Coffee clicks: April 20

Long time no curate, faithful readers. I hope everyone is headed into a spectacular weekend of still-Easter proportions. We have a “birthday party” planned for our freshly-minted 6-year-old (read: a trip to the indoor trampoline park with his brother and two cousins which might as well be Disneyland in his mind) and then a party for my mama on Sunday. I also have big plans to, um, go to sleep before 11pm tonight.

We’ve been working on our budget big time this month, and so I’m writing this from my one and only trip to a coffee shop in all of April. That might seem impressive to you or it might seem sad, depending on how good you are at self denial. Me? I’m a pretty miserable nickel and dimer and known for rewarding my own “good behavior” by frittering away $4 here and there on designer coffee, so having gone 20 whole days without succumbing to the siren call of the green mermaid feels pretty great. It’s also immensely satisfying to see so little activity on our checking account when I log into our online banking system. I’m also really, really enjoying this decaf mocha that I did not prepare for myself, because a treat is much nicer than a boring old routine entitlement. (Even nicer? Being out of debt a little sooner because I’m not being an idiot and spending $$$ on flavored milk and mediocre coffee.)

1.

A really gorgeous reflection by Msgr. Charles Pope on why God keeps the Church so close to the cross. This section in particular really moved me:

“At the foot of the cross we must suffer with the Lord for the sake of the Church. Now is a time to multiply our prayers by being more faithful to the Rosary and adding the Divine Mercy Chaplet. The Lord may be calling us to fasting and abstinence beyond the mere requirements of Lent. Perhaps He is calling us to Eucharistic adoration, increased visits to our church, or attendance at daily Mass. In addition, we must attend to our own sins more seriously. Perhaps there is one sin or sinful attitude that we can curb by God’s grace.”

2.

Another case of horrifying government overreach in the UK, and another sweet baby boy being sped along on his way to the grave because the adults in charge (not, oddly enough, his parents) insist they know what is best for him. Alfie’s father made a desperate plea to Pope Francis on Wednesday of this past week, begging the Holy Father to intervene and asking permission that his baby boy be transferred to Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome where he could perhaps undergo experimental treatment not offered in Britain:

After the Supreme Court decision, Alfie’s parents issued a statement saying: “Our son’s life is not futile. We love him. We value him. There are people willing to treat him and we have the state saying ‘it’s not worth giving him the chance.”‘

 3.

A thoughtful piece on social media – Facebook in particular – in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, inviting us as to do some soul searching about the nature of online sharing and the concept of privacy, both our own and our neighbors’.

4.

The connection between Satan and … porn? You’ll definitely want to read this.

5.

“The sign of the cross is our badge.” I appreciated the Pope’s encouragement to “teach your children” to unabashedly cross themselves before prayer. We’ve been working on our little savages at mealtimes to slow down and actually physically make the sign of the cross before launching into the world’s fastest and least sincere rendition of blessusolordandthesethygifts on record, but it’s a work in progress, especially for Luke who is generally 2 fists deep into his pasta before we get to “Amen.” But it’s important. So, we’ll keep trying.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend of warm weather and springlike festivities. Over here we’ve got a mixed rain and snow vibe headed our way so I’m trying to summon some kind of warm feelings for this November-esque weather on the cusp of May. If only pumpkin spice anything were still readily available to keep the flame alive.