Twain's Jewel of Arc

I just finished Twain's biography of St. Joan of Arc. While I, like the rest of the world, knew her fate, I found myself with tears in my eyes at the conclusion of the story. Twain proved himself, again, as America's storyteller.

A beautiful young person called by God to reform His Church in France, St. Joan of Arc was not only burned at the stake by the Burgundians of France, she was left to fend for herself by the very country she was called to defend--especially by King Charles VII. And he did not choose to defend her until, 25 years later, when they said he was not legitimately the king since his royalty was founded on a young woman found to be a child of Satan. Thank God she was redeemed through the papal investigation..albeit only because of a king's greed.

On another note, she is left a martyr of the Church, and one whose character we can all aspire to. She was truly a Soldier of Christ, and I can only hope to strive for such a distinction; although, I doubt I shall ever succeed in achieving it. Her only passion was to serve God and his mission. What she received was the backhand of an overzealous bishop aspiring for an archbishopric promised him by the English should he find her guilty. In the end, his soul we can only pray for. And to her, a devotion and admiration for the ages to come. May I succeed in MY mission...whatever that may be. I pray God will some day make that clear.

Artistically, Twain maintained his humor in this historical fiction; though, in minute forms through St. Joan of Arc's personal entourage. I understand he wrote this in his later years, and with his daughter's untimely death in the shadows, published thereafter in novel form. However, I found myself touched by his compassion for St. Joan of Arc's passion and for her faith. I admire his respect for the Catholic faith, yet he points out very well the evils of men...no matter their faith.

Thus, I am left with a void. The time invested in reading a book leaves one with a sense of accomplishment yet a yearning for the story to continue. I have a newfound respect for Mark Twain, I have a newfound devotion for this great young saint, and I have yet another reason to say the rosary, receive the sacraments, and get down on my knees and thank God for his greatest Gift.

Every Tongue Confess

Normally, when I go to Adoration, I sign up for the early morning hours when no one else is there like at 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. I like that it is just God and I. I say a few prayers, and then I say the Rosary and ask the Blessed Mother to pray for me that I may grow closer to her Son. And then, gulp, I sing - loud and off-key. Usually I first sing "Holy Mary, Gentle Woman." Again, to gain her assistance to grow closer, and because it reminds me of mom. Then I sing "How Great Thou Art." I am always humbled to tears when I think the Lord did not even spare his Son for us. That is how much He loves us. Usually at this point I pray some more, and then I wrap up the hour by reading the Bible.

This morning was different. For whatever reason, I chose to sing another hymn: "At the Name of Jesus." (At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow...)

When I turned to read the Bible, I asked the Lord to show me what He needed to tell me. I asked the Holy Spirit to stir in me His gifts: knowledge, wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, fear of the Lord.  I then opened the Bible and found myself at Philippians - right at the beginning, so I read the introductory material. I did not know it is known as the "letter of joy." At any rate, I was drawn to a description that Paul had written a hymn, so that is where I decided to read - Philippians 2:5-11

"Who, though, he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

 something to be grasped.

Rather, he emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

coming in human likeness,

and found human in appearance,

he humbled himself,

becoming obedient to death,

even death on a cross.

Because of this, God greatly exalted him

and bestowed on him the name

that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

of those in heaven and on earth and 

under the earth,

and every tongue confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father."

...the very words of the song, "At the Name of Jesus," that I sang earlier.

The Boat in the Storm

I went on a retreat in the mountains where the theme focused on projecting peace, so we read the story about the apostles when they got into boats to cross the Sea of Galilee. As they crossed, the weather turned ominous, and the storm threatened to capsize the boat. Of course, if a person doesn't know how to swim, this seems life-threatening. Meanwhile, Christ slept through it! I can sleep through much, but a storm in a small boat? They awoke Him and asked him why he was not worried that they would perish. He rebuked the storm: "Peace! Be Still." He then asked them, "Have you still no faith?" (Mark 4: 35-41)

We are so often doubtful and fearful in our "storms" in life, and we may wonder where we might find the Lord. When He helps, we are surprised, but then we remember He helped us through the last storm. Does he then ask us each time we worry or have doubt, "Have you still no faith?" I am reminded of the mustard seed.

Following that first session of the retreat, I had time for reflection, so I went to my room to settle in. On the chair was a book I brought along that my sister had given me, Mary: Reflection of the Trinity and First-Fruits of Creation by Sr. Rosa Lombardi. I wondered if it addressed peace in any way. I found the following on the first page I turned to:

"If you find yourself drifting in the sea of this world, if you seem to be sailing amid gales and tempests instead of walking on firm land, if you want not to be tossed by storms, then do not take your gaze from Mary, the gleaming star that shines over this vast sea of darkness, brilliant with merits and examples" (St. Bernard, Homily 2 on Missus est)

An amazing coincidence? I think not. I then sat down to read the reflection from our session. It read, "Imagine yourself sitting with Jesus in that boat after it has been pulled up on the shore after the storm. Ask him how your heart may become more like His in projecting peace into your surroundings."

God provided the answer before I read the question!

I now return to the boat. Jesus is always in the boat with us, but we forget. We let the chaos of storms be inside us, but we must be as Jesus, and project peace, "Peace! Be still!" I am then reminded of the words of a dear Sister of St. Francis, "God is not in the wind. He is in the gentle breeze." The storms are never storms if we allow ourselves to trust in Him with faith and prayer.

Reloading with Penzu

I used to write quite often back in the day with paper and pen--in cursive even. Then life happened. But because life happened, I'm finding myself in desperate need of writing...I stumbled upon Penzu last week and I haven't looked back. Actually, I stumbled upon 750words.com at http://www.fuelyourwriting.com/ through Evernote's Trunk, and that led me to Penzu.

It's an online diary and personal journal that fits my techno-freak-geek love of digiworld. It's free, and for 20 bucks a year, I can upgrade to sweet enhancements including mobile journaling with my Blackberry (also through iPad, iPhone, or Android). Very clean, simple to use, and a very necessary part of life to unload to reload. Thanks a ton Alexander, Michael, Simon, and Alex..."If I didn't have puke breath, I'd kiss you, eh."

Evernote Gets Things Done

     Let me see if I can explain how I have applied Evernote to Getting Things Done. First of all, Evernote's mission is to remember everything. That is well and good, and according to GTD, those memories or things to remember are saved in a "Reference" notebook. I tag those files as work or personal, but I also tag them with tags specific to the item saved.
     GTD advocates NOT making a To Do List because they are too difficult to achieve. We are too inundated with life to expect to get our To Dos done. If it gets moved to the next day, it meets with things on a new To Do List. Thus, GTD advocates for a Next Actions file. The idea is to have a place to store our actions, and to maintain them. I have again tagged everything in the "Next Action" notebook in Evernote with one or more of the following tags recommended by GTD: Delegated, At Computer, At Home, At Office, At Work, Calls, Calls - Work, Errands, Read/Review, and I have three Agenda tags: one for my boss, one for my staff, and one for other. I keep track of items I need to discuss with these people with these tags in the "Next Action" notebook. 
     Also, I put a number, starting with "0", in front of each tag, so my tags are in an order I like. Thus, they are listed numerically rather than by Evernote's default which is alphabetically. Lastly, if I have initiated a project, say, with a phone call, but I must leave a message, that particular action can be moved to my next notebook, "Waiting On." 
     Thus, when I am in my office at my computer, I pull up everything tagged with At Computer, and I can begin to chip away at those Next Action items within the time limit I have set for myselt. I can then move on to phone calls. Again, I bring up everthing tagged with Calls - Work. I can do the same thing at home. If something is more pressing, I can go to that particular action item and knock it out first. The idea behind GTD is more about knowing what needs to be done and having a place to keep it.
     The Next Action items are generated from a projects list. When I have a project, I save it to the "Projects" notebook in Evernote. A project is too big to be listed in the Next Actions notebook because each project has a series of specific actions that must be accomplished to complete that project. These more specific actions are what are placed in the Next Actions notebook.
     Another GTD notebook I use is the "Someday/Maybe" notebook. Here I collect ideas I have for projects in the future or things I would like to accomplish. It may be for next year or for when I retire.
     The last GTD notebook is the "Tickler." This notebook is used for action items that must be done on a particular date. I have created 12 tags with each month of the year and 31 tags for each day of the month. I first used the tickler for things I would like to accomplish that day, but found it to be much like a ToDo List, and I was unable to accomplish all of them. The Tickler must be used for action items that must be accomplished on a date, or in case of the month, an action that has a deadline in that month. If it isn't used this way, it becomes as useless as the ToDo List.
     I have also created two more notebooks specific to my industry that I use more as reference files. I have  also thought about creating another Reference notebook for personal items to distinguish them from work, but I hate having a long notebooks list on the side of my screen, and the Tags work just fine for that task. 
     Lastly, because it feels good to accomplish tasks, I have a "Completed Tasks" notebook I keep just to see what I accomplish in one day. If I were disciplined enough, I could add the spontaneous tasks to this file that come up that interrupt the "best laid plans of mice and men" for the day.
     All my notebooks are also numbered starting with "0", so they are listed in order that I prefer and can relate to. I think that is the key to GTD using Evernote. Set it up in a way that works for the individual. It takes discipline to follow, but my desk is much clearer, and I feel much better about what I need to accomplish. However, it must be reviewed weekly, or with some notebooks, daily, for it all to work.