…Answers

So these are the answers that came to the questions I posed.

What is your role among people (perhaps in your work, family, friendship group)?
I think my role is to call to others, to know the rythm, to be still and to know.

What gift do you bring to share in that group that no one else does?
I bring prayer connected with reading and listening. I also bring experiences of the life I’ve lived, which is different from most of the people around me.

What gift do you value in others that is shared in that particular group?
I really value the gift of fun – of being able to find the fun in almost any situation and share that fun  with others. I tend to be a little more serious, so I really appreciate people who draw me to have fun. Also, the gift of caring and those blessed with the desire to grow, share and journey with others.

What gifts and graces would you like to ask God to bless your group with?
I ask God for the gift of openness to each other – a willingness to listen and to serve. Not to be closed.

Questions…

I led an all night prayer vigil recently and these questions came to me during it. I will probably post my own answers here at a later date, but for your consideration here are the questions:

1. What is your role among people (perhaps in your work, family, friendship group)?
2. What gift do you bring to share in that group that no one else does?
3. What gift do you value in others that is shared in that particular group?
4. What gifts and graces would you like to ask God to bless your group with?

I think this has turned into a list of my favourite authors

I came across this on Happy Catholic and I just couldn’t resist. Here goes:

1. Most treasured childhood book (s)?
A tale of time city by Diana Wynne Jones,

2. Classic(s) you are embarrassed to admit you’ve never read?
Not really embarrassed to admit I haven’t read a book. I do sometimes think I should have read some Proust or Tolstoy by now.

3. Classics you read, but hated?
Great expectations – any Charles Dickens really. I find the descriptions of EVERYTHING a little too much.

4. Favourite genres?
Fantasy, Sci-fi and childrens

5. Favourite light reading?
Almost anything by Anne McCaffrey or Maeve Binchy

6. Favourite heavy reading?
I’m not sure what heavy reading is, but these were certainly challenging reading, at least the first time: Thomas Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation, Jane Austin

7. Last book(s) you finished?
New read: Just Henry by Michelle Magorian, Reread: Pegasus in flight by Anne McCaffrey

8. Last book you bailed on?
Theology of the Body by Christopher West – just because I had too much going on at the time to pay proper attention. It’s still in my ‘to read’ pile.

9. Three books on your nightstand?
Follow your dream by Peter Hannan, The inner voice of love by Henri Nouwen and Just Henry by Michelle Magorian

10. Books you’ve read more than once?
I reread books all the time, but some favourites… Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, Persuasion & Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton.

11. The books that meant the most to you when you were young?
The Chalet School Series by Eleanor M Brent-Dyer, The Lord of the Rings, Tim & Tobias books and the Buccanear (?) books by Sheila McCullagh.

12. Book(s) that changed the way you looked at life?
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton, the Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov, Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, The Chalet School Series, The Lord of the Rings, Evening Class by Maeve Binchy, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, The Johnny Series by Terry Pratchett

13. Favorite books
See previous question – the books that teach me something new and reach conclusions usually become favourites.

14. Favorite author(s)
Diana Wynne Jones, Thomas Merton, Michelle Magorian

15. Desert Island book
All of them? Probably Lord of the Rings as it would be long enough (with all the appendices) to keep me going for a while.

I think this has turned into a list of my favourite authors.

Lent – the journey

Lent is about a personal journey, but not a private one; Lent is about the choices each one of us makes, but not selfishly…

…We will be wise to  allow our own Lenten choices to be judged by this criterion: will this way open me to that love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, that alone enables us to live as one body of Christ…

…Love for all demands that this Lent is not private, but public, not selfish but self-giving.

from Living Lent within the Body of Christ by Archbishop Patrick Kelly in this week’s Catholic Herald.

What I learnt today (or yesterday)

• Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images
  The most common argument I have heard for CCTV is that it is a deterrent – people are less likely to commit crime for fear of being caught. I have remained sceptical – but this statistic seems ridiculous! Found via The Anchoress.

• Since learning about 20th Century history in school, I’ve been of the opinion that a more socialist government is a good thing. I generally don’t agree with the Conservative Party. But then, I haven’t really agreed with the Labour Party since they’ve been in power (which is really all I’ve known of them). Which leads me to ask the question – have I been had?Also via The Anchoress, I came across this post about the collapse of some American financial institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (from the Grouchy Old Cripple in Atlanta). What intrigued me is the video, which outlines who noticed the potential for collapse, the action they tried to take and the obstacles in their way.

• I don’t know what I want, what I really, really want. Should I? Madonna syndrome: I should have ditched feminism for love, children and baking via Jennifer Roback Morse.

• WALL-E captured my imagination completly when I watched it today – just through the animation and the words ‘WALL-E’ and ‘EVE’. Amazing.

You’re great

Have seen this in so many places. Love it.

Maybe we should have a National Validation Day:-)

Why I read blogs, especially Catholic ones

I first became aware of blogs probably about eight or nine years ago. Some of the first blogs I stumbled across were about Star Trek. Then I came across a Luthern blog, which I think was named something about pirates. Reading this blog was a revelation and one of the reasons that I am still a Christian.

Later I came across Amy Welborn’s Open Book, Disputations and Flos Carmeli. By this time, I  realised, that I had not found any UK Catholic blogs to read.

Over the following year, I gradually found other UK Catholic blogs, often just starting out.

The initial flurry has faded, and many have come and gone. Reading Catholic blogs is important to me – for information that I probably wouldn’t find out any other way, connecting individuals across the world and for broadening my opinions and experience of living out Catholicism.

Reading UK Catholic blogs is even more important, because there are some joys and struggles that are unique to living in these isles – the media attitude to religion, our Bishop’s Conference, our Catholic papers (The Universe, The Herald, The Tablet) and umpteen other things.

But most important, is bringing it home that the Catholic Church is a Body – what affects one part, affects the others, whether we know it or not.

Just three examples of this in the last couple of weeks that have been mentioned on multiple blogs, commented on and prayed about by many:

• The death of Michael Dubruiel – someone I never met, don’t know, but have found myself praying for because I read Charlotte Was Both
• Nancy Pelosi’s meeting with Pope Benedict – someone I would never have heard of or really cared about were it not for the blogosphere. I found myself pleased that the Pope met with her, for her and for the American bloggers I read who have posted about her.
• The Tablet’s unpleasant article about Fr. Tim Finigan’s  – again someone I’ve never met, whose blog I’ve read for years. Again, I find myself praying for Fr. Tim, the parish, and surprisingly, the journalists at The Tablet.

I’m running out of words, so perhaps I’ll close by quoting Pope Benedict as to why this is a good thing:

The desire for connectedness and the instinct for communication that are so obvious in contemporary culture are best understood as modern manifestations of the basic and enduring propensity of humans to reach beyond themselves and to seek communion with others.

and

…the emergence of new digital networks that seek to promote human solidarity, peace and justice, human rights and respect for human life and the good of creation. These networks can facilitate forms of co-operation between people from different geographical and cultural contexts that enable them to deepen their common humanity and their sense of shared responsibility for the good of all.

from New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship, Message for the 43rd World Communications Day.

Think

Your Word is “Think”

You see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations. And sometimes you feel like you don’t have enough time to take it all in. You love learning. Whether you’re in school or not, you’re probably immersed in several subjects right now. When you’re not learning, you’re busy reflecting. You think a lot about the people you know and the things you’ve experienced.

What’s Your Word?

Witness to Life

There has been a lot in the media in recent days about Jade Goody. The former Big Brother contestant has been suffering from cancer for the past while (I want to say the past year?) and has now been given  two months to live.

I admire Jade for her courage in facing this situation in public. I found this video on the Critical Studies in Television website, which highlights the positive impact this story is already causing:

The increase in awareness of cervical cancer is a good thing, especially the uptake in tests.

However, what has struck me the most is Jade’s decision as to what to do next. With two months to live, the things that have been reported in the media as the things that Jade will do be to get married, to spend time with her children and to provide for her children by having them Christened and earning money for them.

Wow. To get married and to have her children Christened.

Today, the Chartered Management Institute publish a guide for employers now that religious discrimation cases are on the rise. The mainstream media often seems hostile to religion and religious practices, often promoting the negative or the extremist viewpoints. And yet, here we have someone who has money and celebrity, someone motivated to act now, choosing Baptism and Marriage.

Jade Goody may be dying, but in these actions, it seems to me that she is witnessing powerfully to life.

Doodlebuzz

Going though RSS Feeds, I came across this great new tool, Doodlebuzz. Described as a ‘typographic news explorer’, it’s a more visual way of searching and linking to news online.