A.M.D.G.
J.M.J.
A.T.C.
Easter Sunday
Yes, I keep late hours. Sleep? What’s that? This is nothing. When I was in college, I would be up until three in the morning and have to wake up at seven to be ready for a day full of heavy classes (I carried at least 17 hours most semesters … my last semester I carried 20 … AQ lied to me about what I needed). Some days I would just de-spackle, brush my teeth, throw on my sweats, pray my Office (when I had time, I would pray it in Latin using Vatican Radio’s podcast), and hit the sack for a glorified power nap.
The reason why I stayed up? Internet speed. AQ was always on the cusp of the latest and greatest when it came to network capabilities and Internet speed. Until you get 2,000 college students on Facebook posting about their latest mortal sin committed or mortal sin averted and who gets shafted? The ten or twenty who actually want to use the Internet for academic pursuits. The best time to use the Internet was at that hour because then everyone else was too hung over or passed out or doing “other” things to clog up the Internetz.
Don’t even get me started on the study rooms. My distaste for freshmen (“freshies”) had its origins in some blonde freshies commandeering the study rooms for what must have been the EXCOM of college blondes because there were laptops and cell phones everywhere but not a book in sight. Unless you consider a Cosmo magazine literature.
Thus began the legendary AIM banter from two feet away as we silently sat at study tables chuckling knowingly at what was being typed. Oh how easily amused we were. The source of my arid sense of humor is the second floor of the Grace Hauenstein Library near the windows that looked out onto the lacrosse (we did not have a football team) field. If I e’er got bored, I was always sufficiently amused while the men’s lacrosse team was out practicing.
Now, two years later, I have upgraded in some respects. I tend to go to bed the same day I wake up, I may not pray like I used to (college put discipline in me with its schedule), and I now wear a Red wings jersey as a nightshirt with U of M sweats I got in A2 (Ann Arbor) during one of our many holy pilgrimages to said college town to visit a friend’s boyfriend (now fiance) and to admire the well-endowed institution of higher learning (I love collegiate Gothic architecture). That, and there was a really nice Japanese restaurant that had some really good sushi and tempura udon. And the bar that had my favorite Belgian ale at the time on tap.
Wow. That was a non sequitur. Anywho …
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday. Now, if you are Catholic, you get to celebrate for the next fifty days but especially over the next eight as we celebrate the octave! The Gloria is sung and I think the Creed is professed. The coming days are all solemnities!
As some of my friends know, I gave up giving up things for Lent. I know myself too well. While I don’t go on drunken bacchanalias, I have denied myself things in one way or another. I just don’t typically pick one hard and fast thing to give up but if that works for you … more power to ya.
But I have decided I am going to try something! Something so totally originally un-original it has to be signature “Ms. Allie” thing!
You know how some people read a section of the Catechism or a chapter out of the Bible a day? Well, that’s my idea.
Except mine is a bit different.
Imma read a few canons out of the Code of Canon Law everyday (or at least every other day).
Why? Because I want to be a canon lawyer. That has been a dream of mine since I was in high school. People would ask me what I wanted to be. Besides “nun” and “theologian” I would say “canon lawyer.” Imagine the looks I got! lol
I figure, if I want to become a canonist, I better start reading up on it! Luckily, I have a Latin-English edition (the latest translation!) AND a complete text and commentary! I got it as a “going off to the convent” present from a priest-friend who is also a canonist (and who has helped me develop a love and nascent understanding of canonical jurisprudence).
The convent was not in the cards but that does not nix the canon law work. I looked into the requirements for Catholic U in DC’s JCL program and I have to have at least an MA in Theology. What a co-inky-dink! Going for that very soon, God willing!
I might post some things from my reading if it piques my interest in one way or another.
FYI, canon law is NOT just about annulments. It’s much more than that. Canon law is the Church’s own system of law. It gives the rhyme and reason for why certain things are the way they are. It talks about what makes a sacrament valid and licit and what does not (though for the really nitty-gritty you have to go to the liturgical documents). What are the rights and responsibilities of a priest, bishop, religious, consecrated person, or layperson in the Church? What is the ladder of authority that leads to the Pope? Subsidiarity is big here. What are the minimum requirements for being ordained a priest? What are the duties of a pastor as opposed to an administrator? What the heck is a vicar forane?!
Yep, I want to study all of that. I really honest to Saint Aloysius do.
I actually cracked open my commentary today to look something up and in my search for the appropriate canon, I found something else I had always wanted to know!
I ❤ canon Law.
Who knows? Maybe this will work. Maybe this will be a major *facepalm* moment? Maybe this will be the catalyst for something more like this? I don't know. It all depends. Let me know what you think.
All right. I have to get to bed. Going to Mass in the morning and then I have to get back to work on some "Living Stations" stuff. I can't believe it's been a week since it ended already!
Have a blessed Easter Octave!
-Allie
Ms. Allie
All Things Christ! 