB to see how the words “prostitute” and “fornicator” are rendered in that translation, but suffice it to say that the former word was in the reading twice, and the latter once.  And I was very nervous about the possibility I might stumble over the words, and cause people to think I was being immature and doing that teenage twittering thing.  So when I listened to my fellow reader’s message on my voice mail, I got a bit misty and am going to do something very nice for her in the near future.  Anonymously, probably.

Happy Anniversary, Fun Monday!

Our assignment this week is “the view” – specifically, the view from our front doors.  So, here’s mine:

One of the limitations of a camera phone is that it only takes nice pictures close up.  You can’t see the ’skyline’ as clearly as I can when I look out the door…..and in the summertime you can’t even see the house across the street for the leaves on the trees.

Also taken from my fornt porch:

As you may have guessed I live on top of a hill!

Ta-Daa!

I have finished the vestments and altar cloths for my parish!

Some basic information – the fabric is silk and rayon brocade (silk face, rayon backing). The fringe, galloon and crosses are real metal thread from Russia – I now have a collection of boxes with postage from other countries, as at about the same time I got these things, I purchased something on eBay that came from Belgium. I basically copied a set of vestments at my parish, with some help from Fr. Golini’s “Making Byzantine Vestments” which I purchased from Light & Life Publishing.

So, without further ado, here are Pentecost vestments for St. Mary’s Holy Protection Byzantine Catholic Church:

Thank you, Lord, for your strength and guidance in my work. You are the fulfillment of all good things. Fill also my soul with joy and gladness, that I may praise you always. Amen.

(Prayer from the prayerbook “Beneath the Mantle of Your Mercy”, printed by Basilian Press, Toronto).