The Catholic Blog Week Tag

Catholic Blog Week is (sadly) almost over, but I still have one more post for y'all--my answers to the tag questions! Before I start, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has contributed posts so far this week! And if you haven't contributed a post and want to, there's still today and tomorrow!
Without further ado, let's get to it!

(Image credit: Frodo)
(In other news, this post has given me an excuse to go through our parish's old online photos, and the nostalgia is overwhelming.)
(Also, most of the images from our parish are from before COVID, so. That's why there are so many people in them. XD)

-Exposition or Benediction?
Dang. Starting off with a hard one. Nice work, past self. XD
Because I love the hymns and prayers of Exposition SO MUCH, and the way the priest kneels in front of the altar, especially, and the awesomeness that is the cope. And that's the part of Adoration that I have most experience with. But the priest literally blessing the faithful with Christ in the Eucharist during Benediction is SO COOL, especially the way he holds the Monstrance with the Humeral veil...
Argh. Why did I do this to myself.
Exposition. Just because I am there for it more often.

(Image credit to owner)

-Catholic books or Catholic media?

I was all set for this question to be easier in an earlier draft of the question, when the question was "Catholic books or Catholic movies". But it is not that question. Now, to weigh against books, there are also podcasts, and Fr. Mike Schmitz, and Jennifer Fulwiler's meme-atic work, and Catholic radio, and also Catholic movies...
But y'know what? Books still win.
Because even the Catholic Stuff You Should Know podcast can't top Chesterton and Tolkien (and St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Anselm, and Jennifer Fulwiler, and Hallie Lord, and Servais Pinckaers, and Jacques Philippe, and Fulton Sheen, and Joseph Pierce).

(Image credit: Frodo again)

-Dominicans, Benedictines, or Franciscans?

Y'all can probably figure out my answer to this--going to a Dominican-run parish does tend to bias one. :)

I will say, though, that I do think the Benedictines are really awesome! I love their commitment to ora et labora, and the fact that they do a lot of farming. But I do love the Dominicans better. (Especially when they're saying the Dominican Rite. Like in this picture.)
(And not that the Franciscans are bad. I am just Really Not Into Their Charism.)

(Artist: Bartolome Esteban Murillo)

-Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?

Another hard one! There are things that I really like about all of them. I love Luke's use of language (especially aio) and his infancy narratives, I love Mark's excessive enthusiasm (et, et, et, et! (Yes, I have read parts of the gospels in Latin)), I love John's mysticism and poetry, and Matthew's inclusion of lots of quotes from the Old Testament. 
But I think I'll have to say John, if only for the Passion narrative. (Especially the sung version). And also the beginning. And how beautiful it is in Latin.

(Artist: Giuseppe Molteni)

-Confession or Anointing?

Hmm. This is tricky because it honestly depends on which priest I'm going to Confession with. XD (Look. Some confessors are just better than others. That doesn't mean I won't go to Confession if my preferred priests aren't hearing Confessions, it just means that I won't like it as much.) 
I think Anointing is really, really cool, and such a beautiful sacrament (it gives one spiritual strength for death! how is that not cool!) and I love watching when other people get anointed, but at the moment, I think Confession is more practical for me, (even if it's not with my favorite confessor(s)) since I'm not in imminent danger of death...so I'll say Confession. (Although I'm slightly tempted to chose Anointing, just because that's easier to find an image of. XD)

(Image credit: Yes, Frodo)

-Morning or Evening Prayer?

I love both of them! And when I get to pray Evening Prayer, it's usually because I'm hanging out with Frodo, which is always lovely.
But I pray Morning Prayer nearly every day, and it has so much nostalgia for me, since when I was small (two and three!) I used to always pray it with Dad in the very earlier mornings after he made me breakfast and before he left for work. He taught me the Canticle of Zechariah, which is still probably my favorite canticle ever. (There's just something so...epic about it. "He has raised up for us a mighty savior" <<I just love this. Jesus is a mighty savior.)
Also, Morning Prayer is the Hour at which we get to pray Tenebrae during Triduum, which is one of my favorite liturgies of ever, so, yeah. Morning Prayer.

(Stained glass window at Jasna Gora, Czestochowa, Poland.)

-Pope St. John Paul II, or Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI?

Pope St. John Paul II, all the way! He's Polish! He did so much awesome theology! He talked a bunch about artists! He lived through WWII in Poland as a priest! I've been to a house where he lived, actually! He had an excellent sense of humor! He loved Mary so much! My parents got to meet him! (True story. They went to Rome for their honeymoon, and got his blessing on their marriage! We have pictures. It's awesome.) (This is not to say that I have anything against Pope Emeritus Benedict, it's just that I love Pope St. John Paul II A LOT.)

(Image credit: Still Frodo.) 

-Holy Thursday, Good Friday, or Easter Vigil?
Again. Why do I do this to myself.
I love all of those days/liturgies! Holy Thursday is so poignant, and always makes me cry. Good Friday is so somber, and I LOVE the sung Gospel of John SO MUCH, and the part where the priests prostrate themselves before the crucifix, and the Reproaches...
But the Vigil! With the holy fire, and "Lumen Christi/Deo Gratias", and the way the light spreads through the church, and the EXULTET, and the Gloria when the lights come on with all the trumpets, and the singing of the Easter hymns, and the Easter Preface for the first time, and the Baptisms/Confirmations, and the renewing of the baptismal vows, and most of my siblings always falling asleep (even Eomer--every year, including when he was serving), and the "Go in peace, Alleluia, Alleluia" chant, and telling people "He is Risen!" afterwards... 
But then again, there's also Tre Ore and Tenebrae and Hot Cross Scones for Good Friday...it's close. 
Okay, though. The Easter Vigil. By a tiny bit.

(Image credit: You guessed it, Frodo)
(And that's Legolas and Gimli as candle bearers on either side of the altar. :))

-Christmas or Easter?
Y'know, Christmas is nice--it's kind of a cozy holiday. There's a nice Mass, treats, lots of presents, dinner with family. But Easter! Easter is wild, joyful eucatastrophe. Easter is ever-ancient, ever-new, not a tame lion, joy that cannot be contained. Fire, ancient blessings, darkness and light, songs that send a thrill right down to your toes. The old order has passed away--Jesus is risen! (If you couldn't tell--I definitely like Easter better. The Vigil is quite possibly my favorite liturgy ever.) 

(Image credit: can you guess?)

-Lent or Advent?

Lent. But it's not necessarily just because it leads up to Easter! The austerity of the liturgy and the honest relief of giving something up, of releasing one's self from attachment to worldly things, and the opportunity for growth. Plus, the annual reminder, for Ash Wednesday, that we are dust and will return to dust is really nice. And then there's Tenebrae and Holy Thursday (which is what the picture is of) and Good Friday, and helping to decorate the church for Palm Sunday and Easter...all of which are some of my Favorite Things.
You may note that Advent *also* has many of those elements. Yeah. My beef with Advent is that it always gets messed up by our culture's idea of Christmas, or, as C. S. Lewis would say, the obsession with Xmas. Allllllll the Christmas music/decorations/food alllllll the time in Advent, so that it's hard to really observe it. Lent is poorly-known enough and Easter is low-key enough for non-Catholics/non-Christians that it doesn't get messed up with alleluia playing all the time, or Easter songs on the radio, etc. 

(Image credit: teatimemagazine.com)

-Hot Cross Buns or Lamb Cake?

I'm afraid that I can't actually eat either of those things (ironic, isn't it, given that I wrote the questions?) so my family makes Hot Cross Scones instead, which are delicious, and which always constitute one of the small meals on Good Friday.

(Image credit: Yep.)

-Daily Mass or Daily Adoration?
Daily Mass! Several reasons:
1. It's the thing I can get to the most often, because our parish doesn't do Daily Adoration.
2. It requires less of me, I feel like? When I go to Adoration I feel kind of guilty about not praying/reading/doing something other than falling asleep. At Mass, the Mass goes on whether or not I'm asleep/paying attention. (A lot of the time, I feel like I get to Mass and am like "Hi God, can I just..." and then collapse into His arms.) (Not that I fall asleep at Mass/Adoration all the time, but these days...I'm often drowsing a bit.)
3. At the same time, it requires more of me--and gives me more food for thought/paying attention. 
4. It does wonders for my spiritual life.
5. Also, because sometimes you're going to Daily Mass before COVID, and it happens to be All Souls, and the priest happens to be doing the Dominican Rite, and you happen to be there with your Youth Group, and your godmother happens to take a picture of you surrounded by many of your favorite people. (In other words: people in this picture from left to right (besides the priest and servers): Pippin, me, Legolas (who is taller now that she was then), Gimli.)

(Image credit: Actually, me.)

-Baptism or Confirmation? (To witness)
Oof. That's a tough choice! There's something so awesome about Confirmation (especially if our auxiliary bishop is doing it, because he uses so much Chrism, and you get to watch it dripping down people's faces XD) (after getting Confirmed, I had Chrism ALL over my face, and somehow it also got down my arm? and I smelled like it for DAYS). But also, Baptism is how people get Sanctifying Grace and become children of God! (And there's Chrism involved there, too. Which is good. The sacraments that use Chrism are the best ones, and not only because it smells so nice.) I honestly like to witness Baptism best because I was baptized as a baby, and didn't get to hear all the awesome rites and prayers and things, so I like to remember that all of that was prayed over and about me, too. :) 

(Image credit to owner)

-Tolkien or Chesterton?
WHO wrote these questions? (Oh, right. Haha.)
Umm. I don't know if it's possible to answer this?
I mean, Chesterton is just awesome--his theological-social insight is unparalleled, his non-fiction is excellent (hello, Orthodoxy!) and his fiction is great (hello, The Ball and the Cross!). Plus, he's extraordinarily quotable. Although, I have to say, I don't always understand his fiction (hello, The Flying Inn).
But on the other hand, Tolkien is just awesome--his worldbuilding skills are unparalleled, his advice for young Catholics (via his letters to his sons) is amazing, his non-fiction is great (hello, "On Fairy-Stories") and his fiction is phenomenal (hello, The Lord of the Rings). Plus, he knew Lewis. And went to a party with him one time both dressed in polar-bear suits. Oh, and one time when he was trying to drive somewhere, he accidentally destroyed a dry-stone wall. And he loved trees. And he's quotable, too.
Gah. As much as I love Chesterton, Imma need to go with Tolkien.