The Saint as Antidote

I came across an interesting quote from G.K. Chesterton's Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox that I'd like to share here, but first I had to tell the funny little story about why I picked up the book today. It seems like I often end up reading long-neglected books because of odd coincidences.

I was picking up vitamins at Walmart today (and I almost never shop at Walmart - just happened to be more convenient today than other options). I was wearing a Thomas Aquinas College sweatshirt and the cashier asked me about Thomas Aquinas (the saint, not the college). Although I was able to tell him some basic facts, like where he lived, it sparked an interest today in wanting to read more - and I've had this book on my to-read list for many years.

Here's the quote...

The saint is a medicine because he is an antidote. Indeed that is why the saint is often a martyr; he is mistaken for a poison because he is an antidote.He will generally be found restoring the world to sanity by exaggerating whatever the world neglects, which is by no means always the same element in every age. Yet each generation seeks its saint by instinct; and he is not what the people want, but rather what the people need.

Test Post

Blogger has made a lot of improvements, so I'm toying with the idea of moving my blogging operations back here.

Here's a test quote (partly testing the editor here) that I stumbled on today in YouCat:

My past no longer concerns me. It belongs to divine mercy. My future does not yet concern me. It belongs to divine providence. What concerns me and what challenges me is today, which belongs to God's grace and to the devotion of my heart and my good will. - St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

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!

The Trading Cards Are Here, Part II

Originally published on Chez VH, December 2, 2010



Above are Bernie's creations (she's 10). We have St. John Vianney, St. John Bosco, St. Gregory the Great, Venerable Pope John Paul the Great and St. Philomena

Below are the ones she received yesterday... St. Therese, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Jesus, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Patrick










Above are Kate's creations: St. Francis of Assisi, Mary, St. Joseph, St. Gertrude, St. Patrick

Below are the ones she received: Mary, St. Helen, St. Edmund, St. Patrick and St. Zita









Above are Frank's drawings. We have St. Michael the Archangel,St. Genesius, St. John Bosco, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Francis de Sales

Below are the ones he received: Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio, St Paul, St. Sebastian, St. Joseph and St. Francis





A thousand thanks again to Kimberlee and family for this beautiful and fun project!

The Trading Cards Are Here, Part I

Originally posted to Chez VH, December 2, 2010 -

As I mentioned in this post, all of the kids participated in the beautiful All Saints Day Artist Trading Card Swap (click through to get their story on the whole project) sponsored by the good folks from Pondered in My Heart. Our cards arrived today and boy were the kids ever excited! They were checking the mail every few minutes and I got a lovely glimpse out of an upstairs window of the three youngest kids each skipping down the driveway waving an envelope (we sent our cards in batches of two in business-sized envelopes).

Here are both sets of cards for each of the kiddos.

Ria (homeschool graduate and college applicant, age 17):

Here are the cards she drew: St. Edmund Campion, St. Anne Line, St. Adelaide, G.K. Chesterton and Venerable Pope John Paul the Great





She received the following cards: St. Padre Pio, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Monica, St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Josemarie Escriva



Gus (age 15) drew the following: St. Gregory the Great, St. John Bosco, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Pius X, St. Genesius



He received: St. Michael the Archangel, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Martin de Porres, St. Agatha, St. Thomas More



Terri (age 12) drew the following: St. Cecilia, St. Genevieve, St. Philomena, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha



She received the following: St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Teresa Benedicta 0f the Cross, St. Elizabeth, St. Maria Goretti and St. Juan Diego/ Our Lady of Guadalupe



to be continued...

A few thoughts on the Feast of St. Laurence

I heard with great interest in this morning's homily about St. Laurence of Rome (225-258 AD, martyr under the persecution of Valerian) that, because of his great work for the poor of the city of Rome (work with the poor is traditionally a role of special importance for deacons), his death sent shock waves through the pagan community at the time and a number of very important people, including several senators, ended up converting to Christianity as a result. And of course, his story has continued to inspire people over the centuries as well.

That's interesting in and of itself, but it also reminded me of a rather striking and challenging quote by Pope John Paul II that I happened to read last week in Memory and Identity: Conversations at the Dawn of a Millennium:

Taking their cue from the Council, Christians can engage with the modern world and enter into a constructive dialogue with it. Like the Good Samaritan, they can also come to the aid of suffering man, tending the wounds that he bears at the beginning of this twenty-first century. Care for the needy is incomparably more important than polemics and denunciations concerning, for example, the role of the Enlightenment in paving the way for the great historical catastrophes of the twentieth century. The spirit of the Gospel is seen primarily in this willingness to offer fraternal help to those in need.

Our pastor exhorted us in this homily to try to be people who can inspire others, even in our own small ways. It makes a lot of sense to me that love tends to be more inspiring than argument. :)

St. Bernard on Love

Today is the feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. His sermon that was included in today's Office of Readings is stunning. Here is part:

Love is sufficient of itself, it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in its practice. I love because I love, I love that I may love. Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.

The Bridegroom's love, or rather the love which is the Bridegroom, asks in return nothing but faithful love. Let the beloved, then, love in return. Should not a bride love, and above all, Love's bride? Could it be that Love not be loved?

Happy Feast Day Fr. Serra!

Ria managed to post about our California Mission visits in honor of today's feast.

Alas, all I have time for is to share a quote of his that was apparently a bit of a motto: "Always go forward and never turn back..."