7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 13)

Sooo I'm exhausted... but I'll share with you fun stuff from this week!

- 1 -

Dance Academy! Season two is on Netflix and it's an Australian show. It is much tamer than most American shows for teenagers. Give me Aussie accents and dance numbers any day.

- 2 -

So I've had this week to prepare for a talk I'm giving to a women's group at BU. Let's all pray that I don't botch it and send these girls into crises of faith. :) Prayers much appreciated. The topic is 

Holiness vs. Perfection, or more specifically the perfection God calls you to and the "perfection" the world pressures you into.

So the BU girls made the facebook event and they used this photo of Demi Lovato. I figured I would look it up to see where they got it from. Apparently she's started a campaign called "Love Speaks Louder than the Pressure to be Perfect" to help girls be relieved of the constant pressure they're under since she herself went through some rough times. Anyways, I wanted to make it clear to everyone that these are two separate things, and that no, Demi Lovato will not be making an appearance but another dark haired Latina will. 

- 3 -

The sun is out sometimes! For when it is:

- 4 -

This is a gorgeous video:

http://vimeo.com/36940265

- 5 -

Treasure in Clay is the autobiography of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. You know the Priest who had that hugely popular t.v. show Life is Worth Living. Well, his life kind of dazzled me. He words it so simply and yet it's ridiculously powerful. What a man. The audible version is great.

- 6 -

The Eucharistic Congress in Boston is this weekend! I have no idea who is speaking this year but it's been  an throughly wonderful experience each year, I even like it when during the procession all the people in the North End going about their Saturday night give us "Oh, those crazy Catholics" looks.

- 7 -

Bed time.

7 Quick Takes Friday: Favorite Quotes

A collection of some of my most cherished quotes.

- 1 -

The temptations of the saints were seen as opportunities for self-discovery. They allowed temptations to show them the breaches in the fortress of their souls, which needed to be fortified until they would become the strongest points. This explains the curious fact about many saintly people-that they often become the opposite of what they once seemed to be.

- Fulton J. Sheen

Don't hold on to the presumptions you have about yourself, God knows who you are. Let Him show you.

- 2 -

Though time is too precious to waste, it must never be thought that what was lost is irretrievable. Once the Divine is introduced, the come the opportunity to make up for losses. God is the God of the second chance.

- Fulton J. Sheen

The Lord doesn't live in the past and neither should you. He is in the present with you and that is where His Grace is received and where you are transformed.

- 3 -

At the back of our brains, so to speak, there was a forgotten blaze or burst of astonishment at our own existence. The object of the artistic and spirited life was to dig for this submerged sunrise of wonder. 

 - G. K. Chesterton in Chaucer

To become a child again is harder than reaching the sobering maturity of adulthood, but the life of being in perpetual wonder is a great joy.

- 4 -

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

- Mother Theresa

Pray for the gift to give The Love that pours out and never empties.

- 5 -

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

- often attributed to Plato

Everyone you meet is weak like you and has known pain of some kind. Always be aware of the common humanity you share with your neighbor and that he or she is a child of God that you've been entrusted to love.

- 6 -

Freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want. Freedom is the strength of character and the self-possession to do what is good, true, noble and right. 

- Matthew Kelly

Discipline should never be seen as something stodgy and constricting, it is actually the beginning of the path to freedom from the things that keep us from the person we'd like to become.

-7-

God, my God, because you are mine, I lack nothing!

-Gertrude the Great

~

Please visit Jennifer Fulwiller's Conversion Diary

Papa Beni is in Mexico! And other stuff too!

Papa Beni was received in Leon, Guanajuato where my mama was born!

Here he addresses the children of Mexico! :

I'm also going to take the opportunity to recommend these guys: 

Catholic Stuff You Should Know

I love the way they explain things because it doesn't hurt my brain :)

For the list of everything they have you can go to this link which is their directory

Here is a good one about a really a Bad Pope becoming Good! If only I we could say the same about the Borgia Popes. Thank you Holy Spirit that we came out alive after them!

~

Also... really off topic but I finally found somebody who will have kittens ready to go in June/July. I need help finding a good name. Preferably, it should sound nice in both English and Spanish. Right now my list is this:

a) Bosco: After St. John Bosco, who gave his life ministering to underprivileged children.

b) Fable: Because I love stories

c) Toulouse: So fun to say! Also one of the kittens in the Aristocats.

d) Becket: After St. Thomas Becket, philandering dude turned Holy Bishop and martyr.

e) Blaise: Like Fable it's kind of hard to say in spanish, but I like it.

d) Winston: Just listen to Georgette holler that name in Oliver and Co. It's great!

Which is your favorite? Have any better ideas? 

Always grateful that you procrastinate at my blog,

Fabi

Ignitum Today: Ballet Diaries

"And then skipping along home I began to connect this whole experience to my spiritual life. Not because I’m just that holy, but because I often hear how diligence in both your prayer and exercise bring great results. Sometimes people forget to say that you build up to it and that it might take a long time before you see any changes in your life so you give up early and settle for a mediocre relationship with God and being out of shape."

Read about my time on the barre @ Ignitum Today