HAPPY EASTER!

Christ is Risen!

Here is one of my favorite icons, I think I've talked about it before, but a basic rundown is that icons aren't so much a snapshot or a portrait, the way western religious art is. They're more like symbolic depictions of many things at once. Here we have Christ's Resurrection, and he is also pulling Adam and Eve out of graves, or limbo. The doors of hell are broken down and under them is an old man, Death. Reminds me of the hymn we sing at Divine Liturgy during Paschal time.

 

Christ is risen from the dead,

By death He conquered death,

and to those in the tomb He granted life

 

I hope you all had a wonderful and joyous Easter! :D

And also enjoy this marvelous piece by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov!



Lent, Feelings, and Hating Stuff

So it's Lent, and you're supposed to improving yourself and getting closer with God during this special time of preparation.
Which of course, is why I have been struggling with bad feelings for two solid weeks. Part of it is rough times at orchestra and the new school I started at (and my piccolo which arrived in the mail pre-broken for me). The other part is that I'm terrible at dealing with bad feelings.
At orchestra I'm jealous and mopey. At school I'm highly defensive about everything.

Though seriously, next person to make a Monica Lewinsky joke about my name gets my piccolo up their nasal pathways. *

But that's aside the point, and jamming stuff up noses never solved anything.
The point I'm trying to make is that your feelings don't matter, it's how you behave from them. I think that C.S. Lewis puts it better then anybody else.

"Don't bother too much about your feelings. When they are humble, loving, brave, give thanks for them; when they are conceited, selfish, cowardly, ask to have them altered. In neither case are they you, but only a thing that happens to you. What matters is your intentions and your behaviour."

I have a lot of trouble not acting on negative feelings. But it's half that battle just knowing that your feelings are not your fault. I think during Lent it's especially important to avoid acting impulsively on your bad feelings.
Maybe God was thinking "Monica (by the by Monica is an AWESOME NAME) needs to work on her attitude. I think this Lent we'll work on that by sending some trials that test how you act on bad feelings."
With that C.S. Lewis quote in mind, feelings don't seem so threatening or controlling anymore. It's easier said then done, but I think this time of year is the best time for working on how you react to trials.

*But seriously, is that uncalled for or WHAT!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!? All I did was introduce myself and that's the first thing you say! Oh well. I still like you, dude, you just seem kind of clueless about what's tastefully funny. Stay Frosty.

Feast of the Holy Innocents

The Holy Family flees to Egypt while
Angels carry the souls of the innocent
up to heaven.

Today we celebrate the sainthood of the church's youngest martyrs. Hearing of the newborn king Jesus, King Herod was afraid that this infant would be a threat to his sovereignty. Not wanting to risk that, he had all baby boys under the age of 2 murdered. Because these innocent children died for Christ, they are considered to have received a baptism of blood.
In the Catholic church, there are three 'kinds' of baptism.
1. Regular baptism by water. Performed by a priest or a layman, this baptism is the familiar ritual of pouring water (just water. Not milk, or tears, or juice) over the head of the person and saying "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."
2. Baptism by desire. This is if somebody wants baptism, but for whatever reason cannot get it before they die. Maybe it's a deathbed conversion and a priest can't make it on time, or you were on your way to your baptism ceremony and were killed.
3. Baptism by blood is where an unbaptized person is killed as a martyr for Jesus Christ. This is the kind of baptism that the Holy Innocents received.
On the day of this tragedy, we not only remember the babies murdered by King Herod, we also remember all young children who never got a chance at life.
Keep in your prayers today young children killed in accidents or through disease, babies killed through abortion, miscarriages, and for all children.

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!

St. Nicholas, wonder-worker and patron saint of pretty much everything, Ora Pro Nobis!

In Defense of 'The Passion of the Christ'

It's Holy Week. Something that Catholics are encouraged to do during Holy Week is to meditate on Christ's sacrifice on the Cross.

Sometimes, it's hard to imagine what He did for us. Christ's death is softened by distance, and even if we know in our minds that it was horrifically painful in both a physical and spiritual sense, maybe we don't really understand it in our hearts. There are various ways to remedy this. For me, it's The Stations of the Cross. Taking Christ's journey up to to Golgotha, step by step, is kind of a powerful thing for me. When I was little, it used to make me cry. I'd like to think that I have more self-control now, but nothing really brings to home the gravity of Jesus' sacrifice like praying the Stations of the Cross.

Okay, but now, you're probably wondering about the title. Yes, I was leading up to something with that. Something my Dad likes to do to help understand Good Friday is to watch The Passion of the Christ. It's not the only thing he does to understand Good Friday, but it certainly does make you think about it.

This movie has received criticism from the mainstream media for being too 'Gory'.

Let's reflect on the absurdity of that statement. Hollywood makes thousands of movies. And a whole lot of them are a whole lot gorier than The Passion of the Christ.

What about Alien? How come that movie isn't criticized for the Chest-Burster scene? Howabout Saving Private Ryan? This movie has the most harrowing war sequence ever put to film. Does it get dumped on because of this? Of course not. The point of the gore isn't to excite those with sick and twisted interests. It's to serve as a reminder of what those poor men went through and why they did it.

Same goes for The Passion of the Christ. Nobody sits through that movie thinking to themselves “Gee, I can't wait until the next scene where Our Lord gets tortured and humiliated!”

You watch that movie because you want to understand what Our Lord went through to save us from our sins.

The Passion of the Christ is a very intense movie. Far too intense for a lot of people. No problem here! Nowhere in Catholic doctrine does it say that you have to watch a movie to be a good Christian. It helps some of us put into perspective what went on that day, and that's all. It's not a typical Hollywood orgy of gore, and it's not required that you watch it. I'm not even sure if I will view it all the way through. But what I do see of it, I will remember, and will never forget that incredible act of love performed for a world that didn't even deserve it.