Secret Vatican Spy | One convert's attempt to take over the world. Or…just another Catholic blog.
He pulled over immediately, and yes. The tire was flat. Quite, quite flat. TWO
Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. I’d tell you his name and show a picture but it’d embarrass him. And he’s a seminarian, so he probably doesn’t want his name attached to a blog that links the Eucharist with Doctor Who, forgiveness with llamas, and has posts about hymens.
But seriously, you guys: he looks just like Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. Now, his other two team members were running with Godspeed toward us. But the Priestly Prince? (he won’t be a princely priest for a few years)
He jogged effortlessly, the early evening sun casting beams upon his face. He looked positively saintly. I’m voting for his canonization as the Patron Saint of Stranded Missionaries. Or the patron saint of Priests Who Look Like Superheroes. Or the patron saint of Handsome Priests Who Break Hearts With Their Vocation. (Are you blushing yet, Prince Phillip?)
Prince Phillip and Company and my teammates headed off to a tiny town called Ponca City to find a place to change the tire. FIVE
Except. By the time we made it to the buzzing metropolis of Ponca City, driving 50 miles an hour on back country roads, the entire city bit of Ponca City was shut down. Because I’m back in Oklahoma, where the entire state is closed by 10, on a late night. SIX
Our awesome (awesome) director Anthony booked a few hotel rooms for us so we could get a good night’s sleep and get the tire changed ASAP Saturday morning. We did, and we made it safely to our first parish on Saturday afternoon (shout out to St. Benedict’s in Shawnee, OK!). SEVEN
(That would be you, Fr. Aaron). When you get a group of young, theologically informed Catholics together in a classroom and pump them up with copious amounts of coffee, someone is going to start asking questions that none of us teachers will ever face this summer.
(Unless, as a fellow teacher pointed out [that would be you, Rachel], you get a homeschooled kid. I have no excuses. It’s true). During one of these discussions, Father pointed out that someone’s objection to something (I don’t remember what it was — they were a seminarian and the question went over my head) was invalid because God is outside of time.
I grinned when I heard that, because it reminded me of Doctor Who, and I began making more analogies connecting Catholic theology to the Doctor, because that’s how I roll. I didn’t think anything else of it, and went through my next classes. Tonight, each Diocese present at training took an hour for all-night Adoration. I had recently received news about a tragic, painful death in the family of friends from home and was having a hard time focusing on prayer. I was tired, I was sore, I was hurting for my family and my friends; honestly, it’s the first time all week I just wasn’t “into” it.
Because his body holds all of eternity. And in his time, everything I’m going through has already happened. He has already won the victory. The people I mourn for, grieve with, and ache over have received their joy. Our night of weeping is over, and we have found hope. In his time, every motherless cry is being held in the arms of his mother. Our mother. Being surrounded by the love of our Father and restored by the Holy Spirit. When I’m in his presence, I’m not just in the presence of the Body and Blood. I’m in the presence of the Crucifixion. I’m kneeling there as Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of the Father, he who is fully God and fully Man, is being brutally slaughtered on a crude Cross for my salvation. For our salvation. For the salvation of the entire world, throughout time.
I’m clinging to Mary, whose only desire is for us to follow her Son and Savior. In that moment she isn’t a smiling statue. She is a mother whose son is mutilated and naked in front of her. The fruit of her sacred womb, the ark that held the fulfillment of the New Covenant. At the same time he’s smiling and laughing and telling the disciples to “Let the little children come!”, I’m a little girl in a tiny storefront country pentecostal church, cutting a paper heart with my name scribbled across and placing it inside a gold box, barely able to contain my joy at giving Jesus a Christmas present — but I’m also a 21 year old woman being baptized in water and spirit in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A 17 year old praying in an orphanage in China. A 3 year old welcoming a new sister home.
The courage of Esther. But more than anything, I am present when Christ fulfilled every single promise of God ever made in all of time. I feel the earth shaking, the unspeakable power of time. Time. Time. Shifting. Moving. The power of restoration. The power of the resurrection. I fall on my face as he rises again from the dead, the chains of death powerless to control the creator of all that is seen and unseen. The darkness of death unable to extinguish his marvelous, glorious light. He is victorious.
I’m writing this list from the safety of my family’s home. I’ve been busy hiding from the world and soaking up the love for the last week. Long story short, the straw that sent me over the edge into raging lunacy broke the camel’s back happened when my hotel room was broken into and every bit of cash, coin, and plastic I possessed was stolen. My parents, God bless them, were able to bid their life away on Priceline’s Name Your Own Price, and my blessed assurance was on a flight back to DFW almost immediately. TWO
THIS disaster has sickened me this week. Please, please, please pray for this man, and may God have mercy on the people — our glorious national leaders included — who are responsible for this man’s blood should anything happen. THREE
Head on over to his blog, and check out the book! FIVE
This post by Calah Alexander at Barefoot and Pregnant completely moved me today — as did the Mark Shea post that inspired it. SIX
Somewhere in the last few months of chaos in my life, my domain name expired. I went to re-register it today and it was bought by some off spam-sounding private investigation holder site. So bizarre. And now I’m sad. SEVEN
Secret Vatican Spy	Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Post to
Secret Vatican Spy | One convert's attempt to take over the world. Or…just another Catholic blog.
He pulled over immediately, and yes. The tire was flat. Quite, quite flat. TWO
Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. I’d tell you his name and show a picture but it’d embarrass him. And he’s a seminarian, so he probably doesn’t want his name attached to a blog that links the Eucharist with Doctor Who, forgiveness with llamas, and has posts about hymens.
But seriously, you guys: he looks just like Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. Now, his other two team members were running with Godspeed toward us. But the Priestly Prince? (he won’t be a princely priest for a few years)
He jogged effortlessly, the early evening sun casting beams upon his face. He looked positively saintly. I’m voting for his canonization as the Patron Saint of Stranded Missionaries. Or the patron saint of Priests Who Look Like Superheroes. Or the patron saint of Handsome Priests Who Break Hearts With Their Vocation. (Are you blushing yet, Prince Phillip?)
Prince Phillip and Company and my teammates headed off to a tiny town called Ponca City to find a place to change the tire. FIVE
Except. By the time we made it to the buzzing metropolis of Ponca City, driving 50 miles an hour on back country roads, the entire city bit of Ponca City was shut down. Because I’m back in Oklahoma, where the entire state is closed by 10, on a late night. SIX
Our awesome (awesome) director Anthony booked a few hotel rooms for us so we could get a good night’s sleep and get the tire changed ASAP Saturday morning. We did, and we made it safely to our first parish on Saturday afternoon (shout out to St. Benedict’s in Shawnee, OK!). SEVEN
(That would be you, Fr. Aaron). When you get a group of young, theologically informed Catholics together in a classroom and pump them up with copious amounts of coffee, someone is going to start asking questions that none of us teachers will ever face this summer.
(Unless, as a fellow teacher pointed out [that would be you, Rachel], you get a homeschooled kid. I have no excuses. It’s true). During one of these discussions, Father pointed out that someone’s objection to something (I don’t remember what it was — they were a seminarian and the question went over my head) was invalid because God is outside of time.
I grinned when I heard that, because it reminded me of Doctor Who, and I began making more analogies connecting Catholic theology to the Doctor, because that’s how I roll. I didn’t think anything else of it, and went through my next classes. Tonight, each Diocese present at training took an hour for all-night Adoration. I had recently received news about a tragic, painful death in the family of friends from home and was having a hard time focusing on prayer. I was tired, I was sore, I was hurting for my family and my friends; honestly, it’s the first time all week I just wasn’t “into” it.
Because his body holds all of eternity. And in his time, everything I’m going through has already happened. He has already won the victory. The people I mourn for, grieve with, and ache over have rec
eived their joy. Our night of weeping is over, and we have found hope. In his time, every motherless cry is being held in the arms of his mother. Our mother. Being surrounded by the love of our Father and restored by the Holy Spirit. When I’m in his presence, I’m not just in the presence of the Body and Blood. I’m in the presence of the Crucifixion. I’m kneeling there as Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of the Father, he who is fully God and fully Man, is being brutally slaughtered on a crude Cross for my salvation. For our salvation. For the salvation of the entire world, throughout time.
I’m clinging to Mary, whose only desire is for us to follow her Son and Savior. In that moment she isn’t a smiling statue. She is a mother whose son is mutilated and naked in front of her. The fruit of her sacred womb, the ark that held the fulfillment of the New Covenant. At the same time he’s smiling and laughing and telling the disciples to “Let the little children come!”, I’m a little girl in a tiny storefront country pentecostal church, cutting a paper heart with my name scribbled across and placing it inside a gold box, barely able to contain my joy at giving Jesus a Christmas present — but I’m also a 21 year old woman being baptized in water and spirit in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A 17 year old praying in an orphanage in China. A 3 year old welcoming a new sister home.
The courage of Esther. But more than anything, I am present when Christ fulfilled every single promise of God ever made in all of time. I feel the earth shaking, the unspeakable power of time. Time. Time. Shifting. Moving. The power of restoration. The power of the resurrection. I fall on my face as he rises again from the dead, the chains of death powerless to control the creator of all that is seen and unseen. The darkness of death unable to extinguish his marvelous, glorious light. He is victorious.
I’m writing this list from the safety of my family’s home. I’ve been busy hiding from the world and soaking up the love for the last week. Long story short, the straw that sent me over the edge into raging lunacy broke the camel’s back happened when my hotel room was broken into and every bit of cash, coin, and plastic I possessed was stolen. My parents, God bless them, were able to bid their life away on Priceline’s Name Your Own Price, and my blessed assurance was on a flight back to DFW almost immediately. TWO
THIS disaster has sickened me this week. Please, please, please pray for this man, and may God have mercy on the people — our glorious national leaders included — who are responsible for this man’s blood should anything happen. THREE
Head on over to his blog, and check out the book! FIVE
This post by Calah Alexander at Barefoot and Pregnant completely moved me today — as did the Mark Shea post that inspired it. SIX
Somewhere in the last few months of chaos in my life, my domain name expired. I went to re-register it today and it was bought by some off spam-sounding private investigation holder site. So bizarre. And now I’m sad. SEVEN
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