As a Catholic, I feel blessed to have not one but two Madonnas in my life. I of course adore Mary the Mother of God but I also dig Madonna the performing artist! I blogged about Madonna and discernment a few months ago and yesterday was another great Madonna moment in history inspiring today’s blog post. While the Super Bowl game and commercials were entertaining, the Halftime Show was riveting!

At 53-year-old, Madonna can still rock the house big time! She did a cool collage of “Vogue,” “Music,” “Party Rock Anthem/Sexy and I Know It,” “Give Me All Your Luvin’,” and “Like a Prayer” and was joined by other top performers including Nicki Minaj (great voice), M.I.A. (gesture fail), LMFAO (first hamsters, now Madonna are grooving with them), and Cee Lo Green (who was also in a great commercial with his The Voice costars and Betty White). The visual effects were amazing too — thanks to Cirque Du Soleil and Jamie King.

Why is Madonna so awesome? Well, she’s a fabulous singer and performance artist. She is not only the Queen of Pop but she’s also the Queen of Reinvention.

Considered to be one of the “25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century” by Time for being an influential figure in contemporary music, Madonna is known for continuously reinventing both her music and image, and for retaining a standard of autonomy within the recording industry.Considered to be one of the “25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century” by Time for being an influential figure in contemporary music, Madonna is known for continuously reinventing both her music and image, and for retaining a standard of autonomy within the recording industry. (Wikipedia)

Madonna has done dance, music, acting, fashion design, film directing and producing, writing, and business. She sees what she wants and goes after it, trying it out, turning it around, creating and recreating it. If it doesn’t quite stick or it isn’t energizing for her, she moves on. I’ve got a lot of respect and admiration for this habit of Madonna’s. Reinventing oneself is something I think we all need to do now and again.

Who doesn’t love an invention? Think of the light bulb, which had never shined in all of history until Thomas Edison switched it on on Dec. 31, 1879. Think of lasers, helicopters, microchips, elegant equations like E = mc², and even modest wonders like batteries, Velcro, and air conditioning. We honor inventors, enrich them, ask them about the meaning of life.

Reinvention isn’t in that league. The tip-off is the “re,” meaning it’s been done before. If invention is the dazzling hit, reinvention usually begins as a miss. But a miss that is taken back into the workshop, rethought, reworked, and brought out for a second, third, or fourth try can change the world. The light bulb, for instance, only stayed lit after it hadn’t at least 6,000 times. Each time, Edison and his co-workers took stock of what went wrong, made improvements, and tried again. His invention was a serial reinvention. (by John Yemma, Editor for The Christian Science Monitor, February 5, 2012)

Reinvention is not annihilating what was or who we’ve been, rather it’s tinkering a bit and finding a new way to be most fully ourselves.

In  what way are  you inspired by Madonna? What might you need to bring back into the workshop, rethink, rework, and bring out again to change your life and perhaps the world?

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Join the A Nun’s Life Community for prayer at 6 p.m. CT in the chat room today.

I am fascinated with a newly published letter that Madonna (the artist and performer) wrote when she was twenty years old. The letter (courtesy of the website Letters of Note) is addressed to film director Stephen Lewicki as a sort of “résumé” for the lead role in his film A Certain Sacrifice. She mentions how she wanted to be a movie star or a nun, and how, after trying things out, she decided to pursue a music career.

… and, after a bunch of interesting stuff about her life, the letter concludes …

Initially I was a bit miffed that Madonna compared being a nun to a disease, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the comparison represents a fine bit of discernment. Madonna recognized that trying out life as a nun led her to “dis-ease”, that is, a lack of ease in her own life, a feeling of being “not at peace” or “out of sync”.

Thank God Madonna did recognize that “dis-ease” because she was then able to open herself up to another calling as a singer-songwriter, actor, and entrepreneur! She is hands down one of the greatest artists of our time. Granted, I would gladly take Madonna as one of my nuns, but I am nonetheless delighted that she followed her calling and gifted the world with her art.

How do you negotiate the sense of “ease” and “dis-ease” in your own life?

What insight started percolating as you read Madonna’s words and thought about her life calling?

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Join A Nun’s Life community tonight for prayer at aNunsLife.org/live at 6 p.m. CT (your time zone) Come a bit early or stay a bit late and chat with us in the chat room!

Yesterday at the gym I was doing my cardio and right across from me was a older man on the stationary bike. He was cruising along reading a magazine. I noticed that he had a rosary around his neck. I have never worn a Rosary around my neck because it was not part of my Catholic upbringing and it seemed to tread close to being disrespectful. I remember in high school going to the mall with friends and seeing a Rosary hanging with “the other jewelry” and I almost bought it just to redeem it.

Prayer for healing at St. Agilolph's shrine

So as I watched this guy, I tried to figure out what he was all about. Was it a sign of his faith? Was it random? Did it match his other accessories? No chance I was going to figure it out. But it got me thinking about what the deal is with wearing a Rosary around one’s neck. Since I doubted this information would be in the Catechism, I turned to my next source of information: the Internet.

Here’s what I found about why people wear a Rosary around their neck:

• a fad for some younger folks who aren’t particularly religious
• people need a sign of something holy nearby (e.g., troops, prisoners)
• to  show that one is Catholic
• a cultural custom among people of Mexico
• a person with memory issues can easily find it
• a gang symbol for some gangs
• a desire to emulate singer Madonna
• to show respect for Mary

Apparently this is not a recent phenomenon. The blog Paternosters notes that wearing Rosaries is at least centuries old. Some for social status and some for religious purposes too. There’s a series of blog posts dedicated to this: If you’ve got it, flaunt it, Rosaries on belts, Tying one on, Ring around the collar, Loops, drapes and dangles, Just hanging around, and What did Margaret mean?

Bono from U2 wears and displays the Rosary given him by Pope John Paul II

To further contextualize the question of wearing a Rosary around one’s neck, keep in mind that many of us hang Rosaries or Rosary-esque items from ourselves and our cars all the time! A rosary hanging from the rear view mirror of a car (presumably a Catholic car) or a bed post, a Rosary ring or bracelet, a Rosary keychain, and I’ve even seen Rosary tattoos.

From the variety of Catholic perspectives I’ve seen on this, it seems the general consensus is that so long as it is done with respect, it is okay. And, I suppose, even if it is done without respect, is it possible that God might still take that as an opportunity to bring some good in the world? Yeah, I kinda think God is capable of that!

Have you encountered this custom of wearing a Rosary around the neck? What do you think?

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Join us for prayer this evening during our live Praying with the Sisters podcast at 6 p.m. CST at http://aNunsLife.org/live .

American fashion model and actress Heather Graham recently revealed that her parents threatened to send her to a convent when she was young.

The Hangover star has admitted that she almost became a nun and is relieved she became an actress instead.

Graham told the Daily Star: “When I was a child my parents threatened to send me to a convent. I’d have made a terrible nun.

“I’m a good Catholic girl in the way Madonna is in the sense that I’m not that good at all… I want to be vamping it up in short skirts and low-cut tops to the end.” (source: Digital Spy)

I always find these news items to be curious (e.g., Natalie Portman’s celibacy issues). It seems the contrast between the stereotypical docile/dour/suppressed Catholic nun and the rebellious/vivacious/sensual bad girl makes for great entertainment news.

Yeah, yeah, so readers get a few laughs at imagining a “bad girl” as a Catholic nun and the fantastic havoc and scandal she may have created within the holy confines of a convent. But please, must we play on bad stereotypes of Catholic sisters and nuns for a cheap laugh? Is it worth fueling a stereotype of nuns as docile/dour/suppressed in order to fuel an equally disturbing stereotype of women as “the bad girl”?

When I first read this news piece, I thought little of it. But it’s been weighing on my mind and heart because it seems so trivial but yet reinforces a negative message about Catholic sisters and nuns.

I want to tell Ms. Graham that if she only knew how many hell-raisers and “bad girls” have come to the convent — and stayed — that she would probably have seemed like a wall flower in comparison.