Win a Trip to Two Canonizations

I've been to a beatification, Pere Marie Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P. but I've never been to a canonization.  I've never been to Rome.  Have you?

Here's your chance.  CatholicVote.org is having a raffle to win a trip for two to the canonizations of John Paul II and John XXIII.  It's on Facebook.  Follow directions and fill out the form.  I did.

The Blogging Apostolate

The One True Faith

Today's Zenit, contained an article by Father John Hardon, S.J., entitled Writing to Sainthood.  You know how the internet is.  Reading this article, led me to the Marian Catechesis Blog, which led me to the Catholics Writers' Guild, which led me to think.

Blogging is my way to preach.  My blog isn't preaching catechesis.  It's giving witness to how a human being is trying to walk the straight and narrow; how a saint in the making is about never giving up; how Christians are human, yet trying to do as Jesus wants.  So, OK, I guess it is catechesis without the catechism.  I hope it is a living human catechism.

That's the intent.  Hence, I post my thoughts, poetry, jokes, pictures, and rants.  Now, after reading the aforementioned  posts on writing, I realize how easily Hardon's suggestions apply to blogging.  Here's my adaptions:

(1)  Post daily.  This disciplines your thoughts.  If you can't think of what to write on any given day, write anyway.  Share your thoughts on Sunday's Gospel.  Put up a picture, and give your thoughts.  Post a YOUTUBE.  Post a favorite quotation and tell why it appeals to you.
     Forcing yourself to post daily is important to fix spiritual thoughts in your mind.  You'll remember important occurrences, better.  You'll remember failures, too.  How's that to keep you humble?  Rereading the week's posts, like I do for Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival, organizes my thoughts.

(2)  The benefits garnered from (1) carry over in speech.  Thoughts will be more organized and expressed more easily because you've trained our mind that way, through daily blog posting.

(3)  Blogging, especially mine, shares my soul's journey with others.  The hope is to bring others to Christ.  My life is like a parable, that I pray will give others faith.

Last Wishes

 Everyone seems upset that Pope John Paul II's last wishes weren't kept.  I'm not.  I think the Pope's secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz  did what he felt best.  He is not making money; he's giving the proceeds from the sale of the book away.  He is saving the Pope's papers for the world to read.

Look at it this way.  Last wishes and just that--wishes.  If Pope John Paul II wanted his papers destroyed, he would have done it himself, before he died.  I did.  I've burned my personal journals and diaries.

It was easy.

Arc of St. Dominic

One can never know what will happen when you die.  St. Dominic was a very humble man.  His explicit directions when he was dying was to bury him on the path where his brothers would walk over him.  Did you ever see the marker that indicates his grave?  He who wanted no marker except to be trampled upon, has a monument.  It took centuries to finish.  Renowned artists, including
Michael Angelo, added to it.  It is so huge, it is called the Arc of St. Dominic.

Bl. Pere Marie Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P.'s grave was moved three times!

Tomb of Father Lataste

Last wishes are just "hopes."  My poor brother wanted his ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.  Well, the Department of Environmental Protection had something to say about that.  We upgraded his "wishes" and had his ashes buried with our parents in consecrated ground.

I think people try to honor the loved one's wishes.  But you can't always get what you want when you're living, so don't expect it when you die.

How Does Salt Lose Its Taste?

This Sunday's Gospel talks about salt.  Matt 5:13-16  My Bible sharing group questioned how salt could lose its taste.  If you tried to water it down, you'd just make salty water like the ocean.  If you throw salt in soup, it doesn't lose its taste; it adds taste.  Would the people in Jesus' time know how to separate the chemical properties of chloride and sodium?

The conundrum was solved by Kevin.  Kevin usual knows.  He's a great reader.  Kevin said salt was used in making ovens because it held heat (think salting ice on roads).  People made their oven.  Then they put a layer of salt across the floor of the oven.  Tile was placed over the salt layer.  Now the oven held the heat.  Eventually, the salt's ability to hold heat lessened and was gone.  Then the salt was "no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." Matt 5: 13.

Jesus is telling us not to lose our "flavor."  Glorify God by being His disciple and seasoning others with Christ's flavor.  A little salt makes the food taste better.

What Strength and Force of Character Can Do

I am Abraham by Jerome Charyn

According to the back of the book, Jerome Charyn is a master writer.  I am Abraham does not prove that description wrong.  I received an understanding of not only a man, but the times, the politics, the family life, and the Civil War. This story may be fiction, but Jerome Charyn captures the spirit of the times. 

I am Abraham begins with Abraham in his twenties.  He’s a young man who defines the term “self-made man.”  He was born poor and had to work hard, twice as hard, to overcome his origins.  By sheer force of personality, intelligence, and perseverance, Abe earns respect and position, even a wife.

This book is significant historical fiction.  My appetite to learn more was increased.  I kept googling generals, Jeff Davis, Robert Todd Lincoln, Elizabeth Keckley, Mary Todd Lincoln, etc.  I knew Lincoln had to juggle stress from his wife, children, political factions, and generals, but I never considered his own mental and emotional state.  Everyone wanted a piece of him.  I don’t know how he did it. .  I consider I am Abraham’s strength is its character analysis.

I was also very surprised that the Emancipation Proclamation was a political tool and campaign strategy to win the war.  The North needed man power and if the slaves were free to leave the south, not only would that cause havoc for the south, but increase the manpower of the north. 

The style was perfect for I am Abraham.  There was enough dialect for flavor, but no confusion in what was meant.  The pace was good.  I would recommend this book for book club reading.  What good discussions would be elicited. 

I received a free copy of I am Abraham by Jerome Charyn, from Tribute Books.  No other compensation was received and my review is my honest evaluation.

Prices/Formats: $12.99-$14.99 ebook, $26.95 hardcover
Pages: 464
Publisher: Liveright
Release: February 3, 2014

Kindle buy link ($12.99):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DX5X80S?tag=tributebooks-20

Nook buy link ($14.99):
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-am-abraham-jerome-charyn/1115449611?ean=9780871404275

Amazon hardcover buy link ($26.95):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0871404273?tag=tributebooks-20

Barnes and Noble hardcover buy link ($26.95):http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-am-abraham-jerome-charyn/1115449611?ean=9780871404275

Jerome Charyn's Web Site: 
http://www.jeromecharyn.com/Jerome Charyn's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/jerome.charyn?fref=ts

I Am Abraham Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/IAmAbrahamNovelJerome Charyn's Twitter:
http://twitter.com/jeromecharyn

I Am Abraham Twitter:
http://twitter.com/NewLincolnNovel

Jerome Charyn's Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/53408.Jerome_Charyn

I Am Abraham Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17987663-i-am-abrahamTribute Books Blog Tours Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186

I Am Abraham blog tour site:
http://iamabrahamblogtour.blogspot.com/

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Sunday Snippets -- A Catholic Carnival

Here we go again--another Sunday Snippets.  This is a weekly "blognic."  We Catholic bloggers get together and link up.  Thanks for R'Ann at This and That and The Other Thing blog, for hosting this Catholic Carnival.

Before I tell you about my week, let me tell you about a change in my life, and also ask for your prayers.  My daughter is pregnant.  This is her second pregnancy.  She had gestational diabetes with her first pregnancy.  And it didn't go away.  This second pregnancy is therefore labeled "high risk."  This means she is carefully monitored.  She can't eat the foods she loves and is sick of pricking herself.  But I'm more concerned with the financial cost of the double medical bills.  She has been assigned two doctors.  One who will deliver her baby at the local hospital.  The other is a specialist at Mass General in Boston.  The Boston doctor will do all the tests.  And she has to see this specialist often, more often as the delivery times get closer.  $$$$$$$$$

In prayer, I was asking Our Lord to watch over and keep her safe and became really worried over her diabetes.  The family had a niece who died only a few years ago from complications of diabetes.  She just never woke up from her nightly sleep.  She was only in her forties.  I started to cry over my worry and asked God to take my life, rather than my daughter's and the baby's.  I offered my suffering over their's.  Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with the assuring warmth that God heard me and answered me.  I understood that He loved me exactly like I love my daughter, because He did exactly what I was doing--He offered Himself for me.

He suffered and died for His children.  You know, I can't talk about this experience without crying.  But I had no trouble writing it.  Now you know, please pray for the health of my daughter, and for a healthy baby.  Thank you.

Here's what happened this week:

Monday -- I answered the question, "Do the Clothes Make the Man?"

Tuesday -- Advertisement for Michael Seagriff's book, The Silly, Sentimental and the Sublime

Wednesday -- Book Review of the Children of the Knight by Michael J. Bowler

Thursday -- This post was about the need to have a relationship with God.

Friday -- Defended my Catholic family.

Saturday -- A question for God

Why don't you go over to the This And That and the Other Thing blog and read some other bloggers' posts.

What's the One Question You Would Ask God?

Sherry Weddell asked this question in her seminar.  What is the one question you would ask God, if
you could?

At first, I didn't think too much about it.  I quickly answered, "When will I die?"  But the answer was another question.  "Why do you want to know?"  Hmmmm, "Well, so I can be prepared."  But shouldn't we always be prepared?

So maybe I was too hasty in asking about dieing.  That would have been a wasted question.  I thought some more.

"Am I doing what you want me to do, Lord?"

That's my real question.