Book Meme

Catholic and GOP tagged me with this Meme a while ago, I just haven't gotten around to it.

How many books do you own:

Gee, I have never counted. There are five large bookcases full of books plus dozens laying around near them or around the house. In any case, a lot!

The last book you read:

The last book I read was The Dawkins Delusion: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine by Alister and Joanna Collicutt Mcgrath. Well I really only read the chapters I was interested in but I got the main idea.

Five books that mean a lot to me:

Well, not very many books mean a whole lot to me but here are some that I really enjoyed reading,

1.Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

2.The Eragon Trilogy (the last one isn't out yet) by Christopher Paolini

3. All Redwall books (there's like 18) by Brian Jacques

4.The Prophet by Frank E. Perretti (I haven't read this present darkness but I hear it is very good also)

5. a.A Seperate Peace by John Knowles

b.The Giver by Louis Lowry

c.The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

d.The Bible by God

...and the list continues but I'll spare my readers.

I tag my mom

Here are some Thomases if you know what I mean

"I am sorry Catholic kids do not make a school
Catholic, what makes a school Catholic is the people that teach their (being in
good standing with the Vatican) and the people that attend the school actually
believe what the Church teaches...so far ND is batting 0-2.Hence it is catholic
with a small c and not a BIG C as say Franciscan Univ. is!!!
"

I was rather surprised to read that as a "devout"
catholic you would be proud of ND...which we all know is only catholic in name
and not much else..sorry to burst your bubble!

These are some of the comments that were left on my Mother's Blog after she posted about my Brother's graduation from Our Lady's University (ND). First of all talking about the comment in the blue who are you to criticize? Maybe we should remove the log from our own eyes before trying to remove the splinter from our neighbor's (BIBLE!). I am very surprised by this comment because it is apparent that this person has never been to Notre Dame.


The first time I ever went there was three years ago and the presence of Our Lady was so strong that when we left I was positive we had forgotten someone. And the students are very devote Catholics. My mother wanted to say the Rosary at the Grotto and told my brother she was going. My brother told her to wait just a second ran down the hall and invited around ten of his friends to come with her. It was freezing rain out, there was strong bitter winds, but they still agreed to go. They went to the Grotto and when they had finished she was about to get up to rush to shelter thoroughly soaked and longing for warmth. Then she noticed the students, every single one of them were still kneeling, eyes closed, just praying and remained so for a few more minutes.


Needless to say she was quite impressed with the devotedness of the students. Quite frankly I would run to the nearest building after the last amen, I am not that strong. Furthermore, and I quote the Valedictorian Speech from Mike's Graduation;

"After reading about students at other universities placing
cars on top of
buildings, I expected similar rebelliousness here. And,
during my
freshman year, I heard about students climbing atop our very own
Stepan
Center. Yet, I soon discovered the uniqueness of rebellion at Notre
Dame. Instead of placing large items atop Stepan or any other
building, I
heard of numerous friends ascending our geodesic and decidedly
un-golden dome…
to… pray the rosary. “What?” I asked. I likewise
was taken aback
when I noticed in my dorm that the most popular weekend spot
was the chapel for
Sunday night Mass. The University’s faith
foundation was instrumental in
my decision to come here, though only after
arriving as a student did I start to
realize the distinctiveness of this
place and the role faith plays in that
distinctiveness."

Need I continue? Oh by the way he is becoming a priest.

ahhh, a charismatic catholic, thanks that explains it all!

Honestly, we need to stick together as the one Holy catholic and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. There was one more comment on my mother's blog being prejudice against charismatic Catholics. Well, correct me if I am mistaken but I believe the Apostles were Charismatic, praying in tongues in the upper room. I have been a Charismatic Catholic all my life and did not now it was a "new" thing to the Church until recently. I am surprised that the Church would be afraid of her past.

ND Grad!

I am the second from the left on the one above (with my family) and the one on the right on the bottom, with the graduate Mike

My older brother (the oldest one) graduated from Notre Dame University last weekend with a bachelor's degree in Philosophy. We arrived Thursday night and slept in the Jameson in off campus and the next morning met Mike at his dorm. We then hung out, unpacked and then went to a family dance Friday night.

That was a lot of fun and the first time I ever really danced in public, I was pretty bad but Mike was great of course. Mike was the vice president of the swing dance club and was a member of the Dance club also. He was very good in both and danced with the president of the Dance club when he joined and attended competitions (the girl in the pink flowery dress). I stayed the night in my brother's dorm while the rest of the family slept in the dorm next door. Saturday was pretty uneventful all morning and afternoon, we walked around campus again. Then we went to Mass which was said in the basketball stadium and was attended by the Bishop of the diocese and a holy man from Galilee. It was very packed and I was very impressed by the participation in the Mass, even thought they weren't very respectful but nobodies perfect. Then we attended the actual graduation on Sunday, he received his diploma, we attended the after party, where there was this giant 6 layered, 12' by 3' cake that was delicious. Then packed up helped him out of his dorm and went home. Of course a lot more happened, including going to the Basilica and the grotto but if I said everything I would write a book so here's the overview.

The cake

The basilica but these pictures do not do it justice

And the Grotto and who can forget the Dome but I don't have a picture, for those who have never seen it, it is gold with a golden Mary on top, on top of a large old beautiful building. The building is actually in the second picture with just me and Mike but you can not see the Dome.

10 Interesting Facts Meme

I was tagged by my Mom (happy Mother's Day!) to do the ten things Meme.

1. My brother is graduating from Notre Dame (college).

2. I play hockey, football, baseball, basketball, run Track, and swim/dive competitively.

3. I am a certified Lifeguard.

4. I play classical guitar.

5. My other brother is graduating from High School.

6. I made it into the elite choir at my High School. (the Madrigals, just in case you have heard of them)

7. I was the Stage Manager for the play, "Starwreck" which is now showing on TV.

8. I have a special relationship with Our Lady of Guadalupe. (I was Baptized on the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception)

9. I have three sisters and two brothers.

10. I was home schooled until fourth grade.

I tag Catholic and GOP

Where is the Love?

Today, when I was riding with my car pool, we got stuck behind a bus entering my neighborhood. I started to grumble to myself getting angry that we had to wait so long to get in front of the bus (I am American;)). Anyways, a child got out of the bus, he turned to the bus smiling at a friend then raised his hand, and extended the middle finger! I was completely shocked, he was around nine years old and he had just done a horribly inappropriate hand gesture! What happened to this world? Are we so blind not to see that the world is rotting away beneath us?

I have this song on my computer by the Black-eyed Peas. They are a hip-hop/rap kind of group. Their songs are usually inappropriate or a useless jumble of words. But this particular song is called "Where Is The Love?" And as I wrote the phrase "beneath us?" the song said, "what happened to human morality?" Is it so bad that even the horrible media (they mention that in their song) has noticed what they are doing to the world? It is a sad time to live in, I certainly hope that my uncle is right when he says that the culture just makes circles. We may still be able to return to the "good old days" (even though I wasn't there I think it would be so much better) where children weren't killed before birth, teens drink and stick needles in themselves etc. Or was there ever a time like that? In the mean time we should just pray constantly to avoid the near occasion of sin, and to make good decisions.

"Every decision you make, decides who you are."

-My brother John, so true if you think about it.

Darkness

"We are in darkness and must be thankful that our knowledge is not wanted (needed) to perfect thy work."

-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

So my mother has been bugging me and bugging me, "you need to write a post!" But I had gotten writer's block. I had no subject to write about at all. Then she handed me a book of quotes by saints saying that when she needs something to write about she just opens this book and reads a quote and writes about it. Well, obviously, I tried it out. And I stumbled on the quote, read it and a thought popped into my head. Why is it that many people I know (including me) are scared of the dark? Is it a natural thing for us to fear? Personally I fear it for what it may contain, demons, criminals, the devil, who knows.

>

Then I realized how ironic it is for us to fear the dark. Everyone I know that fears the dark has been brought to Jesus, the Light, through Baptism. We fear returning to our chains when most of the world is already there. The world where everyone wants to be the same, hates being imprisoned like everyone else spiritually. This subject always gets me aggravated, if your Christian then act like one! But we should not brood on this subject as St. Moses the Ethiopian syas, "God will not hear our prayers unless we acknowledge ourselves as sinners. We do this when we ponder on our sins alone, and not on those of our neighbor."