Saints Peter and Paul - Feast Day and Text Heavy Post

• I walked into church today to see that new carpeting was installed. It's beautiful. I told the pastor I liked it on the way out of church. The poor guy gets a lot of flack I think. It's got to be tough to be a pastor because you can't please all of the people all of the time. 
• The priest wore a red vestment today. 

• I feel like church-wise, we've been celebrating and rejoicing in something different every Sunday since Easter. 

• Did your church do a procession on Corpus Christi? Local priest did a procession inside the church. It would've been cool to go outside especially since it was a beautiful sunny day.

• There were young adults last Sunday at Local Church to talk about the Totus Tuus program. I am so impressed by these young adults, and I felt compelled to give them a teeny tiny monetary donation. Of course they were appreciative and gracious even though donation was embarrassingly small. Really, the money was just a symbol of support for them and their summer program as they shine the light in this fallen world. Wouldn't it be cool to be wealthy and just give loads of money away to worthwhile causes and people in need? 
• Anyway, in way these young adults/college students are fortunate to have confidence of having a strong faith to keep themselves out of the muck of whatever is mucky in their peer group.
• In college, I was not so strong in my faith. I felt really weird that I wasn't participating in all that unhealthy behavior if you get my drift. I really didn't want to be that way back then, but I wanted to fit in and not feel like a weirdo. And I did want a boyfriend but not one of those drunken guys in my dorm.
• The Totus Tuus program seems or appears to be more serious than vacation Bible School with goofy themes and titles. Maybe because Totus Tuus is a Latin name. Maybe it's because the teachers (young adults) dress in shirts and ties or dresses and skirts when they appear at Church to promote the program. As usual, the person who promotes the vacation Bible school at my parish wears an animal costume. This year it was skunk. I'm sure the VBS people are sincere too despite animal costumes. 

• Actually I am torn between two parishes: the one where I am actually a member and another one that's closer by. I like them both. 

• Two woman I know are having a commitment ceremony. Until a few weeks ago, I thought they were just roommates who became good friends, or good pals who became roommates. I kind of envied them for their close friendship. I had no idea they were a couple.  Thankfully, I was not among those invited to their "marriage" ceremony - Thank God. I do like them as people, and will just try to concentrate of their individual personhood and not on their couplehood. I know they have been victims of abuse. One is divorced from her abusive husband. 

Three Different Friends

• And then I have a friend a loose cannon in the sexual morality department (an agnostic). And when she told me her latest activity, I just wanted to throw up. Also, she seems to have some underlying anger towards Christianity. I don't know all her issues, and she's quite emotional and sensitive and claims to be open-minded. Sometimes I'm surprised we're still friends. 

• Another friend of of mine doesn't believe in God, however, she keeps reading about Christianity and the Bible to understand Christians in society, she says. She actually seems to be open-minded. She is cheerful, highly educated, level-headed and occasionally says something positive or supportive about Christians or the Pope. Of course I don't know what she says when I'm not around, but it's not something I worry about And a few weeks ago she made an amazing theological statement about free-will and sin. I wish I remember exactly what she said. And I am kind of wondering if she is another Jennifer Fulwiler, and that someday . . . 

• Now thinking of another woman I know. She was never baptized, but married her Catholic husband in the Catholic church after going through pre-Cana with his parish priest. True to their marriage vows, they are raising their children in the Catholic faith. Now she sings in the choir at Mass. As far as I know, she's still not baptized.