Category: good for the soul

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the cnmc blues — the post conference reflection

IMG_5284I laugh a little at the idea that you can go to a conference, have a blast, and then have a week-long depressive state because you miss everybody — in many cases people you’ve met for the first time.

I’ve written about this before here, here, here, here, and here, and I think I finally put my finger on it. The struggle is real, folks.

The Catholic New Media Celebration Conference Celebration, an annual gathering of consumers and producers of digital Catholic content hosted by Star Quest Production Network (SQPN!), celebrates the people behind the content. I think it’s SQPN’s greatest gift: community building. Because like the Magi, we are following a star and we are blessed to be together on that journey, sometimes leading each other, sometimes following, often extending or reaching for a hand.

Let’s be clear, content is king as Captain Jeff so cleverly explained in his presentation on podcasting, and The Content really is The King, Jesus Christ, since our whole raison d’etre as content providers is Evangelization. 

But the people…the people who produce this content. That also drives me…enriches me…fills me with the warm fuzzies that bring me back year after year. I want to see and laugh with and hug the people who are my daily dose of online interaction. You see, even those people who don’t think they are content providers because they don’t have podcasts or blogs — they provide content all the time in their engagement in all the comboxes, twitterfeeds, facebook statuses, instagrams, periscope videos, and yes, even snapchats. It’s good to get together and be present in a room. To laugh. Sometimes to shed a little tear. But always to celebrate these relationships — the flesh and blood reminder that we are real people behind the static profile pictures.

I want to know what their laughter sounds like — so it rings in my heart when I see LOL.

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Other reflections from #CNMC15 in Atlanta, Georgia June 7, 2015

Sarah Perkins,  Most Usually Unusual: #CNMC

Lyn Francisco, the Organ-ic Chemist: My CNMC Experience

Patrick Padley at PatrickPadley.com: Finding Peace When Making Difficult Decisions and CNMC Wrap-Up

Catholic Weekend live from CNMC: CW275: CNMC 2015 Conversation with Fr. Dave Dwyer

Greg and Jennifer Willits, The Catholics Next Door TNCD #090: Secret Origins

Steve Nelson at Everything Esteban: Rejuvenation at CNMC15

Tiffany at Life of a Catholic Librarian: CNMC 2015 – Affirmation & Friendship. And apparently tears…

Lyn Francisco put together a Twitter Tagboard

Allison Gingras from Reconciled to You unpacks the CNMC at A Seeking Heart on Real Life Radio

Lisa Hendey at A Good Measure  #OPTIC Hackathon & #CNMC15 Inspire and Recharge Catholic Geeks

add your links in the comments and I’ll update

 

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Why I Remain a Catholic

hermita

Why do I remain a Catholic?

That’s the question posed by Elizabeth Scalia at Patheos.com — a challenge to Catholic writers everywhere to respond. Here is an excerpt from her piece, which you should read in its entirety, including links, here.

How about if Catholic writers from all over the internet — bloggers, reporters, poets, aggregators, newshounds, journal editors, politicians, new-media-storming priests and nuns, Catholics in secular positions — what if they all were to take a few minutes to jot down “Why I Remain A Catholic” and post it where they can, on websites or social media?

How great would that be — a cloud of witnesses in the ether, another kind of Communion of Saints?

So why do I remain Catholic?

Because I didn’t.

Because in my 20s and early 30s I walked away from the faith in which I was raised.

I turned my back on 2000 years of tradition.

I ignored the tenets, practices, commandments, exhortations, teachings, parables, lessons, and scripture that taught me how to live.

I rejected the Truth.

I pooh-poohed the notion of sin — sin that eats away at us — in favor of modern, secular, relativism. After all, I wasn’t hurting anyone.

I considered the sacrament of reconciliation passé and irrelevant.

I found attendance at Mass to be inconvenient at best, boring and archaic at worst. And with that came the goodbye to the Eucharist. Because I had enough sense to know that I was not in a state of grace.

Because by that very grace of God I knew the truth of what I was doing and was ashamed.

Because I missed Jesus.

I had once believed in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, rejected it, and then longed to return to full communion. Let’s say, I knew first hand what I was missing.

I found my way back home, thanks to that grace.

I’m still a sinner. Still need grace. Still a work in progress when it comes to spiritual maturity, but I’m home.

And I’m not leaving.

 

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little bluebird of happiness

I’ve been posting a lot of pictures lately. I’ve enjoyed the Daily Post picture challenge of the week, and then got excited about posting daily with a photo lent reflection. Both challenges have been fun, and they’ve made me look at things with an eye for the camera lens. Unfortunately, that default almost resulted in my missing a delightful scene this morning.

I was doing some cleaning up in the kitchen after my breakfast, and I happened to look through the small pass-through window above my sink and out through the large window in the next room. I have a perfect view of our garden which includes a birdbath at the end of a little path out to the yard. I noticed there was a lot of activity in the bird bath, so I grabbed my cup of coffee and stood at the window to watch for a moment.

A big fat bluebird was perched on the edge of the bird bath. I’d never seen bluebirds come so close to the house, so I stood for a moment watching closely to make sure it was, in fact, a bluebird. Sure enough, it was!

I got so excited! I have a running joke about bluebirds with a friend, and it was like a little gift — to think of her and send up a brief prayer of thanksgiving for our friendship. I was tempted to look for my camera to capture the bird.

And then I stopped myself. Did I really want to walk away from this delightful little moment? What if the bird left while I was looking for a camera or my phone?

WHY AM I LIVING MY LIFE IN CAPTURED PHOTO OPS INSTEAD OF LIVING IN THE MOMENT?

It took an effort to stay, but I’m so glad I did. I finished my cup of coffee while the bluebird repeatedly dunked iteself into the water. It was so sweet. Dive, pop up, shake the feathers, dive again.

I would have missed it if I hadn’t come to my senses.

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