However, I was once again so inspired by the bobsled competition, particularly because of the gold medal win for the U.S. four-man team, that I am considering renewing my quadrennial call for the Vatican to enter a bobsled team in the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia.
The Holy See takes sports seriously, given the Pontifical Council for the Laity has had a Church and Sport division since 2004.

It's probably too late for them to consider entering racewalkers in the 2012 London games, but c'mon, there have to be a couple of people in Vatican City who could handle a bobsled, right? The possibilities for international evangelization would be tremendous as their sleds, Spiritus and Dominus, speed along the track. Hey, if you don't like those, you're welcome to suggest other names for the Vatican's sleds.

Sports and religion in one bracket: There is a possibility -- albeit a slim one -- for an all-Catholic school Final Four in the NCAA men's tournament. Eight Catholic schools received bids on Sunday: Georgetown in the Midwest; Marquette in the East; Gonzaga and Xavier in the West; and Siena, Notre Dame, Villanova and St. Mary's of California in the South. How can you not cheer for Siena when their nickname is the Saints? But I'm torn, since those Saints face "my" Purdue Boilermakers in the first round. 

I want the Catholic schools to do well. My hope is that if I attended one of them, and that school goes deep into the tourney and gets an even bigger share of that TV money, that will be one less call and/or mailing I receive from that institution's development office asking me for money.

Odds of another sort: They either don't take much interest in the NCAA tournament in Ireland or the betting action has been slow because paddypower.com is posting odds on who will be the next pope.

They see Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments,  at 4-1. Three are listed at 8-1: Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, president of the Pontifical Counccil for Justice and Peace; Cardinal Angelo Scola, patriarch of Venice; and Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras. I met and interviewed the latter several years ago when he received an honorary degree from Carthage College. Definitely has a universal view of the church.

As for Americans on the list, Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 10-1; Archbishop Raymond Burke, head of the Roman Rota, 14-1; Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, 18-1; Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, 50-1; and Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, 80-1.   

For whatever it is worth, in 2005 paddypower.com correctly figured that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger would succeed Pope John Paul II.

After hours of Internet shopping and visiting bridal store after bridal store, we have finally chosen the perfect bridesmaid dress for my friends and sisters to wear, designed by Watters.

Now the next thing I have to do is find the accessories I need to make each girl stand out in a unique way. I'm planning on doing this by finding them a special broach to wear on the bodice of the dress, and a simple diamond letter of their first name initial to add to their bouquet, like so: 

and this broach from Amazon.com

It seems as though the closer we get to the actual wedding date, the better our plans have been falling into place. However, the only problem with that is it now leaves me more time to think about other things. For example, how in the world am I going to live with a boy for the rest of my life?! 

I know that God is with me each step of the way, but even so, I'm forever worrying about things that are sometimes out of my control. Hopefully after we attend the Engagement Enrichment Conference this coming April at St. Lucy Parish, Racine, we (OK, I) will be a lot better at expressing myself.

Sigh. Can you tell I'm the kind of person who can freak out over the littlest things? 

-Amy

Music playing while writing this: "Country Roads" by Ryan Bingham

I received an e-mail yesterday called "Love One Another" from Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki. A weekly electronic "homily," he chose this week to share his thoughts on what people should be concentrating on during the "Season of Mercy." His number one recommendation? Confession. Instantly my heart dropped.

Let me confess something to all of you: I haven't been to confession in almost five years.

When it comes down to it, there really isn't a huge reason why I've been avoiding it. I kept telling myself that I couldn't this week because of school, work, family responsibilities, baby-sitting, etc ... you know, all those things that I just CAN'T drop.

Recently, I've been thinking about the sacrament of reconciliation a lot, and I think I've finally come up with a good analogy for it, based on my own experiences. Funny enough, it has to do with caring for your teeth.

After I enrolled in college, it seemed that just about everything had to take a backseat to my earning a degree. This not only included getting regular haircuts, keeping doctor appointments, eating on a regular basis, and washing my clothes, but also taking care of my teeth. I failed to floss, only brushed about once a day, and mouthwash? What's that? Before I knew it, I had gone nearly three years without a dentist appointment, when suddenly, the inevitable hit: a rather throbbing pain in my lower jaw. I decided to ignore it.

Before I knew it, more of my teeth began to hurt, and I was going through nearly a bottle of aspirin a week. I was getting huge headaches, and waking nearly three times a night with flashing pain. Sensitive to hot and cold drinks, life was not fun at that time of my life.

Once I began to feel this pain, that was when I began to take care of my teeth more. I flossed, brushed about five times a day, and used mouthwash every chance I got. You know what happened? Yup, nothing.

Finally, I went to the Marquette University Dental School, where I was treated with ... well, OK, I had to get three root canals before the pain would even remotely stop. Then they did a whole bunch more things on my teeth that today, I'm still embarrassed to admit. I'm also really mad at myself that all of this could have been avoided if I had actually just brushed my teeth twice a day, flossed regularly, stopped drinking so much dang soda and used mouthwash before bed. Ten minutes a day could have saved me nearly two years of dental work.

Anyone see a connection here?

When you go to confession regularly, it helps you in all aspects of life because of the graces it sends you. The more times you go, the less you have to confess, as my family priest once told me. Keeping your soul clean should be even more important than keeping your teeth healthy, because that's the part of you that's going to live forever.

OK, I get it now.

So this coming Saturday, plan to join me as I go for my first confession in nearly five years. I don't expect it to be easy - far from it, actually. But I do know that it is essential to keeping my faith life healthy. There are so many ways that God helps us in our lives, so why not take advantage of them? It's hard, I know it. Really hard, actually. But SO GOOD when it's done.

Are you as grateful to God as I am for his second chances?  

-Amy

Music playing while writing this: "A Little Time" by Jonathan Clay (because we all need just a little time to get things back on track)

The long questionnaire was filled with all those burning questions that many of us may have been too afraid to ask our significant other. From financial responsibilities to raising your children in the Catholic faith, it touched all aspects of life. Below are some that stood out to me:  

“You are happy with the domestic roles that you and your fiancé have chosen” (agree). “Marriage is the only way you will be truly happy in your life” (disagree). “I have had homosexual tendencies towards members of the same sex, and I’m afraid it will ruin my future marriage” (disagree…wow, what a question).   

After taking the time to review the questions that we had to agree/disagree with, I have come to the conclusion that talking about these things is WAY SO IMPORTANT before you get married. Soon we will be meeting with the FOCCUS couple to learn the results.

One thing I do want to discuss with the couple that we will be meeting with is how they got about making their new house or apartment their "home." Now that Matt is in the new place, and I've got some of my things in too, I expected that I would feel comfortable being there. However, I'm just not. It's cold, I can't get the Bravo channel, and sometimes I just want to lay in bed and read (my bed!). Most of the time I just can't wait to get back to my parent's house (yes, I'm 27 and still living with my parents. You got a problem with that?) and just relax there.

Sigh. What would you suggest I do to become more comfortable in the new place? I need some advice! (Mainly because I'm not getting any younger!)

-Amy

P.S. I lost five pounds! At least, I think I did. I guess I should have weighed myself before I started this whole regime, huh? Either way, wedding dress here I come!  

Music playing while writing this: "A Kiss to Build a Dream on" by Louis Armstrong

Lack of $tewardship: Stewardship obviously isn't a corporate concept. Why else would so many companies have invested $2.5 million for each of their Super Bowl commercials, and then provide uninspiring material? Like most of the ads that aired during the game, the mother and son Tebow ad left me with a "What's the big deal?" reaction. Worst example of lack of stewardship was the $2.5 million of our tax money that paid for the U.S. census spot.

So, are you ready for baseball season? OK, Lent first, then baseball season.