Catholic Roundup

Today’s advent surprise, Battling Bah-Humbug, comes courtesy of Sarah at Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering.

It’s that time of year again.The stores have started an endless round of Christmas carols and the streets in town are lined with lighted wreaths.  In the evening — which comes earlier and earlier — there are brightly-colored bushes and trees and roofs.  Where never before a personality, suddenly a pop-up Santa and a snow globe rocking horse.

The pressure’s on and the countdown has begun.

I’ve made my list, and I’ve checked it twice to make sure I’ve accounted for the many people we buy gifts for.  I’ve marked catalogs and purchased gift cards and come up with some pretty snazzy photo gifts for grandparents.

I’m left, in the beginning days of Advent, wishing it were all over.  I’m wondering, as we prepare for the joy of the season, where the joy can be found.  I’m tired, on only the second day, and wondering if I could leave the country and return on January 2nd.

Every year, I battle Bah-Humbug.  I find it in the discussion about when we’re going to put up decorations and in the struggle to not see Advent as just the time to get all the details lined up.  I am surrounded by it in the juggle to buy gifts for people I’d like to just spend time with instead.  I grow weary, and it infects me when I’m not looking, filling me with resentment and memories and a longing.

I long for the days of Christmas being about whether it will snow and which of the far-away relatives we’ll spend get to see.  I remember days with less money and more meaning, with less rushing and more spending together, with less cynicism and more belief.  I don’t find those sepia-colored ideals in all of my memories, but I find them when I think about what I would like Christmas to be about and in those memories that I most cherish.

It’s right before Thanksgiving that the Bah-Humbug bites.  Inevitably, in the discussions about food and family, there’s an anticipation about when we’ll celebrate Christmas.  And then we have to discuss who’s going to host.  And then we have to talk about the exchange or the price limit or none of that.

There’s a part of me that just loves buying gifts.  I love finding just the right thing.  The problem is that it’s a big list.  And, inevitably, I just don’t have time (OK, truth time:  I don’t start in July) or energy to do it justice for what I envision in my mind.  (I’m out to solve world hunger, remember?)  Part of the Bah-Humbug is filled with disappointment in my own inability to fulfill my expectations for a slam-bang Christmas gift-giving experience.

My standard reply about Christmas is that I hate it.  But, as my husband has pointed out to me time and again, that’s not true.  That’s the Bah-Humbug talking.

The truth is, I do love Christmas.  I love going to midnight Mass and feeling like it matters that I’m there.  I love holding my husband’s hand in the cold dark air as we walk to the car, with little bodies in our arms, and thinking of the memories we’re making.  I love seeing the living room lit up by only the colored lights on the Christmas tree, and I love the flair we’ll have when I give in and let decorating take place, because we will have a helper who has a style all her own.

My Bah-Humbug problem stems from a priority problem.  I forget what the real reason for this season is.  We’re preparing: our hearts, our lives, our homes.  There’s a baby coming, and there’s a lot to be done.  Maybe we need to cut out some of the noise, slow down some of the bustling, remember how it must have been long ago as Mary and Joseph started a long, cold journey.

This year, instead of wondering where my Bah-Humbug comes from and accepting it as some sort of fate for the season, I’m going to take my own advice.  I’m going to keep my eyes turned toward the star in the sky and think about how much rejoicing there is going to be.  I’m going to sit in the silence with my cup of tea, and I’m going to hold out my hand for Jesus to take it.  Maybe we can walk together through this Advent, hand in hand, toward the endless Christmas Miracle.

Sarah Reinhard lives in Ohio on a small farm with her husband, two children, and various pets and animals. You can read more of her writing at http://snoringscholar.blogspot.com.

Join us tomorrow and every day in December for more reflections produced by great Catholic New media personalities.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (23.5MB)

I started my 40 Days of Catholic Media blog/ podcasting project on Ash Wednesday to explore the intersection between new media and faith communities. I did not make a distinction between blogging, podcasting, or video in this project. I just set out to explore the great variety of Catholic blogs, podcasts, musicians and resources on the internet. I also conducted about 20 interviews with podcasters, priests, musicians and ordinary folks about how they enrich their spiritual lives during Lent, about places of spiritual significance and of how they use the new media to find Catholic community.

I am blogging and podcasting this carnival simultaneously in the hope that it will foster some crossover between the Catholic blogging and podcasting communities I have become a part of. The blog carnival entries are all listed in this post and I have added some comments within the podcast. I apologize for the untidiness of the links below but I worked on a fabulous blog post all weekend which vanished into the internet in a tragic cut and paste mishap.

Anyways, here we go for Take 2 of the Easter edition of the Catholic Blog Carnival.

Bah-da bah-da-da-da
Bah-da bah-da-da-da
Bah-da bah-da-da-da

Maundy, Maundy, so good to me
Maundy mornin’, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Maundy mornin’, Maundy mornin’ couldn’t guarantee
That Maundy evenin’ you would still be here with me

Over at Play the Dad? No, be the Dad!,Matthew S presents Maundy, Maundy, a reflection on Holy Thursday which includes a rewrite of the Mamas and the Papa’s classic song.

Shamelle presents It Doesn’t Cost Much To Consult With God posted at Enhance Life.

Denise Hunnell presents A New License For Teens–And It Is Not For Driving! posted at Catholic Matriarch in my Domestic Church aka Catholic Mom.

Kate Wicker presents Why I Nurse at the Mall and at Mass posted at Kate Wicker.

Catholic musician and lay minister, Bryan Murdaugh presents Why is the Cross So Important?, a theme he explored earlier on his song, We Need the Cross, which is on his album, ‘with everything i know its a long way home’.

Jay at Deo Omnis Gloria offers some thoughts on Reinventing Christianity in Your Own Image, just a post pondering those who use Christianity to push a theologythat looks nothing like Christian Truth.

Mary DeTurris Poust presents So Much for Free Thought posted at Not Strictly Spiritual.

Jason presents 1796: Mastro Titta’s first execution of many posted at Executed Today. I had trouble finding where to fit this post in the Catholic carnival because it is a historical biography of the executioner for the Papal States in the 19th century. We must not forget the historical failings of even people high up in the church. This is a reminder that individuals and the church as a whole must always strive to live out the whole of the gospel and respect human life at all its stages.

Mary’s Aggies have a timely post called Attacks on Human Life Getting Bolder in which they discuss the Incarnation, Easter, The Dignity of the Human Person and the fight for human life in all of its forms.

On Easter Sunday, at from the field of blue children Cathy Adamkiewicz wrote and posted a lovely poem entitled, In Your Shadow.

Fred presents sola fides sufficit posted at Deep Furrows.

Ian presents Top Ten Favorite Quotes from John Milton?s Paradise Lost posted at Musings from a Catholic Bookstore.

E.L. Core at The Blog from the Core continues an Easter custom by presenting Newman for Easter: a list of Ven. John Henry Newman’s Easter-related sermons.

Fellow Canadian, Steven R. McEvoy at Book Reviews and More has an essay about Cursillo 50 Years of Challenge In North America.

HMS Blog presents LET THERE BE LIGHT: A reflection on the readings for the Easter Vigil Mass, focusing on Christ’s resurrection as the light of the new creation.

A Catholic Mom climbing the Pillars presents A Word about being a Good Catholic Parent in which she offers some thoughts on how to be a good example for our children to carry on the traditions of our faith and keep them Catholic.

In Journey to Jesus, Part 3 at Just another day of Catholic pondering, guest blogger Heather shares how Mary is a very real part of her conversion through an experience with her daughter.

Suzanne presents Friday Poetry: Goodly Fere on Good Friday posted at Adventures in Daily Living . This is part of a weekly Poetry Friday project which is a great way to build up the blogging community.

Over at Catholic Fire Jean is talking about The Feast of Divine Mercy and Its Extraordinary Graces. She presents a brief but detailed description of this grace – filled feast day and God’s promises to us

On Saturday after the Easter vigil, I joined Rob from the Tupelo Catholic Blog and Podcast on Ustream along with a bunch of his other virtual friends as he ended his Lenten fast. In his post he looks at the Week Ahead where he points out that this Wednesday is a starting date for Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary and Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday.

A Catholic Mom in Hawaii brings us Sacramentals in the Home: A Catholic Tradition, in which she discusses different kinds of sacramentals to enrich a Catholic home.

I’m going to close my 40 Days of Catholic Media project exactly as I started it, by playing Race You to the Tomb by Karl Kohlhase. Karl Kohlhase is a Contemporary Christian, Catholic songwriter from Minnesota who has released 7 CDs of his original music for free download at his website k4communications.com. He writes:

“You may burn as many copies of the CDs as you like for family and friends. I only ask that you give them away free of charge. Freely you have received, so freely give…“

Update:

I made a newbie Catholic Carnival mistake. I forgot to check my spam folder to check if any submissions got there by mistake and there were five. I’m sorry for the omissions.
Teresa’s Two Cents shares about going to The Easter Vigil with a boy who can’t sit still. I can understand the sentiment. We took our daughter to all of the Triduum services except the vigil. We got a babysitter for that one.

Julie at Adoro te Devote reminds us that we are Pilgrims on a Journey. We are citizens of Heaven, here on a journey. The world is not our home and there is a reason our hearts are restless.

Chris at Catholic Converts reminds us that April 13 is a 24 Hour Rosary: World Day of Prayer for Vocations. In his World Day of Prayer for Vocations message Pope Benedict XVI’s said, “The Church prays everyday to the Holy Spirit for the gift of vocations. Gathered around the Virgin Mary, Queen of the Apostles, as in the beginning, the ecclesial community learns from her how to implore the Lord for a flowering of new apostles, alive with the faith and love that are necessary for the mission.” Catholic Converts invites everyone to join in 24 Hours of the Rosary for Vocations on April 13, 2008. We are asking people to sign up for as little as 30 minutes of continuously praying the Rosary for Vocations.

Over at Apostolate of the Laity David discusses, Judgement, It’s a good thing.

Ho Kai Paulos gives us A light from the shadows shall spring. How is it that last Friday was called “Good”? It seems wrong, somehow, to celebrate that day, when so many evil beings were celebrating – the pharisees, the Romans, the Devil. He discusses briefly, using some poetry from Tolkein, what makes it a good day.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (26.5MB)

Today is a day of preparation and waiting. The 40 days of Lent is almost over. We wait with the church as Christ waited in the tomb. At the Easter Vigil tonight we will celebrate the risen Christ.

But you have all waited enough for me. The podcast file today is an early listen to my For the Sake of the Song episode with Kyle Heimann from Popple. I will not be releasing it on For the Sake of the Song until April 20.

Enjoy