Say Cheese!! (Actually, I want you to smile)

‎"A smile is laughter's whisper and has its roots in the soul."
~Archbishop Fulton Sheen

One of the things that I really like about Saint Therese's little way is the resolve to smile, especially when encountered with a grumpy cashier person, a solemn librarian with a face of stone, or just someone who looks like they're having a bad day. Have you ever tried giving them just the tiniest, straight from the heart, joyful little smile? Trust me, it works, and it is soooooo much fun!! ^^ The grumpy cashier person gets all confused that you're thanking him in spite of his nonchalance, the solemn librarian's mouth starts to twitch about the edges ever so slightly at your bubbly enthusiasm for books, and the poor victim of that bad day quite stares at you as if you've gone mad (And guess what? They copy you in the end! Yes, everyone's gone quite mad. Score 1 for God!! XD).

It all starts with a little assignment my Little Way teacher once gave me and my friends:





"Yeah, Cy, it's all well and good when you're at the top of the world, but what if you just can't seem to put one foot in front of the other?"

Those days come. When I think of the martyrs who went to their often-horrific deaths with a radiant smile, I am like Saint Therese and feel like a pebble staring up at a mountain. I've got my own Cross to carry, and it's heavy enough without trying to help carry someone else's! Yeah, well, there was someone who pretty much had the same thought. And it just so happens that I'm named after him: Simon of Cyrene.

When you can't seem to compliment that grumpy cashier person because you're every bit as grumpy as he is, remember that time when Jesus was surrounded by those who shouted for His death on the Cross. When you can't seem to break the stoniness of your own heart and find the joy to share with that old librarian, remember the stoniness of the soldiers' hearts when they scourged Jesus and forced Him to carry the Cross. When you're having a bad day and can't find the strength to smile a ray of light for the person next to you, remember the day that Jesus had that Good Friday so long ago. And if not for the sake of the person next to you, for the sake of giving comfort to our Lord when all others had abandoned Him.
What would you do if you saw the suffering Christ in them?

Now I pass on to you the same assignment that I was given (see above picture). It's really nothing new, in fact, we hear it all the time. It can be summed up in two very simple parts:
1. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind..."
2. "...and love your neighbor as yourself."

The easiest way to start? Start with a smile.

Have a very blessed Holy Week, friends, and may God give you the strength to carry your Cross so to be able to rise with Him on Easter morning.

=)

Stay calm...don't...p-panic...

You are out to sea and a storm brews up. You can't do anything except call out: "Lord, save me!" (Mt 14,30). May he who walks fearlessly over the waves stretch out his hand, may he relieve you of your fear, may he set your confidence in him, may he speak to your heart, saying to you: "Think of what I have borne. Do you have something to bear from a false brother or from enemies outside? Didn't I have mine, too? Those who gnashed their teeth outside; the disciple who betrayed me inside." True enough, the storm is raging. But Christ saves us from "smallness of soul and the tempest" (Ps 55[54],9 LXX).

Is your boat tossed about? Perhaps it is because Christ is asleep in you. The boat in which the disciples were sailing was being tossed by a raging sea and yet Christ was sleeping. But in time these men realized at last that they had the lord and creator of the wind with them. They drew near to Christ and woke him: Christ commanded the wind and there was a great calm. Your heart is very rightly troubled if you have forgotten him in whom you have believed. And your anguish becomes unbearable when all that Christ suffered for you remains far from your mind. If you don't think of Christ, he sleeps. Wake Christ; call on your faith. For Christ sleeps in you if you have forgotten his Passion; and if you remember his Passion, then Christ awakes in you. When, with all your heart, you have reflected over what Christ suffered, won't you bear your trials steadfastly in your turn? And maybe with joy you will find yourself a little more like your King through your suffering.

Yes indeed, when these thoughts start to comfort you and give you joy, then know that Christ has stood up and commanded the wind; from this comes to pass the calm within you. As one of the Psalms says: "I was awaiting the one who would save me from smallness of soul and the tempest". ~ Saint Augustine

One of my favorite paintings is Rembrandt's Christ in the Storm in the Sea of Galilee. Whenever my boat is tossed about, I remember a homily that I once heard: Christ is sleeping at the stern, the part of the boat that sinks first. He watches over us even in His 'sleep'.

"Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you." ~God

How (not) to pray! ...just listen.

How's your Lenten journey so far, friends? ^_^

For me, it seems like the closer I try to get to God, the more I see how swiss-cheesy I am. Too many holes in various places, so much so that I wonder how the saints became so holy instead of "hole-y".
This Lent I'm trying to patch up all those holes, especially when it comes to praying. Of course, I do like praying! When I actually get around to it and concentrate, it such an amazing and humbling experience knowing that you're in the presence of God, talking with Him (you talk with Him because, contrary to popular belief, He has much more to say to you, than you do Him). I'd quite literally die if I didn't make time to pray.

"Ok, Miss Cy-Cy, so if you like praying so much, how come you're not such a good job?"

Hmm, good question.

First off, you'll have to read this completely hilarious (and unfortunately, completely true in my case!) post: 7 Reasons Why I Stink at Praying

Soooo....how many reasons did you put a check mark beside? Don't worry, I put one beside all seven of them, so there's no way you could possibly beat my perfect score. Now you know why I need to work on praying, haha...

To me, praying is often like attending a symphony event. At first, you are enraptured by the sheer beauty and excitement of the music. Your entire self thrills with the woodwinds, shouts with the brass, breathes with the strings, and your heart thumps to the rhythm of the percussion. It's almost as if you become a part of the music. Yet somewhere along the music's story your seat gets unnaturally hard, you zip up your jacket and grumble at the overenthusiastic AC, you notice your seat neighbor has an annoyingly off sense of rhythm, and you wonder why the composer would add so many notes and where on earth the music is going. It's difficult to appreciate the music when you're so distracted, and you find that you lost focus of that beautiful sound with which you were so enamored.

The music never left, you simply forgot that it was there, having noticed all the little selfish things that you unintentionally gave a front seat to. The music is still there, waiting for you to fall in love with it again. It takes much for you to re-shift your focus like a camera, forever zooming in and out to find that right setting. No one said that tuning an instrument (musical, a camera, or yourself) was easy to do at first. It takes attending many, many concerts to become a listener - an audience.

It's worth it, though. When you quiet your heart and fall back into the music, AKA that "still, small Voice" and let it fill your soul, you forget all the effort it took and become lost in sweet melody.

So while I can't exactly tell you how to pray (because everyone is different when it comes to prayer life) I can say that if you come to God with a humble, quiet, and repentant heart, there's a good chance that you'll hear a couple of notes...and maybe you'll end up hearing the entire symphony.

Fish and Lent

"P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney!"

Dory, that fun, perky little fish from Finding Nemo is one of our favorite movie characters. We can even recite her lines better than the rest of the characters', more than any other character from any other movie for that matter! (If only you could hear recordings of my siblings and friends recite Dory from start to finish! It's hilarious!)
Poor Dory has one fatal flaw, though. She has short-term memory loss and "forgets things almost instantly." Things would be going along just swimmingly...until she forgets what she was doing or where she was going.

You're probably wondering whether this has anything to do with Lent, or whether the poor blogger has ended up like Dory and forgot what the correlation was. (Or maybe it has something to do with Catholics and fish on fridays, but...yeah...let's not get into that. Poor Dory.) Actually, Dory has much in common with the Israelites about whom we read during the latter parts of Lent, but more specifically, she has much in common with us.
Doesn't it seem to you that the Israelites had everything going for them until they "forgot" how loving God was? Doesn't it seem to you that we tend to become so complacent in our faith? We get so comfortable staying where we are in our lives so much so that we forget what we're really supposed to be doing, and it takes a tsunami to shove us off our beach chair and do something to solidly live out our Christianity.

That's what Lent can do. It's a reminder of what we were supposed to be doing in the first place; it brings us back to the basics through our denying ourselves of things we don't really need.
Do I really need to watch all the TV shows that I give so much time for? Do I really need to go shopping for things that will make me look glamourous? Do I really need to be on Facebook so long? (Yeeesss!!.....uhmmm...no. *buries face in arms*)
Take a step back. Are these things doing anything to help us focus our lives around God? Are these going to help us fit through the narrow gate? By refocusing the time we use for these things - ironically, by dropping these and taking up our Crosses - we can end up living lives that are more worth living.

Like Dory, we need that reminder to stay focused on our "P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney." AKA, Heaven.

So have a blessed Lent, everyone! And stay focused! =)

Sometimes Cy is a lot like *sigh*

"My son, when you come to serve the LORD, prepare yourself for trials.
Be sincere of heart and steadfast, undisturbed in time of adversity.
Cling to him, forsake him not; thus will your future be great.
Accept whatever befalls you, in crushing misfortune be patient;
For in fire gold is tested, and worthy men in the crucible of humiliation.
Trust God and he will help you; make straight your ways and hope in him.
You who fear the LORD, wait for his mercy, turn not away lest you fall.
You who fear the LORD, trust him, and your reward will not be lost.
You who fear the LORD, hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy.
Study the generations long past and understand; has anyone hoped in the LORD and been disappointed? Has anyone persevered in his fear and been forsaken? has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed?
Compassionate and merciful is the LORD; he forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble."
~Sirach 2:1-11"

Sometimes it feels like you're walking in the pouring rain without an umbrella, cold and shivering while several cars pass you by. You look balefully to the sky and wonder when the rain is ever going to give out and a stop...and when it doesn't, you yourself begin to reflect the overcast weather. Now you could choose to wear your inner frown and hunch your shoulders in depression, but let's say you swallow your disappointment and carry on as bravely as you can.
Yeah. It sounds a lot like martyrdom. Even if it isn't actual martyrdom (or it's only a small one in reality) it can feel like it's your entire world at the moment.

As a young Catholic girl, I'm beginning to realize many things that I never experienced before. Like living in a world that pretty much sees me as some freaky alien and keeps reaching for the Raid spray (an exaggerating exaggeration, but it comes close). There's so much that we young Catholics have to deal with that it almost seems like we're going to drown. Almost, were it not for our strong foundation. That strong foundation that Father read from the Gospel this morning...suddenly, when the rains are coming down and the floods are coming up, I have a greater appreciation for my faith. So as long as that firm Rock is there, it doesn't matter if I can't see past the rain to what's up ahead. I know He can.

So now it's just the attitude you decide to live by. It's one thing to trust God, but can you trust Him with a hopeful smile on your face? Like Saint Therese said, you can suffer, but the difference is when you suffer well.

The rain can only last for so long. There's only so much water in the world. Someday soon, the clouds will have to give up. So I'm looking up with a deep breath and a Hail Mary, waiting for that first glimpse of Marian blue....

Everything

This is a skit some of my friends and I did a couple of weeks ago. (No, that's not us in the video. We didn't do nearly as good a job as they did, but enough to get the message across! I say we did a good job for an hour's practice. ^_^)
I think the skit will do just fine speaking for itself.

And if you haven't seen it before, I dare you to cry.
Have a blessed Holy Week!

Spring Cleaning

I hope everyone had a good Lenten Season!
(Where have you been for the past month??)
Er...yeah, I forgot to say here that I had given up computer for lent..very very sorry!!

So how was everyone's spring cleaning? Well, not the one when you clean the closet out and find some missing items (even I haven't done that yet!)...but the one that we did for Lent.

Like this song by Sanctus Real:



How did you "Let go and let God"?

BTW, now that spring cleaning's done, as CT said, don't let it get dirty now!

Meme Marathon!

Wow. Amazing what a week of absence does...


K, first meme is another book one! Thanks Aunty Esther! (sorry it's taken so long!!)

1. What book have you read in the last six months that has really stayed with you? Why?
The Little Flowers of Saint Francis
Is this cheating somewhat? It was finished two days ago...(couldn't remember what else was read) Will tell why on a later post

2. What is one of your favorite childhood books?
Matilda or The Witches
both by Roald Dahl
Most likely because my Dad introduced them

3. Do you have a favorite book of the Bible?
No, not yet...

4. What is one book you could read again and again?
This question pops up a lot!
Anwering differently now: Matilda

5. Is there a book you would suggest for Lenten reading? What is it and why?
My Life With the Saints
by James Martin SJ
It's fun and funny

And because we all love bonus questions, if you were going to publish a book what would it be? Who would you want to write the jacket cover blurb expounding on your talent?
If it's short stories, CT
If it's a fantasy novel, Pueo
:-)


Book meme #2, and tagged by Kaila! Thank you!!

Book Meme Rules
1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

The Story of a Soul
Saint Therese

"I myself found only one which filled me with delight, Our Lady of Victories! Ah! what I felt kneeling at her feet cannot be expressed. The grace she granted me so moved me that my hapiness found expression only in tears, just as on the day of my First Communion."




And the last one is a Lent Meme! Thanks again Aunty Esther!

1. What’s been your best Lenten-effort-idea ever?
Same as Aunty Esther's, no normal book reading

2. And your worst?
Almost the same here too..
Trying to give up computer altogether
CT and I spent a lot of time on it, but the only places we go are Catholic blogs
So you see why it wasn't a very good one :-)
We learn much from reading all of the blogs!

3. What Lenten advice would you share?
sorry, not much of an advice giver

4. And what will feature this year?
We haven't done a family Lenten meeting/discussion yet so can't really answer this one...


...And haven't tagged anyone yet!
but everyone's probably done them so if you'd like to be it, go right ahead!

Liturgical Colors

Why does the priest wear green during Ordinary Time? Why is the altar covered in violet during Advent? How about rose, black, gold, white, and red? Click here to find out!

Books for Lent

Some extraordinary remarkable and spectacular books to read during Lent!

The Present Moment
By Louis-Marie Parent

101 Inspirational Stories of the Sacrament of Reconciliation
Compiled by Sister Patricia Proctor, O.S.C.

201 Inspirational Stories of the Eucharist
Compiled by Sister Patricia Proctor, O.S.C.

Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska

Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul
Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Aubery, and Nancy Mitchell

...and of course, the Bible!

More books for lent can be found here.
But if you prefer reading about Lent on the computer, Mrs. Esther posts daily on her marvelous blog, as do many of the other catholic blogs that can be found there.
Happy Reading! :-)

Lenten MeMe

Tagged by A Catholic Mom in Hawaii!

1. What is your favorite Sorrowful Mystery?
Jesus carries the Cross. It helps me carry my crosses.

2. What is your favorite Station of the Cross?
The 5th and 6th. To me it's a reminder to always help others.

3. Do you fast during Lent?
No, I'm not 18 yet. Days of abstinence are observed though.

4. What is your Lenten Resolution(s)?
Computer once a week, and to read more saint or spiritual books and less fantasy, Sci-fi, adventure ones.

5. Do you use Holy Water during Lent?
No.

6. How many times do you go to Mass during Lent?
We go to Daily Mass, actually.

I tag...
Mom! :-)

...and anyone else who wants to do it.

By the way, Lent is a great time to practice St. Therese's Little Way.
Love - not arguing with siblings
Humility - accepting when you are wrong, and bearing the punishment
Abandonment - Lenten Resolutions
Confidence - knowing God will help you and give you grace to have patience in all that you do during Lent