The March for Life in Canada, Ireland, Italy, England, Peru, Mexico ...

The March for Life in Washington, D.C. has inspired a worldwide March for Life movement.

I had no idea. We are not alone. Take a look.

Intimate Graces: How Practicing the Works of Mercy Brings Out the Best in Marriage by Teresa Tomeo

Intimate Graces: How Practicing the Works of Mercy Brings Out the Best in Marriage by Teresa Tomeo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Catholic Church encourages believers to perform Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, tangible actions that show charity toward others. In Intimate Graces, Teresa Tomeo and her husband, Dominick Pastore, demonstrate how applying the fourteen traditional virtues of Catholic spirituality can foster deeper intimacy in any marriage. The couple uses personal stories and reflections, as well as the experiences of other Catholic couples, to show how a husband and wife can become, in a real way, a haven of compassion and virtue for each other. Tomeo and Pastore each write in their own voice and include reflection questions, practical suggestions, and a prayer at the end of each chapter.

This is the sort of book that I'd give to any couple experiencing a bit of strain. Actually, I suppose that is everyone as even good marriages are always a balancing act.

It can sound a bit academic or offputting when reading that the basic concept of the book "demonstrates how applying the fourteen traditional virtues of Catholic spirituality" leads to a better marriage. However, Tomeo's warm personal style and the couple's many stories about their marriage take the forefront. The virtues are woven throughout in ways that make a lot of sense and don't club you over the head.

Worth a Thousand Words: On the Heights

Charles Courtney Curran, On the Heights, c. 1909
via Arts Everyday Living

Well Said: Laden with rites and rituals, lousy with saints and scapulars

Another good 'un found by idly paging through my first quote journal.

When I took my first look at you, my church, I fell madly in love. You were creaky with history, rejuvenated by change, laden with rites and rituals, lousy with saints and scapulars. You dressed gaudily with bells and smells, charms and mysteries. You were deep. You had style. I chose you. You were the kind of lover to make a mother say, "Stay away from that one! Trouble!"

Carol Bonomo

Well Said: The droplet of water and God's mercy

Still dipping into my first quote journal.

Suddenly the wave crashed at my feet. … When I looked up, I noticed that a tiny droplet of water had hit the top of my hand. It was so beautiful. It glistened like a diamond in the sun.

The droplet affected me so deeply with its beauty that I felt unworthy of it, and to my own surprise, as I stood there, I threw it back into the ocean.

My odd little peace was broken when I felt the Lord say to me, "Angelica?"

I said, "Yes, Lord?"

"Did you see the drop?"

I said, "Yes, Lord."

"That drop is like all of your sins, your weaknesses, your frailties and your imperfections. And the ocean is like My Mercy. If you looked for that drop, could yu find it?"

I said, "No, Lord."

"If you looked and looked, could you find it?"

I said, "No, Lord."

And then He said to me, ever so quietly. "So why do you keep looking?"

Mother Angelica

Worth a Thousand Words: Just So Stories

Just So frontispiece
by Himmapaan

‘…he was a small ‘Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the whale’s right ear, so as to be out of harm’s way’

Worth a Thousand Word: Exotic lunch!

Taken by my brother and posted to Facebook. Too good not to share.

Well Said: what we are at this moment, is planned to be like that

I've been dipping into my very first quote journal and have been enjoying it so much that I'm taking y'all with me. After all, that's the point of a quote journal, right? To revisit the quotes because they were so good.

There is one big thing we can do with God's help, that is, we can trust God's plan, we can put aside any quibbling or bitterness about ourselves and what we are.

We can accept and seize upon the fact that what we are at this moment, young or old, strong or weak, mild or passionate, beautiful or ugly, clever or stupid, is planned to be like that. Whatever we are gives form to the emptiness in us which can only be filled by God, and which God is even now waiting to fill.

Caryll Houselander

This not only reassures me about qualities that I perceive as failings, but makes me ponder the nature of God (ineffable as that is). What does it show me about God, that all these variables are part of His plan? And what does it say about me that I am continually surprised by this idea?

Worth a Thousand Words: A Night of Lights

A Night of Lights
by the talented Edward B. Gordon

Well Said: We could never learn

We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.

Helen Keller

Lenten Reading: Two New Books to Consider

Lent begins early this year — February 10.

We might as well begin thinking about what to read. These two are a good start.


Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide by Sarah Arthur

Between Midnight and Dawn uses your imagination to draw you deeper into God’s presence. Join poets and novelists from across the centuries as you travel through the liturgical seasons of Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide. This collection of daily and weekly readings from classic and contemporary literature uses both new voices and well-loved classics such as Dostoevsky, Rossetti, and Eliot. 

I really loved Sarah Arthur's first devotional, At the Still Point, which was for ordinary time. It was an unusual devotional with thematically arranged classic and contemporary fiction and poetry. Of course, that was right down my alley and it became a favorite devotional. I can vouch that Arthur does a wonderful job of choosing pieces that speak both to poetic or literary content and to the Christian message.

At the time I reviewed it, I wished for devotionals to cover the rest of the liturgical year. Arthur obliged with  Light Upon Light for Advent. Now with Between Midnight and Dawn for Lent and Easter, my wishes have come true. I'll be using this throughout Lent and Easter.


Seven Last Words: An Invitation to a Deeper Friendship with Jesus by James Martin

Each meditation is dedicated to one of the seven sayings:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

“Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

“Woman, this is your son” . . . “This is your mother.”


“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”


“I thirst.”


“It is finished.”


“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

Jesus’s final statements, words that are deeply cherished by his followers, exemplify the depth of his suffering but also provide a key to his empathy and why we can connect with him so deeply.

There can hardly be any better Lenten reading than meditations on the seven last words of Christ. This book originated when James Martin was invited by Cardinal Dolan to give a series of Good Friday reflections last year. Having read several I feel we are lucky to have them for deeper contemplation. I will be using this book during Passion Week this year.

Worth a Thousand Words: Vole Hunting

Vole Hunting
taken by the incomparable Remo Savisaar

Well Said: Our Time Machines

We all have our time machines, don't we? Those that take us back are memories ... And those that carry us forward are dreams.

The Time Machine (2012 film)

Worth a Thousand Words: St Mark's Square, Venice

St Mark's Square, Venice; William Logsdail; 1883
via The Athenaeum

Be sure to click through on the link above to see this photo full size. You can't really appreciate its rich complexity otherwise.

Worth a Thousand Words: Zojo-ji in Shiba

Hasui Kawase, Zojo-ji in Shiba, 1925
via Arts Everyday Living

Well Said: Early to Bed, Early to Rise ...

At length it became high time to remember the first clause of that great discovery made by the ancient philosopher, for securing health, riches, and wisdom; the infallibility of which has been for generations verified by the enormous fortunes constantly amassed by chimneysweepers and other persons who get up early and go to bed betimes. The young ladies accordingly rose ...

Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit

Made me laugh at the same time as I was realizing just how many examples we have of that old adage not being true.

Pro-Life March in Dallas: Saturday, Jan. 16

Everything seems to be coming fast this year. Lent begins in a month. Our goddaughter's birthday is in a couple of weeks.

And the Dallas Pro-Life March is this Saturday.

To be fair, the March always takes me by surprise. I think it's because I've just managed to get back out of the holiday calendar and back into regular schedules so I'm not thinking about anything "extra."

This is an "extra" that should just be a matter of course. We've been thrilled to watch attendance grow steadily from 1,000 when we began attending in 2008, to close to 10,000 last year.

The politicians and media only seem to understand numbers. If everyone who believed abortion is wrong took part of a Saturday to stand in person for what they believe, they would have to sit up and take notice.

Here's the website with the Dallas schedule and information.

Join us!

Well Said: Messages from beyond the grave

That's what literature is. It's the people who went before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death! Listen to them!

Connie Willis, Passage

Preach it, sistah!

Worth a Thousand Words: A Song Sweetly Sung

A Song Sweetly Sung, Jan Frederik Pieter Portielje (Dutch, 1829-1895).
Via Books and Art

7 Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas

7 Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Rickey asked Jackie if he was up to the job, he wasn't talking only about playing great baseball. He knew Jackie could do that. What he meant, he explained, was that if Jackie were to become major-league baseball's first black player, he would be in for a tremendous amount of abuse, both verbal and physical.

Jackie said he was sure he could face up to whatever came his way. He wasn't afraid of anyone and had been in any number of fistfights over the years when anyone had challenged him.

But Rickey had something else in mind. "I know you're a good ballplayer," Rickey said. "What I don't know is whether you have the guts." Rickey knew he meant something dramatically different from what Robinson was thinking, so he continued. "I'm looking," Rickey said, "for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back."

This was an unexpected wrinkle, to put it mildly.

[...]

Jackie knew that resisting the urge to fight back really would require a superhuman effort, but he was deeply moved by Rickey's vision. He thought of his mother. He thought of all the black people who deserved someone to break this ground for them, even if it was difficult. He believed God had chosen him for this noble purpose. He believed he had to do it--for black kids, for his mother, for his wife, for himself.

Eric Metaxas wrote this book to ask two questions: (1) What is a man? (2)What makes a man great? He answers them by looking at the lives of seven men who are worthy of emulation.

Metaxas initially caught my interest by pointing out that today manhood is often denigrated in popular culture because of a lack of positive role models. These days the news is more likely to have stories about men using their gifts in negative ways than in heroic behavior. For example, a man misuses his strength by being bullying or domineering which is the opposite of what it should be used for, to protect those who are weaker.

He then tells the stories of seven men who lived their lives in ways we can admire. These biographies are short but pack in a lot of information. They cover a diverse group including Jackie Robinson, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Chuck Colson. Even when I thought I knew everything pertinent about someone like George Washington or Eric Liddell, Metaxas was able to show a whole new side to them.

Each story turns on the fact that they surrendered themselves to God and sacrificed themselves in some way for the greater good. Metaxas isn't heavy handed but he doesn't shy away from occasionally raising points that encourage the reader to look deeper within his (or her) own heart.

I came away inspired and with several new heroes. It's early in the year but I already have a book to put on my "2016 Best" list.