Later today Diane and I head off to Orlando to attend our diocese's diaconate continuing education weekend. And so, once again, you will experience a weekend free of my ramblings and misguided thoughts. If you are among the handful of odd folks who actually look forward to what I have to say...well, you'll just have to wait until next week.
For those who are interested, I am taking two books with me. The first is Ironies of Faith by Anthony Esolen, a book I have been looking forward to reading for some time. I met Dr. Esolen, who teaches at Providence College, when I worked there back in the 1990s. Very bright, a wonderful scholar, and a man of deep faith, he's also an excellent writer...oh, yes, and his translation of Dante's Divine Comedy is among the best I have read.
The other book I plan to take with me is Jean Danielou's The Infancy Narratives. I bought a 1968 paperback edition of this little book, now long out of print, a few years ago, but never got around to reading it. I have enjoyed many of Cardinal Danielou's other books and thought that, with the approach of Advent, this would be a good choice. Like many of Cardinal Danielou's books, it's hard to find a copy, but if you're interested, click here to choose from several used copies.
A brief comment on another very different subject...
A few moments ago I received a phone call from a parishioner who is very distressed about what he believes is happening in the world and the Church. And while I agreed that the world is in terrible shape -- the world is always in terrible shape because it is the "world" -- as Christians, as Catholics, we can never succumb to the world's constant call to despair. Our faith must always engender hope. The two go hand in hand. And the two, working together in our hearts, give birth to love. Love must be the driving force in our lives, the cause of all that we do. As I tell the folks who volunteer in our soup kitchen, you shouldn't be doing this out of a sense of duty; you should do it out of love.
Please keep Diane and me in your prayers, that this weekend will be inspirational as well as educational.
God's peace...
The occasional, often ill-considered thoughts of a Roman Catholic permanent deacon who is ever grateful to God for his existence. Despite the strangeness we encounter in this life, all the suffering we witness and endure, being is good, so good I am sometimes unable to contain my joy. Deo gratias!
Although I am an ordained deacon of the Catholic Church, the opinions expressed in this blog are my personal opinions. In offering these personal opinions I am not acting as a representative of the Church or any Church organization.
No comments:
Post a Comment