{"id":15774,"date":"2012-05-03T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=15774"},"modified":"2012-05-02T17:40:41","modified_gmt":"2012-05-02T22:40:41","slug":"purrs-cuddles-and-insights-into-the-mind-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/purrs-cuddles-and-insights-into-the-mind-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Purrs, cuddles, and insights into the mind of God"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Meet<\/a>

Meet Boomer and Gabriel - named from our school fight songs<\/p><\/div>\n

So we adopted two kittens this week \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

We got them from the Austin Pets Alive<\/a>\u2019s Town Lake Shelter, and when we saw the little furballs crawling upside down in their soft carrier, we knew they were meant to be part of the Huemmer family. We had names picked out before we got home.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019ve never had cats before. I\u2019ve never even seen myself as a cat person – in fact, for most of my life I\u2019ve been allergic to them. So I was a little surprised to hear, as part of our adoption talk, that the shelter recommended that we keep them as indoor-only cats because of the dangers of the outside world (coyotes owls, disease, to name a few). Since I\u2019ve only ever been a \u201cdog person\u201d, I was a little disappointed. While I knew I couldn\u2019t play fetch with them, I had looked forward to showing the cats our garden and playing with them in the hammock.<\/p>\n

Letting them outside, explained the adoption worker, would make them long for the outside, whereas if we kept them inside, they would never know what they were missing. That seemed to make sense – you can\u2019t be tempted by something you don\u2019t know about right?<\/p>\n

We would create a kitty paradise for them inside, a place with games and toys and fun times, so that they wouldn\u2019t long for a world that was dangerous. Isn\u2019t this like what God intended for mankind in the Garden of Eden? He meticulously crafted and placed everything in the garden for the enjoyment of mankind – knowing that man would still willingly choose to leave it. I spent the days before the kittens came home laying out everything neatly in the bathroom and even asked a vet friend of mine to check it out for any potential dangers. Let\u2019s hope no snakes tempt our kittens outside!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We couldn\u2019t take the kittens home immediately because they were still very small and needed to get to the right weight to be spayed first. We were both sad that the kitties would need to undergo a surgery while they were so young, but we knew it was best for them. Little did we know we\u2019d also have to give them follow-up oral meds the day we brought them home, which they didn\u2019t like one bit. \u201cThey\u2019re good for you sweetie,\u201d I crooned at the kittens, who frowned in disgust at me. And again I thought of our Father, who knows that sometimes what\u2019s best for us isn\u2019t something we\u2019ll like, isn\u2019t something we may even ever recognize the value or benefit of.<\/p>\n

The kitties offer insights into how our Father cares for us. These small revelations help us on our path to sainthood by reiterating that the will and ways in which He works are often unknown or incomprehensible to us. As Saint-aspirants, we recognize that and cling to him, calling to Him in love and with trust, regardless of our circumstances or situation (much like a kitten to a hard-to-resist scratching post).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing this post on the first evening after we\u2019ve got the kitties. Even though I\u2019ve been told that cats don\u2019t get lonely and I know that they have each other to play with, I\u2019m still a little sad that they are at home alone without us for so long. Luckily, our Heavenly Father does not have the same sadness – He\u2019s given us an Advocate, His spirit, to be with us always. As His adopted children, we know that we are never alone and never far from His love.<\/p>\n

St. Francis, guard and watch over our pets and help us to be good stewards of God\u2019s treasure of them to us.What have your pets taught you about God? About yourself?<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s video song is mostly just plain silly – take a look and enjoy!<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note: Reflections in this blog are my own and do not represent the positions of my employer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So we adopted two kittens this week \ud83d\ude42 We got them from the Austin Pets Alive\u2019s Town Lake Shelter, and when we saw the little furballs crawling upside down in their soft carrier, we knew they were meant to be part of the Huemmer family. We had names picked out before we got home. Now,… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33007,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/01\/st-anthony-and-catholic-animals\/","url_meta":{"origin":15774,"position":0},"title":"St Anthony and Catholic Animals","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"January 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In the United States, we often celebrate St Francis of Assisi as the great friend of animals in october. There are ever many parishes that even have pet blessings, but many other cultures do this in January. January 17th was the feast of St Anthony the Abbot, and many places,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Young Adult"","block_context":{"text":"Young Adult","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/young-adult\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"StAnthony","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/StAnthony.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15310,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/animals-with-catholic-captions\/","url_meta":{"origin":15774,"position":1},"title":"Animals with Catholic Captions","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"April 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the best things about being Catholic is the hope and joy we have in our faith. Jesus Christ is truly Risen! He is risen indeed! Sometimes, we Catholics take ourselves too seriously. We live in a Good Friday world but we are an Easter people and alleluia is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/jumping-animal.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":37894,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/02\/prayer-before-coffee\/","url_meta":{"origin":15774,"position":2},"title":"Prayer before Coffee","author":"Laura Gonzalez","date":"February 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As I've written before, I am not a morning person. I am however a faithful Catholic and sometimes my love for Jesus requires me to do things I don't want to do. One of these is wake up with enough time to do a morning prayer. It was the First\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NOT a morning person.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/2217235398_bf69c85888_b-300x267.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":65535,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/12\/faces-show-the-struggles-of-advent\/","url_meta":{"origin":15774,"position":3},"title":"12 Faces that Show the Struggles of Advent","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"December 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We often take ourselves too seriously, especially when it comes to the pursuit of holiness. Too often do I come across misconceptions about the many limitations and boxes people confine their notions of what saintliness can or should look like. I often think it\u2019s because of the misunderstanding of what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"12 Faces that Show the Struggles of Advent","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/12FacesthatShowtheStrugglesofAdvent-550x366.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/12FacesthatShowtheStrugglesofAdvent-550x366.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/12FacesthatShowtheStrugglesofAdvent-550x366.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40963,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/07\/catholic-on-instagram\/","url_meta":{"origin":15774,"position":4},"title":"Catholic on Instagram","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"July 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"About 521 images are uploaded to Instagram every second from all over the world. That equals about 45 million photos a day. That\u2019s a superabundance of images. Many of us not only have Instagram on our phones, we also have additional companion apps to help us take image customization to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Social Media and Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Social Media and Tech","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/social-media\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Catholic On Instagram","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/CatholiconInstagram.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3801,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/my-prayer-journal-is-made-of-iphone-apps\/","url_meta":{"origin":15774,"position":5},"title":"My prayer journal is made of iPhone apps.","author":"Laura Gonzalez","date":"August 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I pray that anyone who got a succinct email from me today, will forgive any offense; I was tired. It's entirely my fault and I apologize. But, staying up till 1 AM to find the perfect app to fit my prayer need was well worth it. It probably wouldn't have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_0647-200x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}