Three Ages of the Interior Life

The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life (Volume One) by Rev Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange OP, translated by Sister M Timothea Doyle OP, 470 pages

This book is an adaptation of a course Father Garrigou-Lagrange taught for over twenty years at the Pontifical College of St Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome.  The subject is mystical and ascetic theology, subjects which are sometimes treated as distinct but which the author demonstrates form a unity.  More importantly, he explains that these are not the concern merely of great saints and spiritual athletes, but are the heart of the universal call to holiness.  The interior life in which the soul ascends to God is both a foretaste of and a necessary preparation for that heaven which is true life in His presence.

The first volume treats of some foundational matters as well as the first of the three stages described by the great mystical writers, the purgative way.  Given the origin of the book, Garrigou-Lagrange's intended audience is current and future priests and spiritual directors, but despite occasional digressions into theological complexities, the work itself is imbued with a deep love of God and a concern for the souls of the faithful, so that it is pastoral in the best sense of the word.  A lay reader is likely to find himself both enlightened and inspired, though there is danger in reading beyond one's level.

Stitches

Stitches by Anne LaMott              Audio Book: 1 hour, 47 minutes      Hardback Book:   112 pages               

Anne LaMott talks about a lot of sad things in this book.    She questions, “Why?”   Why bad things happen.   Why do children get shot at school?   Why good people die and sometimes die very young?   Why are there Hurricanes and Tsunamis?    Why do Polar bears have to die on blocks of ice that break off and float out to sea because of global warming?   Lots of other questions she brings up, too.   She likens the bad things we have to experience in life as part of the thread and stitches in the tapestry that becomes our lives.    She waxes almost Buddhist at times though her belief seems to be Christianity.   A bit fringe pagan at times, too.    It is all part of wrestling with thoughts and ideas, reality and pain.    She talks about one of her best friends who died at age 37 leaving her daughter to grow up without a mother.   She talked about sorting through her friends things after the funeral with the friend’s daughter.    She claimed an old well worn blouse that belonged to her friend.   She wore it many times in remembrance   and once while on vacation on a beach wishing that her friend could see what she was seeing, in her sorrow she was going to cut it up and throw the pieces of the blouse into the ocean, but, then she thought better of it and clung to it and still wears it.   It is part of the memory of happy times and is a bright red thread in the tapestry of her younger years and the joy it represents is not something she wants to let go of.      She finds life is a balance, everything has its place for a reason in our lives.    There are lessons to be learned, there are times when we need to stop what we are doing and pay attention and sometimes the things that slow us down and open our eyes to what is going on happens to be sorrowful for us or for someone we need to reach out to.   She is an interesting writer and she is so like a friend of mine from highschool it is uncanny.   I cannot read Anne LaMott’s writing without thinking of Kim, the gal she so reminds me of.   The way she runs hot and cold, the twist of her thoughts, how she relates her emotions.    A quick read, she is always funny and witty and is very insightful in relating her concepts, her stories, and her admissions of her own flaws.    Another good read.

Hallelujah, Anyway

Hallelujah, Anyway

by Anne LaMott                Audio Book:  2 hours, 53 minutes    Paperback Book:  208 pages         

This is a great follow-up book to “Stitches.”     Where “Stitches,”  dealt with the yin and the yang – good versus evil balance in the tapestry of our lives, this book deals in hope and mercy.   We are forgiven our wrong doings not because of anything we do to try to buy our way into heaven, but, because Jesus paid the price and sacrificed himself to absolve us of our sins through mercy we are saved through God’s grace.  She sites many examples of the times we are in and how we often screw up and do the opposite of what we should and end up suffering the consequences of our actions.   But, God’s mercy is like a hug surrounding us.   That sense a child has with a parent, when you know you shouldn’t have messed with Mom or Dad’s stuff and when something gets broken by accident it hurst you because you know you hurt them.   But through mercy and forgiveness at some time in our life and hopefully often we are forgiven for the bad things we do sometimes willfully sometimes a victim of our actions, thoughts or desires.   Unfailing mercy and unconditional love.   We can see God in our pets eyes and what a wonderful reminder that there is more in the universe than just us out here hanging on to the planet hoping to stay afloat in a sea of potential temptations.     What we are unable to do on our own, what we are unable to forgive ourselves for love and mercy covers.    When we are lost in wrongs there is One who reaches us wherever we are and lifts us up.   If we let Him.     Good book.   I do enjoy how Anne LaMott relates things.   So interesting, so real and down-to-earth, so subtle and yet so full of wisdom.   I am a big fan of her writing.   Another good job.

Mr. Blue

Mr.Blue by Myles Connolly, Introduction by John B. Breslin, S.J.    128 pages

This year, 2018, my New Year’s resolution was to pick twelve of the books that have been loitering on my bookshelves and actually read them. For February, I picked a short novel that has been print continuously since it was originally published in 1928.

While it’s considered Catholic fiction, I remember distinctly why I initially purchased it: the following sentence was on the back cover from John B. Breslin’s introduction: “Blue…was a uniquely American personality. As Myles Connolly wrote him, J. Blue was the man whom the ambitious Jay Gatsby might have become had he steered by a higher truth than the sound of money in Daisy Buchanan’s voice.” A novel that compares its protagonist to Fitzgerald’s Gatsby? I had to have it.

Breslin’s introduction makes may comparisons between Gatsby and Blue. He also called Blue a modern St. Francis of Assisi, which I didn’t seem at all.

Basically Blue is a free spirit, osne who is more interested in God and the Earth than in following a strict set of guidelines that the human race places upon itself. He takes a vow of poverty and chases that vow with abandon.

I’m not sure that I truly understand Connolly’s message, but it’s good little read. Mr. Blue receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist, and Spiritual Seeker

My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist, and Spiritual Seeker by Melissa Burch   208 Pages

Melissa Burch’s story is based on her experiences as a freelance journalist during the Afghan War. When she was only 21 years old, Burch, and her cameraman, was on her to become the first journalist to capture the mujahedeen rebellion against Soviet invaders on tape.

The book opens with Burch sleeping a dirt floor with seven heavily armed Afghan soldiers, ranging from 19 to 20 years old. The tales of journey through Afghanistan will cause the hair on your arms to stand on end. The relentless heat, hunger and fear never left her. The hiding from the Russian soldiers was perilous and terrifying.  She must have covered the entire country either on horseback, motorbike or foot.  I felt her pain as she described a march through the rocky, mountains with Afghan soldiers

There was on anecdote where she and he soldiers were hiding when the Soviets were passing by. They had no sooner left the safety of the deserted compound, than it was blown up. 

One of the things that surprised me about Burch’s time is Afghanistan was that she was never raped. A lone woman traveling with many men had to be vulnerable. Not to say that she didn’t take up with one of the leaders, but it seemed more mutual consent.

My favorite parts of the book were after her return to the States. Maybe it was because I could relate more to that experience.

I approached Burch’s memoir with a bit of negativity. Earlier this year I had tried to read Malala Yousfzai’s I am Malala. I was prepared to be pulled into to that story, but I didn’t past page 50. I was a little afraid that I might experience the same issue with My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist, and Spiritual Seeker. But from the opening scene that I described earlier, I was hooked. Although places were a little choppy, but it is riveting.

I give My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist, and Spiritual Seeker 5 out of 5 stars.