Answer Me This: Happy-Clappy Edition

Linking up with Kendra over at Catholic All Year for her Answer Me This Q&A type link-up. Which is fun and much easier than coming up with my own original blog content.

1. Do you hate happy clappy church music?

Not really. Because I'm a Confirmation catechist, I'm expected to go to the Life-Teen mass, which is mostly happy-clappy. I find the words and melodies are more familiar and easier to remember and sing along with, and I find that even the meditative songs carry with them a deep sense of reverence. I have some favorite traditional hymns, and there is a lot of classical liturgical music that I find particularly inspiring (not to mention Gregorian Chant - have you ever heard anything so very lovely?) but at the end of the day, I do love a happy clappy mass.

This is one of my favorite songs of the moment. It's not very "happy clappy" but it's not a classic hymn, either, but it gives me chills and sends my heart soaring when we sing it.  (It's long but it's worth it.)

Video is not mine, but it needs to be shared with the universe.

2. What is your priority: eating or sleeping?

Sleeping wins every time. Since I left college I've become someone who needs 8-10 hours of sleep. I can survive on less but I need a lot of coffee to make up the deficit. Honestly, I'd rather sleep than eat any day, and sometimes go to bed without a proper dinner because I'm just worn out. I'm getting better at getting up early but it's still a slow process because mornings are hard.

3. What type of milk do you drink in your house?

I drink lowfat milk. My housemate drinks reduced fat milk. I haven't had whole milk in years - it's just too heavy feeling. Plus, I cook with milk and like the occasional half glass of milk before bed and honestly don't need the extra calories. (Kendra says food is *for* calories, and I see her point, honest, but I don't have children and have different dietary needs.) I used to only ever buy fat free milk, but it doesn't work as well for cooking and after a while it just tasted watery so I switched to 2%.

I've seen this on the internet all over.
No idea who it belonged to originally. Sorry.

4. What is a book that changed your perspective on something?

I mostly (as in, almost exclusively) read novels, and novels usually impact me in powerful ways but don't necessarily change my perspective, so this is a bit tricky.

 

Secret Historian is not for the faint of heart or homophobic, but it really changed my perspective on how people who live differently than I do - whether that involves their sexual identity or political views. 

Perks changed how I think about myself. It made me feel less alone at a really lonely, tumultuous time in my life, and it's stuck with me ever since. It's one of those books that you have to read at the right time: too young and it will go over your head, too old and it won't be impactful. For me, that time was the summer I turned 17. It's my favorite book.

5. Who is your favorite saint?

I have a few, so I'll start at the beginning.

When I was a little girl, sitting in CCD classes after school, I was the only kid in my class who didn't have a saint's name.  So when we got to a unit on learning about "our saint," in 4th grade, some of my classmates could choose between their first name or their middle name, but I didn't get to choose at all. The teacher gave me a picture book of saints and I got to pick one, so I chose Joan of Arc. She was brave, she was clever, and she was a young girl who didn't let anyone tell her she couldn't do something just because she was a girl.

Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII - WikiMedia Commons
Painting by Jean Auguste Dominique (1854)
Musee du Louvre, Paris

So Joan was my saint for years, until I was preparing to be confirmed. Thinking about a saint's name to take, Joan was, of course, near the top of my list.  But I stumbled upon Margaret of Cortona instead, and as the years pass, our compatibility continues to surprise me.

Ecstasy of St. Margaret of Cortona by Giovanni Lanfranco, 1622
Public Domain

St. Margaret is just so lovely and so dear to me. Her faith and sorrow for her sins and how she was ridiculed for her piety really stuck with me.  One of the things on my bucket list is to visit her incorrupt body at the Franciscan church in Cortona. I've visited St. Lucy (the patron of my high school, who is also so special to me) in Venice, and it was one of those experiences that rocks you back on your heels and think about how miraculous our faith is.

And of course I have a special devotion to St. John Paul II. He was such an incredible pope, so loved and so dedicated to Our Lady and Our Lord's Divine Mercy. What a blessing it is to have him continuing to pray for our Church at the throne of Heaven.

6. Introvert or Extrovert?

I used to be the very definition of an extrovert. In the last 3 years though, I've become much more introverted (thank you, social anxiety). I'm kind of in the middle right now, not really sure where I fall anymore.  I spend so much time alone these days that becoming an introvert became almost necessary for my sanity. Really, though, it doesn't bother me as much as it may have several years ago.




And that's it! If you have a blog, answer the questions and link up with us over at Kendra's in this post. Don't have a blog but still want to play? That's okay because this whole thing is made up and the posts don't matter - leave your answers in the comments either at Kendra's post or right here! I'd love to hear from you.


love,

Willow


*Author's Note: None of the images or videos in this post are my property. They are from around the web and I've given credit as best I could. Book cover images are taken from their respective Amazon pages.*