This Saying is Hard--Thoughts on the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Many of Jesus' disciples who were listening said, 'This saying is hard; who can accept it?'"  -John 6:60

I love this line from today's Gospel reading.  I find myself using it pretty regularly--"God, this situation is ridiculously hard; do you really expect me to accept it?" (Especially in those early morning/late night/no nap situations... really?  I'm really supposed to be able to get through this?  And with a good attitude?!  Ha.)

And I love that in her divinely bestowed wisdom our Church has paired this reading from the end of the Bread of Life Discourse with Paul's exhortation to spouses from Ephesians 5.  Sitting in Mass today we went directly from "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church." (Ephesians 5:31-32) to "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"

I find this pairing particularly appropriate on two different levels.  Everywhere we turn today we find people who look at the Church's teachings on marriage and sexuality and respond with "This saying is hard (and ridiculous, out-dated, oppressive, hateful, etc.); who (in their right mind) can accept it?"  How many of Jesus' 21st century disciples have walked (or drifted) away from his words of everlasting life because they are hard? 

On an even deeper level, hearing these two readings paired highlights the beautiful connections between marriage and the Eucharist.  St. Paul tells us at the end of today's reading from Ephesians that the maritial union of a man and woman becoming one flesh is a great mystery--and it is to be understood in relation to Christ and his Church.  Alex and I chose this passage as the second reading at our wedding Mass.  We did so for several reasons (one of which may or may not have been an attempt to scandalize some of our guests with the very non-PC language of submission), but primarily because we felt this one passage most clearly summarized the wedding vows.  The mystery of truly becoming one flesh in marriage requires the mutual submission about which St. Paul writes (although you may have missed the mutual part if you got the shortened version at Mass today).  As a wife, I submit to Alex.  Not as a doormat, not as a slave, not as someone whose ideas or preferences or dignity is somehow less important than his.  Rather, I do so as someone who has chosen to place herself under his mission.  In short, I submit to Alex as I do to Christ.  And I am called to do this because he is also called to submit.  This can be easy to miss in reading Ephesians 5--we hear about wives submitting first and it can be hard to get past that to fully consider what husbands are called to do in turn.  But the role of husband being discussed second actually places a stronger emphasis on the way in which he is called to sacrifice.  It's not exactly the same way--in fact, in my opinion, it's an even harder way.  As a husband, Alex is head of our family as Christ is head of the Church.  That means death--death to self for my sake, just as Christ died for the Church.  Alex is called to submit everything for my good.  That makes it pretty easy (at least in theory) for me to submit to him.

But this is still a hard saying--because I'm fallen I don't always want to submit, even when it makes sense in theory.  Thank God for the grace of the sacrament of marriage, and for the grace of the Eucharist--the sacramental marriage feast between Christ and his bride, the Church.  And just as real physical union is necessary to the sacrament of marriage, so also in our marriage to Christ we experience real physical union with God through receiving Jesus--body, blood, soul and divinity--in the Eucharist.

John is relating the reaction of many of Jesus' followers upon hearing the shocking claim that Jesus' flesh is quite literally true food and his blood is true drink.  Some of them simply cannot/will not accept this and they leave.  But Paul's sayings about marriage--both between a man and woman here on earth, and between Christ and his Church for all eternity--are also hard. 

I don't know about you, but I desperately need the first to live out the second!

7 Quick Takes (vol. 10)

--- 1 ---

It has been a ridiculously long day, courtesy of an anti-sleep toddler and some very hectic scrambling to finish things up for work before the fall semester starts on Monday.  The over-tired anti-sleep toddler is currently being put to bed by his heroic father (wish him luck, folks) and I'm trying to remember that despite working almost six hours from home today (after long days on my regular two at work days) it is, in fact, Friday night and I shouldn't be thinking about work.

There was most emphatically not enough of this today.

--- 2 ---

As a result of my need to be glued to my computer for a good chunk of the day, Michael got full doses of both Thomas and Backyardigans.  Thank you, TV nanny.  I feel like such a horrible parent... but I am thankful that my job is such that when those extra hours are required I can put them in from home.

--- 3 ---

Third trimester has kicked in with a vengeance.  In addition to everything else I definitely feel like I've started to waddle.  Alex is very sweet and reassures me that I don't look at all like I'm waddling.

--- 4 ---

But I do.  Especially when I get up and try to walk after I've been sitting for any length of time.

--- 5 ---

I've also been feeling very nest-y (which stage for some unfortunate reason I totally skipped with M).  Since I can't paint a nursery or organize baby clothes (yet!) I vented my nesting impulses by giving the blog a makeover.  Whatever it takes...

--- 6 ---

I'm also on the hunt for a new diaper bag.  The one we've been using worked well enough for one baby, but several of the pockets are fairly non-functional.  I need functional pockets, and lots of 'em.  The problem is I want something along the general lines of this, but it's apparently too feminine for Alex to carry around.  And I'm not willing to commit to being the only diaper bag handler.  Any recommendations on places to look for  a large over-the-shoulder tote bag that doesn't look at all like a purse (and has lots of pockets!)?

--- 7 ---

M still isn't asleep...  Last night he was lulled to sleep by his brother kicking him repeatedly in the stomach--maybe it's time for me to go relieve Alex and we'll just try that method again.

Go see Jen for more quick takes!

Long Days and Short Nights--An Ode to the Third Trimester

Okay, not really an ode.  More of a rant.  Or a plea for sympathy.  Or something like that.

I almost wrote this post at 1:30 this morning when, yet again, I woke up from my first couple hours of perfect sleep to a seemingly interminable period of tossing and turning.  It’s probably a good thing that I didn’t—it would have been really whiny instead of just kinda-sorta whiny.  And I’m several sips into the best latte I’ve ever had, so that will help considerably as well.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 9)

--- 1 ---

I'm expecting extraordinary--or at least strange--things from today: I voluntarily got out of bed when Alex got up this morning.  Before Michael was awake.  And it wasn't because I had to go to the bathroom for the gazillionth time and couldn't get comfortable enough to go back to sleep.  And I didn't even have to go to work.  Furthermore, I didn't go back to bed when Alex left for work (which is what usually happens when I manage to be such an amazing wife that I get up and help him get out the door and have the amazing good fortune to find myself still with a sleeping child after my husband is gone).  Are you impressed?  You should be...

--- 2 ---

I was rewarded by getting to see my breath in the cool, crisp, feels-like-October-not-August-air this morning.  I love fall!!!  I am soooooo ready for it to really be fall and not just tease me like this (even though it's only 50 now it's still supposed to get up past 80 today... but that's still an improvement over days upon days in the 90s!).

--- 3 ---

We've almost made it through our loooong week without the pool.  After our epic July vacation we realized 1) Michael is part fish and 2) pregnancy + swimming = heaven (until I get out of the pool and feel 25 pounds heavier than I did before the bliss of buoyancy).  So we went ahead and signed up for a family pass at our local rec center and thoroughly enjoyed it.  For a week.  Before they closed the entire place down for their annual (I'm assuming) deep cleaning.  *sigh*  We're eagerly awaiting the grand re-opening (grand for us, at least).

Michael swimming with Papa at the lake in ND.

--- 4 ---

Have you ever heard a dying rabbit?  I think coyotes sound creepy enough on their own, but mix in the screams of the rabbits they are apparently eating, and you have quite possibly my least favorite sound in the entire world.  Especially when I wake up from an unusually peaceful sleep to that particular gem of a noise.  And it's even worse now that I have Michael, because those first few seconds are spent in a panic trying to discern whether I woke up to Michael screaming like a banshee or coyotes feasting.  That's one particular little detail Nature could have just kept to herself, as far as I'm concerned.

--- 5 ---

So that's something else for us to consider as our house search is (hopefully) about to begin in earnest (!!!): what is the local coyote population?  I'm pretty sure the answer to that anywhere within the state is "thriving."  Including thoroughly urban and populated areas of Denver, where we have, in fact, seen coyotes roaming parking lots.

--- 6 ---

Yes, after saying all summer that we were "getting closer" to starting to look seriously and "keeping our eye on the market" (aka stalking houses online and getting waaaay too emotionally attached to the idea of various houses and then having MY house sold right from under my nose at least three times) we're just about ready to actually move forward with the search.  And about time--if we want to be at all settled before Liam is born then this needs to happen.  Soon.  (Yes, God has a plan... God has a plan... GodhasaplanGodhasaplanGodhasaplan... but why won't He tell me what it is already?!?!?!)

--- 7 ---

Finally, check out this awesome new Bible study on the Sunday readings: Opening the Word.  You can even download a free sample!  I have the joy/privilege/thrill of being on the writing team for this project, but I don't get paid extra for promoting it ;)  The format is conducive for just about any size group--RCIA class, adult faith formation group, family study, or even individual study.

Happy Friday!!!  Go see Jen for more quick takes!

Embrace the Camera Vol. 1

I was making my rounds of mommy-blogs today and stumbled across Emily at the anderson crew and her inspiring challenge to embrace the camera.  She gives a much more eloquent explanation, but essentially it involves being intentional about getting pictures of yourself with the ones you love now, rather than waiting till you're a little more prepared for your ideal photo shoot (which, in my case, would mean minimal pictures of myself for probably a year--after I lose all the pregnancy weight from Liam plus the 10 pounds or so that I never lost from Michael).

So this evening I grabbed the camera to try to get a couple shots with Michael.  He wasn't particularly cooperative (he wanted to look through the camera rather than be on the business end of the photo) but we still ended up with Embrace the Camera Vol. 1:

Too quick with the kisses to be caught on camera

Mom, enough already!

7 Quick Takes (vol. 8)

--- 1 ---

I am so way ridiculously overdue for a blog post... but I have a good excuse!  Or several, which kind of maybe add up to over a month of no blogging (whoops).  And I promise to not use up all seven takes just listing my excuses!  I also promise a photo-filled quick takes to appease Nicole (and anyone else who comes here just to look at pictures of Michael and not to actually ready anything, which is totally fair), followed (hopefully shortly) by more posts detailing our epic adventures over the last month.

Indubitably more interesting than anything his Mama writes.

--- 2 ---

Our last month has been incredi-busy, but in a really good way.  The first weekend in July we headed out to Lincoln for a wonderful, relaxing, hot, and humid week with my parents.  We knew they'd be feeling kind of desolate after just finishing up six weeks of dog-sitting for my sister and brother-in-law, so we decided they needed some time with their grandson to cheer them up.

Despite Michael's rather stoic expressions in both pictures, I promise we all thoroughly enjoyed each other.  We're back to our weekly video chats now, but it's just not the same.  And Michael doesn't understand why Grandma and Grandpa aren't there to talk to him every time I turn on the computer.  When I sit down at the computer he comes running and demands "uhh!" (up!) so he can laugh and point and yell "bampa! bampa!" (used interchangeably for both Grandma and Grandpa) at the computer, but all he gets is Facebook.  Poor guy...

--- 3 ---

After our week in Lincoln we headed north to Fargo for the beautiful wedding of Alex's beautiful cousin Beth (and we welcomed another Michael--and another Nebraskan--into the family... I'm sure I didn't punctuate that correctly so as to alleviate any ambiguity about the number of people involved... oh well).  We drove across North Dakota to the tiny paradise of Mott for another beautiful wedding of another of Alex's beautiful cousins, Katie.

Michael monopolized Caraline on the dance floor--
even to the point of cutting in on the bride.

Michael's cake face.
Actually, his anything-he-wants-to-eat face.

Michael thoroughly enjoyed the dancing,
and my arms got quite the workout.

--- 4 ---

We had an absolutely lovely time at the weddings and spending time with family before, in between, and after.  But being pregnant during wedding season is no fun.  Free alcohol + growing baby = Alex drinking for 3 (as he says) and me just feeling jealous and somewhat sorry for myself as I try not to scandalize those who may not be keeping up on the latest research out of Denmark.

--- 5 ---

Speaking of pregnancy, I don't know if I can handle continuing to work--even part time--through the rest of this pregnancy.  For the first and second trimesters my hormones more or less behaved themselves in public, but this week I simply could not keep myself from thoroughly internalizing everyone else's problems at work. I know that I tend to internalize problems (okay, everything) to some extent anyway, but pregnancy hormones just made the situations (yes, plural) ridiculous this week.

--- 6 ---

But despite the havoc he's wreaking on my limbic system, Liam is certainly doing just fine.  He's crazy busy (especially at bedtime, of course) and his favorite pastimes are doing flips, kicking his brother, and kicking his father.  Maybe once the Olympics are over he'll stop trying to do every sport at once inside me.

--- 7 ---

Oops, slacking on pictures.  So to finish out this first post in forever, enjoy these moments from our adventures:

Go see Jen for more quick takes!