What I wore Sunday!

I have never participated in What I Wore Sunday before, but today I am going to, because I got a new dress. Until last week, I basically had one church dress. The problem is that I have tough standards, a tight budget, and a strangely-shaped body. For church, I like my dresses to cover my shoulders and come down to my knees. But my hips are two sizes bigger than my shoulders!

Enter eShakti. My mother emailed me a link to them. You can buy a dress there and customize the sleeve length, the neckline, and the skirt length. You can also input your custom measurements and they will make the dress to your measurements.  I picked one of their cheaper dresses to try it out. I'm sold.

First of all, the dress is cute, and the fit is good. It's not perfect, of course, but I know from eighteen years of sewing that a really perfect fit is impossible without an in-person fitting. The dress fits well enough that I don't have to wear a jacket over it to disguise the fit, and given that the material is a sturdy cotton non-stretchy weave, that is pretty impressive! I am usually left wearing stretchy dresses in a attempt to mask fit problems.

 Moreover, the finishing details are very nice. French seams on the pocket! (Every eShakti dress has pockets.)

 A custom tag.

 There are even bra strap keepers.

Inside the bodice, all the seams are neatly finished. Is this high couture? No, definitely not. But it looks solid and dependable and there are some very nice touches. I tend to shop at places like Kohl's and Target, and eShakti is definitely a step up the food chain without a huge jump in price (wait for a sale!).

I really recommend eShakti to people who are oddly shaped or who want dresses that are a little more modest. I don't want to spam people, especially not in a post about encouraging each other in church clothes, but I am an affiliate. So if you click through using the link in my sidebar, I get a percentage of each order.

Since I am usually cold, I also left my pink coat on all through Mass. My chapel veil didn't make it into the picture either, but it's your standard black triangle.

7 Quick takes: Lessons in Trust

--- 1 ---

This semester, I am taking three philosophy classes, one honors humanities class, and the capstone honors class, which is basically a seminar about memory. Needless to say, I have a lot of reading to do. This takes up most of my time.

--- 2 ---

When I'm not doing my homework (or, let's face it, playing on the internet) I am doing one of either two things. One is participating in study sessions for comprehensive exams, which are at the beginning of March and can cover anything and everything we've learned.

--- 3 ---

The other is job hunting. Kevin and I are probably both going to get jobs for next year, although he may get an MA in theology first, depending on funding. We are very much hoping to stay in the area, and I have a good solid lead on a job. (Prayers or fingers crossed or well wishes or whatever your expression of choice would be greatly appreciated.)

--- 4 ---

I can't find it in my heart to stress out about any of these things. For a long time now, I've been an untrusting person. When I started to pray for trust, I was handed all these opportunities to develop my trust: about to enter the workaday world without a job, engaged to someone else without a job, preparing for comps without the greatest foundation due to having taken some courses out of order, and so on. In any previous semester, I would be a basket case.

--- 5 ---

A few months ago, though, I was talking to a friend, and I said, "Well, I guess this is God teaching me to trust Him." It was out of my mouth before I even knew I was going to say it. As my friend said, "Wow, that's a good way to look at it," I was thinking Wow, yeah, that is a good way to look at it!

--- 6 ---

So far, this seems to be working. When I am calm, I am better able to study for comps. I have a good lead on a job that works very well with my long-term plans, which basically fell into my lap. (I'm not announcing it publicly in case things fall through last minute.) Many people were concerned that being so trusting would mean nothing got done, but so far this hasn't happened. A priest I know said in his homily on Wednesday that there's a fine line between Pelagianism and quietism, and I think this is equally true here.

--- 7 ---

I have found where I want to be on that continuum. Much as Descartes embarked on a project of radical doubt, I'm embarking on a semester of radical trust. We'll see where the road takes me this year, but I have no doubt that it's in God's hands and that He will provide.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

March for Life

That was a cold day. My goodness.

 This year, I marched with the Dominicans instead of with CUA, as their schedule worked better for me. I traveled to the Mall with the friars and priests, but wound up marching with the Nashville sisters, in order to march alongside my dear friend who joined last year.

 We were closer to the stage than I have ever been before. Knowing OPs has its perks, let me tell you.

 Crowds, crowds, crowds. Apparently the crowd was quite small this year, which is hardly surprising. I honestly don't know if I've ever been as cold as I was today.

 Many buses got canceled because of snowy conditions. The roads around DC were a total mess Tuesday night.

Some people, of course, see in the low turnout a sign that the pro-life movement is waning. I do not think that is the case. The crowd is younger every year, and our spirits were high despite the cold.

 There was singing, dancing, chanting, and praying as we marched along.

 The counter protesters were not willing to brave the weather. My sister said she saw only two. I didn't see any.

 Fulton Sheen in Dutch! There were a lot of groups from other countries, including the Netherlands, Italy, Canada, Scotland, and Argentina.

 The crowd coming up the hill.

 His flag says, "Appeal to Heaven!"

A CUA sign! The worst part of not marching with CUA was not getting to carry one of their signs.

This March made me feel more hopeful about our chances of ending abortion than any March yet. We were happy and cheerful despite the cold. We are determined. We will not give up!

As I posted on Twitter this morning: Pain is a constant reminder you're still alive, but 1/3 of my generation isn't. #whywemarch

A bittersweet goodbye

Last Friday, I saw my friend Maggie for the last time in quite some time. This Thursday, meaning tomorrow, on the feast of the Assumption, she will join the Nashville Dominicans as a postulant.

Maggie was my freshman year roommate. Unbeknownst to me at the time, she was very skeptical about us getting along well. She was freaked out by the fact that I was one of seven, sewed my own clothes, and had been homeschooled. On the other hand, I was a little concerned by the fact that she suggested bringing a fridge and a TV, both of which I thought were thoroughly unnecessary.

 Luckily, we soon discovered that we had more in common than we had thought. I realize that becoming really good friends with your freshman year roommate in college is a total cliche, second only to the roommate from hell, but in my case it was actually true.

 I wasn't really sure what to write in this blogpost. There's so much I could say about Maggie, but I'm trying to avoid the overly sentimental.

 Maggie is always there for you, and you can tell her anything. Even if she highly disapproves of it, she will find a way to help you that doesn't just leave you feeling condemned. She can be amazingly tactful given how blunt she naturally is. (Bluntness, let me note, is a wonderful quality in a roommate, because you don't have to play mindgames to figure out if your piles of mess are annoying her--she will just tell you.)

 Maggie's family doesn't go to church as often as mine does, but her faith is stronger than mine is. Without the example of my family, I don't know where I would be today--certainly not where Maggie is. I consider her an inspiration.

 Maggie has an amazing sense of humor, and can also be amazingly naive. She can take anything in stride, and work with whatever life throws at her. She can share your sadness or your joy in equal measure. Anything I try to say about her seems to me to be falling short of who Maggie actually is.

 If the things that we love tell us who we are (footnote: T-Money Aquinas), then Maggie is a part of who I am, and it breaks my heart that she is leaving CUA.

I take some comfort, though, in knowing that she is not abandoning us, because she will be praying for us, and she is not going alone, because we will be praying for her. You can bet that the minute she is allowed to receive visitors who aren't related to her, I will be standing on her doorstep with a bag of M&Ms and the Sixtus CD. Maggie will be greatly missed, but I cannot doubt that she will be happy as she follows the will of God.

 

 Do not trust the stars that sparkle,

Stars will blink and fade away.

Do not trust the scent of roses,

Roses bloom and then decay.

Put your trust instead in someone

Who will always be sincere.

Sharing in your every smile,

Sharing, too, in every tear.

Rome, Day 3

Day 3 was Sunday, and we didn't do very much touristing. We went back to the Vatican for Mass, of course. We got there over half an hour before Mass started and were late anyway because the security line was so long. The line for the Vatican Museums was over a mile long--apparently it was free museum Sunday.

 So many cardinals at Mass! Let the record show that Mass was over at this point. I do not take photos during Mass and heartily disapprove of this practice. After Mass, we zipped out to the square to see Pope Francis and hear him say the Angelus. Whoever is in charge of reading the Latin responses for the crowd to say needs to sloooowwwww down! I consider myself reasonably good at saying the Hail Mary in Latin and I couldn't keep up. Apparently BXVI's reader was even faster.

 Sadly, since I don't speak Italian, I had to wait to get home to find out what he said.

 Why are these pictures so blurry? Because this is what it looked like without zoom:

 That also gives you an idea of the size of the crowds. Shoulder to shoulder in hot sun with strangers who are all yelling. I got rather stressed out by this, and decided I would rather not climb the cupola than go stand in more lines with more crowds. So we went to a park, and relaxed, napped, did a little bit of birdwatching, and bathed our feet in the cool water of the fountain.

Then we wandered back into the city and had pizza and gelato for dinner.

I am ridiculously pleased with how well we did Rome on a budget! The folder on my computer is optimistically called Rome 2013, so we will see if I ever get back again. I would certainly like to.

June Bible Verse Photo Challenge

I am squeaking in just under the wire here, because I forgot that the link-up was this weekend, so I went and scheduled a trip to Rome. I didn't have time to take a special picture, so here is a preview of my Rome photos. Given that there are over 500 to sort through, the rest may be a while in coming.

This month's verse is: "It is you who light my lamp; the LORD, my God, lights up my darkness." Psalm 18:28

So, bright, and religious? Hmm. With this weekend's weather, that wasn't so hard! And as a bonus, you get three photos.

Irritatingly, the photo that best fits the quote is not a good photo. This flame has been burning since...2005? I think. Pope Benedict lit it. Since it is kept behind glass, so no silly toddlers or immature atheists can blow it out, I didn't get a very good photo of it. So here are two more photos, which are sort of lacking in the darkness quotient, but still (I think) worth posting.

 This first photo, of course, is St. Peter's in the Vatican. Obviously a must-see for a Catholic visiting Rome. I have to admit, though, that I found it a rather stressful place, because there are sooooo many crowds. Not only were we there on the weekend of the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, we were there on the weekend where entrance to the Vatican museums are free. And the weather was beautiful. And we went to the Angelus with Pope Francis. So there were vast quantities of people, and that is not my favorite thing.

This is my favorite thing! St. Paul Outside the Walls is my new favorite church ever. It has passed the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC in my eyes. I have no idea why it was so impressive, but when I walked in I started crying. If I hadn't already been a Catholic I would have converted then and there, I think.

More photos to come!

If you want to add your photo, go to Flowers Round the Cross and add your link--I haven't given you much warning, but at the time of this post you have nearly nine hours. So, ready, set, go!

Orthodoxy and heterodoxy: 7 quick takes, vol 8

1. For some reason, questions about heresy keep popping up all over the place recently. And they all seem to lead me to the same thoughts.

2. It all started with reading the book, The Name of the Rose, which a good friend recommended and lent to me. The book is set during the Franciscan controversy, about whether Jesus had things, and whether Christians should have things, or whether they were required to live in poverty, and what that all meant anyway. One of the characters in the book made the point that the majority of people who get caught up in heretical movements are not trying to be heretics. An inspiring preacher comes along who talks about dedicating your life to Christ, so you follow him. And then it turns out his theology is all flawed and so he and you are both heretics, but you are just a medieval farmer, so you had no idea about theology anyway! You're a Cathar, because that's who came by, not because you're actually deeply committed to Catharism. I thought this idea was super interesting, and probably true.

3. Then, in my Medieval Mindset class, we talked about the same time period. My teacher advanced the theory that St. Francis was canonized so quickly because the Pope was worried that people would follow St. Francis rather than him, and so he canonized him to tie the St. Francis followers into the Roman Catholic Church. Now, to me, this sounds a little crazy, especially if you think that canonizations are divinely inspired. But what was very interesting was how much some heresies overlap with other, orthodox, traditions. The line between heresy and orthodoxy is so very thin in some places!

4. In my theater class, we discussed and saw the play Daniel Stein. It's based on a book which was originally in Russian, which is loosely based on a real person. Anyway, the story is of a Jewish man who works as a translator for the Gestapo in WWII. After he uses his inside knowledge to help a Jewish ghetto, he has to flee. He hides with Catholic nuns, becomes Catholic, and then a Catholic priest. He goes to Israel to try to found a community like the original church in the first century, before Judaism and Catholicism became so different from each other. However, he gets into all sorts of trouble with the church, because part of what he does is reject Church doctrines (like the Trinity) that were solidified in later centuries. These conflicts never get really straightened out because Daniel dies in a car accident. Nevertheless, it's interesting to me that what got Daniel into trouble was not so much his beliefs as his lack of beliefs.

5. A side note to a paper I am writing is the heresy of Joachim von Fiore. He wrote a book attacking Peter Lombard and his doctrine of the Trinity. Then he sent his book to the pope, to get an opinion on the orthodoxy of his opinions so he could know if they were in line with Church teaching. And, too bad for him, the Fourth Lateran Council condemned him and his book, and said that Peter Lombard was correct. It did praise Peter Lombard, though, for checking.

6. Yesterday, a friend of mine and I were discussing religion and the Church. (This is the same friend who recommended The Name of the Rose. He and Kevin and I have some awesome deep discussions. He also might be reading this, so hi!) Anyway, he started to ask a question, prefacing it with the two caveats that one, he hoped this wasn't offensive and he didn't mean it offensively, and two, he knew it might be hard for me to answer this question objectively, so I was prepared for some tricky theology question or something. But the question was, aren't there some popes and bishops throughout history who have done some really evil things? To which, of course, the answer is yes by any moral standard. My father likes to say that given the people who have led the Church in the past, the fact that she still exists is a testament to her divine guidance!

7. But what it all comes down to, I think, is authority. Does the Church have authority, or not? If the Church has authority and is inspired by the Holy Spirit, then you follow her. If not, you don't. The line between orthodoxy and heterodoxy is fine, but the line is there. To a regular person, it's so hard to sort out. For God, it's easy. I would hate to be a Protestant and have to figure everything out by myself. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the Church to guide me in my theology, especially in my metaphysics.

Corpus Christi!

Or, as the Germans call it, Fronleichnam. It's a big deal over here.

To begin with, it's on Thursday. I think if you told a German that in the US a lot of bishops move it to Sunday, they would be horrified. Especially because in Germany, everyone gets the day off school or work. After Mass, there was a long procession carrying the Eucharist around the city. I took lots of pictures, and here they are.

 To begin with, we were greeted by a banner of the SSPX. I am not sure if I should interpret it as a heretical statement that we are all on the same page or a difference-crossing celebration of a common belief. Do the SSPX people have valid Eucharist? I don't even know. (I stopped wearing my chapel veil here, because I get hostile glares from everyone. I think the other people think I am part of the SSPX.)

 So many people, blocking all the street. See all those trees? Those are all branches put up along the procession way to decorate the streets.

 Businesses and houses put up their own displays too, either flowers and pictures, like this one,

 or just Vatican-colored flags.

 Taxis,

 houses,

 historic buildings,

even Lufthansa got in on the fun!

 This banner outside the hair salon is printed with the first few lines of the Lamb of God.

  

 This is the crowd filling the square outside the church at the end of the procession.

We had lovely weather. It was the one day that week that it didn't pour rain. The bishop said that some of the event planners had been taught a lesson about trusting in God! It was a lovely day, and I am glad I went, even if I was sore the next day from carrying my picnic lunch around.