Another Crazy Friday Night: Who but a Catholic?

I had another crazy Friday night recently.

I prayed Evening Prayer and went to Mass at the Newman Center. And then, because it was a Friday in Lent, there was half an hour of Adoration, followed by the Stations of the Cross. Who but a Catholic spends Friday night hoping to be conformed to God from their miseries, or doing reparation to the heart of Jesus?

There was a soup supper after Stations, and one of the Daughters of St. Paul was giving a talk on the Theology of the Body. Who but a Catholic can simultaneously mortify the flesh and drink in a teaching about how sanctifying and beautiful the body is?

I didn't stay long at the soup supper, because I and several of the other girls there had a previous commitment: a meeting of a small group of women seriously discerning consecrated life. There, we spent the next three and a half hours about the love of Christ and how he had worked in each of us carefully, gently, and lovingly. Who but a Catholic can understand this roomful of young women, ardently in love with a man largely considered insipid or mythological?

As we exchanged stories of how Christ had called us to be His own, I was amazed at how beautiful and unique each soul and each story is. "Unique love," mused one girl. "Everyone is made to love Jesus in a way no one has before; if we don't, He'll sort of lack that love." Who but a Catholic can humbly and truthfully that creatures so lowly are so valued by the Omnipotent?

I had hosted the meeting and I closed the door after the last guest left, exhausted and happy. It was almost midnight, and I prayed Night Prayer. And looking back at the day, I thank God for the Church. I never would have realized all these truths by myself; thanks to God, I received them. How gratuitous! Truth Himself imprints the Church with His image, and hands it freely to us, a garment of salvation.

"Head and members form the same mystical person" (St. Thomas Aquinas).

"About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they are just one thing
and we shouldn't complicate the matter." (St. Joan of Arc)

The first crazy Friday night here.

United States Consecrated Women

This post, like the last one, starts with my evening in the hospital chapel. But this post, unlike the last one, is not long and nice and reflective.

Before Mass (which was only attended by the celebrant, four habitless Franciscan sisters who administer the hospital, and yours truly), the first part of Evening Prayer was prayed. However, we did not pray out of a breviary. We prayed from The Companion to the Breviary: a Four Week Psalter Featuring All-Inclusive Language (emphasis mine). The doxology was rendered:

Glory to you, source of all being,
Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

It was printed on cute little cards with sunny clip art and inserted as bookmarks into the Companion. I can think charitably about ugly architecture, but removing God's masculinity from one of the most necessary prayers is very different. Who would want to sterilize their Spouse? It is interesting to me that the culture of sterilization (i.e. Western civilization right now) does not exempt members of the Church.

But there is good news!

1. Real Catholicism is winning.
2. The Church is speaking with the LCWR.
Update: I like Elizabeth Scalia's thoughts on this, more than anything else that has come out. I tend to assume the worst of habitless nuns, but she has a balanced perspective that ultimately emphasizes obedience.

I pray that women religious in this country return to their radical beginnings. Look to the thousands of years of strong and beautiful women saints!

(Right: Main nave of the byzantine basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy. The mosaic shows a procession of early Christian virgin martyrs, such as St. Agatha. Doesn't this beat sunny clip art?)

Beauty of Espousal to Christ

Quickie post before I buckle down to studying...just in case you think the exterior beauty of consecrated life does not exist (as I am tempted to when I see nuns in suits), think again. Today I found the website of the Adoratrices du Cœur Royal de Jésus-Christ Souverain Prêtre. And my mouth dropped open to see photos of our rich and ancient traditions exemplified as

• This sister professed temporary vows (scroll down and look at her face!) in 2011
• These two postulants became novices the same year

I found the site because a TAC alumna became a postulant last year as well. Deo gratias!