I Am a Bride of Christ

The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena

Praised Be Jesus!

As autumn rolls on, there are a great many feasts honoring many a woman who dedicated her life to serving Christ as a spiritual Bride of Christ. Whether they be virgin martyrs or cloistered nuns, we have come to know those who identify with brides of Christ as those women who have made some commitment to the religious or consecrated life. So it may come to many a surprise that spiritually, I identify as a spouse of Christ, even though I am male and I have not taken any formal religious vows.

When God Speaks My Love Language

Readers, I have a confession to make. 

I have an addiction. 

An addiction…

To adoration!!

That was awful. I'll never joke again. So, on to all seriousness: Eucharistic Adoration is probably my favorite thing in the whole world. It wasn't always, though. As a kid, I remember being dragged along to Adoration and feeling that it was the most boring thing anyone could possibly do. I didn't actually believe in the Real Presence back then. I couldn't tell that Jesus was there using my senses, so I couldn't really believe. Why would someone spend an hour in silence staring at a piece of bread, when she could be out climbing trees or playing kickball? 

Tamales and Tradition: Tani's Christmas Post

Hey, y'all! It's Christmas — a time of tradition, hope, and most important, family. After all, we're celebrating how God joined our human family so that we could all have the hope of being together in Heaven! So, I'm going to make this post about family! Recently, I took to Facebook to ask about various Christmas traditions. Here are some of your answers:

SAINTATHON 2014: Day 3 - Saint Philip Neri

Hey, guys! It’s day three of our slog through the Saints, and you've already heard about some compelling characters! But today, I’m going to introduce y’all to my patron, a man with such awesome titles as "prophet of joy" and "second Apostle of Rome." So, who is this guy?

Getting to the Heart of Christ's Perfect Love

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JMJ

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Fun fact! The Holy Shroud of Turin (the burial cloth in which Jesus’ body was allegedly wrapped) and all of the approved Eucharistic miracles (namely in which the Host observably became human heart tissue) have been tested, and the blood is always type AB. Based on the information at hand, it is logical to say that Jesus Christ’s blood type is AB.

Recently, I was thinking about this while sitting in front of Jesus in the Tabernacle with a gigantic, golden statue of Him crucified above. I was looking at the image of Him pouring out His Blood for the sins of many, and I prayed to Him in the Blessed Sacrament, “I have to admit… You look like You would’ve had type O blood. You look like the universal donor.” However, I could feel it in my soul that it’s no accident that Jesus Christ had type AB blood. God’s designs are deep, profound, perfect, beautiful; this would be no different. 

So, I thought and prayed about it — what I know about God, what I know about blood donation — and I even did some research. Here, I humbly (and excitedly) present my theory:

Humble Feminism: Why I Veil in Mass

Time for a totally not rad-trad moment with Tani! Please put away your pitchforks and your Spirit & Song hymnals; we won't be needing them today. Because today, we're going to be talking about...

Spanish Seville Mantilla in black and silver, by Veils by Lily

Veiling in Mass! 

I say those words, and I can immediately see what's going on in your heads: Visions of old, mumbling grandmothers alternate with specters of severe nuns, as the words "patriarchy" and "sexist" and "woman-shaming" float in terrifying Comic Sans above. Veiling in Mass, Tani, you say? Didn't Vatican II save us from that idea, that women were shameful and needed covering up? Aren't you supposed to be a "feminist"?

Well, first of all, the Church has never held to that ideology, and secondly, I'm going to present to you today three reasons why I veil, and why I think that women (especially feminists!) should veil in Mass. For the sake of clarity, I shall use the very general idea of feminism, which is that women, though different from men, are endowed with the same dignity and ability to attain Heaven. There shall be no Femen-esque "feminism" here, thank you very much.

Living Faith: A Special Report from the Steubenville West Youth Conference

"The Catholic Church is dying. All her ancient rules and outdated traditions drive the young away. It's a faith of old, out-of-touch people who aren't enlightened like modern youth."

Chances are, we've all heard these words, or words very like them. It's become popular in the Culture of Death today to see religion, especially a religion as ancient and venerable as Roman Catholicism, as disconnected from the young and therefore disconnected from the future. The faith is dying, on its last legs, the culture says with glee, and in another generation, it will be gone entirely.

Or will it?

This past weekend, I had an amazing opportunity to attend a Steubenville Conference with my youth group in my hometown of Tucson, Arizona. The conference is one of about twenty put on across North America by the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and they serve some 50,000 high-school age teens every summer. At the behest of our beloved Editor-in-Chief [And don't you forget it! —Ed.] Damian, I decided to write about the experience. I had a notebook, a pen, and a sparkly hat to draw people in, and I interviewed five people about their faith and their experiences at the conference. In addition, I will also attempt to put down my own feelings about the conference.

The noise is deafening as the crowd files in and finds their seats. People wave flags, shout cheer routines, and even blow vuvuzelas between sessions!

A Call for Unity This Holy Pascha

"We really can't be photographed together like this, Your Holiness. That horrid American blog will make a caption contest about us!"

And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen... —Luke 24:5-6

"Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth..."

Praised Be Jesus!

I hope this post finds everyone in good spirits — and warm! Traditionally, on February 14, the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Valentine, and the secular world has adopted the feast as a holiday celebrating romantic (and, in many cases, erotic) love. This feast causes a lot of hard feelings and usually results in mushy Facebook posts, resentful memes, and angry words from those who are bitter about their single state. I've also heard people murmur that all the erotic undertones are not a dignified for the feast of a martyr of the Church.

God Enters His Temple

Thus says the Lord God: Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek, And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire,or like the fuller’s lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver,and he will purify the sons of Levi,Refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD. Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in the days of old, as in years gone by. —Malachi 3:1-4

God and Man at Columbia

The first BioShock is a masterpiece of a game, and I eagerly awaited creator Ken Levine’s latest project: BioShock Infinite. Rather than an underwater city filled with characters from a Galt’s Gulch gone terribly wrong, this game features a floating city in the sky. On first glance, it’s a quasi-Mormon paradise inflamed with American nationalism, but below the surface there lies a society scarred by racism, crony capitalism, and a dangerous cult of "the Prophet." BioShock Infinite has taken the gaming world by storm and won more awards than I can count. It's a creative piece of storytelling and is probably worth playing if you like fast-paced shooters. The game’s religious themes in particular were irresistible to me as a Catholic, and so I’d like to dig into them, as I haven’t seen these ideas seriously addressed elsewhere. I’ll assume the good reader has either completed the game and knows the ending or isn't a gamer and actually wouldn't mind it being spoiled… so read at your own discretion.

Christ Jesus, the God Who Appears to Us

Praised Be Jesus!

Happy Advent to all of you, and I pray that this Advent may be a time of great preparation for the coming of Our Lord on Christmas and that He may be born anew in our hearts!

Caritas Actually

It is perhaps unfortunate that we begin our first post — a post about love, no less — on a sour note, but it is necessary because it is illustrative of how not to be charitable. Our story takes place several years ago. I was attending the enthronement of the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. As one of the local clergy, my father was expected to attend. It can be rather lonely as a traditional Anglo-Catholic in a liberal diocese (to say nothing of the entire denomination as a whole), so I tagged along, for moral support.