HyperDash
Okay, I found a game that requires batteries that I like! It’s called Hyper Dash. I bought this for my nephew, who sits and plays video games all day, so that he can get some exercise. Adam, my nieces, Therese and Fulton and I played it at my parents’ house during Christmas. We love it!
It’s a great game for exercise and stimulating the brain. You set out the targets in your playing field (yard or home) and then you follow the commands of the Hyper voice to tag the targets. The controller times you, and the person or team with the fastest speed wins. The game can also be played at a table. For those of us who don’t have the budget for a Wii and it’s many games, this is a simple alternative. I quite like it.
So far Adam is the fastest person in the house. It’s a good workout to try to beat him, but I don’t think I will anytime soon.
01.01.09
Martha and Mary
As they continued their journey [Jesus] entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. Lk 10: 38
This is the first moment we encounter the figure of Martha in the Gospels. From this initial meeting we can see she is a kind woman in her welcoming of Jesus to her village. But why Martha? Was she chairperson of the Village of Bethany Welcoming Committee? Or rather perhaps she already heard something about this great man and wanted to meet him personally. But just how much did she know about Jesus? We know later that she confesses his divinity (Jn 11:27) but did she hold that same understanding now? Therefore, there are two possible reasons as to why she extended an invitation to him: 1) she truly knew who he was and/or 2) she wanted to come to know him.
She had a sister named Mary (who) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Lk 10: 39
Now we meet Martha’s sister, Mary. Why did she not come to welcome Christ earlier? Did she not yet know of this new prophet? Surely, being Martha’s sister, she had to have some inclination of this man. Could she have already been at home preparing and hopefully anticipating the arrival of a guest? Regardless, we now see that her entire focus is on the words of her guest who has indeed accepted Martha’s invitation.
We’re already familiar with the significance of her position at the master’s feet but I will offer another rumination: consider today’s schools. From an early age we literally sit at the feet of our teachers beginning at kindergarten. As we progress we trade the carpet mats for desks - or our “intellectual workbench” if you will - so that we can begin practicing what the teacher hands down to us. However, progressing further I now think of the great lecture halls common in many universities. In these vast rooms, we are no longer at the master’s feet. In fact, he is literally at ours. We look down upon him, placing a greater burden onto him, expecting him to deliver up to us the knowledge we think we rightly deserve. Do you know what other facility has this same seating arrangement? A theater. The expectation is what is placed down below should be entertaining what is placed above. And dare I say isn’t it troubling that many of our modern churches are now architected in this same format?
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” Lk 10: 40
I don’t think Martha fully anticipated the consequences of extending an invitation to Jesus of Nazareth. What she got was an open house. To clarify, I can’t imagine Martha being burdened with the amount of serving required for a single guest. What must of transpired is that the populace of Bethany showed up at her doorstep when they got wind of who was present in her home. To Martha’s credit, the kind person that she is, she couldn’t simply send them away. What would the Lord of all Kindness say in response? And on the same accord it would be unthinkable for the host to ask Jesus to leave. From her perspective, the only reasonable thing to do was to don the apron and get to work.
But why was it that she felt she was compelled to “serve” these people? Was it an outward or inward coercion? To put it another way, was it what was expected of a host or did Martha feel like it was something that “had” to be done?
Regardless, Martha decided that serving is what needed to be done. Any hope of spending time with Jesus would have to wait until later. We can tell immediately though that she is not pleased with her course of action - she sees her work as a burden. Furthermore, she is doing it herself and is troubled when she finds her sister - could it truly be - turning a blind eye to Martha? Does she not live under the same roof and therefore be under the same obligation to tend to the guests? Obviously, this perturbed Martha deeply and she felt compelled to do something about it.
Before going further, let’s prepare an analogy. Imagine that you are standing outside the door of a classroom and the teacher is already in the midst of delivering a lesson. You so happen at that very moment require the use of an attentive student sitting in the front row. There is no way to obtain her presence without disrupting the session already in progress. With that being said, there are two courses of action you can take in removing the student. One is to approach the student directly, convey your need of her presence, and exit the classroom with the student in tow. The problem with that course is that the perceived fault from both the teacher and the class would fall squarely on you. You alone are made out to be the perpetrator. The second approach, however, is a bit more cunning. You can enter the classroom and first plead your case to the teacher. Surely the master will listen carefully because what you have to say must be of great importance since you saw it necessary to interrupt the lesson. Upon hearing your plea for assistance the teacher will fully understand, agree, and - perhaps with a bit of contempt for her wrongful arrangement of priorities - dismiss the student to tend to her rightful duties. Therefore, the fault for the disruption slides off you and onto the student. You are now the victim. It is this later option that Martha had chosen and entered the classroom…
The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. Lk 10: 41
The Lord first responds graciously. Martha must have felt a bit reprieved now that the master acknowledged her anxiety. However, now it is time for her lesson…
There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” Lk 10: 42
And now we must contemplate Martha’s reaction. Did she hang her head low and sulk to the back of the room? Did she continue serving or perhaps take a seat at the back of the class? Was her heart now full of bitterness, shoulders bearing guilt, and head reeling from being “put in her place”?
Or did Martha take a more humble response? Perhaps she came to understand the master’s words, recognized her own fault in the matter, and took a seat upon the floor by her sister.
The truth is we don’t know, and perhaps it is a good thing. It gives us a chance to reflect on what our own response would be when we find ourselves in Martha’s role.
For further reflection:
- For what reason should I invite Christ into my heart and home?
- Am I already prepared for Jesus’s arrival or do I plan on waiting for the last minute?
- What is my expectation from the master? Do I sit at his feet looking for Wisdom or do I stand above him seeking unwarranted endowments?
- Do I see it as a burden or a joy when I serve the Lord and his people?
- How do I perceive the Christian life of my bothers and sisters in faith? Do I think they spend too much time in prayer and not enough action?
Happy New Year
May your year be filled with all the grace you need to accept all your joys and suffering as a child of God.
12.30.08
Welcome Grace Marie Gretencord!
Our new niece and soon-to-be God daughter, Grace Marie, was born this morning at 1:18 a.m. We can’t wait to meet you Grace! Congratulations Marc and Misty! Way to go, Misty, on having a natural birth! We love you and are praying for you.
It appears as if all the Gretencord grandchildren are Texans so far! 
heehee
12.29.08
“Mary” Christmas
My Grandmother Mary is suffering from alzheimers. As her memories continue to fade I more frequently recall the ones we shared.
One Christmas memory I hold dear were the moments her grandkids would gather at her house at some point before Christmas day and decorate dozens of sugar cookies. The general idea was to ice the cookies; however the reality was that icing was placed mostly everywhere except the cookies (table, floor, hair, our mouths) and the cookies ended up in Grandpa’s stomach. But it was great fun regardless.
Another Christmas memory with Grandmother Mary was her Santa-themed “Electronic Musical Battery Operated Train Set.” This was one toy we were only privileged to play with once a year. Boy if only I had a nickel for every time an adult would exclaim from the dinner table “Would you kids give that thing a rest!” I would be spending Christmas somewhere in the Caribbean. So you may all share in the experience, I present to you the following…
That’s right. How can anyone ever tire of this! And now I have the honor of hosting this heirloom on my own dining table and provide my own children with yet another opportunity to er.. ah.. “share their seasonal joy” with their parents.
And yes, that is an over-sized rooster nestled within the manger scene. But you have to know my grandmother to understand. Thanks Duane and Kim!
And thank you Grandmother Mary. We love you deeply.
12.23.08
Family Posadas and more
We’ve had a fun couple of days this week preparing our homes and hearts for Jesus’ birthday.
Yesterday we made popcorn/cranberry garland. Anything that incorporates snack time, math, and fine motor skills is bound to be a hit, right? Gianna started eating the popcorn from the tree so we had to move it out of her reach… Our tree is becoming a little top heavy these days.
Today our Goddaughter, Miss Lindsey, came over for a visit bearing gifts–the greatest of which was her own presence.
Her favorite past time is loading up kids with sugar and then leaving…so she helped us make our gingerbread house. It’s truly evil that Wonka puts a pound of candy into their gingerbread house kit…but they obviously know that most of it will be eaten before it makes it on the house. But it’s probably more evil that Costco put these on sale at an irresistible price that I couldn’t pass up.
Finally this evening we had our Family Posadas. It ended up being just us, which was a fun trial run for next year when we’ll invite more people over. I only know of a couple of parishes in Austin that actually do Las Posadas. Ours is not one of them. I came across a guide to do it as family in your home. So we did it all in one night and instead of traveling from house to house I took the kids from room to room. I whipped out some of our All Saints Day costumes from years past and here we have Mary and Joseph:
Adam played (read the part of) the Inn Keepers.
And afterwards we read the book The Christmas Pageant which tells the nativity story complete with music that Adam played on the piano.
Afterward we feasted on a traditional Mexican dinner complete with tamales and pan dulce (sweet bread). Hopefully next year we can share in the blessing of this day!
12.21.08
Advent Crafts
I know, Advent is almost over.
My creative outlet this year was making our Jesse Tree ornaments. For the past 3 years we’ve done a Jesse tree in some fashion with paper ornaments. And I still let Therese color the paper pictures for our school prayer. But I decided this year I wanted to make something more permanent. I found some oval wooden disc, paint, and time in the evenings when Adam was working or at Church. With some help from the kids painting the solid colors, I finally finished these last week:
There are a total of 28–for the 4 weeks of Advent, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. They each have a symbol painted on the front and the scripture reading on the back. The Jesse Tree is named from Isaiah 11:1: “A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots.” It is a way to tell the Story of God in the Old Testament, and to connect the Advent Season with the faithfulness of God across 4,000 years of history.
Last week we also started the O Antiphons. And we made this O Antiphon house:
The “O Antiphons” refer to the seven antiphons that are recited before the Magnificat during Vespers of the Liturgy of the Hours. They cover the special period of Advent preparation of the Octave before Christmas, Dec. 17-23. Each O Antiphon highlights a title for the Messiah: O Sapientia (O Wisdom), O Adonai (O Lord), O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse), O Clavis David (O Key of David), O Oriens (O Rising Sun), O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations), and O Emmanuel. Also, each one refers to the prophecy of Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah. This is where we get the lyrics to O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Since this hymn is one of the favorites of the mine and the kids, we’ve enjoyed reading the O Antiphons and singing O Come, O Come Emmanuel after dinner. In addition, there’s a “tradition” of giving a small treat after dinner for each day of the O Antiphons–the kids have really enjoyed this part of course. I only learned about the O Antiphons last year and have really enjoyed teaching the kids about them.
12.20.08
December Carwash
We’re taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather here in Texas by heading out outside and washing the cars!
Gianna and Fulton washing the cars
12.18.08
Sheen’s Merry Christmas
Our Lord came to his earth to experience
What it is like when we are disappointed…
At not getting a hotel reservation;
At having to bump up against so many stupid asses and dumb oxen on our way through life;
For not getting the Birthday gifts we expect..
BUT, He also came to teach us we could never
Be disappointed…
If we found that love which falls short in all other loves
If we learn to see that next to His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, our neighbor is the most Christ-like object we will ever know
And if we learn to admit the dirt in the stable of our own lives
We will have found the first sign of His Presence in us…
Then we will understand that if He relieved us of every disappointment;
If He gave us only, nice new things;
We might forget HIM
And that would rob us of the joy of wishing one another
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
–Fulton J. Sheen
This was the opening piece in the newsletter of The Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation.