Ouch!  Well, off the internets now so I have better answers to that too-insightful list of questions…

Openness to all situations at all times and in all places.

I have been working out like a mad fiend for the last month, all because I was tired of people continually asking me when I was due: “Uh, August 2010”.  I have now officially become obsessed with it—doing butt squeezes as I drive, squats as I cook, etc.  But, really, why am I doing this?  Is it just vanity?  Thanks for giving me something to think about as I head to the gym this morning.  :-)

Check out my blog, The Emperor has No Clothes! at amiraabuzeid.com

I am still scratching my head over the prostate training.  Are they doing some exercise that specifically will help them avoid cancer of the prostate?  Or did they mean prostrate?  See, and here I thought your article was going to go into how you corrected them there and then on their improper use of the word!  LOL My mind just went in a totally different direction and I could not possibly yank it back.

lol Amira, I was just thinking of writing a blog post about how I keep squeezing in “exercise moments” into day-to-day life: I think it’s fun!  Also, as a desk worker, it gives me a false sense of physical activity.  I think the problem is that, as in so many other areas, the modern technology-based culture, is not set up for human physical wellness.  Rather, blogging seems to be our “exercise” of choice.  :)

I did Crossfit for a while until I got a shoulder injury.  I was using it as an adjunct to Mixed Martial Arts (cage fighting) for which it was only moderately useful. My problem with it, is that it really does seem to be a goal in itself.  How important is it, really, to be able to snatch and press 300 pounds over your head?  To me, it wasn’t that important.  But some people I trained with just can’t get enough.  To the point where some work out up to ketoacidosis and beyond.  They are not helping their bodies much doing that.

I was a professional soldier, so fighting made a lot of sense, and since it became a part of my every day life, it was a great stress reliever and way to stay healthy.  (Hey, after a bad day it feels pretty good to kick someone as hard as you can. HA!  When they return the favor it keeps it all “civil”.)  I liked to keep training to be a better fighter even after I left the military, because it was just enjoyable and kept me in shape.  (Way more fun than running, for instance.)

But the world is more dangerous now than ever, so I have changed my training.  Now it is focused more on using weapons that are more effective: prayer - especially the Rosary - and fasting. Self denial and self examination, receipt of the sacraments, etc.  One has to be careful to not worship one’s own body or spend too much time on distractions from life, God.

Feel better than I ever have.

Hey! Just like in St. Paul, “But every one that contends for a prize is temperate in all things: they then indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.” Thank you for a lovely post.

Oh. Wow. I suggest you watch Chariots of Fire. Two pertinent quotes:

You came to see a race today. To see someone win. It happened to be me. But I want you to do more than just watch a race. I want you to take part in it. I want to compare faith to running in a race. It’s hard. It requires concentration of will, energy of soul. You experience elation when the winner breaks the tape - especially if you’ve got a bet on it. But how long does that last? You go home. Maybe you’re dinner’s burnt. Maybe you haven’t got a job. So who am I to say, “Believe, have faith,” in the face of life’s realities? I would like to give you something more permanent, but I can only point the way. I have no formula for winning the race. Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me.” If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race.  ~Eric Liddell

I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.  ~Eric Liddell

People run, train, whatever for all kinds of reasons. Some people may be into running, lifting, cross training, etc. for strictly shallow reasons, others may be into it for reasons you can’t see. My son suffers from a fairly severe generalized anxiety disorder and he’s able to control it via a pretty strict fitness regimen, including weight training and distance running. He’s darned awesomely good looking and has a body to die for, which is what people see, and they may think he only trains for appearance’s sake, but the real reason is one no one can see.

I love the second Eric Liddell quote because it’s why I run. I’m good at it, and God created me that way. I am never closer to God than when I’m running, and running has seen me through some bad, bad times. If someone wants to see the outside effects of running and judge me as shallow or stupid for doing something “pointless”, fine. That’s theirs to answer to God for, not mine.

Exercise (sports) where many children gain the discipline they learn and carry it into adulthood.

This comes in real handy during Advent and Lent when we restrain ourselves in controlling our lower desires.

Both of which help us lead more virtuous lives.

Sheesh, Simcha.  Couldn’t you just write about exercise, and leave my sorry soul out of it?

I call this devotion to The Cult of Human Perfection. Even more than money, this is what people worship in our society. We have taken idol worship to a new level where we ourselves are now the idols. People can train themselves for anything but if the goal is not to serve God then it is just a form of idol worship.

@SMSC:  As I edited this post, I had a fleeting hope that if I wrote, “this post is not really about me criticizing people who like to exercise,” then nobody would take it as a criticism of people who like to exercise.  Alas.

Ever notice how God sometimes speaks to you in themes? The past couple weeks have been training and military themes for me. “You are called to be a soldier for the Lord, start training [spiritual, physical, and emotional], don’t lay down and die when a fight comes but stand strong in the face of temptations and fight with honor.

It reminds me of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati who trained not only spiritually but also physically (enjoying mountain climbing among other activities).

I love you Simcha!  I’m training to be able to be Job.  So when all goes to heck, I can say, Hey this stinks but I trust in You.  Hey This REALLY stinks but I am really trusting in You even though I don’t feel like it and wonder if I believe it.  Hey this really, super stinks and I feel like total crap but You are in charge of my welfare and not my woe so this must somehow work out for the best….....

THANK Goodness this training does not involve serious physical preparation—oh, wait, it does….it’s called getting out of bed every morning when my alarm goes off, the Heroic Moment.

Great post!  And I applaud all those who do and love to exercise and REALLY am inspired by those who do and do not love to exercise.

Well, I didn’t really take it as a criticism, but perhaps more a lack of understanding that there can be a spiritual side to pushing oneself physically—the Church requires fasting, which is, on the surface, shallow physical deprivation for show, for example. I expect you see the deeper side, understand the deeper side of fasting more than I do.

I get that there’s a deeper side to training for a physical challenge, even though you may see it as shallow physical exertion for show, or something. Sure, the society we live in values good looks and youth and physical perfection at any cost way too much, but sometimes the people who look like they may be in it for the worst of reasons, or even sound like it from snippets of conversation between strangers we’ve overheard, but we just don’t know.

I also get that you have to come up with blog posts, therefore anything’s fair game, and you’ll just insert a half dozen disclaimers in to cover your butt, but c’mon—if you find yourself apologizing and needing to add disclaimers all the time, maybe it’s not other people with the problem, maybe it’s you, ya know?

Maybe everyone should just stop being so hard on each other—so some guys like to train—they’re young, they have the energy, the testosterone, whatever. I mean, on the one hand, you have the mommy blogging contingent of the Catholic blogosphere saying how terrible it is   schools/society don’t let boys be boys anymore, and now it’s bad that some young guys want to work out.

Honestly—do you think God cares that some strapping young men like to lift weights and run? Really? Or do you think He cares more that some people will always find a way to turn the most innocuous things—including eavesdropped bits of conversations between people they do not know—into something they get to snark about for profit on the internet?

Two months postpartum, and you’re discussing exercise?  Ha ha, I do the same thing, but we both know it’s a form of self torture.  What seems to run through my mind like a mantra when I’m pregnant or newly postpartum (squishy and soggy) is: “unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground…” I am moved by being that patch of soil for the new grain of wheat. Somehow at around six months postpartum, I start to feel like myself again, like a Phoenix rising from that dark earth.
I hope you can take long walks with your husband when the days get longer.  Prayer while walking is soothing too.

Simcha, I just finished reading Dean Koontz’s latest book this weekend.  His works over the last decade have had recurring themes, one of which is the kind of training I think you mean: that is, being ready to face the moral challenge when it comes. 
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Different people train in different ways—a child who decides that taking the hard path is the way to happiness so he tries to do what is harder in a given situation, an ex-marine who is physically and mentally fit as well as moral, a woman who lives her life with absolute gusto and aplomb rather than mere revelry and license, etc.—but all are of the idea that there is value in self-discipline and deliberateness in life.
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Of course, being Dean Koontz, he then puts them all in impossibly horrible situations and makes them fight their way out.  But obviously I read them because Good Guys Win.
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Anyhoo, I am working on how to find the road between between resisting the Shame Litany from the Evil One through gentleness with myself and some particular lowered standards, and how that balances with *raising* the standards on some things so that I *will* be ready.  It’s a mysterious kind of road that only seems to come clear as I walk!

SMSC,

You missed her point.  What’s she saying is, “These guys are doing an activity they call training.  Training is done for an end.  What’s the end of their training?  Who knows, who cares, but wait, are there things in my life I do habitually (like write blog posts) that is in a way training?  Practice you could say?  If so, do I really consider the purpose of my actions as thoroughly as I should?  Who knows.  But this I do know, I’m fat and I love it.”

No criticism of the guys.  Just observation and application of the observation to herself.

Oh, and whenever someone says, “honestly, do you think God cares . . . etc.” they are usually saying, “I didn’t understand what you wrote, but something in there made me feel like you were being sanctimonious, so I’m going to out sanctimonize you.  Right here.  Right now.”

@SMSC:  You used the words “shallow” and “pointless”—you even put “pointless” in quotation marks, as if I had said it.  But I didn’t use either of those words.  What caught my attention wasn’t their fitness or their enthusiasm for being fit—it was the word “training” that caught my attention, because I’m someone who is interested in words.  That was supposed to be the focus of my post.

.

I can see that I should have taken more time to emphasize the point I was making, and less time setting the stage and telling jokes, because the lead-up is being mistaken for the point.  For the record:  I admire people who are in shape.  I understand that people do physical exercise for all sorts of reasons, and I understand that these reasons are not always obvious, and they are never the business of the casual onlooker. 

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I can see that my words bothered you, though, and it was not my intention to bother anyone—just to share a minor insight I had at Supercuts.  Sorry!

Just saying.

Yes, well you CLEARLY missed my the point about my “honestly…” comment, didn’t you?

I didn’t even take the original post as a criticism. Not even close. But Simcha felt I did because…I don’t know why, exactly. So then she rips me in the comboxes, but now I’m bad again for responding to that.

Oh well...

I guess the only commentary allowed is “OMIGODSIMCHAYOUARESOHOLYANDBRILLIANTIWORSHIPTHEGROUNDYOUWALKON!!!11!”

Right.

Have a lovely life being so freaking much better than everyone else on the planet…

‘Scuse me while I go write my big blog post on what I overheard these two fat, stretched out homeschooling cows yakking about while their selfish little brats tore around the supermarket making life miserable for all of us shallow people…or whatever…

Jesus, but you people REALLY don’t get anything unless it’s all about you all the time.

@SMSC,

You’re a troll.  You are awarded no points.  May God have mercy on your soul.

@SMSC

Wow, what an unnecessarily virulent response.  I could empathize with your argument before (even though I thought you misunderstood Simcha’s point), but that was just vindictive and rude.

Wow. That was weird.

Try switching to decaf, SMSC.

Thanks for this post.  We just gave a retreat to Confirmation parents and students this past Saturday and we took this angle: Dream of your future.  That being eternity… and how the devil is tricking us in ways that makes us not think of eternity.  The first point is to set heaven as our goal (in spite of hearing this from Benedict XVI down to our confessors…).  And when He is the center, it all flows from and back to him.  And the crown goes to those who persevere, not to the one who crosses the fastest (what reassurance!).  And btw, the families were captivated by the talks and how outrightly we spoke against the enemy (a suggestion to other faith formation directors).

Simcha you’re a “word gladiator” in the King’s service….As for “Supercuts”, does this mean your husband never came home with fancy clippers, and said “sweetie, you should really learn how to use these?”  I have seven male heads to keep tamed.  They expect stylish cuts too—I can’t get away with the military approach.  Last Saturday, my 12-year-old went to a very swanky Bar Mitzvah.  He dearly wanted to save his wild “turf” and hid.  I yelled “Come out now, WOLF CHILD OF BORNEO!—Or I won’t let you out the door!”  I won.  The ground looked like a small furry animal. (The clippers still work after 22 years!)  I like to tell my husband, “See how much money I’ve saved you??”  (I’m still working on the “humility training”).

I quote

“...you people REALLY don’t get anything unless it’s all about you all the time.”

HAAAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAA HAAAAAA HAAAAA.  ROFL!!!!  No no, my friend, it is about YOU!  She was, of course, writing about YOU!  Even more specifically, it was written to tear down YOUR PARTICULAR views about exercise!

In fact, all the blogs posts I read are typically written to address each specific individual person who reads them. 

Now that you remind me of it, this post makes me FURIOUS that she didn’t address - AT ALL - monasticism.  She didn’t address the Ku Fu monks of the Shao Lin temple.  What about THOSE GUYS, huh?  Horrible!  She didn’t talk about the Special Olympics, the Charity Plane Pull, or the value of Rhythmic Gymnastics either.  Ridiculous.  Who does she think she is?  All Ms. “The-Paparazzi-love-me-b/c-I-am-a-world-famous-Catholic-blogger out-on-the-red-carpet-posting-my-everyone-bashing-posts.”

Obviously Ms. Fisher is only interested in tearing down young physically fit men, right?

She’s got me so mad right now, I think I’ll go burn off some steam to my Richard Simmons VHS - she didn’t even seem to care about HIM either! Grrr…

Man… how self-absorbed does one have to be to read into these posts that way?  Oh. BTW, I am not directing this to anyone. Just talking to myself as usual.  So, if anyone takes offense - stuff it - into a little prayer intention for me.  (Because maybe I misinterpreted something someone wrote.)

Another great post, Simcha!  I haaaate traditional exercise.  I am currently watching my incredible husband prepare to join the Navy, at 30 years old, no less.  He has to lose 65 pounds, and a certain percentage of body fat.  He, also, needs to be able to do all the exercises in the amounts and time alotted, ie: curl-ups, running a mile, etc.  He has not had a job in almost two years, has his MA, applied for over nineteen thousand jobs, etc, etc, etc.  The Navy is our best option at this point, so he can be the husband and father his vocation calls him to.  We want more kiddies but have more than financial reasons for postponing.  I sometimes wish birth control was easier…hahahaha!  NFP is great but not simple, esp when breastfeeding, up all hours of the night, etc-but then, you dear Simcha know all about that :-)

Is my husband training for training’s sake?  No.  This is an enormous sacrifice on his part.  He has also drastically changed his eating habits and food to get the weight off.  What my husband IS training for, is to continue in his vocation as husband and father.

My training is and seems to be a bit baptism by fire.  First-time mother.  Training to let go of what others think about me, our family, etc.  Oh, yes, some are well-meaning, but, I have one teacher, Jesus.  Is it tough to accept that the baby weight is still there after a year?  Um, yes.  Could I do something about it?  Sure, but at what cost to my family?  Do I serve God or mammon?  My vocation is wife and mother.  I know full well I need to be healthy to live out my vocation to it’s fullest-I mean, need to live a healthy lifestyle.  Still, I know God does not think I am so terrible for having this body of mine.  God sees so much more than we finite humans ever will.  I am doing what I can under the circumstances.  One thing I do, is read Simcha’s writings.  A sense of humor, not taking everything so seriously, looking for the good instead of negative in life and plenty of endorphins never hurt anyone :-) Sending prayers to you, Simcha.  I hope little Benedicta is well :-)

haha!  You obviously hit someone too close to home, Simcha.

It’s sad that you can’t just write to write without having to put up all those disclaimers for the oversensitives.

@Joseph—“points”...? What the hell are you talking about? What whacked out point system are you operating under? Oh, that’s real Catholic…/eyeroll

@Simcha—my comment wasn’t even directed towards you. Not even close. YOU are the one who misunderstood. Oh, but how can that possibly be, you being so brilliant and perfect and special, and all…right.

@kk—thank you for making my point for me. Because that wasn’t judgemental and shallow and snarky and just plain crappy on your part AT ALL.

Boy, you all sure showed me what YOU all are in training for, and it clearly has NOTHING to do with God. Satan, maybe. God, not a chance.

Friends and family keep asking me, “Why don’t you write a blog?”  I suppose I am a candidate; I have many stories to tell, and I do have an English degree.  But every time I come close to considering it, somehow God puts in front of me an example of the most disingenuous, vile rhetoric, not argued in good faith, bordering on uncorked and dangerous, in the combox of a blog I follow.  I mean, EVERY time I consider it, this happens.  It’s just not meant to be.  For corn’s sake, if Simcha drives you THAT buggery, draw a mustache on her picture in the privacy of your home.  Better yet, here’s an idea: go brag to all of your buddies about how you put some homeschooling Catholic mom of a bunch of kids in her place good and proper IN THE CYBER UNIVERSE.  You can tell them you did it without actually DOING it, which would save everyone a lot of hard feelings, and still enable you to get all of that pent up huffery off of your chest.

Yes, Nicole, and if I drive you THAT buggery, draw a mustache on my picture in the privacy of your home. Better yet, here’s an idea: go brag to all of your buddies about how you put some mother of five who is also a runner in her place good and proper IN THE CYBER UNIVERSE. You can tell them you did it without actually DOING it, which would save everyone a lot of hard feelings, and still enable you to get all that pent up huffery off your chest.

Not that you’re a hypocrite or anything…of course not…and not that ANYONE was addressing you…

But that’s all this is, isn’t it? Just a bunch of meangirls who never grew up.

One person comments IN GOOD FAITH, someone else takes it the wrong way (even though the comment a) wasn’t directed towards him and b) wasn’t in response to anything he’d written), everyone (including the blog author, because he’s a fan, and she’s gotta keep the fanbase happy) runs with it, and then _I’m_ the bad guy, the troll, crazy, whatever.

And you all, of course, are just spectacularly good and holy people. Sure.

SMSC - if you weren’t responding to Simcha who were you responding to? As far as I can tell you’re first comment had a couple of great quotes from a movie, some good points on reasons why people run apart from vanity, yet was in response to someone…

Was there a comment deleted? If there was that might answer some of these questions…as it is it looks like you are flipping out over imaginary insults.

My first response was to the original post, but the last comments were general and not specifically addressed to Simcha.

My later comments were addressed to that effete little manchild who felt he needed to step in and put me in my place in defense of the woman-who-is-not-his-wife but with whom he is clearly overinvolved.

The rest—general frustration to the usual BS in comboxes, especially Catholic comboxes.

I’m not “flipping out”. I’m disgusted. It’s ALWAYS like this. DARE to offer anything other than the usual blind, mindless arse-kissing responses to the <strike>Saint</strike> Blogger du jour, and it’s pile-on time, without ANYONE bothering to ask me to clarify, without it EVER occurring to anyone that maybe THEY got it wrong. It’s the same old same old, all over the Catholic blogosphere.

I don’t know why we even bother with a Pope or bishops or priests anymore. Who needs a Magisterium when we have the Catholic blogosphere. Who needs priests and confession, much less GOD HIMSELF when we have the know-it-all bloggers and their strongarm men in the comboxes.

Oh, hell, why even have a Catholic Church anymore? It’s all about self-worship, self-promotion, self-as-brand, selling one’s SELF 24/7 as the be-all-and-end-all of everything in the history of the universe now and forever, Amen.

I return you all now to your Goddess, Simcha, and her avenging angels, Joseph, Nicole, kk, et al.

Me, I’ll stick with the real God.

@SMSC
Oh noes, I was all bored, and then saw an opportunity for fun! Ok, what do we have here? You know what the benefits of being socially awkward and very abused are? You get to enjoy trolls. The best part is that you can OUT-troll them too! (you know, either learn to adapt, or die… so I adapted).
1) Simcha clearly stated that she is NOT criticizing ANYBODY.
2) You decided to take a whole post about TRAINING TO MEET CHRIST, and make it about your running.
3) Yes, we understand that sports could be a great way of praising God and being close to Him. (trust me, I took Psychology of Sports for a while, so I understand).
4) Yeah, I agree, I see what Simcha is trying to do. She’s craving attention, wanting everybody to agree with her, and getting all grumpy with those who don’t. She also flaunts how she’s a mother of five and manages to run!! Oh wait… lol, that was you!! Sorry, I mixed that up with Simcha being a mother of NINE and never acting like a martyr about it!! (see? I can be a troll too…. probably should mention that in confession)
5) Yeah, I’m a heartless freak… there you go, don’t bother stating it yourself!!
6) This is an article, articles usually carry a touch of the author’s PERSONAL OPINION… look at that!! shocking huh?? If you wanted to be all close to God, stating politely that “I respect your opinion but my opinion is this and that” without getting all disrespectful and in attack mode could be veeeeeery helpful!!
7) Your turn to troll back….
note: Your trolling opponent is very used to curse words, sarcasm, mockery, disrespect, and lack of logic. In fact, she has been training all her life for ways to emotionally block that. Please note that these techniques will only be faced with more trolling, and a bit of fun.

SMSC…
In general, if a commenter has a good point there will be other supporters. In your case there are no other supporters. Remember the Bible teaching where “if your brother sins, go with one or two other people to let them know.” You’ve had several people call out your actions (either politely or not so politely) yet so far you have insinuated evil intent from each one, and now the grave sin of adultery. Perhaps it would be best to unsubscribe from the thread and come back in a day or two.

Stephanie, I mean, SMSC, should take a chill pill.

“DARE to offer anything other than the usual blind, mindless arse-kissing responses to the <strike>Saint</strike> Blogger du jour, and it’s pile-on time, without ANYONE bothering to ask me to clarify,” and I guess the only commentary allowed is “OMIGODSIMCHAYOUARESOHOLYANDBRILLIANTIWORSHIPTHEGROUNDYOUWALKON

SMSC: I have some sympathy for you. I understand very much some of the points you make.  It is true Simcha has a fan club that will say all of the above and will fight to the death anyone who says otherwise.  And then there is always the “you are a TROLL” comment used to belittle someone that offers a different point of view or perhaps challenges someone’s view.  I see the troll card thrown out there often. It sounds like there is a bunch of frustration from previous experiences you have had with Catholic bloggers and it just kind of came all out today.  Peace be with you and trust your instincts.

This entire combox makes me so sad. Everything degenerated into name calling and vicious one-upsmanship. Why does that have to be? If anyone outside of the faith read this, I don’t think they’d have a very good opinion of how Christian Catholics are. How about kindness and respectfully disagreeing? I think (I may be wrong) that SMSC may have misunderstood Simcha’s point, but I also think she came up with some darn good quotes that could make us all think. I think it’s awesome her son has used exercise to help his anxiety. So many people are not as fortunate as that. And I think it was great that she shared her reason to run. I also think her last comment about people judging was’t pointed at anyone here, it was a general statement. It makes me sad that once people took it as a negative statement, attacks escalated on both sides. Anybody remember the old saying about thinking before you speak—is it necessary? kind? helpful? etc…The things we say are out here forever. Let’s imagine God reading this.

Anybody wanna talk about the post?

Simcha:

Bless you for your talent and good humour, and bless also those who can actually read and comprehend what they have read.

For the rest:  time to retire quietly, have a nice nap, and maybe a course in good manners or something.

“Anybody wanna talk about the post?” Yes.

So, this has been the theme God has been speaking to me about in the past couple of weeks. It’s been interesting that he started it with a silly book I was reading, The Princess of Mars, (yea I know…) and was followed by mass readings, a conference, and now random blog posts.

At first I thought that it would be good to simply start doing more “good” stuff like saying prayers, going to mass, getting up on time, etc. Now this is getting me to consider just what battles God is calling me to train for. I will need to be spiritually healthy, yes, but do I need to be spiritually healthy as well. I have a friend who fasts and runs. One of her reasons is that she feels that there will be a time when she will need to subsist on much less food be able to run fast and far.

@Simcha:
I talked about the post.  Didn’t I?

Yeah ok, sorry on my part… it was (not so) innocent fun. Sorry SMSC, I still disagree very much with what you said, especially the attacks on Simcha, and it is not an “omg fan base ready to defend to the death”, it’s just that those were pointless attacks. Anyway, nice post Simcha, and our comments, especially mine, showed me that we’ve trained for many things, many of them even hurtful, instead of for the right thing.

@MamaBenedikt:  You did!  I was just trying to steer things back into more useful channels.

I have my master’s in theology from a Catholic university, go to Church, live for God, and also enjoy exercise.  Maybe you should try it Simca.  It doesn’t take “gobs of time” and improves physical health.  Maybe you should read more about those who chose to live as ascetics, during the early Church, who chose this lifestyle to honor God.  The guys at Supercuts were “shooting the breeze” and comparing stats, much the way football fans do.  You’ve never heard football mentioned in a sermon at Catholic Church?  Your analogy of exercise to “prostate” is a bad one.  Hope your “front quadrant acerage” isn’t stopping you from going for a contemplative walk.

Excuse me,  but this is almost hilarious.  No, it actually is.  Sorry Stephanie, I’m not minimizing your pain OR love of running.  I’m glad you have a good outlet.  I’m going to be “all about me” too and admit that I’m not helping my husband with something he asked me to do.  I just said “I’ll help you in a sec honey, this blog thread is HILARIOUS”  Maybe we Catholics ARE neurotic.  Oh crap, I should start reading the Catholic classics. I gave up soaps 25 years ago.  Someone please convince me I don’t need to give this up for Lent.
Holy Toledo, “system69” is my captcha code.  Hilarious.  Gotta give this up for Lent.
Sorry Simcha, TOTALLY off subject.

Who the hell is Stephanie? “SMSC” stands for a place in South Carolina, not a name.

Don’t you have a dead baby to play with, anna lisa?

See, I can be a snarky !@#$%, too.  I just don’t pretend it’s all in good fun or that I’m just kidding around. Still laughing, anna lisa?

Right. It’s funny when you do it, but not when someone does it to you. Which makes you a big fat hypocrite.

Folks, until I can get Stephanie/Sharon/SCMC blocked, please don’t respond to her.  She’s sending me profane emails now.  Not sure what set her off, but there’s no sense in engaging her.  Thanks.

“!@#$%” is profane? Really? Given what you write, Simcha? !@#$% is profane, but your relentless nastiness is just fine and dandy. You’re reaping what you’ve sown, Simcha. You wallow in nasty, mean snark, you get it right back now. You pushed for this, you egged your guffawing, moronic combox hags on, and now you got what you wanted.

You’re a stinking hypocrite, a joke, a fraud, and there is NOTHING remotely good about you.

And it was ONE email. Nice try, liar.

Wow, WOW. Yeah, I decided to put down the stones cause I have sinned too, but WOW. Dead baby? You know who else had a dead child? This just put a knife in the Virgin Mary’s heart!

So what? Why should I care about anything after that appalling display of yours? I should do what you say, but not what you do? It’s funny for you to be a vicious little !@#$%, but when someone ups the ante and gets even meaner, that’s not cool anymore?

Look at all of you—look at you—just look what you turned into the second you smelled blood, the second you thought you could pile on and join the snarkfest, the second you thought you could get a cheap laugh at someone else’s expense. Look at you. Look at what you are. You think the Virgin Mary was laughing along with you? Really? Could you possibly be more hypocritical.

Yeah. I’m the big bad !@#$%. Right.

You deal in nastiness, you deserve nothing but nastiness right back at you.

Anyway… WHAT is the Cardinal bird’s goal in life?
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To become Pope!! ^_^

Simcha, my husband thinks you would be a good contributor to Hot Air.  I am not sure why he thinks that, but he definitely meant it as a compliment.  In that he likes Hot Air and he likes the links I send him of your blog posts.  So for what it’s worth, there’s that!  :) 

As for your post about training, it reminds me of when I bemoan to my mother that my house is a mess or that we can never seem to finish a project or that we have brown grass.  She always tells me, “you are raising a child, not grass.”  Well I guess she says that in response to the grass comment, but you get my point.  I’m not training for good housekeeper of the year (which is a darn good thing because I’d totally lose) or the nicest lawn award.  And while there is nothing wrong with striving for a clean house or a nice yard (hey, gardening can be very meditative for some people!) it doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be our end goal.  Maybe for some it is a part of our training but I feel as though that’s not the real race.  Although housework has taught me lots about patience and accepting what is out of my control, big time.  So maybe it’s a bigger part of my training than I realize.

With all this HHS mandate, PP, etc stuff going on now, I feel like I should be in training for some big battle coming up.  Although I wouldn’t even begin to know what the battle will be like.  Lots of prayer might be a start, at least for me.  I know I need to pray more.  Maybe I should do that while I do some housework?

Well my comment is lost in cyberspace, but I promise it was about training (ie the original post).

It’s sad to see the combox devolve like this.  I am rereading and still can’t see what exactly happened, maybe I’m just too tired and it’s too late?  Anyways, I cut my son’s hair myself and it always looks some attacked him with a machete.  I may soon need to break down and pay for a real hair dresser!

^ someone.  See, too tired and too late!

(not laughing)  In my big family we *laugh* to relieve tension.  I admit it.  I play the silly dork to make my captive audience unwind (not used to this huge cyber world).  Seriously.  Only laughing at life, not laughing at anybody but *us*.  Good Lord.  Peace. (shiver)

I have been reading so much in comboxes lately that made me think of sharks attacking, in fact I recently received some of that by posting in “hostile waters” as it were—which is my fault, really, knowing that the entire blog deals in that kind of mayhem.  (Not a religious one, btw.) 

That is waaaay different from what I have read here tonight.

What this thread makes me think of is the sum total of all the venom I have been reading about Catholicism lately, in response to the Catholic outcry over the Health Care regs.  Vile, bigoted and probably, for some people, emotional problems perhaps based in real trauma dealt to them by a Catholic person or bureaucracy.  But, oh.  the levels of it.  And then a recent conversation here on this website with someone who seemed to SNAP at the drop of a hate and just come out with stuff that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Is this infestation of decay, hatred and indeed emotional sickness growing in our populace?  Does being online help us to become blind to it as we blithely follow our habitual patterns in the combox?  Is there some sort of spiritual training that can help me to always remember that what I type becomes real?

This rambling thought seemed much clearer in my head than it is now appearing in front of me.  It is also not meant as a criticism of any poster here, but to raise the question: are we witnessing the rise in frequency of these battles with the bald face of hatred in all its ugliness?  If so, what ELSE can we be doing to train to meet *that* challenge?

Again, let me be clear:  This is not some veiled criticism of anyone who has posted here, including Simcha.  Except the reference to emotional sickness could be applied to someone who makes spiteful references to someone else’s dead baby.  But that is truly it.

Enjoyed the post.  We could all take a hard look at how we spend our time.  Are we training ourselves for something good that can benefit ourselves and others, or are we training ourselves to become something contrary to what God is calling us to be?  Thanks.

When I was a young bride I spent a lot of time ‘training’ to be presentable to my husband and the world by running, plucking, primping, and worrying about my physical features and appearance. I would often find myself looking in the mirror with dissatisfaction instead of appreciation for God’s creation. I was at a local Catholic thrift store one day and saw a beautiful white porcelin figure of the Virgin Mary and brought it home to sit on the bathroom vanity to remind myself when I look in the mirror that it is That Woman that I am in training to be like. When I find myself training for the world, to be like the ideal woman the world thinks is ideal, I look down at Mother Mary on the vanity and say “No, I train to be like you”.

Very funny post.  I’m new to your blog, but I really like your writing style.  By the way, I incorporated a few sets of kettlebell into my semi-crossfit workout last night.  Don’t mock it ‘till you try it.  No pain no gain.

I’ve heard friends of mine talk about how they feel something big is coming in the Church here in the US.  Either a schism or a cleansing or some sort of renewal.  Maybe even a civil war here in the US although I’m imaging this one playing out in the cyber world for some reason.  I know that sounds dramatic but I really feel as though we may be called to martyrs of some sort.  I think in many ways the Church is already at war with this current administration (not to get political or anything) with the recent HHS mandate and I just can’t shake the feeling that the worst has yet to come.  And while it scares me to pieces, I have no idea how to train for any of that!  Any ideas??

@ SMSC,

“Yeah. I’m the big bad !@#$%.”

Wolf is spelled #$%^ not !@#$%.

Yes, well…

In YOUR case, twink is still spelled T-W-I-N-K

Get a job and stop sniffing around other men’s wives.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with Thee.

Blessed art Thou among women
And blessed is the fruit of Thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners, now
And at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Do I hear an AMEN?!

Hi Smicha, I love your writing!

Thank you for your humor, wit, and great insight! God bless you!

I would like to thank you. I’m Big Pregnant, ill and utterly grumpy down to my marrow. Day in and out I have to self edit and practice self control because I want to scream and yell and bark orders. I don’t want to be hugged by my kids, but I have to hug them back, and smile. I don’t want to clean up before my husband comes home, but I have to because he’s so stressed at work already and just doesn’t need to see clutter all the time. I don’t want to attend my church meetings, but I have to because I made a commitment. I don’t want to remain calm when my 3 year old writes with Sharpie on my freshly painted wall, but I have to because (shockingly) he doesn’t respond to crazy-unhinged screaming.

All I want is to be left alone until this baby comes. Yet when I read this a light came on for me. All this exercising of my will is training. I don’t know what the heck this baby is going to bring into our lives, but I have a feeling I will need a lot of self control when it happens. Thanks again.

@ANNA LISA: Your reply was absolutely classy. Well done. *sends virtual hug* 
You know what the ironic thing is? We train all our life to look nice to the world, presentable, funny, interesting, smart, etc… to hold great discussions or get the best jobs. In the end, after all that effort, we try to walk away from all the faces and images we build up, and from all the “acting” that we do! Not just the acting, sometimes our real self can be a heavy Cross to carry. It takes one to get beaten down by all the acting and the training to be “socially acceptable”, to end up finding that the only person you can meet without all this extra load is Christ Crucified. In fact, He calls us SPECIFICALLY when our created images crumble, when our “earthly glory” fades, and when we are at our lowest. “Come to me you who are weary and burdened…” He, above all else, understands what spiritual, emotional, and physical suffering is. He, above all else, was rejected by the world, for being NOT OF THE WORLD, and still saving it! He, above all else, is as sweet to the soul when it is pure and holy, as He is sweet the first time that dirty broken soul is on its knees in the confessional, looking for a Savior! “...and I will give you rest.” There is a time when the soul no longer seeks “a vacation”, or “some time off the job”. These are ways for the BODY to heal. The SOUL in itself starts to seek refuge in God, in His silence, in His presence, even as a means of rest from bodily vacations. It seeks to leave all that is Earthly, and abide only in what is Divine!! I don’t know, I just thought about this suddenly.

I’m not entirely sure what I’m training my soul for, but I know when I exercise, I do it because I want to be able to bike around everywhere, for a full day, if that’s something I want to do.  I want the ability to be active when I want to be active.  It’s good to have a goal; otherwise I doubt I would continue with the exercising.

I suppose that’s important when it comes to ourselves too. What’s our goal in life? Without on, we just sort of float through things.

Let’s see a show of hands… how many people think this blog post is about exercising or about criticizing being in shape? Everyone who raised your hand, please go back and read the post.

I’m in training to be more patient and understanding with my kids so that I don’t miss the really great moments! Like when my son says “clock” for the 100th time down the road, I realize that he’s learned a new word! Yay for a budding talker!

Simcha,

I want to say that while your post was definitely not mean-spirited towards people who work out, or even indeed about them at all, your apology for the misunderstanding—on Tuesday, Feb 7, 2012 1:21 PM (EST)—was quite handsome.  I admire this.

MG

praying for grace for everyone here—I’m always learning how to communicate better

To everyone:  one thing I realized from this post is that misunderstandings sometimes occur for a very silly reason: the comment software is glitchy. We don’t always see comments in the same order in which they were made; and even if you’ve subscribed to get notified of follow-up comments, you may or may not get all of them. 

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So, if you are responding to a comment, it would make things more clear if you begin with the name of the person to whom you’re responding:  “@MongooseMan:  How DARE you imply that blah blah blah.”  If it’s hard to tell who you’re talking to, people who you weren’t talking to are likely to be offended unnecessarily.  Many people already do this, and I’m always grateful for the clarity.

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Also, if you get comments in your email inbox, it’s also a good idea to read the comments ON the page before responding, rather than clicking on the link in the email and starting to respond right away.  That way you can be sure you haven’t missed some comments, or read them out of order.

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These steps are kind of a pain, but they should help avoid at least SOME of the bad feelings!

I understood the post and didn’t make irrelevant comments. Do I get cookies?

@Priests: Take ALL the commentators to confession!! ME FIRST, ME FIRST!! (let’s start a fight about who’s first)
@Quid: I brought you a cookie, but then ate it! Remind me to mention “gluttony” and “lack of self control” in confession! ^_^