tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35187182829155200402024-03-04T23:41:04.537-06:00Reverenced ReadingWe walk through the world with our contemporaries, children of the same culture, seeking to enlighten and enliven our lives through openness to God's presence in our midst. In an assortment of books, music, and movies to the occasional dabbling in current events, we listen for His voice, in Reverenced Reading.Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.comBlogger296125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-11577847123152865602013-01-22T14:48:00.003-06:002013-01-22T14:48:10.489-06:00New SiteGood News!! We have moved to a new site. Please check us out over at<br />
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<a href="http://reverencedreading.com/">http://reverencedreading.com</a><br />
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<br />Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-51986011505929302302013-01-12T08:00:00.000-06:002013-01-12T08:00:06.620-06:00The Top Ten Books Read in 2012, #1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The #1 book I read in 2012 was Fr. Robert Barron's <i>Catholicism</i>. I brought it with me during my priesthood retreat, and its pages were a joy to read. He prose is cogent and clear. He writes well to all levels of knowledge of Catholicism from the doctor in theology to the inquisitive atheist.<br />
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He takes from reason and beauty all that we believe as Catholics.<br />
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Like I said in <a href="http://reverencedreading.blogspot.com/2012/06/fr-barrons-catholicism-laymans-seminary.html">my review</a>, this book is the perfect book for catechesis for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Our RCIA uses it and our Men's Spirituality Group will soon be using it as well.<br />
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There is no easier and more enjoyable book from which to learn about the Catholic faith.Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-16799691101417764992013-01-11T08:00:00.000-06:002013-01-11T09:59:02.019-06:00The Top Ten Books Read in 2012, #2You remember #2 from <a href="http://reverencedreading.blogspot.com/2012/11/discernment-of-spirits.html">a review from earlier this year</a>. It took me nigh on a year to read <i>The Discernment of Spirits </i>by Fr. Timothy Gallagher, OMV.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HPbVm3e9yii5pe5KJJpHKzCGfkVE1Ilmx7NF3CeRifhTfF5sMqAOdAsKcZIUbPqa-5gxVTkRw5TMfamfn8mZ61cfV7_RFP1qLB5nseZFk8x9nuft93eKs-nY9qeLC-L9Gcv6WVftYxw/s1600/discernmentofspirits.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HPbVm3e9yii5pe5KJJpHKzCGfkVE1Ilmx7NF3CeRifhTfF5sMqAOdAsKcZIUbPqa-5gxVTkRw5TMfamfn8mZ61cfV7_RFP1qLB5nseZFk8x9nuft93eKs-nY9qeLC-L9Gcv6WVftYxw/s1600/discernmentofspirits.png" height="320" width="207" /></a>This book is a practical guide to the spiritual using St. Ignatius of Loyola's Rules for the Discernment of Spirits that is found in his <i>Spiritual Exercises</i>.<br />
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We all experience ups and downs in the spiritual life. This book is a practical guide for how to navigate them well.<br />
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It was the second best book I read this year. The best .... will have to wait for tomorrow.Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-80747776384575173622013-01-10T08:00:00.000-06:002013-01-10T08:00:04.333-06:00The Top Ten Books Read in 2012, #3<br />
#3 was the relative surprise of the bunch. The other books were connected with authors, pop culture phenomenons or publishers with whom I was familiar. Murder in the Vatican by Ann Margaret Lewis was a whim purchase. I had heard Sarah Rienhardt mention this book on her blog, <a href="http://snoringscholar.com/">Snoring Scholar</a>.<br />
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As you well know, I love mysteries. Sherlock Holmes is the popularizer of the genre (I tip my hit to Dupin as the originator). So, to connect Holmes with Catholicism, with religion being a sticky situation to Holmes character (most in part due to his atheistic author Doyle), I was really excited to read it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBBrfmRtYCLcde0f-33O0wM1aBkiCr1Y_mz6Yez8Yk2_bjtwcNyPNeNlC-gdgNPdOISl6fkQFEL_PG-E4hFRbYQoQ-ApFqYIb9WvGpCVStqFHBJabCfuLD8oTDmZcH5Q2k_BzmGzRkmM/s1600/murder+in+the+vatican.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBBrfmRtYCLcde0f-33O0wM1aBkiCr1Y_mz6Yez8Yk2_bjtwcNyPNeNlC-gdgNPdOISl6fkQFEL_PG-E4hFRbYQoQ-ApFqYIb9WvGpCVStqFHBJabCfuLD8oTDmZcH5Q2k_BzmGzRkmM/s320/murder+in+the+vatican.jpg" width="320" /></a>The stories are the normal Doyle length. The three stories read more like novellas. Two of them are set in the Vatican, wherein the main Vatican character is none other than Pope Leo XIII, the reviver of Thomism and the writer of the first social encyclical. Lewis showed a great deal of knowledge about Leo and the goings on of late 19th Century history in Europe. She played well with the depth of intellect that both the real man and the fictional man had. It made for great dialogue and a certain development within the character of Sherlock Holmes.<br />
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Two of the stories, as well, welcomed a beloved character in the halls of Reverenced Reading, Fr. Brown. One of them mentioned him while he was still a seminarian and the other featured him.<br />
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This book was a delight to read. I've landed it twice since reading it. Currently my father, who reads a book a year ,is flipping its pages. I thoroughly recommend it.<br />
Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-62669203521948269602013-01-09T13:50:00.000-06:002013-01-09T13:50:47.611-06:00The Top Ten Books Read in 2012, #4So #4 was probably one of the biggest clean books (down with the smut!) of 2012, even though it was published a few years earlier. This was due in large part to Suzanne Collins' <i>The Hunger Games </i>being brought to the big screen.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPdb6vUVChNxYjtJ5XzcPM78w-HPeCteJ2Sa2LUVen7XOzGAMUFj3FMUgpxiejvg83wMMcRFpnPfZpWcfN51dQ094cKXAi961Fc8TT4bSUGKM_LPsy69PG7j6Wn3C8GRWn-2pWKF7_cN8/s1600/9780439023528_custom-49e9c33a338d97f0abb78402bcdee9b1103f33a0-s6-c10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPdb6vUVChNxYjtJ5XzcPM78w-HPeCteJ2Sa2LUVen7XOzGAMUFj3FMUgpxiejvg83wMMcRFpnPfZpWcfN51dQ094cKXAi961Fc8TT4bSUGKM_LPsy69PG7j6Wn3C8GRWn-2pWKF7_cN8/s320/9780439023528_custom-49e9c33a338d97f0abb78402bcdee9b1103f33a0-s6-c10.jpg" width="209" /></a>In our most popular guest post and second most popular post all time, our friend Katherine spoke about it <a href="http://reverencedreading.blogspot.com/2012/04/duped-by-hunger-games.html">here</a>.<br />
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As for me, it takes me a week or two to read a book of fiction. I read Collins' dystopian teenage drama in less than 24 hours. I couldn't put it down. I was surprised the way it sparked my reading.<br />
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The concept is both apropos and scary at the same time. It takes the culture of death that has been invading our national culture and brings it to the end game. Children are put on national display in a contest to kill each other. You can tell that the hunger is not just for food but for true freedom, which from all quarters is sorely lacking. In the outlying districts they are enslaved to work and production. In the Capital they are enslaved to pleasure. It is overall a quite depressing book.<br />
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All this is played out in the confused life of Katniss Everdeen. She herself seeks freedom but can never find it. All she see is predetermined ends. In the end, she exerts her free will to disrupt the 'tradition' of the Hunger Games and awakes in the hearts of many a desire for the freedom she exhibited.<br />
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It has some food for thought from a Catholic perspective. It asked all the right questions, but where Collins failed is she never provided answers. More questions occurred and no answers were forthcoming. Even if her answers were wrong, bringing up the right questions would have still made for a satisfying book.<br />
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It was fast paced and like a speed boat never entered the depths. This is made even more evident in the second and third book of the series. Nonetheless, this book caught me off guard and hit me square in the shin (which when I read it had metal sticking out it). I couldn't ignore its profundity even it never realized it itself.Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-39082482570397444362013-01-08T08:00:00.000-06:002013-01-09T13:50:58.098-06:00The Top Ten Books Read in 2012, #5Book #5 has garnered one of the most popular posts on this blog, <a href="http://reverencedreading.blogspot.com/2012/03/trains-are-not-safe-places.html">Trains are Not Safe Places</a>. Agatha Christie's (the only other author to make a repeat appearance on the top ten) <i>The Murder on the Orient Express</i> is an exercise in the masterful craft of confusing the reader.<br />
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The characters are rich and greatly described. The setting, hence the reference, makes for a great place to do a character study because once it's set it doesn't change.<br />
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It was my introduction to Hercule Poirot. I have now watched one season of the BBC television show <i>Poirot</i> due to enjoyment of this detective. He is the synthesis of Arsene Lupin and Sherlock Holmes. He is both suave and deftly deductive.<br />
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This is my second Christie novel and probably one of her best. She might not make the list again. I started from the top and fear that I have only down to go, but I'm looking to be surprised. I haven't even enter the world of Ms. Marple.Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-6774175321202739342013-01-07T08:00:00.000-06:002013-01-07T08:00:02.001-06:00The Top Ten Books Read in 2012, #6Number 6 is another biography from unlikely, although apropos biographer. On a whim I downloaded from <a href="http://librivox.org/james-watt-by-andrew-carnegie/">Libirivox</a>, <i>James Watt </i>by Andrew Carnegie. I honestly don't know why I would download such a book. I vaguely connect the book with my friend Billy Newton, over at <a href="http://blogofthecourtier.com/">Blog of the Courtier</a>, but I'll let him comment with regards to the validity of that memory.<br />
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Anyway, this book was fascinating. I am not a scientist. I don't like physics other than to enjoy the objective beauty of its equations. English was my strong suit (hence, the current mode and medium you are reading). Somehow, the fact that the business tycoon Andrew Carnegie wrote a biography on some dude fascinated me. James Watt was an extraordinary man. He ran not only in scientific circles but in philosophical circles as well. He was friends of Adam Smith, the founder of capitalism, who would have, at that time, been considered a philosopher.<br />
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His scientific achievements were vast and wide. He was a practical inventor. It was his practical inventiveness that allowed him to develop the best design for a steam engine that had uses outside of coal mining.<br />
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The most fascinating part of the book though is Carnegie's interjections into Watts life. He intrudes like an overattentive narrator. It is not your modern biography where facts are told in prose. It's more like your rich grandfather is telling you a story about an important person in history, a person that enabled him to be rich. I love Carnegie's commentary of Watt's life. Although not a style in style, I enjoyed the imposition because it gave it good coloring to the book.<br />
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My only suggestion would be to pick it up via an <a href="http://www.amazon.com/James-Watt-ebook/dp/B004UJWSG6/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1357530354&sr=1-1-catcorr">ebook</a> as opposed to the Librivox recording. The narrator was terribly dry and often mispronounced words, which I found distracting.Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-20761029990286261012013-01-06T08:00:00.000-06:002013-01-06T08:00:02.907-06:00The Top Ten Books Read in 2012, #7
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I picked up #7 in <a href="http://audible.com/">Audible</a> because frankly, I love William Shakespeare. I've read Shakespeare bios before, but this seemed so comprehensive. Peter Ackroyd's <i>Shakespeare</i> covers it all and not just with hearsay. You can tell by the documentary evidence that he researched well this man's life, a feat that is remarkable for there is little documentation on the world's greatest playwright. </div>
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Ackroyd wrote in a style that was both easily accessible to the lay reader while still being for the scholar a good source of biographical material on the enigmatic writer. He makes a lot of references to the plays using them as fodder for his thought.</div>
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Because Ackroyd is so thorough the audiobook clocked in at about nineteen hours of listening time. Needless to say, that was a lot of rides in the car, but the narrator, Simon Vance, is one of my favorite, so I didn't mind.</div>
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If you enjoy Shakespeare, you would definitely enjoy this book. </div>
Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-86564706697203705902013-01-05T08:00:00.000-06:002013-01-05T08:00:06.202-06:00The Top Ten Books Read in 2012, #8
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhleIg48j6R-x_yN9mzWWqNwnWMjTXKVLHNtcVK2br4SdlCNAA5St9tsEQ8x7KKARKEZ-eBY2GhxliRNTAcMD30wIlDlVPWrjfxCc-ocOk6Hg0egc0dC8U-_0h3DMrXPgfQ1TYOsMrl63g/s1600/LookingForTheKing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhleIg48j6R-x_yN9mzWWqNwnWMjTXKVLHNtcVK2br4SdlCNAA5St9tsEQ8x7KKARKEZ-eBY2GhxliRNTAcMD30wIlDlVPWrjfxCc-ocOk6Hg0egc0dC8U-_0h3DMrXPgfQ1TYOsMrl63g/s320/LookingForTheKing.jpg" width="208" /></a>Number 8 on the list has been <a href="http://reverencedreading.blogspot.com/2012/05/looking-for-king.html">previously reviewed</a>. So I won't say much, but what I will say is that it has rekindled my love for Tolkein and Lewis that had waned over years of Kant, Nietzsche, Kung, and Raymond Brown reading for two degrees. It inspired my imagination again.</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">David Downing's <i>Looking for the King</i> is the Catholic literature buff's Indiana Jones adventure. It has chases, romance, and pints with the Inklings. Who can ask for me?</span></div>
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Unlike #9 this would be a great summer reading book.</div>
Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-22187264204123626782013-01-04T09:09:00.000-06:002013-01-05T08:18:20.382-06:00The Top Ten Books Read in 2012, #9<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb3yXpoX40GAeL7KOQNSn-JFOLoK0PvOxQWpOkxjArTtGRjAlhi6h84CKwSDyCuocK5-bTN14RrktPuV_7f9Wv3Wc9EYcYvaONxPU32IJw55dcNJ00bYrGUY-sxOerdP_quvWKh5zXS6w/s1600/man-who-was-thursday.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb3yXpoX40GAeL7KOQNSn-JFOLoK0PvOxQWpOkxjArTtGRjAlhi6h84CKwSDyCuocK5-bTN14RrktPuV_7f9Wv3Wc9EYcYvaONxPU32IJw55dcNJ00bYrGUY-sxOerdP_quvWKh5zXS6w/s1600/man-who-was-thursday.jpeg" width="195" /></a>Sorry for the two day delay. Things at the parish caught up with me. Anyway back to the countdown...<br />
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Number nine here is from an author who made it on the countdown twice last year (and I'll be honest will probably make the countdown every year). <i>The Man Who Was Thursday</i> by G.K. Chesterton was probably one of the strangest books that I have ever read. I read it during my time in bed after my ankle injury (see the tag ankler). <br />
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I had enjoyed my previous outings with my favorite Catholic writer. However, this time felt like I was in a daze (and not from the Loratab). This book, subtitled a nightmare, holds true. It seemed surreal. I could never really wrap my head around what really was going on, which indeed was the way the main character, Thursday, as he is named, felt. <br />
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This is certainly a book that I will read again not necessarily for its greatness but just so I can understand better what Chesterton was doing. <br />
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It is a great read despite the fuzziness. The characters are well layered and the plot moves along quickly. <br />
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It's not a summer read. It's more suited for a rainy day, a hurricane, or for you who are from up north, a snow storm. Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-65530071884433099152013-01-01T08:00:00.000-06:002013-01-01T08:00:04.854-06:00The Top Ten Books Read in 2012, #10So I'm doing my annual countdown of the best books I read on 2012. There is a small caveat before I start. I didn't read as much. I read fourteen less books in 2012 than in 2011. This is in major part due to the fact that I'm still learning to manage my time well as a priest, but it's also because I decided to read the incredibly long novel <i>The Father's Tale</i> by Michael O'Brien (<a href="http://reverencedreading.blogspot.com/2012/07/catholic-bloggers-summer-reading.html">remember back when I wanted to do a summer reading?</a> #fail), of which I am not even half-way finished. People have told me they loved it, and it has its moments of greatness. However, it, at least to me, is incredibly slow. It'll probably show up on next year's list because I'll finish it sometime in October. Without further ado, # 10<br />
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So I haven't read a play in awhile. In fact, I haven't read a play since my Shakespeare class back in 2006. I came across Oscar Wilde's <i> The Importance of Being Earnest</i> through the <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/844">Gutenberg Project</a>. I downloaded it as PDF onto my iPad.<br />
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I thoroughly enjoyed it. Wilde has a great wit about him. He channels Shakespeare in the great comedy of acting as someone who you are not, or impersonation. Weddings play into it as well, which Shakespeare used as a great device for wit in his plays; <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i> comes to mind.<br />
<br />
I found myself laughing quite a bit at the word play that Wilde uses and even the names. Algernon is strange enough, but that his nickname is Algy puts it over the top.<br />
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For a Victorian laugh, look no further than Wilde's play.Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-60762463786722625012012-12-24T14:03:00.001-06:002012-12-24T14:03:49.439-06:00Castles in the Clouds and Christmas on Earth<br />
<div lang="en" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<a href="http://wordincarnate.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/tabernacle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://wordincarnate.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/tabernacle.jpg" width="225" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Passing
down that enchanted lane that is St. Charles, with castles and
plantations and ancient churches drifting by, one gets the strange,
stunning and simple feeling that the most dignified ages of mankind
have convened a </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">parliament</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> right there along the road. A stone work
structure gives way to white lattice, is followed by red brick
reaching to dizzying heights, and is met by a row of Tudor windows
that could fit in a London skyline. One feels as if Napoleon might
walk out the French Gables of one house, that Churchill would breeze
past the red-brick of another, that Charlemagne would fit in perfect
next to a certain public library, and that Robert E. Lee would feel
right at home on any one of the plantations' porches. The
incongruence of period, style and culture is lost in the train.
Despite clashing </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">techniques</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> and </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">aesthetic</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> methods, the golden thread
of prestige and power unites all the facades into one long procession
of architecture. It is the buildings that march, and the spectator,
though moving, seems to merely watch them pass by. In a few weeks
parades will start rolling down this street, but I fancy that it is
only because the street itself is already a parade. If </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Carnival</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> floats are a matter of dressing up cardboard and plaster to look like
relic from ages past, then the houses of St. Charles all together
represent a perpetual Mardi Gras, only the material used is far more
lasting and far less gaudy.</span></span></div>
<div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And
about halfway between downtown and the point where St. Charles ends
at the river, there is a series of private schools each built in a
unique period. One such, stationed between the Jewish </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Synagogue</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> and
Sacred Heart School, is built in the style of an Authorian Castle. As
I drove my red truck past it, I was struck by the size of the stones.
Each was easily as large as a barrel and as jagged as saw. If it were
not for the fact that the geology of our city is so </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">blatantly</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> that of
an </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">estuary</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> I would have turned quickly around looking for the
mountain from which such stones had been quarried. It defied
explanation that such large rocks should be cut and transported so
many thousand miles only to end up in </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">pristine</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> condition in the side
of a wall on St. Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA. It must have been a </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">monumental</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> endeavor to erect such a monument above the streets of a
swamp. And all to build a school whose architecture could hold its
own against that of a Parisian-Styled Catholic School and a
German-Jewish place of worship. I imagined the architect, working
with the stones as if they were massive Legoes or alphabet building
blocks. Each piece was its own </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">veritable</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> world, filled with nooks and
crannies peculiarly its own. Had the mortar suddenly vanished, the
blocks would have come toppling down like hundreds of dice rolling
out on to a game board. Fitting them all together into such a </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">symmetrical</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> and congruent whole must have been like making a </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">mosaic</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> while balancing book on your head and and chomping a tree down:
fitting, balancing and cutting all at once. The thought then struck
me: why build such a house for children? As an educator, I searched
my brain for some pedagogy that would account for taking the time and
energy to erect such and edifice only so that children could study
multiplication tables and learn to write in cursive.</span></span></div>
<div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And
in the middle of such prudent speculations, I passed the gate and saw
all the students sitting out on the steps with Christmas gifts in
hand. For today was the last day of the semester, and parents who can
afford to send their children to such a school probably make certain
that the kids don't leave without some token of yuletide cheer. Such
are the way with the affluent: they care much for the details. It is
their virtue and their vice: to labor over every nickel and dime only
to forget how many they have and, therefore, how many they could
afford to share. Anyway, some </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">conscientious</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> parent of this </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">variety</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> had
made certain that each child, though all with different gifts, be
given these different gifts in the same package. This is yet another
characteristic of the wealthy: they stress the appearance of equality
so as to avoid having to be responsible for actual equality. In any
event, the feelings of my heart were not with the unfortunate
parents, but with their beautiful and innocent children. Each stood
on the steps of the castle of academics with their uniform gift-wrap
in hand. The wrapping for the gifts was a bag of deep red, smooth as
a mirror and bright as blood. Out of each bag, the students were
pulling their gifts: a soccer ball here, a teddy bear there, a doll
or a scarf or a necklace. Regardless of the size of the present, the
container it came from was the same: a 2x1.5 foot bag of </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">brilliant</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">crimson</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">. By some odd coincidence, these bags were the same size as
the stones against which they were laid. So imagine with me a large
castle wall and stair case with large sand-colored stones punctuated
by these countless red bags of equal size. What strange thoughts
whirled through my head. I pictured a mythical battle that soaked
with blood the entirety of those stones that had touched a corpse but
left entirely untouched all other stones. I saw a wall built of
alternating sand-stone and bricks made of compressed rose, forming a
wall of chivalry that would attest to both beauty and strength. As a
child picked up a bag here, or left a bag against the wall there, I
imagined a castle constantly under construction by children as part
of some tetras-like game. And through it all, I was haunted by the
re-</span><span style="line-height: 18px;">occurring</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> speculation: why spend some much time and energy on
children? They care not whether they learn in a castle or in a
plantation or in a </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">synagogue</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> provided what they learn is fun and
good. They pay no mind to the color of the gift wrap provided that
the gift inside pleases them. For children, more than adults, have a
keen sense of substance-over-style. They know that they value of
something is can only be improved by a positive appearance, but
cannot be replaced by one. In short, they don't give a fig for the
architecture of their school provided their school is where they can
meet their friends and find their fun.</span></span></div>
<div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Then
the answer to the riddle dawned on me like some </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">colossus</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> astride on
the avenue, like the giant facade of the buildings that bordered me
along the street. Whether or not it is fiscally viable or civically sound to invest in such school architecture is not the question. Nor
does it even matter whether or not the kids notice that they are
learning about human life in a monument to an outdated form of it. It
doesn't even matter (in the first instance) whether or not their
parents are greedy buffoons or just absent-minded members of the </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">bourgeoisie</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> The point is the kids. Yes, I said it: the point of the
discussion is the children. At Christmas, is it necessary to surround
children in an atmosphere of imagination, even if they do not notice
the details? Is it 'worth it' to take the extra time and energy to
give them winter castles and wrap them matching presents? Well, why
wouldn't it be worth it!? What could possibly be more worth our time
or effort? When God spared no effort to surround his own Son at his
birth with a such a colorful contingent of oriental kings and woolly
shepherds, why should we spare any act of imagination on own our
children? The question becomes, why isn't ever street and </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">boulevard</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> more like St. Charles Ave? We spare no expenses so as to be a cable
bill: why not spare no </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">expense</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> to line every street with a cable car
like the street cars that run on St. Charles? If God was able to turn
a stable into His castle at the time of His birth, why not turn a
school into a castle in order to teach others about Him?</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The
answer to all of this, as far as I can tell, is that we are far too
lazy in our exaltation. Our eyes grow weak gazing heavenward, as the
psalmist complains. Indeed, it is too much for us to realize everyday
that the plot line of our lives is greater than any Greek tragedy but
can reach a climax more stupendous than even the most romantic
faerie-tale. The splendor of St. Charles is limited to one street,
the crescendo of Christmas only occurs once a year, precisely because
our hearts are not yet ready to see all the glory that we are
destined for. Were all the ages of men to roll before us, as they
seem to on St. Charles, and were they to all bow before that Infant
Messiah, as someday they will, we would not now understand what it
all meant. We are like children playing in a castle but thinking of
it as nothing more than a school. Are hearts are still far too small to sing like the angels and celebrate like the gods. No, my friends, the joy of the
Christmas story is that we are still too selfish and melancholy to
understand heaven. That is why heaven had to come down to us! And for one day, we all return to childhood and proclaim Christ as the only Man who never grew out of the joy of childhood.</span></div>
Daniel Lacourregehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11909024104960536282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-18619776216001911352012-11-26T22:40:00.000-06:002012-11-26T22:55:07.573-06:00Sudden Monday - The Morning Light<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.laboraeditions.com/sudden-monday-test-balloon/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkWRKEjPgzOuOloEyLh6r8rQM0VOCUr-Rwyea0JLUV_Sfx-lgxPqfl0H_s7Q6DY850OmSNxfzNgKrrUFRr875M4mEl3kn0XJWIzsG7CI9sytHPlMcscUx2l86H3-noygn1hnyN-IiStn4/s1600/sudden-monday.png" height="205" width="320" /></a><span id="goog_1565887376"></span><span id="goog_1565887377"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div>
I won't be able to do this every Monday but today is one of those days I can. Ryan Charles Trussel of <i>Ora et Labora et Zombies</i> fame has started something in the vein of Jennifer Fulwiler's 7 Quick Takes. He calls it <a href="http://www.laboraeditions.com/sudden-monday-test-balloon/">Sudden Monday</a>. He invites the courageous writer in all of us to write a small piece of flash fiction and connect it back to him so without further ado.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
The Morning Light</div>
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To say that it is bright is really unnecessary, although it has encroached on my well deserved and much desired darkness. It remains constant and yet, in the haze, seems to dispel something. What that something is has yet to be determined because, well, determining things are not an available ability at this current juncture.<br />
<br />
Amber is the color, which reminds of an ale I had not too long ago. To give a date or time of how long ago requires for me to make something definitive, and I'm definitely not ready for definitive. Nonetheless, that color is intoxicating in and of itself. It begins to elicit in me motion. It draws me; attracts me. I can smell it. No, no, I can't smell it. Although if I could, I'm sure its odor would be pleasant for such a color cannot create stench.<br />
<br />
This amber becomes a lens with which to see shadows and shapes, not like trees. I know trees. They smell. No, the shapes have angles, right and isosceles. Despite they're shape and angle, definition remains beyond grasp. What is in grasp is that darkness is slowly slipping away receding like the shoreline in low tide making a promise to come back but not saying when.<br />
<br />
Do I let it slip away? I do love this darkness. It is devoid of responsibility. It is not within the limits of the necessary cogitation of human interaction. It is safe.<br />
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But this sweet smelling color is calling me. I can hear it clear as a bell ringing the knell of some joyous occasion. It's lens now provides definition. Angles and shapes become things instead of ideas.<br />
<br />
Awake from sleep. Arise, for a new day dawns.Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-92009838170113089042012-11-21T17:15:00.001-06:002012-11-27T15:31:25.418-06:00More Thoughts on Prayer and Sleep (or, Looking for a Distraction from Thanksgiving stuff?)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Union with Christ's death/sleep is essential to union with His life. For what is the purpose of the spiritual life other than to love, to be united with Jesus? This union IS our vocation. discerning this union is discerning our vocation. being formed into this union is being formed into this vocation. If union with Christ is the motive and fruit of all our actions, there can be no question of the effectiveness of our prayer life, of our spiritual growth, and, yes, of the sincerity of our religious devotion. Of course, no one gets it perfect, but, at the same time, we all know that each prayer, each sacrifice and each breath brings us closer to such perfection when we move in Christ's grace. Keep Christ always before your mind and heart, and you cannot fail.<br /><br />Yet even this simple mantra lacks something. In fact, it lacks something essential for lovers and Christians alike: knowledge of presence. Yes, we might admit, keeping the idea of God before me is a good practice, but where's the fun, fruit and point in it if I don't experience Him in the giving of myself to Him? It is one thing for the lover to be there, sitting quietly looking at me. It's another thing entirely to know what that gaze communicates, to experience in it all its meaning and content. And I need that meaning and content just to carry on. It is here that we come to a particularly sticky problem. Prayer can never promise us complete satisfaction. The loving gaze we look for will not always be returned. If there is one thing that all of the various spiritual masters do agree on, it's that we must come to prayer expecting nothing, at least nothing in particular. If our spiritual life is to have any real focus, if it is to do anything different to change us, transform us and turn us into the types of people Christ wants us to be, we must come to it expecting only that God wants us to be there and not that we ourselves will always want to be there. This advice is nothing new. It can be found in the heart of every spiritual work that you read (and not just every Christian spiritual work). However it is here at its most dismal that the Christian spiritual message (indeed the whole Christian spiritual life) shifts a great truth into focus. In fact it is the greatest truth that the Christian religion has to offer us in this life and it is the only thing that truly makes the Christian religion unique.<br /><br />Many religions tell us that we must find inner peace or come to an inner harmony or learn to forgive ourselves for the sake of others, but also, all preach an Omnipotent God (or Being or Force) who can rule over us and use us in this particular state of passivity to do his will. They focus on a spiritual discipline in prayer that runs far too close to the utilitarian ideals we have already condemned. In contrast, it is only the Christian religion that offers the bruising and startling fact of her own creed which states that the baptized Christians vocation is based on an imitate encounter with not only an omnipotent God but also a weak and powerless human being.<br /><br />We are told that in our baptism we died with Christ; we are told that in our baptism we also rise with him; and we're told that in our prayer we gained, a communion a constant communion with this dying and rising. Yet, as with any good love story, the best thing is left unsaid. It is taken for granted when you're told that we must imitate Christ who is already in possession of us through this dying and rising. But by faith in him we are more than just imitating his actions; we're also moving out of his very Love. This type of love is so unlike anything found in any other place, offered by any other system, described by any other faith. For the Christian is called to a radical vocation and baptism, a vocation that I will attempt to describe in a few short words.<br /><br />It is no new thing for religion to claim that man gropes for God in the dark, and some religions claim the man is even been able to find him. However, it is the Christian religion that claims that on that uncanny Passover evening in the garden of Gethsemane we can see a God groping for Man in the dark. Everything from the betrayal of Judas to the denial of Peter to the trial before Caiaphas, to the hours spent alone in the cell in to the minutes of torture at the pillar in the courtyard show us a God that was groping for us just as much, nay even more, than we we are willing to look for him. In this mystery of the passion of Christ, which through the sacrament of baptism forms the foundation of the Christian spiritual life and vocation, the Christian sees mirrored in his own life the greatest love story ever told. The greatness of this love story does not arise simply from a passionate, painful and wonderful love. It is great because it describes the greatest of lovers. The actors in this drama are not just man and woman; they're not just God and man, but they're God-Man, us and God. There is something in the very syntax of the previous sentence that reveals a great truth. In this great story of the passion and in the great emotion of baptism man finds himself sandwiched between God and God. The Confines of his vocation are found in the very act of being pulled into the role of the Godhead, of being drawn into the very life of the Trinity. When the Son cries out to the Father in obedience, man himself finds himself crying out; and by some strange miracle of death and water, he hears his own voice echo between the walls of the inner tabernacle of God's love, the Son's human voice resounding, piercing through man and reaching the Father. So powerful and incomprehensible is this calling, the calling of the Son to the Father, that man must in a certain sense, falls back asleep in order to be re-created. Our Faith was born in the almost faithlessness of God. Our love was born when it seemed all love, even God's love, had failed.Daniel Lacourregehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11909024104960536282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-16379470089833495012012-11-20T08:30:00.000-06:002012-11-20T08:30:02.296-06:00QOTD - Are You Prepared for Marriage?<br />
As I have begun preparing couples for marriage, I have found that when they live together the preparation instantly becomes more difficult for them because they live a lie as a truth. Marriage prep began way before they entered my office. It began in their homes and continued in their dorms and in the apartments.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Society’s interest in preparing young men and women for marriage also suffers when the media presents as a mercantile plaything the holy act of intimacy that is proper to the sacred bond of marriage. - Bishop Paul Loverde of the diocese of Arlington, TX</blockquote>
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Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-41385767970343580692012-11-10T17:52:00.003-06:002012-11-12T08:06:59.323-06:00What Do I Need to Know to Discern?<br />
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<img height="283" src="http://kingofages.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/3971836730_0255020815_o1.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is a selection from a longer work on prayer and discernment. It reflects on the question "How much do we need to know in order to discern our vocation?"</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When it comes time for God to fulfill Adam and give him the greatest grace yet, he doesn't leave him conscious for it. Maybe it is because Adam had already been so disappointed by all the gifts that he had seen while awake. Maybe it is because God is one of those cheesy parents who force their kids to close their eyes before they pull out a birthday gift from behind their back. Or maybe, just maybe, it is because God's graces are more valuable than sight and experience can ever reveal, though not so incomprehensible that sight and sound can't make them apprehensive. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here it would be important to point out the distinction between apprehensive and comprehensive knowledge. It's a distinction that is rarely mentioned in normal conversation, but it is terribly important, especially in the grace-knowledge relationship. To comprehend something is to understand it through-and-through, to know it in its deepest essence. When teachers talk of reading comprehension, when lawyers talk of comprehension of the law, when politicians claim (falsely) that they can comprehend the economic situation, when scientists claim (often truly) that they can comprehend a phenomena, they all mean this sort of knowledge. It's a knowledge characterized by knowing the black and white, the ins-and-outs. It not only means that we know the thing itself, but that, using this knowledge, we can then predict exactly what will happen when we apply it. This type of knowledge can only be applied to purely objective situations. However, we can never know God, or even each other for that matter, with a purely objective knowledge. In personal relationships, we are given a subjective knowledge of the other, a partial (but still real!) knowledge of the other. When they go to give us something of themselves, our knowledge about them increases, but in a qualitatively different way. In fact, as long as we try to comprehend (Latin for "to seize" or "grab") others, we are never in a position to receive them as a gift. Just as a wrapped present can only be received with apprehensive knowledge, the wrapping paper obscuring the full nature of the gift, so too must we receive each other, and God, as dignified subjects. The lack of comprehension in no way decreases the nature of the gift. In fact, by making it personal through apprehension, our knowledge is lifted to a higher plane, one in which the person who we know is a being beyond our grasp but still within full sight of our vision. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So before entrusting Adam with his first purely creaturely personal relationship, God makes sure that Adam is unconscious ("casts a deep sleep") when He pulls woman from man's side. And like a kid on Christmas morning, Adam wakes up to find a gift waiting for him. Only, this gift isn't some plastic action figure or Barbie doll, but a living, breathing and beautiful woman. This moment is so moving, that the author of Genesis has Adam recite the world's first love poetry: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"This one at last is bone of my bones </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and flesh of my flesh. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She shall be called 'woman' for out of </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">man she has been taken." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There's a lot more from this passage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(Not too bad for Man's first try at romantic verse. I can just picture a Lion King-esque scene with Adam rapping out this poem and all the animals of the Savanna making cool African sounding riffs in the background.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There's a lot more from this passage that needs to be discussed. For our immediate purposes, however, I would simply like to point out that Adam did not need to be conscious when Eve was being made, even though the process was quite an intimate one. This is how God handled the first gift giving. It is a standard He will set from this point forward. Whether its the Hebrew slaves asleep as the angel of death passes over, or Samuel asleep in the temple before receiving his vocation, or Jonah in the belly of the whale, or Jacob asleep at the base of Jacobs ladder or Joseph asleep when he is told the marry Mary, Scripture makes it overwhelmingly clear that God makes a habit of dispensing both graces and vocations while people are asleep.</span><br />
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<br />Daniel Lacourregehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11909024104960536282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-16206017325164488492012-11-03T08:00:00.000-05:002012-11-03T08:00:08.497-05:00Discernment of Spirits<br />
It takes me forever to read a spiritual reading book. Forever. A year or two forever. <i>The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living</i> by Timothy Gallagher, OMV was one of those books. It is one of the few books recommended me by my spiritual director (mostly because I take so long to read them).<br />
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Now from the cover of the book, I would have discounted the work almost wholesale as something that was connected with the horrible parts of 70's Jesuit spirituality. It has reviews by people whom I never heard and who I would be less likely to trust. But, this is one where you can't judge a book by its cover. I trusted my spiritual director to continue past the less than desirable exterior.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCz9n-fPuC9A3Qn7lKRQQGm1wih3Cd0uVo3h1HVM4a9Ssifg_ciRGnUfA_uMRRTzbX7vwDguqTgkxHu_p6pnwt-RE0DVxEbQvmzFHjUHY7Dg0Vj_28J6_-Yv4Ss4VHwl2fALlM20W9As/s1600/DiscernmentofSpirits.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCz9n-fPuC9A3Qn7lKRQQGm1wih3Cd0uVo3h1HVM4a9Ssifg_ciRGnUfA_uMRRTzbX7vwDguqTgkxHu_p6pnwt-RE0DVxEbQvmzFHjUHY7Dg0Vj_28J6_-Yv4Ss4VHwl2fALlM20W9As/s1600/DiscernmentofSpirits.png" height="320" width="207" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF4zIdaZ4hGEmHvweUY4Ykb1RaDC6oxKa5cUXA2b5GWoED1BUpV9bCkk6JaI6Ywt4DiVJXp95r6iqY6CJMVbNcpzR2T7TwRVhkrDuiWItcc1hN18ZsRAygdgR1bmxVDSJyeU47Ee5SwRo/s1600/DiscernmentofSpirits.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF4zIdaZ4hGEmHvweUY4Ykb1RaDC6oxKa5cUXA2b5GWoED1BUpV9bCkk6JaI6Ywt4DiVJXp95r6iqY6CJMVbNcpzR2T7TwRVhkrDuiWItcc1hN18ZsRAygdgR1bmxVDSJyeU47Ee5SwRo/s1600/DiscernmentofSpirits.png" width="207" /></a>Fr. Gallagher, who apparently teaches about the Ignatian Rules of Discernment around the world, spends his words and thoughts on giving practical guidance to the spiritual life through the text of the 14 Rules of Discernment St. Ignatius of Loyola spells out in his Spiritual Exercises. These words and thoughts are put forth in a colloquial style, like he was giving a retreat on these fourteen points. He uses stories and examples to bring to light, in relatable ways, the truths of these rules and how to apply them to the normal everyday humdrum Jane Doe spiritual life (not sure why I used Jane Doe).<br />
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I must say I gained an incredible amount of insight in how to notice what is going on in my interior life through what he outlines in this book. Have you ever wondered why you react the way you do in a certain situation? Do you notice movements in your spiritual life like the peaks and valleys of waves moving toward the coast of the unknown? This is the book for you.<br />
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He explains what spiritual consolation is and what spiritual desolation is and how we need to deal with it. These rules are hard and fast and super helpful, and Fr. Gallagher is able to communicate them in such a way as to allow the spiritual novice or spiritual athlete to grow in their understanding of their spiritual life.<br />
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I have and will recommend this book to anyone needing a greater understanding of the spiritual life.Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-40228016312209833432012-11-01T16:19:00.000-05:002012-11-01T21:24:43.691-05:00NaNoWriMo<br />
So I haven't been writing a whole lot in this space as of late. Although there are many excuses I can and will give, I personally accept none of them. I took up this blog as part of my mission as a Christian. Now that I am a priest, it has taken a while for me to reorganize and refocus this particular part of my mission. Priesthood, like parenthood, has many demands on its time. I am continually inspired by parents of many children who still are able to be prolific in their writing.<br />
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Being that I have been out of the habit of writing (other than with homilies) I felt I needed a jump start, a way I could get a little rocket boost to propel me back into the writing which I so enjoy, where I find rest (the biggest attraction), and that can also be a means for evangelization (which is always on my heart). I have heard over the past few years from different corners of the info feed that is my time on the internet of something called NaNoWriMo. This immediately conjured for me images of rhinos listening to tiny iPods and had little other importance other than an inside joke with myself. Needless to say I didn't pay much attention to it. As November moved closer to being actualized, I began to see small snippets about NaNoWriMo in the days before, well, today. Now normally I don't shave during the Man Month of November, which really means I don't trim my beard as often. I decided due to the aforementioned desires NaNoWriMo would be the little rocket boost to propel me back into creativity.<br />
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For those who are still thinking of rhino's and iPod's NaNoWriMo means National Novel Writing Month, or sometimes called November. People from all around the country decide that in one month they will write a rough draft on a novel that has been floating around in their overstimulated underused brains. The goal: write 50,000 words in 30 days towards the completion of a rough draft of a novel.<br />
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Now being that I'm Catholic. I decided the rules didn't apply to me. I don't have a novel idea, or rather, an idea for a novel. What I do have is a blog (thank you for reading), a promise to write for <a href="http://newevangelizers.com/">another blog</a> (I'm super excited about fulfilling that promise), a <a href="http://stritaharahan.com/">new parish website</a> that goes live next week in which I will be writing on the documents of the Second Vatican Council for the <a href="http://www.annusfidei.va/content/novaevangelizatio/en.html">Year of Faith</a>, and an unfinished short story in the vein of Father Brown and Sherlock Holmes with an American, New Orleans variant. Amongst those I will have ample opportunity to write 50,000 words. The novel will have to wait and I will not 'win' <i>per se</i> because there will be little cohesion to the topics about which I will be writing.<br />
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I'm also glad that I am not alone in this endeavor. I have connected with a local group of NaNoWriMo's here in New Orleans, two of which are serendipitously parishioners. I will also be supporting and getting support from two friends, Erica who writes for <a href="http://writersreadandreaderswrite.blogspot.com/">Writers Read and Readers Write</a> and Emmy who writes for <a href="http://catholicnerdwriter.blogspot.com/">Journey of a Catholic Nerd Writer</a>.<br />
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I will take all the support I can get from you. Feel free to drop me an encouraging tweet @colonel4God or even an email at <a href="mailto:reverencedreading@hotmail.com">reverencedreading@hotmail.com</a>Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-63129280254292869162012-10-16T10:49:00.002-05:002012-10-16T10:49:48.521-05:00QOTD - Submerge Yourself in the Abyss of the Sacred HeartSince my time in San Antonio, three years ago, a devotion to the Sacred Heart has grown in my prayer life. I found out that this fine woman fostered it back in the late 17th Century due to some extraordinary experiences she had with Christ. Plunge yourself in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and be satisfied.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This divine heart is an abyss of all blessings, and into it the poor should submerge all their needs. It is an abyss of joy in which all of us can immerse our sorrows. It is an abyss of lowliness to counteract our foolishness, an abyss of mercy for the wretched, an abyss of love to meet out every need. - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque </blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyTLz91lHWkbbI8lV6LSRc0v2w7-gpJx7wvRZKbXbbxu0zrPMmYqlv3JHUU0wi6sGFrvtCEv59UWTWRc5B1msm7acxUSlRr74CSpzLcMq1Va4mvlzpbDw_FfTdbk2tYNFpCuhnC8W04XE/s1600/Sacred+Heart+Dieu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyTLz91lHWkbbI8lV6LSRc0v2w7-gpJx7wvRZKbXbbxu0zrPMmYqlv3JHUU0wi6sGFrvtCEv59UWTWRc5B1msm7acxUSlRr74CSpzLcMq1Va4mvlzpbDw_FfTdbk2tYNFpCuhnC8W04XE/s640/Sacred+Heart+Dieu.jpg" width="508" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the image I used for the holy card commemorating my ordination to the Priesthood.</td></tr>
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Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-21988144003675072412012-10-15T11:04:00.000-05:002012-10-15T11:04:23.743-05:00QOTD - A Prayer for the Church by St. Theresa of AvilaOn the feast of St. Theresa of Avila. We provide for you a short prayer from the annals of her writings. Pray this often, for the bride of Christ, the Ship of the Church needs it.<br />
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Now, Lord, now; make the sea calm! May this ship, which is the Church, not always have to journey in a tempest like this. - St. Theresa of Avila</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhef_CSsyc-AGftQkEA9ezYPXuxlEowiDhGb2BvhRM6yi-pqgmWvl4gmRa90OqwgggP6xXlcwoPb6bZtHSFopfpnXreK5Nihyit4fs2uMm7ciI1T5xThuA8XJfvpxFytyRy-Dfj3m-fYxI/s1600/Teresa_of_Avila_dsc01644.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhef_CSsyc-AGftQkEA9ezYPXuxlEowiDhGb2BvhRM6yi-pqgmWvl4gmRa90OqwgggP6xXlcwoPb6bZtHSFopfpnXreK5Nihyit4fs2uMm7ciI1T5xThuA8XJfvpxFytyRy-Dfj3m-fYxI/s400/Teresa_of_Avila_dsc01644.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teresa of Avila by Peter Paul Reubens</td></tr>
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Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-2091874912080310082012-10-12T12:17:00.000-05:002012-10-12T12:17:28.304-05:00QOTD - Intimacy Leads to Evangelization<div align="left" class="bloggerplus_text_section" style="clear: both;">
At the beginning of the year of faith, this seems like an apt thought on which to reflect.</div>
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The most personal and secret intimacy [with God] leads to the need of announcing to all people's that love has been found. - Blaise Arminjon, SJ</blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Visitation by Mario Albertinelli</td></tr>
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Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-25725167915122667412012-10-11T14:15:00.003-05:002012-10-11T14:15:38.784-05:00QOTD -The Power of Words<div align="left" class="bloggerplus_text_section" style="clear: both;">
People do not take enough stock in words. We take them for granted. We let them flow from our tongues, our fingers, and our pens without reflection to the vast beauty and depth of their existence and power. The following quote comes from a letter to the author's publisher defending his use of foreign, i.e. non-English, words in his works.</div>
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Surely I have never yet made, and never expect to make any money. Neither do I expect to write ever for the multitude. I write for beloved friends who can see colour in words, can smell the perfume of syllables in blossom, can be shocked with the fine elfish electricity of words. And in the eternal order of things, words will eventually have their rights recognized by the people. - Lafcadio Hearn</blockquote>
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Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-78362546997788321862012-10-09T13:05:00.005-05:002012-10-09T13:05:50.839-05:00QOTD - Columbus Day RethoughtI found out at the end of the day when no mail came that yesterday was Columbus Day. The government and some banks take the day off to 'celebrate' the founding of the new world by a Spanish funded Italian sailor.<br />
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I mean this in an all sincerity. Government holidays aren't even holidays. They retain no sort of value of festival (no celebration) and maintain a false sense of leisure (i.e. not working). So I turn to a man more wise than myself for consolation.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
True joy, genuine festival, means the casting out of wickedness. - St. Athanasius</blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy of Library of Congress</td></tr>
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Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-80658359109940027332012-10-08T09:27:00.001-05:002012-10-08T09:27:55.398-05:00QOTD - Mere Economic Development is SlaverySorry for being away so long. Life has been super busy and then I got sick with a virus. I didn't want to pass that on in my writing so I entered into semi-social media reclusion. I have recovered to working order, although I am not fully healthy yet.<br />
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With the upcoming election, there is much talk about the economy of the United States and what the candidates plan to do about it. However, we must remember: society is not primarily economic. To say that, would be a reduction of the human community to mere transaction. It is an offense of his dignity. Hence, <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Development which is merely economic is incapable of setting man free, on the contrary, it will end by enslaving him further. - Bl. John Paul II</blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's a shadow side to mere economic development.</td></tr>
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Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3518718282915520040.post-81619881789379706662012-09-28T09:52:00.001-05:002012-09-28T09:52:33.403-05:00QOTD - Sacraments, How to Change the WorldEver thought the last time you went to confession could change the world? Think again:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The sacraments are defining moments for Christians - and for the world. - Fr. Kurt Stasiak, OSB</blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seven Sacraments Altarpiece by Rogier van der Weyden<br />Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp</td></tr>
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Colonel4Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022609747772959906noreply@blogger.com0