Category: personal

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Review: Essential Writings G.K. Chesterton

I’ve changed my reading routine to include 20-30 minutes of spiritual reading in the mornings. That is dramatic change in my usual speed reading zoom through books — an occupational hazard when you’re an English teacher with multiple courses. Enjoying, even savoring a book is not a thing. Enter the spiritual reading: not just a slow-down, but a conscientious discipline to read a small portion of a work and meditate upon it prayerfully. I look for texts that lend themselves to this, and I discovered that I already had G.K. Chesterton’s Essential Writings (part of the Modern Spiritual Masters Series) compiled by William Griffin.

This collection of essays are the perfect fit for my routine, and gave me many weeks of deep thoughts, the occasional guffaw, and plenty of reflection. Each selection has a brief set-up to facilitate the context of the piece, and was indispensable for my journaling later.

Chesterton’s observations are a little quirky and often surprising, but always spot-on. My favorite essay, “Why I’m Not a Pagan,” explores the limitations of a plain humanity found in paganism, and the elevation of the person through Christian virtue. I return often to my favorite passage :

Charity means pardoning what is unpardonable, or it is no virtue at all. Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. And Faith means believing the incredible, or it is no virtue at all.

Essential Writings is a great introduction to Chesterton.

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Review: I Loved Jesus in the Night

I Loved Jesus in the Night

Paul Murray

I’ve been doing some spiritual reading and journaling during this very long Lent. That addition to my morning prayer has been a blessing, and I recommend the practice.

I also enjoy books about Mother Teresa, and this one, I Loved Jesus in the NIght, was just what I needed. Her approach to simplicity has such depth and richness that I never tire of learning about her. Most of these books are small and look like they could be read in the time it takes to make and drink a cup of tea. Don’t let that take you by surprise. These books are meant to be savored. Reflected upon. Prayed with.

This Lent, and this terrible and terrifying slide into Holy Week, has been bearable for me thanks to the insight from this great saint of the 20th century.

I finished in time to carry her wisdom with me into this lonesome, but not lonely, Triduum.

“The personal love Christ has for you is infinite. The small difficulty you have regarding His Church is finite. Overcome the finite with the infinite.” (80)

Isn’t Saint Teresa of Calcutta a saint for our times? A saint for these times?

God bless you!

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signs of spring

Spring is here in the South, and that means ridiculous pollen … and weeds. I finished cleaning up the Mary garden and my roses, and have started tackling some other areas that I want to prettify.

Meanwhile, the hubs is mowing the lawn to help with the clean-up. Unfortunately, these little wildflowers get wiped out in the mowing. They are so tiny and so sweet that I’d like to see them stick around for a little while longer.

 “If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.” St. Thérèse of Lisieux

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