Jen Varela

Just a girl who loves her faith, food, and football.

[Emily Zanotti 🦝 @emzanotti]

SERIOUSLY

[Jen Varela @GatorJenV]

My patron saint! St Maria Goretti, pray for us!!!

[Catholic Sat @CatholicSat]

The canonisation of St. Maria Goretti, who was stabbed to death at the age of 11 defending her virtue, in 1950 was the first to be held outdoors in the St. Peter's Square. In another first, her aged mother was present at the solemn ceremony. Her repentant murderer too.

[Greg Lukianoff @glukianoff]

I’ve always found people who bristle at “American exceptionalism” kind of… weird. Not because I lack self-awareness — I’ve spent my career cataloging every way this country fails to live up to its own rules. But that’s exactly why I love it so damn much. We built a system designed to be shamed by its own founding documents, and it still delivered one of the most spectacular, world-altering runs in human history. A genuine force for human flourishing.

I also found the argument against American exceptionalism to be historically illiterate. Here’s a sample of what we were first at:

• The first large-scale democratic republic in human history — not a city-state, not a monarchy with a parliament bolted on, but a bold continental experiment in self-rule, popular sovereignty, and ordered liberty.

• A written Constitution (1789) with separation of powers and checks & balances — still the oldest national constitution in force anywhere.

• The Bill of Rights (1791): the first time a nation wrote “the government cannot touch these” into supreme law and actually meant it. A dare the world copied — from later rights charters to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

• Public land-grant universities and mass higher education (Morrill Act), opening college to ordinary people no aristocracy would have let near the gates. (but don’t get me started about what happened after we started. Massively federally funding it.)

• Kitty Hawk, 1903 — first controlled powered flight.

• The Moon, 1969 — still the only ones who’ve been there.

• The world’s largest economy since ~1890, powering unprecedented prosperity through grit and genius.

• The assembly line, skyscraper, transistor, personal computer, ARPANET — the backbone of the modern world.

• Telephone, phonograph, GPS — connecting and powering daily life.

• Surgical anesthesia, polio vaccine — saving and transforming millions of lives.

• Jazz, blues, rock ‘n’ roll — brand new American art forms that conquered the globe.

• Hollywood’s dreams, blue jeans, bourbon, and a culture so open a kid like me could devour sushi, burritos, stuffed cabbage, and tabouli in the same week and rightfully think of it all as American.

That’s the part that fills me with genuine love and pride: not just the power or the wins, but the appetite for freedom, creativity, and reinvention. The audacity to say “We the People” and keep trying to live up to it.

What do you love most about this truly exceptional country? 🇺🇸

[Elisha Wiesel @ElishaWiesel]

My father raised me with Jewish observance. Shma at night, Kiddush on Friday night. But the earliest memories I have of reading a sacred text with my father aren't of Genesis, or the Exodus from Egypt, or even of my Bar Mitzvah parsha.

They're of reading the Declaration of Independence with him every July 4th.

He would read them aloud with the same musical, passionate voice that compelled the attention of listeners at state affairs or class day ceremonies. We were a small family of four, often in those early years with another family we were close to, but we felt like a jury listening to the case that he was making in the highest of courts.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal!" he would insist, his eyes meeting ours -- and then pause, waiting to see if any of us would dare to challenge him. I didn't understand many of the specific accusations that the Founding Fathers were laying at Britain's feet, but I knew by the end that my father believed America had the protection of divine Providence, and that he pledged his life, fortune and honor to this country that had taken him in, that had given him a home when he was stateless.

To our fellow Americans, Shabbat Shalom and happy 250th anniversary of these blessed United States of America.

[BostonWriter @bostonwriter]

If this sort of thing doesn’t stop you in your tracks and make even the slightest twinge of pride rise in your soul… well… I feel sorry for you.

[Jen Varela @GatorJenV]

@InezFeltscher Watermelon. Either on its own or as a salad with feta and balsamic vinegar

[Jen Varela @GatorJenV]

@KatiePMcGrady Egg bites or a small breakfast casserole that I can eat for the rest of the week. Like using turkey sausage crumbles to make them more filling, but also use up extra veggies.

[Jen Varela @GatorJenV]

@KatiePMcGrady Literally just walked out of the Titanic museum and wondered if my phone was playing some kind of trick on me 🙄

[Kristen Soltis Anderson @KSoltisAnderson]

Good America 250 vibes will not come from our political leaders

They will come from massive fireworks displays, World Cup USMNT soccer victories, and European tourists discovering and openly embracing Bass Pro Shops

[Jen Varela @GatorJenV]

This longer version is worth the watch. Glorious.

[Andrew Cusack @cusackandrew]

The entire concept of the Sagrada Familia is as an expiatory offering to God for the sins of all mankind.

“My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee — I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee.”

[Jen Varela @GatorJenV]

@shaunvlog_ Welcome!

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Every human being is worthy by the mere fact of having been willed, created, and loved by God. There is no situation that causes the Lord to turn His gaze away from us. It is a consoling truth that accompanies us at all times and reminds us that His merciful love always outweighs whatever good or evil we may have done. #ApostolicJourney
https://t.co/W0PUAtuB92

[Emily Zanotti 🦝 @emzanotti]

He made it. He completed the pilgrimage. He is American now.

[Fr. David Paternostro, SJ @DavidPaternostr]

This man is going to experience New Orleans. This man is going to experience BUC-EE’S!

[La Sagrada Família @sagradafamilia]

Tomorrow, 10th June, when the sun sets, the tower of Jesus Christ will be illuminated during its inauguration. You can follow it live on our social media channels from 7:45 p.m!

[Emily Zanotti 🦝 @emzanotti]

They’re learning a lot about living and a little ‘bout love

[Jen Varela @GatorJenV]

For a couple of weeks now I've been pondering why I was so moved during the procession in St. Augustine...and I think this is it. These encounters remind us that Christ is everywhere, can meet us anywhere, will always seek us.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Just as Christ gives Himself as food in the Eucharistic celebration, the #CorpusChristi procession shows that He is not confined to the church, but comes out to meet us. Jesus travels the streets, crosses the squares, and visits our neighborhoods, dwelling in the settings of our daily lives. He is a God who is close to us, who walks with His people, the Lord of history. He is comfort to the weak, light for families, hope for the sick, and peace for those who suffer.

[Jen Varela @GatorJenV]

Yes! She blew me away at The National Eucharistic Congress. Let's keep her in our prayers!

[Kathryn Jean Lopez @kathrynlopez]

Marvelous Montse!: A Chicagoan Pope Names a Mexican-Born Daughter of the Church to Lead Communications at the... https://t.co/VPlq4OeAqW

[Jen Varela @GatorJenV]

@KatiePMcGrady Oh my gosh, what a blessed day for your family!

[Jen Varela @GatorJenV]

@emzanotti Wow, indeed! Will be praying for her!!