Support a Catholic Speaker Month: Crystalina Evert

On the last day of September (barely made it!), I'd like to talk a little bit about Crystalina Evert for Support a Catholic Speaker Month. 

To see Crystalina and her husband Jason Evert speak, is to see the Gospel come alive. They radiate charisma, beauty, a real talent for speaking and especially their love for one another. Every coordinated move shows that they work as a team. Their union as a couple and family is what really shines through in their evangelization and speaking. "This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Jn 13:35)

Crystalina and her husband have been giving talks on chastity and love ever since they met, at a conference in the Bahamas. They are full-time Catholic speakers for Catholic Answers, as well as authors of several books and DVDs. Starting from when they were engaged, they've toured high schools, speaking openly and honestly to teens about chastity. You can watch them on their DVD called Romance Without Regret. They also teamed up with Brian Butler to put together a wonderful, high-quality DVD series called Theology of the Body for Teens. 

In that DVD series, Crystalina talks about how she went on a mission trip with a friend. When they came back, they each pursued their own vocation. Crystalina got married and her friend became a nun. Crystalina then says that even though their vocations are different, they are still fulfilling God's commandment of feeding, clothing and caring for Him (Mt 25:35). While her friend does it towards others that God puts in her path (on the street, in schools, etc.), Crystalina does it as a mother. 

This statement has really stayed with me and I think it reflects Crystalina's humility and depth. She embraces being a woman, wife and mother with simplicity and therein lies her strength. Not everyone can share their sexual past with millions of teenagers in talks and online, but Crystalina does it with honesty and simplicity. She is the perfect example of boasting gladly in her weakness, for when she is weak, she is strong (2 Cor 12:9-10).

Crystalina has recently launched a new website, Women Made New, and it is full of testimonies and resources that reflect Crystalina's mission. 

In one of the videos on the site, "Emotional Virtue", it says that a group of guys voted holiness and confidence as the most attractive qualities in a woman. These are definitely qualities that Crystalina exudes. One thing is for sure, there is a strong prayer life behind both Crystalina and Jason as a couple. In an interview in 2003 she says, "Well, every day Jason and I do an hour of adoration, the rosary, mass, confession every two weeks and honestly just trying to always maintain and keep Christ at the center of my life... the center of everything I do." 

(images source)

Thinking about those special people...

There are those people in life whose hearts you are sure are made of gold. Who when you talk to them on the phone your face beams and your heart feels homey. Those people who love you unconditionally, even if you live a million miles away and are terrible at keeping in touch long-distance. Who still remember the special moments you spent together and talk about them with love and nostalgia, as if they were yesterday.Who make you think, everyone in the world could let you down but you trust goodness still exists because of them. 

I'm so lucky and so undeserving to have such people as my second family in the US: the Harrisons. If I had to choose three words to describe them, I'd maybe choose genuine, true and good-hearted. I think the wonderful moments I spent with them and our friendship really helped form who I am. Here's to a hug across the Atlantic!

My best friend and her mom (with two family members missing)...

Where the green grass grows

It finally rained here in Lisbon, which makes me really happy after a month of scorching heat and having to teach kids in a non-air-conditioned classroom. And just having to walk around in general in the heat. I felt just as refreshed as I'm sure dirt everywhere felt. I loved seeing the grass in the park look really GREEN in contrast with the autumn leaves starting to show up. Just like tears are purifying for our soul (or so they say), I think rain must be purifying for the earth. I went running (just a little, twice a week) and it felt really, realy good. 

 My view when I do my sit ups...

Love and Responsibility Quotes

I finished reading Love and Responsibility by John Paul II (before he was pope) and, even though it was pretty dense and philosophical, I loved it. It helped me understand basic things about love, it helped me in my own personal relationship and it is definitely a book I will go back to for reference. 

Here are a few of my favorite quotes: 

• "The sexual urge in this conception is a natural drive born in all human beings, a vector of aspiration along which their whole existence develops and perfects itself from within." p. 46
• "The only way to surmount the element of uti is to embrace simultaneously the alternative, fundamentally different, defined by St Augustine as frui. There exists a joy which is consonant both with the nature of the sexual urge and with the dignity of human persons, a joy which results from collaboration, from mutual understanding and the harmonious realization of jointly chosen aims, in the broad field of action which is love between man and woman." p. 61
• "It should be emphasized here that love is the fullest realization of the possibilities inherent in man. The potential inherent in the person is most fully actualized through love. The person finds in love the greatest possible fullness of being, of objective existence. Love is an activity, a deed which develops the existence of the person to its fullest. It must of course be genuine love." p. 82
• "A woman is capable of truly making a gift of herself only if she fully believes in the value of her person and in the value as a person of the man to whom she gives herself. And a man is capable of fully accepting a woman's gift of herself only if he is fully conscious of the magnitude of the gift - which he cannot be unless he affirms the value of her person." p. 129
• "For love is never something ready made, something merely 'given' to man and woman, it is always at the same time a 'task' which they are set." p. 139
• "For this reason genuine human love, love 'for' a person, and love 'between' persons, must combine two elements: tenderness and a certain firmness. Otherwise, it will lose its inner soundness and resilience, and turn into sterile sloppiness and mawkishness. We must not forget that love for a human being must also contain certain elements of struggle. Struggle for the beloved human being, and his or her true good." p. 204
• "Without integration marriage is an enormous risk. A man and a woman whose love has not begun to mature, has not established itself as a genuine union of persons, should not marry, for they are not ready to undergo the test to which married life will subject them." p. 215
• "But the need for betrothed love, the need to give oneself to and unite with another person, is deeper and connected with the spiritual existence of the person. It is not finally and completely satisfied by union with another human being." p. 253

The Effects of the Rosary

Julie Rodrigues | September 19, 2012 AD | Reply

Why do people pray the rosary: to obtain special graces? to connect with God? as Christian meditation? in reparation for one’s sins and the sins of others? for world peace?

The rosary is very mysterious and so are the effects of praying the rosary. How is it that by saying certain prayers while thinking about certain events in the life of Jesus… usually while getting distracted, thinking about other things, even falling asleep… can do anything for our relationship with God? Or even stranger, can take part in God’s plan of salvation for all mankind? Other forms of prayer seem to have more tangible effects: reading the Bible can give us a pretty clear message, silence or journaling can make us more aware of what’s going on in our interior, the sacraments can be powerful emotional experiences.

Click here to keep reading on IgnitumToday.com...

We're swimming into English... into English...

I'm into week 3 of my new job (teaching kids English) and, other than a cold and occasional headaches, I think I'm doing okay. My favorite things from these past days have been sloppy, wet kisses from four-year-olds, frequent hugs, and my first graders liking a song I made up better than the song in their book. The song I made up is called "We're swimming into English, into English" and I copied the melody from "Head, shoulders, knees and toes". One class started spontaneously singing it in class and another asked, "Can we sing that song?" I was so touched! 

Here is their lovely artwork on the stairs leading up to the English rooms. It was my coworker's idea...

Aveiro: The Portuguese Venice/Holland

This weekend I visited a city I've been wanting to visit for a while: Aveiro, the Portuguese Venice/Holland. This because it has a canal with gondolas and lots of bikes everywhere. You can rent a bike for free and it's all flat and easy to use a bike as transportation. 

My cousin and one of my favorite people in general lives there and it was really wonderful to hang out with him, even if it was just for a short time. He rode bikes with me, ate the typical egg sweet I tried and didn't like and had lunch with me and Daniel. It fabulous. Daniel and I also got lots of time together this weekend, which was really important. We even had time to stop on the way back to Lisbon at one of our favorite places, Fatima. The bottom picture is of the icecream I had and the shoes Daniel took off during this stop. 

The washing tank

I washed my rugs again (see last year) in the washing tank about two minutes from my house. The fact that there are still washing tanks is one of the things I most love about Portugal. I don't know if there are any more washing tanks anywhere, but I am sure glad I have one near my house. Because it's just cooler to wash my rugs in a tank. The water is clear and running, and it's easy. Just dip, scrub and dip again. There is even a separate pool you can use to rinse in non-soapy water. It's a shame only me and the gypsy women that live nearby use it!

Gifts and support

Week one of my new job is over... phew. I'm almost just as nervous about week two, but I'm trying not to think about it. It's in tough and stressful times that you realize how much support is really at your disposal. I had several little treats this week: lunch with one of my favorite friends I haven't been in touch with recently, figs and fig jam from my landlady, a new plant from Daniel, little text messages, etc. These are the things that remind me I am being taken care of. 

8 reasons for lifestyle blogs

Why should anyone keep an online diary, sharing private moments of their lives with strangers? Here are 8 reasons I love reading lifestyle blogs, write a lifestyle blog and think they can serve a purpose: 

1. They are visual and beautiful. Everyone knows "beauty will save the world" (Dostoevsky), right?
2. It's interesting and cultural to see how other people live, both those close to us and around the world. 
3. Because that's the core part of life: "In these pages I tell secrets... because that is one way of keeping track and becasue I believe that it is not only more honest but also vastly more interesting than to pretend that I have no such secrets to tell. I not only have my secrets, I am my secrets. And you are your secrets." (from aholyexperience.com)
4. Focusing on lifestyle, hobbies and interests can be a common ground between people with religious or other differences. We might not agree with another person's beliefs or religion, but we can nonetheless like their lifestyle.
5. They have ideas and inspiration for new ways of living and looking at life.
6. It's a fun way to keep in touch with and share pictures with loved ones that are far away. My parents and my friends (and second family!) in the US, for example, live far away. 
7. It helps focus on what really matters in life and makes us happy: "factors that matter for home, such as possessions, marriage, time, parenthood, body and neighborhood."
8. It helps focus on the simple and small things: a cup of tea, a chat with a friend, pushing a child in a swing. Or, as seen below, a cup of coffee and a wonderful "couple's sharing time" I had with my boyfriend this summer!

Any more ideas?

Joie de Vivre

 Last week, I saw a beautiful French movie, The Women on the Sixth Floor, about a rich, French man who falls in love with "the help": Spanish women who really have "joie de vivre". It's the second French comedy I see that is really funny.

It's one of those movies where someone rich and disconnected discovers love and joy through a poorer (but more family and community-oriented) culture in his own country. Like Spanglish, for example. Some of my favorite things that the French man said were, "They're poor, they get up at six in the morning and get home late and tired, but they're happy." And, "I've found a family here." I really identified with the movie because I had a similar fascination for the Mexican culture my last year in high school. It was actually through that fascination that I came back to the Church. When the French man in the movie went to mass with them and prayed the rosary with them at night, I saw the same beauty I had seen back then.

I loved how they had so little, but they were rich in community and friendship with one another. The movie showed them supporting each other in hardships, helping each other with their work, laughing and telling stories in the park, making fun of each other in a playful way. It made me sad to live alone and far from people I'd like to build community with, but it was definitely a reminder of what's important in life.

Back to Lisbon

Well, I'm back in Lisbon, to a new job and to the adventure of everyday life (as opposed to the comfort of being taken care of at my parents' house on an idyllic island). 

I miss my mom's crunchy salads everyday for lunch and the latte my dad makes for me everyday after lunch. It's a stark contrast to the leftovers I eat for several days while braving life here on my own. Everyone says their mom's cooking is the best, but I do appreciate my mom's healthy food (I guess I owe my health-freakness to her) which you just feel good about eating. She always has salads for lunch and soups for dinner. 

Every now and then, when I get nostalgic, I think about those salads for lunch and that coffee sprinkled with cinnamon.