What SuPeR HeRo Would You Be?
Superman
You are strong, but a little on the shy side, you are talented. But a word of advice, don't go changing in telephone boths, you can get arrested!
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Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans!
Your Political Profile: |
Overall: 20% Conservative, 80% Liberal |
Social Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal |
Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal |
Fiscal Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal |
Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal |
Defense and Crime: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal |
I’ve just been busy beyond belief the last several weeks, primarily with work. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a bit overwhelming at times. Although things haven’t really calmed down any, I feel that over the last week, I’ve begun to manage my time more efficiently at least. Far from what would be ideal, but a great start nonetheless.
Last weekend, Jimmy and I traveled to Kansas City, Missouri to attend one his close friend’s, Katie, wedding. Great trip all around. We ended up renting a car that had GPS in it, which was so convenient and absolutely awesome! For those who have never used such a device, it is just wonderful. You type in the address of where you’re wanting to go, or use the built in yellow pages if you don’t know the address… it will then calculate the directions to your destination based on where it finds you currently. Not only are the directions there, but the GPS unit physically speaks the direction to you as you drive telling you when to turn and what lane to be in. If by chance you miss a turn or something, it’ll quickly recalculate a new set of directions and get you back on course!
Jimmy had a great time seeing Katie once again, as I believe he hadn’t seen her in over a year. He actually ended up playing the piano at the wedding pretty much last minute. He did wonderfully. Very beautiful wedding… very well planned. Other than the best man almost fainting twice and accidentally setting a trash can on fire in the church, the wedding went completely according to plan.
The night before the wedding, Katie’s fiancé and soon to be husband Matt held a rehearsal dinner / outdoor party at his parents’ house about 40 minutes away. The party was pretty fun. I got to meet a lot of Jimmy’s / Katie’s friends that live up there. They’re all great!
Anyway, as Jimmy caught up more with his friends at the party, I went back to the table to eat some more (remember, I’m always hungry). As I ate, I was accompanied by the priest who was going to be conducting the wedding, Father Steve. He had just been recently ordained about 3 weeks prior, so this was going to be his first wedding as a priest. We chatted for about 45-60 minutes on just a multitude of things, primarily religion. He was thoroughly impressed with my knowledge about very specific matters relating to religion, Christianity, and Catholicism in general.
We talked about our histories with the church… turns out we actually had quite a bit in common. During college, he drifted away from the church altogether. He attended medical school and became a doctor. He hadn’t attended mass in over ten years. He said he felt something missing in his life, and decided to come back to the church. He later decided to attend seminary school to become a priest. We talked about my reasons for not attending church in so long, and also how I had recently come back. We discussed the various sacraments and such, and he asked when I had last gone to confession. I couldn’t do anything but laugh initially as it’s been years. I honestly think the last time I confessed my sins was when I was like 16 years old (10 years ago.) He offered to get to the church a bit early the next day prior to the wedding to hear my confession if I was up for it. I thought, what the hell, I really should.
Prior to actually going in for confession, I was trying to make sure I could think of as much stuff as I could in preparation. I turns out that I really didn’t have very many unique sins, just multiple instances of the same ones over and over and over and over again. I also came to realize that I had completely forgot the Act of Contrition, the prayer one prays right after confession to ask God for forgiveness and the piety to try to sin no more. Father Steve was more than happy to help me out with it… it actually started coming back to me as I began to recite it.
As he began to give me my penance he said it was going to be pretty hefty, to which I immediately freak out thinking it’s gonna be like 500+ prayers. It turned out not to be bad at all. Simply pray the rosary one time through to which ever mystery I wanted to focus on. He also said I didn’t have to do it immediately, such to get it done within a week… which was good since I didn’t know where my rosary was and needed to get a new one anyway.
Anyway, I can’t even describe how great I felt after the confession was over! I was absolutely shocked! The effect was completely overwhelming… I wasn’t prepared for this at all. I can’t remember feeling so free. I felt like I had the weight of the world off my shoulders. Everything was so clear! Even now, as I sit here typing this blog post, I’m completely aware that I have changed quite a bit over this last week due to that confession. Things that I once thought were important seem less significant, and things that I thought were once inconsequential are now very much important. This is definitely something I'm going to do on a weekly basis.
So, while I still don’t know what I ultimately want to do with life, I don’t feel burdened by that. I know that as long as I’m true to myself and to God, I will have the strength to do whatever it is that I’m meant to do.
I’ve even decided that I need to go ahead and receive the sacrament of confirmation. I’m actually glad that I didn’t receive this sacrament during high school as I would have really only been doing it at the time because I would have felt it expected. I simply would have been going through the motions… completely negating the true reason for confirmation. Now, as an adult making the decision to do this because it’s what I really want to do, it is much more meaningful for me.
So overall, I feel absolutely wonderful now that I’ve accepted a faith that I once set aside for vain and petty excuses. On a side note, this past Monday I went out to purchase a rosary so that I could complete my penance. I got one commemorating St. Patrick. Anyway, I've noticed that when I pray the rosary, I feel like my grandmother is right there with me more than ever... so this is now something I'm trying to do at least once a day.