Contemplative Haven

Recently I received a comment on my February 2008 post for the Feastday of Our Lady of Lourdes.  It was from Mr. Kamalakar Rao Ponnapalli, inviting us to watch the trailer of his movie entitled, “Our Lady of Lourdes”, of which he is writer and producer.  There has also been a website set up here, where you can see some posters and pictures from the movie. 

I googled Mr. Ponnapalli’s name, to see if I could find out more about the movie, and to make sure I had as much correct information as I could before I posted this.  I happened upon a comment which he had left in an online forum, wherein he mentioned that during the production of this movie he had witnessed several of what he believes to be miracles, and that this labour of love came about because he had been inspired by Mother Mary. 

I asked Mr. Ponnapalli if he might share with us a little bit about his experience of witnessing these miracles, as well as how Mother Mary has impacted his life as a Hindu.  He has graciously agreed to provide me with some information, which I will be posting over at “Consecrated to Mary” when the time comes. 

Congratulations in bringing this beautiful movie to fruition, Mr. Ponnapalli; I wish you much success with its distribution, and may many blessings and graces pour down on you through Our Lady for your fine work and perseverence.   

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From my inbox, re WINGS (EWTN’s Weekly Electronic Newsletter):

“Also, in our saint lineup this month, comes EWTN’s extraordinary series on St. Teresa of Avila. You can enjoy the entire eight-part mini-series by tuning in 10 p.m. to 12 [midnight] ET from Wednesday, May 28 through Saturday, May 31. Dates and times for international showings are available at EWTN.”

How splendid!

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(it takes about 30 seconds to start)

And if you want to know why Owen (yes, he’s back, with a new blog!) will be riding his bicycle this coming August, just head on over here and find out all about the Ontario “Cycling for Children” fundraising bicycle tour.  Be sure to scroll down to see how dashing he looks in his Canadian t-shirt.

But Onionboy, 180 kilometres?  Better you than me! (Better anyone than me.  I don’t want to say I’m unbalanced, but…)

Good luck, eh?  I’ll be thinking of you training as I’m sitting on the back step swatting mosquitoes away from my ice-tea.

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Does it get any better than this (creaturely-speaking)… a Mother’s Day drive away from the city after having had a lovely lunch, and coming upon a “Book Barn”.  Yes, one of those humongous venues filled with second-hand books; the kind of place that would take months to properly and lovingly investigate.

Hubby proferred a weak, “take your time”, bless his heart, which I know from experience means approximately fifteen minutes.  Generally speaking, when deposited in a store by my husband, after fifteen minutes I either turn my head and find his body splayed up against the window, tapping emphatically on his watch, or I spot him lumbering through the store with a mixed air of intense anguish/fear as he hunts me down.  So I scrambled around and within the allotted “take your time”, ferretted out the following (all hardcover), for a grand total of $6.00 : 

1. Thomas Hardy’s “Tess D’Urberville” (yes, in French)
2. “The Prophet”, by Kahlil Gibran
3. A book of poems by D.H. Lawrence entitled “Pansies”, and I’m pretty sure it’s a 1st edition
4. “The Oxford Book of American Verse”
5. “Madame Bovary”, by Gustave Flaubert (front and back covers are floral, which leaves me wondering whether it was like that originally or did a certain Mrs. R. [previous owner, 1945] do that herself with wallpaper?)  In any case, I’m leaving it, because it’s pretty…
6. A 1943 Random House edition of Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights”, illustrated with wood engravings; the front and back covers have Heathcliff leaning up against a very scary-looking tree as he gazes skyward.

One of the things I like best about second-hand books is that you never know what you’ll find inside.  I always leave that until I get home, because it’s such a thrill for me when I discover something and I don’t like to alarm the salespeople.  On this occasion I discovered a piece of paper inside Gibran’s “The Prophet” - narrow pale-blue paper, about the width of a large bookmark, on which was written a grocery list, probably that of Mr. or Mrs. M. [previous owners, 1971].  The list was so healthy (tomatoes, Spanish onions, turnips, lettuce, potatoes, radishes, squash, peas, beans, carrots and cucumbers).  Oh, doesn’t that sound like a heavenly summer grocery list?  Now, it has just occurred to me that this might not have been a grocery list - it might have been a list of things they were going to plant in their garden.  Heavenlier and heavenlier. 

Several years ago I purchased a second-hand copy of St. Teresa of Avila’s “Selected Writings”, and inside I found a two-page old-fashioned typewritten synopsis of all her works, with concise comments about each.  But my absolute favourite find was when, shortly after I had begun blogging, I happened upon a second-hand copy of Thomas Merton’s biography by Michael Mott.  Inside, to my delight, was the business card of a seamstress, and in beautiful italics the words:  Especially for You, by Gabrielle.  Of course it would have been even better if it had said “Especially for You, Gabrielle”, but it didn’t matter.  I am so easily pleased.  Hurried, but easily pleased.  :)     

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I was recently contacted by a young man who has discerned a call to the priesthood, and who would like to share his story with all of you.  Neven Pesa has been accepted to the Order of Basilian Salvatorian Fathers in Massachussets, U.S.A., a semi-contemplative order of Catholics of the Eastern Rite.  Neven currently belongs to the Byzantine Catholic Church of the Virgin Mary in Brooklyn, New York. His personal story was recently featured on the site Catholic Exchange, and you can also read more about Neven’s background/calling at his personal site, A Priestly Vocation. 

In order to start his Novitiate in September 2008 he is required to be debt-free, and after a four-year course of study at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, this will be no small task.  Neven is working two jobs towards this end, but God has blessed him, and in turn ourselves, with yet another means of achieving his goal. 

Neven is a singer/songwriter who records under the name of Shekinah Hosanna; his first CD is available at CD Baby, where you can listen to samples of his tracks.  He hopes to have another CD available by this fall, on which he will have the “Hail Mary” in Hebrew as well as another Marian song.  Neven has a beautiful voice and is a gifted lyricist.  He has also set up a YouTube Channel called ShekinahHosanna in order to let people become aware of his music.  Here is one of Neven’s original songs, ”Dear God“, which he has set to scenes from the movie “Bella”.  Above all, Neven has asked for our prayers, so please consider supporting him in this way as well as by bringing his beautiful music into your lives.  His music is a gift to all of us, as will be his future priesthood.

  
[Edited to add:  Please visit my post of today at Consecrated to Mary for another beautiful song by Neven as well as a glimpse into the role Mother Mary has played in his life.] 

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Today is my two-year blogging anniversary at Contemplative Haven.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford a party this year.  Oh, we had a grand time at my sixth-month anniversary, didn’t we? (I held it at six months because I didn’t know if I’d last a year…)  Brother Lesser, who had left many excited comments on previous posts in anticipation of the party never showed up until the next morning; Pia (forget me not), whom we were all expecting, had to deal with a very serious emergency with her son - he had a soccer eye-injury, which we didn’t find out about until the next day; Owen crawled in late, exhausted from teaching RCIA; and I had to physically go and get Kathryn Therese, who had a great time once she found out there actually was a party.  Just to let you know, if you read the old comments (which looks like one big comment, because I had to cut-and-paste them from the old blog), Honora is actually Carol, and ccheryl is actually teresa_anawim.

To all of my “old” friends, as well as to so many new ones I’ve had the pleasure of meeting since then, thank you for making this such a worthwhile experience; and I would just like to say:

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In her book, “This War is the Passion” [1943], Caryll Houselander writes:  “The modern world has opposed poetry.  A mechanized world, a world of greed, a world at war, hard youth, art itself soulless and hard, all this is against poetry, the wonder of life.  Christ keeps poetry alive in the world, in its essence and in its outward form.  The Liturgy of the Church is the form in which Christ, God’s word of love, is sung continuously.  There is the rhythm of Christ, the Christ-voice, the continual utterance of the Word on earth.  Rhythm is not mere repetition.  It is the gathering of energy to the culmination of its own intensity.  It moves in a cycle, spending its life only in renewing it.  The rhythm of Christ is love moving on a circle of light from birth to death, from death to resurrection.” 

Many decades later, we find ourselves in an ever-more mechanized world, overwhelmed by technology, still filled with greed and war; but the cycle of life continues, and the wonder, the soul, is there for all who have eyes to see and ears to hear.  Christ’s poetry is ever-present - His rhythms, His cycles, His circle of Life.  Christ’s poets, in tune with His rhythms and cycles, with His very Life within them, restore our wonder, refresh our spirits, and replenish our souls. 

One such poet is fellow-blogger Ann, of Poetry, Prayer, and Praise.  Ann’s poetic gift is well-known to her readers, inspiring reflection, meditation, and the simple joy of soaking in the beauty of her imagery.  Much to our delight, Ann has recently published a book of her poetry entitled, “The Blueness Above:  Poetry, Prayer and Praise“.  All proceeds from the sale of her book are generously being donated to worthy causes, so from Ann’s poetry, we have blessings all around.  After months of reading Ann’s poems on her blog, I would be hard-pressed to choose a favourite, but let me leave you with a small sample (readers may see several of the included poems by clicking on the preview button at the Lulu site to which I have linked).
 
A Time for Praise

There is one God, 
One who loves and goes on loving
One whose love abounds.
He is here and near
As He once was yonder and hither,
He breathes life into the day
And warmth into the darkness.
His is the light that floods the heavens,
His strength is in the tides
And His mercy streams from age to age,
His is the voice of the bleating lamb,
The beauty of a hillside trapped in light,
The river in its rage;
There is a God
And now as ever is a time for praise.

[The second picture is Ann’s back cover.]

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• Father Thomas Dubay will be the special guest on EWTN Live on Wednesday, April 9th (8:00 p.m. ET and 5:00 p.m. PT), with host Father Mitch Pacwa.  Don’t forget, if you cannot access this television station in your area, try watching over the Internet!  The show will be aired again on Thursday, April 10th and Sunday, April 13th, but please check the EWTN schedule for the proper times in your part of the world. 
• If you are in the Ottawa area, Dr. Scott Hahn will be in town to give two free talks (a good-will offering is appreciated) at St. Patrick’s Basilica on Saturday, April 12th.  The first talk, at 12:00 noon, will be on “Hail Holy Queen, The Mother of God in the Word of God”; the second talk, at 2:00 p.m., will be on “First Comes Love, Finding your Family in the Church and the Trinity”.  

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Psssst.  I was perusing the nominations lists here for all my friends in order to pay them homage with a click of the mouse, when I was momentarily overcome.  It’s not good to startle the detective. 

There it was, in the category for “Best Written Blog”.  Good thing I was wearing my sleuthing attire, because it was listed under the ‘m’s, as in, ”My Contemplative Haven” [maybe they will correct that]!

So to the kind soul who nominated this blog I’d like to say “thank you”, and I also would like to thank all of my readers who keep coming back here to chat in the combox.  That’s where all the terrific writing is done - spiritual, apologetics, humour, rants, confessions - and where kindred souls are discovered. 

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Cathy, of A Bit of the Blarney has been very gracious and passed along an “Excellent Blog” award to Contemplative Haven. Thank you, Cathy!

I’m supposed to award it to ten others, but for now, at least, I would just like to highlight two excellent resource bloggers/blogs:

• KyCatholic of Catholic iPod - and not just for iPods!  If you haven’t visited, go on over; you’ll find a treasure trove.  And for all of you Father Thomas Dubay followers, you’ll definitely want to see the three most recent posts. 
• Sonitus Sanctus, newly discovered and now in my sidebar.  You’ll have to see for yourself, and browse through the archives.  A veritable goldmine!

To all of my excellent blogger friends, thank you for your generosity and commitment.  You are talented, Spirit-filled and inspiring! 

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