Encyclopedia Gregaria

2011-12-12T09:28:00.001-08:00

“You can’t clobber any reader while he’s looking. You divert his attention, then you clobber him and he never knows what hit him.” – Flannery O’Connor

2011-11-22T21:36:00.001-08:00

True friendship is based on unselfish love for another person. What is meant by unselfish love is the "constant, effective desire to do good to another." But although unselfish love is a basis for friendship it is not enough. There must be some common ground or area between two persons who form such a relationship.

In sharing one's inner life with another one comes to live not just one life but two. The inner life of another that is known to God alone becomes to a much less degree open to us through friendship. It partially fills the desire of our incomplete, lonely hearts for completeness in another.

Friendship brings out the best in a person through forgetfulness of self. Yet it is limited as one cannot give totally of oneself to another because one is not in complete possession of oneself. Friendships are the result of virtue. They are based on a goodness in oneself that another can love. Friends come to discover the good in each other and the relationship grows.

- Fr. Walter Farrell, O.P., on Thomas Aquinas and Friendship

In Praise of Weakness

2011-10-24T00:32:00.000-07:00

Feminists are known to become enraged when women are dubbed "the weaker sex." Given that the holy liturgy, while referring to Eve's daughters, uses this epithet, it is a topic worthy of discussion. The word "weak," like many in our vocabulary, has several meanings. It can refer to what is delicate, fragile, and in need of protection. Precious porcelain is more fragile than plates bought at the five and dime. A baby is "weaker" than a dog. "Weak" can also mean morally vulnerable, more likely to yield to pressure and temptation, less courageous. Hamlet's words, "Frailty, thy name is woman," have been quoted innumerable times, and will continue to be applied to what is also called "the fair sex."

When speaking of female martyrs, the liturgy hails them with special honor because God's power and greatness is best manifested by the fact that these "weak" creatures faced the most refined tortures with a fortitude that matched that of the most courageous of men. One easily forgets that one needs courage to face labor pains and give birth. Surprisingly, this is rarely mentioned today, even though, in the Old Testament, when an inspired writer refers to grave trials, he often adds "like a woman in labor."

One can accurately take the pulse of a society by examining the virtues it extols. Today, efficiency, creativity, flamboyance, success, and inventiveness steal the show. Names like Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey are applauded, praised, envied, and regarded with awe. They are success stories. Contrarily, heroic service, humility, patience, and forgiveness rarely make the headlines - at least not as long as the virtuous person lives.

If women feel justified in taking offense when they are dubbed the "weaker sex," should men be offended because they are not referred to as "the fair sex"? Does it mean they are ugly? As far as I know, men have not yet protested against this alleged "discrimination."

Many men look down upon women as "crybabies." But an intelligent person makes a distinction between legitimate and unwarranted tears. Noble tears have been immortalized by Virgil: Sunt lacrimae rerum. Not to cry when tears are called for proves that a person is possessed of a heart of stone. This is a serious problem indeed. Many men have caught the "macho virus" and assume that physical strength and daring are the virtues par excellence. They regard patience, gentleness, and forbearance as less flamboyant, les s flashy, and therefore only appropriate for the "weaker sex."

It is only at the time of puberty that, practically overnight, the "stronger sex" discovers the charms of the "weaker sex," but often for the wrong reasons. Satan, who never sleeps, derails this attraction and perverts it. This is why many men view women as "objects" of potential pleasure - and pleasure is one of the most efficient ways of bringing the stronger sex to a fast fall. Much grace is needed to "baptize" pleasure. This is a fact that should be remembered daily. Plato insisted that one of the main aims of education is to train a child to "achieve victory over pleasure." He knew it is an uphill battle which, in some way, lasts as long as we breathe. What would he say of our society of fast food, fast cars, and fast excitement, in which anything can be had without effort or fatigue? Our decadent cuIture teaches us that we have a right to "self-fulfillment."

G. K. Chesterton tells us that men are usually more pleasure-seeking than women. There might be some truth to this. In fact, the strong sex often proves to be the weaker one, for "seasoned" women know the art of catching them in their poisonous nets.

Is it offensive to be called "weak"? Is it a valid reason for falling prey to "an ungodly rage" (the title of Donna Steichen's groundbreaking book)? The answer is obviously no. But the illegitimacy of this wrong response does not mean that it is not tempting, for we like to complain and feel victimized. In a litigious society like ours, "discrimination" is a potential goldmine.

In truth, an intelligent woman would not be offended at being called "weak," because it is an accurate description. We might each have different weaknesses, but every one of us, with the exception of the blessed one among women, is not only weak but very weak, whether we are willing to acknowledge it or not. Foolish is he who believes he is "strong." History is rife with stories of men whose downfall was triggered by their self-assurance. Indeed, the first step toward cowardice is to believe oneself invincible and strong. This is the bitter lesson that the lovable St. Peter had to learn. When he declared that he would die for Christ, he was absolutely sincere. Alas, he counted on his own strength and, three hours later, intimidated by the chatter of a maid, denied three times the One he loved. His bitter tears purified his loving but weak heart, and gave him the strength, years later, to joyfully accept crucifixion and death.

But feminists will tell us: "What we resent is that we are told that we are 'weaker' than men." The older one gets, the more one realizes that there is only one thing that should concern us: Have we pleased God? What other people say is, much of the time, a mere flatus vocis, to which we should pay no attention. We should laugh gently at our friends' kind intentions when they commend our accomplishments; we should not take their compliments too seriously. They just mean to give expression to their kindness. Others, on the contrary, make a point of hurling offenses at us every time they have a chance to do so. If there is but a bit of truth in their criticism, we should, like the noble pagan Socrates, be grateful. Said he: "If you prove me to be wrong, you will be the greatest of my benefactors." Similarly, if we are rightly accused of stupidity or some other flaw, we should be grateful to him who opened our eyes to our faults. If the criticism is unjust, unfair, or plainly false, we should transform these "offenses" into a prayer for the offender who, by his unkindness, is sinning against God and harming his own soul. Life teaches us that many people's nastiness is just an exterior manifestation of their unhappiness. Most of them are at war with themselves, and experience a small bit of relief by hurting others. They require our loving compassion.

The long and painful experience of maturing teaches one to pay little attention to what people say about oneself, and to be more and more concerned about God's judgment. This enables one to enjoy a dimension of Christian freedom. We should not become dejected by empty chatter.

The overwhelming beauty of Christianity is the story of God, Creator of Heaven and earth, infinitely powerful, infinitely holy, who freely chose to assume the form of a slave, to become man - similar to all of us except in sin - to be born in a stable, in complete poverty. He chose to make Himself vulnerable, to let Himself be unjustly arrested as a criminal, to be condemned to death, to be scourged, to carry a cross, and to be crucified. He who could have called down a legion of angels to protect Himself was delivered into the hands of sinners and chose to be weak. Yet, He was, is, and will be King forever. That Christ chose to become a babe should inspire in us awe for weakness which, when chosen or humbly acknowledged, is a sign of authentic greatness.

This is the teaching of the great St. Paul. His brilliant talents and his remarkable intellectual formation did not prevent him from being "blind" to the radiant truth of the Good News. His moral blindness was cured by a temporary physical blindness that forced him to his knees, and led him to beg for light and for help. Miraculously converted, the wolf became a lamb exposed to al I the sufferings and persecutions of those who are unprotected. Granted exceptional graces, "whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know" (2 Cor. 1 2:2), St. Paul refused to glorify himself for all the amazing graces he had received. But he did glorify himself for his weakness: "I will not boast except in my weaknesses" (2 Cor. 2:5). "For it is when I am weak that I am strong."

In her autobiography, St. Therese of Lisieux writes: "I am weakness itself." It is precisely this awareness that made her heroic in her holiness. Joan Andrews, one of the heroines of the prolife movement, was so shy as a child that she would bring be one of her siblings to go to the store when her mother had asked her to go on some errand, for she dreaded it. But when it came to defending the most helpless of all human creatures, the unborn babe, she put most of us to shame.

Indeed, women are the "weaker" sex, but they have also been called the pious sex - and this is praise indeed. To feminists like Simone de Beauvoir, this is nothing but a left-handed compliment, for "piety" precisely indicates women's inferiority. Piety, in her eyes, does not deserve praise, which should be reserved exclusively to great and noble accomplishments that further "human progress." Yet the pious sex is precisely the one which, acknowledging its weakness, turns to God for help and, in so doing, receives the only true strength: "I can do all things in Him that fortifies me" (Phil. 4:13).

Men who have contracted the "macho virus" have, unwittingly, offered women a tool of sanctification. As St. Therese wrote, women proved to be much more courageous than men at Calvary. They were present at the foot of the cross. St. John came back, but we do not know how soon. Pilate's wife warned him not to condemn a just man. Adam listened to Eve, but Pilate did not listen to his wise spouse. Whereas the crowd screamed, "crucify him; crucify him," Jewish women wept over the plight of the Holy One. Far from partaking of the hysterical madness of the irresponsible men who made up the crowd, Veronica wiped His holy face. Mary, the sweet Theotokos, is the one in whom God accomplished great things because she joyfully acknowledged herself to be the handmaid of the Lord and taught us, her sinful children, "to do whatever He tells you."

What the Gospel teaches us is that humility is the key to sanctity. "Without Him, we can do nothing," but with His grace we can move mountains.

- Alice von Hildebrand

2011-10-18T22:02:00.001-07:00

Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter:
whoever finds one has found a treasure.
Faithful friends are beyond price;
no amount can balance their worth.
Faithful friends are life-saving medicine;
and those who fear the Lord will find them.
Those who fear the Lord direct their friendship aright,
for as they are, so are their neighbours also.
- Ecclesiasticus 6:14-17

2011-10-17T23:54:00.000-07:00

"We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired?"

- Seneca, Roman dramatist, philosopher, and politician (5 BC - 65 AD)

2011-10-17T23:48:00.000-07:00

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise… Life is like an old-time rail journey — delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

- Jenkins Lloyd Jones

Merlin and the Gleam

2011-10-15T00:26:00.000-07:00

   I.

O Young Mariner,
You from the haven
Under the sea-cliff,
You that are watching
The gray Magician
With eyes of wonder,
I am Merlin,
And I am dying,
I am Merlin
Who follow The Gleam.

                  II.

   Mighty the Wizard
   Who found me at sunrise
   Sleeping, and woke me
   And learn'd me Magic!
   Great the Master,
   And sweet the Magic,
   When over the valley,
   In early summers,
   Over the mountain,
   On human faces,
   And all around me,
   Moving to melody,
   Floated The Gleam.

                  III.

   Once at the croak of a Raven who crost it,
   A barbarous people,
   Blind to the magic,
   And deaf to the melody,
   Snarl'd at and cursed me.
   A demon vext me,
   The light retreated,
   The landskip darken'd,
   The melody deaden'd,
   The Master whisper'd
   "Follow The Gleam."

                  IV.

   Then to the melody,
   Over a wilderness
   Gliding, and glancing at
   Elf of the woodland,
   Gnome of the cavern,
   Griffin and Giant,
   And dancing of Fairies
   In desolate hollows,
   And wraiths of the mountain,
   And rolling of dragons
   By warble of water,
   Or cataract music
   Of falling torrents,
   Flitted The Gleam.

                  V.

   Down from the mountain
   And over the level,
   And streaming and shining on
   Silent river,
   Silvery willow,
   Pasture and plowland,
   Horses and oxen,
   Innocent maidens,
   Garrulous children,
   Homestead and harvest,
   Reaper and gleaner,
   And rough-ruddy faces
   Of lowly labour,
   Slided The Gleam.--

                  VI.

   Then, with a melody
   Stronger and statelier,
   Led me at length
   To the city and palace
   Of Arthur the king;
   Touch'd at the golden
   Cross of the churches,
   Flash'd on the Tournament,
   Flicker'd and bicker'd
   From helmet to helmet,
   And last on the forehead
   Of Arthur the blameless
   Rested The Gleam.

                  VII.

   Clouds and darkness
   Closed upon Camelot;
   Arthur had vanish'd
   I knew not whither,
   The king who loved me,
   And cannot die;
   For out of the darkness
   Silent and slowly
   The Gleam, that had waned to a wintry glimmer
   On icy fallow
   And faded forest,
   Drew to the valley
   Named of the shadow,
   And slowly brightening
   Out of the glimmer,
   And slowly moving again to a melody
   Yearningly tender,
   Fell on the shadow,
   No longer a shadow,
   But clothed with The Gleam.

                  VIII.

   And broader and brighter
   The Gleam flying onward,
   Wed to the melody,
   Sang thro' the world;
   And slower and fainter,
   Old and weary,
   But eager to follow,
   I saw, whenever
   In passing it glanced upon
   Hamlet or city,
   That under the Crosses
   The dead man's garden,
   The mortal hillock,
   Would break into blossom;
   And so to the land's
   Last limit I came--
   And can no longer,
   But die rejoicing,
   For thro' the Magic
   Of Him the Mighty,
   Who taught me in childhood,
   There on the border
   Of boundless Ocean,
   And all but in Heaven
   Hovers The Gleam.

                  IX.

   Not of the sunlight,
   Not of the moonlight,
   Not of the starlight!
   O young Mariner,
   Down to the haven,
   Call your companions,
   Launch your vessel,
   And crowd your canvas,
   And, ere it vanishes
   Over the margin,
   After it, follow it,
   Follow The Gleam.

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Ideal

2011-10-15T00:20:00.000-07:00

You need to know what makes you happy–independent of your spouse. Write it all out, from life goals such as writing “The Great American Novel,” to everyday treats like a guilt-free afternoon typing away at your computer writing a story just for fun. Be as specific as possible. Then, make sure that you and your spouse share these goals with each other. There shouldn’t be any guessing games in a marriage, or underlying feelings of “my husband (or wife) should know what makes me happy.”

This strategy will make you more accountable to your own goals, and show your spouse how to support you.

...

My husband and I have a win-win relationship at the core of our marriage, and this is because we respect each other. We show each other that respect by being careful with our words–both when we speak to each other, and when we speak about each other to third parties. We always assume that the other has good intentions, and we seek to understand each other’s viewpoints first, before rushing in with our own opinion.

So, listen when your spouse speaks, and let him (or her) revel in the joys of their day—even when your day has been less than perfect by comparison. Always balance your need to vent and complain to your spouse with an insightful or funny observation. Also, be excited about each other’s accomplishments (even if you don’t fully understand what these accomplishments mean to your spouse).

Creating a positive and encouraging environment on a daily basis allows for open dialogue and mutual support for your respective life goals.

...

Your significant other needs to agree on the same values you have because these values will dictate how you’ll relate to one another throughout your marriage. Some people choose religious beliefs and ideologies as common values to share, and, though those values are important, they are the bare minimum. There are other values to consider as well, including whether your spouse loves to live simply or more lavishly, whether or not your spouse honors fidelity, and whether or not your spouse believes children should be raised strictly or with a more “hands-off” approach.

You and your spouse will also need to decide how to prioritize your common values, and how these values will translate into your respective roles and responsibilities as a married couple. Ideally, these conversations would have taken place before getting married, but you can still discuss these things with your spouse now. It’s never too late to do so.

Oh, and remember that list I recommended that you both make at the beginning of this article? Use that as a tool to create an open dialogue between your and your spouse about both of your needs and expectations. Articulate why being a writer is important to you, and how your life goals can still support your common values. For example, if you both value living simply, share how economical it would be to work from home. You would use less gas, cause less wear and tear on your car, and spend less money on maintaining “professional attire” for work. Remember to listen to your spouse’s feedback, and assume that this feedback comes from a good place.

...

My husband and I were initially drawn to each other because we each exhibited behaviors that we valued highly: intelligence, independence, and integrity. We stayed together because we agreed on the things that matter (like values, and our philosophy of life), and we respect each other enough to know not to obsess over the things that don’t matter as much (like chores).

Whatever goal you decide to pursue, your marriage needs to be a source of strength for both you and your spouse. Your marriage needs to be an open, supportive environment where both you and your spouse can dream together—and then work together to make those dreams a reality.

- from A Writer's Guide to a Healthy and Happy Marriage

2011-09-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

"We cannot be happy if we expect to live all the time at the highest peak of intensity. Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony.

Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of sound and silence there would be no rhythm. If we strive to be happy by filling all the silences of life with sound, productive by turning all life's leisure into work, and real by turning all our being into doing, we will only succeed in producing a hell on earth.

If we have no silence, God is not heard in our music. If we have no rest, God does not bless our work. If we twist our lives out of shape in order to fill every corner of them with action and experience, God will silently withdraw from our hearts and leave us empty.

Let us, therefore, learn to pass from one imperfect activity to another without worrying too much about what we are missing. It is true that we make many mistakes. But the biggest of them all is to be surprised at them: as if we had some hope of never making any."

- Thomas Merton

2011-09-08T21:36:00.001-07:00

"Strongly spent is synonymous with kept."

- Robert Frost

Do you love me enough to let me go?

2011-09-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

Hard words, but so important to hear sometimes.

2011-09-07T01:12:00.001-07:00

"It is always the secure who are humble."

- G.K. Chesterton, from A Defense of Humility

2011-09-07T01:07:00.000-07:00

‎"We all know that the 'divine glory of the ego' is socially a great nuisance; we all do actually value our friends for modesty, freshness, and simplicity of heart. Whatever may be the reason, we all do warmly respect humility — in other people."

- G.K. Chesterton, from A Defence of Humility

Wisdom from Ira Glass

2011-09-06T22:28:00.000-07:00

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners -I wish someone told me.

All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste.

But there is this gap.

For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not.

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.

A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit.

Most people I know who do interesting, creative work, went through years of this.

We know our work doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have.

We all go through this.

And if you are just starting out or if you are still in this phase, you gotta know it's normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work - put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will fashion one story.

It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap - and your work will be as good as your ambitions - and I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever met.

It's gonna take awhile. It's normal to take awhile.

You've just gotta fight your way through.

2011-09-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

Not all “drama” is bad, of course. I love how the Christian life makes everything so exciting; how every day is a great battle, and the truths of the faith are better than the best fairy tale. It’s also normal and healthy to have strong reactions to intense events (in other words, don’t expect me to lay off the caps lock key next time I see a scorpion). And then there are things like clinical depression, where you may have stronger reactions to situations due to serious medical issues.

But there’s also just drama: baseless, time-wasting, Resistance-fueled caterwauling that you need to learn to shut down in order to live a full life. So how do you recognize it when you’ve fallen into it? I’ve been pondering that for the past couple of weeks, and what I’ve come up with is this:

I think the primary difference is that Resistance drama is ego-focused, whereas the healthy ups and downs of the spiritual life are God-focused. When I get mired in bad drama I withdraw into a tiny solar system with my blazing ego at the center, where I fixate on who said what that offended me, whether people will think what I’m doing is great or terrible, whether what I do is good or bad in comparison to other people’s work…and I give nothing back to the world. I’m a black hole. Paralyzed by Resistance. Whereas on the occasions that I’m swept up in positive drama, I’m more focused on God than myself, more concerned with helping people than comparing myself to them, and, most tellingly, I’m still creating. I’m still giving something back to the world.

- Jennifer Fulwiler, excerpted from Good Drama, Bad Drama (and how to know the difference)

2011-09-05T00:31:00.001-07:00

"Of all human institutions, marriage is the only one which most depends upon slow development, upon patience, upon long reaches of times, upon magnanimous compromise, upon kindly habit."

- G.K. Chesterton, from the Early Notebooks

What did you expect?

2011-08-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

But I have less and less patience with this question: “How can the Church require homosexuals to be celibate? How can she impose such a heavy cross?”

Why do people think that living a good life is supposed to be easy? Readers, whoever you are — gay, straight, married, single, relatively healthy or inflicted with any one of a billion possible debilitating pathologies — you will be asked to carry a cross. It’s going to be hard, and it’s not going to be fair.

This is a world where evil is real, and where the only real antidote is love — not medicine, not political change, not advanced anti-suffering technology, but love. And love always costs.

Suffering and self-denial aren’t extraordinary; they’re par for the course. What did you expect?

- from Steve Gershom's post http://www.stevegershom.com/2011/08/what-did-you-expect/

My Thoughts on Gramps

2011-08-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (August 25, 2011) I will celebrate the life of a truly great man, my Grandpa Vilem Sokol, affectionately known as Gramps. Reading through his obituaries, the impression one comes away with is Accomplished Musician and Beloved Teacher. And rightly so. He was a great conductor, teacher, musician. Even more than that, he became a mentor and father figure to hundreds of students over the years with just the right amounts of discipline, praise and humor. For myself, I am deeply indebted to him for his musical legacy and to God who gave that passion to both of us. However, his legacy extends beyond that. I loved him dearly and took careful notes on his vibrant, passionate life so I'll know how to live my own.

I hope, like him, to always believe in the inherent goodness of every human being. I hope to give freely of my gifts and talents for the benefit and joy of everyone, and to inspire people to be more than they think they can be. I'll tell millions of stories and make people laugh. I will laugh, maybe even chuckle, often. I will read voraciously. I'll keep in touch with the people I care about and tell them I love them. When I get married, I'll be blessed if I love my husband even half as deeply and faithfully as he loved Gram. Maybe, like him, I'll have lots of wonderful children and grandchildren. I'll teach them to say "humuhumunukunukuapua'a" before they can speak, send all of them birthday cards every year, and accuse them of being miserable! - only to rescind that accusation and praise them for being lovely and handsome young ladies and gentlemen. I might even pull off a birdcall or two. I hope I care about everyone as much as he did. Even the bakery lady noted that he radiated the love of God. I hope against hope to remain as optimistic, mischievous, young at heart, and full of child-like wonder all the way into my nineties as he so expertly accomplished. I'll strive to be thankful for every day, to embrace life, to find my calling and live it to the full. Finally, I can only pray I enjoy as peace-filled and Faith-filled a death as he after as long and full a life.

I saw him right before he died and I knew from that meeting that I was deeply loved just for who I was. If he were here today, I'd say: Gramps, you miserable! No. You were a sweetheart of man and a truly great human being. God love you. I'm going to miss you.

2011-08-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet – and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
- T.S. Eliot, from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

2011-08-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

"It boils down to this: for men it's the sin of lust and for women it's the sin of pride. That sums it up."
- anonymous priest who said confessions daily in the Vatican for 35 years

2011-08-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

"Yes, I like rain. It means something, I am not sure what; something freshening, cleaning, washing out, taking in hand, not caring-a-damn-what-you-think, doing-its-duty, robust, noisy, moral, wet. It is the Baptism of the Church of the Future."
- G.K. Chesterton, excerpt from a letter to Bentley, 1895, when Gilbert turned 21 years of age

2011-08-15T10:01:00.001-07:00

"We need self-knowledge to have humility, and humility to be capable of mature, self-giving love."
- St. Catherine of Sienna

2011-08-14T18:17:00.001-07:00

"I think that all artists, regardless of degree of talent, are a painful, paradoxical combination of certainty and uncertainty, of arrogance and humility, constantly in need of reassurance, and yet with a stubborn streak of faith in their own validity no matter what."
- Madeleine L'Engle

2011-08-14T00:33:00.001-07:00

"A true friend is one soul in two bodies."
- Aristotle

Aristotle seems to know an awful lot about Seattle...

2011-08-14T00:21:00.001-07:00

"One swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day..."
- Aristotle

2011-08-14T00:02:00.000-07:00

"Below my window in Ross, when I'm working in Ross, for example, there at this season, the blossom is out in full now, there in the west early. It's a plum tree, it looks like apple blossom but it's white, and looking at it, instead of saying "Oh that's nice blossom" ... last week looking at it through the window when I'm writing, I see it is the whitest, frothiest, blossomest blossom that there ever could be, and I can see it. Things are both more trivial than they ever were, and more important than they ever were, and the difference between the trivial and the important doesn't seem to matter. But the nowness of everything is absolutely wondrous, and if people could see that, you know. There's no way of telling you; you have to experience it, but the glory of it, if you like, the comfort of it, the reassurance ... not that I'm interested in reassuring people - bugger that. The fact is, if you see the present tense, boy do you see it! And boy can you celebrate it."

- Dennis Potter, on experiencing life after receiving the news that he has terminal cancer

2011-08-13T23:18:00.001-07:00

"Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain."
— Lily Tomlin

2011-08-13T23:05:00.001-07:00

“Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted.”
- C.S. Lewis

2011-08-12T23:43:00.001-07:00

"All men can be heretics if tempted; all men can be heroes if inspired."
- G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

2011-08-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

"I am so happy. I am so happy. I loved my life."
- Gerard Manley Hopkins, dying words

2011-08-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

“The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.”
- C.S. Lewis

2011-08-12T00:00:00.001-07:00

“Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?”
- C.S. Lewis

2011-08-11T23:59:00.000-07:00

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”
- C.S. Lewis

2011-08-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."
- John 15:12-15

2011-08-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

"Must you really go? You know, people come to see me all the time and we have such a lovely time... and then they have to go home... and... and I'm very, very sad about the whole thing."
- Uncle Albert, Mary Poppins

2011-08-11T23:29:00.000-07:00

"Someone should write a song for you."
- Gramps to me, 8/11/11

2011-08-03T08:26:00.001-07:00

"The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for."
— Bob Marley

2011-08-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

"'Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it.' That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable."
- Flannery O'Connor on the Eucharist

2011-08-03T00:24:00.000-07:00

"Stop. I just want to look."
- Gramps, stopping in the hallway to look out the windows at the view on his last night before moving into a nursing home

2011-08-03T00:17:00.000-07:00

"You may write for the joy of it, but the act of writing is not complete in itself. Writing is a good example of self-abandonment. I never completely forget myself except when I am writing and I am never more completely myself than when I am writing. It is the same with Christian self-abandonment ..."
- Flannery O'Connor, 'The Habit of Being'

2011-08-01T23:21:00.001-07:00

"What we really need are people who are inwardly seized by Christianity, who experience it as joy and hope, who have thus become lovers. And these we call saints."
- Pope Benedict XVI

2011-07-30T11:48:00.001-07:00

"A humble man is not afraid of failure. In fact, he is not afraid of anything, even of himself, since perfect humility implies perfect confidence in the power of God before Whom no other power has any meaning and for Whom there is no such thing as an obstacle."
- Thomas Merton

As Kingfishers Catch Fire

2011-07-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

As king fishers catch fire, dragon flies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad it's name:
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves -- goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.

I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is --
Christ -- for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.

- Gerard Manly Hopkins

2011-07-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

"Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is "timing." It waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way."
— Fulton J. Sheen

2011-07-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

"Pride is the downward drag of all things into an easy solemnity. One "settles down" into a sort of selfish seriousness; but one has to rise to a gay self-forgetfulness. A man "falls" into a brown study; he reaches up at a blue sky. Seriousness is not a virtue. It would be a heresy, but a much more sensible heresy, to say that seriousness is a vice. It is really a natural trend or lapse into taking one's self gravely, because it is the easiest thing to do. It is much easier to write a good TIMES leading article than a good joke in PUNCH. For solemnity flows out of men naturally; but laughter is a leap. It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light. Satan fell by the force of gravity."
- GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy, VII.

2011-07-20T23:12:00.000-07:00

"So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."

- Colossians 3: 12-17

2011-07-18T22:42:00.001-07:00

"A blank piece of paper is God's way of telling us how hard it is to be God."
- Sidney Sheldon

2011-07-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

‎"Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it."
- Pope John Paul II

How I Learned to Love Housework

2011-07-14T22:40:00.000-07:00

The title is a link to the article from which the following quote came:

"One of the most surprising results of my conversion has been that I've developed a love of housework... I came to understand that order is of God, and that the fight against chaos is a fight for good."

- Jennifer Fulwiler

After

2011-07-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

My father spoke of stories like whiskey
he could hold in a clear glass, drink down
and see for miles the meaning of a man.

But up there where he died,
on the edge of the Western Isles
it takes more than a single malt.

The crofts are like tombs
and the children kill cats in the crumbling barns,
buzzards strike out the sun

and the winters bring hunger
like lidless beggars to the stones.
I see him in his shapeless sweater,

searching the horizon, nothing doing
and a child burning brightly
in the shadow of his death.

None will attend him but the priest
and his mild hands anointing with oil.
After, they will bring flowers through the snow,

small bells will sound in the night
and wood will burn brightly.
All through the land the wolves will run on

casting his name to the trees.

-Stephen Milne

2011-06-14T04:44:00.001-07:00

"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom."
- Thomas Jefferson

2011-06-09T03:30:00.001-07:00

"It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things."
- Lemony Snicket

2011-06-09T03:17:00.000-07:00

"But this at least is part of what [Dickens] meant: comradeship and serious joy are not interludes in our travel, but that rather our travels are interludes in comradeship and joy, which, through God, shall endure forever. The inn does not point to the road: the road points to the inn. And all roads point at last to an ultimate inn, where we shall meet Dickens and all his characters. And when we drink again it shall be from the great flagons in the tavern at the end of the world."
- G.K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens

2011-05-31T23:17:00.000-07:00

"Happiness is something that comes into our lives through doors we don't even remember leaving open."
- Rose Wilder Lane

Waiting

2011-05-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

All that is left is the waiting
Not a waiting in the dark,
But a waiting in the light
that things might be seen clearly
that hopes might be considered wisely
that feelings might be felt truly
without deception

It is a waiting that seems a lot like living
Not living incomplete or unconsoled
But living well, to have an abundance
to invite her into, to give unto her
if the dramatis personae should alter
and chance, and faith, and goodness conceive
a happy denouement.

- Brandon Zimmerman

2011-05-16T11:17:00.001-07:00

"Humility is Truth."
- St. Thomas Aquinas

2011-05-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

"The same lesson [of the pessimistic pleasure-seeker] was taught by the very powerful and very desolate philosophy of Oscar Wilde. It is the carpe diem religion; but the carpe diem religion is not the religion of happy people, but of very unhappy people. Great joy does not gather the rosebuds while it may; its eyes are fixed on the immortal rose which Dante saw."
- G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

2011-05-15T23:16:00.000-07:00

"True creativity is making something as beautiful as you can; bad creativity is seeking originality for its own sake."

- Molly Gustin

2011-05-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

"In everything that yields gracefully there must be resistance. Bows are beautiful when they bend only because they seek to remain rigid. Rigidity that slightly yields, like Justice swayed by Pity, is all the beauty of the earth. Everything seeks to grow straight, and happily, nothing succeeds in so growing. Try to grow straight and life will bend you."
-G.K. Chesterton

2011-05-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

“We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
- attributed to Dr. Seuss

2011-05-09T10:27:00.001-07:00

“What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise."
- Oscar Wilde

2011-05-09T10:25:00.001-07:00

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
- Oscar Wilde

Refined by Fire

2011-05-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

During a particularly intense session of our required premarital counseling, our pastor took me aside for a little one-on-one. He seemed mildly concerned that I might not have a firm grasp on the realities of married life.

Did I understand that for all it’s unparalleled joy, our marriage would surely go through times of aridity; that marriages were ever growing and changing; and that truly great marriages were the ones comprised of two people who embraced sacrificial love? In an Academy Award worthy performance, I assured him I did. Secretly though? Well, it seemed to me that such things were perfectly fine for inferior couples but wouldn’t be necessary for a pair as in-sync as we were. I couldn’t help but wonder how this astute man of the cloth couldn’t see that, too. A story for the ages, we’d be remembered right alongside Scarlett and Rhett.

The rest of this well-written, insightful, and ultimately hopeful article by Hallie Lord here.

2011-05-06T00:34:00.001-07:00

"Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on.”
-John Steinbeck

2011-05-06T00:30:00.000-07:00

“I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is prose: words in their best order; - poetry: the best words in the best order.”
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

This is why I love Lent

2011-04-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

"The fact is that purification and austerity are even more necessary for the appreciation of life and laughter than for anything else. To let no bird fly past unnoticed, to spell patiently the stones and weeds, to have in the mind a storehouse of sunsets, requires a discipline in pleasure and an education in gratitude."
- G.K. Chesterton, from Twelve Types

2011-04-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

"Be patient toward all unsolved in your heart, try to love the questions like locked rooms, like books written in a foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you'll then gradually, without noticing it, live along a distant day into the answer."
- Rainer Maria Rilke

Catholic, Will Write

2011-04-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

“The love of story is universal, common to all peoples of all cultures and times of history. The fiction writer who hopes to write the true story in our times must be prepared to sacrifice much, to live a kind of heroic vocation. If he pours his whole being into the creation of works that grip the imagination and at the same time ennoble mankind and help him find a deeper understanding of his eternal value and destiny, then he will have been a ‘success,’ regardless of how many or how few books he sells.”
- Michael D. O'Brien, from Catholic, Will Write

The rest of the article here.

2011-04-22T01:45:00.000-07:00

"The 'Iliad 'is only great because all life is a battle, the 'Odyssey' because all life is a journey, the Book of Job because all life is a riddle."
- G.K. Chesterton, from The Defendant

2011-04-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

“To believe in God for me is to feel that there is a God, not a dead one, or a stuffed one, but a living one, who with irresistible force urges us towards more loving."
- Vincent van Gogh

The Hippopotamus

2011-04-20T01:30:00.000-07:00

Behold the hippopotamus!
We laugh at how he looks to us,
And yet in moments dank and grim,
I wonder how we look to him.

Peace, peace, thou hippopotamus!
We really look alright to us,
As you no doubt delight the eye
Of other hippopotami.

- Ogden Nash

2011-04-13T08:35:00.001-07:00

"To a great extent the level of any civilization is the level of its womanhood. When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women."
- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Brother Christian's Testament

2011-04-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

From the movie "Of Gods and Men."

Should it ever befall me, and it could happen today, to fall victim to the terrorism which seems to now want to engulf all the foreigners living here, I would like my community, my church and my family to remember that my life was GIVEN to God and to this country.

May they accept that the Unique Master of all life could not be a stranger to this brutal departure. May they be able to associate this death to so many other violent ones, consigned to the apathy of anonymity.

I've lived long enough to know that I am complicit in the evil that, alas, seems to prevail over the world and even of the one that would strike me blindly.

I could never desire such a death. In fact, I don’t see how I could ever rejoice in this people I love being indistinctly accused of my murder.

I know the contempt the people of this country may have indiscriminately been surrounded by. And I know which caricatures of Islam a certain Islamism encourages.

This country and Islam, for me, are something else. They are a body and a soul.

My death will of course quickly vindicate those who hastily called me naïve or idealistic, but they must know that I will finally be freed of my most burning curiosity and will be able, God willing, to immerse my gaze into the Father's in order to contemplate with him his children of Islam as he sees them.

In this THANK YOU, where from now on all is said about my life, I include you of course, friends of yesterday and today, and you as well, friend of the last minute, who knew not what you were doing.

Yes, for you as well I want this THANK YOU and this FAREWELL which you envisaged.

And may we meet again, happy thieves in paradise, if it pleases God, the Father of us both.

AMEN! INCH’ALLAH!

2011-04-06T00:08:00.000-07:00

"Laws and principles are not for times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they, inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience, I might break them, what would be their worth? They have worth--so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane--quite insane, with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations are all I have at this hour to stand by; there I plant my foot."
- Jane Eyre

The Agony

2011-04-05T02:41:00.000-07:00

In the hour of darkness the moon had hid her face,
And all the world was sleeping, save one who wept.
He left the meager comfort of well-meaning friends,
Charging them, Watch; and into the garden crept,

And heard the lie of the world:
That the darkness here is a fell and final thing;
And flesh will crumble for aye in the valley of bones,
And tongues that are parched will never find voice to sing.

And this is our hope: that he whose sweat was blood,
As the heavy droplets fell and his spirits sank,
Lifted his eyes and murmured Thy will be done;
Lifted cracked lips to the Father’s cup; and drank.

- Joseph Prever

2011-04-05T01:29:00.000-07:00

"Since we are made in the image of God and since we know that God is the Creator, it follows that our creativity is the expression of the imageness of God in us. As such, all myths, as the product of human creativity, contain splintered fragments of the one true light that comes from God. Far from being lies they are a means of gaining an inkling of the deep truths of metaphysical reality. God is the Creator, the only being able to make things from nothing, whereas we are sub-creators, beings made in God's creative image who are able to partake of his creative gift by making new things from other things that already exist. Put simply, we tell our stories with words, God tells his story with history. The fact that facts serve the truth is another way of saying that Providence prevails. In essence, Tolkien believed that Christianity is the "true myth," the myth that really happened. It is the archetypal myth that makes sense of all the others. It is the Myth to which all other myths are in some way a reflection, a myth that works in the same way as all the others except that it exists in the realm of fact as well as in the realm of truth."
- Joseph Pearce, from Narnia and Middle Earth: When Two Worlds Collude

2011-03-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

"It is so hard to see into other people’s lives; to look at their circumstances and gauge their personalities and really understand them; to know their hearts; to suffer in their struggles and rejoice in their triumphs and perceive, with clear honest eyes, the men and women we walk alongside—or brush past, mostly—in the long weary days. How terrifying, too, to turn toward the seer, to pull aside the veil protecting all that matters very most to the tender tentative wary heart deepest inside and take the chance that the one who looks will see, will know and not recoil at what he finds. More precarious still is the attempt to take hold, gently, of the frail fragile inwardness and bring it out, in small single words and long faltering sentences, to be seen and heard and known by whoever might chance to pass by.

"And yet…and yet…isn’t that what we crave, in the quiet secret depths? To open the doors of our inmost selves and be known, exactly as we are, with our ugly cracks and our crazy sky-blue dreams and all of our love, so much love, pouring out and overflowing, and to trust that these other beating hearts will not push it away? And the terrible beautiful thing is that it can only be trust, trust instead of mathematical certainty, instead of abstract analytical knowledge. Two and two will always make four but people can only trust."

- Miriel of seeking Solomon

The rest of this stellar post here.

An Airport Encounter

2011-03-24T13:08:00.000-07:00

As I was waiting for the electronic train to take me to the terminal, a man, maybe in his mid-forties, came closer to me. "I was raised a Catholic," he said, "and now as a father of two boys, I can't look at you or any other priest without thinking of sexual abuser."

The rest of the article is here.

Discerning God's Will

2011-03-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

But here’s something I’m starting to grasp: The will of God is not necessarily one thing, and one thing only. It’s not as if, as one commenter put it, God is sitting on his throne with a golden box labeled “Divine Will” in his lap, and we’re supposed to guess what’s inside it—and every other choice we make is the wrong choice. This is not a game show, after all, and God doesn’t play “gotcha.”

The truth is, there are many different things—even mutually exclusive things—that are God’s will. To switch analogies: When getting to your destination (God’s Willopolis), you might take the scenic route, or the route that gets you the best gas mileage, or the route that takes you through your old hometown, or the shortcut you accidentally discover because the kids were screaming in the back seat and you didn’t realize you missed your turn.

The rest of the article here.

2011-03-22T23:06:00.000-07:00

“Stand still, and allow the strange, deadly restlessness of our tragic age to fall away like the worn-out, dusty cloak that it is – a cloak that was once considered beautiful. The restlessness was considered the magic carpet of tomorrow, but now in reality we see it for what it is: a running away from oneself, a turning from that journey inward that all men must undertake to meet God dwelling within the depths of their souls. Stand still, and look deep into the motivations of life. Are they such that true foundations of sanctity can be built on them? For truly we have been born to be saints – lovers of Love who died for us! ‘There is but one tragedy: not to be a saint.’”
- Catherine Doherty

2011-03-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

"Let no man pull you low enough to hate him."

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

2011-03-21T23:54:00.000-07:00

"I'll make you a little confession. I am not afraid to use the word class. I will also plead guilty to another charge. The charge is that people who belong to my class think they're better than other people. You're damn right we're better. We're better because we do not shirk our obligations either to ourselves or to others. We do not whine. We do not organize a minority group and blackmail the government. We do not prize mediocrity for mediocrity's sake. Oh I am aware that we hear a great many flattering things nowadays about your great common man - you know, it has always been revealing to me that he is perfectly content so to be called, because that is exactly what he is: the common man and when I say common I mean common as hell."
- The Moviegoer, Walker Percy

Or Something Like That

2011-03-18T02:16:00.000-07:00

In the Yard today, the pine needles began snowing
down. The way they caught the light was curious.
And the maple’s leaves, all red and ochre, were

already littering the walkway. And I, well I sat
thinking the same dark thoughts I have had
since childhood. You know the ones. I need

not explain them to You, of all people.
But it is so easy to call things dark thoughts,
a kind of lazy shorthand. Too easy to forget

the maxim that everyone is good in Your eyes.
We both know this is not true, is a lie. I mean,
the high school counselor they put away for life…

How can he be good in Your eyes? Sometimes,
I am convinced no one is good in Your eyes.
Dark thoughts, yes. I am doubting again.

I doubt the pine needles, the maple leaves,
the robin carrying on its stupid song,
my own voice mumbling on a slate blue terrace.

Easy to doubt. Always easy. And the old Jesuit
who lectured me on this? Well, he doubted, too.
But I am not quite ready to be broken just yet.

I have a few things left in me, a few surprises.
No magic is as good as Your magic, but I have
hidden cards up my sleeve, twisted the handkerchief,

slipped the coin behind my watch. I still have
a few tricks left to play. And the light shifting
on the terrace, the pine needles coming down,

I know what they mean. I get what You are trying
to get at. I am here, God, I am here. I am waiting
for You to blind me with a sunstorm of stars.

- C. Dale Young

A White Rose

2011-03-18T01:30:00.000-07:00

The red rose whispers of passion,
And the white rose breathes of love;
O the red rose is a falcon,
And the white rose is a dove.

But I send you a cream-white rosebud
With a flush on its petal tips;
For the love that is purest and sweetest
Has a kiss of desire on the lips.

- John Boyle O'Reilly

To R.B.

2011-03-18T01:27:00.000-07:00

The fine delight that fathers thought; the strong
Spur, live and lancing like the blowpipe flame,
Breathes once and, quenchèd faster than it came,
Leaves yet the mind a mother of immortal song.
Nine months she then, nay years, nine years she long
Within her wears, bears, cares and moulds the same:
The widow of an insight lost she lives, with aim
Now known and hand at work now never wrong.
Sweet fire the sire of muse, my soul needs this;
I want the one rapture of an inspiration.
O then if in my lagging lines you miss
The roll, the rise, the carol, the creation,
My winter world, that scarcely breathes that bliss
Now, yields you, with some sighs, our explanation.

- Gerard Manley Hopkins

Real Love

2011-03-11T00:09:00.000-08:00

When I am overwhelmed by the thickness of the world
I understand why God chose this life for me

Because I don't paint pictures I write poems
Because I don't eat chocolate I drink gin
Because I don't read history I study mythology
Because I don't tell jokes I listen to music

Then I return: And soon I find myself grasping, desperately.

to the smell of Emil's diaper,
Helen is in despair (her baby is cold),
Leo can't get his Lego car to work (the wheel keeps coming off)
And dinner isn't ready, you tell me,
All at once

I am grateful for you, beyond words,
Beyond all reckoning, for your splendor
And your solidity.
Zossima was right: Love in reality,
compared to love in dreams,
Is a harsh and terrible thing.

So be it! So be it!

- Nathan Schlueter

2011-03-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
- Theodore Roosevelt

at the destruction of the body

2011-03-05T01:41:00.000-08:00

at the destruction of the body
at the deconstruction of the temple
at the decoration of futility
& the stripping bare of Zion

let me embrace a lament
let me make the acquaintance of sorrow

my hands had been set
to the weaving of bridges
amongst brothers
a binding of common interests

in other words, my hands were set to molding peace
from the clay of confusion & disorder

but you broke my fingers
& you severed the threads of my tapestry
now, my intentions lie before me, naked

& my tongue had been trained
to the sounds of crickets
in my throat, Robins & a nest
for families to build songs
but you crushed my voice
& flooded my mouth with tears
gave me stones to eat
& thus crushed my teeth
now, the only sound I can make is prayer

& my feet were content learning the trade of distance
the work of carrying
the craft of moving
& in their motion
a faith in bringing the word peace to a world more prone
to exchange blows
than language

so why has your will become shards of glass
to the soft soles of my intentions?

Uninspired, I stand
but one body amongst many
& that many stands the same
without prophet to part the waters
we seem to be drowning in the imagination
of pleasure
in other words, corruption prospers in its own design
while your faithful languish in a desert of waiting

all of my plans have turned into smoke
& where there is smoke
there is the reality
that something has been exchanged with absence
& that something has been deposited within the vaults of nothing

but in your memory
in your remembering is a Shepherd’s staff
thus we are gathered
brought to bread, our daily pasture
& in your presence are fields
to our hunger

Oh Lord remember water & sunshine
and how with these you had brewed life for us
like wine

How in those days, we walk inebriated with joy!
Let me see green!

for the only thing before my eyes is charcoal, gray
ashes breeding ashes
deadness multiplying like gnats on the rotten flesh
of my comfort
& in my ears a symphony of injustice
has broken the harp of worship
like a child cut short by an indifference to need
so have you aborted your people’s joy,

now,
our one companion is darkness.

& Glory to the Father who reigns even amongst the opaque depravation
of my intentions’ Sheol
& to the Son who wears my shadows as a crown
& to the Holy Spirit, kissing the abyss of my lament with fire,
transforming my tears into a sweet incense.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

- Ian Van Heusen

Paula, sed ferox

2011-03-05T01:35:00.000-08:00

Your eyes are the heels of horses on stone:
They spark.
Red crescents on your cheeks,
A ploughed place between the brows,
And your face like a storm, dancing.

— Gabriel Olearnik

Numbers

2011-03-05T01:34:00.000-08:00

For my two parents, two brothers, and three sisters.

One is who I say I am
It may be who I wish I were
It is what I know I am not
For how can I be one when I am three?
Perhaps I am but cannot see
How less these two I am not me.
Yet still the fibers won’t cohere
To pump my heart and quell my fear
Unless one with five I know I am six
Two sets of three—a blessed fix
I’m one in six of three by two
Entwined with all I’m part of you
Through two whose one has raised us tall
Secured by He whose One gives all.

— John A. Di Camillo

This is how the poem would go if I re-wrote it from my own point of view:

For my two parents, two brothers, and three sisters.

One is who I say I am

It may be who I wish I were

It is what I know I am not

For how can I be one when I am four?

Perhaps I am but cannot see

How less these three I am not me.

Yet still the fibers won’t cohere

To pump my heart and quell my fear

Unless one with five I know I'm six

Two plus four —a blessed fix

I’m one in six of four by two

Entwined with all I’m part of you

Through two whose one has raised us tall

Secured by He whose One gives all.

Daylight

2011-03-05T00:33:00.000-08:00

The sun! A million bird-hymns split the skies,
His crimson halo sanctifies the peaks,
Flings green on grass and blue on babbling creeks,
The violets open dew-bespangled eyes,
The shadows spring away in swift surprise,
Bright clouds rush outwards, galleons white and sleek,
A merry day his golden beams bespeak,
And azure oriflammes proclaim his rise.
The restless specters of the fearful night
With elvish smiles unmask themselves as trees;
The beauty of the earth, once hid from sight,
Stands veilless, to be seen with joyful ease—
And I who doubted God’s returning light
Fall penitent and laughing to my knees.

- J.B. Toner

Two Articles on Flannery O'Connor

2011-03-03T11:18:00.000-08:00

On the banning of books in highschools.

A Good Writer is Hard to Find

2011-03-02T23:36:00.000-08:00

"More men discover their souls in darkness than they do in light. This is not to invite darkness; it is only to be reminded that darkness need not go to waste when it is thrust upon us."
- Archbishop Fulton Sheen

2011-03-01T01:25:00.000-08:00

"Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."
- C.S. Lewis, excerpted from The Screwtape Letters

You and I

2011-02-27T01:34:00.001-08:00

You are a warm front
that moved in from the north,
a blind spot bearing beautiful gifts,
a garden in the air, a golden filament
inscribed with the name of God's hunting dog,
a magic heirloom mistaken for a feather duster,
a fountain in a cow pasture, an anachronistic anagram
annoyed by anonymity, a dollar in the pocket
of a winter coat in summer.

And I am the discoverer of you.

- Jonathan Potter

2011-02-18T12:12:00.000-08:00

‎"I think there is no suffering greater than what is caused by the doubts of those who want to believe. I know what torment this is, but I can only see it, in myself anyway, as the process by which faith is deepened."
- Flannery O'Connor, letter, 1959

2011-02-16T13:19:00.001-08:00

"No man can attain to the knowledge of God but by humility. The way to mount high is to descend."
- Blessed Giles of Assisi

2011-02-10T14:19:00.000-08:00

"To the humble man, and to the humble man alone, the sun is really a sun; to the humble man, and to the humble man alone, the sea is really a sea."
- G.K. Chesterton, Heretics, CW I, p128

2011-02-09T01:33:00.000-08:00

Article on being a Catholic writer by Ralph McInerny.

2011-02-05T01:02:00.000-08:00

‎"I ended my first book with the words no answer. I know now Lord, why you utter no answer. You yourself are the answer. Before your face questions die away."
- C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces