On Being Poor

On Being Poor

This is going to sound a bit weird, but as a Catholic I am thankful that I don't actually have a lot. I am not attached to what I have either because none of it is worth much. There is a blessing in being poor. It means that my focus can be elsewhere. I am not talking about abject poverty here, because we have always had enough, and we often have a bit more than enough. I am saying that it is a blessing to be content with that. It is a blessing to not be able to look lustfully and enviously at what I cannot afford and what I do not need anyway. I have learned not to care about such things. I wonder if I had a lot of money, if my life wouldn't be a lot tougher from a spiritual point of view. To be content with enough, with what you have, and to have what you need, truly is a great blessing.

"Don't let sin find a place in you. Recognize it as soon as it presents. Contemplate your weakness objectively so you recognize it when it knocks at your door. Actively name it when it calls and actively dismiss it, confess it, and replace it with a virtue. REJECT IT! Don't feed it! In this life you are becoming what you will be. In the next life, you will be what you have become. How do you become? By acting on either your vices or your virtues."

No. NO. NO. NO. Christmas does not start in September, nor does it start in October or November. In fact, it is at the END of December. I saw Christmas lights up today. Are these people nuts? Are their lives so very empty that they have to stretch one or two weeks of holiday into several months? September has lots on offer: Labour Day, the beginning of school, cooler nights and lovely days, colours changing. And October is lovely: the height of autumn, more colours, Thanksgiving in Canada, Halloween. November has American Thanksgiving, time to get your Christmas shopping thought out and started, Remembrance Day. Leave Christmas until December where it belongs. Please. Give each month its glory and enjoy what it has on offer. Stop jumping the gun.

Such amazing craftsmanship!

Manitoulin Island quillboxes, with designs using only the natural colour. Porcupine quill embroidery (quillwork) on birchbark, trimmed with sweetgrass. From the collection of the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation. 1. Marina Recollet 2. Jean Mishibinijima 3. Delia Beboning 4. Josette Debassige 5. Marina Recollet (side view of #8) 6. Eric Beboning (side view of #7) 7. Eric Beboning 8. Marina Recollet

I really struggled with the idea of Mary while converting, but THIS comparison was one of the things which conquered that fear.

Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant