Valentine's Day Book Suggestions

I don't know about you, but reading books gets me excited for different holidays, whether it be reading Christmas stories to the little ones in my family at Christmas time or reading about the Passion and Resurrection at Easter. But what is good to read near Valentine's Day? For a Catholic, romance novels are out (I don't know how anyone like those ditzy things anyway) but there are some books that always excite me for the idea of love, not just in a romantic sense, but in a general sense. So, without further ado, here is my list of Valentine's reading suggestion:

• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott ~ This is the perfect example of a true book on love. Everyone in this book loves each other, albeit in different ways.
  
• The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Orzy ~ Goodness, this is my very favorite book! It's really a romance in disguise as an action novel. The love that grows between two characters in this book is breath taking. 
  
• A Tale of The War of The Roses (Grisly Grisell), Charlotte M. Yonge ~ Another of my favorite books, it shows love from the point of view of one that gives much and receives almost none. 
  
• The Mystery of Love for the Single, Fr. Dominic J. Unger ~ My mother gave me this book as a joke earlier this week and though I haven't read all of it yet, it is certainly wonderful for those who are depressed about being single on Valentines. 
  
   
  
  
  I hope you aren't disappointed by the shortness of the this post but I didn't have a lot of time this morning. Love you all and have a Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Today's Patron Saint ~ St. Agatha

The Catholic Influence: The X-Files

Most of the older crowd reading this blog probably knows this show, but for my age group, I shall enlighten you. The X-Files was a show made in the late 90s early 00s starring the very handsome David Duchovny and beautiful Gillian Anderson. The plot is pretty much that FBI Agent Fox Mulder and his partner Dana Scully are assigned to the X-Files, government files that have been deemed unexplainable. While chasing monsters, ghosts, and UFOs, we see that Mulder is the gullible and "Wants to believe," Scully is cynical, skeptical, and "Trusts No One."

How could a show that deals with monsters and aliens have a Catholic influence? Well, it's all because of my favorite character, Scully. Scully was born a Catholic, and where Mulder is ready to chase after any proof of UFOs, Scully is just as ready to chase after proof of God.

For example, in the episode "Revelations," *Scully and Mulder investigate the murder of a popular evangelist who claimed, falsely as it turns out, to bear the stigmata. Mulder is aware that there have been other similar murders but when they are called to a nearby school, they meet Kevin Kryder, a 12 year-old who seems to genuinely show the signs of stigmata. The boy's father is in prison for child abuse and Mulder is skeptical about it all. Scully however struggles with her own religious views and comes to believe that the boy may be genuine. She also comes to believe that she is there to protect him. * taken from IMDb

At the end of that episode, Scully goes to confession for the first time in 6 years and we get this great dialog between her and the priest:

Priest: Sometimes we must come full circle to find the truth. Why does that surprise you?
Scully: Mostly it just makes me afraid.
Priest: Afraid?
Scully: Afraid that God is speaking, but that no one's listening.

So, overall, I guess what I want to say is that creator Chris Carter did a great job dealing with Catholicism in a way that makes it seem real, and not bogus, which isn't done very often. I mean, he could have made Scully, the great scientific mind, atheist, which I guess would have been typical. But he didn't, he made her an avid Catholic, for which I thank him.

Oh, and did I mention she always wears the cross her mother gave her? :)

Wordless Wednesday: Pope Francis ~ Person of the Year

The Christmas Spirit: How Much Spirit Do You Have?

As you can see, I have kind of dressed up the blog for Christmas. I have a cool Christmasy, an advent wreath (if you click on it you will get some awesome Advent prayers too!) and, of course, a Christmas quiz. Where is the quiz you might ask? Well, you are looking right at it! Here is the quiz that tells you what kind of Christmas Spirit you have.

Do you believe in Santa Claus?
1. Of course! His name is St. Nicholas!
2. There is no Santa Clause.
3. Who cares, I get presents don't I?

Do you enjoy decorating your tree?
1. Yes, immensely! And listening to Christmas music while I do!
2. We don't get a tree.
3. Yeah, because without a tree, there are no presents!

Do you like Christmas shopping?
1. Yes! I love buying things for others!
2. I hate Christmas shopping! It's so inconvenient!
3. I would rather shop for myself.

How do you feel about homemade gifts?
1. Anything made from the heart is a wonderful gift. 
2. Just more junk I have to clean.
3. But I wanted an X-Box 360!  

What are your favorite Christmas colors to wear?
1. Red and green are nice, but I think white shows the meaning of the season more.
2. Anything but red and green! What a horrid color combo!
3. Red and green for sure!

Do you go/wish you did go to Midnight Mass on Christmas?
1. Oh yes! It's so magical!
2. I would fall asleep in the pew!
3. I can't stay up that late! I have to wake up early to open my presents!

Do you ever ask for anything for Christmas?
1. No, I don't think it is appropriate.
2. No, what's the point? I probably won't get it anyway?
3. YES! Always!

Do you go Christmas light searching?
1. I do when I can. I find it so beautiful!
2. Christmas lights are a driving distraction and should be banned!
3. Only if it's a light show.

Here are the results!

If you got mostly 1. you are filled with the true Christmas spirit and love the religion part of Christmas as well as the good parts of secular Christmas festivities.

If you got mostly 2. you are a scrooge, an absolute hater of Christmas, religious and secular. You should be ashamed!

If you got mostly 3. you are on the right track, but need to ease up on the secular side of Christmas. Presents aren't everything.

Hope you have a great Advent and a fantastic Christmas!

Book Review: Fabiola or The Church of The Catacombs

 Yup, I am so uncreative about ideas to write, I have resorted to book reviews. -_-
My Thoughts: 
For a book originally entitled "The Church of The Catacombs," you don't spend a lot of time in the catacombs...

This book, by Cardinal Wiseman was not exactly what I expected. I was really hyped up about reading this, and, don't get me wrong, it was a good book, but it wasn't... exciting. It comes across as a religion textbook, which isn't a bad thing, but for a book set during the persecution under Diocletian, you would think there would be a little more action. It does have some very intense sequences, but jeez, do we have to build up to them over five chapters of dialog and description? I think Chapter II was just devoted to describing Pancratius' house that we never see again. 

Summary:
Speaking of Pancratius, I will try to give a spoiler-free overview of the plot. Mainly, it's about Fabiola (the only fictional main or supporting character in the book), a Roman pagan, who is converted by the hordes of saints that his Eminence Cardinal Wiseman could fit into the story.

Where The Book Went Wrong:

This is where I think the story failed: there were way to many saint that we weren't enough given time, dialog, or description to make us care about them. Some of these saints are only seen for a one chapter, which is not enough time to become emotionally attached to a character. St. Emerentiana, for example, simply appears after the martyrdom of St. Agnes saying she is the foster sister of the saint. She literally has almost zero dialog in the book after that. Then suddenly she is martyred and we are suppose to feel really sad about it. I mean, humans should care about everyone's misfortune, but that isn't really how we work. We need to have some sort of attachment to become... well... attached. This is well explained by Data and Riker in the Star Trek episode "The Bonding."

Where The Book Went Right: 
Alright, now I suppose I have had my griping ! Even after all that, I still enjoyed the book. Fabiola's character was excellently written, as were the main saints such as St. Sebastian, St. Agnes, and St. Pancratius. But really, I think what saves this book for me is two things.

1). The villains. Oh my, the villains were so well written! I could do a character study on both of the main antagonists they were fleshed out so much!  And they were so much more interesting than the protagonists! I don't know why, but I feel more attracted to villains because I like to see what makes them tick and what makes them do what they do. In most books I have read, the good guys are simply good because it is the right thing to do. Antagonists always have a more interesting reason. Heck, sometimes that whole reason can be the biggest plot point in a story (*Cough* Star Wars *Cough*) and that is pretty cool.

2). A certain plot twist that I will not tell about. I will not spoil it for you! All I will say is that I love plot twists. A lot of people find them annoying, but me, no way! If a writer can fool me, then he is the better man. Plus, plot twists are usually really original, so that is fantastic!

Facts Surrounding the Book:
Okay, this is where I go on Wikipedia and see if I can find any awesome trivia around the book. The first thing I would like to point out is that Cardinal Wiseman wrote the book in answer to an anti-Catholic book by Charles Kingsley called Hypatia. Now that is awesome!That makes me appreciate the book a thousand times more! It also explains why it feels like a religion textbook.

Another fact is that they made an movie loosely based on the book, and I put loosely in italics. Here is a movie poster. You guess why...

Yeah... It actually says "Goddess of Love In A City Of Sin..." I thought this was based on a Christian book! Did I mention that there is not romance in the whole book? I mean, it is suggested that Fabiola has a mild crush on Sebastian, but it is never more than that. -_- Sometimes I hate movies.

Anyhow, I enjoyed doing this review! I think I will have to do this again!

Next Book: 
"Come Rack, Come Rope" by Robert Hugh Benson. Set during the Elizabethan period (my favorite period in history) it looks awesome! If you want to read it along with me, go right ahead!

Also, if you have any comments, please do comment! The support and criticism is helpful!

Newsflash: Habemus Noui Pontificis!

Yes, you heard me right! We have a new Pope!

Our new Pontiff, Francis I

Pope Francis I, aka, Jorge Bergoglio, was elected pope this afternoon... or should I say tonight, as it is tonight in Rome. This man, hailing from Argentina, came in second in the last papal election but was disregarded in this election because of his age, 76. Apparently the cardinals don't think about age. He looks like a pope to me. That may sound sort of charismatic, but he does. He reminds me of our great Pope Pius XII in his appearence.

Pope Pius XII

Let us pray for our new pope with great fervor and love!

Holy Smokes!

BONUS!!!

Here is a YouTube track of the Papal Anthem, played just before he appeared on the balcony. Since I am a music geek, here you go!!!