Just a simple blog of a Secular Franciscan trying to live with a Franciscan focus. (And one of these days I'll fix the template and add a Search feature. :-P)
"[O]ur greatest temptation is toward too many words"
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"I ought to seek the company of those Sisters who according to nature please me least."
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10 Rules for Handling Disagreement Like a Christian
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Oyez, oyez, oyez! It's time to get yer gratitude on with ...
Thankful (Thurs)DAY #3
Today, the 3 things I'm thankful for are:
1) Life with cats. Even when they're walking all over us in the morning because "ZOMG I'm wasting away from hunger and if I'm not fed right now I'll expire so get up and get out the noms and WHY ARE YOU STILL LYING THERE?!", life with kittehs is sweet. And good for you. I mean, really, how can you look at a scene like this and not have your blood pressure go down?
2) Quotes from the saints. No matter the situation or topic, there are, oh, a bajillion* o' these babies that we can turn to for humor, meditation, inspiration, prayer, instruction, illumination, and just a plain ol' arse-kickin' (see the top graphic for a great example o' that). And thanks to calendars, daily planners, holy cards, anthologies, smart phone apps, Facebook pages, you name it, those quotes are easily available and save-able. For example, in my cube at work, I'm surrounded by the following:
Weekly quote for 20-26 November in my planner:
"Give praise to the Creator for all that you find beautiful: the earth, the sea, the sky, the springs and the rivers. See with your bodily eyes the light that shines on earth, but embrace with your whole soul and all your affections the true light, Our Lord Jesus Christ." Pope St. Leo the Great.
Randomly-picked quote from my Franciscan quote-a-day flip calendar:
"God, and only God, is infinite, most wise, most holy, a most loving Lord, our father and creator, our beginning and end, our wisdom, power and love -- God is our all." St. Maximilian Kolbe
On a slip of paper taped to my primary computer monitor:
"Let us begin again, for until now we have done nothing." St. Francis
On a slightly bigger piece of paper stuck to an overhead storage shelf:
"There is nothing which edifies others so much as charity and kindness, by which, as by the oil in our lamp, the flame of good example is kept alive." St. Francis de Sales
3) That typing class I took in high school. No question, that was the most useful class I took, enabling me to crank out short stories, college papers, articles, press releases, annual reports, letters, design specs, user documentation, this blog post ... I prolly spend more time each day clickin' away on a keyboard** than anything else. And that one class made it all possible.
Your turn! What 3 things are you thankful for today? :-D
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* Actual technical term. :-P
** For my job as a paragraph farmer. Gotta keep the kittehs in kibble.
When asked in an interview, "What should it mean when I'm 'voting Catholic?' ", Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap. replied:
"We should see ourselves as Catholic first -- not white or black, or young or old, or Democrat or Republican, or labor militant or business owner, but Catholic first as the main way we identify ourselves. Our faith should shape our lives, including our political choices. Of course, that demands that we actually study and deepen our Catholic faith. The Catholic faith isn't a set of clothes that we can tailor to a personal fit. We don't 'invent' our faith, and we don't 'own' it. If we really want to be Catholic, then we'll live by Catholic teaching. Otherwise we're just fooling ourselves and abusing the belief of other Catholics who really do try to practice what the Church teaches."
And here's another gem (and please do read the whole interview; it's Most Excellent) in response to the question, "Whenever I write about Catholics and abortion, I am immediately asked, 'What about war? What about the death penalty?' What about them? Can a Catholic vote for Senator 'Surge'? We have killed people in Iraq, after all.' ":
"I've written and spoken against the death penalty for more than 30 years. And along with most other American bishops, I opposed our intervention in Iraq. But these issues are different in kind, not merely degree, from the violence involved in abortion. Anyone rooted in Scripture and Catholic tradition will understand the distinction if he or she reasons honestly. Genocide, euthanasia, abortion, and deliberately targeting civilians in war -- these things are always grievously wrong. But in Catholic thought, war and capital punishment can be morally legitimate under certain carefully defined circumstances. Abortion is never morally justified."
