NaNoWriMo

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.

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.

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.

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 another blog (I'm super excited about fulfilling that promise), a new parish website that goes live next week in which I will be writing on the documents of the Second Vatican Council for the Year of Faith, 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' per se because there will be little cohesion to the topics about which I will be writing.

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 Writers Read and Readers Write and Emmy who writes for Journey of a Catholic Nerd Writer.

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 reverencedreading@hotmail.com

QOTD - Submerge Yourself in the Abyss of the Sacred Heart

Since 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.

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 

This is the image I used for the holy card commemorating my ordination to the Priesthood.

QOTD - A Prayer for the Church by St. Theresa of Avila

On 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.

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

Teresa of Avila by Peter Paul Reubens

QOTD - Intimacy Leads to Evangelization

At the beginning of the year of faith, this seems like an apt thought on which to reflect.

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

The Visitation by Mario Albertinelli

QOTD -The Power of Words

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.

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

QOTD - Columbus Day Rethought

I 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.

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.

True joy, genuine festival, means the casting out of wickedness. - St. Athanasius

Courtesy of Library of Congress

QOTD - Mere Economic Development is Slavery

Sorry 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.

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,

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

There's a shadow side to mere economic development.