What's Right With the World?

Elizabeth Scalia posed the question “What’s Right With World” in a Monday post, focusing on the positives and not the all-too-cumbersome negatives surrounding us. She asked for 3, so I am giving 7 for my Volume Seven:

ONE

Let's just get the obvious out there: Calvin and Hobbes snowmen.

Humor is the quickest way to warm a heart and see a truth, and this kid (er, Bill Watterson) has it in spades. My siblings and I have been waiting all winter for the right kind of snow. We've only gotten a lot of wet snow, which is the worst kind. And when we do, I'm making this one:

The creativity is just phenomenal...

For more of C&H snowmen, click here. 

Two

Bearcats basketball.

Domination is so sweet, especially after our football season was so...blah. Men's team currently at 16-1; 3-1 Big East. Up next: Syracuse (tomorrow!!).

THREE

Christendom.

"And it is the Church’s gift and unescapable duty to communicate that joy, born of an encounter with the person of Christ, the Word of God in our midst. In a world which often feels that God is superfluous or extraneous, we confess with Peter that he alone has “the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68). There is no greater priority than this: to enable the people of our time once more to encounter God, the God who speaks to us and shares his love so that we might have life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10)."

"Here the word finds expression not primarily in discourse, concepts or rules. Here we are set before the very person of Jesus. His unique and singular history is the definitive word which God speaks to humanity. We can see, then, why “being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a definitive direction .” The constant renewal of this encounter and this awareness fills the hearts of believers with amazement at God’s initiative, which human beings, with our own reason and imagination, could never have dreamt of."

"The word of God makes us change our concept of realism: the realist is the one who recognizes in the Word of God the foundation of all things."

--from Pope Benedict XVI's most recent apostolic letter, "Verbum Domini"

This week has been especially wonderful. Five Anglican bishops who resigned on November 8, 2010 entered the Catholic Church this week. This ceremony followed a similiar one two weeks ago, when 20 Anglican parishes re-joined the Catholic Church. Te deum! And so the stitches are patching the fracture.

FOUR

The Pro-life Movement.

"Deliberately killing innocent human life, or standing by and allowing it, dwarfs all other social issues. Trying to avoid this fact by re-definining when human personhood begins is simply a corrupt and corrupting form of verbal gymnastics."

--Archbishop Charles Chaput, 'Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life'

MercatorNet had an amazing story a few months ago about the normal lives mentally retarded babies in Ireland are able to lead, as well as the sad truth that less than 10 percent of pre-natally diagnosed babies with Downs Syndrome, etc. are not born.

Archbishop Chaput wrote a wonderful piece on Judge John Roll, who was one of the people killed in AZ.

Also, one of the lawyers in my dad's firm came in this morning with her newborn baby. She is so tiny and beautiful! I got a Christmas card from one of my college professor's family last night, and they are issuing in Baby #7! When they wrote that they are excited to issue in another soul into eternity, I admit, I got chills.

FIVE

Hipsters.

Yes, Hipsters are what is right with the world, the pretentious buggers. You're right: the boys shouldn't wear skinny jeans. The girls should shower more. Fine, they'll always be one band ahead of us, but they should stop pretending they're bored (well, maybe they are), or at least try to show excitement outside a form of smug superiority.

While covering the Statehouse, I had the pleasure of living in Hipster Heaven. It was fabulous. There was nothing I liked better than to watch them recoil at the word "conservative" or try to jump a sidewalk curb (up, not down) because they were (and I quote) "just trying to be cool."

My good college friend Bess currently living in NYC. She wrote a hilarious post on Monday entitled “The Hipsters Have No Pants On”. Yes, friends: hipsters are what is right with the world because they are even more proof to me that God has a sense of humor. (And a reminder to pay attention to details, because you never know when that bit of trivia will come in handy!)

SIX

Family pets.

When I was little, we only had hamsters and a couple goldfish from our parish's annual festival. Now we have a dog and three cats! May I present:

Beauregard, who empitomizes this poem by Richard Wilbur:

A cat will often take the softest chair
In the living room, and lie for hours there
With a smug, sleepy look upon his face,
Behaving just as if he owned the place.
Therefore it's no surprise to notice how
Inside homeowner is the word meow.

The one and only Heidi:

The Snobs:

I know, the adorableness is overwhelming you! 

SEVEN

Santo Subito!

"Santo Subito!" is Latin for "Sainthood Now!" I am very happy to say that it was announced today that Pope John Paul II will be beatified on May 1, 2011, which is Divine Mercy Sunday (a feast day instituted by JPII, for the mercy of God to forgive even the most hardened of sinners). 

Beatification is the public proclamation that the said person is in Heaven. Catholics would never declare any person to go to Hell (that is way beyond an earthly person's judgment call), but we can have assurances that a person is in Heaven. Beatification is the second formal step toward sainthood. The first is to be declared "Venerable," which means the person is a role model of Catholic virtue.

To be beatified, there must be evidence of a posthumous miracle. For John Paul II, there is a nun in France whose Parkinson's is completely cured. From the UK's Catholic Herald, "Vatican announces beatification of John Paul II":

"The Congregation said in its decree that a beatification is an “important sign of the depth of faith, of the diffusion of faith in the path of life of that person”, a sign that would become a “stimulus for us all towards a Christian life ever more profound and full … John Paul II’s pontificate was an eloquent and clear sign, not only for Catholics, but also for world public opinion, for people of all colour and creed”.

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said there were “no corners cut” in assessing the miracle.

He said the case was subjected to “particularly careful scrutiny” to avoid any doubt and “to honour the dignity and memory of this great pope”.

Sister Marie Simon-Pierre was diagnosed with aggressive Parkinson’s in 2001. After John Paul’s death, her order began praying for his intercession. According to the testimony, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre woke up with her condition cured after having written John Paul II’s name on a piece of paper.

According to Vatican watcher John Allen Jr, reports earlier this year implied that she had fallen ill again, and that “at least one physician questioned the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, suggesting it may have been some other nervous disorder”.

“It would seem that the Vatican resolved those doubts to its satisfaction, however, as the miracle has been approved by both the Vatican’s medical and theological consulters, as well as the cardinals and bishops who make up the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and the pope himself,” Mr Allen said."

To become a saint, there will need a second posthumous miracle and then cannonization can commence.

Rome Reports made a short overview of Pope John Paul II's life:


Happy Friday! I going to Columbus for the weekend to visit friends and for work stuff (I am helping do research for a book). See Conversion Diary for more!