À mon regret...

Non, je ne veux pas ...

I'm getting worse, about sending my regrets, that is.  Or not inviting friends over.  Or going meeting someplace.  It is difficult to say, Non, je ne veux pas - no, I don't want to - without sounding rude.

I'm so much like the person in the poem by Naomi Shihab Nye ...

If they say We should get together
say why?

It's not that you don't love them anymore.

When someone you haven't seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don't start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.

This morning I was thinking of a Carmelite I knew, how she lived in the monastery all of her life and never left.  How she returned to her cell every evening after choir, owning nothing, having nothing but solitude and pain, until her death of love.

Just a note -

I've forgotten to check moderation for your comments and found a bunch and just posted them.  Sorry for the delay!   I will try to keep up and respond accordingly.  Thanks!

Saint of the Day – 17 October – St Ignatius of Antioch

St. Ignatius of Antioch, pray for us!

“I am a kernel of wheat for Christ. 

I must be ground by the teeth of beasts 

to be found bread (of Christ) wholly pure”.

I think of St. Ignatius as a Eucharistic saint-martyr.  This morning I thought, now with St. Oscar Romero we have two individual Eucharistic martyrs imaging both the Body and Blood.

I'm not sure if I expressed it well, but the holy death of St. Oscar Romero at the moment of consecration is as edifying to me as the martyrdom of St. Ignatius.  Imagine the blood of Christ mixed with the blood of Romero.  It makes me tremble.

St. Oscar Romero, pray for us!

What the Pope said ...

Painting by Jacek Yerka

Be careful ...

Be careful around those who are rigid. Be careful around Christians – be they laity, priests, bishops – who present themselves as so “perfect,” rigid. Be careful. There’s no Spirit of God there. They lack the spirit of liberty. And let us be careful with ourselves, because this should lead us to consider our own life. Do I seek to look only at appearance, and not change my heart? Do I not open my heart to prayer, to the liberty of prayer, the liberty of almsgiving, the liberty of works of mercy? - VN

"They were truly an example of formality. But they lacked life. They were, so to speak, “starched.” They were rigid. And Jesus knew their soul." - Pope Francis

St. Teresa of Avila

Saint Teresa of Avila by Joseph-Marie Vien

With all the Carmelites named Teresa becoming saints, Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus is going to have to be given the title 'Great' - St Teresa the Great.  Works for me.

I think I have read almost everything she wrote, many times over.  I used to think I knew everything about her and her teachings.  I visited Avila and delighted in being where she lived and seeing things she used and so on.  I was convinced I knew her 'doctrine', but now, not so much.  

For me it is no longer important to know a lot about prayer as it is to simply pray.

St. Nunzio Sulprizio

St. Nunzio Sulprizio

He may be overlooked since he was 'added later' and his canonization coincides with the Synod for youth, and all of that controversy.  Now, with Catholics actually casting doubt regarding the legitimacy of canonization, the saint may be further overlooked.  Somehow, that suits his reputation for sanctity quite well.

St. Nunzio is the saint whose portrait I have been working on - I set it aside to do some background work for an Nativity exhibit.)  Nunzio was a poor kid, orphaned and mistreated, he died when he was nineteen. I see him as a special intercessor for kids who are or were abused. A brief biography here.