The Matrix and the Matrix

One afternoon when I had the flu I sat through The Matrix movies. Two of them. There was a third, but at the end of the second I had had enough. Somewhere in the middle of the second film, the star of the movie finds himself in a room with a man with an overly trimmed beard who explains what's going on in the film and what, exactly, "The Matrix" is all about. I could not understand one word of it. The man with the overly attended to beard might just as well have said, "I am Santa Claus, ho, ho, ho." It would have made as much sense.


I also have a question: My mom is a huge catholic zealot, and I happened to notice a bag of random religious items like crucifixes, and something called the Matrix Medal. Do you have any idea what that is?

I am Santa Claus, ho, ho, ho.

That's about as good an answer as the actual answer.

On top of the answer being a little out there, we're actually not supposed to talk about the Matrix. Not the movie. You can talk about that all you like. You can even get yourself a big black leather coat for all we care, although your money would be better spent on the poor. You're not supposed to talk about the Matrix, like the Fight Club, only we're not supposed to spread it around clandestinely either.

The Matrix involves a woman in Ireland who talks to Mary. Mary sightings are a bit of a Catch 22, if I may throw out yet another movie reference. We have to pay attention, to see if Mary is trying to tell us something, but until we know it's really Mary trying to tell us something, we can't pay attention.

Remember the story of St. Catherine LaBoure? Go ahead and read it if you are not familiar with what went on there. I'll wait.

Notice that St. Catherine went to her confessor and made him deal with it and no one knew one thing about Catherine, or little angels in the night, or in which chair Mary sat.

So this woman in Ireland says the Mary described a new medal and made promises about a devotion to it. I believe Mary said something like, "put a picture of me kneeling before Jesus on the cross, pleading with him, and just write 'the Matrix' on there." I don't know who drew it up for the Irish woman. While there have been miracles ascribed to the devotion, the whole situation is very dubious.

For one thing, every time Mary really does come, she has something new to say. Not this time.

For another thing, like the situation in Medjugorje, which has now come into question, Mary comes again and again. What's wrong with her that she can't seem to get her point across? Again.

The woman also ran right out and started up some sort of Mary prayer center for the whole thing.

On top of that, some people don't believe the woman herself is on the up and up with the donations. And somewhere in there, Mary complains about the Euro. Or the European Union, I can't tell which, or to what she is objecting.

Mary might just as well be saying, "I am Santa Claus, ho, ho, ho."
I'll shut up about it now. Use the Google if you want to know more, but leave me out of it.

I do like that medal, though, I must admit. The back is a little cartoony, but the front is compelling. That's supposed to be Mary herself there in front of Jesus on the cross. That is supposed to be the hearts of Jesus and Mary there on the back.

Thankfully, I haven't been sick in quite some time and have better things to do with my time these days.

One more saint request, please! We are part of a Catholic Homeschool co-op. This year we will be teaching our elementary group about "Continents" and sharing a Saint from each one. Except we can't find one for Antartica? Or one for the oceans? Any suggestions? Thank you!

I'll admit that Antarctica was a poser.

The oceans, a no brainer. You didn't mean a patron saint for each ocean, did you? The would be much trickier. The oceans: Stella Maris. Mary Star of the Sea.

The jury is still out on Antarctica. For now, I'm going with St. Nick, (speaking of Santa Claus) because, at least he's dressed for it.