New Film about Our Lady of Guadelupe

Check this out- can't wait to see the film!

Infamous Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, 64, known for such sordid films as Basic Instinct and Showgirls, has undergone a conversion and now will be writing a new film on Our Lady of Guadalupe.
follow this link to read the article: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09082502.html

Vulnerability- Vice or Virtue?

In the past couple months, the Lord has put an interesting concept on my heart-- the virtue of vulnerability. For most of my adult life, I have learned from society and my environment in general, that putting on a hard shell of invulnerability is a good thing. Showing how strong and invincible you are is a true virtue- or so I thought. Isn't that what our society teaches us? Strong women are women who don't wear their emotions on their sleeve. Strong women take a blow and give it right back- with attitude. Strong women are independent of any outside help- they can do everything themselves- better! Strong women don't have weaknesses- or at least if they do, they do a very good job of covering them up.

But God has gently shown me that this is not a virtue. This way of thinking is damaging to our souls and to the souls of those around us. I have learned how damaging this mentality is especially in a marriage relationship after reading Holy Sex! by Dr. Gregory Popcak. When you don't share your entire self- body, soul, mind, and spirit, with your spouse, you are not truly loving. Dr. Popcak explains how our first parents- Adam and Eve did not know how not to be vulnerable until after the Fall. They shared everything with each other and God and did not experience any shame. They knew true freedom and love.

Yesterday, our priest, Fr. Mark also drove this concept of vulnerability home with his homily. Here is an excerpt from his homily on his blog: http://crumbsofbread.wordpress.com/
"Being vulnerable is probably not on the top of our to-do list. It is risky, adventurous, spontaneous, free flowing and nerve racking. There is a rush of excitement and expectation, but as we journey through life we also learn that it can be painful, humiliating, and heart wrenching as well. Like the soft shell crab, we hide ourselves away from potential danger and lurk in the shadows and murky waters of the Chesapeake Bay of life. There is just one problem, if we don’t shed our shells, then we can’t grow, we can’t change, we can’t mature, and we can’t become more and more the person that God has created us to be. If we dwell only in the shadows and murky waters we might be alive, but we will never truly live. It is time that we start to see past the end of our own shell and take the risk to live again and allow the world in."

The ways we "hide under our shell", "put up walls", harden our hearts, or however you want to say it- are as numerous as they are varied. We hide behind our tv's or computers or video games or ipods to avoid any real conversation with those around us. We only converse in small talk with our relatives, children, spouses, friends, to avoid sharing anything real about who we are. And these are just a few ways we hide from intimacy from those around us. Think of the ways we hide from intimacy with God. Having constant noise and busyness around us, not truly acknowledging our failures, or even asking for His loving mercy takes a plunge into vulnerability.

Of course, being vulnerable means risking hurt, but with this hurt comes healing, as Fr. Mark said. Jesus knew this best of all. He was willing to be a vulnerable baby, a vulnerable friend to his disciples, a vulnerable minister to the hurt, and finally a victim of greatest vulnerability- of being physically and emotionally abused to the point of dying naked on the cross. We often don't think of the vulnerability there because Jesus always has a little piece of cloth on the crucifixes we look at, but he really gave his entire self up for us to the Father. He showed that true love means withholding nothing. He gives his entire self to us again and again through the Eucharist. He knows how much it hurts to be vulnerable this way, but he doesn't care because wants to love us with his entire self. Again and again.

I have so much room for growth in this "new" virtue. With God's help each day, I'll try to challenge myself more and more to be a little more vulnerable in order to be more loving and lovable.

Day 8 and 9

On day 8, I mixed the red clay to a more subtle coral color to match the original Guadelupe. After I was done conditioning the clay and mixing the colors, I made a little swirly design to mimic the floral pattern on Mary's dress. However, I'm not sure this will be visible after the bead is all done. No big deal if it isn't. I just thought it would be neat :)

On Day 9, I used the red clay to fill in the top part of her dress and sleeve (see picture)

Days 6 and 7

Here's a couple pics of Liam at the park- the reason why I haven't gotten very far on the bead!
Oh well, it's worth every minute of it to see his happiness!

Well, I haven't had much time to work on the bead. Analee's sleep schedule is nonexistent when we are out and about in the a.m. Then when it's time to lay Liam down for his nap, Analee is wide awake. There goes my time to get anything and everything done! This week, I will set aside some more time to work on the bead.

What I did get finished are Our Lady's praying hands. I made it big enough to use the extra on a different bead that I plan to make- the praying hands of Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane. I will add three drops of blood to that bead to symbolize his agony and the real blood he sweat at that time.

More to come soon!

Day 5 Guadelupe Bead

I put Mary's face together. It is very tricky to get her to appear to be looking downward and to her right. In hindsight, I should have positioned her pupils differently, but when the whole bead is put together, you probably won't be able to tell the difference. I did take my time on her face, though. The rest of the bead should go faster.

Day 4 of Guadelupe Bead

Here is the pic of Day 4. I didn't have time for anything but the nose and eyebrows :o) But I did have a great time at the Harkins' party!

Day 3 of Guadelupe Bead

Below is the before photo and above is the after. Sorry, they downloaded the right way- I guess next time I will download them the wrong way and it will come out right!

Today I worked on the face of Mary for the second day. Yesterday (day 2 of Guadelupe bead), I tried a new technique for canes. I included the video clip in case you are interested. Anyway, this new technique interested me, so I made the curved blades that the video showed, made the transparency, and set to work. First of all, I should have noted that at the end of that video clip, the face is distorted at one end- and that design wasn't even all that difficult for the face to be that distorted. I think that the whole slicing off pieces of a picture with the curved blade is very inaccurate. I tried it yesterday and the part that I got done looked pretty bad. Luckily, I only used a small amount of clay, so I just started over today.

I included some pictures of my progress so far. I finished the lips and eyes. I know it doesn't look like much, but I had to mix a bunch of different clays for different coloring on the face.

Good news: my 6 month old is finally taking longer naps, so I can work for more than 30 minutes at a time! I might get this bead done quicker than I thought!

Oh, and I wanted to say another reason why I trashed the first attempt- the transparency I was using of Mary's face didn't show her eyes- so I didn't make her eyes. I only made an eyelid with a bigger shadow. But then I remembered what my husband told me about the actual Lady of Guadalupe. He said that scientists studied it, and couldn't find any paint, or any medium at all. It's just there. Also, that they looked with microscopes into her eyes and found- very clearly- three (he might have said four) men in the reflection of her pupil. The people were even positioned the same as if the had looked in a real pupil. It was so clear that they could even see a tear coming from one man's eye! Ok, that's a little hard to believe even for myself, but it true! If you don't know the story behind Our Lady of Guadalupe, this won't make sense. The men who are in the pupil are the ones who Juan Diego showed his apron to. They were shocked to see that Our Lady had really appeared to Juan Diego and even more shocked to see her image on his apron when all the roses fell out.

I am deeply sorry for my sad rendition of the story. Here is a link to a much better one: http://www.catholic.org/about/guadalupe.php It doesn't go into detail about the eyes, but it's good to read the whole story.

Anyway, I wanted her eyes on the bead after I remembered what significance they have. So far, everything is turning out well. I'm hoping for some time tomorrow morning to do some more work on it.



Polymer Clay Face Cane - For more funny movies, click here