Here’s some eye- candy for your indulgence while I am simmering over something intelligent and witty to show you next.

This is a you-tube video between Miley Cyrus & her best friend Mandy, and the director and posse of Step Up 2 The Streets. I enjoy the dancing and I hope you are inspired to bust a move when no one is looking.

It’s also one of the few shows on TV that make me literally laugh out loud.

I sit in the front row, and know no one in the class. I raised my hand, abruptly almost. My blonde bombshell of an unrelated sister and I have been talking about this since we were seventeen. We can’t wait for the day when we have a family and get to spend time raising them! Little did I know that I was the only female to raise my hand. My professor smiled at me and said, “One.” He proceeded, “Now, don’t knock this, ladies and gentlemen. A role like that is needed in our society. Don’t knock it. That just means most of you men will be Mr. Moms.” A deep baseball team-playing voice murmured, “I’d do it” in the laziest tone.

I was completely shocked to be the only female in my class to want to have a family one day, that I raise by staying home. Unless there were some shy hands left clamping knees, I was alone. My face turned hot at first, embarassed and imagining the thoughts streaming through my classmates’ minds. Something like “why bother getting a degree?”

Well, as a voice who wants to have as many kids as God allows (and I can handle) I want to speak out. I love and value my education; to me it is irreplaceable. Also, I feel called to use the gifts I was given to change something in this world. To all of you who may scoff at this, I want to remind you there is nothing wrong being raised by a woman with a college (or graduate) degree.

The German Shepherd XVI

A peaceful smile and white vestments had an iridescent glow

Which made my skin prickle as if God’s hand reached down from the sky.

When I saw the Pope in Yonkers, I almost did cry

With joy that lifts you off the ground; a floating soul.

Twenty-six thousand faces aching for another word to console

wilted hopes, unanswered questions paired with an internal sigh.

A sea of youth, cheering, hands and banners stretched high.

Never did eighty-one year-old flesh seem so bold.

During brief silence I caught his eye with a wave

a gesture which uncontrollably popped up on its own

as natural as an eye blinks, my hand was so brave.

Never knowing the deep confidence that had grown,

Although I refused to accept that I was a slave

to my insecurities. In a sea of youth, I am not alone.

————————————————————————————————

Our Hope

Love unites those who judge first

and later realize they yearn to fill the same dusty hole

where love belongs. No skin is right or wrong

No body shape or culture, either. The universal language

formed in deed and word is the cement brick

in the basement of humanity; an imperfect brick with cracks

of violence and indifference that only with love can remain solid.

In a sea of youth, I am not alone. Each day, a trial to prove

our skin is thick enough to keep the blood of passion flowing within.

Benedict XVI said people are many times used as an option

rather than as an opportunity to love

more. Our hope in this stale state is

each day is new, each hand is washed pure. White,

as the garment on baptized, confirmed, and married;

white as the cloud silhouetted by sunlight.

Our love releases our hope from the clanking chains of pride.

I cannot begin to describe the joy and excitement that is making my organs tickle. I was lucky enough to attend the first public audience in July 2005 from Pope Benedict XVI in Rome at Paul VI Hall and another a week later.

I was with a group of 40+ girls studying for a summer course on leadership in Rome, and we frequented those cobble stone streets enough to know when to get to St. Peter’s Square for the audience. After much time waiting for the ivory curtains to open at the back of the hall, trumpets blew and mouths opened widely cheering in over twenty languages.

Only at his second audience did I get to look into his holy eyes and touch his hand. One of the Pope’s security guards was reserving six seats right next to the isle he was going to process down, and would not let us near them. He kept repeating “Soni reservati!” and we kept smiling and pleading. Finally at 10:15 when the horns blew for the grand entrance, he motioned for us to move over! My friend from Louisiana was right at the isle; she turned around and said to me, “Hop on.” I piggy backed her until Papa Benedetto was walking right in front of us. So many emotions were shooting through me and I began to laugh and cry and scream all at the same time. His hand touched mine, and I cried.

His humility and gentle words filled me with peace. I am unsure if I will ever be able to experience something like that again. How lucky, for those of us who live close enough to New York, for us to be able to be in his Holy presence and receive a blessing.

Let’s pray for his safety and personal intentions!

The Raconteurs- “Salute Your Solution”

Kanye West feat. Chris Martin- “Homecoming”

Current Pope Benedict XVI, will celebrate a memorial Mass for him, this week. Monsignor Slawomir Oder has just finished a 2,000 page document with detailed scripts of JPII’s life, and the miracles that have happened through prayers for his intercession.

Coming April 18 is Pope Benedict, for his first trip to New York. Click the link for some sweet t-shirts to mark his voyage.