Book Club

A book club is an interesting place.  I joined because I love to read and am writing a book.  I thought it would help to discuss books with fellow readers and learn their likes and dislikes.  It is certainly an ear opener!  For instance, the general consensus seems to mandate the "obligatory sex scene" in a book, whereas I feel my imagination needs no assistance in that particular area.  However, obviously it sells mainstream books, because it tends to be in most of them.  Thus, it should come as no surprise that I frequently find I have greatly enjoyed a book that the others disapproved of and vice versa. 

Case in point:  a couple of months ago, our book was "Mutant Message Down Under" by Marlo Morgan.  It is
a story about an American doctor who goes on walkabout in the Australian Outback with a group of Aborigines.  The sufferings she endures help the tribe to teach her their spiritual principals of interrelatedness, divine creation, unconditional love, and being non-judgmental. I felt that it presented a powerful reminder of spritual principals we should all be living.  Most of the others discounted the whole thing because "obviously she didn't learn anything from the experience because she still wears makeup and colors her hair".  Huh?  Not everyone is called to be a St. Francis of Assisi or Mother Theresa.  We are all called to proclaim the Good News in our particular circumstances in life. 

Then there are the ever-popular vampire books currently circulating as the "Twilight" series.  Many of my book club confreres rave about them, but vampires simply do not appeal to me.  Now give me a good historical suspense novel.  I have the new Amelia Peabody mystery on hold:  "A River in the Sky".  After seeing the new "Sherlock Holmes" movie, I reread the books in a whole new light, with new enjoyment.  And my friend from the Baptist church turned me on to Terri Blackstock's novels - who knew such wonderful work was being produced by Christian publishing houses?  I am thrilled.

Go Fish!

We got a late start on our fishing this year, but now we're making up for lost time.  We're not really big fish eaters, and we don't particularly care if we catch anything, it's more an excuse to just get up to the lake for a few hours.  It also saves hundreds of dollars on massage therapy, as gazing out across the water, casting and reeling in, or just going for a walk relieves all the pent up tensions of the week.

It is nice to catch something once in a while, even if it's just a crawdad.  There's a feeling of accomplishment.  Fishing played a big part in Jesus' life.  Many of the apostles were fishermen.  Jesus told Peter and Andrew He would make them "fishers of men".  What does it mean for me to be a "fisher of men"?

Surely not to just sit passively and gaze across the lake.  After the wonders of God's creation have filled me up and pushed out all the garbage of the material world, what next?  Eventually it is time to drive back home and take up the daily tasks again.  Fishers of men...to be Jesus to everyone around me.  To extend kindness...to smile...to cheerfully lend a hand.  To suffer interruptions joyfully, because it may be in that moment that the "fish" God has sent me takes the "bait".

God Bless America

It warms my heart to hear people sing the Star Spangled Banner. In recent years, it seems I've noticed alot of people who don't know, or refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, or sing our National Anthem. As a student in Catholic schools for ten years, not a day went by when we didn't say the pledge, and the anthem, as well as other patriotic songs were frequently included in our morning singing.

Undoubtedly, our country has severe flaws. Our president is less than inspiring to many of us. Our lawmakers are a big disappointment, to say the least. But we Americans, we Catholic Americans, come together on the Lord's Day, and encourage each other; we receive the nourishing body and blood of Christ and are strengthened to go out and do what little we can to be the change we want to see happen.

O' say, does that star spangled banner yet wave, o'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?
As long as it continues to wave, and we continue to pray, there is great hope for our great country.