To the Little House

by Christoper Morley

Dear little house, dear shabby street,

Dear little books and bed and food to eat!

How feeble words are to express

The facets of your tenderness.

How white the sun comes through the pane!

In tinkling music drips of rain!

How burning bright the furnace glows!

What paths to shovel when it snows!

O dearly loved Long Island trains!

O well remembered joys and pains,

How near the housetops Beauty leans

Along that little street in Queens!

Let these poor rhymes abide for proof

Joy dwells beneath a humble roof;

Heaven is not built of country seats

But little queer suburban streets! 

This little poem in one of our readers rang so true.  Nearly half the homes I have lived in (and there have been 22 now) have now been demolished.  Most were quirky. Modest. Like the before's in the house flipping shows.  I have the fondest memories of them and the life lived in those odd little houses. No amount of decor makes for joy. The children are oblivious to the design anyway.  It's in the living and the outlook. They will remember how they felt there. 

"Walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called, with all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting on another in charity, careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:1-3

Divine Intimacy tells us it is easy keep the bond of peace when we are truly humble, meek and patient.  Such a soul is said to "bear everything with love, carefully trying to adapt itself to the feelings and desires of others, rather than asserting its own." However it also points out that this is very difficult here below because self love continually "asserts its rights" creating "continual clashes, the avoidance of which calls for much self-renunciation and much delicacy towards others."

Very often, the author points out, "the cause of division among good people is excessive self assertion: the desire to do things ones own way." He states certainly that, "there can be nothing so absolute in our ideas that it cannot give way to the ideas of others."  If our ideas our good, others may also be good.  They may be better. Therefore he says, "it is much wiser, more humble and charitable to accept the views of others and to try to reconcile our views to theirs." 

He goes further to say, "We should be persuaded that all that disturbs, weakens, or worse still, destroys fraternal union, does not please God." He says this is so even when we are moved under the pretext of zeal.  So long as it does not interfere with our fulfillment of duty or the law of God.  Remember too, we are called to live out that law, not to loudly condemn all who do not.  They will have their hour of reckoning.  May God be merciful to us all in that regard. 

The closing prayer reads in part:

"O Word, Son of God, You look with more complacency on one work done in fraternal union and charity than on a thousand done in discord;

one tiny little act, like the closing of an eye, performed in union and charity, pleases You more than if I were to suffer martyrdom in disunion and without charity.

You are the source of all peace."

From the Liturgy:

Where charity and love are, You are there also, O Lord!

Your love, O Christ, has united us in one body with a sincere heart.

Grant then that we may love one another with a sincere heart.

Keep far from us all quarrels and contentions;

grant that our hearts may always be united in You and do You dwell always in our midst.

" It was Mother who spun the stories that made the things we studied really unforgettable.  If Dad saw motion study and teamwork in an anthill, Mother saw a highly complex civilization governed, perhaps, by a fat old queen bee who had a thousand slaves bring her breakfast in bed in the morning. If Dad stopped to explain the construction of a bridge, she would find the workman in his blue jeans eating his lunch high on top of the span. It was she would made us feel the breathless height and relative puniness of the humans who had built it. Or if Dad pointed out a tree that had been bent and gnarled, it was Mother who made us sense how the wind, beating against the tree in the endless passing of time, had made its own relentless mark."

from Cheaper by the Dozen

"Four times a year, approximately three months apart, near the beginning of each season of the solar cycle (winter, spring, summer and autumn), the Church set aside three days (a total of twelve days in a year) to ask for blessings upon mankind, and to pray in gratitude for the blessings of nature, particularly those used by the Church in her Liturgy, such as olives, grapes, and wheat.

This is also a time set apart to thank God for the sacraments and pray for priests, particularly those who were being ordained. These days are marked with prayer, fasting and abstinence and stress spiritual renewal;

Ember Days could be regarded as quarterly spiritual check-ups."

Ember Days, Catholic Culture

Today we have the first of the three autumn Ember Days which follow the Exultation of the holy Cross, where we fast (one meal and two snacks) and observe partial abstinence (meat only once at our main meal). People tend to drift over time. It's human nature.  No matter how sincere we may be when we make resolutions, the following months often find at least some of these relaxed or perhaps abandoned altogether.   These days serve as a sort of reset at the beginning of each new quarter. We mark the change of season and set aside a few days of self-discipline to dedicate them to God and ask Him to bless them.  We can also use this time to rededicate ourselves, to see where we have had backsliding, and shore up our routines and devotions. 

An adult son and I were discussing ways you can arm your children.  One such way, which is repeatedly asserted in books like Mother Love, is to help them gain mastery over their appetites.  To accustom them to being content with simple food, to rise promptly, and endure minor discomforts with composure.  These are disciplines largely cast aside in our era.  We are reminded however, that those who are faithful in small things will be faithful in greater.  Ember Days offer one such tool to cultivate faithfulness. 

image: Kendra Tierney

I meant to share here a wonderful reflection Father shared about The Good Samaritan. It expounded upon Origen’s commentary which I had not read. It falls in the category of stories you think you know but later realize you've simply skimmed the surface.

 Father gave some historical background to put the parable in context.  The traveler in the story is journeying from Jerusalem to Jericho.  Jerusalem is often a metaphor for heaven whereas Jericho represents the fallen world. As so often happens when we move away from things of God and towards the fallen world, the man is beset with trouble (sin) which nearly kills him.  The priest and Levite represent the old law which point out the wrong he committed but offered no compassion, no healing.  
The Samaritan goes above and beyond to “bind the wounds.”

Father encouraged us to consider multiple applications of the metaphors here. He reminded us that Samaritans were considered a lower class whose heritage had been diluted and adulterated by years in captivity.  And yet this Samaritan demonstrated far more compassion and empathy than those men who had the benefit of lifelong faith and teaching. 

The reality is we are often outdone in charity even today. Our first response is more likely to be judgement or irritation or nonchalance.  Instead of meeting our fellow travelers where they are, which might not be pretty, we pass by with little more than disgust.

Jesus simply says of the Samaritan:

“Go and do likewise.” 

Church Fathers commentary here 

ancient history background with excellent video here 

"In this world of corruption there is a real danger that the earnest Christian may overreact in his resistance to evil and become a victim of the religious occupational disease, cynicism.  The constant need to go counter to popular trends may easily develop in hime a sour habit of faultfinding and turn him into s sulky critic of other men's matters, without charity and without love. 

What makes this cynical spirit particularly dangerous is that the cynic is usually right.

His analyses are accurate, his judgement sound. He can prove he is right in his moral views; yet for that… he is wrong, frightfully, pathetically wrong. But because he is right, he never suspects how tragically wrong he is…."

A.W. Tozer

 I had not been able to articulate specifically what was bothering me about so many things written and reactions observed this year until I ran across this reflection, penned in the 1950's.  It echoes Nietzche's admonition:

"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster…for when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss gazes also into you."

For all that is wrong with the world it is still in our best interest and in the best interest of all those around us that we strive to remain gentle and soft, that we cultivate joy and mercy, that we do not harden ourselves. Those are not things that the world does to us, much as we try to lay the blame there.  Those are things we do ourselves when our focus and motives are faulty. 

This month, like so many late summers before, I am filling myself up with inspirational reading to get fired up for this new school year.  It looks different for many of us, whether because we find ourselves with unexpected learning scenarios or without students in this season of life.  All those situations come with opportunities though. If we are teaching others then we certainly have no time to brood.  If we are in newly empty nest we have a likely long awaited gift of time and freedom to pursue our own projects. There is always something right in our laps or under our noses that would benefit from our attention. 

What about this coming autumn most excites you? What is inspiring you right now? Who or what could use your attention? 

Some places that fill me up:

Give Them Beauty

At Home with Nikki

Wildflowers and Marbles 

By Sun and Candlelight

Karen Andreola

CreativeLive

Classical Reading List

Clean Food Crush

BodyFit Weight workouts

Education, home, order, fitness, clean food, art.  I am not suggesting we make ourselves completely ignorant of the problems of the world. (I'd argue that is nigh on impossible, however.)  I am suggesting that this is ultimately how they are fixed: one person, one home, one act of gentle beauty at a time.