About movie stars, the quotes posters, and holiness.

How should I say this? Well, let's just say, it has come to my attention (I cannot escape it) that people - good Catholic women, all over facebook, pinterst, twitter, and the blogosphere, are sharing posters. The posters usually have some male movie star they deem incredibly handsome. Then it has a quote. The quotes are not bad. They sound like things women wish their husbands would tell them. About how great they are doing at homeschooling their children. About how good of a mother they are. Affirmations, that most men, would never actually say. Women fantasize that their husbands would say this, but men aren't women, so they probably won't ever say it that way. I am not going to link up to any of these posters. I'm not going to continue this thing that I see as a bad thing. Chances are, you already know what I'm talking about.

What bothers me is that by re-posting these posters, married, Catholic, women are giving people this message: "My husband doesn't say these things, so I'm going to look at a movie star and imagine him saying these things to me, and that makes me feel good."  

It is lusting.  It doesn't seem like it, "it's just for fun", you say, but deep down inside, you know it is. Don't feed the lust. Don't even go there. Don't imagine your husband to be a some other movie star. That is exactly how infidelity begins. It begins in your mind. So you'll make your own poster with your husband on it and a quote of something he'd never say. Same thing: now you're making posters for other people to look at with your husband's picture on it.  Not a good idea. If you like looking at pictures, then put more pictures of your husband up around the house where you and the kids can see him. Put pictures of the saints up! Put pictures of holy people up. Even on pinterest, there in secret, where your kids and husband don't usually follow what you're doing, put pictures up that portray holiness and beauty, things that glorify God and point you, and everyone around you, towards God; pictures like this one of my son's godfather, the holy priest in this picture.

{Used with permission}

To me, my husband is the most handsome man in the whole world.  Those movie stars aren't even close to what I consider handsome.  I know my husband thinks I am the best wife and mother in the whole world.  I know this because he tells me so, in his own way.  Maybe not in the girly way I may want to hear it some days.  But after nearly eight years of marriage, I know my husband, so I know what he means when he says: "You are beautiful.  I love you."  It means: "You are beautiful. I love you. You are an awesome wife and mother. You are the best homeschooling mother for our children. You are a great mother, even when you have to let them just play for the day, because you have a headache."  Etc. Etc. Etc.  You can bet your sweet patooty that no movie star says that to his wife, and certainly not daily, like my husband does.

I don't watch TV anymore.  I rarely watch movies anymore and when I do they are usually G or PG and nobody has heard of them, mostly because they are usually cheesy Christian movies.  Sometimes they are just good movies, not even cheesy, well-made, but they have morals.  Yes, morals!  And the movie didn't make the big bucks because the movie actually stood up for something and perhaps made people feel a little bad for living in sin.  Most movies and TV shows these days (last time I checked was a few years ago) are all about fornication, adultery, homosexuality, violence, and lust.  Just go through the 10 Commandments, and everything God said NOT to do, is pretty much was movies are glorifying these days.  

Now, I'm not saying all movie stars are bad.  There are a few good ones out there.  But good actors don't act in the bad movies, because we all know acting is not pretend, it is real.  A good person cannot pretend to be an immoral person on screen.  That is why so many movie stars are so confused and lost in the world, they don't know who they are anymore.  

Anyways, this is all I'm trying to say: be holy.  

• Don't infatuate yourself with movie stars. They are not what you want your kids to grow up to be like. Infatuate yourself with the SAINTS, they are the real heroes you and your children can aspire to be.
• Don't further these messages on the social networks.  Messages that encourage lust, even in a tiny way, might not make you stumble, but it might make your neighbor falter.  Don't do help people sin!
• Use the old slogans: What would Jesus do?  What would Mary do?
• Be a REBEL!  Be a rebel against the culture.  You have to be, in order to be Catholic.

In case you've been living under a rock the last few years, the Catholic church is under attack.  A friend pointed out that these attacks usually come around Lent.  She is so right.  This is not the time to be a lukewarm Catholic.  Now is the time to fast and pray and be hard core!

Join me, won't you?