How we Worship

 Have you ever heard someone say that they don't need to go to church because God is everywhere, so why go to a building to worship?

You know what's wrong with that?  Community.  It's the difference between one person singing, which is nice, compared to a choir, which is nicer, because everyone in the choir can feel, hear, and see, and even emote, the feelings the lyricist meant to convey.

Think of this.  You pray for your deceased loved one.  The entire church prays for your loved one.  Which would you want?

Active Contemplatives

 Esther de Waal's book, Seeking God is a description of the life of Benedictine monks.  She ties the monastic life to our everyday life.  Through this book, anyone can apply the attitudes of a monk.  It will help people get through their secular life.

Personally, I'm not at all surprised.  After all, as a Lay Dominican, I live, or try to live, as an Active Contemplative.  All Dominicans (members of the Order of Preachers) do the same, depending on whether they're friars, nuns, sisters, or lay persons.  St. Dominic organized his religious order around the prayer life of monastics.  But we go out and work.  We balance if we can or just do the best that you can.

If we can do it, so can Esther de Waal's readers.  She describes monastic life as ordered, prayerful, and fulfilling.  So, it is.  

 Cape Cod is my summer home, although we love Maine, too.  In fact, this year's family vacation is in Denmark, Maine.  Richard Russo's novel, That Old Cape Magic puts the Cape and Maine as settings.  I loved reading and recognizing everything, although regrettably, Silver Lounge isn't there anymore, I do remember it well.

Russo introduces us to Jack's parents, who were constantly vying against each other and criticizing everything.  Later, he copies them unconsciously.  Jack's wife, Joy, had parents who placed family first.  Jack made fun of them.  

The story takes place between two weddings, their daughter's and her friends.  One if on the Cape and the other is in Maine.

Did I tell you that this novel has its humor?  Everyone is a cynic and sarcastic and at times, it's funny. For example, Jack's parents die and have requested that their ashes be scattered on the Cape.  So, for a good year, Jack carries their ashes in the trunk of his car.  One on one side of the trunk, and the other, on the other.  When he finally does scatter them, it's one on the Bay side, and the other on the ocean side.

Jack's mother is in his head, literally.  He can hear her sarcastic comments.  At times, he answers audibly.  But once the ashes are disposed of, the voice is quieter.

The story is OK, but the setting covers a lot of sins.

Joan fooling around.

 Joan fooling around.  My friend and I were visiting La Salette Shrine in Attleboro, MA.  We enjoyed ourselves.

Martyred While Praying

 Murdered during prayer.  This article relates how youth praying, in the Democratic Republic of Congo were killed.

At least 31 young people in Eucharistic adoration were killed late Sunday night during an attack on a Catholic church in Komanda, a town in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri province. Local officials say the armed group responsible was the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamic State affiliate operating in Central Africa.

  Killed during praying fulfills my definition of martyr.  Lord, don't you see?  Have mercy on your children.

Hurtful Words

 Summerland by Elin Hilderbrand is a good summer novel.  It's about teen life on Nantucket Island.  A tragic accident ends the life of Penny, a twin.  The story is about how three families deal with this horror.  

Her mother and twin brother, Hobson, reminisce.  Her brother was riding in the passenger seat of the car that crashed.  He saw the look in Penny's face.  Was she trying to kill them all?  In the back seat were Penny's boyfriend, Jake, and friend, Demeter.

If she were intent on suicide, why?  Demeter felt guilty because she said something very upsetting to Penny.  Jake wonders why Penny would kill herself leaving Jake alone.  Hobson had to find out what made Penny suicidal.

To complicate matters, the twins' mother, Zoe, was in a relationship with Penny's boyfriend's father, Jordan.  Also, Demeter, although only 17 was grossly obese and a functioning alcoholic in trying to cope with her weight situation.

How everyone copes and heals is the story.  It's a page turner.  The reader is rooting for the characters.  It's a nice ending.

A Benedictine Presbyterian

Author Kathleen Norris should have a blog because her book, The Cloister Walk, is a collection of blog posts.  Her chapters may be long or short, mostly short.  They're her thoughts along her spiritual journey.  Although she chooses to be Presbyterian, she also chooses to be a Benedictine Oblate.  She taught at the Benedictine Abbey Schools and went to their abbey, for retreats.

I think this is like the many Franicans, I know.  They are professed Lay Domicans, but they feel attracted to Franciscan spirituality.  It works.

A few of my favorite quotes, from the book:

...poetry, like prayer is a dialogue with the sacred.

Psalm reading becomes a heartbeat.

Poetry's function is not to explain but to offer images and stories that resonate within our lives.

Doubt--the grace of poetic sensibility.

To say or sing the psalms aloud within a community is to recover religion as an oral tradition.

Communal prayer--when you don't feel like it, others pull you along.

Life is a matter of perspective.

What may be most valuable in myths is the depth of psychological truth that they contain.

Good liturgy is a living poem and ceremony is the key.

Ceremony and tradition can be food for the soul,

Grieving involves touch, seeing, listening to stories, and forgiveness.

There is no way to avoid not having your heart broken, when you visit the widow, bring food, tears, hugs, and the three year old looks up at you and says, "My daddy died."  You see and feel what the death of one person does to the world.

Yes, I see what the thoughts of Kathleen Norris does to me.  She is food for the soul.