sister clare's ninth birthday
We went and saw the play "Nunsense" with our friend/church music director and our priest. It was hilarious; I suggest you see it if you have a chance. It's even more humourous if you are Catholic and/or have attended Catholic school. Anyway it was great. There are a few interactive parts within the play and when asked who was Catholic our entire row shot their hands up. Our priest was in "plain clothes" so we were not singled out for being with a man of the cloth. Clare was asked her name and given a prize "just for being Catholic" (a Holy card of St. Bernadette). She also spent the night with our music director with another friend her age from church. Her first night to sleep over somewhere!
A few intriguing points were brought up while we were waiting to enter the theatre. Mind you, our priest is rather tall and has a voice which certainly can be heard. We were discussing the Passion of the Christ film, and he stated that Mel Gibson basically made Braveheart all over again, this time with Jesus, portraying him to be a superhero of sorts. By this he meant that he had the "tar" beat out of him and he was still alive. The historian in me agrees. Historically speaking, there were numerous times when it is documented, in the 18th and 19th centuries, that slaves received beatings to lesser degrees which killed them. So the extent to which the beatings/scourging of Jesus took place in the film was, indeed, over the top. Father commented that Jesus "took a beating and kept on ticking". I saw several folks look over at that point, they most likely thought he was being blasphemous. Little did they know, they were in the company of a priest. I found that quote to be rather noteworthy.
Another topic of discussion was how disgraceful people dress when coming to Mass. Granted, on Saturdays people have always dressed more casually. But it is simply getting out of hand. We constantly see girls (and their mothers) wearing micro-mini skirts, flip flops, sleeveless shirts and tank tops. I asked our priest if he felt this was acceptable (Sister Clare says they are not dressing appropriately for "the King")...he said that he really isn't paying too much attention since he has alot on his mind during Communion. Another noteworthy quote was, "As long as they are not crawling up the altar, I don't care." I cracked up over that one.
Clare received two Target gifts cards and some birthday money (which she put towards her new blue Schwinn bicycle), clothes, Adidas soccer cleats, books, an American Girls Coconut the dog card making kit, a game, a subscription to Highlights, a night out for dinner and the play, and a basket of beautiful flowers from her Godparents. She had all the makings of a great birthday.
This afternoon she was fairly angry with the Sanrio Hello Kitty website. There is a section where you can type in questions to receive psychic answers from one of the characters. I saw her typing in "Will I date boys when I am older", and "Will I become a nun when I grow up". Apparently the answers were not what she wanted to receive, because she ended up stomping downstairs to inform me she was NOT going to play on the Sanrio site anymore and she was going right back upstairs to play games on EWTN for kids (the Catholic channel website). I simply had to giggle to myself on that one. It now seems that Hello Kitty is the spawn of the devil around this house.
