The Book Meme

Jeff tagged me for the book meme, so here goes:


1. One book that changed my life

New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton. For better or for worse, this collection had an immense influence on the early development of my sense of prayer, religious practice, and Christianity in general.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I read it every year around Christmas. It's funny and sad at the same time, and the combination really gets me.

3. One Book you’d want on a desert island

I think I would want a breviary. Keeping to the daily prayers might help me not to lose my mind, and it would keep me close to the Word.

4. One book that made you laugh

How to Become a Bishop without Being Religious by Charles Merrill Smith. This roast of the ministerial life is priceless. It's protestant in tone, but the chapters on preaching, clerical attire, church finance, and managing committees hit home for everyone.

5. One book that made you cry

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. This little glimpse into the immense suffering we not only demand of our brother and (mostly) sister animals, as well as the misery we insist on for ourselves and those who work on our behalf really got me when I first read it.

6. One book you wish had been written

How to Survive Religious Formation: A Spiritual Handbook. Sometimes, in a grandiose moment, I think of trying to write something like this. But then I remember that I'm not even writing the thesis I'm supposed to be writing by virtue of obedience.

It's just that, for most guys who enter religious life, their image and expectations of the life come from the movies, the lives of the saints, and from EWTN. These are hardly a fine preparation for many unexpected and yet standard experiences of disappointment and being scandalized that await the new religious. Hence the need for this honest treatment.

7. One Book that you wish had never been written

Whatever it is that we call the work of Parmenides. I'm still convinced that he's one of the great villains of the history of thought.

8. One book you are currently reading

Augustine of Hippo, by Peter Brown. I received it for a final profession present, and I'm up to Augustine's conversion to the life of "philosophy." It's good so far.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read

For another profession present, I received a signed first edition of Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk. The movie spoke to my journey and conversion a good deal, so now it's time to go to the source.

The inscription, by the author himself, reads, "Best wishes in your search for God."

10. Now tag five people

I tag Chiara, Mike, by the bay, PMP, and Kelly. Forgive me if you've done it already and I missed it!

Behind the Veil

For everyone who ever wanted a glimpse into the workings of religious life, some funny friar is writing a "behind the scenes" account of the 83rd general chapter of the Capuchin Franciscans. Check out Chapter Glossary.

Contemplation

Check out the Merton quote that Don has posted today. It goes a long way toward helping us realize that once we have given up greed and lust as worldly passions, we have only begun to have any spirituality. It's very easy to simply translate these passions into our "spiritual" life and chase after "holiness," "spirituality," "contemplation," and "advancement in prayer" as if they were things to own. Check out the post here.

St. Augustine

I tried to get in the mood for the feast of St. Augustine by going over my notes from the great course I took on him last spring. As often happens, the notes I had written to myself in the margins struck me more than the notes themselves. Some were serious and some were silly:

On Augustine’s theological problems:

“Ah, the post-lapsarian paralysis”

“How do you know all this, professor Plotinus?”

“Factus eram ipse mihi magna quaestio”
(My favorite Augustine quote, which I like to translate “I became my own big problem,” Confessions 4.4.9)

On Augustine the man:

“The great poet of Christian failure”

“He only had one thing to say, but it was a big thing”

On Augustinian spirituality:

“Note to self: apply remedy to concupiscence”

“Kill bad thoughts, just don’t shoot anyone”

And some silly ones:

“Thesis idea: Manichean Ontology and the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy”

“Ok, if by ‘not being’ you mean ‘being’”

Link

I've been offered a link exchange with the site Religious Forums. It looks like quite the discussion site for the generalist of spiritual traditions. I've perused some of the Catholic discussions and the general religious debates. It looks like an interesting resource, so check it out.

Fioretta

I'm surprised that I haven't run across this blog before; she seems quite thoughtful and interesting. Check out Fioretta here.

Dry Bones

In today's first reading we have Christianity's most celebrated passage from the prophet Ezekiel. Led by God, the prophet witnesses a vision of the resurrection of Israel. He sees a whole plain of dry bones transformed and reborn into a "vast army," inhabited by the Spirit of God.

Note God's promise to Israel: I will put my spirit within you that you may live, and I will settle you upon you land; thus you shall know that I am the Lord. I have promised, and I will do it, says the Lord.

The prophecy is fulfilled in the mystery of Christmas. Jesus Christ is conceived by the Holy Spirit and thus his humanity becomes the means and the vehicle for God to put his Spirit into all of humanity. Those who are willing to receive the Gift are settled within the Church, the New Jerusalem that comes down from God. (Revelation 21) Thus we come to the promised knowledge of God, for no one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3)