I've neglected the blog lately, but that's not to say I haven't been keeping up on my reading and learning and experiencing. Here's a quick update:
St. Joseph proved to me that he was only getting warmed up when he threw me a small opportunity for some typing work on the feast of St. Joseph the worker. About four weeks ago, I resigned myself to moving out of the area to find work. I didn't want to leave the parish I'd just joined and I didn't want to leave my family, who are all still around here, but I was quickly running out of ways to make my loan payments. I looked at catholicjobs.com and applied to be an English teacher at a Catholic high school in Fairfax, Virginia. That Thursday I got a call from a company that makes closed captions. They found my resume online and asked if I'd like to come in for an interview. I drove out the next day. The office is a little less than 90 minutes from home. They called me the next Monday and offered me the job!
I'm in my second week at my new job, and I love it. The work is good (and it applies to my English degree), the people are super nice, the drive isn't even bad, and it's a schmancy grown-up job with insurance and vacation days and 401Ks and all that stuff I don't understand. I honestly believe I wouldn't have had this opportunity if my friends (and my friends' moms) and my priests hadn't been praying for me. Prayer can do wonders. I feel like this is where I belong.
And speaking of the parish I just joined, it's official: A lady from my parish called me and asked if I'd like to help decorate and make meatballs for Father M.'s going-away open house. Now I'm a real member.
I received a package in the mail on Saturday from E., who you may recall is studying in Rome. The package contained a lovely letter and a holy card with what I'm assuming is the scene from the Bible that features my favorite Latin construct, although I don't know that E. knew that. Lucky guess? Higher power? Anyway, it's the part where the woman says to Jesus, "Do not touch me." "Noli me tangere." That literally translates to, "Do not wish to touch me." I've always enjoyed nolo and volo.
The package from E. also included a beautiful rosary, with beads that look like ripe red berries, as a "welcome to The Church" present. E. says this rosary has been blessed by Pope Benedict, which is pretty cool. I was telling all this to my brother on Saturday at his birthday pool party. My brother is not Catholic, but nevertheless brought me a lovely rosary from Notre Dame when he visited Paris this winter. (He said to me, "I didn't know what I was doing, so I picked the pretty one," and I said, "That's what I do!")
Brother Mine seemed to be interested in what I was telling him, but that opened me up to derision from some of my friends. Unprovoked, they mocked my way of life (i.e. I have no desire to go to a store that sells sex toys), and one person likened a papal blessing to Tinkerbell's fairy dust. When I said I wanted to learn Italian and visit Italy in the next year or two, one friend said, "Wait, do you only want to go to Italy so you can see the Vatican?" as though the words tasted bad in her mouth. "Seeing as I have a friend who lives there," I said, "I thought I might stop by."
This incessant and uncalled for attitude is present in just a couple of my friends, but it's been grating on my last nerve. I endured it this weekend, but I was frustrated. I was fully prepared to give in to anger--or if not anger, a calm request that they shut their mouths--the next time the subject arose. In a mood to vent, and too shy to ask Father N.'s advice after Mass, I used the "Ask Father" link on Fr. Z.'s blog. And here is what I saw tonight. Fr. Z. actually answered my question! That was kind of cool. Even cooler was the advice he gave and the supportive words a bunch of people in the comments gave me. Fr. Z. says to let them see how joyful I am in my faith. They'll realize what they're missing eventually. He also says to keep up with my reading to make sure I can defend my faith when I'm confronted with misconceptions about Catholicism. It'll be tough, but I think I can manage not to resort to angry retorts. Is there a patron saint for that?
In other news, we had Ascension (Thursday) Sunday last week, and Pentecost this past week. I guess in the old calendar, Pentecost came with an octave like Easter and Christmas. Makes sense that it would. Does that mean the priests at Extraordinary Form Masses are wearing red vestments this week while the priests at the Ordinary Form have already switched back to green? I know green is supposed to be the usual color, but to me it's always jarring. The priests were wearing white when I first started going to Mass, so in my head that's what they wear by default.
