Our Lady's Lamp

While meditating on what makes Women different from Men, I found myself returning back to the beginning, and I realized that all of our differences can be found in the first few chapters of scripture. Man was made from dust, from the earth - an entity of order, rule, and structure. Woman was made from bone, from living flesh taken from another - a creature of choices, changes, and growth.   Man was made to rule the world, to name the creature, to impose order where it was needed, to bring structure. He was made to protect the garden from outside forces. Woman was made because Man was incomplete without us. They needed something more than just order, something more than duty. They needed an equal to love and be loved by. So, Woman was crafted from the bone of his bone, the blood of his blood. We were made to bring change - life - into the world, to be conduits of love. Woman was made to complete Man. Without Woman, Man couldn't be a complete image of God. Man's fai

Wonder Woman is a projection of my heart on a screen. I know that many of my fellow Warrior Women feel the same, and I imagine that many of us cried at the same scenes. I never anticipated crying tears of recognition in the middle of a battle scene or feeling my heart cramp with resonance as Diana faces down the ultimate evil: half truths about herself and mankind. I never expected to spend the action portion of a super hero movie in tears, not because characters were dying but because my heart finally saw it's reflection in someone beautiful, powerful, and kind.  Diana is an Amazon Princess - given life by Zeus, raised by the Amazon Queen, trained by the greatest general the Amazons ever had. Her mother led the Amazons in a war against depravity before Diana's birth and is aware of how easily corrupted mankind is. Antiope, her aunt and trainer, is realistic as well, pushing Diana to be stronger than anyone before her. Diana witnesses her people, her family, being ki

"We have a mission! We can't save everyone in this war! It's not what we are here to do!" "You're right. But it's what  I  am going to do!" So, Wonder Woman came out! And I was very, very hesitant to see it because I usually hate how strong women are portrayed. But Wonder Woman was excellent! If I could take only one scene from Wonder Woman, it is the scene titled No Man's Land. If you have seen the movie, well, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen the movie yet, trust me, you'll know the scene. Diana - a woman raised to be a strong, powerful, and confident warrior - is seeing war for the first time. She doesn't understand how men can be so cruel, so vicious, and so heartless. She has a mission: Get to the front lines, stop the biological attack that is about to occur. But when she hears of the village just beyond enemy lines that is full of slaughter and slavery, she cannot just stand by. She sees tha

Being a warrior woman is exhausting. And it's lonely. And it's largely my fault that it is. I'm the strong one, the calm one, the one to call in a crisis - either to back you up or help lift you out. I'll fight for you if you're too tired. I'll be your strength, encouragement, the kick in the pants, and your rock to lean on. And it's usually my joy to do it too. I'm calm when you're breaking apart. I'm strong when you need to be weak. I'm the fighter, the healer, the mover. And it's true that the more and I can be and help another, the happier I am. Until suddenly I'm the one needing that hand, that shoulder, that nudge. I spend so much time hiding by helping others. Part of it is that I do really want to hep, but part of it is to hide my weakness. It's easier to help others than to ask for help. It's easier to distract from my wounds by bandaging yours. This is my version of trying to tend to your speck while I'm st

The name Mary gets knocked so often because it's so common, but the name brings me joy on many levels. It's not just because I have several dear friends named Mary. It's also because two of my favorite people of all time are named Mary: Mary Magdalene and Mary, Mother of Jesus. These two come to the forefront especially at Easter, and as we leave Easter Sunday and enter the Easter Season (Oh, yeah. Easter's not just a day, y'all! We celebrate Easter until Jesus returns to Heaven and sends His Spirit! So, we get to celebrate for another 50 days!). How do we carry this Easter Joy, this Easter Fire into a world of war, famine, disease, division, and fear? By following the examples of these two beautiful Marys. I've written about Mary Magdalene before , She's, second to the Blessed Mother, one of the most misunderstood saints of all time, I think. And at Easter Time, her heart shines through. Magdalene was one of the only people to stand beside the cross

"Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her Eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness." Fire so often gets the bad rep. It's always the weapon of choice for the bad guys, it's known as uncontrollable, and is often equated with anger and rage. But fire is also light, warmth, and beauty. My favorite Mass of the entire year is the Easter Vigil. It usually starts around sunset, with the church in total darkness, with a fire burning outside. From this fire, a single candle, the Paschal Candle, is lit and processed into the dark church, with the minister proclaiming "Christ our Light." As he continues in, the rest of the church follows, each lighting their candles from this single, Paschal, candle, then passing it along to the next person. At the beginning, people are bumping into things, trying to get to their pews, but as the light spreads, soon even those with unlit c

"Sooner or later, we all go through a crucible... Most believe there are two types of people who go into a crucible: The ones who become stronger from the experience and survive it, and the ones who die. But there's a third type. The ones who learn to love the fire and choose to stay in their crucible because it's easier to embrace the pain when it's all you know anymore." ~Sebastian Blood, Arrow I remember when I heard the bad guy in Arrow's Season 2, Sebastian Blood, say that. I was struck quiet for a moment. I think I actually backed it up and played it again. The Crucible is a common image, used by many saints, philosophers, and TV shows. It's that hard time that either crushes the carbon into powder or turns it into the diamond. Every superhero has one of those defining moments, often the death of a loved one: Uncle Ben, Mr. Murdock, the Waynes, St. Rita's husband and twin sons, John Paul II and World War II. For others, it's experiences: O