Having trouble deciding on a name for your baby? Why not let the little one choose for him/herself? A new app ($.99 for iPhone and iPod Touch) randomly generates thousands of baby names while monitoring a baby’s movements in the womb. Any kick detected by the program will then stop the generator at the baby’s chosen name. Then the parents can accept their child’s “choice” or dismiss the name and start their search again. Parents can narrow their search either by gender or by creating a list of favorites to choose from.
Pretty cute idea. Then if the child complains about his/her name later in life you can tell them that they only have themselves to blame! Visit kicktopick.com
Blessed JP II was one of the greatest defenders of life and human dignity in the modern age. The secret to his dedication and motivation? Two words: Totus Tuus:
Actually, it wasn’t much of a secret. Totus Tuus (I am totally yours) was the motto for his pontificate and his papal flag bore a large letter M symbolizing his great devotion to Mary.
Her month is over now, but I would still like to say a few words here about devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, about which there is a lot of misunderstanding, even among Catholics. The best explanation of what a genuine devotion to Mary consists of can be found in St. Louis Marie deMontfort‘s True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. A book about which JP II said:
“St. Louis de Montfort! I have long studied his doctrine and I like it. Besides, it’s from Montfort that I have taken my motto, “Totus Tuus” (I am all thine). Some day I’ll have to tell you Monfortians how I discovered de Montfort’s treatise on TRUE DEVOTION to Mary and how often I had to reread it to understand it.”
There are several exterior prayers and practices involved in devotion to Our Lady – recitation of the hail Mary and the most holy rosary, for example – but, the heart of de Montfort’s True Devotion, what JP II meant by Totus Tuus, is the interior practice of a Total Consecration of one’s whole self to the Blessed Virgin, making oneself a slave of Mary, doing everything by Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary, who will in turn lead us into a perfect union with Christ, her Son (which is the ultimate goal of any genuine devotion to Our Lady).
By Jesus Christ, with Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ we can do all things; we can render all honor and glory to the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost; we can make ourselves perfect and be for our neighbor a fragrance of eternal life.
If, then, we are establishing sound devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only in order to establish devotion to our Lord more perfectly, by providing a smooth but certain way of reaching Jesus Christ. (True Devotion, n. 60-61)
I like what a priest in our diocese often says: “2000 years ago Mary brought Christ into the world. Now she brings Christ into our hearts.” When we give ourselves completely to Mary she gives herself completely to us in return, sharing with us her own glorious virtues. She purifies all of our good works and intentions offered to her in confidence, offering them in turn to Christ who never refuses what is given to him from the hands of His Holy and Immaculate Mother.
What I love most about this devotion is that it is nothing short of a perfect imitation of Christ who spent almost His entire life on earth completely subject to His Blessed Mother. That is why de Montfort calls True Devotion to Mary an “easy, short, perfect and secure way of attaining union with our Lord.” For nine months the Creator of the world confined himself to Mary’s virginal womb and was totally dependent on her as an infant and a small child growing up in Nazareth. Even when He was ready begin his public ministry at age 12 and left His parents in Jerusalem to preach to the elders in the temple, when he saw how much his disappearance upset her, Jesus returned home and was “obedient” to her, living hidden in Nazareth once again with his mother for another 18 years. Without losing anything of his divinity and sanctity, Jesus chose to come down to us on earth by and through Mary, and so, too, we ascend to Him perfectly and divinely through Mary most holy. This devotion echoes not just Christ’s love for His Mother, but also His sublime humility.
I know this is not the kind of thing I normally get into here, but, next to St. Therese and her Story of a Soul, de Montfort and his True Devotion has had the biggest influence on my spiritual life. If you’ve read the original “Reflections of a Paralytic” that I list here, I say that Mary saved my life. I honestly believe this because, well, that’s what she does for those who love her. She does not give up on those who love her, even when why appear to give up on her.
13 years ago I made my first Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary when I was just 15 years old. As sincere as I was that I wanted to live my faith and give myself completely to Mary in this way, I once again got caught up in living the life of a “typical” American teenager and gave up on the promise I had made to my Blessed Mother…but She did not give up on me. I can’t explain it, really, but sometime after the accident (when I was 17), as I came to terms with how easily I could have been dead instead of just paralyzed and wondered what it all meant, it occurred to me that She must have had a hand in my survival, giving me another chance to get back on track – back to living the devotion that I had essentially abandoned. So I picked back up where I had left off, starting with a renewal of my Consecration (which I do every year now) and, with Her help and by the grace of God, I have not turned back since. For a more details about my devotion to Our Lady and how She has brought me closer to Christ and the Church, check out my interview on EWTN’s Life on the Rock from last July.
I am all Thine, my Queen and my Mother and all that I have is Thine!
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. (Jn. 19:26-27)
Do you have a place for Mary in your home? In your heart?
For those who want to understand a bit more about why Catholics honor Mary as we do, check out this excellent video. Much of what we believe about Mary and her role in Salvation History comes right from the Bible.
**UPDATE** I just read the description of the video over at GodTube. Apparently they did this for the March of Dimes which supports embryonic stem cell research :-/ Still cute.
The pope’s interpretation of Genesis rings true to our experience: To know love is to be created anew. By the same token, to love others is, in a sense, to create them in our turn. After all, to love someone isn’t just to appreciate his good qualities; it is to rejoice in his very being in the first place. To love is to say: “It is good that you exist!” Just as God declared that his creation was “very good” after having fashioned man, so, too, when we affirm our loved ones we are sharing in God’s work of giving them existence.
That’s another excerpt from Called to Love. I’m really enjoying this book. Up till now, I’ve really only “studied” TOB from Christopher West. And I’m not at all disappointed with anything that I’ve learned from him or how he’s presented it, but it is nice to hear a different voice – a different way of speaking the language of the Theology of the Body, nonetheless…
“Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Lk. 1:42-45)
Wishing you a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend and, please, amid your boat rides, barbecue and beer, be sure to stop at some point and take a moment to remember what this holiday is really about.
Image: Incidents of the war. A harvest of death, Gettysburg, July, 1863
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (Jn. 15:13)
For all those who have lost loved ones in battle I pray, in the words of Abraham Lincoln:
that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
For our fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines past and present, known and unknown (including military chaplains); for those who died in battle and for the many veterans and other service men and women we have lost over the years:
Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
Amen.
He is the husband that made the ultimate sacrifice to save his wife’s life.
As the roaring winds of the 200mph tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri, Don Lansaw did everything he could to protect his wife.
Bethany Lansaw, 25, revealed today that as the devastating tornado tore their home apart, her husband, 31, threw his body over her in the bath tub to cover her.
‘He got on top of me to take the brunt of most of it and he’s my hero,’ Mrs Lansaw said in a tearful interview.
‘I mean the house was ripping apart, it all happened so fast. All the pillows were flying off of us, the only thing I managed to do was keep one in front of my face.’
As the winds died down, Mrs Lansaw looked up to see that her husband was turning blue.
Hoping she could still save him, she flagged down a pick-up truck to get help finding an ambulance, but it was too late.
After six years of marriage, her childhood sweetheart had died.
It’s not totally unusual to see professional male athletes don the color pink during games. Throughout the month of October NFL football players can be seen wearing everything from pink gloves, sweatbands, towels and cleats on the field to raise “breast cancer awareness” (whatever that means). So, when Mike Miller entered game 3 of the NBA finals with some curiously girly looking shoelaces, fans might have thought the Miami Heat forward (and former Florida Gator) was making a similar statement. But Miller had a different motivation for getting his pink on. Last Thursday his wife gave birth to their third child, a daughter, Jaelyn. Miller celebrated the birth of his daughter by lacing up his basketball shoes with pink shoelaces. He talks to reporters about it here.
But, while her dad’s been battling the Bulls for a spot in the NBA Finals, little Jaelyn is fighting an undisclosed illness that has kept her in ICU for the first week of her life. From ESPN:
“She’s still in ICU,” Miller said as he dressed quickly after speaking to reporters, then headed toward a side door to leave the arena. “She had some complications. But it’s going to be all right. She’s a fighter. She’s the most important thing I’m thinking about right now.”
Despite his daughter’s illness, which might require a surgical procedure, Miller, who was instrumental in the Heat’s win against the Chicago this Tuesday, will travel with his team to IL face the Bulls in game 5 tonight. I can’t say that I’ll be rooting for the Heat tonight (even though I do love me some Gators in the NBA), but I will definitely be keeping little Jaelyn in my prayers.
What an awful, deadly tornado season it’s been! On top of everything that has happened down South and in the MidWest recently, last night tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas, killing at least 13. And more storms are on the way!
Here in Missouri, the official death toll in Joplin is now up to 122, but I heard from a friend of mine that, according to someone he knows working on the ground there, that number is really closer to 186 and counting as of yesterday afternoon. It will be a long time before we know for sure the total number. Rescue workers are still searching through demolished stores and neighborhoods trying to find survivors…or bodies. Some rescues have been made, praise God, but as many as 1500 people are still missing.
This is the message that was sent to Bishop Johnston from the Vatican:
THE MOST REVEREND JAMES V. JOHNSTON
BISHOP OF SPRINGFIELD-CAPE GIRARDEAU
THE HOLY FATHER HAS FOLLOWED WITH DEEP CONCERN THE AFTERMATH OF THE CATASTROPHIC TORNADO WHICH STRUCK JOPLIN ON SUNDAY AND HE ASKS YOU TO CONVEY TO THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY THE ASSURANCE OF HIS CLOSENESS IN PRAYER. CONSCIOUS OF THE TRAGIC LOSS OF LIFE AND THE IMMENSITY OF THE WORK OF REBUILDING THAT LIES AHEAD, HE ASKS GOD THE FATHER OF MERCIES TO GRANT ETERNAL REST TO THE DEPARTED, CONSOLATION TO THE GRIEVING, AND STRENGTH AND HOPE TO THE HOMELESS AND THE INJURED. UPON THE LOCAL CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS, AND UPON ALL INVOLVED IN THE RELIEF EFFORTS, HIS HOLINESS INVOKES THE DIVINE GIFTS OF WISDOM, FORTITUDE, AND PERSEVERANCE IN EVERY GOOD.
–CARDINAL TARCISIO BERTONE, SECRETARY OF STATE
The Holy Father’s words are for everyone affected, but the Catholic community in Joplin was especially hard hit Sunday, with the loss of the town’s largest Catholic parish and rectory (pictured above), an elementary school and a hospital.
You know, a few years ago I moved down to South Florida to go to school and I was always asked, “oh, but aren’t you afraid of hurricanes?” To which I always said, no, quite frankly, I’m more concerned about tornadoes in the MidWest. At least with hurricanes you get days, if not weeks, of advanced notice. Time to board up the house or get the hell outta dodge. Not so with tornadoes. Much scarier, if you ask me. (ironically, the town I was going to school in was hit by a hurricane when I was there)
Shifting gears here a bit this TOB Tuesday. I usually focus on the TOB and the relationship between the sexes, but I love this passage from Supreme Knight Carl Anderson’s book Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II’s Theology of the Body on the body and work:
The body enables man to respond creatively to the world and to God – and to respond is to be responsible. There is no true freedom without responsibility.
We learn to appreciate the link between freedom and responsibility through work. We can even define work as man’s way of giving the material world a share int he dignity of the human body. To work is to give the world a human shape.
Nevertheless, because we work in our bodies, our labor isn’t purely external to us. Nor is its value simply the sum total of what we produce. The quality of work is not measured only by the quantity of the objects our work may produce. John Paul II, who put in countless hours of manual labor in a Polish factory, was very sensitive to the impact of work on the worker himself and on the development of his character – and impact the pope called the “subjective” dimension of work (Laborem Exercens, 6) Because man works in his body, whenever he transforms the world through work, he is also transforming and molding himself. How, since man’s life is a journey toward God, the work by which he shapes his life is a kind of “liturgy” (which comes from the Greek work leitourgia, meaning “work of the people”). To work is to shape the world into a reflection of our relationship with God; it is to incorporate the world into our worship. Every human action, every work man performs, no matter how humble, has a liturgical dignity. (p.36-37)
Having trouble deciding on a name for your baby? Why not let the little one choose for him/herself? A new app ($.99 for iPhone and iPod Touch) randomly generates thousands of baby names while monitoring a baby’s movements in the womb. Any kick detected by the program will then stop the generator at the baby’s chosen name. Then the parents can accept their child’s “choice” or dismiss the name and start their search again. Parents can narrow their search either by gender or by creating a list of favorites to choose from.
flag bore a large letter M symbolizing his great devotion to Mary.
There are several exterior prayers and practices involved in devotion to Our Lady – recitation of the hail Mary and the most holy rosary, for example – but, the heart of de Montfort’s True Devotion, what JP II meant by Totus Tuus, is the interior practice of a 
Creator of the world confined himself to Mary’s virginal womb and was totally dependent on her as an infant and a small child growing up in Nazareth. Even when He was ready begin his public ministry at age 12 and left His parents in Jerusalem to preach to the elders in the temple, when he saw how much his disappearance upset her, Jesus returned home and was “obedient” to her, living hidden in Nazareth once again with his mother for another 18 years. Without losing anything of his divinity and sanctity, Jesus chose to come down to us on earth by and through Mary, and so, too, we ascend to Him perfectly and divinely through Mary most holy. This devotion echoes not just Christ’s love for His Mother, but also His sublime humility.
has had the biggest influence on my spiritual life. If you’ve read the original “Reflections of a Paralytic” that I 
Love this:
It’s not totally unusual to see professional male athletes don the color pink during games. Throughout the month of October NFL football players can be seen wearing everything from pink gloves, sweatbands, towels and cleats on the field to raise “breast cancer awareness” (whatever that means). So, when Mike Miller entered game 3 of the NBA finals with some curiously 
What an awful, deadly tornado season it’s been! On top of everything that has happened