A new year
A very Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you, my dear reader!
Sorry about that five year gap in posts. Like old friends, let's forgot how bad we both were at keeping in touch and pick up where we left off, shall we? Good.
I had my monthly appointment with my spiritual director (Fr. SD) today. We talked over the phone instead of in person since a scheduling conflict came up; it was a slightly different dynamic -- it felt easier to hide -- but we still had a typically fruitful conversation. Fr. SD and I have been meeting monthly since October and I can genuinely say that it's been nothing short of life-changing. I've lost something like 35 pounds, my prayer life is more consistent and fruitful than it's been in years, I'm a better dad and husband and I've grown in other areas as well. I can't recommend consistent spiritual direction with a good director highly enough! Thanks again, Fr. SD!
We talked about goals for 2018 and categorized them under our normal classifications of:
All of that to say: in the area of forming my mind, I've decided to more or less quit Facebook. I won't be terminating my account, since that's neither practicable or necessary at this time; rather, I'll just be deleting the app from my phone (done!) and limiting my access to checking in at work and monitoring the Facebook groups that I am committing to moderating. I'll also put up a link when I post a blog post -- I think. Blogs are such an interesting phenomenon, aren't they? These posts are as much for me and for integrating what I'm reading by taking time to chew on it and wrestle with various ideas.
One of the reasons I'm rebooting this blog is another objective for 2018 -- I've chosen 12 books (13 actually) from our collection of books around the house that I either haven't read or need to re-read and I've committed to reading at least one of them per month this year. In my conversation with the good Fr. SD, he asked how I planned to transcend merely consuming these books? 'A great question,' said I. I'd been pondering that question for a couple of weeks and hadn't really settled on a good answer. He suggested writing and since the resuscitating the blog was one of the ideas I'd been toying with, I took that as confirmation and got out the AED paddles -- it took a few jolts, but I think we've found a pulse.
Thus, in the weeks and months ahead -- I hope to chime in periodically with a few thoughts from the various books I'm planning to read. My men's reading group just finished Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option, so that will probably show up in my musings from time to time as well. The chosen dozen range in subject matter quite widely: from books on prayer and theology like Fr. Jacque Philippe's Time for Prayer and Hilaire Belloc's How the Reformation Happened to books on Fatherhood and family life and other books on classical and Montessori education philosophies -- surely there's one or two bits of fiction and history in there, too, right...? :)
In any event, my first read is G.K. Chesterton's great The Everlasting Man. It's been anchoring my shelf and to-do list for something like 15 years now and I've never muscled my way through it. Well, I started it last night and am officially in love. I delighted in both the introduction and in Chapter 1, The Man in the Cave. More to come on both by the end of the week. For now, by way of a teaser, I don't think I've ever read a more poignant description of the battle that many of our catechists face in reaching 'indifferent' kids. So good....
God bless y'all! Looking forward to the conversation!
Sorry about that five year gap in posts. Like old friends, let's forgot how bad we both were at keeping in touch and pick up where we left off, shall we? Good.
I had my monthly appointment with my spiritual director (Fr. SD) today. We talked over the phone instead of in person since a scheduling conflict came up; it was a slightly different dynamic -- it felt easier to hide -- but we still had a typically fruitful conversation. Fr. SD and I have been meeting monthly since October and I can genuinely say that it's been nothing short of life-changing. I've lost something like 35 pounds, my prayer life is more consistent and fruitful than it's been in years, I'm a better dad and husband and I've grown in other areas as well. I can't recommend consistent spiritual direction with a good director highly enough! Thanks again, Fr. SD!
We talked about goals for 2018 and categorized them under our normal classifications of:
- Body - Physical Health
- Mind - Intellectual Health
- Heart - Relational Health
- Soul - Spiritual Health.
All of that to say: in the area of forming my mind, I've decided to more or less quit Facebook. I won't be terminating my account, since that's neither practicable or necessary at this time; rather, I'll just be deleting the app from my phone (done!) and limiting my access to checking in at work and monitoring the Facebook groups that I am committing to moderating. I'll also put up a link when I post a blog post -- I think. Blogs are such an interesting phenomenon, aren't they? These posts are as much for me and for integrating what I'm reading by taking time to chew on it and wrestle with various ideas.
One of the reasons I'm rebooting this blog is another objective for 2018 -- I've chosen 12 books (13 actually) from our collection of books around the house that I either haven't read or need to re-read and I've committed to reading at least one of them per month this year. In my conversation with the good Fr. SD, he asked how I planned to transcend merely consuming these books? 'A great question,' said I. I'd been pondering that question for a couple of weeks and hadn't really settled on a good answer. He suggested writing and since the resuscitating the blog was one of the ideas I'd been toying with, I took that as confirmation and got out the AED paddles -- it took a few jolts, but I think we've found a pulse.
Thus, in the weeks and months ahead -- I hope to chime in periodically with a few thoughts from the various books I'm planning to read. My men's reading group just finished Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option, so that will probably show up in my musings from time to time as well. The chosen dozen range in subject matter quite widely: from books on prayer and theology like Fr. Jacque Philippe's Time for Prayer and Hilaire Belloc's How the Reformation Happened to books on Fatherhood and family life and other books on classical and Montessori education philosophies -- surely there's one or two bits of fiction and history in there, too, right...? :)
In any event, my first read is G.K. Chesterton's great The Everlasting Man. It's been anchoring my shelf and to-do list for something like 15 years now and I've never muscled my way through it. Well, I started it last night and am officially in love. I delighted in both the introduction and in Chapter 1, The Man in the Cave. More to come on both by the end of the week. For now, by way of a teaser, I don't think I've ever read a more poignant description of the battle that many of our catechists face in reaching 'indifferent' kids. So good....
God bless y'all! Looking forward to the conversation!
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