On Autographed Books and Being Different

Books are one of God's great inventions- in a roundabout sort of way I suppose. :) You know...God made man, and man thought out words to write down on stone/wood/papyrus pages. Even better still, are those pages inspired by the Holy Spirit. I love books. 

But when a book happens to be autographed, I get pretty darn excited. In fact, autographed books are my favorite things. I have three. One my mom gave me is by, Brian Jacques, one of my favorite authors growing up. I started reading his books in 7th grade because Mrs. Hastings told me I should. From that point forward I would spend a good deal of whatever money I had buying books from the Redwall series at our local "On Cue" bookstore. Then I dated this writer guy my 1st senior year in college. He gave me a copy of his book and signed it. It mostly just makes me laugh now. And finally, perhaps my favorite of all...I got Father Andrew Apostoli to sign my copy of "Fatima for Today" at the Midwest Catholic Family Conference this year. After he signed it he told me, "Go be an apostle for Mary!" Which, I know he probably said that to hundreds of people that day. Regardless, it still made my day. 

Enough about the joys of books. I have been reading in "Fatima for Today", and was caught off guard by something the children Lucia (10 years old), Jacinta (7 years old)  and Francisco (9 years old) did. Here is the excerpt I read as told by Lucia: 

"As we were walking along the road with our sheep, I found a piece of rope that had fallen off a cart. I picked it up and, just for fun, I tied it around my arm. Before long, I noticed that the rope was hurting me, "Look, this hurts!" I said to my cousins: "We could tie it around our waists and offer this sacrifice to God." 

My first thought was, what an odd thing for a child to do. That kind of thinking is not something that you hear many Catholics ponder nowadays, let alone a 10 year old kid. In fact, after reading this part of the book I am convinced I really have no idea what "doing penance" is all about. These saintly children would rather offer up their bodily pain, their life even, rather than have another soul go to Hell and cause our Lord sorrow. The children even wore these ropes to bed and caused much more pain to them. Jacinta, the youngest, suffered greatly and would be close to tears often because she wore her rope so tightly. These children only stopped this act of penance when the Blessed Mother specifically asked them not to in the last Fatima Apparition. 

Although different ways to do penance would make an interesting blog post, that is not why I mention the story. I thought of the three children again today as I was walking up the steps to Sacred Heart having this conversation in my head..."Why am I going here every morning to pray? I could just pray at school? You have a lot to do. Just pray later. Don't you think that's weird you are coming here? Man, I hope I don't run into the teachers again or anyone that will make things awkward. I wonder what Father thinks when he sees me here. Maybe I should talk to him sometime." It's funny actually. I am often times uncomfortable in faith,  and uncomfortable in developing a stronger prayer life. Mostly because I think I shouldn't be praying as much as I do or want to pray because it is different and counter-cultural. Many people I know would think my time spent in prayer a big waste of time. All the while we have children tying ropes around their waists in love for Jesus. 

You might having something that is making you uncomfortable right now. God is asking something of you that seems weird. You might even think weird to your brothers and sisters in Christ. How can you respond to His love in the spirit of those three little children? Be different. 

Another great book, "The Screwtape Letters",  by C.S. Lewis, has a couple of relevant quotes that I'll leave you with: 

"It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.” 

“All is summed up in the prayer which a young female human is said to have uttered recently: "O God, make me a normal twentieth-century girl!" Thanks to our labors, this will mean increasingly: "Make me a minx, a moron, and a parasite.”  (I hope this one made you smile) 

And lastly, when you're feeling particularly uncomfortable: 

"...when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever." 

Now if I could only get my hands on a signed C.S. Lewis book.