Yellow Blog Journalism

My Dessert Blog, Thomas Merton and Dealing Fairly With Those I Would Rather Write Off

Cakes and Pies continues today with a characteristically "Tim" scene. A mess. Be sure to check out my brilliant observation that I do indeed have a face, whereas Twinkies do not.

--------------

I don't have my own quote journal, but I take my inspiration from those who do, and lay the blame squarely at their feet. I took the last week to read back through Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and found a quote that sums up my feelings on beginning to discover for myself the Liturgy of the Hours.

Yes, and from the secret places of His essence, God began to fill my soul with grace in those days, grace that sprung from deep within me, I could not know how or where.But yet I would be able, after not so many months, to realize what was there, in the peace and the strength that were growing in me through my constant immersion in this tremendous, unending cycle of prayer, ever renewing it's vitality, it's inexhaustible sweet energies, from hour to hour, season to season in its returning round.

-------------

I'm at a cross roads with myself at the moment. I've been talking with a former employer lately who is in a bit of a crunch, one that I can help him out of. In the past, I left embittered and insulted by dealing with this person, and had been holding onto a resentment that I've struggled to let go of. The advice I was given in dealing with the resentment was to pray for this person in the same way that I would pray for myself. Give them the benefit of the doubt and pray for their success, and not curse them to their ruin.

I've taken that advice, and it has worked for a great deal of the resentment that I need to let go of. Now I'm faced with doing them a favor. I'm tempted to turn them down flat. It's an ego thing. I don't like being screwed over, but I would do this for a stranger if asked. How can I pray for someone's success and happiness and then contribute against it, even if by omission.

The answer that I am considering is to do the favor, through which we both benefit, and call the account settled. The relationship can be considered amended from it's former broken state, and I'll have had a chance to put my ego aside for a moment and actually put my "high ideals" to practice despite a still lingering desire to flatten this guy's tires.

I'm going to need some help on this one. I really need to start praying more.

Our Compline, Via The Anchoress

Night Prayer for Friday(1052)

Via The Anchoress

-

-
 

Our Night Prayer

Night Prayer (1049)

via Anchoress

_

My Inner Geek: Prayer

I've got a confession to make, though it's not necessarily something that would send me to confession. I suck at the rosary. It is actually coincidental that today (written on the 15th) is a Marian holy day, nut somewhat fitting. I've always  had to 'Take the Church at their word" on the subject of Marian devotion. It's just never been my thing.

What I have clicked with is the Divine Office, the daily prayer of the Church, and Eucharistic Adoration. What I find interesting to no end is that the office transcends faiths. Rooted in Jewish prayer, going back well before the time of Christ you can find early mentioning of this prayer in the psalms, "Seven times a day  I praise you" along with various references to 'rising in the morning to proclaim Your glory', and midnight prayers as well.  By apostolic times, Peter and the Apostles prayed regularly,  in the temple and in their homes, even on their rooftops in accordance with Jewish practice at that time, reciting the Psalms.

As the rift between Christianity and Judaism grew, separating the two faiths, the tradition of daily prayer began to develop separately as well. Christians continued to pray at the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, as was their custom but eventually began to include things such as the Lord's Prayer, possibly as a result of the Didache, a liturgical guide from the apostolic era.

Christian Daily Prayers continued to take shape through the hermetical and monastic traditions aspirations to incorporate the psalms in a structured way, and eventually it's inclusion in the particular rules of the various communities.

Jewish Daily Prayer, a common practice already, was given new import at the destruction of Herod's temple in 70 AD. Religious practice that depended upon the temple for its central act of sacrifice was now forced to adapt, and as a result a regimen of symbolic daily prayer took shape in a capacity that is similar to the practice of prayer found in Daniel.

Similar to the early development of the Christian Office, Judaism's equivalent was widely varied in it's earliest days after the diaspora before settling into its more current form of Shema, Berkhot, Shmona Esre and incremental Torah recitation.

Christians finally began to move toward a unified breviary format, thanks in large part to Pope Innocent III and his Brevarium Curiae, a brevary for the Roman Court, which was adopted by the Franciscans in a one Volume edition substituting the French Psalter for the Roman version, which was soon adopted by Pope Nicholas III as the Brevarium Romanum, the Roman Brevary, and was later instituted by the Council of Trent as the universal Office of the Church.

This is of course just a snippet of the history of the prayers of the faithful, Jewish and Christian alike. I wish that there were a book that told the story in a much more expanded way. This is what I have been able to put together in recent months as I have begun to use the office much more often and with a renewed vigor.  Google things like "Daily Prayer" and "Jewish Prayer" and you get quite a few good reads. What you won't find is a Twitterer...a Twit... someone named "Twiturgy" on Twitter who uses a lose canonical hours format for his posts.

Very interesting...

My Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness

The title comes from a PA game that I hear isn't horrible. The idea comes from a nightmare that haunts some of the people that I am closest to. Jenn and I were talking earlier about a dream that she had, one involving me, alcohol and an Applebee's. I'm not sure what drink it was in particular, but the part of her description of that dream that sticks with me is the look of defiance that I gave her. It was only a dream, and her dream at that, but I know the look that she was talking about.

Let's level with each other here. I love my life. I love the way it is going. I'm grateful for every bit of it, and that is a huge reason that her dream is only a dream. Not too many people get second chances. I'm young, and I'm on fourth and fifth chances. I'm 595 days into this new life and I wouldn't trade it for anything.... certainly not something that comes from Applebee's.

I enjoy being sober. I treasure my family. Thank God for it all.

Our Sick Priest II

An update from Fr. D on Fr. Joe:

Father Peek left Emory Hospital Saturday afternoon to go to his parent’s home; not because he was improved, but because patients with infections are sent away from the hospital as soon as possible because hospitals are where they get more infections.

Father Peek is still receiving massive doses of antibiotics.  He was not feeling well yesterday and was very weak.

I talked to his mother Sunday afternoon and she is very worried because he is not eating much. If he develops a fever or chills, they will take him back to the hospital

Please continue to pray for his recovery; he is not out of the woods yet.

Our Sick Priest

A friend, who is also a faithful and passionate priest was just admitted to the hospital with an extremely grave diagnosis related to a years long battle with cancer. At the moment he is in isolation and asking for the prayers of any who will.

Fr. Joe is a Naval Chaplain as well as a parish priest, and has asked for prayers particularly for the intercession of Vincent Capodanno, another naval chaplain whose cause for canonization is being heard. For those who can, please take a moment to pray for a good priest in grave health. For those who do, thank you.

My First Mystery: The Garden - Some Notes

+They call it the agony in the garden which is entirely appropriate, not only because of the actual events, but also because gardens are all about new life. Life is what they do, and when you are dealing with bringing about new life, you are going to have to endure some agony. The two have always gone hand in hand.

+Then there is the dirt, Christ weeping into the same dirt that he formed man out of, droplets of blood returning to the earth.

+And a place to walk with God - first, prior to the fall, and then again prior to redemption.