Foundations and Poem

So lately I've been thinking about discernement (as is probably apparent to anyone who has read two or three entries on this blog) and how one determines the will of God. While I am still uncertain in many ways as to how to determine the will of God one thing is clear:

In hoc cognoscent omnes quia mei discipuli estis si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem.

This is John 13:35 in Latin (I just like other languages). It is where Jesus says that "they [the world] will know you are Christians by your love."

This means that Christianity is revealed by the fruits it produces. If you do not love, you are not, in essence, Christian. If we take this a step further we understand that God's relations to actions is revealed, at least partially, by the fruit that action revealed. This is to say that if a certain action causes you to start spending more time in adoration, it is probably a good thing (as long as your time spent is not some sort of counterbalance). Likewise, if your choice makes you spend less time in adoration, it is probably a bad thing (I will not say definitely, for there are few definites).

To clarify a little more, if your time is no longer spent with God because of a simple unability to spend the time (school, work, etc.) it is not inherently evil. But Mother Teresa said (and the other saints agree), in essence, "the more you do the more you must pray;" so when your activities take away from God time, it is probably bad.



The following is a poem I wrote over the weekend. It is a little long, but if you don't read it scroll down to the bottom of the page because there is a little more I'd like all those who read this blog to read.

To Pick and Choose

And sayeth the teacher
unto those, rapt in attention
captured by his words spun
in finery and confusion,
words of no rock dressed
in the arts of Rome
and played against the timeless light,
darkness wrapped in man’s frivolity,
those thoughts loosed by wild freedom
“My words speak fresh light
on ancient thoughts and brighten
their dust filled ways with
that all-cleaning river of science,
washing away archaic truths
and broken dogmas of the past.”
Nodding faces and renewed thoughts
greeted this earthly pronunciation
renouncing the foundation of the world
for the fickle reaches of philosophy
and the wild ends of belief.
“It is the mind of man which
empowers the open advancement of
man’s greatest achievement: that which
has slain the baseless roots of power.”
And so speaketh he against the words as new
as the foundation of the world
with words as ancient as
the young man’s destructive birth.
Threw he then the first stone
shattering the great edifices of glass,
raining colored sand about
the gloried forms on knees and stone
Those outside cheered this brave soul,
this mighty man against the machine,
for the strides he took in the name
of liberty from all form and reason,
but those beneath the glass took
notice not of this first heckler
for he was nothing new in the world
but a mad meander, the waves
from that ancient storm which touched
not the boat but rocked the sea.
And buffets he the world’s waters
tumbling man and thought against
that still strong barque and
wakes the sleeping master
who soon strives against the storm
and breaks flat the wild reaches
of ancient powers and reawakens
the eternal spring of theat long golden earth.


Many of us are currently discerning the priesthood, religious life, marriage, and profession, and I thought I'd help out. Starting tomorrow I am going to be praying a Novena (not sure which one yet) for a better understanding of God's will. This also applies to a major project I am considering undertaking (not the biggest I've ever thought of, that definitely goes to the fleet of star ships) and whether it is God's plan.

I'd like to invite all of you to pray along with me. I will be posting the prayers for each day here so that you can just log in and pray.