September 22, 2008

Happiness Is...

Five Good Reasons To Be (Almost) Catholic

1. Yesterday was “Chili and Margarita” day at Divine Redeemer, which meant that I went directly from mass to eating homemade chili and enjoying mixed drinks in Fellowship Hall, and they were tall and unusually strong. Those old ladies know how to whip up a margarita. Only in the Catholic Church would you have hospitality volunteers signing up to bring “12 large bottles of tequila.”


2. Flannery O’Connor is Catholic. I bought a copy of A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Short Stories at a used bookstore on Saturday for $3.50. I was three stories in before reading the back cover and discovering that not only was O’Connor Catholic, but her expressed purpose in writing these stories was “to reveal the mystery of God’s grace in everyday life.”


3. I also started reading Dracula in preparation for Halloween. it’s interesting to note that Dracula is sort of built around the liturgical year, beginning on St. George’s day and culminating on Halloween, or All Hallows Eve. My plan is to set the mood in the month of October by reading Dracula, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Frankenstein. Who’s with me?

4. Today in our bulletin I found the following announcement under the heading Annual Blessing of Pets: "On Monday, October 6th, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, we will be blessing family pets. You may bring your pet to Divine Redeemer for a special blessing of good health and, hopefully, good obedience. All pets are welcome.”

5. And finally:

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm in. i don't want to know how much time you wasted on youtube before you found that ridiculous video.

cherrie

Rhianmom said...

Okay. Since the doctor has me home for the rest of the week with bronchitis I should be able to get a good start on your "classic horror" reading list.

You're an inspiration to us all!

Francis Jose Orozco, OP said...

All very good reasons. They made the blessing of the animals announcement at my church too, and apparently there are some members that bring a bunch of farm animals.

St. Francis' feast day it Saturday, October 4th and I'll be in NYC at one of their Friaries, I am told that I'll see the Friars in party mode.

Unknown said...

The parish I go to has an event called "Oyster Fest" next Monday night...food, drinks and fun...my kind of fellowship.

Karen Renee said...

You forgot Feast Days, one of my favorite Catholic perks! Plus, when you get your confirmation Saint, it's like having a second birthday on their feast day! Basically Catholicism gives you endless opportunity to celebrate.