Author: Maria Johnson

Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord

For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

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7 Quick Takes Friday: Christmas!

Check out the collection of other 7 Quick Takes Friday posts, hosted at Jennifer Fulwiler’s blog, Conversion Diary. 

–1–

My Macbook broke a few weeks ago and I had finals and other things that kept me from the Apple store. I discovered that I really really really like my laptop. Does that make me shallow?

–2–

I turned in my grades on Monday, did some stuff at work, and came home to my Christmas vacation. My dear hubby had taken care of the Christmas shopping for our kids, so I hadn’t gone shopping yet, unless you count the office secret santa….Anyway, it was absolutely refreshing to not have that stress of hitting malls although I did eventually get around to it on Wednesday. Because I’m a glutton for punishment.

–3–

On Tuesday I went on a crazy road trip with Christy to Augusta to get a fishing reel repaired. Don’t ask — I rarely need an excuse for an adventure — and what an adventure we had.

–4–

We discovered the Sacred Heart Cultural Center, which is absolutely beautiful. I posted a bunch of pictures here, but the one I included in this post is my favorite and isn’t in the slide show. I took it on my phone because I was taken by the sight. The church is desanctified (which makes me so sad) and I was caught by surprise to walk out into this giant open space and see the beauty of that window. There are some close ups on the slide show, but what I really liked about this picture is that the sun beams illuminate the whole space. I’ve been thinking an awful lot about Mary’s fiat, captured in this beautiful image of the Annunciation, so it was a double treat to encounter this lovely scene.

–5–

This is a picture of my fireplace. Why is it empty, you ask? Because it’s 70 degrees. I am not in Miami, but there’s a hurricane outside, and John turned on the air conditioning. On the first day of winter. Air conditioning. Maybe I’ll fill it with poinsettias.

–6–

My honey gave me an early Christmas present! It was berry good!

–7–

I didn’t wait. (and  shared!)

Merry Christmas!

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an unexpected pilgrimage

I spent the day in Augusta with Christy. We went on an errand that required we hang around for a few hours, patiently waiting to pick up an item we took for repair, so naturally, we went exploring. We didn’t get very far before we found the Sacred Heart Cultural Center, a de-sanctified Catholic church in a pretty sketchy part of town. We had to investigate. These pictures don’t do it any justice — the beauty of the artwork…the masonry…everything…was breath-taking. How tragic that this church was actually abandoned and set to be torn down, and how lucky that it was saved by a benefactor.

The pilgrimage continued down the street at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity, which you’ll see here, too. We were just going to sit in a Starbucks. Instead, we given a lovely gift.

Note you’ll see stained glass that covers the Joyful Mysteries (and a rosary set in stepping stones in a garden).

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Is Best Buy’s tacky Santa Ad worth a blog rant?

 

Maybe a small rant. Mostly because I already detest Best Buy and really have no interest in purchasing their over-priced electronics. I’m also pretty done with the poor customer service and the general obnoxiousness of Christmas shopping. To wit, the absurdity of the Black Friday insanity. Disgusting displays of man’s inhumanity to man.

It started when we stopped wishing each other Merry Christmas.

I’m only half-serious about that statement. The serious half wants to know…when did this happen? Look, I’m not even going to make this about religion.  Christ has always been in my Christmas, although I admit there were sad years when he wasn’t getting the attention he deserved.

But this rant is about Santa…we’ve already effectively taken Christ out of Christmas. In fact, we’ve taken God out of just about everything. Marriage. School. Thanksgiving. Our currency.

Why wouldn’t a snarky ad campaign dissing Santa be game?

There’s a lot to criticize. There’s the whole treatment of Santa, for one. As a cultural icon, he’s representative of a number of virtues. We could get into the whole origins story with St. Nicholas, but let’s keep it simple. Santa, he of the reindeer and North Pole and friendly elves. He’s a good guy. He works tirelessly to spread joy.

And those good guys… They get picked on. Discredited. Ridiculed. Crucified. (oops. I forgot I was keeping this about Santa)

It’s open season in our culture to laugh at and ridicule the very values that have made this society great. It’s shameful, especially when it happens from the top, down. Did you happen to see the mockery our president made of the annual turkey pardon on Thanksgiving? Oh sure, it was edgy and funny. It’s only a turkey. Or is it?

Here’s the thing. I really don’t care about Santa. Not really. And I don’t care about a turkey getting pardoned or not. But I do care about the bigger picture, whether it’s a myth about goodness and generosity or a symbol of the nation. When both of those can come under fire, we’re doing it wrong as a culture.

 

the new! translation — hilarity ensued

Well. No. It didn’t.

I was expecting all kinds of craziness at Mass with the new translation. I was expecting … you know what? I don’t know what I was expecting. But whatever it was, it didn’t happen.

What did happen was the Mass.

I know! The Mass, as my mom says, is the Mass is the Mass is the Mass. Who knew she was familiar with Gertrude Stein? But I digress. I’d like to say the mass was the same, and it was. And it wasn’t.

For one, I was paying attention — pretty intently, by the way. The creed was a bit bumpy, but “and with your spirit” is probably going to prove to be the most challenging. We all automatically said “and also” before correcting the “with your spirit.” I’m guessing it’s just said so many times and it’s so brief that the re-adjustment is going to take time.

Here’s the takeaway…no one was crushed. No one was ridiculed. No one was judged. No one felt stupid.

You know why? Because the Mass is the Mass is the Mass.

Happy Advent!

7 Quick Takes Friday: Turkey Edition

 

Check out the collection of other 7 Quick Takes Friday posts, hosted at Jennifer Fulwiler’s blog, Conversion Diary. 

–1–

There was a turkey, all right. We just didn’t eat it!

–2–

In fact, we almost didn’t eat at all. I didn’t even finish setting the table. . .

–3–

Somebody got real sick, real fast. In fact, he still looks like a giant strawberry this morning.

–4–

It wouldn’t be a holiday with Morera’s without a trip to the Emergency Room. It’s just, it’s usually a broken bone. . .

And it’s usually…

 

or . . .

–5–

So here’s a thankful prayer that the little ones are safe and sound…and the big one returned, pumped full of benadryl and other stuff, but hungry as a horse.

–6–

Here’s the pork roast that had cooked all day (and then…all evening!)

–7–

And there was no pumpkin pie…a flan instead!

 

Here’s hoping you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! And the gentle reminder that every day is for giving thanks.