Inhale, Exhale

NYE, Mary Magdalene and a pamphlet

I

Long gone are the days of receiving the new year awake. Now we’re more of a noon year’s eve kind of family. If you’re unfamiliar with this concept, let me elaborate; the Children’s Museum of Phoenix hosts a countdown to noon on December 31st. They drop balloons and blast music, and (most importantly) you’re done by 1:00 pm. 

This year, the Cantu Clan celebrated with a feast of the finest Costco foodcourt pizza, sparkling apple juice in plastic champagne flutes, and French 75s for Diana and me. We watched fireworks from around the world and put the kids to bed. After the kids were fast asleep, Diana and I started our New Year’s Eve tradition of watching When Harry Met Sally followed by watching the ball drop at Times Square at 10 pm Arizona time, then it was time to sleep.

New year’s eve in Mexico is full of little rituals. People eat twelve grapes during the first twelve seconds of the new year. Allegedly, each one of these represents a wish you’re making in hopes for it to come true in the new year. Some people wear red underwear, to attract love, and yellow to attract money. Some people sweep their front door, others walk around the block with suitcases. My family would have everyone in attendance give a toast, some of my relatives are less succinct than others so this took a good portion of the night. I have to be honest with you, I don’t miss any of these little rituals.

If you want to attract love, work on being a person worth being in a relationship with. If you want more money, work towards a promotion or start a side hustle (like selling red and yellow underwear during the last two weeks of December). If you want to travel, save money and plan a trip. And please don’t choke on the grapes, it’s not worth it.

II

The new year is the perfect blank canvas for us to make resolutions. Like I mentioned here, I don’t like making resolutions so this year I took a different approach and picked a word to reflect on and a patron saint to keep me company through the year. If you would like to do the same, you can find the word of the year generator here and the patron saint generator here. H/T to Jennifer Fulwiler for these two.

Exhale is my word for the year and so far I’ve associated it with getting rid of the things I don’t need. Oddly enough I purged my closet in early December which seems to be on brand with this word. Reducing anxiety and stress also comes to mind as a goal to pursue this year.

St. Mary Magdalene is my patron saint for the year

Back in 2013, I attended a talk on St. Mary Magdalene by Fr. Sean Davidson of the Missionaries of the Most Holy Eucharist. He had a first-class relic of her, a piece of her skull if I remember correctly, and he prayed over me with it. I had forgotten about it until now.

I got Fr. Davidson’s book on Mary Magdalene and started reading during my holy hour on Monday. I don’t know about you but I had never thought of where certain people mentioned in scripture ended up. I know the apostles went all over God’s creation but as for the rest my guess would have been that they stayed put. Turns out that, according to a most ancient oral tradition, a large group of Christ’s intimate friends was exiled to France in the year A.D. 41. Mary Magdalene, Martha, Lazarus, Maximin, Mary Jacobe, Salome, Marcelle, Cedonious and Sara.

Mary Magdalene retired to a cave on a hill by Marseille, La Sainte-Baume, where she spent the rest of her days on earth in prayer and contemplation. Local tradition has it that she eventually took no food other than the Holy Eucharist and she eventually left this world in a eucharistic ecstasy after receiving Holy Communion for the last time. And this is just the introduction to the book. I’m looking forward to spending my weekly holy hour learning more about St. Mary Magdalene. I’ll report my findings.

III

The Seven Deadly Sins or the Seven Vices - Anger by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

I came across a pamphlet titled Your guide to the 7 deadly sins and the virtues that crush them attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, a Dutch renaissance painter. I’m not sure if the guide was written by him, however, I learned that he created seven pieces of art depicting the seven deadly sins. They are quite sobering, look them up at your own risk. The guide quotes scripture and St. Thoms Aquinas’ summa and goes through each deadly sin and its antidote. Here’s a summary.

pride<>humility

We’re presented with two examples, Lucifer and Michael, one of them declares Non serviam while the other becomes the Prince of the Heavenly Host even though he is a relatively low-ranking angel.

envy<>charity

According to Dr. Kevin Vost, envy regards our sadness in reaction to someone else’s good. Therefore the antidote to envy is being charitable, rejoicing in the success of others, and being grateful to God for what we have.

avarice<>generosity

Avarice is the desire for more than we need, particularly regarding material goods. We fight avarice by giving freely what we have been given without attachment or resentment.

wrath<>meekness

First things first, wrath is a passion, not a sin. Its sinfulness depends on whether the object and amount of anger are according to reason. If you get angry over the sin of abortion and decide to pray outside a Planned Parenthood while being charitable to those who may commit this sin, then this would be the result of good anger. If you become angry at your wife and speak rudely to her then that’s bad anger.

Meekness is the virtue that helps us to control ourselves in the face of a barrage of angry feelings and restrain our impulse to react. Meekness is strength.

sloth<>diligence

Sloth is a spiritual stupor. St. Thomas Aquinas calls sloth tristitia or sadness, a sadness that causes us to refuse to take the necessary steps to achieve our sanctification. Diligence helps us form good spiritual habits and stick with them, even when we don’t want to.

gluttony<>temperance

Gluttony is immoderation in the use of food and drink. The pleasure of eating and drinking is a gift from God in its proper place and within proper limits. Temperance helps us fight gluttony. Fasting and abstinence are powerful methods for achieving this virtue.

lust<>chastity

Lust is the inordinate desire for sexual pleasure. Just like with eating and drinking, sexual pleasure is a gift from God in its proper place, namely within the context of Holy Matrimony. Chastity helps us exercise control over our sexual desires and use them only in the way that God intended. This virtue leads us to freedom, joy, and purity of mind. Fasting, abstinence, and other physical penances are powerful methods for achieving this virtue.

IV

If you made it this far, thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, tap the heart icon. If you didn’t like it or an idea caught your attention, let me know in the comments. I’m looking forward to writing the next 51 editions of this newsletter with the love and care I made this one with (and caffeine, lots of it). If you think this publication would be useful to someone you know, share it.

I leave you with my favorite Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI quote, may he rest in peace.

The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.

See you next week.

-W