Publications Round-Up

I was very glad to have a few articles posted on the Cora Evans blog since the last time I updated this blog.  It's too late for my daily Lenten reflections, but here are two others:

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, a reflection on his Breastplate prayer (breastplate = Lorica in Latin).  It's a really incredible prayer when you sit with it for a little while.  The most well-known part of it is the "Christ behind me, Christ before me" stanza, but the entire prayer is much longer.  Worth a read!

For Good Friday, a combination of the physical effects of the crucifixion and some reflections. 

Both articles were interesting topics, and I probably learned more in the writing than anyone will in the reading of them. 

Easter is Here and Lent is Gone--I mean, concluded... I mean, Lent is fine, but Easter is glory... I mean...

Every time Easter arrives, the feast is full of joy and glory.  It's the resurrection of Our Lord Jesus and the most singular important event in human history!  Embedded in the joy is the relief of Lent being over.  The St. Francises and St. Ignatiuses have eyes to see suffering as it really is: participation in the Passion of Jesus.  I am not in that category.  More often than not, I fight it tooth and nail.

An examination of my Lent is always disappointing.  I have a strange idea of myself that I should come out of Lent completely purified and perfect.  Bad habit x?  Eliminated!  Evangelism efforts?  Tripled!  Sacred Scripture?  Memorized, contemplated, and able to answer every possible question!  It took a few years to come to peace with this high expectations "false me."  Dealing with that kind of unrealistic expectation has one primary peril: I inadvertently assumed that I would be doing the serious heavy lifting.  Grace, the Holy Spirit, yeah yeah, but it was I that had to fix things.  There was no possible way I could ever live up to my own expectations, especially if I relied more on myself rather than God.  That disastrous approach has two outcomes: apathy or an OCD approach (although not in the Carmelite sense).  The former, why even bother if I can't do it?, leads to sloth.  The latter, being anxious and over-scrupulous, leads to even further pride.  I settled for some apathetic Lents in the past, and they didn't do me any lasting good. 

The key is to avoid pride and hit the mark in between two extremes, as our friend Aristotle would say.  Approach Lent with humility--knowing from the beginning our weakness and inability to fix everything ourselves in 40 days.  Also, I think a targeted approach helps during Lent.  In the past, I fasted just to fast.  It's that thing we do during Lent, right?  Instead, target a particular weakness and fast toward that end.  And, to be clear, it should be a spiritual end.  Fasting from a particular food for the sake of losing weight has some spiritual merit, but it's misdirected. 

This year, my wife and I decided to give up sweets.  That practice was my go-to for Lent from my childhood all the way up until college.  I hadn't fasted from sweets for a number of years; trying this year proved more difficult than I expected.  There are two somewhat embarrassing episodes that highlight this...

First, my wife made dinner for some friends who recently had a baby; there were some leftover cookies.  I have some Irish heritage and love St. Patrick, so we agreed that a single, leftover cookie on that day would be ok.  Leading up to St. Patrick's feast day, I found myself craving that cookie.  That was accompanied by a sobering thought: have I ever had such fervor for the Eucharist?  Seriously, I looked forward to a cookie more than the Body of Christ?

Second, my wife and I started the Divine Mercy Novena on Good Friday.  Halfway through the prayer for the day, my mind wandered (in itself, not uncommon)... to breakfast the next day.  Sausage or bacon?  Eggs, for sure... are we out of English muffins?

Yikes.  We both had the realization that, for one, this was a well-aimed penance for the weakness of our appetite for sweets.  In addition, that appetite was stronger than I initially thought. 

I believe our fasting did us a lot of good, and it provided an opportunity to become more humble than before.  To close, here's a passage from St. John Chrysostum.  For everything that changes in the world, human nature does not.  These words sound like he's talking directly to me:

"Sharpen your sickle, which you have blunted through gluttony— sharpen it by fasting. Lay hold of the pathway which leads towards heaven; rugged and narrow as it is, lay hold of it, and journey on.  And how may thou be able to do these things?  By subduing your body, and bringing it into subjection.  For when the way grows narrow, the corpulence that comes of gluttony is a great hindrance.  Keep down the waves of inordinate desires.  Repel the tempest of evil thoughts.  Preserve the bark; display much skill, and you have become a pilot. But we shall have the fast for a groundwork and instructor in all these things."  (Homilies on the Statutes, Homily III, #7)

7 Quick Takes: Favorites edition, 11/6/15

Unbelievably, November is here!  Fall weather, foggy mornings, more rain, and football.  Ah, football.  At least one of my two teams is doing well.  For this 7QT, lucky you, they're all based on my favorite things!  My wife & son being first, and the rest being in no particular order.

1) My wife Erin is a beautiful, beautiful woman and I'm very blessed to be married to her.  Easy #1 choice for my favorites!  There's also my little son, Leo.  He's 9 months old now, and we only have a few minutes together in the morning and about an hour in the evening.  Work gets in the way, alas...  For Halloween, we dressed him up in a pumpkin costume.  Cutest and most wiggly pumpkin ever!  We couldn't get a single picture of him smiling and staying still.  

Just soak in the cuteness.  Imagine him crawling with
what looks like a little beer belly--even more adorable

Whoever on Pinterest that showed how to make an Ewok costume for a toddler, I will be thanking you next year.  

2) I love to read, especially books on the Catholic faith.  My interests also include history, although those books tend to require a little more discipline to read.  I just finished this book on Fatima, and I'd recommend it to anyone.  Tomorrow (11/7) is the first Saturday of the month.  Make this the first of your 5 First Saturdays, just like Our Lady asked!  

Come to our aid, Immaculate Queen!

3) Movies are another good source of entertainment, usually.  We've had hits--The Book Thief was excellent (though not a happy movie)--and misses (nearly any secular comedy we've watched in the last couple years).  We have tested out some religious movies, as well.  I've learned a few things... 

*Very few are made outside of Italy, which makes for a problem with... 

*...dubbed-over voices.  I'd much rather hear the actors speak in Italian than have a voice-over actor attempt to fill in the voices.  Can't stand it!

*Some religious movies, however well-intentioned, are bad.  BAD.  (there, I said it)  And it's okay that I feel that way.  It's a funny feeling, the guilt!  If some sort of secular movie had subpar acting, dialogue that doesn't translate well to the screen, I wouldn't feel the least bit guilty about lampooning it.  

*As long as a biblical movie doesn't wind up in the we-couldn't-make-it-through-20-minutes category, they're a good exercise in imaginative prayer.  We recently watched Mary of Nazareth, which was good.  There were so many scenes in the movie that I inwardly thought, 'I pictured it happening a different way' and... there you are, reflecting on a story from the Bible.  

*P.S. only two movies have made it into our we-couldn't-make-it-through-20-minutes category: one religious movie that out of guilt I will not name, and second, the horrendous secular movie Friends With Kids.  Its worst sin?  It wasn't funny.  It had an all-star cast of hilarious comedians and the movie was boring!  

4) Star Wars!  I grew up on it as a kid and I'm really excited to see Episode VII.  The new international trailer was just released... I don't buy the theories that say Luke Skywalker is Kylo Ren, but the tide of speculation is trending toward Luke turning to the dark side.  Kudos to JJ Abrams for this nice gesture, by the way.  

5) For football, Notre Dame is having a good season so far, and I think they'll end up a top 10 team.  Not so sure they'll make the playoff, but at least they're not having as bad of a season as the 49ers.  Seriously, seriously painful.  The owner and GM have driven the team into the ground.  

6) I came upon an old mix CD that I put together, entitled Relax Mix.  I hadn't listened to it in a while, so all the tracks were a surprise.  I'm still amazed at the effect that a great song can have--enticing your imagination to go off to a different place, using melodies, instruments, solos, and sometimes raw emotion.  This was one of the songs from that mix, enjoy!

7) Finally, I do like to write--though you'd never know it for often I write on this blog.  I was lucky to write another post at the Cora Evans blog, this time on 5 Catholic scientists making an impact on society.  My wife had the best idea of everyone on the list, Dr. Hilgers: the founder of the Paul VI Institute and one man responsible for probably thousands of babies being born.  Including Leo.  :)

More quick takes at www.thisaintthelyceum.org!

Ascension Thursday

Another article up at the Cora Evans blog!

http://www.coraevans.com/blog/article/he-ascended-into-heaven-a-reflection-on-ascension-thursday

Article #5

I'm still fortunate enough to be able to write articles for the Cora Evans blog.  This latest assignment was to write about an extraordinary conversion, and I picked John Pridmore's story.  It's a fantastic story and a great reminder that God's grace is stronger than any sin or weakness we have.

John's website: http://johnpridmore.yolasite.com/ (has a store with his books and CDs)

Lighthouse Catholic Media: http://www.lighthousecatholicmedia.org/store/speaker/john-pridmore (just his conversion story & book; can download CD or mp3)

http://www.coraevans.com/blog/article/conversion-stories-john-pridmore

Article #4

In keeping with a Lenten theme, this latest article is on confession.  Which reminds me, I need to go this week...

http://www.coraevans.com/blog/article/the-sacrament-of-confession

Article #3!!!

My third article was posted today!  

http://www.coraevans.com/blog/article/the-seven-sacraments-and-the-dwelling-of-christ-within-us

Published Article #2

I received a second assignment from the blog of www.coraevans.com, on the topic of evangelization.  It was an interesting article to write--on one hand, it's easy enough to talk about.  I can point out what we should do and how we should go about it.

On the other hand, I feel that I'm genuinely awful at evangelizing.  I try my best, but I have more mistakes than successes.  By successes, I mean that I don't feel I say the right thing, convey Church teaching effectively, or take advantage of all the opportunities I'm given.  The more I read about the subject--especially in JPII's Redemptoris Missio, Paul VI's Evangelii Nuntiani, and in the life of St. Martin of Tours--the harder it was to look in the mirror.  Now if I can just take my own advice!

http://www.coraevans.com/blog/article/evangelization-our-role-obligation-and-approach

PUBLISHED ARTICLE!!!

I wrote an article about public revelation for www.coraevans.com, one that I didn't think was going to get published.  I haven't had an article published since a small vignette for the local diocesan newspaper (while I was in college) and an article on baseball cards when I was in 3rd or 4th grade ("My Friend" magazine, which was published by the Daughters of St. Paul and doesn't exist anymore).

Here is the article: http://www.coraevans.com/blog/article/public-revelation-what-who-when-where-how