Thursday, August 6, 2015
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Auditioning For Sainthood
Dreams can be useful things. They wander through the soul, leaving
the merest whispers, and I love them for the challenges they offer.
Daydreams stage little dramas in our minds. They often call us forward into roles for which we begin mentally 'auditioning,' as we consider which dreams to pursue and which to set aside.
As a child, I rehearsed a lot for the part I most wanted to land as a grownup. I had lots of props. Dolls, of course, and pretend kitchen equipment, and dress-up clothes that made me look (I was sure of it) like a glamorous mommy. I was especially fond of Mother's cast-off high heels, in which I teetered about house and yard at least a full inch taller. I just knew my feet were growing into the shoes even as I wobbled along. I look back on those days now not so much as pretending, but as practice, and I'm happy to say that I grew up and landed my longed-for role as wife and mommy.
I'm now long past childhood, but I'm not over the dreaming. Indeed, I'm growing ever more serious about auditioning. I am practicing daily for the most important role of my entire eternity. God wants me to be with Him forever - that is why each one of us was created. Such glorious existence is, of course, called sainthood. So I look carefully at the role models Holy Mother Church has given me. I speak with and imitate (or try to, at least) many of those who have traveled this road before. I tiptoe in their footsteps and teeter, stumble, hoping that I'm growing step by wobbly step.
To be with God forever. It is a high dream, for it is HIS dream.
I pray to have a good audition.
'We must always have before our eyes the virtues and examples of the saints in order to pattern and form all our actions on them.' (St. Francis de Sales)
'The saints were human as we ourselves are. They were faced with the same difficulties, and temptations and wrestlings and agonies that confront us, and they dealt with them just as we do, only more bravely, and with a greater constancy and a more steadfast hope. When we realise this, we feel that, at however great a distance, we still may dare to equate ourselves with them. Sanctity is a goal to which there is no short cut, a temple to which there is no back entrance. To it, there is but One Way - His, Who said of Himself, 'I am the Way.' (from The Living Pyx of Jesus by a Religious, Pelligrini and Co., Australia, 1941)
This is a slightly edited repost from our archives. It is being linked with Theology Is A Verb and Reconciled To You for 'It’s Worth Revisiting Wednesday'
Text not in quotes
Painting: George Phoenix, The Grandmother's Wardrobe, in US public domain due to age
Daydreams stage little dramas in our minds. They often call us forward into roles for which we begin mentally 'auditioning,' as we consider which dreams to pursue and which to set aside.
As a child, I rehearsed a lot for the part I most wanted to land as a grownup. I had lots of props. Dolls, of course, and pretend kitchen equipment, and dress-up clothes that made me look (I was sure of it) like a glamorous mommy. I was especially fond of Mother's cast-off high heels, in which I teetered about house and yard at least a full inch taller. I just knew my feet were growing into the shoes even as I wobbled along. I look back on those days now not so much as pretending, but as practice, and I'm happy to say that I grew up and landed my longed-for role as wife and mommy.
I'm now long past childhood, but I'm not over the dreaming. Indeed, I'm growing ever more serious about auditioning. I am practicing daily for the most important role of my entire eternity. God wants me to be with Him forever - that is why each one of us was created. Such glorious existence is, of course, called sainthood. So I look carefully at the role models Holy Mother Church has given me. I speak with and imitate (or try to, at least) many of those who have traveled this road before. I tiptoe in their footsteps and teeter, stumble, hoping that I'm growing step by wobbly step.
To be with God forever. It is a high dream, for it is HIS dream.
I pray to have a good audition.
'We must always have before our eyes the virtues and examples of the saints in order to pattern and form all our actions on them.' (St. Francis de Sales)
'The saints were human as we ourselves are. They were faced with the same difficulties, and temptations and wrestlings and agonies that confront us, and they dealt with them just as we do, only more bravely, and with a greater constancy and a more steadfast hope. When we realise this, we feel that, at however great a distance, we still may dare to equate ourselves with them. Sanctity is a goal to which there is no short cut, a temple to which there is no back entrance. To it, there is but One Way - His, Who said of Himself, 'I am the Way.' (from The Living Pyx of Jesus by a Religious, Pelligrini and Co., Australia, 1941)
This is a slightly edited repost from our archives. It is being linked with Theology Is A Verb and Reconciled To You for 'It’s Worth Revisiting Wednesday'
Text not in quotes
Painting: George Phoenix, The Grandmother's Wardrobe, in US public domain due to age
Monday, August 3, 2015
Souls Prepared by Art
One of the things I enjoy is putting together what I hope will resemble holy cards. That is the goal, at least, and I would like to keep working toward it. I love finding an uplifting painting, combining it with a prayer or quote, and suddenly realizing that my heart is soaring.
Which is, according to the following, the point of art.
'The function of all art lies in fact in breaking through the narrow and torturous enclosure of the finite, in which man is immersed while living here below, and in providing a window on the infinite for his hungry soul.' (Pope Pius XII, Encyclical The Function of Art)
During this age when fewer parish churches are providing windows on the infinite, some of us may be hungry for the kind of art that breaks through our narrow little worlds. 'Souls ennobled, elevated and prepared by art,' continues Pope Pius XII, 'are thus better disposed to receive the religious truths and the grace of Jesus Christ. This is one of the reasons why the Sovereign Pontiff, and the Church in general, honored and continues to honor art and to offer its works as a tribute of human beings to God's Majesty in His churches, which have always been abodes of art and religion at the same time. (Pope Pius XII)
For a deeper exploration of the function of art in sacred spaces, see Reclaim Beauty.
And for some real holy cards, click here to check out the treasures at Holy Card Heaven!
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Visit To A Cloister Garden
'Was not this entire visible universe made for your dwelling?... The earth was adorned with flowers, groves and fruit; and the constant marvelous variety of lovely living things was created in the air, the fields, and the seas for you, lest sad solitude destroy the joy of God's new creation.' (St. Peter Chrysologus)
The Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery recently shared the above quote, along with delightful photos of their summer garden.
So what are we waiting for?
Let's visit them by clicking here!
Painting: Liebermann
Saturday, August 1, 2015
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