It's the cure for CABIN Fever!
FINALLY! WOO HOO!
I'm off work today, because although the calender says "Thursday", in the life of Adoro, it's actually Saturday. Because I have to work the calender Saturday (and the calender Sunday), so incidentally, my Sunday is actually Monday.
So today I ran some errands that needed to be completed:
First I stopped at my church and went to the giftshop to get my Magnificat for April. Although I want to learn to pray Liturgy of the Hours, I don't have the set or know how to pray it. (Incidentally...for all of you interested praying LOTH but you don't have the books, check the bottom of the post for a tip!) And of course I stopped in for a few moments to say hello to Jesus in the chapel. It's just WRONG to walk into a church, even on a quick errand, and not stop for 30 seconds to say Hello to our Divine Host. Would you for one moment go into your parent's house to pick up something from the fridge and leave without greeting them, even if you were in a huge hurry? No, I didn't think so.
Then I got my overdue oil change and got the tires rotated, and studied while that happened. And I got it done at the dealership since my warranty is nearly up and they are really good at catching warranty issues. The last time my car was in they replaced the rear bushings. It's more expensive to get stuff done at the dealer, but they are fast, they gave me a car wash token, and as soon as my warranty is up and I will have to pay for all things on my own, well, then I'll hit the cheaper places.
Then I went to the gym and had a nice workout, but I cheated on my weightlifting today...even working out made me restless to do something else.
I had a couple other errands to run, day-off stuff and came home, ate lunch, started to study, and realized that I couldn't keep my eyes open. I had vowed not to take a nap today, but the truth is that I've been so stressed out at work. It's been a crazy week, I'm overwhelmed at the stuff that's happening this weekend and the prep for VBS (that I'm behind on), and I'm terrified I'm going to mess things up in my complete incompetance. And the Momzillas and Grandmazillas in the sacramental classes have me terrified.
All last night, I'm not sure I'll call it "sleep". First I couldn't sleep, so I said some prayers and when I did finally sleep, I dreamd about work. And other crazy things. (I dreamed I saw Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati sitting at a computer, working on something. He glanced up and said, "You're going to meet your spiritual mother soon" and then he went back to what he was doing.) And the odd dreams just went on, mostly revolving around things going on in my life. Unfortunately, not the fun stuff. And I assure you...there ARE fun things in my life. As soon as I get unburied from the work and classwork, well, I'll let you know what those things are.
So I gave in and took a nap...and had another series of really really strange dreams, which tells me I really DID need the sleep. Because those kinds of dreams don't happen outside of complete mental exhaustion or a fever. Cabin fever maybe? Or now have we formally moved into Spring Fever? I think so.
At the store this morning, I picked up some steak, on sale, because, darn it, I'm grilling today! It's 54 degrees out, the weather is FINE and although I should be studying I can't concentrate one bit! So me n' my pooch are going for a walk, then we're going to come on back and get the grill ready. I have a little Smokey Joe, I have charcoal, and I have steak. And Tiger Sauce and some red wine for the marinade (I might skip the wine part today, though...the problem with cooking with wine, if it's not already open, you have to drink it within a day or so unless you have stuff to help reseal the bottle to preserve it for longer.) And I got Mom's frozen corn (always a pleasure!), potatoes and onions for the grill....mmmm.
Anyway...that's cabin fever for ya! We got some rainy days coming up this weekend, so my evenings will be spent studying then. Today...my mind needs a break and I'm giving in to Spring Fever. And I found the command in scripture that gives me permission to pass this game of hookey on to you: Jesus said, "Go, and do likewise." (Lk 10:37)
So...LITURGY OF THE HOURS Tip: A friend of mine, a Youth Minister in the biz for 11 years this year, offered this information. She said that everyone she knows who prays Liturgy of the Hours didn't spend a penny on the 4 volumes that comprise it. Because...what do priests often receive as ordination gifts, or gifts in the seminary, etc? Liturgy of the Hours. Some of them have stacks and stacks of them. So they give them away to all the poor souls who can't afford them, as an official priestly act of mercy, charity, justice, instructing the ignorant, spiritually impoverished, etc.
So...if there are any priests (or any other wonderful souls) reading this post who still has extra volumes of Liturgy of the Hours and cares to help out a spiritually impoverished soul such as myself...or any of my readers (um...readers, that wasn't an insult, it was shameless begging on your behalf, and mine)...please comment or send an email! It is an absolute travesty that these books should sit around collecting dust when someone could be PRAYING with them!
14 comments:
Well, I'm obviously no priest, but I am a soon-to-be Benedictine nun. And as a Benedictine nun, I'll be praying the Liturgy of the Hours of course, but I won't be using my 4-vol set - we use the Benedictine breviary, the Monastic Dinural.
Ergo... do I see a hand up? :)
Hand Up! And you'd better write your name in it and something wise to pass on to future generations! :-)
(Besides...every time I open it I'll be reminded to pray for you and your Sisters....and priests since that's who you'll be praying for...) I'm liking this plan.
June is coming quick...are you ready? I'm sure God will erase your debt in time. He tends to do things like that. I can't wait to see what He does with your situation. :-D
I forgot to ask...to test my friend's theory...where did YOU get YOUR Liturgy of the Hours?
Sorry, we use the 1 volume...
But your dream about Frassati was amazing... any idea who your spritual mother is? Padre Pio is father...
eliztrin
Eliztrin ~ No idea, yet. The Blessed Mother, of course, but I don't have a sense of impending death! And maybe it means nothing...it was a dream, after all, but that was really the only semi-coherent part of it. So we'll see if this prediction comes true. I did speak about Frassati to a group of people last night, and he was a Tiertary Dominican. Padre Pio was Franciscan (Cap.)...so hopefully I'll know when I meet her! If the dream is real, it's going to be a real meeting, not something via internet. That's my sense...if it's real.
Or it's just a dream. What are you thinking...? :-)
And you know...you never answered my question about why you think I'm Dominican...(and Dominicans and Franciscans have always been close...) LOL!
Hey, stop confusing me about the day! I have to fly out of here tomorrow, Saturday, and I don't want to miss my flight because I think yesterday is today or any other confusing stuff!
KIWI! You're still around! I pray your trip goes well! So to be clear...in America, today is Thursday, tomrrow is Friday, then Saturday then Sunday, and then I'm off on Monday. So you might be a day ahead by the calender due to the International Dateline...but othewise the days will follow your flight schedule...not my flightly schedule1
You know...you're on the list of people I have to meet someday. If I was able to go to World Youth Day, I'd be writing you like crazy! So...if you ever come to America for any reason (don't know why you would...your flora and fauna are far more interesting than what we have here...), well, you'd better be calling on me!
Adoro,
I've come accross your blog by way of Catholic Vision. I'm curious to know how old you are. I like others who have posted here, discovered the monastic office, which makes much more sense to use, and is easier. It's on a weekly cycle. It hasn't been hacked to pieces so much like the new LOTH. And the diurnal is just one book! So it costs a lot less. You can get it from an England publisher, at: www.theabbeyshop.com. That is, if you want it in Latin and English. I also have just come across an amazing resource of it at www.andrewespress.com! They have the Benedictine diurnal just in English, but also a chant notated version of it in English as well! They will be printing the matins book to accompany it on April 9th! I am assuming this is a new company, because I did not come across it when I was looking for the monastic office about a year ago. I highly recommend the monastic office to you. Glad to have come accross your blog. Feel free to check mine out.
Another option would be "Christian Prayer." One book - a sort of 'Reader's Digest' version of LOTH. The daytime prayers are truncated, but otherwise it's faithful to the original, according to a friend I have in seminary.
I use Christian Prayer because it is what we use at my church for our daily Morning Prayer, and I like it. It has the complete morning, evening and night prayers (actually it has slightly LONGER readings for morning and evening prayer than the "full" LOTH), and more limited but still funcitonal selections for daytime prayer and Office of Readings. It also has the MUSIC for the hymns which the full LOTH does NOT have--this is a very helpful feature.
If you live near a retirement house for religious, see if you can find out what happens to their effects when they die. We lived near a college & Motherhouse, where the books of Sisters who had died turned up in the annual library book fair super cheap. We grabbed them to donate to the local prisons--many prisoners want to pray the Hours.
Also, Universalis has Morning, Evening and Night prayer online, 'though the translation is slightly different.
I also use the Christian Prayer book and was confusd as to how to use it, even though I had the pamphlet that gave the pages for each day. Ive been using it regularly ever since Fr. V had the link to the podcast on his blog. It helpd me to follow until I got the hang of it. The Christian Prayer book is what they use at the college seminary here.
MJ
Thanks, everyone, for your replies.
As mgibson commented, though, I'll be able to "inherit" her LOTH, which is awesome. I don't know why I specifically want the most complicated things...I'm just a geek, I guess. My parish gift shop carries "Christian Prayer" but I didn't want to buy it for some reason. I keep going to LOTH. Dunno why.
I've read the links online at Universalis, but I try my best to spend time praying in front of hte Blessed Sacrament, so I really need a book. As married as I am to my computer, I don't want to use it overly much for praying.
Otherwise, as I noted, I use Magnificat, which, if I understand correctly, is also like a version of Liturgy of the Hours or Christian Prayer. And I LOVE Magnificat, but I think I just want to "graduate" to something more formal. Or formal in conjunction with Magnificat.
Yup. I'm a geek. I think it's official.
What you get with the LOH that you don't get with the one volume books, is the Office of Readings, which is what makes it well worth it.
I tell people that balk at the price, to do a little mental calculus, and add up what they have spent on tv, stereo, and other entertainment products in their home; now, compare what you've spent to daily harm your soul, against what you are holding back that will daily help your soul...
ouch? uh huh!
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