The Growth of Wisdom

As I approach the end of my 82nd year each day I marvel at the amount of new information pouring into this head adorned??? with white hair. Generally I look forward to each new day. While from time to time I regret that this is coming so late in life, mostly I praise the Holy Spirit for making this possible. (pictured above is Sister M. John Bosco who was our parish Sister when we first moved to Crockett. ) If only there were many like her willing to help parents educate their children. The Sisters of the Holy Family (founded in San Francisco circa 1872) have a web site.

PROTECT THE EARTH

Hardly a day passes when the mailman does not deliver 2 or 3 letters from Catholic organizations seeking donations. Yesterday I received about 5 - some containing return postal labels. This started about two years ago when I subscribed to "Our Sunday Visitor" weekly newspaper. I like the paper and have resubscribed a couple of times. I also made donations to two or three of the organizations using the mailing list and the number of appeals increased geometrically. I decided to concentrate my donations to my parish and diocese. One would believe that after not receiving a response from me they would scratch me from their list but not so. I have searched for ways to get them to stop sending labels or greeting cards or pray books or pictures but no luck.

Catholic organizations are not the only violators of the basic conservation provisions. The democratic party has slowed its mailings to me but they continue. How many trees are cut down to seek my dollars is a question in my mind. If anyone has suggestions please let me know.

EVIL is Real

There are days when I feel as if I am accepting the evil actions taking place in the world around me and that there is nothing I can do about it. The prayer "God grant me to accept the things I cannot change" leads me to a place where I accept the evil I see or hear about. Something I read jared me sufficiently to resolve to find out more.

Our tragedy is that evil has become banal. (The phrase "banality of evil" was coined by the Jewish writer Hannah Arendt and incorporated in the title of her 1963 work Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. It is the idea that the great evils in history generally, and during the persecution of the Jews during the Second World War in particular, were not executed by fanatics or sociopaths, but rather by ordinary people who accepted the premises of their state and therefore participated with the view that their actions were normal.

Another tidbit I read on the internet:In one of his books, Walker Percy, the American Catholic novelist who died about 20 years ago, uses an epigram he attributes to Dante. Certain human beings, he says, no longer have a sense of the gravity of sin, and this is a terrible condition, he says. "So low they had fallen that they no longer believed themselves creatures worthy even of being damned."

I subscribe to "Inside the Vatican" published and edited by Robert Monyhan and in one of his internet letters he writes about evil and from there I took the quotes.

Moving Closer

Some years ago I discovered author Norris when I read "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, 1993" Now I am reading her book The Cloister Walk." Her description of moments in a Benedictine Monastery have provided me with places to begin meditations. Maybe it is her mid-western background that vibrates with me. Or maybe because she finds inspiration in North Dakota.

THE LIVES OF GREAT CHRISTIANS

For several years I have been able to buy and use a number of "Great Courses" produced by the Teaching Company. Currently I am reading and listening to a 24 lecture course entitled "The Lives of Great Christians" taught by Professor William R. Cook of the State University of New York at Geneseo. Prof. Cook has introduced me to ways of considering the lives of these men and women that is fresh and exciting and adds much to my understanding of Christianity and my Roman Catholic Church. Although Prof. Cook places himself amo,ng "practicing Catholics" he does not limit his choices of great christians to Catholics. Martin Luther, the brothers Wesley, and Dietrrich Bonhoeffer receive sympathtic treatment. Although I have been able to purchase many of the courses, our local library in Crockett as access to many of the courses.

Parents: your children are not your own

Parents: your children are not your own

We are still waiting to see the effect of our 'hanging tight" since it has not yet resulted in any vows. However I cling to the belief that each of them was a gift from God.

February a Great Day for Norsk

In addition to being the feast day of St. Anskar, Feb. 3 is my sisters birthday. So happy birthday to both of you. I'll learn more about Anskar.

My Catholic Church

At 82 years old (almost) I wonder about my role in encouraging nonparticipating Catholics back. I'm too old to study for the priesthood and I'm married. But I can pray.
Loving Father

I invite you into my life today,
and make myself available to you.
Help me to become the-best-version-of-myself,
by seeking your will
and by being a living example of your love in the world.
Open my heart to the areas of my life that need to change,
so I can carry out the mission you have imagined for my life and
experience the joy you desire for me.
Inspire me to live the Catholic faith in ways that are dynamic and engaging,
Show me how to best get invoved in the life of my parish.
Give our community a hunger for best practices and continuous learning.
Give me courage when I am afraid,
and when I am discouraged,
and clarify in times of decision.
Lead your Church to become all you imagined it would be
for the people of our times.

Amen

This prayer is from the website of Dynamic Catholic