Reports from another blogger about the Liturgy of the Hours

I mentioned last week that Jen from Et Tu had begun praying the Liturgy of the Hours and was reporting her experience.

She's not the only one. Will from The View from the Foothills, another new convert, also has begun praying the Liturgy of the Hours. He tells us his motivation, the mechanics, and so what (it's a positive "so what"). It is interesting to contrast their two experiences.

God Bless Cardinal Mahoney

Now there's something that you don't hear every day.

However, it seems well warranted, according to Will's report from Los Angeles. Go read it all.

Today is a Day of Penance

In all the dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life. The Mass "For Peace and Justice" (no. 21 of the "Masses for Various Needs") should be celebrated with violet vestments as an appropriate liturgical observance for this day.

General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 373

Well, well, well. It was quite a shock to come across this in my Magnificat this morning (the link above goes to the posted document at the USCCB).

Perhaps a day of fasting is better when it is sprung on you ... but also perhaps, for all those people not looking at their Magnificat this morning and who have no clue of this day of penance ... it would have been nice if we'd have had a mention during the homily which centered around personal involvement in the struggle against abortion. Or perhaps even a special mention in the announcements after Mass. I don't remember seeing one in the bulletin though I could have missed it.

When searching around I see that some parishes and dioceses had the forethought to mention it specifically. That must be nice ...

Connecting the Dots Between Contraception and Abortion

Catholic Mom reports that her priest pulled off the gloves and told them how the cow ate the cabbage (am I mixing it up enough for y'all?). Go read.

She reminds us also that the march in Washington happens tomorrow ... I happen to know that two of Hannah's friends, Katy and Daniel, will be there. Let's all lift the marchers in prayer.

I must add that Daniel awes me by regularly reading HC despite the continued good natured scorn of friends and family over his uncoolness. Thank you Daniel! (Of course, I'm a Daniel-fan as is anyone who knows him.)

"On that day we were the point of the spear..."

When you stand in front of an abortion mill, you see the culture wars from a different perspective. Two women walked in while we were there. Two. Suddenly, abortion is more tangible. The statistic evaporates, and you’re left with nothing but tragedy. You see the Sidewalk counselors approach someone that doesn’t want to listen, and it’s no longer a story on the news or something we talk about on the internet. Your heart pulls harder. From your lips comes, “…pray for us now and at the hour of our death,” while your head is saying in the background, “Please, oh please, Lord, let them hear.” But they walk on.

Mark Windsor at Raft on the Tiber writes beautifully and movingly about praying the rosary in front of the Fairmount Women's Clinic this weekend. Read it all.

Runner Up? Its a Winner to Me ...

She'd been strangled with a rosary-not a run-of-the-mill rosary like you might get at a Catholic bookstore where Hail Marys are two for a quarter and indulgences are included on the back flap of the May issue of "Nuns and Roses" magazine, but a fancy heirloom rosary with pearls, rubies, and a solid gold cross, a rosary with attitude, the kind of rosary that said, "Get your Jehovah's Witness butt off my front porch."

Mark Schweizer, Hopkinsville, KY

The runner up in the Detective category of 2007 entries in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. See all the winners here.

For those not in the know, the contest is an "international literary parody contest, the competition honors the memory (if not the reputation) of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). The goal of the contest is childishly simple: entrants are challenged to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. ... Bulwer-Lytton opened his novel Paul Clifford (1830) with the immortal words that Charles Schulz' beagle Snoopy plagiarized for years, 'It was a dark and stormy night.'"

Impressions from the Dallas March for Life

Source: Texans for Life Coalition.
(Moral: wear a purple parka and you'll get photographed.)

First of all, I was so happy to get to meet Mark Windsor in person (and his lovely daughters and their friend), as well as Heather ... who I also wound up sitting next to in Mass that afternoon. Also, I am always happy to get to spend time with Laura and it was nice for the rest of us newbies that Laura knew the drill, having been to the March for Life several times.

What Moved Me

• How hard-faced were the "Clinic Support" people were who waited outside the abortion clinic where we prayed the rosary first thing in the morning. They are now on my heart in prayer.
• Watching the women come in for their abortions, I suddenly would flash on little Hannah and Rose playing together, being silly and having fun ... my heart would ache for that little person that each of these mothers was murdering in their ignorance and would never know. Thinking back on all my years of similar ignorance, I am grateful for God's grace that I was never in a position to seek out an abortion ... seriously, but for His grace, there could have been I.
  
• During the Mass there was a memorial of roses for the years since the Roe versus Wade ruling. One at a time, a person for each year came up, put a rose on a table before the altar, and a deep bell rang out. I thought of the statistic that says we are now missing one out of four of the children that should be here. It was unexpectedly moving.
• The enthusiasm of the marchers, especially those from groups I never would have thought of ... especially a group of young Hispanic guys with banners who seemed way too cool to be doing this ... it did my heart good.
• I was carrying a bunch of four red daisies which is what I had found in my attempt to get red carnations for our "how do I know you" joke that just kept going and going. Later on I realized that I personally knew the mothers of four babies that were aborted and so I carried that bunch of flowers for them. Which I will do next year as well ... that's the thing about being Catholic, symbolism is where its at!
  

What Shocked Me

• How few people were there. The people speaking at the march said that this was the biggest crowd ever and it was possibly a thousand people. I have been guilty of thinking that all the passionate protesters have been "covering" the march for those like me who "support them in prayer." Hmmm ... having done this March, I now believe that while support in prayer is a necessary thing, it is not enough.
• As far as I could see our parish didn't even have a mention of the protest march in the weekly bulletin. I know that our pro-life group is undergoing a transition and is not very strong, but I would have thought that some sort of reminder would have been published.
  
• Certain people who I didn't see who talk up their pro-life support, attend the bishop's pro-life dinner ... but weren't at the march. I couldn't fathom that if this was as important as they say that they wouldn't have shown up. Granted, again, this was my first time and it is easy to toss judgments around but actions speak louder than words.
• The deacon who gave the homily at our parish later that afternoon mentioned the march. He then said that he and his wife weren't there. He talked about their monthly prayer support at a local abortion clinic instead. The implication that I received was that the march in protest wasn't as important as the regular assistance. I understand what he was getting at because one-on-one is vital to helping individuals decide to choose life. In fact, that is something that I probably will be looking into assisting with. However, I don't think that one can avoid the necessity of public protest because it speaks to the lawmakers on a completely different level.

If every person who felt strongly that abortion is wrong didn't wait for someone else to do it put aside that one Saturday and braved the cold ... would 10,000 people have shown up instead of 1,000? (Please keep in mind, that I know full well, I am one of those "can't someone else do it?" people ... and still would be were it not for Mark Windsor's initiative in It Started Here, Let It End Here).

If every large city had 10,000 people peacefully marching in protest once a year, wouldn't it make the news? Here in Dallas, two of the four television stations showed the march on their news. Fox News had a solid hour of news and didn't give it a two-second mention. (By the way, Heather and I were on channel 8 news when they showed crowds walking ... as always I was talking ...) Wouldn't then the lawmakers take notice?

Actions speak louder than words. I believe that we need to reevaluate our actions in light of our words (and I'm preaching to myself as well here) ... what do we believe and what do we act upon?

Food for thought, especially with Lent not too far away.

For the Future
Now that I've done this and been thinking about it for a couple of days, there is no way I can't continue this ... what would you call it ... apostolate? Anyway, I'm in for another year of It Started Here. Let It End Here. I know Mark is in. Who else?

I will be making a special effort to spend an hour in front of the Eucharist on each First Friday also. I largely blew off that part last year due to work. However, my schedule is much more amenable than most to rearranging and I'm not gonna "let someone else do it" on that front.

I am going to investigate what the sidewalk counselor on our bus meant when she said that an hour a month of volunteering to pray at a clinic can be a big help. For instance, does this really mean just an hour, locations, etc. But I am going to make much more of an effort to put my money time where my mouth is.

Washington March for Life
Thoms at American Papist has the links, photos, and news.

Worth a Thousand Words

Modernist Balcony taken by Barcelona Photoblog.

An Experiment with Prayer

Jen at Et Tu is experimenting with the Liturgy of the Hours. Unlike most of us, she's right out there and reporting results as she goes.

What she's finding is interesting. She's not receiving direct answers to prayer as much as answers to the way her life is lived daily ... which, in a way, is one big answer to prayer!

Here is her plan, day one, and day two.

Don't stop at those, which are the basic essentials to following the action. There is more, much more in some other posts as well. Go scroll around and I think you'll be interested in what you find.

Not Sure What This Means ...

... but it is interesting.

Found at Bluegrass Report by Tom. (My next question is, what was he doing hanging around there? Not being a "political animal" and all that ...)

Calloo, Callay, O Frabjous Day ...

I'm smiling because...

• Tom is going to the March for Life with me tomorrow. Woohoo! That puts a whole new spin on the day.


• Rose finally scored Helvetica at the movie store. (Not that she cares ... but Tom and I do!) That darned thing has been rented every time we've been there for the past month. Can you tell our neighborhood is full of advertising people and artists? Remember, "Friends don't let friends use Arial."



• Tom's mom gave me a Borders gift certificate for Christmas and they've got a whole bunch of the Culinaria books on sale for $10 each. In a way this makes one think of an updating of the Time Life Foods of the World series (reviewed here) although these are done with less of each writer's personality and more continuity between volumes. These books look at the cuisines of countries in depth. When I say "in depth" think about 450 pages, oversized, covering every aspect of culture that relates to food. In short, a foodie's dream. Until now only the hardbacks have been available and they are huge. I mean to say, you don't want to fall asleep reading one because you'd be crushed to death when it fell on you. Sadly, I heard that the original company went out of business but that means the series was picked up by another printer and is being republished in paperback. It is still high quality printing on heavy paper and still huge but at least you can read it on bed without being injured.


• We have our tickets to Ella ... 'nuff said.

Book reports

1. Secret Believers by Brother Andrew**** ... I plan an indepth review of this book. A look at Muslims who convert to Christianity and the troubles they face, from many angles. Eye opening, touching, and inspirational. Highly recommended.
   


2. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill ** ... Steven Riddle loved it but I was hit with the "horror" aspect and had to skim a good part of the book. Well done but rather predictable, except for the extreme-ness (is that a word?) of the horror.
   


3. The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket by Trevor Corson *** ... you will believe that sushi can be interesting! Which I wouldn't have before hearing a Barnes and Noble podcast interviewing this author ... so I got it from the library. A thoroughly entertaining read that shows not only the history of sushi but takes us through a sushi chef class with all the students. Very good indeed.


4. Finder by Emma Bull*** ... quite enjoyable story of "Orient" a guy with the innate talent of finding things that have been lost. He lives in the Bordertown between our world and Faerie (which I believe is a storyline established by another author that has been borrowed and built upon by other like-minded authors. Orient gets sucked into an investigation of murder, a drug ring, and a mysterious virus which may claim the life of his partner if he can't find the answers everyone needs.


5. The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones**** ... much like Julia Child's "My Life in France" (reviewed here) this is a nostalgic journey in the way America cooked from the past to present. Judith Jones is the famous Knopf editor whose love of food and cooking allowed her to sniff out such great food writers as Julia Child, James Beard, Marion Cunningham, Irene Kuo, Marcella Hazen and many more. Not only is this a wonderful look at Jones' life and the foodways of America, but her thinking on food is quite firmly stated ... and delightfully sane and common-sensical it is. Highly recommended.
   


6. 65 Below by Basil Sands*** ... an audiobook action, adventure story in Alaska involving Korean terrorists joining forces with Muslim terrorists. The plot is stumbled upon at different ends by a female policeman and a former Marine who just happen to share a romantic past. Its easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys, action is plentiful, and there is plenty of evidence that being a romantic doesn't make a certain Marine any less of a man. A lot of fun.
   


7. Karl's Last Flight by Basil Sands*** ... another audiobook by the author of 65 Below, this one was earlier and is less developed plotwise. Also quite enjoyable.
   


8. Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword by Tee Morris*** ... Tee Morris is famous in Podiobook/audiobook/podcast circles for having the first podcast book, Morevi: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana. This book, however, brings fantasy to gangland Chicago when dwarf warrior Billibub Baddings inadvertently gets brought to our world via a time warp (or some such device). He adapts well and becomes a private investigator. Told in a noirish style that is firmly rooted in humor, this is a good time all 'round for listeners.
   


9. 7th Son: Destruction by J.C. Hutchins**** ... yet another audiobook, this is the final book of the 7th Son trilogy. I am a big fan of the entire series which has the seven "John Smith" in a game of wits trying to overtake John Alpha before he takes over the world ... or at least the United States.
   

Worth a Thousand Words

Three Little Pigs (of course!) taken by Barcelona Photoblog.

The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina, 3

The third of the three-part article from our church bulletin inserts about Lectio Divina. (The first part is here.)

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Accepting the Embrace of God
The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina
by Fr. Luke Dysinger, O.S.B.*

3. THE PRACTICE of LECTIO DIVINA
CHOOSE a text of the Scriptures that you wish to pray. Many Christians use in their daily lectio divina one of the readings from the Eucharistic liturgy for the day; others prefer to slowly work through a particular book of the Bible. It makes no difference which text is chosen, as long as one has no set goal of “covering” a certain amount of text: the amount of text “covered” is in God’s hands, not yours.

PLACE YOURSELF in a comfortable position and allow yourself to become silent. Some Christians focus for a few moments on their breathing; other have a beloved “prayer word” or “prayer phrase” they gently recite in order to become interiorly silent. For some the practice known as “centering prayer” makes a good, brief introduction to lectio divina. Use whatever method is best for you and allow yourself to enjoy silence for a few moments.

THEN TURN to the text and read it slowly, gently. Savor each portion of the reading, constantly listening for the “still, small voice” of a word or phrase that somehow says, “I am for you today.” Do not expect lightening or ecstasies. In lectio divina God is teaching us to listen to Him, to seek Him in silence. He does not reach out and grab us; rather, He softly, gently invites us ever more deeply into His presence.

NEXT TAKE the word or phrase into yourself. Memorize it and slowly repeat it to yourself, allowing it to interact with your inner world of concerns, memories and ideas. Do not be afraid of “distractions.” Memories or thoughts are simply parts of yourself which, when they rise up during lectio divina, are asking to be given to God along with the rest of your inner self. Allow this inner pondering, this rumination, to invite you into dialogue with God.

THEN, SPEAK to God. Whether you use words or ideas or images or all three is not important. Interact with God as you would with one who you know loves and accepts you. And give to Him what you have discovered in yourself during your experience of meditatio. Experience yourself as the priest that you are. Experience God using the word or phrase that He has given you as a means of blessing, of transforming the ideas and memories, which your pondering on His word has awakened. Give to God what you have found within your heart.

FINALLY, SIMPLY rest in God’s embrace. And when He invites you to return to your pondering of His word or to your inner dialogue with Him, do so. Learn to use words when words are helpful, and to let go of words when they no longer are necessary. Rejoice in the knowledge that God is with you in both words and silence, in spiritual activity and inner receptivity.

SOMETIMES IN lectio divina one will return several times to the printed text, either to savor the literary context of the word or phrase that God has given, or to seek a new word or phrase to ponder. At other times only a single word or phrase will fill the whole time set aside for lectio divina. It is not necessary to anxiously assess the quality of one’s lectio divina as if one were “performing” or seeking some goal: lectio divina has no goal other than that of being in the presence of God by praying the Scriptures.

CONCLUSION
LECTIO DIVINA is an ancient spiritual art that is being rediscovered in our day. It is a way of allowing the Scriptures to become again what God intended that they should be - a means of uniting us to Himself. In lectio divina we discover our own underlying spiritual rhythm. We experience God in a gentle oscillation back and forth between spiritual activity and receptivity, in the movement from practice into contemplation and back again into spiritual practice.

LECTIO DIVINA teaches us about the God who truly loves us. In lectio divina we dare to believe that our loving Father continues to extend His embrace to us today. And His embrace is real. In His word we experience ourselves as personally loved by God; as the recipients of a word which He gives uniquely to each of us whenever we turn to Him in the Scriptures.

FINALLY, lectio divina teaches us about ourselves. In lectio divina we discover that there is no place in our hearts, no interior corner or closet that cannot be opened and offered to God. God teaches us in lectio divina what it means to be members of His royal priesthood - a people called to consecrate all of our memories, our hopes and our dreams to Christ.

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* The author considers this article to be in the Public Domain. This article may therefore be downloaded, reproduced and distributed without special permission from the author. You may find the original article here.

Coming in May: He Lives An Unusual Life ...

We all know that I'm a huge fan of the unusual blend of horror and spirituality that are the Odd Thomas books, don't we? (Read my commentary on the series.) Anyone who joins me in that fandom will rejoice to see that Dean Koontz has been channeling Odd Thomas again.

Via Unhurried Catholic.

Name 20 films that portray Christianity in a positive light.

That was the challenge that Steven Greydanus took on and that Jeffrey Overstreet blogged about ... and which he graciously guest blogged over at Catholic Media Review.

As you can imagine, the comments have been varied and interesting.

My addition to the list?

I Am Legend.

Check it out.

Noooooooooooo!!!!

Drat you, Brian St. Paul, for telling me about The Library of Congress collection at Flickr. As if I didn't have enough to waste my time on.

But they do have some fantastic photos, y'all ...

Grand Grocery Co., 1924, Lincoln, Nebraska
From The Library of Congress collection on Flickr.

"Having resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die" -- Malachy McCourt

What upset me more than anything is that for the first time in my life, I was actively hating someone. I’ve never hated anyone - not even people who have done me physical and spiritual harm. But I was hating this fellow. And hating him even more for “making me” hate him.

Which, of course, he could not do. No one can “make” you hate; I simply allowed hate in; I welcomed it in, gave it an honored chair and fed it. And fed it. And it was incredibly destructive and oppressive - to me, mostly - but it did nothing good for anyone who had to be around me if the subject had my head. My whole family, and a few friends, have had to endure watching me give myself over to this resentment, allowing it to have its way with me, and to own me, body and soul.

The Anchoress tells a story that we all can relate to ... one of resenting the treatment of a loved one, struggling with hate, feeling powerless in its grip, and, finally, of having loved ones become God's prophets ... called not to make us comfortable with our wrongdoing but to set us straight, even if it makes us uncomfortable. A truthful and fantastic story, and one not to be missed.

If only I could say that I did not related to that story. The one personal addition I will make is that when attending my CRHP retreat several years ago, I walked into the church with the group for Mass, saw that many of them had loved ones who had risen early and come in support of them. Instantly I thought of Tom (not there because he was home taking care of our girls ... and I knew this intellectually). I was filled with a resentment and hate of him for not being there that I could literally feel. It began at the top of my head and poured down my body as boiling hot, acidic liquid. I can't explain this except to say that I felt it. I also knew that it was deadly and would undo all the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit thus far. I could hold onto that hateful resentment or I could consciously reject it. I thought, "No! I'm not doing this," and pushed it away. Period. That feeling was instantly gone. The blessing of all that is that I recognized what was happening and rejected it so quickly. Truly, it was another miracle of that retreat because that would not have been my usual reaction.

I try to remember that feeling, which I have never had again, whenever I am subject to recurring fits of self pity, resentment, or ... yes ... hatred. It is a good reminder of what those feelings do to our souls when we indulge in them.

Clouds of Witness and Rays of Light

I meant to link to this amazing story last week and then thought that surely I'd see it making the rounds. But not so.

Therefore, I am very happy to tempt you into reading a miraculous story with which to begin the year ...

While visiting my friend in Dallas this past week, she asked me if I would mind going over to the house of a friend of hers who was out of town and has been having some troubles, and praying there for him. Though my friend is an Evangelical, her friend is a Catholic, so I asked her if she would mind if we went by his parish first for some holy water to sprinkle around, and she said she wouldn’t, so we did.

When we got to the house, we went in, and I noticed that it seemed very dark and cold inside. I told my friend that I wanted to start by the front door, and gradually work my way through every room in the house, praying and sprinkling holy water as we went. We walked over to the door and turned to face the room, and I crossed myself in preparation to pray.

The moment I began praying, I felt a sense of very heavy, dark oppression come over me – and at the same moment, my friend sank down to her knees. I wondered if she felt it, too, but said nothing and continued to pray. We slowly worked our way through each room, praying and sprinkling holy water, but the heavy, dark oppressiveness remained. Finally we had gone through every room, so I returned to the front door and faced the room again. I had prayed everything I could think of, but the darkness and heaviness was still there.

Now, go read the rest at Historical Christian.

Bach's Music Converting Asians to Christianity

For years, Richter observed with growing fascination how in his Gothic sanctuary, Japanese musicologist Keisuke Maruyama studied the influence of the weekday pericopes (prescribed readings) in the early 18th-century Lutheran lectionary cycle on Bach’s cantatas. When he had finished, he told the clergyman: “It is not enough to read Christian texts. I want to be a Christian myself. Please baptize me.”

But this scholar’s conversion could have been attributed to the impact of pericopes’ biblical texts on Maruyama. Why, though, would a fugue have such evangelistic powers as it did on the Japanese organist in Minnesota? Why would even listening to Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which contain no lyrics, arouse someone’s interest in Christianity? This happened when Masashi Yasuda, a former agnostic, heard a CD with Canadian pianist Glenn Gould’s rendering of this complex Clavier-Übung, or keyboard study. Still, Yasuda’s spiritual journey began precisely with these variations. He is now a Jesuit priest teaching systematic theology at Sophia University in Tokyo.

Fascinating ... read the whole story here. Via Brandywine Books.

Worth a Thousand Words

Strawberry Eclair by Duane Keiser