Light…

 Though every sun shall spend its fire

And galaxies shall dim to shade,

The Light by whom these lights were made

Shall never flicker, never fade.

In us arise, O Light of Lights.

Burn brightly in the caverned heart.

Consume the shade that fear supplies,

And peace and truth instead impart.*

*Hymn taken from the Evening Prayers for Wednesday, April 18th in Magnificat.

What I’m Reading…

I’ve been tagged.  Red Neck Woman wants to know what I’m reading… well, that’s probably not true. Likely she KNOWS what I’m reading (since she usually recommends a great deal) but wants me to share anyway.  Oddly, my list is short at the moment. 

Night Table Reading:

Triumph: The Power and Glory of the Catholic Church by H.W. Crocker III

Very good book on the impact of the Church on history… at least so far….

Benedictus: Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI

Very good daily reading material by the Holy Father.  Great way to end the day after Night Prayers.

The Facts About Luther by Msgr. Patrick F. O’Hare, LL.D.

Very good book.  Excellent insight into Luther.  I have been impressed with the compassion  in this book for the weaknesses in Luther and the choices that he made while never condoning the heresy he created.

The How-To Book of Catholic Devotions: Everything You Need to Know But No One Ever Taught You by Mike Aquilina and Regis J. Flaherty

Trying to do exactly that, make up the deficiency in my theological and devotional education.  While very simple, this book helps and will be a good tool for helping teach my children.

Bookmarked Books:

Controversies: High Level Catholic Apologetics by Karl Keating

Excellent book. Excellent.  Reading parts of this reminds me of theological debates on the homeschool learning forum I frequent. 

Essays of a Catholic by Hilaire Belloc

Belloc is always good. Always.  In one of these essays he was eerily prophetic.

How the Reformation Happened by Hilaire Belloc

More of that reading to remedy my exceedingly lopsided historical education.  Also a good read. Belloc is a bit like Chesteron… always good.

Thomas Merton: Spiritual Master by Lawrence S. Cunningham

This is a good book.  I love Merton.  I think I prefer reading the books in their entirety however, instead of clips from them as this book contains.

Just Finished:

Heresy: A Catherine Levendeur Mystery by Sharan Newman

Picked this up in the airport on my way home from Easter.  A mystery set in the Middle Ages with a very Catholic flavor.  A little heavy on the historical detail and too light on plot development but it was a nice break from my usual fare.

Hail Holy Queen by Scott Hahn

I can’t recommend this book highly enough.  It is absolutely excellent.  While I had already come to understand and appreciate the Catholic perspective on Mary, this book took that knowledge, understanding and appreciation to a whole new level.  As much as I’ve gotten out of the rosary already, I realize after reading this book that like all other things Catholic, there are depths to that meditation that I have yet to apprehend. I rejoice at the feast laid out for the journey yet again.  Must have book.

Roots of the Reformation by Karl Adam

Slender book but an excellent resource along with The Facts About Luther to remedy a lopsided view of the man and the Reformation. This book presents a remarkably objective view.

… and then there are the ‘wanna order’s’… you do NOT wanna know how long my wish list is.

 I tag cause of our joy, Standing on My Head, and the Hermeneutic of Continuity.

Home Again…

As fabulous as it was to celebrate Easter Vigil with Shellie and her family, it was good to be back home and go to Mass with mine this evening. 

We are creatures of habit.  There are certain things that our minds and bodies recognize and react to because they are so incredibly familiar.  A good example of this in my life would be a trip to a friend’s house.  When I lived in Texas, my dear friend lived 2 hours away.  Her husband had a weekly night out of town due to business and the kids and I would often drive up to spend the night with her. It gave us a good 24 hour visit before we’d head home the next day. 

She’d make homemade hummus, tzatziki, and we’d roll out homemade dough into pitabread while visiting over a glass of wine while the children played together. We’d make a pot of good tea and watch movies while working on needlepoint. We’d laugh ourselves silly one moment and share our deepest struggles the next. That 24 hour visit would unwind all the stress and tangled skeins of care that life could throw at me. This was a frequent trip… every two weeks in the summer, every 3 to 4 in the school year (we both homeschool).  I was so conditioned that all it took for me to relax was to get in the car and begin the drive to her house. 

Walking into Mass in my home parish was similar.  Mass has come to mean a great deal to me.  It is communal, the coming together of the Body of Christ across time and space to worship,  to the Table for the Eucharist.  Friends, family, and complete strangers come together in an intimate union.  It is also personal in that I am nourished in a very personal and private way.  The graces I receive in the Mass feed my soul, mend my hurts, meet my current needs whether I accurately recognize them or not, and give me strength for the week ahead… and yet it isn’t about me. It is about God, giving to Him the worship that He has requested as fit unto Himself… and in joyfully, willingly, obediently giving what is His due I am greatly blessed.

Catholic Carnival

The Catholic Carnival: Divine Mercy in our Lives is up over at To Jesus Through Mary!  I’ll try to join you there but as you can tell from my lack of posts recently, things didn’t slow down after Easter like I thought they would.  Hope to post in the next day or two.  Happy Reading!

Easter

I flew up to be with Shellie’s family for Easter and to stand in as sponsor for one of her daughters.  Another dear (and mutual) friend of mine flew up to stand as godmother to her eldest daughter.  Yet another friend whom we had known for a couple years but not had the pleasure of meeting came over from Montana. So we had quite the gaggle of ladies together for the weekend. 

The Church was beautiful.  They had the most beautiful Stations of the Cross that I have ever seen.  Beautiful stained glass windows and an altar with the Last supper carved from marble inset in the front.  The girls were beautiful wearing dresses in varying shades of white.  Her son and husband looked so nice in their slacks and jackets.  Shellie was radiant in an ice blue dress… Yet all these things are incidentals.  Watching her youngest daughter receive the Sacrament of Baptism, standing with my dear friend behind the entire family with the other sponsors as Father Crowley celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation, and coming to the table to receive our Lord in the Eucharist together for the first time… These are the things which stay in my mind. 

As Father got to her teenage son and annointed him with Chrism, the tears began to flow.  ‘For these we have prayed’ kept coming to my mind. The sure confidence in their voices, the peace in their faces, the deep joy shared by all was  so precious.  I thought also of all those others from the Spitfire Grill who were received into the Church this Easter, and all those who longed to be.  Treasures, each and every one.

As I knelt in prayer after receiving the Eucharist, I saw through my tears that our friend from Montana had been brought up to receive her first blessing.  While not yet officially Catholic, she is Catholic in her heart and is actively working on her own conversion journey so this was a special moment and made the joy of the evening complete.

Over the course of the weekend we laughed enough to make our sides sore for a week, shared many a meal, and a few moments of companionable silence.  The discussions of faith were present, but not predominate as they’ve been all year.  In general it was a time of shared love and laughter, a time of celebration.  No words can do it justice.  God be praised for friends and family, for unity in faith.

Gone…

…like a freight train, Gone like yesterday, Gone like a soldier… oh… sorry.

 Seriously, I’m gone to celebrate Easter with some friends who are being received into the Church this Easter Vigil and so will not be on much if at all.  God’s peace and blessings be with you all during this Holy season.

The Holy Week Catholic Carnival

The Holy Week Catholic Carnival is up…  Lots of good stuff… Don’t miss it!