We waste so much time on the exterior-and not enough on the interior.
Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Think about this....
If you added up the time spent--the minutes and hours in cars or trains or buses going to shops to buy Christmas things, if you added to that all the time in queues, shopping, returning, and added to that the time decorating inside and out, and added the time making too many cookies, cakes and candy, and compared that time with the time you spent in prayer this Advent, what would you be thinking about your spiritual life?
We waste so much time on the exterior-and not enough on the interior.
We waste so much time on the exterior-and not enough on the interior.
One Reason to Read The Lives of The Saints
http://www.medicaldaily.com/psychologists-discover-how-people-subconsciously-become-their-favorite-fictional-characters-240435
An older study has shown how we become characters we read about in novels, especially our favorites. So, do I act like Little Dorrit, Ann Elliot, Elinor Dashwood, or Fanny Price?
Perhaps we gravitate towards favoring characters who are like us?
This study and common sense tell us why it is important for your children to read the classics with heroes, like Kidnapped or The Far Side of the Word. and the lives of the saints.
Read the lives of the saints and let your children read them over and over and over.
Role model is learned by watching and by reading.
When my son was little, we had the Mary Windeatt series. Here is an old list I found. We passed these on to other home schooling families, but I hope you can find these.
35 St. Paul the Apostle (Jerusalem, ancient Greece and Rome)
45 Love as Strong As Death
255 St. Tarcisius (Pauline Press) Ancient Rome
300 St. Agnes (Pauline Press) Italy
300 St. Pancratius (Pauline Press) Asia Minor
300 Saints of the Byzantine World
385 The Wind at My Back Ireland
500 St. Benedict Italy
1090 Bells of Conquest France
1170 Saint Dominic Spain
1180 Francis and Clare Italy
1190 St. Dominic Italy
1220 Patron St. of First Communicants
1220 St. Hyacinth of Poland Poland
1225 Pillar in the Twilight Italy
1225 The Dumb Ox - St. Thomas Aquinas Italy
1350 St. Catherine of Siena Italy
1425 Wind and Shadows France
1440 Saint Joan France
1460 The Conscience Game England
1500 The Friar and the Knight Spain
1510 Leaving Matters to God Spain
1510 No Place for Defeat Italy
1520 Flame in the Night
1530 The Cross in the West US
1540 Bernadette and the Lady France
1550 A Gamble for God
1550 Saint Philip Italy
1560 Edmund Campion England
1565 St. Francis Solano Peru
1580 St. Martin De Porres Peru
1580 The King's Reward France
1580 The Cheerful Warrior France
1590 St. Rose of Lima Peru
1590 St. John Masias Peru
1600 Saint Issac and the Indians US
1630 Blessed Marie of New France Canada
1640 Father Marquette US
1650 Father Kino US
1650 Kateri Tekakwitha US
1660 A Woman Who Loved France
1725 The Ursulines US
1750 St. Louis De Montfort France
1750 The Road to the Kings Mountain US
1750 Wait for Me US
1760 Mother Seton US
1800 African Triumph Africa
1810 Friend to All Bohemia
1815 Pauline Jaricot France
1820 St. John Bosco Italy
1820 The Great Blackrobe US
1830 John Carrol US
1830 Miraculous Medal France
1840 No Greater Love Belgium
1840 Fr. Damien Belgium
1845 Ahead of the Crowd Italy
1845 Ven. Joseph Marello US
1850 Florence Nightingales Nuns England
1850 Rose Hawthorne US
1860 Katharine Drexel US
1860 The Little Flower France
1890 God's Secret Agent Mexico
1900 More Than a Knight Germany
1900 Yes is Forever US
1915 Our Lady Came to Fatima Portugal
1920 My Eskimos Arctic
1958 Pope John XXIII Italy
a thank you...
To those readers who sent me books for Christmas, a thank you. I am reading now, and you all will benefit, as I shall comment and give book reviews, as I have done, on this blog. The Ralph Martin book is absolutely FANTASTIC. Get it.
Secondly, I still need the American Missal, but only A and Cycle II, and a TLM Missal, as I was not allowed to pick these up and the daily and sunday missal I have (in England) is different than here.
As I cannot get to daily Mass, which I have been doing regularly in Europe, and which is a great hardship, it would be great to have the daily missal.
And, as I am going to the TLM on Sunday, and, again, do not have my missal, I would love to have one.
I know these are expensive, but if someone can manage these, I would appreciate it.
And, as I am in public places using the computer, it is hard for me to pray on line or read Scriptures on line.
As long as I am being "piggy", if someone feels they can manage the Baronius Breviary, that would be fantastic. Or, at least one part.
It is hard being separated from Mass and my books, so all things have been greatly appreciated.
Thoughts on The Sorrowful Mother-Part One
I am thinking of her today on a small donkey riding to Bethlehem.
Mary was on the same type of animal her Son would be riding into Jerusalem in 33 years. This ride would start His Passion Week.
Mary's ride on the 93 mile road to Bethlehem from Nazareth, with the Baby in the womb, and with Joseph at her side was a time of suffering.
Mary would have experienced the cold and wet of winter. It may have been raining or sleeting the entire four day journey. The nights would have been very cold and the married couple would have had to wear woolens-maybe socks and underthings-to keep warm. They slept outside next to the donkey.
Joseph must have felt terrible that his beloved wife, so good, so pure, so perfect, had to endure this journey.
It would not be the last journey, either.
As a very pregnant woman, Mary would have experienced discomfort. This is her joining in the suffering of her Son, Jesus. This is her sharing in the salvation of all. This is Mary, Co-Redemptorix and Mediatrix of All Grace, on a donkey, in the cold, going somewhere she did not know to have the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
She had the quiet joy of an expectant mother, but she also had peace and pain at the same time. This is the way of the saints, and she is the greatest one. Mary was pure, so did not need purification, but she shared in her Son's salvific role.
Mary knew Who her Son Is. She knew He Is God. She, the Bride, the Daughter, the Theotokos, knew Who He Is and who she is.
That made the journey all the more painful.
The Sorrowful Mother on the way to Bethlehem....let us ask her intercession today for all our needs.
Our Lady of Sorrow, pray for us.
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