Faith in Action

This was posted on the American Chesterton Society Blog and is SO worth sharing.

We helped with a project for a missionary in Angola last year, I think this year, the kids and I will be scrounging our pennies to support this project. The actions of a few can bring hope to many.

The #1 reason Chesterton Should be a Saint

Totally selfish reason, He died on my wedding anniversary. I remember crying when I looked a the Liturgical Calendar and it was blank on June 14 ( hey, I'm a good Catholic girl!). I tell people my wedding date and everyone says the same thing, "Flag Day? Are you patriotic?". Trust me, that had nothing to do with it. I need a feast day on June 14th that fits, and St. Gilbert would do!

For more on the Canonization mutterings read here.
or here or here, for they are all far more brilliant and less selfish.

Merry Christmas!

A Child of the Snows

There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim, 

  And never heard before

When the nights are strong with darkness long, 

  And the dark is alive with rain.

Never we know but in sleet and in snow, 

  The place where the great fires are, 

That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth

  And the heart of the earth a star.

And at night we with to the ancient inn

  Where the child in the frost is furled, 

We follow the feet where all souls meet

  At the inn at the end of the world.

The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red, 

  For the flame of the sun is flown, 

The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold, 

  And a child comes forth alone.

~G.K. Chesterton

If ever in Wheaton....

Stop by the Wade Center. I stopped in after a performance my children attended at the Wheaton College.  I cannot say enough about how lovely the Wade center is. First of all it is a center dedicated to the study of Chesterton, Sayers, Tolkein, Lewis, Barfield, Williams and MacDonald. That alone is enough, but it is so much more than that. There is a library with an enormous collection of the author's books. But far from being a library, it is a charming English style cottage with plush furniture and artifacts from the the authors. 

My children were charmed with the wardrobe that belonged to CS Lewis that is housed in the main room, complete with furs, of course. The wardrobe is carved exactly in the same way as the one in the Narnia books. And speaking of those books, there is a collection of the Art of Narnia, although much of it is out on loan right now. 

In the middle of the main room there is a case dedicated to the centennial Chesterton works, Orthodoxy and The Man Who was Thursday. My kid loved the Chesterton Ornament, that they had admired in Gilbert. I loved reading the beautifully handwritten letter from Chesterton to Frances Blogg, his future wife. The handwriting alone struck me as loving and beautiful. 

I cannot wait to visit again, and maybe visit the research/reading room for some quiet mom time. Will you join me?

Chesterton, Chesterton Everywhere!

Today has been very odd, everywhere I turn, Chesterton.

Here's a look at my Chesterton filled day. I'm at Barnes and Noble, looking for a copy of The Man Who Was Thursday rather quickly. I bought one there last year as a gift, so I know that recently they have had it. I searched and searched, no sign of anything Chesterton. I even ventured into the abyss know as "Christian Fiction" looking. I gave up after a latte found it's way into my hands, and decided I needed help. Enter "Customer Service" girl who informs me that "due to the nature of the book, it is pre-pay special order". Um, Okay, and what is that nature, I ask, "books no one wants". EXCUSE ME! I want it, and know for a fact that B&N has a edition of it they publish. I decide, rather insulted, I'll order it from The American Chesterton Society and forgo my husband's huge employee discount at the mega book retailer.

Shortly there after daughter and I race to church to be 6th and 7th line for confession, so we only have to wait 45 minutes. Father tells her to "read a book called Father Brown". I chuckle, she giggles, and refreshed with grace, we head home to find..

...A Letter from the ACS asking for donations, memberships and book orders. In all honestly, if I had any money I could give, I would, but we just do not this year. I'm happy I have 2 more years on my membership. I'll be ordering that book, and maybe another tonight.

After a brief visit with family for a party, I check my 104 awaiting emails, to find this:

Save the Dates for G.K. Chesterton Events: October 23 and 24, 2008

The Wade Center is pleased to present a lecture by Dale Ahlquist (President of the G.K. Chesterton Society) on Thursday, October 23, followed by a Wheaton College chapel talk on October 24 by Chris Mitchell. Chuck Chalberg presents his dramatic performance "G.K. Chesterton On Stage" on October 24. Continue to watch this web page for additional details.

I'm so excited! We love watching EWTN"s Apostle of Common Sense with Mr. Ahlquist. I think I'm going to get a nice date with my husband October 23 or 24, and an evening at the Irish pub down the block.

Now I'm off to play Chutes and Ladder with my boys and then read Chesterton, who seems to be calling me today.

Chesterton Talk, in My Neck of the Woods?!?!!

I can hardly believe I get to go to a talk about Chesterton less than 3 miles from my home! BU is not known as a bastion of orthodoxy, so anything good there is rare, but Chesterton, I'm giddy!Pass the word,please.

I could kiss my mail man

As I was running out the door to sit through a 3.5 hour band dress rehearsal with my daughter, the mail mail left me a little present, MY GILBERT! JOY!!! Not that going out in below zero weather to sit through a concert I have to go to again tonight would be tedious, it just that I have to not talk to my momma friends and sit still. I'm a bit hyper as an adult and sitting still and quiet can be a challenge sometimes, especially when I'm freezing cold. Did I mention I could not bring my trusty mug of hot coffee or tea?! But, alas, I had my Gilbert to keep me happy. And that it did. I finally got to sit and read an issue without multitasking, no dinner being prepared while reading this time! I did stop reading once in a while to find out if my child was sitting still and not talking as well(she was not, like mother like daughter).

I barely noticed the time fly or the extreme cold, well, the later was more noticeable as I read about Mr. Alquist's trip to a much warmer state, CA. but he, too lives in the bitter midwest, so all is fair. All in all the evening was much improved my good reading material, and tha fact that the homeschool band is playing a Danny Elfman piece, the Batman Theme.We won't tell them that he was in a rock band before he started composing for the movies, oooh, better not mention the Simpsons, either. Tonight's concert will be great, and having not seen the bulk of the prep for it , I will better enjoy hearing all the results.

Sharing a note I received...

Some may know that one of my best friends since I was like 16 is Br. Maximilian Mary, CFR. He lives in the Bronx, in a really really rough area. His primary job, through his vocation is to serve the poor. Given he has a vow of poverty, he only sends us notes to treasure for Christmas. This year the Brs. got email, this is from him....(side note..if you are looking for something to do with any old Gilbert's you may have, he's happily take them!)

Merry Christmas! I thought a Christmas poem from G.K. Chesterton would be a gift that would be both deeper than most greeting cards, and in my price range :

The House of Christmas by G.K. Chesterton

“There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost---how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.

This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.”