Three Podcasts and a Book

“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” -Phil 4:8

This principle of focusing on and savoring the good, true and beautiful has emerged as a theme in the media I’ve been consuming lately.

As the world remains in tenuous and disquieting times, it’s necessary to fill our minds and hearts with material that nourishes and strengthens in order to counteract that darkness and frustration.

I decided I’d like to share a few of the soul-filling resources, which have been gifts to me. (All links included at the end.)

1) Bishop Barron’s Sermons from Word on Fire podcast.

Bishop Barron is renowned for his online ministry of evangelization engaging the culture and sharing the truth of Christ. Each week, he posts a 15-min sermon based on the Sunday Gospel reading for the Catholic Mass. I enjoy listening to him because he not only draws on theology and philosophy but also has a depth of knowledge in literature and history. He’s learned and articulate but also gets down to practicalities and real-life applications of the Gospel. He helps to make you smarter and holier!

2) The Book Club from PragerU.

This is a monthly podcast ( you can also watch online) hosted by author and commentator Michael Knowles in which he discusses a classic work of literature or history with a guest. Everything from Pride and Prejudice to Shakespeare to 1984 has been the topic of this show. He even interviewed Bishop Barron about the book of Genesis from the Bible.

Sometimes it takes a more political bent and/or brings in current events in the discourse around such books as 1984 or Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery, but I think it’s an important exercise to listen to his guests’ perspectives on the contemporary lessons we can glean from these classic works, even if we don’t arrive at the same conclusions.

3) Joy Clarkson’s podcast Speaking with Joy is a soothing, thoughtful, delightful listen for those interested in discussions of faith, art, books, beauty and life. Clarkson describes herself as an “evangelist for all things good, true, and beautiful” and I believe that is an apt depiction. I only recently discovered Joy on her Instagram page (@joynessthebrave, give her a follow) and from there, I found her podcast. It truly felt I had a heavenly guide leading me to these bountiful sources of inspiration and nourishment – that’s how much I’m enjoying them.

Through Joy, I discovered the rest of the Clarkson family, including Sarah Clarkson (@sarahwanders on Instagram) the author of my next recommendation and the “book” mentioned in this post’s title, Book Girl: A Journey through the Treasures & Transforming Power of a Reading Life.

Part memoir, part practical guide, part love letter to stories, Book Girl is both a work of beauty in itself and an arrow leading the reader to more encounters with loveliness, wisdom, whimsy, adventure and spiritual sustenance through books. It includes more than 20 reading lists!

Clarkson’s writing is poetic, vivid and heartfelt. One can feel her passion for story and its capacity to transmit beauty, goodness, and truth in every word she writes. I would love to have a cup of coffee with her (and her sister Joy) and indulge in a long conversation about our favorite books.

These four resources, I think, are true gems. I hope they are havens of delight, inspiration, and stimulation to you just as they have been for me.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bishop-robert-barrons-sermons-catholic-preaching-homilies/id75551187.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-book-club/id1495731488.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/speaking-with-joy/id1310614879.

On Pentecost

Art by Jan Joest. Source: wikiart.org

“Perfect love casts out fear.” – 1 John 4:18. When I think of the Solemnity of Pentecost, which the Christian church celebrates today, this is one of the Scripture verses that comes to mind.

Peter and the other Apostles and disciples have just experienced the terror of Jesus’ Crucifixion a few weeks earlier. Then followed the rapture of His glorious Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven. Yet they are still cautious, still timid and unsure. The day of Pentecost comes and they’re hidden in the Upper Room, praying along with Jesus’ mother Mary, when suddenly the Holy Spirit infuses them with His power and peace.

And who is the Holy Spirit? He is the Comforter, the Love between the Father and the Son personified. He is perfect love. And He casts out the Apostles’ fear and timidity. Peter is emboldened and empowered to miraculously preach to the people in a language all can understand, regardless of background or place of origin, reaching into their hearts and minds and leading them to salvation in Jesus.

How did the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, the Comforter, the Spirit of Love come to the Apostles and Mary? Through two powerful forces of nature: wind and fire, the holy “refiner’s fire” and the wind, which hearkens back to the wind blowing over the water at Creation. Though Scripture states that the wind was a strong, rushing wind, it was not destructive but life-giving. Wild and free, I like to imagine that perhaps the pure, healthful scents of the Garden of Eden filled it, containing all the the sweetness of spring, lightness of summer, memory of fall, and power of winter winds but more alive and fragrant than our earthbound experience knows. It cleansed and renewed the Apostles’ souls, minds and hearts as did the holy fire, enabling them to fulfill their missions because they had received the Spirit’s gifts: wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

We pray for this purification and renewal at Confirmation and throughout our lives so that the Holy Spirit’s fruits: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, generosity, modesty, chastity, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control will be manifest in our own journeys to fulfill the specific missions we have been given.

Pentecost is a feast of rejoicing, of hope, of saving power and of perfect love.

“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle within them the fire of Thy love.” Amen. Alleluia. 🕊

America Needs Thanksgiving: What We Have in Common with the Holiday’s Origins

2020 is the four hundredth anniversary of the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620! A year later what we consider to be the first Thanksgiving celebration was held.

In this remarkable year of 2020, I think it could be beneficial to remember the roots of our national holiday and consider what we can learn from our forebears.

That first Thanksgiving was a moment of mutual peace and friendship between the English Pilgrims and the Native Americans, two very disparate groups, who today would be termed voting blocs, demographics, opposites. Certainly, the white man and the native population experienced much violence and injustice at each others’ hands in years to come. But at the beginning, help was given and received with gratitude. The Pilgrims would not have survived their first winter in the New World without the aid of the natives, and 90 Indians joined in that first celebration of thanks.

Today, our nation is continually being split and divided by identity politics and labels. We can learn from those early settlers and natives to extend a hand of friendship and peace across seemingly impassable barriers.

Moreover, on that first Thanksgiving, many of the Pilgrims had lost loved ones due to the severity and illnesses of the previous winter, maybe they themselves had been sick. Their future in the New World was still precarious and uncertain. Nevertheless, they rejoiced and gave thanks to God for providing for them.

In this time of the Coronavirus pandemic, thousands of Americans also are experiencing the grief of lost loved ones or the struggle of recovering from illness. Many people’s future today is uncertain and unknown due to job insecurity or loss, an education system in flux, and other personal struggles. Numerous people are separated from their loved ones this holiday.

Yet, we still have cause for gratitude.

We can be grateful to live in America where we have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the freedom to participate in our democratic republic. And the ability to work to preserve these liberties when they are being hindered.

We can be thankful for family and for friends who have survived illnesses, COVID or otherwise, and for the strides the medical community has made to combat this virus. We can give thanks for our own health.

Though bittersweet (and I know this personally), we can be thankful for loved ones who have passed on, for the lives they led, the memories we have, and the hope of eternal reunion in Heaven.

We can have a greater appreciation for “normal times” when we can travel and gather and go about our lives without worry of contagion or the impingement of government restrictions. And we can offer thanks for the frontline workers caring for the ill, the people giving to those in need, and the first responders who work to keep us safe everyday, pandemic or no pandemic.

While we certainly should not diminish the struggles and the sorrows of this year, the lessons of gratitude we can glean from the “founders of Thanksgiving” seem especially relevant.

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His mercy endures forever.” -Psalm 107:1

Family Museums

Attics and basements are friendly, comfortable places. They are the grandmas and grandpas of houses, full of stories, memories, nostalgia, and hidden symbols of wisdom.

In a way, these secluded regions at the north and south poles of a home are family museums, containing artifacts and relics, that tell a family’s history. They are the place of repose for trunks and boxes filled with old clothes, year books, photo albums, knick-knacks and heirlooms until happenstance or curiosity send someone to blow dust off lids and forage for a half-forgotten treasure. Of course, one can’t fail to mention the baby’s clothes and seasonal decorations passed down from generation to generation.

Attics and basements are the extra homey, “lived in” parts of a house, in other words, the messiest as they are not regularly seen by “outside” eyes. All of their sights and sounds and smells signify home and safety.

Just the other day, I was in my basement in the house where I’ve grown up and I realized even the scent, the smell of the basement, especially in the fall and winter when the heater is cozily warming the place, was a familiar one of security.

Growing up, when my grandma would visit us, she’d always sleep in the basement and of course, I spent lots of time with her down there. As a homeschooler, my “school room” was located in the basement and I read many a chapter, puzzled over many a math problem, and fretted over many a book report in what we fondly called our “dungeon.” So many of my childhood toys are still in our basement and I can easily recall numerous family “picnics” hosted by me with my play food as well as hours of playing school, house and dress-up with my friends.

At night, however, the basement didn’t always seem like such a friendly place but rather one filled with dark rooms where hulking and mysterious figures dwelt. I would dash up the stairs lest a monster emerge and grab me.

Yet, if one thinks of it, even this aspect of spooky mystery and adventure makes attics and basements special places of fancy and imagination. Not many people envision beasts and monsters in their kitchens or dining rooms – of course, these creatures may dwell under beds or in closets, but mainly their domain is up high and down low in a house. 😉

As we grow, we learn these rooms are not haunted by anything but memories and bygone moments. Yet, it is these very reminders, tangible and intangible, of the people we love and the personal history that has gone before us, that give us a sense of self and of belonging.

The dust and the disarray of basements and attics may occasionally bring consternation and annoyance but the treasures these “family museums” hold are worth certainly worth savoring.

Image credit: Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.ch/pin/346917977526483456/)

Summer Reverie

Like Titania, the Fairy Queen,

I long to sleep where it’s lush and green.

A floral bower

for my castle tower.

Sweet-hued petals for my coverlet,

Soft fragrance bids me not to fret.

Nestled in my blossoms warm,

I know I will not come to harm.

Night sounds sing me into slumber.

Bright stars are winking without number.

Come morn, I’ll wake, refreshed, serene,

Knowing it’s but part of my Midsummer Night’s Dream.

A Spring Riddle

I glide and play on the air.

You may not see me but I’m there.

The flowers lift their leaves my way.

The birds sing greetings at break of day.

I shed freckles on your face.

Your skin is bronzed by my embrace.

What is my name?

What am I deemed?

Another hint,

Another gleam:

I carry health and daydreams.

I am a dancing sunbeam. 🌞

Book Recommendation: “The Legend of Holly Claus”

It’s no secret that Christmas and its festivities and traditions have provided rich material for stories and books through the centuries. A Christmas Carol, Miracle on 34th Street, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, not to mention the innumerable Hallmark-style, Christmas love stories and all the wonderful children’s books about Christmas. In fact, there’s really a whole canon of Christmas tales – some profound and moving, some historical, others sacchrinely sweet and sappy, still others charming, fanciful and fun.

This year, through the recommendation of a friend, I discovered a Christmas story that completely transported me to its world: The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan with illustrations by Laurel Long. It instantaneously became a favorite.

Holly Claus is not a picture book, but the illustrations, if you can find the colored version, are absolutely luminous and breathtaking. Even in black-and-white, they are magical.

Ryan includes mythological creatures and recognizable names from history to create this legend centering on Holly Claus, daughter of King Nicholas (Santa Claus) and his wife Viviana, and princess of Forever, the Land of the Immortals. Holly is the first human to be born in Forever and shortly after her birth she, along with the other immortals are cursed by the evil Harrikhan whose pride previously had caused him to be punished by the elders of the universe.

When Holly grows up, she decides she must earn her place in Forever and break the spell that holds her and her people captive.

Her adventure leads her to the mortal realm into Victorian New York City where she befriends a group of orphans and comes to work at a toy store, which is instrumental in the outcome of her future and fate.

Accompanying Holly on her journey are four animal friends, which I wish could be my companions: Tundra, the wise but tender wolf who is Holly’s protector and advisor; Alexia, the opinionated fox with a flair for fashion; Emperia, the slightly befuddled but well-meaning owl; and Empy, the loving and stout-hearted penguin. These four characters provide crucial help to Holly as well as comic relief to the story.

Holly is an admirable heroine. Her heart is pure and good, but she is not a goody-two-shoes. She’s genuine and fun-loving. She’s honest, humble, and brave.

The Legend of Holly Claus very beautifully conveys the theme of the power of love, that love is more powerful than fear, upon which evil thrives, and that love is even more powerful than time. This aspect of the story, which plays a major role in the conclusion, reminded me of the Bible verse: “Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18)

Another motif is the importance of hopes and dreams, and without giving away spoilers , let’s just say Holly has a very special gift of discerning the dreams of children and creating something to help them define those dreams.

Ryan’s writing combines the stately tone of a noble legend with the beauty of poetry and the relatability of human conversation and experience.

I really can not recommend this book enough. Read it with your kids or enjoy this gem on your own. It is pure Christmas magic and delight and there’s even a love story interwoven in the narrative as well.

It may be January, but this enchanting legend is sure to keep that Christmas cheer in your heart through the cold winter nights.

I Believe 🎅🏻

Note: I wrote this short essay some years back as a school assignment inspired by NPR’s “This I Believe” program. I think it’s an appropriate time of year to retrieve from the annals and share with you all. A few minor edits have been made. 😉🎅🏻

I believe in Santa Claus. It might seem strange that a 21-year-old college student claims to believe in Santa Claus, but why shouldn’t I? From “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” to “Miracle on 34th Street,” there has been story after story that reaffirms faith in the jolly resident of the North Pole and in all he represents, and I have always eaten these stories up like Santa eats the milk and cookies left out for him on Christmas Eve.

Growing up, it was part of my family’s ritual at Christmas time to go visit “Legendary Santa” in a city not far from us. My parents would dress up my brother and me, and we’d go wait in line, sometimes for hours on end, to get our chance to sit on Santa’s lap, have our picture taken, and make our requests known to this magical gift-giver. This was a momentous occasion, and we were always practically shaking with fright and excitement. In fact, I was so terrified that it wasn’t until I was five years old that I would even sit on Santa’s knee. Every year prior, except when I was a baby and didn’t know any better, the picture with Santa invariably has me latched on for dear life to my Mother, head turned away from my brother and Santa Claus. Nevertheless, I still loved Santa!

Come Christmas Eve, (even after Santa and I were on speaking terms), I could hardly sleep; I would lie in bed barely daring to move or breathe, my head nearly completely covered by my blankets. However, without fail, Christmas morning would ring with shouts of “He came!” and “Thank you, Santa!”

One year I was totally flabbergasted because under the tree was a doll for which I had secretly been wishing; I hadn’t even told my parents, but somehow, Santa knew. Another year, a doll of my Mom’s, which she had handed down to me and which needed some repairs, mysteriously went missing from my room, a candy cane left in its place. Sure enough, on Christmas morning, there was the doll beautifully restored under the Christmas tree. Christmas magic indeed!

Now I’m not saying I literally believe there is a man who lives at the North Pole and delivers presents on Christmas Eve, but I’m also not saying I don’t believe. After all, the legacy of Santa Claus began with an historical man, St. Nicholas, a bishop who legend says helped a needy father pay for his three daughters’ weddings. Moreover, Christmas is a time when I celebrate Christ’s birth. It is remembered as a time of miracles and of love.

I believe this is what Santa Claus represents. He is a reminder that there is still mystery and wonder and innocence in the world, and that love, joy, and generosity are timeless. So yes, I am twenty-one, and I believe in Santa Claus, and I plan to keep believing in him throughout my life because his spirit and what he stands for is undoubtedly good and worthy of belief.

Image credit: http://www.reusableart.com/santa-21.html (This picture was used to illustrate Clement Moore’s “Night Before Christmas”

Autumn’s Poetry

As I was sitting and resting in my car, I pondered the colorful copse of trees before me. The thought occurred to my mind that an autumnal bower with its dappled, golden light and playing beams is a place of magic — a meeting place for the world of fancy and the world of the senses.

If one is very quiet and very still and allows the realm of imagination and wonder to open, the citizens of story, of history, of legend will be there, amongst the trees, to welcome the visitor, not as an interloper, but as a friend.

One may come to understand the language of the animals — to decipher the animated discourses of the squirrels protecting their winter hoards, the call of the birds to their comrades flying south. In the kaleidoscopic poetry of a fall thicket, one should not be shocked if a chipmunk were to scurry up and ask for an opinion on where to find food or if a shy deer were to blink curiously from a protective bush.

Then again, one may espy fairies frolicking on sunbeams and dryads giggling among the branches as they wink mischievously at the human sojourner in this dreamy region of natural enchantment.

And listen! That crunch of leaves may just be the footfall of General Washington as he exhorts his footsore and ragged troops to manful endurance. Or it may be a band of hobbits seeking forgotten ancestral gold. Perhaps it is Jane Eyre fleeing heartbreak and betrayal and seeking repose on the lap of Mother Nature.

It’s possible I am “too fond of books and it has turned [my] brain.” (Louisa May Alcott)

But to sit and absorb this fanciful wonderment, to let this natural beauty and autumnal serenity seep into one’s skin and mind and heart is to begin to find healing and wholeness.

We may echo Anne Shirley’s declaration: “Dear old world. You are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.” (L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables)

For the imprint of God, “the original source of beauty,” is here, and His “imperishable spirit is in all things.” (Wisdom 13:3; 11:26)

Spooky Reads for October: Classics Edition

At last, it’s beginning to feel a bit more like fall. Seemingly overnight, the trees have donned their autumnal dress of warm, vibrant hues. The evening twilight gathers earlier and earlier. There’s a crisp bite to the air in the mornings.

This time of year you may enjoy having your reading fare line up with the season -the spooky season. If you find it fun to have a chill up your spine to match the chill in the air but don’t want to deal with the surfeit of gore and evil all too prevalent in modern “scary stories,” you have to look no further than some tried-and-true classics, which you may just remember from high school literature courses.

These selections are more restrained, leave some things to the imagination, and often seek to impart a deeper moral message or show a character’s development as a person. They don’t promote or glorify gratuitous violence and darkness for its own sake as some contemporary tales are wont to do but they entertain nonetheless.

With that in mind, here are five timeless novels that may not initially seem like a spooky or weird read but that, nevertheless, contain elements to create an eerie, suspenseful mood.

1) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

This novel is a staple of high school literature classes and though at first blush, one may not consider it a “spooky read,” it contains many of the elements of an uncanny, October tale.

The titular heroine, Jane, starts off as a forlorn but passionate orphan who’s mistreated by relatives and cruel school mistresses. She grows up to become governess to the ward of Mr. Rochester, the enigmatic and brooding master of the old mansion Thornfield Hall. Jane’s goodness, frankness, and strength, despite her menial background, attracts the troubled Rochester and the two fall in love only for Jane to discover on the day of her wedding that her betrothed is already married to an insane wife whom he has hidden away in the attic of the mansion. This demented woman is the cause of midnight fires and other mysterious goings-on that had aroused Jane’s curiosity.

Jane runs away after learning of Rochester’s betrayal but eventually is drawn back to him by an almost spiritual, preternatural communication between their two hearts. She finds he’s been blinded and maimed in a conflagration set by Bertha in which Bertha herself perished despite Rochester’s attempts to save her.

All of these Gothic, gloomy qualities (though there is light-heartedness as well) create quite an atmospheric story but Jane’s integrity and character eventually triumph.

2) The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hawthorne’s American classics are also heavy with brooding and mysterious atmospheres. The Scarlet Letter, set in Puritan New England, contains the time period’s superstitions surrounding witchcraft, lending a creepy element to this tale of the shunned and ostracized Hester Prynne, her child Pearl, and the troubled minister Dimmesdale who carries a scandalous secret. Imagery, symbolism, and conflict as well as themes of guilt and innocence, light and darkness, truth and deception, punishment and redemption all combine to make this a suspenseful novel.

3) The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Another Hawthorne classic that contains many of the same weird and superstitious ingredients as The Scarlet Letter. A young woman Phoebe goes to care for her reclusive relatives in their old and lifeless ancestral home. The threads of Puritan superstition about witchcraft and the gloomy setting of the mansion also make this a story weighty with atmosphere and mystery.

4) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

I first read this book about three years ago and I was surprised by its suspense. The story opens with the protagonist Pip as a young orphan encountering an escaped convict in a foggy cemetery. Moving through the novel, one of the main characters that covertly propels some of the plot is Miss Havisham, a bitter and vindictive old woman living in a decaying mansion. She was betrayed by her husband-to-be on their wedding day and has left the wedding cake and everything else in her home just as it was at the moment her life changed. She even stopped all the clocks- a moment frozen in time. Disillusioned and hardened, she’s now training her protege Estella to toy with men’s emotions and to hurt them as she had been hurt. The aforementioned escaped convict also comes to play a pivotal role in the protagonist Pip’s life and fortunes as a young man. There are numerous twists and turns and suspenseful moments throughout this Dickens tome.

Though these four seemingly unlikely candidates for “spooky reads” are more subtle with their creepiness, they are, nonetheless, satisfying.

Of course, I would be remiss not to mention some of the more obvious classic spooky tales, which may come to mind during October.

1) The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a page-turning Sherlock Holmes mystery about a potentially preternatural dog haunting an estate.

2.) Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I’ve never read this one myself but from what I’ve heard its not simply a tale of horror but really a tale of good and evil with some deeper philosophical and moral messages.

3) Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which I also need to read, and which like Dracula has some deeper messages to ponder.

If you’re more interested in short stories, there’s always Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost and nearly anything written by Edgar Allen Poe.

Hope these classic tales offer you just the hair-raising thrill that is characteristic of this time of year. Happy Reading!!

🍁🎃🍂