Worth a Listen: TobyMac's "Speak Life"

(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise "worth a listen").  Explanation (of a kind) here.



I asked my teenage daughter to help me come up with some videos to share here for "Worth a Listen."  Fortunately, we both like the same kind of music.  I love this song so much, and while I normally don't like lyric videos, this one is beyond great.  It's also the official lyric video from Toby Mac, so that helps.

Probably my favorite lines from this song:  

Lift your head a little higher
Spread the love like fire 
Hope will fall like rain
When you speak life 
With the words you say

Raise your thoughts a little higher
Use your words to inspire
Joy will fall like rain
When you speak life with the things you say

Okay, I just want to put all the lyrics here.  Go listen to the whole song, and smile.  Then speak life.

Worth a Listen: Britt Nicole's "Headphones"

(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise "worth a listen").  Explanation (of a kind) here.



Yes, I am a hopeless Britt Nicole fan.  This is another great song and video from her.

A WinterJam Primer, or How to Keep Your Hearing, Your Faith, and Your Sanity, and Have a Good Time

Note: In lieu of Worth a Listen (normally appearing here on Wednesday), I'm writing this after the WinterJam just occurred in our area with a concert in Peoria Sunday night.  When I posted occasional updates on Facebook & Twitter from the concert, there were a lot of questions (on FB) about how the concert, how it was, should people bring their small children, etc. This is to answer those questions as well as talk about this great  I'll re-run this next year as WinterJam makes it way to our area again, so consider this a "primer" on how to encounter WinterJam successfully.

I'm a veteran, having just attended my third WinterJam.  I think I've got this "down" now and have a good strategy for attending and making the most of this great concert.

WinterJam, the largest Christian concert series in the world (and largest altogether if Wikipedia is to be believed) is a traveling concert series founded by NewSong and featuring more than a half-dozen Christian contemporary music (CCM) acts.

Read the rest of the story at my new website, Reading Catholic.  Click here for link to the rest of the article on Reading Catholic.  I invite you to follow me there!

My St. Nicholas Day Present--Radiate by Colleen Swaim

I was so grateful when Bonnie Engstrom of "A Knotted Life" (as part of her Advent series) asked me to write about Advent traditions in our family.  I must have been feeling a little discouraged when I wrote about not being well-prepared for Advent, because it was very encouraging for me to have the   chance to articulate what we do well this time of year.

I write about "go with your strengths" and our family's strength, of course, is using books to celebrate Advent and Christmastime.  The one book I featured was The Miracle of St. Nicholas by Gloria Whelan and beautifully illustrated by Judith Brown.  We finally read our copy of The Miracle of St. Nicholas  until after dinner, but it was a nice quiet after-dinner time.  There was a lot of chocolate eaten today (including by me!)

But my St. Nicholas Day present (a surprise, and welcome surprise!) came in the mail this afternoon--when I picked up the mail and saw a copy of Radiate: More Stories of Daring Teen Saints by Colleen Swaim.

I am a huge Colleen Swaim fan since I read her first book Ablaze: Stories of Daring Teen Saints.  It's a book intended for teen readers, but I loved and all my kids (8-13 at the time) loved it.  I've given it as a gift multiple times, and everyone I've given it to or recommended it to has loved it, without exception.  I reviewed Ablaze here (calling it a "gem") and interviewed Colleen here.  I hope to have another Q&A with Colleen again soon, since she is willing. Look for that here soon!

I've been anxiously awaiting this book's release ever since I saw it had a November 1 release date, and actually planned to review it for my November print column in The Catholic Post.  The publisher told me it was a little delayed, so I held off so I could review it for my December gift books column.  Unfortunately, I wanted to be absolutely sure it was officially available, so that prevented me from reviewing it for my December column, which appears in this weekend's Post.

But I was really, truly excited to see in the mail this afternoon a hot-off-the-presses copy of Radiate.  Now do you believe me that I am really into books? :-)

This isn't actually a review of the book, since one of the kids has run off with it.  From my first look at it, it looks just as handsome and well-produced as Ablaze, with both new and well-loved saints.  Review soon!  In the meantime, if you need a book suggestion for a tween or teen reader, Radiate is your book.


 

Worth a Listen: Revelation Song by Phillips, Craig & Dean

(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise "worth a listen").  Explanation (of a kind) here.



I had another song cued up for this morning (I'll save that for another Wednesday), when at Mass this morning, I head the first reading proclaimed.

I immediately thought, I know the song I should feature!  I can actually be liturgically appropriate for today.  So I rushed (unsuccessfully) to get home before 7 a.m. (when the other song was scheduled to post), to post this one instead.

The first reading, like all this week in the days leading up to the feast of Christ the King this Sunday, is from the Revelation to John.  Here is part of it:

The four living creatures, each of them with six wings,
were covered with eyes inside and out.
Day and night they do not stop exclaiming:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty,
who was, and who is, and who is to come."
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks
to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
the twenty-four elders fall down
before the one who sits on the throne
and worship him, who lives forever and ever.
They throw down their crowns before the throne, exclaiming:

"Worthy are you, Lord our God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things;
because of your will they came to be and were created."

And I thought of a song we are hearing on the radio a lot these days, "Revelation Song."   The video above, which features a bit of the song, shows the band describing how the song is powerful in moving people.  I agree.

Our family tries to read the Mass readings in the morning, taking turns reading.  Our kids sometimes bicker about who gets to do what, lest you imagine a holy scene at the breakfast table.

Every few weeks, a reading or responsorial Psalm will remind us of a song we hear on our local Christian radio station.  I do like this, as it helps reinforce how steeped we are in Scripture as Catholics, and how worship music and some Christian music can aid our prayer life and knowledge of Scripture.

(A humorous aside:  just yesterday, the kids read the Mass readings as I was driving my teenager to a friend's  house, and when she finished the Gospel about Jesus encountering Zaccheus, I immediately launched into, "Zaccheus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he.")

This week, as we lead up to the Feast of Christ the King, the Church's readings point towards the last things, the end of the world, to prepare us for the beginning of the liturgical year with the first Sunday of Advent.  My theologian husband told me once that there's an old church tradition/hope that the Lord will return in glory on the feast of Christ the King.

One of the band members says in the video about the song, "We felt passionate about the song. When I hear that song, whatever circumstance I am in, it takes me to that place.  And where is that place?  It's in the presence of Jesus Christ."

As Catholics, we have the knowledge that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.  So when we visit Jesus, whether in a time of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament or just a quick prayer time at a Church, we are in a very special way in that Presence.  Meditating on this song, too, can help dispose us to worship:

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.

Q&A With Sister Helena Burns, Author of "He Speaks to You"

As I wrote in my October column, Sister Helena Burns is an expert on media literacy and Theology of the Body, a Catholic new media maven, and a great friend to the Peoria diocese, speaking here often and living in nearby Chicago.  Turns out she’s also a gifted author, writing the excellent and deceptively simple daily book for young women, He Speaks to You. 

Sister Helena, who is often busy at her own blog, Hell Burns, or on Twitter, graciously agreed to do a Q&A with me here.  Thanks, Sister, and thank you for your great book.

Q.  Sister Helena, tell Catholic Post readers more about you, your religious community, and your work.

The Daughters of St. Paul are an international congregation of women religious dedicated to evangelizing with the media. We try to use as many forms of media as possible, and now with the new media, we’re like kids in a candy store. When I was discerning my vocation, I was very drawn to sharing the Faith and helping people in spiritual pain (like I had been), and I thought: “What better way to bring God directly into someone’s heart and mind than through a book, a song, a magazine, a film?” I also loved that the Daughters had a kind of “mixed life”: contemplatives in action. Even though we’re an active order, we have approximately 3 hours of prayer each day, including an Hour of Eucharistic Adoration, which was very important to me. Our Founder, Blessed James Alberione, www.MediaApostle.com wanted us to “share the fruits of our contemplation in action.”

Q.  You write in the introduction: “The sisters and I have long talked about wanting to find a way to share ...basic principles of the interior life and how to live them in daily life.”   Why do you think this is so important, for young women in particular?

My Sisters and I often meet young women who want to pray more, go deeper with Jesus, but don’t always know how. Often they say: “I pray, but He doesn’t talk back.” We knew that if we could share some of the basics of prayer, of how the spiritual life “works,” we could really help young women not become discouraged, or give up on their interior life. Although each of our relationships with Jesus is unique, still, there are patterns that saints and mystics, spiritual masters and spiritual directors have identified that are universal.

I believe young women in particular need to look to and develop their interior lives because there really is a “war on women” today (but it’s the exact opposite of what the media says it is)! 

Ever since the Sexual Revolution and Women’s Liberation Movement, women have been encouraged to think and act like men interiorly and exteriorly. Women are told to squelch their essential feminine nature (body and soul) because it is “weak, irrational and limiting.” Women’s gifts (the feminine genius) are devalued, most of all by women themselves! But women are naturally “receptive,” (body and soul). We are receptive to men and to new life, but first of all to the Infinite, and we teach men and children how to be receptive to God. 

Women are supposedly “more religious” than men (the world over), but can we say that of our young women today? I’m afraid many (young and older) women’s “radar” is broken today. We don’t know what it means to be a woman. We don’t know our own identity in Christ, in Mary (the New Creation: the New Adam and the New Eve). But our radar can be fixed! It’s IN us. “He Speaks to You” is my little attempt to help “fix women’s radar.”

Q.  How long did it take you to write the book?

Approximately two years, very part time. Which was great because new ideas sprung up all along the way.

Q.  How did you come up with the themes for every month?

We tried to cover the essentials of a ground floor for the building of an “interior castle”!

Q. Was it difficult to write any one part of the book?  I enjoyed in particular the “speaking” quotes beginning each day from Jesus, and I wondered if it would be difficult to write so many.

I’m probably going to have an “extended stay” in Purgatory for putting words in Jesus’ mouth! A priest got it right, though, when he guessed: “Sister, is this how YOU hear Jesus?” Jesus is always comforting and challenging at the same time when He speaks to me, and I think that might be a universal for how He speaks to everyone. 

He also has a sense of humor. I think probably one of our biggest sins is to take the unimportant things too seriously, and the important things not seriously enough. Actually, Jesus’ parts in the book were the easiest to write. I’m REALLY hoping the Holy Spirit had a big hand in that, because I was asking Him to!

Q. Do you have a favorite section of the book?

I think it’s the month of October--dedicated to Our Lady--because the BVM is my BFF. I loved learning about her different titles and apparitions and sharing them in the book.

Q. What do you recommend as one or two good ways for a young woman to make the interior life and prayer a reality in our culture’s busy lifestyles?

Fidelity to daily prayer is essential. Sporadic prayer is like a sporadic relationship. You never really get to know the other person. There is NO other way.

Q.  You are busy with so many projects.  Anything in particular you’d like to share as particularly noteworthy?

We’re doing a 90-minute documentary on the life of our Founder, Blessed James Alberione. We’ve finished shooting, laying audio and are now completing the visuals. A rough cut is due January 25, 2013. We’re still fundraising for it and have a pledge of a $10,000 matching grant if we can raise that by December 31! The trailer can be watched (in 10 languages so far) at www.MediaApostle.com  and donations can be made securely on the website. 

GIFTS for donations to the Fr. Alberione Film (from November 1--December 31) are:

$20 donation--Fr. A medal

$50 donation--Fr. A medal and DVD when completed

$500 donation--Fr. A medal, book (biography), and DVD when completed

$1,000 donation--Fr. A medal, book, DVD, and 12" resin statue.

Q.  Is there anything you would like to add or wish I would have asked?

Yes, the question would be:  “If you were to write the same book today, would you do anything differently?” (I wrote it about four years ago.) 

The answer?  Yes. I would make it even more mushy, lovey-dovey with Jesus and stuff it with even MORE Theology of the Body. Women need to go to Jesus FIRST for their love, self-esteem, self-dignity and to feel beautiful. THEN go to your earthling guy. God’s love never changes.

Worth a Listen: Demand Your Dignity

Normally, I share here great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise "worth a listen."  Today, it's this video.  Awesome! 

Take two minutes to watch this, and then share it with a young person you know. 

Youth Is Wasted on the Young?

Here is my October column that appears in this weekend's edition of The Catholic Post.  I invite your feedback here.

Like many moms, mine loved great maxims born of wisdom and long experience.  Because she had a great sense of humor, these sayings would sometimes morph, Mrs. Maloprop-style, to something like my personal favorite, “We’ll jump off that bridge when we get to it.”

One she never changed, but still intoned in her best mock-serious mother-knows-best voice: “Youth is wasted on the young.”

Now that I close in on the half-century mark, I begin to understand what that really means.

Yes, youth is wasted on the young.  All that free time!  All that energy!

I recall saying--more than once--to ungrateful, nap-resistant toddlers:  “I promise you, someday, someone will say to you, ‘why don’t you go take a nap,’ and you will say, ‘Thank you!’ instead of fighting it.”

Don’t get me wrong. I love my maturity and experience, even as I might covet what the younger me took for granted, like naps or a faster metabolism.

“Youth is wasted on the young” occurred to me as the fall books from Catholic publishers began to arrive, and with more than the usual number for teens and young adults.   I wish I could have had read these when I was 15, 25 or 35 for inspiration, for spiritual growth, or just plain fun.  So youth, don’t waste it, but take advantage of these great books, vetted not just by me but younger readers, to enjoy this fall:

*He Speaks to You by Sister Helena Burns, FSP.  Sister Helena is an expert on media literacy and Theology of the Body, a Catholic new media maven, and a great friend to the Peoria diocese, speaking here often and living in nearby Chicago.  Turns out she’s also a gifted author.

This book is a deceptively simple prayer/reflection book for young women.  Each page corresponds to a day of the year, with Scripture, reflection and action and journaling ideas.  It may sound basic, but He Speaks to You offers substantial, meaty topics in the context of consistent themes that run through an entire month.  For example, “His Will” in April, covers topics like discernment and vocation, and “In His Image” in August, focuses on body image and sexuality.

Sister Helena writes in the introduction, “The sisters and I have long talked about wanting to find a way to share ...basic principles of the interior life and how to live them in daily life.”    With the wisdom of the Daughters of St. Paul, mission accomplished.

*Be Beautiful, Be You by Lizzie Velasquez.

This is a sweet volume--all from a Catholic perspective--about loving yourself, overcoming setbacks, and recognizing what makes a person unique.  23-year-old Lizzie Velasquez was born with a rare medical syndrome, and she writes candidly about her struggles and how she has used them to grow emotionally and spiritually.

Lizzie’s stories, journal and ideas offer a much-needed antidote to our culture’s obsession with perfection and ways to overcome that.

*Fearing the Stigmata: Humorously Holy Stories of a Young Catholic’s Search for a Culturally Relevant Faith by Matt Weber.

Matt Weber is a Harvard grad and practicing Catholic--not at all a contradiction.  Fearing the Stigmata is his charmingly earnest and witty take on living as a Catholic young adult in the modern world.

I didn’t include this book simply so young men wouldn’t feel left out, but because it is a genuinely funny and spiritually edifying book.  I found myself laughing out loud at many, many vignettes in the book, from his love of the restaurant Olive Garden, to “nun volleyball,” to “the Dominic Code.”  You have to read Fearing the Stigmata to find out what those mean in the context of our Catholic faith, but you’ll thank me.

Worth a Listen: Group 1 Crew's "Live it Up"

(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise "worth a listen")

I discovered Group1Crew earlier this year when they played at WinterJam.  They were easily my favorite group who played there, and there were a lot of good musical acts there.  This is a montage video of their "Live It Up."  Dare you not to dance while you hear this.

Worth a Listen: Popple's "Little White Square"

(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise "worth a listen")

I really enjoy Popple, who play "Catholic acoustic fun."  They have a lot of great videos online.  In particular, I love their "Behind the Ministry" humorous video, but I will share that another day.

Today, my main goal here is introducing their great, catchy, fun music, and I'm sure I will be sharing Popple songs often.  Several of their songs were turned into videos by an 8th grade class at Catholic School in Spokane, Washington.  Here is their version of "Little White Square."  Nice!

Worth a Listen: Britt Nicole's "Gold"

Worth a Listen (a new feature: sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise "worth a listen")

My oldest started high school today. High school! Several weeks back, a friend (thank you, Lord, for good friends for girls) introduced her to this song, Brit Nicole's "Gold."  We got it on iTunes and our whole family has been listening to it non-stop pretty much ever since. This "about the song" video is beautiful, and describes the song and its message beautifully. Well worth getting this catchy tune into your head.