Last weekend I did a little decorating - putting up some pictures downstairs in the living room and finally hanging the amazing Congo map MG got me for Christmas. Another Wall full of a story!
The adjacent wall has a bigger story too, if I haven't shared it with you before...
All photos and things from my trip to the Congo. The frame in the bottom right now has a photo in it as well. The fabric in the upper left is a dress that they purchased for me that will be admired more on the wall than in my closet!
I also put these curtains and frames up in the guest bedroom - which makes me SO happy whenever I walk up stairs. That side of the house looks so put together!
A happy place, rather than a drab place, for guests to hang out in while they stay.
An interesting quote from Matt Walsh I found the other day about when he and his wife finally walked into a building they didn't know what was inside. It was a new Mega-Church - reminds me of Elevation here in Charlotte.
"Eventually, our curiosity got the best of us and we went in to investigate. The thing is, even when I was inside, it took me five minutes to figure out that it was a church. All traces of anything sacred, ancient, traditional, or reverent had been stripped away. What was left was something that plenty of people clearly found appealing, but it didn’t look Christian, or sound Christian, or feel Christian. It didn’t go to any great lengths to identify itself as a church, and that’s all for the best, I suppose. After all, there was nothing about it — aesthetically or substantively — that resembled one." sourceHmm... reminds me of what people say whenever we are building new churches ... so many people want it just to be plain and simple so we don't waste money on all of those 'frivilous things' like statues, paintings, chalices, etc...
They are necessary - primarily because they are beautiful. They need no other reason to be there.
A great quote from a great Katherine saint this week:
God's will--peacefully do at each moment what at that moment ought to be done.
- Saint Katharine Drexel (1858-1955), Feast day March 3
I saw this in an article earlier this week and thing it speaks well of the situation at hand in the Church.
We have eliminated almost every strenuous practice of self-denial from the common life of the Church. All we say is that if you are chewing gum during Mass, please to move it to the left side of your jaws so as to clear a space on the right to receive the Lord at Communion.Read the whole article on LifeSiteNews.com here. Would love to hear your thoughts.
No ascetic life, no hierarchy, no brotherhood, no risk, no battle – no priests. And then there are the supernatural concerns, about which I will have more to say next time.
After reading the above article, I read a bunch more of Anthony Esolen and am very interested in reading more of his work. It makes me think a lot about the fall of masculinity in our current culture and about how we seem to be offended by the fact that men and women are different. It's okay that we're different, it's even great that we are. Different doesn't mean bad, it just means different.
My house requires 20x14x1 filters - so I purchased them - in this brand. Now if MyLowes was SMART, then it would have recommended a different brand to me, causing me to spend a few more bucks - these are literally the 2nd cheapest ones you can purchase. BUT no, in order to get NO more of my business in this area, they are recommending I purchase filters that are the wrong size ... I purchase these all I do is waste money or return them. No one wins here Lowes, no one!
This week's Latin & Me post is about music, the hardest one to write since it's such a point of contention around these parts and all parts of the Church. Check it out, if you're interested ... no pressure, of course!
For more Quickity, Quick Takes, check out the gang with Kelly over at This Ain't the Lyceum!
See you next week, or stop by this week for more musings and antics!
See you next week, or stop by this week for more musings and antics!
First of all that guest bedroom looks so lovely!! Secondly, that Matt Walsh quote is so good and so true.
ReplyDeletethanks! and the matt walsh quote makes me ponder every time i read it!!!
DeleteFunny thing -- we just found one of those yellow spikey drain cleaner thingies at the hardware store, too. It's on my husband's honey-do list today to see if it works. :) From the ridiculous to the sublime, though: your thoughts on tradition and beauty are deep and important. I'm a trad -- we feel these things very strongly, indeed. Encouraged that perhaps more Catholics are seeing what we've seen.
ReplyDeleteOh, if it works out well, pass along your secrets! Thanks so much for the encouragement with the traditional. It's been a wonderful journey.
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