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| These prayers are on my heart at the beginning of a new year. For the church... O GRACIOUS Father, we humbly beseech thee for thy holy Catholic Church; that thou wouldest be pleased to fill it with all truth, in all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of him who died and rose again, and ever liveth to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen For faithfulness... A LMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, who declarest thyglory and showest forth thy handiwork in the heavens and in the earth; Deliver us, we beseech thee, in our several callings, from the service of mammon, that we may do the work which thou givest us to do, in truth, in beauty, and in righteousness, with singleness of heart as thy servants, and to the benefit of our fellow men; for the sake of him who came among us as one that serveth, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | | |
| One of my students stopped me the other day, "Miss Sullivan, you have the look of a history teacher, even your earings look like artifacts."
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| I feel like my life has lulled into a very pregnant pause. There is nothing wrong, but the stillness scares me. I want to get better at embracing what my friends call "holy boredom," but settleness still feels uncomfortable on me. As a girl, my favorite book was Emily of New Moon where the heroine referred to a moment she called "the flash"-- an instant where the thin veil separating this world from ultimate reality lifted for just a second, leaving the viewer breathless with the wonder of it all. As I read, I remember resounding with her words instantly, it was a phenomena I was very much aquainted with. But my old friend, "the flash" has been overdue for quite some time now. | | |
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- One book that changed your life: The Brothers Karamazov-- Dostoyevsky
- One book that you've read more than once: Jane Eyre-- Charlotte Bronte
- One book you'd want on a desert island: The Book of Common Prayer
- One book that made you laugh: I Capture the Castle-- Dodie Smith
- One book that made you cry: A Severe Mercy-- Sheldon Vaunauken
- One book that you wish had been written: A second novel by Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things.
- One book that you wish had never been written: Basic Theology-- Charles Ryrie
- One book you're currently reading: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek-- Annie Dillard
- One book you've been meaning to read: Gilead-- Marlilynne Robinson
- Now tag five people: Kristin, Cindy, Brandi, Fr. Wayne, Marcie
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| So my summer consists of studying-- at my house, in my car, in my classroom, and mostly in Barnes and Noble (I've learned that if you keep your initial coffee cup with you for the entire length of hours, they will think that you are a dutiful drink-buying customer). I'm studying everything from a class I'm taking, all the classes I will be teaching, my confirmation in August, the GRE, and the writing workshop I teach at my church that keeps me very much on my toes.
Every Tuesday, I teach 10 girls and one brave boy between the ages of 11 to 13. The goal: One completed short story each by the end of the summer. Their stories are gloriously varied, from the sweet-- girl gives her hair for friend-with-cancer's wig or girl becomes overnight TV sensation only to find that fame does not bring happiness; to the emo-- angsty teen runs away from oppressive home or angsty teen kills stepfather; to the far reaches-- band of orphans travels globally (Rome, Paris, etc.) to escape from the law or man pieces together the dark mystery of his life after amnesia.
My job looks a little bit like this:
"Do you think that your main character has to be a cold-blooded murderer? Maybe it could just be in self-defense??"
"It might be just me, but that added paragraph at the end where she also marries her friend's hot older brother years after the story is over, seems just maybe too much"
"Actually, writing the 2000 words from a three year old's perspective might be a bit hard."
"Usually, objective third person narrators don't call everyone stupid."
"Your story is set in the Middle Ages? Do you know anything about the Middle Ages?" Answer: Not really, how about I set it in ancient Egypt?"
And my favorite...
"Does your story come to any sort of hope or resolution at the end?"
Answer: "Oh, no."
Today in workshop we brainstormed to help one girl's leap to fame seem plausible and to give a saintly cancer-fighting teen a bit of an edge.
Summer is good. | | |
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