So, about me: I'm a work-at-home mom with a rambunctious toddler (I dare you to find a toddler that is not rambunctious). I help with social media for a organization called John Paul II Center for Women. I'm the Campus Outreach Coordinator for Feminists for Life. I volunteer at a number of things for church, including Confirmation class, Adult Religious Ed., Parish Council, and making the weekly e-bulletin.
The toddler:
I swear, I don't share that many pictures of him and I typically don't talk about myself as much as I'm doing in this post.
Happy Valentine's Day! Here is a funny, thought-provoking look at what Valentine's Day would be like if men and women switched their traditional roles (very minor language warning):
So, what does the above video make me think about?
- The materialism of Valentine's Day. The average person celebrating Valentine's Day will spend almost $134 on their loved one. Why do we need so much stuff?
- All women want to be pursued. I'm not sure how much I agree with that statement, but it is an idea found all over Christian literature. It's a recurring theme: women want to be pursued, they want to be courted, and God is always pursuing us. Maybe I'll develop this idea later.
Woman Saint of the Week: I'll admit it, I'm a little biased this week. Yesterday was the feast day for a fairly well-known Dominican saint, Catherine de Ricci. She was very religious from a very early age, having a particular devotion to the Passion of Christ. She was a mystic and she was known for her strict penances, especially for the souls in purgatory. She was a lot like her namesake, Catherine of Siena. Very powerful men turned to her for advice and guidance. She has a several miracles to her name, including bilocation and her body has been found incorruptible.
Biblical Woman of the Week: For this I'm going to pick one of the very few women prophets mentioned by name in the Old Testament: Huldah. Good king and ancestor of Christ, Josiah, renovated the temple and tried to breathe new life into the religious life of his people. During the renovations, some old scrolls were found. He called the prophetess, Huldah, to determine what the scrolls were. She confirmed that they were the word of God and that if they were not followed, there would be dire consequences. Josiah went to work being faithful to God's word. Scholars believe that those scrolls were an early form of our book of Deuteronomy.
She is mentioned only twice (2 Kings 22:13-20 and 2 Chronicles 34:22-28) very briefly in the Bible, but there is substantial information about her outside of the Bible in the Talmud and the Midrash (two authoritative collections of Jewish teachings and reflections on Scripture). There is also some archaeological evidence of her life in the Huldah Gates located in the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is believed that she used to prophesy there and some believe she was buried there as well.
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