I had started another book, that I just couldn't get into - but then it got to be halfway through March, and I needed to find a book that I could handle before the month was over, or risk falling behind schedule in month three of my plan.
For the unfamiliar, The Story of a Soul is the Autobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux, known as "The Little Flower". She was a Carmelite nun, entering the convent at 15 and dying at 24. I've known the basic story of St. Therese for a number of years, but one thing I had never considered is how she became declared a Saint, when she had a short life of a cloistered nun. Few people probably knew of her existence during her life, and it is this autobiography that introduced the world to St. Therese.
I'm pretty sure I could read this book a dozen more times and get more out of it every time. I will admit that the flowery language was difficult for me - I'm just not the biggest fan of the style. She also bounces around a lot (and apologizes a lot for her bouncing around!) It is easy to see that she just wrote - she didn't think of writing a book, she just wrote about what she was told to write, and let the Holy Spirit be her guide.
I was surprised to learn that St. Therese had a lack of consolations in prayer, as I often think of Saints as having intense God experiences regularly (as some Saints did, of course!) I loved this particular line:
"Don't imagine that I'm overwhelmed with consolations. I'm not. My consolation is not to have any in this life. Jesus never manifests Himself nor lets me hear His voice. He teaches me in secret. I never learn anything from books, for I don't understand what I read. Yet from time to time a sentence comforts me."
Also, when she talks about her "little way" - the little sacrifices she makes, it is clear that she does so humbly and with humility:
"You see, Mother, that I am a very little soul who can only offer very little things to God; it often happens that I let slip the chance of making these little sacrifices which give such peace, but I'm not discouraged. I put up with having a bit less peace and try to be more careful next time. Ah! How happy God makes me! It is so pleasant and easy to serve Him during this life."
I wish I had some great and profound thoughts about this book, but I guess all I need to have a very little thoughts - and perhaps to work harder towards making little sacrifices in life for God.
Showing posts with label Reading plan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading plan. Show all posts
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Europe and the Faith "Sine auctoritate nulla vita"
Continuing with my reading plan for the year, I decided to read Hilaire Belloc's "short" essay Europe and the Faith (available free for Kindle) - being a modern American, my version of a short essay is much shorter than this one, which I guess is close to 200 pages. One downside of reading on a Kindle is that you don't know how many pages you have read - but I will admit that I like the percentage of the way through feature.
This essay was one of the suggested readings for the first time period of EPIC - Mustard Seed (along with Quo Vadis, and several other books that I don't have and weren't available free on Kindle.) Belloc makes some very good points throughout the essay about the history of Europe being taught in a false way in order to fit a Protestant narrative.
Belloc begins with the question: What was the Roman Empire? It was united, a civilization with one mode of life for all in its boundaries. Outside of the Empire were barbarians, but they were not a threat to the Empire, and many wanted to become part of the Empire - traded with the Empire, accepted its coins, took bits of its language into their own. Even when there were civil wars, with multiple emperors ruling - or no emperor at all, the power, office and system of the Empire were all one.
Next, he asks: What was the Church in the Roman Empire? The Catholic Church was "a clearly delineated body corporate based on numerous exact doctrines, extremely jealous of its unity and of its precise definitions, and filled, as was no other body of men at that time, with passionate conviction." It was not an opinion, fashion, philosophy, theory or habit. The Church caught and preserved the Empire as it declined. The Empire declined because of the increasing numbers of "barbarians" hired as soldiers, weakened central power giving way to local power by rich landowners, and the rise of the Catholic Church in the whole society.
Further, he asks: What was the "fall" of the Roman Empire? The changes in the Empire came from within, rather than from outside forces. It failed to keep the local government subordinate to the Imperial government. Taxation and central bureaucracy weakened, and localities had more independence. Much of this came from the changes in the Roman army - once an army of citizens, then it became an army comprised of slaves willing to take on military service for the benefits it would provide them and poorer freed men, then the army was made up in large parts of tribes who entered into the empire under the condition that they serve as soldiers. Eventually, the local government would fall into the command of the local forces of the Roman Army, which were often "barbarian" because of the recruitment strategy of the Army. The Church remained an important force throughout the Empire, even as the power became more localized.
Belloc also discusses the history of Britain (in particular), and the dark and middle ages, which I am having a hard time simplifying into a blog post! I'll just say that there is a lot of interesting information presented in this essay about those topics.
He also asks, What was the Reformation? The true causes were spiritual, and thus hidden, so a historian can only answer the question "what was it?" not "why was it?" Because of the faster rate of change, the Church was not able to absorb and regulate new things quickly enough. One very important note is this: "No one in the Reformation dreamt a divided Christendom to be possible." Those people challenging the way things were done desired to affect the universal Church and change it - they sprang up from everywhere due to a universal uneasiness of a universal society.
Finally, he discusses why Britain's split from the Church happened, and how it affected the Reformation - In Britain in particular, the economic power of a small group of wealthy men had grown "greater than was healthy for the community." Britain had many markets and ports, so new messages were frequent. Finally, England had the most exaggerated awe and devotion to the monarch in all of Europe. Henry VIII wanted to put pressure on the Church in order to get what he desired - the dissolution of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon - but he did not mean to break permanently from the unity of Christendom. When he suppressed the monasteries, it was not to destroy (which did happen) but to enrich the crown. Belloc argues that "England did not lose the Faith in 1550-1620 because she was Protestant then. Rather, she is Protestant now because she then lost the Faith."
Of course, Belloc gives many great historical details to support his points, and there is no way for me to get across all of his ideas. This was a challenging read for me - it took a lot longer than I anticipated because I could only read it when I was able to concentrate on it fully - not something I get to do all that often around here. I would recommend this if you are really into Church history, but it is not light reading.
This essay was one of the suggested readings for the first time period of EPIC - Mustard Seed (along with Quo Vadis, and several other books that I don't have and weren't available free on Kindle.) Belloc makes some very good points throughout the essay about the history of Europe being taught in a false way in order to fit a Protestant narrative.
Belloc begins with the question: What was the Roman Empire? It was united, a civilization with one mode of life for all in its boundaries. Outside of the Empire were barbarians, but they were not a threat to the Empire, and many wanted to become part of the Empire - traded with the Empire, accepted its coins, took bits of its language into their own. Even when there were civil wars, with multiple emperors ruling - or no emperor at all, the power, office and system of the Empire were all one.
Next, he asks: What was the Church in the Roman Empire? The Catholic Church was "a clearly delineated body corporate based on numerous exact doctrines, extremely jealous of its unity and of its precise definitions, and filled, as was no other body of men at that time, with passionate conviction." It was not an opinion, fashion, philosophy, theory or habit. The Church caught and preserved the Empire as it declined. The Empire declined because of the increasing numbers of "barbarians" hired as soldiers, weakened central power giving way to local power by rich landowners, and the rise of the Catholic Church in the whole society.
Further, he asks: What was the "fall" of the Roman Empire? The changes in the Empire came from within, rather than from outside forces. It failed to keep the local government subordinate to the Imperial government. Taxation and central bureaucracy weakened, and localities had more independence. Much of this came from the changes in the Roman army - once an army of citizens, then it became an army comprised of slaves willing to take on military service for the benefits it would provide them and poorer freed men, then the army was made up in large parts of tribes who entered into the empire under the condition that they serve as soldiers. Eventually, the local government would fall into the command of the local forces of the Roman Army, which were often "barbarian" because of the recruitment strategy of the Army. The Church remained an important force throughout the Empire, even as the power became more localized.
Belloc also discusses the history of Britain (in particular), and the dark and middle ages, which I am having a hard time simplifying into a blog post! I'll just say that there is a lot of interesting information presented in this essay about those topics.
He also asks, What was the Reformation? The true causes were spiritual, and thus hidden, so a historian can only answer the question "what was it?" not "why was it?" Because of the faster rate of change, the Church was not able to absorb and regulate new things quickly enough. One very important note is this: "No one in the Reformation dreamt a divided Christendom to be possible." Those people challenging the way things were done desired to affect the universal Church and change it - they sprang up from everywhere due to a universal uneasiness of a universal society.
Finally, he discusses why Britain's split from the Church happened, and how it affected the Reformation - In Britain in particular, the economic power of a small group of wealthy men had grown "greater than was healthy for the community." Britain had many markets and ports, so new messages were frequent. Finally, England had the most exaggerated awe and devotion to the monarch in all of Europe. Henry VIII wanted to put pressure on the Church in order to get what he desired - the dissolution of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon - but he did not mean to break permanently from the unity of Christendom. When he suppressed the monasteries, it was not to destroy (which did happen) but to enrich the crown. Belloc argues that "England did not lose the Faith in 1550-1620 because she was Protestant then. Rather, she is Protestant now because she then lost the Faith."
Of course, Belloc gives many great historical details to support his points, and there is no way for me to get across all of his ideas. This was a challenging read for me - it took a lot longer than I anticipated because I could only read it when I was able to concentrate on it fully - not something I get to do all that often around here. I would recommend this if you are really into Church history, but it is not light reading.
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Quo Vadis
The first book I tackled for my year long project was Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (however that would be pronounced!) I chose it because it was on both the Catholic Lifetime Reading List and the Reading List for the first time period in EPIC (Mustard Seed 33-99AD), as a bonus, it is a narrative, so I didn't have to worry about highly philosophical or challenging theological thoughts over our break from school.
The story is very compelling - I had a hard time putting my Kindle down. It's a little on the long side - since reading on the Kindle only tells you the percentage of the way though and not the number of pages, I just checked at Amazon, where a paperback edition has 589 pages - but it was worth the time to read.
It is hard to sum up a book in just a few words without spoiling the story. A young Roman officer falls in love with a young woman who turns out to be a Christian. The most interesting of the historical characters are Nero, St. Peter and St. Paul, all of which interact with the young officer throughout the book. The burning of Rome and the subsequent persecution of Christians happen within the story, and all the pain of those events is portrayed. The Christian characters are mostly shown as loving, good people, although there is one not particularly likeable Christian character. Some of the pagans are portrayed as brutal, but mostly not of their own accord, more out of fear of Caesar, and as products of Roman society. You can see in the story both the fear that the early Christians must have had during the persecutions, but also the hope and the trust that Jesus would come again. There are inspiring words from Peter and Paul, and conversions that occur. Just thinking about the early Christians that received baptism from St. Peter or St. Paul is awe inspiring.
There have been several movies made, but I haven't seen any of them. I checked Netflix instant download, and none are available there right now, so I guess I won't be seeing them anytime soon. I doubt that they would be able to live up to the book, anyway.
The translation I read was free, and was put together by volunteers, so there are the occasional typos, and the language is older (lots of thous and werts, etc.) But, I have no complaints. I love the fact that I can read great books for free, and I appreciate the volunteer labor that goes into turning public domain books into e-books.
The story is very compelling - I had a hard time putting my Kindle down. It's a little on the long side - since reading on the Kindle only tells you the percentage of the way though and not the number of pages, I just checked at Amazon, where a paperback edition has 589 pages - but it was worth the time to read.
It is hard to sum up a book in just a few words without spoiling the story. A young Roman officer falls in love with a young woman who turns out to be a Christian. The most interesting of the historical characters are Nero, St. Peter and St. Paul, all of which interact with the young officer throughout the book. The burning of Rome and the subsequent persecution of Christians happen within the story, and all the pain of those events is portrayed. The Christian characters are mostly shown as loving, good people, although there is one not particularly likeable Christian character. Some of the pagans are portrayed as brutal, but mostly not of their own accord, more out of fear of Caesar, and as products of Roman society. You can see in the story both the fear that the early Christians must have had during the persecutions, but also the hope and the trust that Jesus would come again. There are inspiring words from Peter and Paul, and conversions that occur. Just thinking about the early Christians that received baptism from St. Peter or St. Paul is awe inspiring.
There have been several movies made, but I haven't seen any of them. I checked Netflix instant download, and none are available there right now, so I guess I won't be seeing them anytime soon. I doubt that they would be able to live up to the book, anyway.
The translation I read was free, and was put together by volunteers, so there are the occasional typos, and the language is older (lots of thous and werts, etc.) But, I have no complaints. I love the fact that I can read great books for free, and I appreciate the volunteer labor that goes into turning public domain books into e-books.
Reading Resolution
Well, Christine over at Good Company inspired me - I'm not really making a resolution in the traditional sense (clearly there are many improvements I could work on) but instead, I am excited about my "resolution." She is endeavoring to read 52 books from the Washington Posts top books of 2011. That got me thinking about reading some of the many, many, many books that are sitting around my house unread. Honestly, I find it hard to read something intellectual after homeschooling all week long, so many of my Catholic books are just waiting for me to get to them. So, I am challenging myself to read at least 12 books from the Lifetime Catholic Reading Plan by Father JohnMcCloskey and/or from the EPIC reading lists (available in the free downloads).
I printed out the McCloskey list to take to my bookshelves and see what I had there. These are the books from the list that I have read (not necessarily the edition):
Rome Sweet Home by Scott and Kimberly Hahn
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Here are the books I have on hand (again, not necessarily the edition I have):
Catechism of the Catholic Church (I use it, but have never read it)
St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox by GK Chesterton
The Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien (I made it part way through the first book, once. I enjoyed the movies.)
Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila
Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux
Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre De Caussade
True Devotion to Mary and The Secret of the Rosary by Louis-Marie Grignion De Monfort (the reading list has listed a compilation of his works, with four more included that I do not have)
Finally, the books on the list that I found free for my Kindle:
Essay on Development of Christian Doctrine by Cardinal Newman
Apologia Pro Vita Sua by John Henry Newman
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
The Idea of a University by John Newman
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton
My Way of Life/Summa Theologica Parts I-II and Part III by St. Thomas Aquinas
The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni
I've finished my first book so far (I started early) and will write some about it soon. I think that I have plenty of choices now, and that's before I spend a penny on a book, or even put any titles on paperback swap!
I printed out the McCloskey list to take to my bookshelves and see what I had there. These are the books from the list that I have read (not necessarily the edition):
Rome Sweet Home by Scott and Kimberly Hahn
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Here are the books I have on hand (again, not necessarily the edition I have):
Catechism of the Catholic Church (I use it, but have never read it)
St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox by GK Chesterton
The Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien (I made it part way through the first book, once. I enjoyed the movies.)
Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila
Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux
Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre De Caussade
True Devotion to Mary and The Secret of the Rosary by Louis-Marie Grignion De Monfort (the reading list has listed a compilation of his works, with four more included that I do not have)
Finally, the books on the list that I found free for my Kindle:
Essay on Development of Christian Doctrine by Cardinal Newman
Apologia Pro Vita Sua by John Henry Newman
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
The Idea of a University by John Newman
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton
My Way of Life/Summa Theologica Parts I-II and Part III by St. Thomas Aquinas
The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni
I've finished my first book so far (I started early) and will write some about it soon. I think that I have plenty of choices now, and that's before I spend a penny on a book, or even put any titles on paperback swap!
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