Isn't it apropos...

I think that it is a good thing that the Church celebrates the feast of Mary, Mother of God on New Year's Day. At a time in the year when we make resolutions to better ourselves, we need look no further than the Mother of God for an example of how to better live our faith. Mary was the first believer in her Son, and she was there when He rose from the grave. She believed in Him when He was not ready to begin (the wedding at Cana) and she always had faith in Him. She is the ultimate example of trusting God and saying yes to Him when everything is shrouded in doubt. At the close of this year I am questioning where God is leading me. I feel I am in the right major, but what I am supposed to do with that is what I am asking for God to shed some light on. My only resolution (and I hesitate to call it that..I never keep them) is to make prayer THE priority of my life. I look to Mary for her inspiration to keeping this resolution as much as possible. May my yes echo her yes. May I trust in God completly as she trusted in God. I might not know what is coming (for Mary did not know what was ahead for her with her divine Son), but let me trust that God will lead me down the right path.

My faith makes me happy

It hasn't felt like Christmas this year. Maybe it's because a Christmas Eve blizzard kept me from seeing most of my family and we barely made it to Mass on Christmas Day. And even Mass was different, the church was nearly empty rather than being stuffed full.Maybe it's because I didn't get an internship I thought I would get and I am thinking about the track I'm on and if that's what God want for me, if I am meant to work with teenagers or if I should continue on and get my advanced degree. Maybe it's because this year more than any other people have been commenting about December not being the actual month of Christ's birth and one friend even rejoicing in a movie because it bashes religion. Most of these comments have not been directed to me (though some were). Most were just facebook status updates and other similar things. I don't know if those people even know how much their  comments bothered me.

Here's the thing: say for one second that I am wrong and there is no God (I'm not saying I am wrong, I still fully believe in God, but let us go with this hypothetical situation). If what all those people who do not believe in God say is correct, when I die, I will just fall asleep and nothing else will happen. I will go into nothingness. So, if God doesn't exist, my faith was for nothing in the sense of life after death. But what did it bring me in this life? Only happiness, a sense of fulfillment, and a purpose to drive me towards the good. It gives me morals and it is the reason I treat people so kindly. I wouldn't be who I am today without my faith. So, if all that happens to me after death is I sleep for eternity, why try and deny me happiness in this one? But, my intelligence exists. I will respect your right to believe or not believe in whatever. Please, respect mine.

What do you think? Why is contemporary Atheism so determined to take away our happiness and make all of us unbelievers?

Since When Has God Required Political Correctness?

I'm not really sure when using "God" and Godself" instead of "He/Him" came into use, but I first heard it when I came to Creighton. My question is when did God fall into our long list of political correctness. God is neither a he or a she, so we must not use pronouns. Yet, Christ Himself taught us to call him Father (see Mt 6:9-13, Lk 11:2-4). Even though I have grown up using the pronoun "He" for God, I have outgrown that idea of God as a big man with a white beard and a robe who sits up in the sky. To me, He is a being that surrounds me, that hears me, though I do identify with Christ more (I guess that is just the human being in me). I don't even really like the term "politically correct." God is not involved in our politics, He transcends them. I don't know how you feel, but I will continue to say "May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of His name, for our good, and the good of all His Church." and not feel guilty, at least not a guilty as I do when I say "man" rather than "human." (Can you tell I am not a fan of our overly pc world?)

What do you think?