Went to an excellent talk on Ignatian Spirituality at the Cathedral yesterday, and liked this chart from the handout so much that I typed it up to share with y'all.  This definitely all sounds familiar to me.  I think I tend to encounter the Bad Spirit when I overthink things, or listen too hard for the Good Spirit when it ain't talking.
( Discernment of Spirits )

Reading Boundaries:  When to Say Yes, How to Say No by Henry Cloud and John Townsend, and this book just FIXED MY LIFE.  It's like a completely reasonable power trip!  I can't wait to start saying no to irresponsible people and not feel the slightest bit guilty about it!

On an inspiration, I also bought a couple memoir-writing books, How to Write ( Read more... )

One of the fascinating things about the Rosary is how you can pray the same Mysteries over and over again and learn new things from them every time.  It makes the whole thing feel magical, like maybe the beads really will sprout into roses someday. XD  (I think they are sprouting into roses . . . just not the physical kind ( Read more... )

While meditating on the Rosary, it occurs to me that we could say that love is the opposite of selfishness.  All of the Sorrowful Mysteries show Jesus suffering for us, which is both the most loving and least selfish thing a person can do.  A person who is suffering for another must be thinking about the good of the other and not his own good.  ( Read more... )

So tonight I went to the drugstore to get some tissues.  Although it's just around the corner from my apartment, I often forget about it because it's in the opposite direction from the station and another building blocks it from view.  So when I do remember and go there, it's like a little bit of a convenient adventure.  (Now that I think of it, a ( Read more... )

Today I sensed for the first time an overarching theme in the Joyful Mysteries:  detachment from the things of the world in the pursuit of spiritual things, seeking the will of God first and foremost, and obedience born of a desire to be good.  Of course, I think that is how we define joy, so it makes sense!  I think when Mary said "yes" to God in ( Read more... )

I wasn't feeling so hot today, so I decided to offer a Rosary for comfort when I am discouraged.  I chose the Sorrowful Mysteries, which are my favorite.  They make me cry every time, but I think the secret of the Sorrowful Mysteries is that they aren't about sadness.  The first time I meditated on Our Lord's agony in the garden, His scourging at ( Read more... )

Creatures
Admire
Truth
Eternal
Crystallized in
Heaven's
Immaculate
Student
Manual

Like Anna and the King of Siam
We dance in perfect step:
A complimentary relation
Of the East and West

Yet as the Earth and Moon
Cannot draw closer sans catastrophe,
A certain distance is condition
of our cordiality

To add more sugar to the tea
Were to destroy its depth;
And so between us ever
A bittersweet balance must be kept

I just read Spiritus Paraclitus, and was reminded why St. Jerome is my hero. ♥ ♥ ♥
He loved the truth so much that he preferred to offend the whole world rather than compromise it.
The spirit of a true translator!