Caritas in Veritate #30

"Charity does not exclude knowledge, but rather requires, promotes, and animates it from within. Knowledge is never purely the work of the intellect. It can certainly be reduced to calculation and experiment, but if it aspires to be wisdom capable of directing man in the light of his first beginnings and his final ends, it must be “seasoned” with the “salt” of charity. Deeds without knowledge are blind, and knowledge without love is sterile."

Take me as I am

Between Mommy and Gregory

Mommy: You look so cute, I just love you in this outfit.

Gregory smiles.

Mommy: I pretty much love you in any outfit.

Gregory: Naked!

Mommy: Yes I love you when you're naked too.

Caritas in Veritate #29 A, B, & C

A)"Yet it should be added that, as well as religious fanaticism that in some contexts impedes the exercise of the right to religious freedom, so too the deliberate promotion of religious indifference or practical atheism on the part of many countries obstructs the requirements for the development of peoples, depriving them of spiritual and human resources."

B)"Man is not a lost atom in a random universe: he is God's creature, whom God chose to endow with an immortal soul and whom he has always loved."

C)"When the State promotes, teaches, or actually imposes forms of practical atheism, it deprives its citizens of the moral and spiritual strength that is indispensable for attaining integral human development and it impedes them from moving forward with renewed dynamism as they strive to offer a more generous human response to divine love."

I loved this paragraph in the encyclical. I had several more quotes, but then it would just be easier to put up the whole thing. The founding fathers of our country definitely hit on a good thing with freedom of religion. What a blessing we have to live where we do.

Caritas in Veritate #28

"Openness to life is at the centre of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man's true good."

Kill the Dragon!

Clare's birthday party was today and we had so much fun with our good friends who came over.

The best part was definitely the pinata, which wouldn't be broken. It took all the kids until they were tired of hitting it and all the dads, (who when a hole appeared in the stomach decided to pour the candy out for the kids). What a mighty dragon!

Anthony getting swinging lessons

Gregory who loved beating something.

Rosie hitting the face

Miss Jane taking a shot

A shot of the dragon

Clare lining up and beating the heck out of the poor dragon

"Rescue me my knight in shining armor!"

Caritas in Veritate #27

"Feed the hungry (cf. Mt 25: 35, 37, 42) is an ethical imperative for the universal Church, as she responds to the teachings of her Founder, the Lord Jesus, concerning solidarity and the sharing of goods."

"What is missing, in other words, is a network of economic institutions capable of guaranteeing regular access to sufficient food and water for nutritional needs, and also capable of addressing the primary needs and necessities ensuing from genuine food crises, whether due to natural causes or political irresponsibility, nationally and internationally."

Gregory misses someone

This past Sunday we took John to the airport to catch his flight. It was pretty late and we figured the kids would all be asleep.

Gregory was still awake, however, when John hopped out of the van.

"Where'd Daddy go?" he asked. Evidently parents don't just leap out of his car on a regular basis without getting back in.

He's asked me that about 10 times since Sunday night.

I always answer the same way: "Daddy had to catch a plane to Boston for work. He'll be home Friday."

Today he responded to my response.
"Come home now, Daddy."

Clare and the Fashion Police

I took Clare and her new school uniform to the seamstress today.

She is so tiny that she needs a size 4 jumper (or smaller), but lengthwise the dress already falls at the top of her knees. I figured they would let it out.

I had Clare put on the dress and show it to the nice ladies who's English isn't the best.

One of the ladies asks me how much I want to change it. I figure about 2 inches or as much as the fabric allows.

After a few minutes of discussion in their language one of the women turns to us and says:
"Wait you want us to make it longer? It's already too big for her, if we make it longer it will look like she's wearing somebody else's clothes."

At least they're honest and didn't just take the job to make money. I wonder what the school will think about Clare's knees.

Here's looking at you kid

Caritas in Veritate #26

"Today the possibilities of interaction between cultures have increased significantly, giving rise to new openings for intercultural dialogue: a dialogue that, if it is to be effective, has to set out from a deep-seated knowledge of the specific identity of the various dialogue partners."

The Pope explores some dangers in this paragraph about the cultural interchange that I haven't even thought about. He stresses that to have a dialogue we must realize that cultures are different not merely equilvalent and interchangable. I tend to err on the side of cultural relativism, so I will need to work on this.

So far the encyclical has given me alot to think about.

Caritas in Veritate #25b

"Being out of work or dependent on public or private assistance for a prolonged period undermines the freedom and creativity of the person and his family and social relationships, causing great psychological and spiritual suffering."

Weeks without Hubby

As I sit here drinking a soda (something I rarely do - only when I feel super-tired), I am avoiding interacting with my children by writing a blog post.

John is going to be on travel for the forseeable future. He'll be home on weekends unless he has to fly in on Saturday morning and fly out Sunday to get to LA or Pheonix, or wherever they decide to send him out west.

In all of this I am happy that we have an income and are blessed with sweet children and a super cheery baby. This is a season for us and it will pass and I don't want to get too caught up in wishing it was over. Thomas will only be a baby once, and Clare and Gregory are both at points in their lives that I don't want to miss.

However, I have noticed a definite trend in my week - that is being productive/fun/ early in the week. Here is how it usually goes

Monday: Go to Mass and library, run errands, clean house and play with kids
Tuesday: Go to Mass and do chores, let kids watch 1 video
Wednesday: Go to Mass, get the kids out of the house somewhere and let them watch videos
Thursday: No Mass, Drink Coke,turn on the dvd player, and maybe do laundry...maybe
Friday:No Mass, everyone's tired (since for some reason children were up last night at midnight and decided to sleep in my room), put baby in swing, start movies at 9 am, start caffeine drip, dream of sleep while surfing internet.

Next week repeat.

It's not so bad, but if I want to be productive it needs to be at the beginning of the week. And if the kids are expecting any creative play time it usually happens on Monday too.

Friday Quick Takes -Postal edition

1) Caritas in Veritate #25(a) -"The repeated calls issued within the Church's social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum, for the promotion of workers' associations that can defend their rights must therefore be honoured today even more than in the past, as a prompt and far-sighted response to the urgent need for new forms of cooperation at the international level, as well as the local level."

(The Church is all for unions!?...I need to look more into this. Some how I can't really see the Pope heading up a Chicago teamsters meeting)

2) My grandparents are in town for an exhibit at the Smithsonian Postal Museum. My grandfather is being honored for his work with the mail on the railroads. It is such a delight to have them here and to celebrate the men who worked so hard to get the mail out before there were machines do all the work.

3) The kids and I rode the metro into Union Station to see my grandparents at their hotel. I was impressed at how good the kids were on the trains. Who knew that Gregory and Clare could sit still (sort of) for 50 minutes without seat belts.

4) Why does Gregory feel the need to lick/taste surfaces he hasn't experienced before? It's so gross to see him lick the arm of the metro seat or try and bite the metal pole on top of the seat. I wish we had tongue disinfectant.

5) Gregory topped the night off while we were at dinner. He pushed his chair backward, it fell to the floor and he cut his lip and chin. He calmed down as soon as we put a napkin on the cut on his chin. How does one know if a cut needs stitches?

6) Here is a link to the National Postal Museum's Mail by Rail Exhibit. Check it out. I still find it fascinating that we even have museum dedicated solely to the mail. Did you know that the railroad postal service had a mascot named Owney?

(10 Bonus Points for you if you can figure out what kind of animal Owney was and 50 if you can discover how he died.)

7)We'll be at a plethora of postal and family things this weekend. (My uncle and cousin are coming to visit too.) Many more pictures and postal rail road trivia to come. It should be quite fun.

Head over to Jen's for more Friday Quick Takes.

Caritas in Veritate #24

"Today, as we take to heart the lessons of the current economic crisis, which sees the State's public authorities directly involved in correcting errors and malfunctions, it seems more realistic to re-evaluate their role and their powers, which need to be prudently reviewed and remodelled so as to enable them, perhaps through new forms of engagement, to address the challenges of today's world."

Silliness at dinner

The kids insisted on using towels as headscarves at dinner last night.

And then they tried to get Thomas to change his diet from milk to something a little more exotic.

Caritas in Veritate #23

"The mere fact of emerging from economic backwardness, though positive in itself, does not resolve the complex issues of human advancement, neither for the countries that are spearheading such progress, nor for those that are already economically developed, nor even for those that are still poor, which can suffer not just through old forms of exploitation, but also from the negative consequences of a growth that is marked by irregularities and imbalances."

Who's That?

That's what Daddy's going to say when he see me

Gregory was so good at the barber shop the guy said he wished grown men sat as still as this little boy.

Caritas in veritate #22

"The actors and the causes in both underdevelopment and development are manifold, the faults and the merits are differentiated. This fact should prompt us to liberate ourselves from ideologies, which often oversimplify reality in artificial ways, and it should lead us to examine objectively the full human dimension of the problems."

Favorite Spot

Where Thomas likes to sleep when Daddy's home.

Caritas in Veritate #21

"Paul VI had an articulated vision of development. He understood the term to indicate the goal of rescuing peoples, first and foremost, from hunger, deprivation, endemic diseases and illiteracy. From the economic point of view, this meant their active participation, on equal terms, in the international economic process; from the social point of view, it meant their evolution into educated societies marked by solidarity; from the political point of view, it meant the consolidation of democratic regimes capable of ensuring freedom and peace. "

"The complexity and gravity of the present economic situation rightly cause us concern, but we must adopt a realistic attitude as we take up with confidence and hope the new responsibilities to which we are called by the prospect of a world in need of profound cultural renewal, a world that needs to rediscover fundamental values on which to build a better future."

I find these statements so convicting, but I will admit that I am clueless as to how to help these things come about. It gives me plenty to think about while I'm trying to fall asleep at night.

(Apologies that I have missed a few days, John has been home and I haven't found much time to be on the computer. He leaves again for Boston in the morning and I will have more time for posting.)