Contrariwise

As a graduating senior (woo-hoo!), I had to fill out an online survey for the Department of English. I tend to forget things, so I did it now to get it out of the way. One of the questions was “Describe what you see as the social significance of literature.” I answered:

Literature teaches us what it means to be human. We can’t live every part of the human experience. We can’t all know individually what it’s like to fall passionately in love, to exact revenge, to be shipwrecked, to travel abroad, and to be the opposite sex. We have literature so that we can try to understand how other people live or might live.

And that’s just the short answer.

Finally, I have managed to get to Carnival 164–on publication day. Okay, so I knew it came out today because I got a direct email thanking me for participating, but small victories are victories nonetheless. The posts that stood out in this Holy Week Carnival are about sin and our relationships with God.

I always enjoy Soccer Mom Christine’s posts. This time, she writes about her first confession in a while. Christine’s description of her confession is spot-on. From her lovely pre- and post-confession prayers to keeping her daughters occupied, she had all her bases covered. If she can make it to confession, anyone can.

I have an odd relationship with confession. I make it a point to never go more than six weeks between confessions, aiming for once a month. I’ve never had a regular confessor, but I have an inkling that doing so would help me grow spiritually. Despite all my issues, however, I am contrite, I seek out the sacrament, and I am that much better at cooperating with God’s grace.

Cathy at From the Field of Blue Children comments there on issues I’d examined before–some right here in my own blog, but with new perspectives. She reminds me why community exists. We need the voices of others to keep us alert. Concerning the Spitzer prostitution scandal, she and her commenters point out that the media is rightly recognizing the impact of Spitzer’s crime on society. It’s a sin. Sin is not private, no matter how many doors you close. Concerning the “new sin list,” she hones in on Bishop Girotti’s explanation of this principle. Sin affects us all.

As for Jen’s post at Daughter of the King, I have to echo what I’ve seen others say: I will never look at the Creation of Adam the same way again.

I have much to keep in mind for my next confession.

I’m playing catch-up, as usual. I can’t quite hit all the installments I missed, but something is better than nothing.

In Carnival 163, Jen at Daughter of the King shares her experience praying with youth. I can relate. God gave me the same sort of revelation, that praying *for* the people that annoy you is more fruitful for you *and* them than asking God to change them. So when I hear a baby making noises during Mass, see a girl wearing too little clothing, or get blindsided by blaring profanity from a driver’s loud music, I offer them up to God in prayer. Red Neck Woman posted about this in Carnival 156, relating the practice to St. Catherine of Siena. There’s nothing quite like picking up the habits of a saint.

In the same carnival, Kate Wicker offers “Perfect, Schmerfect.” I, your obsessive-compulsively inclined blogger, relate completely. I won’t deny that having my closet organized by color brings me silent joy, but I also readily admit that there’s nothing like confession to make you fully aware of just how broken you are.

I’m intrigued by CatholicsComeHome.org. It’s beautifully designed, and it has a lot of information. They even recommend the RSV, which gets a big thumbs-up from me.

I visited the “I’m Catholic” section, but I also watched the “Epic” video. It, too, is high-quality and compelling. I’m just wary of advertisements for the Catholic Church. The Light Is On for You is a great program, but promoting an underused sacrament is different than selling the whole Church. Who doesn’t scoff at LDS ads? I don’t want my church to solicit that kind of response, even though I believe in evangelization and apologetics.

This reminds me of my Morning Prayer intercessions, in which I pray for people who’ve fallen away from the Church. What am I doing to help them come back, besides praying? Not a whole lot. Jesus doesn’t want excuses; he wants to save us.

I know that “I just need to get these out of my Downloads folder” is a lame excuse to post, but it’s all I have. Like most college students, I am a facebook aficionado. Back in December, an application called My Christmas Tree got ridiculously popular. I caved, adding a cute tree to my profile with “Christmas Eve Sarajevo,” by Trans Siberian Orchestra, as my song.

My Christmas Tree became Festive Events, and then Gifts Gallery, since you can send a gift for numerous holidays or wannabe holidays, or for no reason. (Also for free, unlike the original facebook gifts.) I hid the application after Epiphany, but I also took screenshots of the gifts I received. (Last names are blurred to protect privacy.)

I also snapped the gifts I sent.

To be honest, I sent Kaitlyn two, because I forgot to add a message with the hula beanie bear. It was an unorthodox gift exchange, but quite nice for those of us on tight budgets.