Catechism of the Spiritual Life by Cardinal Robert Sarah

It seemed to me that the eclipse of God in our postmodern societies, the crisis of fundamental human and moral values, and its repercussions even in the Church, where we observe confusion on the subject of divinely revealed truth, the loss of the authentic meaning of the liturgy and a diminished understanding of priestly identity, forcefully demanded that a genuine catechism of the spiritual life be offered to all the faithful. ... This book is a catechism of the interior life. It intends to indicate the principal means of entering into the spiritual life; its purpose if practical, not academic.

This is a meditative, deep look at the sacraments and how they help to form and develop our spiritual lives. Cardinal Sarah's premise is that by following Jesus in the sacraments, like the Hebrews followed Moses in the desert, we will find the path out of our own interior wilderness to true closeness and joy in the Lord.

There's a chapter on each of the sacraments plus one on prayer. Sarah draws on the writings of theologians, saints, and popes (especially Pope Benedict XVI) in a way which is often reflective rather than instructive. This allows for slow, deep reading which opens up our own thoughts.

I was most intrigued when Sarah would comment on the modern world and the Church today. These were used not only as a reflection on the need for the sacraments but also on how to live our lives as Catholics in current culture. The answer, he tells us, is always personal conversion and a return to holiness, a return to a close relationship with Jesus.

Above all, Sarah's hope is that this spiritual catechism will help us reorient ourselves to see the beauty of God's plan for our lives. At the conclusion of the book, Sarah says of the interior wilderness:

In the wilderness, we understood that it is nor our job to take our interior life in hand. We have to let ourselves be formed. We have to let God form us. We have to let ourselves be led and instructed by God. Of course, we are not entirely passive. We have our part in the work. But our labor consists primarily in our willingness to be soft clay in God's hands, suited to be modeled according to his merciful plan.

Amen.

Tiger in the Snow

Tiger in the Snow, Katsushika Hokusai

I don't know what Hokusai was going for, but this tiger just looks so darned happy and maybe a little goofy. It definitely makes me smile. I also really love the way that the tiger's extended claws are echoed in the branch tips thrusting through the snow. The flowing body and shape the stripes make also are echoed in the shape of the bushes. What a great piece.

Carp Leaping Up a Cascade

Carp Leaping Up a Cascade, Katsushika Hokusai

 This is one of my all time favorite pieces of art, much less one by Hokusai. It is so evocative.

Couldn't Put It Down — The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman

More of the books I've been delighted to find I still really enjoy even though I first read it decades ago.

 

Mrs. Pollifax is a widow in her 60s who is extremely bored with her life. When her doctor advises her to try something she always wanted to do, she remembers a youthful longing to be a spy. Showing up at the CIA to apply, she is mistaken for one of their regular couriers and given a simple assignment. That assignment leads to an adventure which takes her to a career in espionage.

This is a bit of a love letter to the first six novels in the Mrs. Pollifax series from 1966-1983. They are that rarest of all creations, the cozy spy novel.

My mother would bring home the latest from the grocery store and it would get passed around. We all enjoyed Mrs. Pollifax's personality and ingenuity, as well as the author's talent for weaving an enjoyable spy novel. There is suspense and mystery but also the light, personal touch that Mrs. Pollifax herself injects into every situation. Of course her lack of experience and training means that she winds up getting deeper into every assignment than her handlers expected. Her interest in the people and situations around her lead to a sort of inspired mayhem resulting from Mrs. Pollifax logically from trying to achieve her goal under circumstances that rapidly spin out of control. 

I'm finding the books also serve as time capsules for living in the days of the Cold War and other political situations that I'd almost forgotten about. It all feels familiar and yet so far away as I read. Dorothy Gilman also took a great deal of care with the geography and culture of these far away places. I didn't realize it so long ago when I was first reading, but they really are a good, if casual, look at the countries Mrs. Pollifax visits.

My favorites are the first six books but there are many more to try.

Thunderstorm Beneath the Summit

Thunderstorm Beneath the Summit, Katsushika Hokusai
from the celebrated Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series

Helping people or helping yourself ...

When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.

Thomas Sowell

Well, well, well. That rings really true!

Hibiscus and Sparrow

Katsushika Hokusai, Hibiscus and Sparrow, 1830
via Wikipaintings

What can I say? I love Asian art, especially by Hokusai. This combines a sense of movement and calm that I like. And I love the balance of the coral and green.

Brochevarevarura (Who Shall Save the Day?)

This story has the framework of an aspiring scriptwriter who is telling the story to an actress who he hopes to interest in starring in the film he's writing. The film pops in and out of this framework and it is interesting to see how the story can subtly change going forward based on the actress's questions or comments.

As it begins, three slackers (or as they are charmingly called in India - back benchers) try anything and everything to make passing marks. They meet another low performer who is a young lady and the principal's daughter. When she runs into trouble, they turn all their limited resources into helping her out.

For the first half of the movie, this was all good and well, but I kept wondering what led to all the good critical reviews and audience enthusiasm. It seemed very ordinary in many ways. However, about halfway through a plot twist popped up that left us astounded and intrigued. This made all the difference as the movie exploded into action and we were glued to the story.

I would like to rewatch this someday because there are hints in the beginning which are fulfilled by the end. I know that we missed some but the obvious ones were a real pleasure when they popped up. This was cleverly written and well acted and directed. Definitely recommended.

A Wild Sea at Choshi

Katsushika Hokusai, A Wild Sea at Choshi, c. 1833
Via Arts Everyday Living

This is so well done that you can feel the movement of the boats, the spray from the waves, and the wild ride. Possibly also the terror at the danger!

The Lord, the Word, the Shepherd and Mary

The Lord entered (Mary) and became a servant;
the Word entered her and became silent within her;
thunder entered her and his voice was still;
the Shepherd of all entered her and became a Lamb ...

St. Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor (aka "Harp of the Holy Spirit)

This is so poetic and contains such depth. I love this for reflection.

God has planted us where we are — for our holiness

This is a really long quote but it holds together so well in reflecting on the particular circumstances of our own lives and God's desire for us to grow in holiness — so we're reading it all!

All times are good times for entering into the depths of sanctity; all circumstances are opportune for loving God more, for our interior life feeds, as plants do, on the stuff of the circumstances in which we are immersed. Growth is the work of the Holy spirit. Plants do not choose the ground in which they are nourished; the sower lets the seeds fall to the earth, where they prosper, converting the useful elements in the soil, with the help of rainwater, into the substance of the maturing grain. And so what is sown ripens and reaches up and grows strong.

With even greater reason we will grow in strength, because it is our Father God who has chosen the terrain and gives us the graces necessary for us to bear fruit. The plot of earth where Our Lord has planted us is the particular family of which we are part, and not any other. We grow up among those who form our initial immediate environment, with all their virtues and failings and idiosyncrasies. The rich mould we are rooted in is our work, which we must love so that it will sanctify not only us, but also our colleagues, our classmates, our neighbours ... The earth from whose nutrients we have to produce fruits of holiness is our country, our own country, our city, our town, the prevailing social or political system, our own condition of life and no other. It is there, in that environment, in the midst of the world where the Lord says we can and must live all the Christian virtues, developing them with all the demands they make on us and not allowing them to be stunted or to wither. God calls people to holiness in every circumstance: in war and in peace, in sickness and in health, when we think we have triumphed and when we face unexpected defeat, when we have plenty of time and when time is at a premium, so that we seem barely to manage to do what we must. Our Lord wants us to be saints at all times. Those who do not rely on grace, and habitually see things with a completely human outlook, are saying constantly: this now, is not the right tim for sanctity ..., later ... perhaps ...

Let us not think that in another place, in another situation we would be ready to follow Our Lord more closely and carry out a more fruitful apostolate. Let us leave that mystical wishful thinking to one side. The fruits of sanctity Our Lord expects are those produced in and from the environment in which we find ourselves, here and now...

Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God, Volume Three: Eleventh Week, Tuesday

Kingfisher, carnation, iris

Kingfisher, carnation, iris by Katsushika Hokusai

 This reminds me that I really love Hokusai's work. Perhaps next week we'll look at some more!

Praying with Saint Augustine by Sara McLaughlin

“This book is powerful. Anyone who prays these prayers from the heart will be changed from the heart.” ― From the foreword by Peter Kreeft, Ph.D.

For years, there have been no books of St. Augustine’s prayers available. Finally, in this treasure trove, you will find select prayers from his works ― some of the most potent prayers ever composed. As you read the innermost thoughts of the greatest Church Father, you will be transported in time and learn how to pray with the heart of a saint. St. Augustine’s timeless words will help you encounter the “Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new” face-to-face and experience the relationship between praying and believing.

These precious gems are uplifting and accessible to all. Covering a range of topics and styles, they include praise and petition for health, docility, forgiveness, restoration, and salvation. You will also find prayers glorifying the Trinity’s attributes, such as wisdom, light, goodness, mercy, and truth, as well as intimate prayers of adoration to the Incarnate Word.

I think that Sara McLaughlin must love Saint Augustine as much as I do, although it never occurred to me to look for a collection of his prayers. She, however, went on the hunt and found that only a few books which were fairly incomplete and out of print. Being a woman after my own heart, she decided to compile one herself.  

She combed through Since St. Augustine's writings since he's is well known for combining prayers with his writing. That's a big job since he was a prolific writer. What she found has been published in a collection of inspirational, beautiful prayers which have been divided into five categories: Praise, Revealing God's Attributes, Adoring the Incarnate Christ, Forgiveness and Salvation, and Petition. Sometimes they are a sentence or two long. Sometimes they cover several pages. 

Of course, the point of prayer is to bring us closer to God.  As I pray my way through the book, I am rediscovering Augustine's honesty, love for God, and deep insight coming through. It informs my own love of God. It carries me closer to knowing both God and myself a little better. This is Augustine's special way, of course, and why I love St. Augustine as an elder brother beckoning me down the road toward the Lord.

I'm so glad that Sara McLaughlin undertook this labor of love so that I can benefit as well. Highly recommended.

Purple Irises

Leslie Wagle

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.

We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God's universe is made; this is the way it is structured.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have seen this truth in so many places — with my family and friends, work, and neighbors. Most lately it has become apparent in my volunteering with the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. It comes up repeatedly to me not only when I meet SVdP neighbors who ask for our help but in the weekly meetings where the group comes together. 

We help each other along or we get in each other's way. We're all woven together on our way to God. How do I become the person who helps more than I hinder? That's the question we must all ask as we strive to become saints.

Irises

Irises, 1889, by Vincent van Gogh
via Wikipedia

Iris

Iris by Himmapaan

 Irises are one of my favorite flowers and Himmapaan's rendition is so lovely. Let's have a week of irises!

Word & Song by Anthony Esolen

Word & Song is the place to go for meditations on the beauty and sometimes the wildness of the English language, on English poetry and hymns, and on the sometimes forgotten gems of the Golden Age of film. What’s a teacher but someone who says, “Come, look at the great thing I’ve found!” Well then, we’ll be looking at — and listening to — some great things!

I came across this daily newsletter halfway through Advent and it was a delightful accompaniment to the season. 

I've continued reading it through this year. Every day I'm treated to the latest entry in one of the categories like Word of the Week, Hymn of the Week, Movie of the Week, and much more. They are short but substantial. And they continually beautiful art to illustrate whatever overall point is being made. They are a refreshing start to my day and a touch of beauty to carry with me.

They truly are fulfilling their mission recently stated in asking readers to spread the word:

We do genuinely hope to reach as wide an audience as possible with our daily dose of things good, beautiful, and true, a push back in an uplifting way against the distressing, ugly, and false messages that all of us have to face down every day in our benighted* times.

I've had several conversations lately with people who are disheartened by the state of our popular culture. Here's one of the remedies. Check it out.

Girl in a red dress reading by a swimming pool

Girl in a red dress reading by a swimming pool (1887). Sir John Lavery (Irish, 1856-1941). 

Hey, I didn't know they had swimming pools in 1887.

Couldn't Put It Down — The Street of the Five Moons by Elizabeth Peters

Another of the books I've been delighted to find I still really enjoy even though I first read it decades ago.

What did it all mean? The note with the hieroglyphs was found in the pocket of a man lying dead in an alley. The only other item of interest was a piece of jewelry, a reproduction of the Charlemagne talisman. It was good, so good that Vicky Bliss thought she was being shown the real jewel. The goldwork was done by a master; the jewels weren’t glass but top-quality synthetic stones. What did it mean?

Vicky didn’t know … yet. But on the sunbathed streets and in the moonlit courtyards of Rome, she was going to find out—if the dangerously exciting young Englishman didn’t get in her way…

I've read this many times since Vicky Bliss is my favorite of author Elizabeth Peters' heroines. However, I haven't read it for a long time so when I saw that the Barbara Rosenblat narration was available on Audible, I got ready for an enjoyable reacquaintance. Her narration really did make the book even better.

The Vicky Bliss series is made up of cozy adventure mysteries with a no nonsense heroine who is a curator at an art museum. When she meets up with a charming art thief the combination is quite fun. As with many favorites I've recently reread after a decade or so, I remembered the big surprises but was startled by other plot twists that I did't remember. The setting in Rome and Tivoli, the charming art thief, the eccentric household where Vicky is investigating, and the sheer adventure of the escapades that she gets embroiled in are all enhanced by a nice layer of humor that makes for lighthearted entertainment.

My favorites of the series are this one, Silhouette in Scarlet, and Trojan Gold. Any of them can be read as a standalone, though all build on the relationship between Vicky and the art thief. 

It is fluff but my kind of fluff.