religion
Why Do You Write?
November 22, 2010
St. Cecelia - 19th century stained glass window from Stationers' Hall, London
Today is the feast of St. Cecelia, the early Roman martyr who proved very difficult to kill. She is the patron saint of musicians. Music was a big part of my life for many years and St. Cecelia was always there in the background for me. She was one of the first women saints I was introduced to as a child and has always been special to me.
Life changes, though, and rather than creating or making music, I now just indulge in my appreciation of it. Writing has become the dominant skill I use most often, but would you believe it, I really don’t like to write. It takes too much discipline and I’m lazy. I’d rather discuss or talk than write.
What a terrible thing for a blogger to confess! Seriously, I think of myself as a teacher, a trainer, an encourager, an information broker, and a perpetual student, but not a writer.
Although I’ve written two short business books, a weekly newspaper column for a business paper, many training manuals and programs, a monthly newsletter since 1999, and other stuff I’ve forgotten about, writing for me is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Perhaps that’s why I don’t think of myself as a writer even though I spend a lot of time thinking about writing when I’m not writing.
So why do I do it almost every day? Because I am driven to do what Pope John Paul II asked of Catholics – to use the new media to evangelize the world and writing is the only way I can do this now in my life.
Gone are my days of public speaking, conducting training, leading choirs and teaching children, although I still sometimes fantasize about giving talks on Catholic subjects. No sense in looking back nor in wishing for that which cannot be. Better to make the most of what is possible with Christ as the center of everything.
Faithful Christians evangelize within the unique context of their past and present, their talents, learning, behavior, their physical and mental capabilities. We are all called to do this and writing now has become my avenue of reaching out to others to share God’s love of all. Most especially sharing how I suffer with joy since there is so much suffering in this world and there is no point in wasting any of it by failing to use it as a way to come closer to God.
What about you? Why do you write?
If you are a blogger or some other kind of writer, why not write a post on this subject and link back here or leave a comment?
Thanks for visiting and God bless you.
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Story of Henryk Gorecki’s “Beatus Vir”
November 15, 2010
“Hear, O Lord, my prayer: give ear to my supplication in Thy truth: hear me in Thy justice.”(Psalm 143:1)
I stretched forth my hands to Thee: my soul is as earth without water unto Thee. Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit hath fainted away. Turn not away Thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear Thy mercy in the morning; for in Thee have I hoped. Make the way known to me wherein I should walk: for I have lifted up my soul to Thee. Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, to Thee have I fled: teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God. Thy good spirit shall lead me into the right land.” (Psalm 143: 6-10)
“Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant; save me in Thy mercy.” (Psalm 31: 16)
“Let my prayer come in before thee: incline Thy ear to my petition.” (Psalm 88: 2)
“May God bless us: and all the ends of the earth fear Him.” (Psalm 67: 7)
“O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man that hopeth in him.” (Psalm 34:8)
Beatus Vir, subtitled Psalm for baritone, large mixed chorus and grand orchestra, is Gorecki’s masterwork commissioned by Cardinal Wojtyla in 1977 in honor of the 900th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Stanislaus, bishop of Krakow.
Not long after his election to the papacy, Pope John Paul II planned his first pilgrimage to Poland. The Communist rulers hated and feared him, and when they heard the news that he was coming home to, among other things, celebrate St. Stanislaus in a large public venue with a commissioned orchestral work, the significance was not lost on them.
St. Stanislaus in his life and death – assassinated by King Boleslaw in 1079 – symbolized for the Communists the age old opposition of state and Church, an opposition alive and well between the Party and the Church in 1970s Poland. Everybody saw it, and try as they might, the oppressors could not conquer the spirit of the largely Catholic Polish people.
Pope John Paul II was the 20th century’s stand-in for St. Stanislaus in the eyes of the Soviets. Whether they would admit it or not, the story of St. Stanislaus was a metaphor for the Pope they hated. The Psalm verses above served as the basis for the libretto, every one of them a rebuke to the Communist Party and all worldly governments who put greed and power above God.
Gorecki himself was a target of increased persecution by the Party when he resigned his post in 1979, but they could not make such a world famous composer disappear. In true totalitarian fashion they did the next best thing: they suppressed his name in all documents and newspapers relating to musical events in Poland. Suddenly he did not exist as far as public notice was concerned, but this did not discourage nor deter the composer from fulfilling his commission.
When Gorecki no longer had the responsibility and aggravation of leadership at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice, he was free to work intensely and quickly on Beatus Vir. The premier was set for June 9, 1979 and took place in Krakow with Gorecki conducting the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. Pope John Paul II praised it highly while on the same trip condemning Poland’s Soviet leaders.
Gorecki joins the famous Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and English composer John Tavener in a category called “holy minimalism” or “mystic minimalism”, referring to simple texture, tonality, and repetitive melodies of religious orientation, drawing inspiration from Renaissance and medieval music, and Eastern Orthodox chant. All three of these composers, although of different nationalities and not influencing one another’s works, arrived at their approach to religious music as a consequence of apparently deep spiritual lives – two Orthodox and one Catholic whose compositions represent the longing of the soul for God.
Here is the middle section of Beatus Vir presented by the Polish Radio Choir, the Silesian Philharmonic Choir and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra with baritone Andrzej Dobber.
Henryk Gorecki and Pope John Paul II
November 15, 2010
Our Lady of Czestochowa
Pope John Paul II and composer Henryk Gorecki had much in common. Both were Poles, both lost their mothers at young ages, both resisted and thwarted the Communists oppressing their country, both experienced deeply the anguish of World War II and the Holocaust, both became great because of strength of character and moral authority.
Cardinal Wojtyla’s motto, Totus Tuus, spoke of his great love for the Blessed Mother both personally and as a Pole. She is intimately tied to the Polish people whose devotion to her is unexcelled by any other nation. They weave Mary into the tapestry of their daily, ordinary life, their spiritual life, their family life. Shrines to Our Lady dot the countryside along the many pilgrim paths.
Certainly as boys who had lost their mothers early in life, Mary as tender mother held a special place in the hearts of Gorecki and Wojtyla. When he became Pope John Paul II, Wojtyla kept this motto and love of the Blessed Mother for the rest of his days, a counterpoint to those in the Church who strove to scrub her from notice.
Gorecki’s life and the Pope’s life intersected at several points, their relationship speaking of a high regard for one another. The first notable event was the commissioning of Beatus vir by Cardinal Wojtyla for the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Stanislas, bishop of Krakow, who was assassinated by King Boleslaw I over sins the King didn’t want to give up. I will write more about this in my next post on Gorecki.
Pope John Paul II traveled to Poland several times. For the 1987 pilgrimage to his native land, the Pope’s friend Gorecki composed the hauntingly beautiful Totus Tuus in the his honor. Written for mixed choir, Gorecki immortalized in music the Pope’s life theme:
Totus tuus sum Maria,
Mater nostri Redemptoris.
Virgo Dei, virgo pia
Mater mundi Salvatoris.
Totus tuus sum, Maria!I am completely yours, Mary,
Mother of our Redeemer.
Virgin Mother of God, loving virgin,
Mother of the Saviour of the world.
I am completely yours, Mary!
Here is the Choir of New College, Oxford delivering the work in its entirety.
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Henryk Gorecki, 1933-2010, RIP
November 15, 2010
Patriots come in all sizes and shapes, in good health and infirmities, from all classes and occupations. What they have in common is love of country, a fine sense of justice, and resolute determination to prevail against tyranny.
November 12, 2010, God took to Himself a great Polish composer, Henryk Gorecki, who died of a lung infection in his home town of Katowice, located in beautiful Silesia of southern Poland. Gorecki had a long career as teacher, composer, and patriot, resisting the Communist government continuously over the years.
In 1975 Gorecki became Professor of Composition at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice where he became extremely aggravated at Communist interference with the academy. He continually battled the Party, protecting the staff, students and the school itself from political pressures until he finally resigned in 1979 in protest over the government’s refusal to allow Pope John Paul II to visit Katowice.
This was not the end of his resistance, though, but the beginning of a new way of fighting the Communist Party. Gorecki founded the Catholic Intellectuals Club and remained a thorn in the side of the government through the 1980s while remaining an active but not prolific composer.
Although Gorecki began his career in the dissonant style of modernism, he, abandoned this approach to composition and began to turn out extraordinarily beautiful, ethereal works that sound like the soul straining for God. He, like Bela Bartok of Hungary, returned to his country’s folk roots for inspiration, and turned out one-of-a-kind compositions inspired by significant events or themes.
To me, the prevailing art, music, architecture, and literature of the western “intelligencia” of the 20th century expresses man’s hopeless self-centeredness and his subsequent disintegration in a falling away from a right relationship with God. As a devout Catholic, Gorecki did not remain a slave to the screeching dissonance and mad explosions of modern music that sound like a hellish and never-ending train wreck, but rather carved his own way into expressing beauty in sound. The harmony of a Christ-centered life produced works of passion and transcendent beauty that the Iron Curtain could not contain.
Westerners – and indeed the whole world – fell in love with Gorecki through his Third Symphony, composed in 1976. Also known as “The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”, this three part work for orchestra and soprano links three themes of universal suffering.
Movement I’s libretto comes from a 15th century lament. Movement II’s libretto gives voice to a prayer invoking the protection of the Blessed Virgin, written on the wall of a Nazi prison cell in Zakopane by eighteen-year-old Helena Blazusiak, who was held there at the time. Movement III’s libretto contains the words of a Polish folk song – the cry of a Silesian mother looking for her son who was killed in the Silesian uprising.
Gorecki never again composed in this style, leaving the symphony a unique jewel among many gems. Perhaps he thought it was enough to give the frenetic world one hymn of mourning, a statement of grief, a pause in the disharmony of death, a stopping point for introspection that only music can provide.
I love Gorecki’s approach to his life’s work. In a 1994 interview he said:
I do not choose my listeners. What I mean is, I never write for my listeners. I think about my audience, but I am not writing for them. I have something to tell them, but the audience must also put a certain effort into it. But I never wrote for an audience and never will write for because you have to give the listener something and he has to make an effort in order to understand certain things. If I were thinking of my audience and one likes this, one likes that, one likes another thing, I would never know what to write. Let every listener choose that which interests him. I have nothing against one person liking Mozart or Shostakovich or Leonard Bernstein, but doesn’t like Górecki. That’s fine with me. I, too, like certain things.
Gorecki’s Miserere, which he boldly composed for a large choir in response to police brutality against the Solidarity movement, is sung here by the 130 person Choir of the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra. The visuals are paintings by artist Józef Stolorz, a fellow Silesian who also suffered under the Communist regime.
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
From a Sudden and Unprovided Death…
November 9, 2010
Our neighbor who was diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell cancer in May passed away early this morning. He was a good son and brother who saw his mission in life to care for his ailing mother who passed away shortly after he was diagnosed. Please say some prayers for the repose of his soul. God will surely bless him for the many years he made it possible for his family and friends to enjoy his mother who was a lovely person. Filial piety.
Since this is the month of the Poor Souls, I’ve been thinking about the Church’s prayers for deliverance from a sudden and unprovided death. I put them under the page at this site, “Prayers for the Dying.”
It’s always a good idea to remember that we will not know the day or the hour of our passing, and to be ready for it always, trusting in the mercy of God.
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Easy Chaplet for the Poor Souls
November 4, 2010
Every time we pray the Apostles’ Creed we say, “I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints…“.
Perhaps the most overlooked members of the communion of saints are the souls in Purgatory, yet offering prayers for their release into heaven is one of the easiest ways of gaining fellow prayer warriors to help us in our daily life.
Imagine the joy of the soul who can do nothing for herself but who is released to the Beatific Vision through our intercession. Will she not plead to God on our behalf for the graces to remain faithful to Him in this life and join her in praise of the Trinity at our death? What greater return of charity for charity can there be?
Praying for the Poor Souls is a kind of almsgiving open to all and one which will bring down great blessings on us. Since November is the month dedicated to the Poor Souls, I present the following from a post I wrote last November.
Chaplets and rosaries are particularly useful to people who aren’t well enough to get to Mass, and who feel just too weak or tired to do any other devotions or read the Bible.
On the large beads:
V. Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Thy Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb without blemish or spot (1 Ps 1:19)
R. For the refreshment and deliverance of the souls in Purgatory
(One can add here, especially those of my family, or of my ancestry, or of priests. The Holy Spirit sometimes moves one to pray for particular groups of Holy Souls.)
Ten times on the small beads:
V. By Thy Precious Blood, O Jesus –
R. Purify and deliver their souls.
After having said five decades, one concludes with:
V. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.
V. May they rest in peace.
R. Amen.
How easy is this?! Please spread this devotion. Also, Monday is the day of the week dedicated to the Poor Souls. We can pray this chaplet every Monday throughout the year in memory of the faithful departed. “It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” (2 Maccabees 12:46)
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Indulgences Applied to the Poor Souls
November 2, 2010
Virgin and Child with Souls in Purgatory c. 1650, Luca Giordano, Oil on canvas, San Pietro di Castello, Venice
I’m a little late on this, but here is info on the plenary indulgences for the first week of November:
On all the days from November 1-November 8 inclusive, a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Poor Souls, is granted to those who visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed.
Conditions for the Indulgences:
- Only one plenary indulgence can be gained per day.
- Being is the state of grace is necessary, at least by completion of the work.
- Freedom from attachment to sin, even venial sin, is necessary, other wise the indulgence is only partial. (By this is meant attachment to a particular sin, not sin in general.
- Holy Communion must be received each time the indulgence is sought.
- Prayers must be recited for the intentions of the Holy Father on each day the indulgence is sought. (No particular prayers are prescribed. One Our father and one Hail Mary suffice, or other suitable prayers.)
- A sacramental confession must be made within a week of completion of the prescribed work. (One confession made during the week, made with the intention of gaining all the indulgences suffices.)
We have three cemeteries within two miles of our house so I will be making an effort to get to at least one of them every day. Mondays are dedicated to the Poor Souls, too, every week of the year, so we can always remember them in a special way no matter the season. I especially like to pray for those who have no one who prays for them in addition to deceased friends and relatives.
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Novena to Christ the King for the Elections
October 25, 2010
EWTN has a novena to Christ the King. In light of the upcoming elections I offer it to you:
Recite One Our Father, One Hail Mary and One Glory Be per day followed by the Novena Prayer:
O Lord our God, You alone are the Most Holy King and Ruler of all nations.
We pray to You, Lord, in the great expectation of receiving from You, O Divine King, mercy, peace, justice and all good things.
Protect, O Lord our King, our families and the land of our birth.
Guard us we pray Most Faithful One.
Protect us from our enemies and from Your Just Judgment
Forgive us, O Sovereign King, our sins against you.
Jesus, You are a King of Mercy.
We have deserved Your Just Judgment
Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.
We trust in Your Great Mercy.
O most awe-inspiring King, we bow before You and pray;
May Your Reign, Your Kingdom, be recognized on earth.
Amen.
Here, also from EWTN is a private Litany of Christ the King. Perhaps it is wise and beneficial to our country that we plead to the Father for the restoration of Christ as the King of all hearts. We cannot possibly imagine the depth of His love for us, even when we gaze at the cross. But we can try. And we can adore.
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Saints Crispin and Crispinian and the Virtue of Kindness
October 25, 2010
Today’s saints, according to “Butler’s Lives of the Saints”, are two brothers who came from Rome to preach the Gospel in Gaul. During the day they preached and at night they made shoes.
Many people were attracted to them because of “their charity, disinterestedness, heavenly piety, and contempt of glory and all earthly things; and the effect was the conversion of many to the Christian faith.” Eventually, though, the devil couldn’t let them continue and inspired the Roman authorities in Gaul to torture and behead them. They won their crown about the year 287.
The Missing Virtue
I couldn’t help thinking of the great virtue of kindness in regard to these brothers. We have so little kindness on line and in person – civility and personal respect in the public sphere seems remarkably absent.
Just think of what happened to Juan Williams last week and what his former boss said about him. I don’t agree with Williams’s politics or his viewpoints on many things, but he has always conducted himself as a gentleman and never tried to ram his opinions down anyone’s throat. Whether you agree or disagree with him, you could always have a reasonable conversation with him. He was no party hack, avoided political correctness, and that’s what got him fired from NPR.
I am also thinking of Kathleen Basi’s blog, So Much to Say, So Little Time, which is a great place for moms and dads with special needs kids, as well as the rest of us who want inspiration for daily living. Kathleen referenced Amy Julia Becker’s post on the NY Times parenting blog where many comments were unkind and bitter concerning accepting a Downs Syndrome child.
I was horrified at the nastiness some people did not hesitate to express. I think that when we are unkind to others, we not only diminish ourselves, we diminish all mankind. When we do it publicly, the diminishment is even greater.
No one seems to speak of kindness these days. To gauge by the media, it’s been replaced with vapid political correctness, condescension, or slimy kissing up. More than ever before, our world is in grave need of increasing kindness on the personal, one-to-one basis, yet it is hard to be a kind person if no one has ever been kind to you. And so, the vicious circle.
Comments on the Becker post showed that there are many resentful people out there, and people closed to life – people who evidently have never felt personal kindness at a deep level from others – people who are so caught up in the things of this world that they don’t recognize kindness when it presents itself to them – people who may be difficult to be kind towards.
We Can Do Better
As Christians, with God’s grace we can always do better at being kind. Now is the time, with so many wounded people in this world, to build the virtue of kindness and spread the message of God’s love . Let us look every day for more ways to be kind to those we meet, in our families, at our church, at the grocery, in the doctor’s office, at the gas station and anywhere else we happen to be.
I recommend the book, The Hidden Power of Kindness: A Practical Handbook for Souls Who Dare to Transform the World, One Deed at a Time by Father Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D., a wonderful priest who died in 1986. He did work in America’s coal and steel regions, founded the Sisters of the Divine Spirit, a missionary congregation, and wrote many other books for children and adults on living a holy life. This book will be my Advent spiritual reading and I may present quotes from it here from time to time.
Meanwhile, regarding today’s saints, it’s ironic that those who died because of their kindness are the very ones we need to ask to help us be more kind.
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Raised From the Dead
October 22, 2010
In our world where the powers of darkness seem to reign, God does work modern day miracles. This video from the Christian Broadcasting Network tells a story of God’s love and presence among us, of His power unlimited by our paltry faith, of His call to each of us individually.
If today you are feeling down, see what God did for a man who previously did not take Him seriously. Not a bad man. A spiritually indifferent man. An ordinary man like so many of us. A man whose eyes were fixed on this world with no comprehension of the divine. Until…
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Blessed John Henry Newman – I Have My Mission
October 13, 2010
Pope Benedict XVI’s recent trip held an event long desired and enthusiastically anticipated by Catholics, especially those of English speaking countries. The beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement in the 19th century was a cause of great celebration.
Newman, a convert from the Anglican Church, was one of the greatest thinkers and shepherds of the Catholic Church in his time. His wisdom has been a buffer to modernism and his holiness a salve to the troubled heart. For those of us in the Traditional Mass movement, Newman has been a shining star – a saint who always spoke the truth in charity.
What he wrote about his purpose in life expresses perfectly what my blog and the rest of my life is all about. May you find inspiration in it, too.
Newman’s Purpose is the Christian Purpose
I have a place in God’s counsels, in God’s world, which no one else has;
whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name.
God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission–I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.
Somehow I am necessary for His purposes,
as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his
–if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham.Yet I have a part in this great work;
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons.
He has not created me for naught.
I shall do good, I shall do His work;
I shall be an angel of peace,
a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it,
if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.Therefore I will trust Him.
Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away.
If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him;
in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him;
if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.
My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end,
which is quite beyond us.
He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it;
He knows what He is about.
He may take away my friends,
He may throw me among strangers,
He may make me feel desolate,
make my spirits sink, hide the future from me
–still He knows what He is about.
Blessed John Henry Newman
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Una Voce October Newsletter
October 13, 2010
If you are interested in the Traditional Latin Mass, dubbed by Pope Benedict as the “Extraordinary Form” of the Roman Rite, you might like to read the Una Voce Arkansas Ozarks Regional Newsletter I publish for the St. Pio da Pietrelcina Latin Mass Community of Cherokee Village, Arkansas.
We have one featured article each month, smaller articles, and a section of news and notes. The newsletter covers items of interest to Catholics and mainly features developments related to the Traditional Mass in the dioceses of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, although we occasionally mention happenings in other dioceses such as the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and Denver.
Last month we began a series on the meaning of the Mass and will be taking the sacred liturgy section by section so people old and new to the Traditional Mass may understand it better.
Our newsletter serves as a resource for home-schooling parents and family discussion as we attempt to bring the “mind of the Church” to all.
The October 2010 newsletter is available in pdf format which I am hosting from Mediafire as an experiment. If this works well, I will make all future and previous newsletters dating back to our start in 2006 available for reference and research at the same location. This month we led with pithy quotes from Pope Benedict’s recent visit to Great Britain and have information on the upcoming chant workshop at the Benedictine monastery of Clear Creek in Oklahoma.
Clicking on the link above will take you to the MediaFire page where you can download the newsletter. It is also available in the links section at arlatinmass.com, but only the current newsletter is available there.
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Johnny Cash and Psalm 39
October 9, 2010
In today’s post on Praying the Psalms I wrote meditations on Psalm 39. Along about verse 13 I had one of those head-slapping moments as the words, “I am a poor, wayfaring stranger…” echoed in my mind. We learned this spiritual based on Psalm 39 when I was in grade school and I’ve always loved it.
Here is Johnny Cash, eminently qualified from his personal life as well as his musical talent, to sing this great hymn. I wonder, do school children today learn this kind of music?
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
HighCallingBlogs.com
September 25, 2010
Today I found a site called HighCallingBlogs.com, and thought other Christian bloggers who visit my site might be interested in it.
The purpose:
We believe God cares about our daily work. That’s why HighCallingBlogs.com is a network of personal websites focused specifically on the intersection of faith and work.
There’s a lot more to it, so I encourage you to check it out. You’ll find the button in my sidebar or click on the link above. I like the concept and maybe you will, too.
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Ten Things My Dad Taught Me
September 22, 2010
Yesterday was the first anniversary of my dad’s passing. In the past couple of weeks coming up on this anniversary I’ve been thinking of what a good example he gave as a father and the things he taught me.
Here are some of the things I remember, in no particular order except the first:
- Always tell the truth.
- Don’t back-talk your mother.
- Always do your best.
- Don’t beat up on your brothers.
- Get a wiggle on – step lively.
- Tithe.
- Keep your room clean.
- Don’t ever come and ask to do something because “everybody else” is doing it.
- Don’t believe everything you read in the paper.
- Love the Church and live your faith.
Dad’s advice has served me well. I have a mania for seeking the truth and facts, and my word is my bond. I learned that you don’t have to beat up on somebody to get them to stop pushing your buttons, and respecting my elders is a lot wiser than smarting off at the mouth.
The clean room…not so much. I’m one of those people who, if I put something away I can’t remember where it is, but at least everything is organized and in its place where I can see it.
I love the Church and try to live my faith, and I never do anything because “everybody else” is doing it, which makes me a really bad patient in medical affairs and other situations. My getting a wiggle on days are over, but if something is worthwhile I’ll stick with it to the best of my ability for however long it takes.
How about you? What did your parents teach you about how to get along in life?
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
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