Holy Family

This last Sunday the homily was amazing at our 5:00 pm Mass. The priest spoke about how today, the favorite shows of the youth are those about "Friends." Years ago, shows about family were popular because they were believable. Today, shows depicting an intact family with defined male and female roles is so far from reality that they cannot be popular. One of the central problems with our families today is that we are all more interested in personal fulfillment than in what we can give to others. That thought resonated with me, because I worry that I will give too much. I worry about "losing myself." I worry about not being fulfilled professionally. I realize that there probably isn't a "too much" in a marriage, and even if there is, I'm nowhere close to that point. I have chosen to be a wife first, and everything else second. We really want to have a strong family, and I know that in the end, all the worldly accolades will not matter. What will matter is how well I have loved my husband, and hopefully my children. My vocation as a wife is supported by my professional activies, not the other way around. Honestly, though, I wonder what all of that looks like for me. I sometimes feel like I'm just reaching in different directions hoping something will stick. The nice thing about the Navy was that the choices were limited... now my choices are still limited but in a different way. Figuring out what works with being a Navy wife is kind of difficult. You can't really build a career because you move at random times..so I think the solution to this is to figure out what does work with being a Navy wife. Something I like to do, and can feasibly do many places. For now, I think I'm going to stick with engineering, but I'm thinking that something combining theology and teaching will be what I move towards. I'm a little scared of teaching in NY public schools, plus I need a teaching certificate...and I can still make way more money with engineering...so it will make more sense to move to that down the road.

Wise Words

I got this from the following blog: http://joannab-everyday.blogspot.com/

The version found written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

The Challenge of James

I'm working on my final paper for my New Testament class, and one of the resources for my paper included a section that I found challenging and inspiring. I have quoted a section of it below:

"...Among James's readers, as well, there were clearly some who considered that believing 'that God is one' (Jas 2:19) qualified them to be considered among God's people, or that believing in 'our glorious Lord Jesus Christ' (2:1) was itself sufficient to consider themselves members of the kingdom proclaimed by Jesus. The propensity to find a refuge in religion and a resting place within a community of faith remains constant and keeps James's exhortation perennially relevant.

The tendency can take the form of compulsive doctrinal correctness or ritual conformity. The mark of a 'good' Christian can become the fervent affirmation of the right confessional formulae or a pledge of allegiance to the inspiration of Scripture or an insistence on the inerrancy of a leader or the dedication to the proper liturgical forms. It can also take the form of an obsessive use of religious language, as though faith were a matter of a style of speech, and that devotion to a person could best be demonstrated by the number of times his name was mentioned. The mark of a 'good' Christian can become the constant invocation of the Lord in every conversation."

More to come...this is all I have time to type at the moment...

From: Johnson, Luke Timothy. The Letter of James. The New Interpreter's Bible XII: A Commentary in 12 Volumes. Abingdon Press, Nashville: 1998.