On Devotion

Lately it seems like everything's been coming up St. Francis de Sales, and his classic book Introduction to the Devout Life in particular. It's a book I've been curious about for a long time. I think my big sister (and godmother) gave me a copy in college. But I never read it.

Anyway, in recent weeks, it came up not only in this great blog post from Conversion Diary - 4 Ways to Place Yourself in the Presence of God - but also in conversation with several different friends and one memorable homily. So I cracked it open yesterday.

I've been really happy with the spiritual director I've been working with for about a year now. I've had spiritual directors before, but they never really worked out for me. I've learned that it makes a big difference having one specifically trained in spiritual direction (I didn't even realize that there was a distinction until this last year). This spiritual direction is extremely helpful for me, but I find that I'm still catching up on some of the details, like a sense of what living a good, balanced life should look like and even, at times, finding the words to talk about what's going on in my prayer life and things like that.

I'm only a few pages into the book so far, but it looks like it will be extremely helpful. These paragraphs spoke volumes to me on what exactly the concept of devotion means.

As there is only one true devotion while there are many imitations, unless you know how to recognize the true you may easily be deceived and waste your time in pursuit of what is merely false and superstitious...

One who is bent on fasting considers himself devout on this account even though his heart is full of bitterness. He fears to moisten his tongue with wine or even water, in the name of sobriety, yet does not hesitate to drink deep of his neighbour's blood by calumny and detraction...

Another cheerfully opens his purse to give alms to the poor, yet will not open his heart to forgive his enemies; another will forgive his enemies yet will not pay his debuts until forced to do so by the law. Such people are often considered devout though they certainly are not...

Real living devotion, Philothea, presupposes the love of God; is in fact that very love, though it has many aspects. In so far as this love adorns the soul and makes us pleasing to God it is called grace; in so far as it empowers us to do good, it is called charity; when it is so perfect that it moves us, not merely to do good, but to do good carefully, frequently and readily, then it is called devotion...

In fact, then, devotion is nothing else but that spiritual alertness and vivacity which enables us to co-operate with charity promptly and wholeheartedly; and as it is the work of charity to make us keep generally and universally all God's commandments, so it is the work of devotion to make us do so promptly and diligently. No one, then, who fails to keep God's commandments can be counted either good or devout, for to be good one must have charity while to be devout one must not only have charity but practise it cheerfully and with alacrity...

In conclusion, then, charity is to devotion what the fire is to the flame, for charity is a spiritual fire which is called devotion when it breaks into flame, which, added to charity, makes it ready, active and diligent not only in keeping God's commandments but also in practising the heavenly counsels and inspirations.

7 Quick Takes Friday (from 2/18/11)

1.

Frank finished the Bob Books last night! Funny thing is he accidentally started the last set of Bob Books from the end, so he did the hardest four or five books first and then went back in order. So last night he cruised through the middle five that were left. We called everyone up to listen to the last page, caught it on video, brought the bag of completed books up to the attic and then went to Culver's to celebrate. Yum!

2.

I can't believe I still haven't given a Latin Convention update. We're still missing the official transcript of scores, I just have the notes I quickly jotted down during the awards ceremony. (The awards ceremony gives the top 5 placements for each event whereas the transcript goes all the through the top 10). Our Gus had a great first year and we're really proud of him. He's always had some learning challenges (which I wrote about a bit on the old blog) and one that still lingers is that his handwriting and fine motor skills tend to be slow going. There were a total of 12 written tests he could have taken. He was only able to finish seven in the time given. Out of those seven, he placed in the top 5 on four tests! 5th place in Roman History, 4th place in Latin Derivatives, 3rd place in Greek Derivatives and 1st place in Latin Literature! He also tied with one of his teammates for 2nd place in Impromptu Oratory. This is a lovely confidence boost for all of us and has helped me to understand that what we've been doing is really working pretty well on the whole (and more of the same at this point is good)!

3.

I really enjoy watching the Oscars every year. Do you? Sure I groan at some of the speeches and other oddities, but I enjoy a lot of the "little guy" moments, I love the tributes to those who have died in the past year and things like that. Also, I simply enjoy rooting for my favorite movies. This year I've seen four of the movies nominated for best picture: The King's Speech, True Grit, Inception, and Toy Story 3. Even among those, The King's Speech is a huge favorite for me. I let my highschoolers watch the Oscars with me and then I call all of the kids (who are in earshot) in for key moments, like Pixar Movie Moments. ;)

4.

A few weeks ago I purchased Secrets of Mental Math from The Teaching Company when it was on sale (all Teaching Company courses go on sale substantially at least once per year - we purchased this set for about $40). I thought it might make a nice break from the regular routine and give the kids a more enthusiastic angle on math. The course has exceeded my expectations and the change of pace has been wonderful, especially in February. All of the kids are interested in it and are following along pretty well. They've been doing each lesson 3 or 4 times to pick up all the details (they also pause it frequently - the guy talks fast and covers a lot of stuff!). Overall an enthusiastic recommendation so far! We also picked up the Joy of Mathematics, but haven't really dug into it yet.

5.

We're having a lovely reprieve from the ultra-cold weather this week. It's been lovely and the kids have spent lots of time outside, despite all the mud from the melting snow. During the coldest weather, the kids weren't spending much time outside and the dog wasn't getting enough exercise. She has the run of a bunch of the yard, but without some stimulation from people, she tends to just go outside and bark at the neighbors. So the kids have been making a special effort to keep her busy. She LOVES the snow and will try to catch snowballs in her mouth to the great entertainment of all. They came up with a new form of entertainment this week. They took a snowball and got her attention with it and then smushed it into the top of a very large snowball (about two feet tall). The dog would get up on her hind legs and dig through the big snowball with great excitement. I have to see if I can find the video they took of it. Too funny!

6.

I've been meaning to read St. Therese's Story of a Soul for many years. I had a copy of the famous John Beevers translation on my bookshelf at least since college. Last year I ended up picking up an unedited translation from a rummage sale. After the Ron Hansen kick I've been on lately, I decided I needed something completely different (especially after Hitler's Niece, which is a VERY disturbing book). And so I thought of Story of a Soul and I did it, I finally read it. I should do a post on some quotes and thoughts from it, but just wanted to do a quick take for now. I was amazed by her confidence in understanding how God works in her life. I was also particularly moved, as I was by a description of St. Francis of Assisi on gratitude that I've quoted here in the past, at her ability to look upon sufferings, great or small, as a gift from God.

7.

I loved this piece on "The Cross of Christ for Marriage" that I read on Ana's Blog this week. It obviously applies to other friendships as well as shedding a new light on the idea of the cross. Beautiful!

Let Your Yes Mean Yes and Your No Mean No

Originally posted to Chez VH, February 14, 2011 -

Don't you love this bit from yesterday's Gospel?

Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,' and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.

Can you imagine how much heartache, misunderstanding and general contentiousness could be avoided if people actually followed that?

I think it's an antidote to a substantial piece of what ails our materially prosperous modern culture. It's a pet theory of mine that when people lack genuine hardships in their lives, many of them have a tendency to fabricate their own hardships through complex interpretations and second guessing of what other people say and think and things like that (I am certainly guilty of this at times too!). If you're not fighting for your life or working your tail off, it's very easy to fall into hyper-sensitive self consciousness.

Besides keeping ourselves busy with worthwhile tasks, I think a necessary part of surviving our modern culture is to make a concerted and consistent push towards simplicity (and that this gospel is a great place to start).

What do you think?

Sweet Victory!

Originally posted to Chez VH, February 6, 2011 -

We had a fun little Packers party here tonight - about 20 people in all to watch the Superbowl. The kids made homemade green and yellow decorations (most prominently a huge green and gold paper chain that hung across the room behind the TV). Everyone brought food and goodies.

Frank had the idea to make a bunch of paper airplanes and hand them out to everyone to throw in the air at each touchdown. It was quite a nice touch!

We started the tradition at the Championship Game of handing out sweets at every Packers' touchdown - we call them "victory sweets". Since there were plenty of desserts at our potluck, we handed one out at each touchdown (and one was left to celebrate the end of the game).

We cheered ourselves hoarse and tried to coax the Packers into rallies when things were looking tough - and I guess it worked. :)

One funny thing happened to me. We decided to start cutting up the second dessert in preparation for the next touchdown. I announced this to the crowd and then looked at the TV and realized that the other team had the ball. Oops! But no, right then, we got an interception AND a touchdown. Best "bad" prediction I've ever made. ;)

My husband, a former DJ in college, has a little "game" he likes to play at half-time. He turned off the audio on the TV and piped in music from the computer. We started with a little Gaelic Storm (Beggarman), while the Black-Eyed Peas and their backup dancers were gyrating all over. It was hysterical! Then he switched over to the Bangles' Walk Like an Egyptian, which was somehow exquisitely timed. We laughed ourselves silly.

So if anyone is curious what we had food-wise, here's a partial list:

Chili with fixin's

Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip

Hot Bean Dip

Chips and Veggie Platter with three more kinds of dip

Deviled Eggs

Cheese and Summer Sausage Tray (with crackers)

Homemade pickles

Rice Krispie Treats

Brownies

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Apple Crisp