Philippians 1:9
9: And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
Paul prays for the people of Philippi and, one assumes, in his place before the Lord for us as well. And the prayer--that our love may abound. With that abounding love, he asks as well a gift that is often given, less often unwrapped, and still less often actually used. He asks for knowledge and discernment. Now, a great many of us, myself among them, think we know a great deal more than we actually do. We credit ourselves with great learning. What those of us proud of our intellectual prowess seldom realize is that we know everything in the world about what does not matter and astonishingly little about "the one thing necessary." The gift that Paul asks for us is knowledge of the Lord and that knowledge is a deep understanding--an intimate view of Love. Thus knowledge deepens our own love, and knowledge otherwise directed, while always fruitful, is not at its most fruitful. What Paul prays for us is the most fruitful gift of knowledge.
This knowledge ends in discernment--because love, and particularly Love Incarnate, is the ultimate discernment. If there is any gift less used than knowledge, it must be the gift of discernment. I seem to be constitutionally incapable of choosing the greatest good. I can choose greater goods, but my will is weak, and I don't seem to be able to choose the very greatest Good, the one Good.
Discernment is sorely needed as we pass into the season of lies and counterlies, of half-truths, and of subtle traps (pun intended) that seek to persuade us to vote one way or another. But discernment is sorely needed for everyday activities. The art and grace of listening to the Lord is something that Christians have too long neglected, relying instead upon their own devices. Discernment is a faculty of the intellect inspired by grace and led by the Holy Spirit, but the intellect must be ready to be led, or discernment cannot occur. And discernment, valuing the greater good in its proper measure and thus choosing the greater good, is something whereby the entire community of God profits.
Prayer Requests
URGENT REQUESTS: For a young lady who is in a bad place and needs the light of grace and hope of heart to lift a great weight.
For the families of people who have died in the course of Ivan and for all those whose homes and livelihoods have been damaged or endangered. Particularly for Lee Ann and whoever else found themselves in Alabama.
Please continue to pray for Dylan until he returns to us.
For Smockmomma's sister Charlene, may God help her, heal her, and above all else hold her close in time of yet another trial.
Please storm heaven for the people of Grenada, Jamaica, Cuba, and Mexico. Ask Heaven's protection for the latter and help of restoration for the former. Please also remember all the people in the track of the storm and entreat our Lord to shear it away, destroy it bedore it can cause even greater harm.
For my lovely wife who celebrated a birthday yesterday.
For the continued recovery of Katherine's mother, for her spiritual awakening and well-being, and for the will to put herself right with God.
A quick sale and an easy move for Tom and his family as they set out on another exciting adventure in life.
Pour out prayers on the people of Florida who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and their lives in this season of storms.
For a deeper understanding of and commitment to the strengthening grace of the sacrament of marriage, especially for those who are presently undergoing trials.
Please storm heaven for my friends in Louisiana, they've had a long string of misfortune and could do with some good news.
For a dear friend who is undergoing a troubling period in her life, beset with a number of problems, physical, financial, emotional. May God hold her close to His heart.
For a St. Blog's parishioner in need of work to forestall financial catastrophe, that the Lord provide all that is needed in both material and spiritual blessings.
For those struggling against self to attain holiness, that the Good Lord will raise up new Saints for our times, visible beacons that draw all people toward Christ.
For the people of the Sudan that they may know peace and security and that they might learn to live together.
A special request from two gentleman battling particularly troublesome and besetting sins for grace and help as they continue forward.
For all those in the process of discerning vocations to the religious life, for guidance, prudence and good counsel
For our children, that they grow up in security, comfort, and the certain knowledge that they are loved and that they be released from any bonds of darkness, fear, anger, or sadness that bind and threaten them
For all those living under the curse of generational sins, that they may have protection and the inheritance of the past may be made void in their lives.
For all who are suffering from marital problems, most particularly those in our own families or communities, that the Lord may intervene and remind them that a marriage is of three persons.
For mothers and families that struggle with autism and autistic-related disabilities: particularly for M'Lynn, Melissa, Christine, and Betty.
For families that desire more children
For the conversion or return of spouses and loved ones to the Catholic Church, most particularly for Amanda's husband
For the men and women of the American Armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and for their families, may the Good Lord provide sustenance, support, compassion, and love that these separated families might continue to grow in strength and love.
Special Prayer Projects:
(1) For Katherine and Franklin, Gordon and Christine, Peter Kucera, and for all who are seeking employment and suffering through difficult times as they wait.
(2)Healthy Pregnancies and good and safe deliveries: For Suki, for a healthy pregancy and a safe delivery. For JCecil3 and Wife. For Pansy Moss. For Mrs. White and child. For Katherine and her friend Corren. Our Lady of La Leche, pray for us. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. St. Gerard Majella, pray for us. Blessed Gianna, pray for us.
Here are like some of the most awesome valspeak excerpts from recent postings.
My Motto in Val Speak:
Ignoring the imperfections of others, preserving silence and a continual communion with Gawd will eradicate totally awesome imperfections from the soul and make it the possessor of totally awesome virtues.
San Juan de la Cruz
From "A Modest Proposal"
If like we cannot choose our own label and totally have it respected, perhaps the same courtesy should be offered the opposing camp. Like, gag me with a spoon! And as regards the child in the womb, anti-life is totally nothing short of true.
From the review of Soulmaking
I am SO sure! Like, oh my gawd Like, these are unfortunately entirely too infrequent, and each time they occur, the Author choses to explicate them at such length that by the time one totally has finished the phrase "beating a croaked horse" totally has suddenly got a picture to put next to it in the dictionary. . . .
Like, he understands a bitchin' many of the trials like we all face. Like, the problem is totally that he is totally foundationally incapable of sharing that understanding with a person in a gnarly walk of lilfe.
From the Chaos Entry
Floridians all over the state anxiously check the NOAA site on the web to see where Ivan is totally heading. If they check with each update they see amazing swings in the five day forecast. Two days ago, Ivan was like, you know, on a crash-course for Appalachicola Bay; yesterday early morning, he was like, you know, coming straight up the penisula through the everglades; yesterday mid-morning he was like, you know, following a Charley-like course; yesterday evening he was like, you know, back in the gulf Anyway... Sooo, like, this morning he is totally crashing into Tampa/St. Pete and heading north.
Following on the strategy of those who "support women's rights" in properly staging our propaganda, I modestly propose renaming the group.
Pro-abortion suggests something positive. The pro-abortion group has caught on to this and their journalists commonly label pro-life people "anti-choice." This is a very strong piece of subtle propaganda and very well delivered. Anti- carries with it an enormous onus, and when one is anti-choice, well. . .
Perhaps, then, following the leads of our confrères in this regard we should consider a more appropriate, more astringent label for those who "support women's rights" while depriving the unborn of all, even life itself. Perhaps a more appropriate name for the ardent pro-abortionist pack would be "Anti-life." In this manner we may use the appropriate censuring tone, while stating our own displeasure and disapproval of being labeled. If we cannot choose our own label and have it respected, perhaps the same courtesy should be offered the opposing camp. And as regards the child in the womb, anti-life is nothing short of true.
Mostly--a dreadful muddle. While the book claims to be a propounding of the faith of the desert fathers, it is, in fact, and endless rumination on the conjunction between psychotherapy and religion--elementally a revelation of what happens when good Christians become inextricably lost in their modernist and postmodernist paradigms.
Spirituality is the central purport of this work. Unfortunately the author lives entirely in the world of his head. His heart has long since been taken in thrall by a mind that has been cultured by the works of Jung and Freud.
The main problem with the book is not so much what it teaches as that everything the author touches is semi-obscured by prose that is thick as a London pea-fog. Occasionally, as yesterday's entry reveals, there is a sparkling, wonderful, insightful revelation--something that really spotlights an important aspect of our spiritualilty. These are unfortunately entirely too infrequent, and each time they occur, the Author choses to explicate them at such length that by the time one has finished the phrase "beating a dead horse" has suddenly got a picture to put next to it in the dictionary.
I suppose the author speaks to a certain kind of very intellectual, very rarified faith. He speaks largely to people whose faith is lived in their heads. He spends much of the book contradicting himself--at one point being "horrified and disgusted" by the dogmatic faith of fundamentalist interpreters of the Bible who have no notion of the expansiveness of God. Then later we are told that he doesn't judge these spiritual pinheads who have no notion of the God before whom they stand because it would damage his own standing with God.
The overall effect is that one comes to believe that Mr. Jones really has his heart in the right place. He does understand what it means to be Christian. He understands a good many of the trials we all face. The problem is that he is foundationally incapable of sharing that understanding with a person in a normal walk of lilfe.
I hope I do not need to say--NOT recommended.
We are celebrating the feast of the cross which drove away darkness and brought in the light. As we keep this feast, we are lifted up with the crucified Christ, leaving behind us earth and sin so that we may gain the things above. So great and outstanding a possession is the cross that he who wins it has won a treasure. Rightly could I call this treasure the fairest of all fair things and the costliest, in fact as well as in name, for on it and through it and for its sake the riches of salvation that had been lost were restored to us. from a Discourse--St. Andrew of Crete
Prayer Requests
Please continue to pray for Dylan until he returns to us.
For Smockmomma's sister Charlene, may God help her, heal her, and above all else hold her close in time of yet another trial.
Please storm heaven for the people of Grenada, Jamaica, Cuba, and Mexico. Ask Heaven's protection for the latter and help of restoration for the former. Please also remember all the people in the track of the storm and entreat our Lord to shear it away, destroy it bedore it can cause even greater harm.
For my lovely wife who celebrated a birthday yesterday.
For the continued recovery of Katherine's mother, for her spiritual awakening and well-being, and for the will to put herself right with God.
A quick sale and an easy move for Tom and his family as they set out on another exciting adventure in life.
Pour out prayers on the people of Florida who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and their lives in this season of storms.
For a deeper understanding of and commitment to the strengthening grace of the sacrament of marriage, especially for those who are presently undergoing trials.
Please storm heaven for my friends in Louisiana, they've had a long string of misfortune and could do with some good news.
For a dear friend who is undergoing a troubling period in her life, beset with a number of problems, physical, financial, emotional. May God hold her close to His heart.
For a St. Blog's parishioner in need of work to forestall financial catastrophe, that the Lord provide all that is needed in both material and spiritual blessings.
For those struggling against self to attain holiness, that the Good Lord will raise up new Saints for our times, visible beacons that draw all people toward Christ.
For the people of the Sudan that they may know peace and security and that they might learn to live together.
A special request from two gentleman battling particularly troublesome and besetting sins for grace and help as they continue forward.
For all those in the process of discerning vocations to the religious life, for guidance, prudence and good counsel
For our children, that they grow up in security, comfort, and the certain knowledge that they are loved and that they be released from any bonds of darkness, fear, anger, or sadness that bind and threaten them
For all those living under the curse of generational sins, that they may have protection and the inheritance of the past may be made void in their lives.
For all who are suffering from marital problems, most particularly those in our own families or communities, that the Lord may intervene and remind them that a marriage is of three persons.
For mothers and families that struggle with autism and autistic-related disabilities: particularly for M'Lynn, Melissa, Christine, and Betty.
For families that desire more children
For the conversion or return of spouses and loved ones to the Catholic Church, most particularly for Amanda's husband
For the men and women of the American Armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and for their families, may the Good Lord provide sustenance, support, compassion, and love that these separated families might continue to grow in strength and love.
Special Prayer Projects:
(1) For Katherine and Franklin, Gordon and Christine, Peter Kucera, and for all who are seeking employment and suffering through difficult times as they wait.
(2)Healthy Pregnancies and good and safe deliveries: For Suki, for a healthy pregancy and a safe delivery. For JCecil3 and Wife. For Pansy Moss. For Mrs. White and child. For Katherine and her friend Corren. Our Lady of La Leche, pray for us. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. St. Gerard Majella, pray for us. Blessed Gianna, pray for us.
Today I stumbled across one of the few good things I have found in a book by Alan Jones.
from Soulmaking
Alan JonesThe device of the vocal quartet, becoming a quintet, becoming a sextet, and on and on--until everyone is singing is a vivid metaphor for the truth that each of us sings our own unique melody, and all contribute to one great and glorious sound: all sounds mix and rise together to become unending music. It is thus that I find my "home" in harmony with all other creatures. . .
The Christian understanding of God is concerned with holding together unity and diversity. And the belief in God as the Holy and Undivided Trinity speaks directly to our desire to be one without being swallowed up. . . .
The other day I read a blog post--either a post or a comment in which the commenter suggested that our goal as Christians is to all become one and thus lose any individual identity we would have. I had a number of thoughts about this. For example--then why create individuals? Wouldn't it do just as well to create some sort of syncitial organism (with respect to souls) that incorporates all in one? Doesn't God cherish each of us individually, as we love each of our children for their own unique personalities and aspects? Somehow the idea of being blended together in a big grey mass of personality doesn't seem particularly heavenly or delightful. And why would it entail a resurrection of the body? If one were to simply become one in Christ without identity, what point?
But this notion of oneness--the idea of individual voices all singing the individual melodies that blend together to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. This seems (pardon the pun) sound and accurate. The Saints--those whose lives more closer mirror oneness in Christ than does my own--they are each unique, individual, separate. Each one has a distinct personality, each one distinct talents, each one a special mission.
So perhaps becoming one in Christ is harmonizing with all around--singing our own God-given melody in such a way that it unites those around us and corporately moves all of us closer to salvation. In Calvinist theology, salvation is a very lonely, one-on-one business. And to some degree that is truth (I think). My own salvation necessarily impacts others, but it does not necessarily "save" them. And yet I think there are ways of thinking about salvation that are not so lonely, and the Church has long recognized the communal aspect to salvation. Our actions do affect one another (one of the reasons for the sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation) and we can be effective instruments of grace to our traveling companions. We harmonize with those around us. We learn our own parts, and coach others in learning their's in such a way as to make the greatest sound of joy to the Lord. Imagine the glorious sound of a octogiga-et, a sound, that ironically could be channeled back to the beginning of time (as suggested by the Ainur at the beginning of The Silmarillion and sing creation into being. A truly wonderful ouroboros.
Sorry, the last entry was reference to a review that has somehow vanished into ether of Diana Wynne Jones's The Time of the Ghost. I'll try to reconstruct it in the near future. Suffice to say right now for dedicated fans only.
The Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte looks to be the usual tightly written suspense/mystery that one has come to expect from the author who produces mysteries for the Eco-reading set. While the narratives tend to be complex and multifaceted, there is a smoothness to the writing that really draws the reader in. I haven't even really started the book at this point, and yet I am drawn in by references to The Count of Monte Cristo and other evidences that the heroine of our title moves from hunted to hunter throughout the pages of the book. I'll let you know when I'm done.
And after all, there is something about the phrase and title "Queen of the South" that is vaguely portentous. When I read it in the Gospels, I have always wondered why this name rather than Sheba (to whom it refers). I don't know, but it adds to the beauty and the literary mystery of the Gospels.
This seemed mordantly appropriate for the terrible storm that so many face:
The waters have risen and severe storms are upon us, but we do not fear drowning, for we stand firmly upon a rock. Let the sea rage, it cannot break the rock. Let the waves rise, they cannot sink the boat of Jesus. What are we to fear? . . . I have only contempt for the world's threats, I find its blessings laughable. I have no fear of poverty, no desire for wealth. I am not afraid of death nor do I long to live, except for your good. I concentrate therefore on the present situation and I urge you, my firends, to have confidence. from a homily--St. John Chrysostom
Prayer Requests
Please continue to pray for Dylan until he returns to us.
Please storm heaven for the people of Grenada, Jamaica, Cuba, and Mexico. Ask Heaven's protection for the latter and help of restoration for the former. Please also remember all the people in the track of the storm and entreat our Lord to shear it away, destroy it bedore it can cause even greater harm.
For my lovely wife who celebrated a birthday yesterday.
For the continued recovery of Katherine's mother, for her spiritual awakening and well-being, and for the will to put herself right with God.
A quick sale and an easy move for Tom and his family as they set out on another exciting adventure in life.
Pour out prayers on the people of Florida who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and their lives in this season of storms.
For a deeper understanding of and commitment to the strengthening grace of the sacrament of marriage, especially for those who are presently undergoing trials.
Please storm heaven for my friends in Louisiana, they've had a long string of misfortune and could do with some good news.
For a dear friend who is undergoing a troubling period in her life, beset with a number of problems, physical, financial, emotional. May God hold her close to His heart.
For a St. Blog's parishioner in need of work to forestall financial catastrophe, that the Lord provide all that is needed in both material and spiritual blessings.
For those struggling against self to attain holiness, that the Good Lord will raise up new Saints for our times, visible beacons that draw all people toward Christ.
For the people of the Sudan that they may know peace and security and that they might learn to live together.
A special request from two gentleman battling particularly troublesome and besetting sins for grace and help as they continue forward.
For all those in the process of discerning vocations to the religious life, for guidance, prudence and good counsel
For our children, that they grow up in security, comfort, and the certain knowledge that they are loved and that they be released from any bonds of darkness, fear, anger, or sadness that bind and threaten them
For all those living under the curse of generational sins, that they may have protection and the inheritance of the past may be made void in their lives.
For all who are suffering from marital problems, most particularly those in our own families or communities, that the Lord may intervene and remind them that a marriage is of three persons.
For mothers and families that struggle with autism and autistic-related disabilities: particularly for M'Lynn, Melissa, Christine, and Betty.
For families that desire more children
For the conversion or return of spouses and loved ones to the Catholic Church, most particularly for Amanda's husband
For the men and women of the American Armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and for their families, may the Good Lord provide sustenance, support, compassion, and love that these separated families might continue to grow in strength and love.
Special Prayer Projects:
(1) For Katherine and Franklin, Gordon and Christine, Peter Kucera, and for all who are seeking employment and suffering through difficult times as they wait.
(2)Healthy Pregnancies and good and safe deliveries: For Suki, for a healthy pregancy and a safe delivery. For JCecil3 and Wife. For Pansy Moss. For Mrs. White and child. For Katherine and her friend Corren. Our Lady of La Leche, pray for us. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. St. Gerard Majella, pray for us. Blessed Gianna, pray for us.