St. Teresa of Avila Quote

"Whether you have much or have little, the Lord requires everything."

 

One of the vendors at LA Congress had little books of daily thoughts from various saints, and being somewhat fond of my patroness, I snatched up the Teresa of Avila meditations.  I've wanted to post the lines before, but realized there were so many great ones I would really just be transcribing the book one day at a time, which I don't think is quite legal.

 

That said, I figured I'd be okay posting just one... for now...

And We're Back

To work, that is, as this second Sunday of Easter finds me locked up in my classroom getting my act together for tomorrow -- indeed, for the rest of the school year.  My 4th quarter plans, for example, are due tomorrow.  Ask me if they're done yet.  Go ahead.

 

On a related note, there are only eight and a half weeks of school left, which I suppose is still plenty, but compared to the thirty-six or so weeks we were facing down in August, it's minuscule.

 

Clearly, for all my bloviating, the primary purpose of this blog remains keeping my family informed of the goings on in my life and the random mind spew that they would still be hearing first hand if I were home, because as soon as I am home, posting comes to a plummetous halt.  Fear not, Dear Not-Related-to-Me Readers, I'll be back to blowing hot air in no time.

 

And no, I don't think plummetous is a word, but it will become one if you all go out and start using it!

You Have Two Cows...

From the Whapsters: This made me laugh. A lot. Favorites:

SSPX: You have two cows. You raise them precisely according to USDA standards, c. 1950. One cow denies that the USDA exists and runs off to take care of itself.

Salesian: You have no cows, but work to improve the welfare of calves orphaned by factory farming. You are a visionary when it comes to cattle futures.

Out for a Bit

Being home, I seem to have fewer things to write about, or perhaps I am simply less interested in blogging when I have my family so near me. In either case, the lag in posting will continue as I venture to Newark to see my old posse and pretend I'm in college again for a few days -- minus any responsibility. Sweet.

In the meantime, if by some sad chance you rely on me for reading material, keep an eye on the little widget of shared blog posts to the left. There's always something good someone else wrote there.

Vietnamese Church, San Antonio

January, 2008

Tolkien on the Eucharist

Under the heading of blog, borrowing, and stealing, I found this quote on this site, which I found through Jennifer F. at Et Tu, in her lovely reflection on the anniversary of her reception into the Church.

Emphasis original to the site I stole it from, and I left it because it all reminded me of one thing or another I've been dealing with or thinking about lately.

"Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament... There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death. By the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all, and yet by the taste -or foretaste- of which alone can what you seek in your earthly relationships (love, faithfulness, joy) be maintained, or take on that complexion of reality, of eternal endurance, which every man's heart desires.

The only cure for sagging or fainting faith is Communion. Though always Itself, perfect and complete and inviolate, the Blessed Sacrament does not operate completely and once for all in any of us. Like the act of Faith it must be continuous and grow by exercise. Frequency is of the highest effect. Seven times a week is more nourishing than seven times at intervals.

Also I can recommend this as an exercise (alas! only too easy to find opportunity for): make your communion in circumstances that affront your taste. Choose a snuffling or gabbling priest or a proud and vulgar friar; and a church full of the usual bourgeois crowd, ill-behaved children - from those who yell to those products of Catholic schools who the moment the tabernacle is opened sit back and yawn - open necked and dirty youths, women in trousers and often with hair both unkempt and uncovered. Go to communion with them (and pray for them). It will be just the same (or better than that) as a mass said beautifully by a visibly holy man, and shared by a few devout and decorous people. It could not be worse than the mess of the feeding of the Five Thousand - after which our Lord propounded the feeding that was to come."

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter to his son.

Epiphany

Not the feast. This actually fits quite snuggly into the season of Easter in which we now find ourselves.

"In short, we're meant for more than the sin and death we have come to expect from this life, and it is in learning to love God and one another, in accepting His love poured out in the blood of His Son, that we can become the people we are meant to be."

Fallen Sparrow has been giving us, in pieces , the story of his conversion (reversion?). The above is from the most recent installment, but it's all worth reading.

I think, in my barely cathchised opinion, that this quote sums up, in its own way, the central concept of Christian faith, and what we all must understand if we're even going to approach the Risen Lord and the resurrection waiting for us.

Madonna and Child

April 2007

National Gallery of Art

Happy Easter!

"Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness.

Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.

Behold, you shall call nations that you know not, and nations that knew you not shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

"Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;

let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55: 1-11

(Note: I swear I posted this icon before I saw Mark Shea's site. Really. I promise.)

Gratitude Day

Alright, so I'm a little late. This was all last Saturday.

Each year, the FMAs and Salesian lay people gather to express their thanks to their provincial for everything she does for the sisters in the province. The provincial, in secular terms, might be likened to a governor, except that she is not only responsible or the practical care and functioning of all the schools and communities in the province, she is also charged with the spiritual leadership of all the consecrated women entrusted to her (Britney, you read this, if I'm off base, for Heaven's sake, correct me). This is, appropriately enough, called Gratitude Day.

The community at Mary, Help of Christians in Laredo hosted us this year. We had lunch, entertained by mariachi players, and a program by the school's 5th graders. As I've mentioned, one of the best things about the Salesians is the very real way their family spirit manifests itself, and I was happy to once again run into some sisters and lay folks I've met along the way this year.

In the afternoon, we scattered to the four winds. Five or six sisters, three pre-nuns, and I went over the border to Nuevo Laredo to see the mission the SDBs are building up there with the help of the FMAs. Nuevo Laredo isn't the kind of town tourists really flock to to begin with, and we skipped right by the nice part of town to the more rustic, shall we say, outskirts.

As is my custom, I took a few pictures, and I think the pictures say more about the place than my words could.

You can click on the logo on the bottom right of the slide show to go to the album if you want to see larger sizes of the pictures.

. .