Reading Catholic and catholic
(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise “worth a listen”). Explanation (of a kind) here.
For some reason, every time I hear this song I think about Confession.
It’s time to make an effort to go, as we head into Advent and Christmastime. Advent or just before Advent is a great time to schedule a time to get to this great Sacrament. Consider yourself reminded, and I will do the same.
(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise “worth a listen”). Explanation (of a kind) here.
I had another song cued up for this morning (I’ll save that for another Wednesday), when at Mass this morning, I head the first reading proclaimed.
I immediately thought, I know the song I should feature! I can actually be liturgically appropriate for today. So I rushed (unsuccessfully) to get home before 7 a.m. (when the other song was scheduled to post), to post this one instead.
The first reading, like all this week in the days leading up to the feast of Christ the King this Sunday, is from the Revelation to John. Here is part of it:
The four living creatures, each of them with six wings,
were covered with eyes inside and out.
Day and night they do not stop exclaiming:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty,
who was, and who is, and who is to come.”
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks
to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
the twenty-four elders fall down
before the one who sits on the throne
and worship him, who lives forever and ever.
They throw down their crowns before the throne, exclaiming:
“Worthy are you, Lord our God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things;
because of your will they came to be and were created.”
And I thought of a song we are hearing on the radio a lot these days, “Revelation Song.” The video above, which features a bit of the song, shows the band describing how the song is powerful in moving people. I agree.
Our family tries to read the Mass readings in the morning, taking turns reading. Our kids sometimes bicker about who gets to do what, lest you imagine a holy scene at the breakfast table.
Every few weeks, a reading or responsorial Psalm will remind us of a song we hear on our local Christian radio station. I do like this, as it helps reinforce how steeped we are in Scripture as Catholics, and how worship music and some Christian music can aid our prayer life and knowledge of Scripture.
(A humorous aside: just yesterday, the kids read the Mass readings as I was driving my teenager to a friend’s house, and when she finished the Gospel about Jesus encountering Zaccheus, I immediately launched into, “Zaccheus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he.”)
This week, as we lead up to the Feast of Christ the King, the Church’s readings point towards the last things, the end of the world, to prepare us for the beginning of the liturgical year with the first Sunday of Advent. My theologian husband told me once that there’s an old church tradition/hope that the Lord will return in glory on the feast of Christ the King.
One of the band members says in the video about the song, “We felt passionate about the song. When I hear that song, whatever circumstance I am in, it takes me to that place. And where is that place? It’s in the presence of Jesus Christ.”
As Catholics, we have the knowledge that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. So when we visit Jesus, whether in a time of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament or just a quick prayer time at a Church, we are in a very special way in that Presence. Meditating on this song, too, can help dispose us to worship:
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.
As I wrote in my October column, Sister Helena Burns is an expert on media literacy and Theology of the Body, a Catholic new media maven, and a great friend to the Peoria diocese, speaking here often and living in nearby Chicago. Turns out she’s also a gifted author, writing the excellent and deceptively simple daily book for young women, He Speaks to You.
Sister Helena, who is often busy at her own blog, Hell Burns, or on Twitter, graciously agreed to do a Q&A with me here. Thanks, Sister, and thank you for your great book.
Q. Sister Helena, tell Catholic Post readers more about you, your religious community, and your work.
The Daughters of St. Paul are an international congregation of women religious dedicated to evangelizing with the media. We try to use as many forms of media as possible, and now with the new media, we’re like kids in a candy store. When I was discerning my vocation, I was very drawn to sharing the Faith and helping people in spiritual pain (like I had been), and I thought: “What better way to bring God directly into someone’s heart and mind than through a book, a song, a magazine, a film?” I also loved that the Daughters had a kind of “mixed life”: contemplatives in action. Even though we’re an active order, we have approximately 3 hours of prayer each day, including an Hour of Eucharistic Adoration, which was very important to me. Our Founder, Blessed James Alberione, www.MediaApostle.com wanted us to “share the fruits of our contemplation in action.”
Q. You write in the introduction: “The sisters and I have long talked about wanting to find a way to share …basic principles of the interior life and how to live them in daily life.” Why do you think this is so important, for young women in particular?
My Sisters and I often meet young women who want to pray more, go deeper with Jesus, but don’t always know how. Often they say: “I pray, but He doesn’t talk back.” We knew that if we could share some of the basics of prayer, of how the spiritual life “works,” we could really help young women not become discouraged, or give up on their interior life. Although each of our relationships with Jesus is unique, still, there are patterns that saints and mystics, spiritual masters and spiritual directors have identified that are universal.
I believe young women in particular need to look to and develop their interior lives because there really is a “war on women” today (but it’s the exact opposite of what the media says it is)!
Ever since the Sexual Revolution and Women’s Liberation Movement, women have been encouraged to think and act like men interiorly and exteriorly. Women are told to squelch their essential feminine nature (body and soul) because it is “weak, irrational and limiting.” Women’s gifts (the feminine genius) are devalued, most of all by women themselves! But women are naturally “receptive,” (body and soul). We are receptive to men and to new life, but first of all to the Infinite, and we teach men and children how to be receptive to God.
Women are supposedly “more religious” than men (the world over), but can we say that of our young women today? I’m afraid many (young and older) women’s “radar” is broken today. We don’t know what it means to be a woman. We don’t know our own identity in Christ, in Mary (the New Creation: the New Adam and the New Eve). But our radar can be fixed! It’s IN us. “He Speaks to You” is my little attempt to help “fix women’s radar.”
Q. How long did it take you to write the book?
Approximately two years, very part time. Which was great because new ideas sprung up all along the way.
Q. How did you come up with the themes for every month?
We tried to cover the essentials of a ground floor for the building of an “interior castle”!
Q. Was it difficult to write any one part of the book? I enjoyed in particular the “speaking” quotes beginning each day from Jesus, and I wondered if it would be difficult to write so many.
I’m probably going to have an “extended stay” in Purgatory for putting words in Jesus’ mouth! A priest got it right, though, when he guessed: “Sister, is this how YOU hear Jesus?” Jesus is always comforting and challenging at the same time when He speaks to me, and I think that might be a universal for how He speaks to everyone.
He also has a sense of humor. I think probably one of our biggest sins is to take the unimportant things too seriously, and the important things not seriously enough. Actually, Jesus’ parts in the book were the easiest to write. I’m REALLY hoping the Holy Spirit had a big hand in that, because I was asking Him to!
Q. Do you have a favorite section of the book?
I think it’s the month of October–dedicated to Our Lady–because the BVM is my BFF. I loved learning about her different titles and apparitions and sharing them in the book.
Q. What do you recommend as one or two good ways for a young woman to make the interior life and prayer a reality in our culture’s busy lifestyles?
Fidelity to daily prayer is essential. Sporadic prayer is like a sporadic relationship. You never really get to know the other person. There is NO other way.
Q. You are busy with so many projects. Anything in particular you’d like to share as particularly noteworthy?
We’re doing a 90-minute documentary on the life of our Founder, Blessed James Alberione. We’ve finished shooting, laying audio and are now completing the visuals. A rough cut is due January 25, 2013. We’re still fundraising for it and have a pledge of a $10,000 matching grant if we can raise that by December 31! The trailer can be watched (in 10 languages so far) at www.MediaApostle.com and donations can be made securely on the website.
GIFTS for donations to the Fr. Alberione Film (from November 1–December 31) are:
$20 donation–Fr. A medal
$50 donation–Fr. A medal and DVD when completed
$500 donation–Fr. A medal, book (biography), and DVD when completed
$1,000 donation–Fr. A medal, book, DVD, and 12″ resin statue.
Q. Is there anything you would like to add or wish I would have asked?
Yes, the question would be: “If you were to write the same book today, would you do anything differently?” (I wrote it about four years ago.)
The answer? Yes. I would make it even more mushy, lovey-dovey with Jesus and stuff it with even MORE Theology of the Body. Women need to go to Jesus FIRST for their love, self-esteem, self-dignity and to feel beautiful. THEN go to your earthling guy. God’s love never changes.
(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise “worth a listen”). Explanation (of a kind) here.
HT Hell Burns, the blog of Sister Helena Burns. The maker of this video is asking for suggestions about other videos to autotune, and some of the commenters suggested Cardinal Dolan’s prayer at the end of the Democratic National Convention.
This reminds me a little of a video (I didn’t actually realize it was a video until I Googled it. I have the audio version in iTunes from way back when BXVI was elected, and a French girl living with us at that time shared it with me).
Truth be told, I’m not. I usually dig out the Advent wreath well after Thanksgiving and the start of Advent, and we don’t light it every day. I confess we’ve been uneven in our use of a Jesse tree.
Does it count that for the last few years, I have gotten the kids a Trader Joe’s chocolate calendar and they open a door every day of December?
I thought not.
I know Advent is a great time of preparation, so I’m hoping for better success this year.
Here are some new books in case you, too, might need some fresh ideas to make Advent a time of joyful preparation:
*Father Gary Caster, a priest of the diocese of Peoria, has a new St. Therese-inspired book out: The Little Way of Advent: Meditations in the Spirit of St. Therese of Lisieux.
Father Caster’s latest book, like his previous title The Little Way of Lent, provides for each day (in this case, of Advent) a Scripture passage, a reflection and a little quote from St. Therese. For those who love Father Caster’s preaching style and his prolific writing, The Little Way of Advent does not disappoint.
(Go here to read my Q&A with Father around the time that I reviewed The Little Way of Lent).
*A Catholic Family Advent: Prayers and Activities by Susan Hines-Brigger offers family-centric activities, reflections and Scripture for each day of Advent. I especially liked the “talk together” portion to spark conversation, perhaps around the dinner table, before lighting the aforementioned Advent wreath.
*Lisa Hendey has a slim new volume O Radiant Dawn: 5-Minute Prayers Around the Advent Wreath, with short, very do-able reflections for most, and also some for younger children, for each day of the Advent season.
*Advent and Christmas Wisdom from St. Vincent de Paul by John E. Rybolt, provides short reflections and quotes from the writings of St. Vincent de Paul, particularly focusing on the saint’s reputation as “the Apostle of Charity.”
The above appeared in this weekend’s edition of The Catholic Post on the book page. Even as I wrote it, I began to realize that our family does “do” Advent a wee bit better than just the Trader Joe’s chocolate calendar. And does it not surprise you that the way we excel at keeping Advent and Christmastime is through books?
So in addition to trying to make some of these new books part of my Advent tradition, I also plan to take a look (as we get closer to Advent) at some of our favorite classic Advent/Christmas books–including many picture books–that might help you keep Advent well, too. Watch for a special series of posts as Advent draws closer.
Here is the monthly feature from this weekend’s print edition of The Catholic Post called “Meet a Reader.” As I do from time to time, I feature a local author in these pages as well. Thanks so much to John Kelly for agreeing to be featured in The Post and for sharing about his new book, The Other Law of Moses.
How you know me: I was born in Peoria. I attended St. Thomas grade school & Bergan High. I’ve been in the financial services industry for thirty-six years. I am widowed from Nancy and married to Amy. We have four grown children and one grandchild. I’m still active in my parish (St. Thomas), and Amy and I have headed up our parish’s Great Adventure Bible Studies for the last six years. I’ve also been active in the Cursillo, and in the Diocesan Vocation Support Group. Amy teaches at Holy Family School in Peoria. I enjoy reading as well as writing. Last January, I published my first book, The Other Law of Moses. I have also published several articles about the intersection between our faith and practical, widespread prosperity.
Why I love reading: I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction, but I like non-fiction best. It might be history, politics, biography or Catholicism, but I’m usually into a book that will broaden me, and hopefully challenge me. There is so much to learn, and I believe the answers to most of our problems are already out there. On the other hand, I also enjoy a good mystery or thriller, or even poetry. Perhaps another reason I love reading is that I love to see what truly talented wordsmiths can do with our wonderful language.
What I’m reading now: True to form, it’s non-fiction. I’m in the middle of Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. I just finished The True Gold Standard by Lewis Lehrman, the author of Lincoln at Peoria. Before that, it was Father Robert Sirico’s excellent book, Defending the Free Market – The Moral Case for a Free Economy.
My book: I wrote The Other Law of Moses about the economic Law inside the Law of Moses, and how well that great, but mostly unknown gift, worked. The Law brought about great general prosperity, and made ancient Israel the world’s first middle-class nation. The book follows God’s people through their cycles of compliance and non-compliance with the “Land Law,” as I call it. I even suggest that Jesus spoke of this Law often; that his followers understood what he was saying about it, but that we do not. The ending highlights the uncommon prosperity many places in the world enjoy where parts of this Law are practiced. Surprisingly, these places are unaware of the ancient pedigree their successful economic rules have.
My favorite books: Progress and Poverty by Henry George, written in 1879, is at the top of my list. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy is also up there. More recent favorites are Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. The surprises and answers in the Bible continue to astound me. And the list would not be complete without Michael Novak’s excellent The Catholic Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.