condolences to gentle hearts
i don't want to live like that, but I don't want to die
If you are interested in reading inspirational little meditations by thoughtful and creative people each day in Lent, I highly recommend the Catholic Artist Connection’s daily Lenten reflections.
You can read mine here and sign up to receive them in your inbox here.
Hagiography is often boring. That is — the telling of the lives of holy people—because we often interpret them through our own categories of understanding the world. We read their lives through the lens of ideology rather than the more explosive reality of Resurrection—of life with God exploding into our daily lives—that the saints bring to us.
How some people describe a saint: they are alive, they are real, they go on forever. They are in technicolor, and we’re still in silent film. Somehow, they’re rendering this whole thing we’re doing here in brighter, vivid hues.
What cats teach you about love:
Togetherness is a very good thing. It is better to eat together than alone (partially because if a larger animal attacks, you will not be fully caught off guard).
It is better to be together than alone, even if what you want to do is climb on the loft railing and lick one paw while dangling 12 feet next to an open void of living room air. It is more fun to do that while someone who doesn’t have a tail and cannot do that is watching you than to do it alone.
Sometimes what togetherness looks like is one person writing and the other curled up in a little heart-shaped donut on the pillows of the blue loft bed. And it is much better to nap like this when the other person is close than when they are far away.
What the cat needs from you is really just the same actions over and over again: turning on the faucet for water; and dumping tuna into a bowl. They are not grand gestures, but they have to be done each day, which is quite the vow of stability. Their consistency is the glue holding you together.
As someone who is often impatient with my journey, I'm reminded that even Christ had to prepare himself for the ministry, that, despite his divinity, he was not simply ready to begin at any time. Instead, he followed the Spirit into a grueling season of preparation. Again and again, we sinners are thrown into our deserts, times of dryness, doubt, temptation, and waiting.
Claire Zajdel Lenten Sunday