quick takes: what a Week.

Quick Takes

{One}

If you don’t know by now that Pope Benedict XVI has resigned as pope, I’m fairly certain that you live under a rock. I was at daily Mass when the priest said that he wanted to offer Mass for our Holy Father who had just announced his resignation and it took every ounce of my will not to publicly react with some combination of the following (since, you know, I was at Mass):

{Two}

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: now is a great, wonderful, and beautiful time to be a Catholic. In fact, it may even be one of the best times to be Catholic. We stand up. We defend our faith. We pray for our Church, our leaders, our priests, and our bishops. We answer endless questions about what this means for us as Catholics and we eagerly await the white smoke heralding a new Pope!

And we share the ridiculously awesome memes about Catholicism and the Papacy.

new pope shut it memeMother Church will stand strong, as she always has.

{Three}

Last week’s hangout about engaging the New Evangelization was seriously one of the coolest events I’ve been blessed to have participated in. Check out the video here, and a big thanks to Ed and Sister Theresa for being so amazing, and to Ryan for putting the whole thing together!

In the same vein…be sure to check out my first ever link-up! It will be live throughout Lent and I’d love to have you join the fun! Write about your favorite prayer – original or not – and then link back here. Visit “favorite Prayers.” for all of the details!

{Four}

7 days

ONE WEEK. ONE WEEK. ONE WEEK. One week until the GIGANTIC announcement about the fate of the book and what on God’s green earth I’ll be doing with it now that it has been rejected by book publishers. Pray for me and tune in next Friday, February 22nd for all of the awesome (?), scary (?), fabulous (?) details!
#WorthyBook. Tweet it up.

{Five}

This weekend I’ll be on retreat with 700+ middle school students in the Rocky Mountains. Believe me, I’m already praising God that I have Monday off to recover. Pray for us all – the teens, for their hearts to be open and touched by God, the chaperones, for their service to the teens, the youth ministers to keep their sanity, and for the countless volunteers and workers who make this whole thing possible.
Holy Spirit, come!

{Six}

Song of the week is…“How He Loves” by the David Crowder Band. This song smacked me upside the head on the middle school retreat last year.
“I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us…” and let me tell you, I was on my knees. No more regrets because His love is greater still. Welcome to Lent, a time to let go and be healed by His redemptive suffering.

{Seven}

This week I’m not sharing a Scripture passage or a quote from the Catechism as my seventh Quick Take. This week you get some brilliance straight from Scott Hahn. It definitely makes you think about your own personal style of leadership:
“Back on April 29, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI did something rather striking, but which went largely unnoticed.

He stopped off in Aquila, Italy, and visited the tomb of an obscure medieval Pope named St. Celestine V (1215-1296). After a brief prayer, he left his pallium, the symbol of his own episcopal authority as Bishop of Rome, on top of Celestine’s tomb!

Fifteen months later, on July 4, 2010, Benedict went out of his way again, this time to visit and pray in the cathedral of Sulmona, near Rome, before the relics of this same saint, Celestine V.

Few people, however, noticed at the time.

Only now, we may be gaining a better understanding of what it meant. These actions were probably more than pious acts. More likely, they were profound and symbolic gestures of a very personal nature, which conveyed a message that a Pope can hardly deliver any other way.

In the year 1294, this man (Fr. Pietro Angelerio), known by all as a devout and holy priest, was elected Pope, somewhat against his will, shortly before his 80th birthday (Ratzinger was 78 when he was elected Pope in 2005). Just five months later, after issuing a formal decree allowing popes to resign (or abdicate, like other rulers), Pope Celestine V exercised that right. And now Pope Benedict XVI has chosen to follow in the footsteps of this venerable model.”

Until next time 😉

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