Wisdom of G. K. Chesterton

This is one of the most recent reflections I have used this Advent Season and I want to share it with you.   It comes from the book, Advent and Christmas, Wisdom from G. K. Chesterton edited by The Center for the Study of . S. Lewis and Friends.

It is commonly in a somewhat cynical sense that Men have said, "Blessed is she that expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed."  It was in a wholly happy and enthusiastic sense that Saint Francis said, "Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall enjoy everything."  It was by this deliberate idea of starting from zero, from the dark of nothingness of his own deserts, that he did come to enjoy them.  

SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

The Gift of God

This is what I have seen to be good.  It is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the tois with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is ou lot.  Like wise all to whom God give wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil--this is the gift of God.  For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives,because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

Prayer

Lord, our days are short, but we have done nothing to deserve even the few years of live that you give us.  Teach is to be grateful for small things--food and drink and work--by remembering you servant Saint Francis, who truly expected nothing and enjoyed everything he had.

Advent Action

Each time you sit down to eat today, pause a little long than you normally do.  Meditate on the words from Ecclesiastes,  "it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment."  allow yourself to fill with thanks, to be thank-full.

May you all continue to enjoy this  Holy Season and may your Christmas be one of happiness and thanksgiving to our Creator who loves us without end!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

This and other books in this series Advent and Lent are published by Liguori.

Simply Profound!

 Saint Meinrad Archabbey

February, 2010

Simple, yet profound.

A single opinion cannot overturn the unanimous tradition of the
whole Church, which has spread to the ends of the earth.
~Saint John of Damascus~

This is the Church that has the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit as its guide!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Advent Offering Today

Winter, 2009

I want to share with you this Christmas Novena sent to me by the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.

It is said that this novena was traditionally prayed 15 times a day from the Feast of Saint Andrew, the
Apostle, November 30, until Christmas.  Praying it along with my other prayers seems a reasonable way to incorporate this into my Advent devotions.  And as it was offered to me so I offer it to you.

Hail and blessed be

The hour and moment 

In which the Son of God

was born of the
Most pure Virgin Mary,

At midnight, in Bethlehem,

In the piercing cold.

I beseech Thee, 

O my God, 

To hear my prayers and

grant my desires,

[there mention your request]

Through the merits of 

Our Savior Jesus Christ,

and of His Blessed Mother.

Amen.

Wishing you all a grand day and may all your prayers be fulfilled in their asking!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Advent, the Journey

The Journey Begins on Page ONE

It is a grand time of the year.  Again I am offered a chance to reflect on the past and pursue the future in the celebration of Advent.  One of the books I like to use during this season is Advent and Christmas ~Wisdom from G. K. Chesterton, edited by the Center for the Study of C. S. Lewis and Friends.

It is currently said that hope goes with youth, and lends to your its wings of a butterfly; but I fancy that hope is the last gift given to man, and the only gift not given to youth...But the power of hoping through everything, the knowledge that the soul survives its adventures, that great inspiration comes to the middle-aged; God has kept that good wine until now.  IT is from the backs of the elderly gentlemen that the wings of the butterfly should burst.

Charles Dickens: Last of the Great Men

G. K. Chesterton

It is a great source of inspiration and it challenges me to actively enter into the season.  This is a season of hope and that is what I have found to be most important to me of late.  And so it is that I look to  Advent seeing it as a season full of Hope.

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

The Rosary

The rosary is my favorite prayer.  A marvelous prayer!  Marvelous in its simplicity and in its depth.  In the prayer we repeat many times the words that the Virgin Mary heard from the Archangel, and from her kinswoman Elizabeth.  (Address, Rome, 1978) ~~Pope John Paul II, His Essential Wisdom, Edited by Carol Kelly-Gangi

 ~~~^j^~~~

My favorite prayer too.  

Thanks be to God!

True Value!

So valuable to heaven is the dignity of the human soul

that every member of the human race has a guardian

angel from the moment the person begins to be.

~Saint Jerome~

The question I ask myself today is what value do I place on my life.  Do I even understand that I have worth?  Do I ever consider that I am a treasure and that the way I live my life either corrodes  or polishes this treasure?

Consider that silver teapot you were given by your grandmother.  It is beautiful.  But the trouble is it requires diligence to take care of it.  If it sits too long in the air without use it tarnishes.  So, you have to get the silver polish and clean it until it sparkles.  You are the one given the responsibility to oversee and protect it since your grandmother  loved you.

You see I am a treasure.  I am that teapot.  When I neglect to follow the ways of God, I become tarnished.  I forget that I have value and worth.  In order to repair any damage or to remove the tarnish that I have acquired through the neglect of my soul I must take out that "polish" and restore the shine I once had.

How do I do that?  I know what it is that causes the problem.  I avoid it.  If because of circumstance beyond my control I cannot avoid it, I must apply a thick coat of prayer that will be a buffer.  Then in order to repair what has been broken I ask for forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  

I see that my guardian angel is at all times my "buffer."  She often, without my realizing it, diminishes the tarnish by guiding me past difficulty.  I truly believe this and as I reflect on who I am and where I have been I see that this gift from God for my journey here on earth is part of my treasury.  I know that I am responsible for who I am and who I am becoming, but it is good to know that I have partner that will help me reduce the tarnish and renew the luster of this life I have been given.

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cleaning Out Small Spaces...

Is it as hard for you as it is for me to part with things?  I love a good mystery.  Any book really but mysteries in particular.  I love Agatha Christi, Mary Higgins Clark, and Anne Perry.  I am especially fond of Diane Mott Davidson who writes delicious mysteries set in my native Colorado.  She takes me home as I sit in my chair here in Indiana.

Giving up or parting with things I find dear is challenging.  The excuse I'll read it again is just that, an excuse.  Indeed, I've had all these books for years and I've not returned to any of them.  I simply buy the next.  So why save them.?

I read the verse offered by Saint Francis de Sales and find myself asking,  "How do I bring forth good fruit when I do not share what I have to offer?"  So if I hoard these books and no one has the opportunity to avail themselves of them then what good are they?  So I intend to take them to the library.

The same could be true of my soul.  If I simply do nothing, if I hoard my talent, time, or treasure what good are they to me.  If I never intend to use them they become worthless and a terrible waste.   So clean out the small spaces I will.  I will share what I have with others as Providence guides.  I will not hoard those things he has provided but share them so that I can "bring forth good works seasonalby and with discretion."

~~~^j^~~~

Wishing all a grand weekend 

and

Thanks be to God!