Reading an Entire Gospel in One Sitting

In his book, "The Rosary: Chain of Hope," the late Fr. Benedict Groeschel suggested carving out some time when we wouldn't be interrupted, and reading an entire Gospel in one sitting or kneeling.

I've just done this with "The Gospel According to St. Mark."

[I read the Gospels over and over, in order, and I had finished Matthew earlier today.]

I found it absolutely overwhelming, but in a good way.... in a very good way.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Looking for some great Catholic blogs?  Want to share your own? Hop on over to RAnn's blog for Sunday Snippets!

Semper Gaudete! : Addition to my Rosary Art Collection

Semper Gaudete! : Leading Pro-Life Activist’s Wife Scheduled to Terminate Her Pregnancy

Semper Gaudete! : A Piece of Writing I've Loved For Years

Semper Gaudete! : Mary Never REALLY Suffered

Semper Gaudete! : Two Fathers, Two Little Boys

Semper Gaudete! : Single-Member Clubs

Semper Gaudete! : Books Read in the Past Week

Books Read in the Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

Books, (except Sunday books) are grouped by author, and not necessarily in the order read.

"Least of All, Me"
by Sister Anthony Marie, OSF
[fiction about nuns based on fact]

"Love God And Do What You Please"

by St. Alphonsus Liguori

adapted by M. J. Huber

[spiritual reading]
a favorite of mine; thank God it wasn't one of the books
lost when I moved!

"Blueberry Muffins"
by Colleen Spiro
[nonfiction]
(Kindle Book)

{Sunday books}

Bible books read this week:

"Judges"

"The Gospel According to Matthew"

"Girls' Clubs
Their Organization and Management" #
by Helen Josephine Ferris
[nonfiction]
(free online book)
{carried over from last week}

"Rowena the Sailor"
by Ruth Langland Holberg
[children's fiction]

"The Persian Pickle Club" #
by Sandra Dallas
[fiction]
(openlibrary.org loan

"Elsie Dinsmore"
"Elsie's Holidays at Roselands"
"Elsie's Girlhood"
{carrying over into next week}
by Martha Finley
[children's fiction, Christian, (Protestant)]
(I recently made two posts about the "Elsie" books)
First Post
Second Post

"The Taste of Spruce Gum" #
by Jacqueline Jackson
[children/YA fiction, historical]
(openlibrary.org loan)
{carrying over into next week}

Single-Member Clubs

Single-member clubs?  Now that sounds like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it?  How can one person be a club?

However, according to the following article, written by Mary Wood-Allen in 1903, it is possible. [I had to copy it because I couldn't make a link this time.]

This is the day of organizations, so I have decided to organize a new society. There are Don't Worry Clubs and Sunshine Clubs and Self- Improvement Clubs and Success Clubs. I will organize Happiness Clubs, with one member in each. Yes, that idea suits me. The organization may never grow beyond the charter society; but there will be at least one Happiness Club, and I its first member. Let me see! An organization must have constitution, by-laws, fees, etc. So we will begin in due order.

CONSTITUTION 

1. This society shall be known as the Happiness Club of __.

2. Its purpose shall be to promote the true happiness of its member, of all members of affiliated societies, and also of all who may not be members of the organization. (I think that is broad enough.) 

3. Its officers shall be president, treasurer, and recording secretary. (There will be no need of a vice-president, for the president will never be off duty.) 

4. These offices shall be hereditary and for life. (Therefore there will be no bother in the election of officers.) 

5. The duties of these officers shall be as follows : The president shall preside over the thoughts, deeds, aspirations, and general conduct of the member.

The treasurer shall carefully guard the treasures of the society, — namely, the honor, purity, and health of the member, — and shall make due report of the same. The recording secretary shall keep a record of the doings of the society, and make reports to the president and the organization, when required. 

6. The executive committee shall consist of all the officers, and their duty shall be to devise methods for carrying out the plans of the society.

7. The society shall remain in continual session, having watchmen appointed for duty even during the hours of the night. 

8. Special meetings of the executive committee may be held at the call of any one member. 

9. The dues of the society shall be in tithes of good deeds according to the ability of the member.

10. Any person may become a member of this organization by forming himself into a Happiness Club, signing the constitution and by-laws, and paying the dues.

 11. Any Happiness Club may add to or otherwise change its constitution by unanimous vote of the executive committee. 

12. (I have concluded to have a grip and password.) The grip shall be the helpful hand extended to all members and to all who may not be members. 

13. (There should be a motto. How will this do?) Motto: "In everything give thanks." 

14. The badge of the Happiness Club shall be a Happy Heart, reflected in a sunny countenance. It must be worn constantly, on all occasions, by night as well as by day.

15. The colors of the club shall be a threefold cord of the warmth of love, the serenity of hope, and the brightness of purity. 

16. Any member who fails to live up to the requirements of his own society shall take a new hold, and try, try again. If the offence is fre quently repeated, a special meeting of the executive committee shall be called to take action on the case, the only restriction on their action being that no member shall ever be expelled from the society.(Once a member, always a mem ber. You see, I believe that one who has really joined a Happiness Club can never really lose the secret of membership. He may grow a little weary, and seem to lose his grip, but a little timely help will enable him to renew his effort with fresh courage. Hence the executive committee must never let go of him.) 

17. Any Happiness Club may affiliate with any other Happiness Club by notification of desire to the same and acceptance of the desire, and such affiliation shall consist in interchange of kindly words and office or by united effort in some kindly deed to assist someone else. 

18. A course of study into the secret of true happiness shall be instituted by each club, and followed conscientiously by the members. 

19. Any number of clubs may unite in the pursuance of this study, either by personal association or by correspondence. The study may be pursued either with or without books. The chief text-book recommended is the Bible.

Do I agree with this article?  I like the points the author makes, and I believe that her tongue was at least partly in her cheek when she wrote it.

I wonder what she would think of all the online clubs in existence these days which consist of just one member!

Two Fathers, Two Little Boys

Two incidents have remained in my mind for years.  I'll take the later one, which happened when I was in my early twenties, first.

I saw a little boy, who couldn't have been more than six [if he was that old], walking with his father. The child looked up and said, "I love you, Daddy."

But did his father hug him the way a normal father would?

No.

He shook his finger in the boy's face and said in a tough, hard, completely unfatherly voice, "MEN don't say I love you to other MEN!"

I felt so bad... so sorry... for both of them.  And I remember thinking, "I hope I never marry a man like that."

Now for the earlier incident.. which is a good memory. I was only a little girl, not even eight years old but I've never forgotten.

I was sitting on a bench on Ocean Parkway with my Baba and her sister, my Aunt Lily.  On the bench across from ours sat a little boy and his father.  They were looking at a picture book.

And then the father said, "Let's go home now and fix dinner and surprise Mommy when she gets home from her club meeting."

I hope that boy grew up to be like his father.

Mary Never REALLY Suffered

Did that heading grab your attention?  Did it shock you?

Years ago... not long after I'd become a Catholic, a woman said to me, "They shouldn't call Mary Queen of Martyrs, because she never really suffered."

"Oh?" I responded.  "Well, you just close your eyes and imagine yourself watching [I said her son's name] die the way Mary watched Jesus die... and then tell me Mary never suffered!"

A Piece of Writing I've Loved For Years

I've loved the following essay since I came across a condensed version of it over thirty years ago.

"A person can never get true greatness by trying for it. You get it when you're not looking for it. 

It's nice to have good clothes—it makes it a lot easier to act decent—but it is a sign of true greatness to act when

 you haven't got them just as good as if you had. One time when Ma was a little girl they had a bird at their house, 

called Bill, that broke his leg. They thought they would have to kill him, but next morning they found him

 propped up sort of sideways on his good leg, singing! That was true greatness. 

One time there was a woman that had done a big washing and hung it on the line. 

The line broke and let it all down in the mud, but she didn't say a word, only did it over again; 

and this time she spread it on the grass, where it couldn't fall. But that night a dog with dirty feet ran 

over it. When she saw what was done, she sat down and didn't cry a bit. All she said was: 'Ain't it queer that he didn't miss nothing!' 

That was true greatness, but it's only people who have done washings that know it! Once there was a woman that lived near a pig-pen, 

and when the wind blew that way it was very smelly, indeed; and at first when she went there to live she couldn't smell anything but 

straight pig, but when she lived there a while she learned to smell the clover blossoms through it. That was true greatness."

This gem has been attributed to several different people, two of whom are not named.

Nellie L. McClung presents it as a composition written by a little girl named Pearl, a character in her novel "The Second Chance."

Several people have given credit for it to an English girl from an underprivileged home. H. Allen Smith, on the other hand, wrote in his collection of children's writings, "Don't Get Perconel With A Chicken," [which is where  I first read the essay]:

I have saved one of the finest items for the end of 
this little book. It is a little essay written by a twelve- 
year-old girl in Perry County, Alabama. Helen Essary 
came into possession of it about twenty years ago, 
checked it for its authenticity, and then sent it to the 
Reader's Digest and they checked it, so it must be 
genuine. It was published in 1939

 I wonder who the real author is.  Did Nellie L. McClung write it, or did she use it by permission of the the actual writer?  (I haven't found any acknowledgements, so I'm inclined to think that she did write it.  But... did she write it as an adult, or did she incorporate a piece of writing from her childhood into the novel?

 In either case, I'm glad... I'm thankful that this essay was written and published, and that I've had the joy of reading it.