The Salty Catholic: Hiatus Over, Rants are Back

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Hiatus Over, Rants are Back

I'm back! I didn't go anywhere, but in the past two weeks I couldn't find time to sit with my coffee and type away. My apologies. However, my little hiatus has been very eventful. The most important is that my baby sister, Gianna Maria, was born healthy. Thank you baby Jesus and St. Gerard! She's such a little blessing, and she has my eyes. Double-win. Since we have not had a baby girl in my immediate family in 10 years, I'm soaking up the newborn baby smell, shades of pink, bows and cuddles. Life is grand. It's also good training for the future, Deo gratias.
I have about a million things running through my mind for this post, so I'm just going to jot a few relevant ones down.

Firstly, happy feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola! Let's celebrate with an inspiring quote by him!

"If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign He has great designs for you, and He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great sacrifice of boundless charity."

St. Ignatius, ora pro nobis!

Secondly, I recently completed a novena to Our Lady Undoer of Knots. The results were not what I expected, but my prayers were certainly answered. As St. Teresa of Avila said, "More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones." It was definitely tough love, but this beautiful novena taught me to really put trust in God's Divine Providence and to abandon myself to His will. I'm still a work in progress, but that's what perseverance is for! I highly recommend it to anyone that has "knots" in their life. It can be found here.

Thirdly, the liberal media needs to stop taking what Pope Francis says, out of context, and Catholics need to stop believing what is being twisted. Because his quotes tend to be simple (yet still acute), the liberal media has taken advantage of their simplicity time and time again. For example, if the Huffington Post reports something that Pope Francis said, yet they try to decipher or add their spin on it, frankly, it's not worth believing. In fact, I won't believe anything any liberal news outlet says about the Pope's sayings or quotes, because they are not understanding them in the context which they are meant to be understood. Catholicism is already very misunderstood as it is, so why would/should we (Catholics) believe what the liberal media, the source of the corrupt agendas against our religion, has to say, especially when it comes to matters of faith?

Lastly, I've had O Sacrum Convivium stuck in my head for the past three days. It's a recurring #CatholicProblem for me to get traditional hymns stuck in my head for days, but it really is great because I enjoy singing the soprano part. Thank you choir. This text was authored by St. Thomas Aquinas, in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. I find Latin hymns to be much more meaningful especially during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, because they are beautifully composed, the translations are equally beautiful and Latin is a powerful language. To sing is to pray twice, and to sing in a language the Enemy fears is the perfect storm.

The translation is, "O Sacred banquet! in which Christ is received, the memory of His passion is renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory to us is given. Alleluia."