Behind the scenes with blog groupies

Me: (excitedly) I had to call you. I just had a Celebrity Blogger sighting.

Therese: Really? Who?

Me: Fr. Rob Johansen of Thrown Back. I told him that his was the first Catholic blog I ever bookmarked. He promises he'll start blogging again soon.

Therese: Where did you meet him?

Me: At a banquet about the Cardinal Newman Liberal Arts Project. They're trying to start a Catholic liberal arts college in Southwest Michigan.

Therese: You people up there really know how to think big. When we want to do a project, we put on a church picnic. In Michigan, you get together and decide to found a college.

Salve Regina

Jesus wanted his mother with him and took her in the same way he will take all of us - bodily and wholly into heaven to be with him and the Father. Today is the Feast of the Assumption. We can look at it and be sure of what is in store for each of us - mercy and sweetness.

What will not happen when you give yourself to God

From a homily at Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham, Massachusetts:

There are two related wounds that all or most of us experience: the fear of abandonment, and the fear of engulfment. In other words, we fear being unseen, lost, not held in our hearts, we want to be existentially embraced by another. Yet, we also desire to be free, not swallowed up by another’s emotional neediness; we fear losing our individuality and freedom, our independence.

Two general truths are helpful in reframing this paradox:

1) There is no created reality that can really give me all that my heart desires, and there is no created reality that can take anything away from me. So I need not be lost in the frenzy of seeking, nor in the despair of protecting myself.

2) in a life of prayer and ongoing conversion of heart one may come to know that it is only God who offers an existential embrace which is also total freedom for me. The Divine embrace is freedom. Love casts out fear.

In other words, relinquishing my will to God does not put me at risk of being at the mercy of a capricious or erratic sovereign, nor does it mean that I, the essential I, will get swallowed up or subsumed and therefore lose who God has created me to be. Nothing that is Not God can do these things, and God will not.

What it takes to be a bad blogger

Pauli of Es Quod Est has posted a mea culpa list entitled "Why I am a Bad Blogger." I appreciate this very much, because I have always wondered how to clean up my shabby act. Some of his items include:

No stated commenting policy. A lot of the big-time bloggers have these. They say things like “Don’t use threatening language toward other commenters or their expensive pets.”

Not enough posts beginning with the word "so" as in "So my wife and I went to a nightclub last night . . ."

No "true confession" moments

Lack of misspellings

Well, I can do better than that. Here are some of the things that make me a much worse blogger than Pauli:

I lose most of my ideas. I get dozens of ideas for posts that I'm sure will be scintillating, insightful and will gain me hordes of readers. Unfortunately, most of these are scribbled on little pieces of paper that end up clumped in the bottom of my purse and grease-stained by the Chapstick that's lost its top.

I use little original material. I love inspiring quotations, so I pass them along to you. When I share insights or flashes of wisdom, they're probably things I've cribbed unconsciously from others and am passing along as my own. And amusing anecdotes, of course, are usually actions that have been sparklingly performed by someone who is not me.

I'm inconsistent. Sometimes I'm here a lot. Sometimes I'm AWOL for long periods. I don't know if it matters, and I apologize if it causes a problem for anyone (as if!). But it's just the way it is; I have no explanation. My attention goes somewhere for a while and then I get involved with other things. If you saw the other pieces of my life, you might be surprised. My interests and enterprises are quite varied and I find keeping everything moving forward an interesting challenge. Even my husband has a hard time keeping track of what I'm into at the moment.

I love fun. I just am not earnest enough. Humor trumps many other things for me (which is why I have another blog just for things that amuse me). But my love for the humorous turn of phrase, combined with my love for the things that touch me with spiritual depth, probably cause some awkward gear-changes for my readers. If so, I hope you enjoy the ride.

So there you are. If you want to add to the list, call me to repentance or give me new ideas about how to be an even worse blogger, the comment box is there for your enjoyment. Since I have no commenting policy, I am free to delete offensive comments with no warning, justification or excuse. Bad bloggers cling to their delusions of power, you see.

Need a bite of Carmel today?

Some tidbits from St. John of the Cross:

If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.

Understanding is not the understanding of God.

In order to find Him you should forget all your possessions and all creatures and hide in the interior, secret chamber of your spirit. And there, closing the door behind you, you should pray to your Father in secret. Remaining hidden with Him, you will experience Him in hiding, and love and enjoy Him in hiding.

And from St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein):

If anyone comes to me, I want to lead them to Him.

The nation... doesn't simply need what we have. It needs what we are.

Only the person who renounces self-importance, who no longer struggles to defend or assert himself, can be large enough for God's boundless action.

And my dear favorite and patron, St. Teresa of Avila (Teresa of Jesus):

Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.

Pain is never permanent.

What a great favor God does to those He places in the company of good people!

Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.

You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.

Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; and there is only one Glory, which is eternal. If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.