How to Pray at All Times

So, people who know me know that I am obsessed with reading. I have a Masters Degree in Literature and pride myself on actually enjoying reading things that most other people find totally boring (because I am also a complete dork). I love fiction but also have a soft spot for biographies and self-help memoirs light on advice but heavy on anecdotes. I love to learn from other peoples' stories.  I have spent nineteen years driving my husband crazy reading varying degrees of "self-help" books. When I have a problem to tackle, I will spend hours reading what others have done to overcome (most often snippets from a lot of books because I don't have a lot of patience for whining). But at my core, I am obsessed with historical non-fiction and memoirs. I firmly believe that people have not changed one bit in our countless years of consciousness on the planet. I love reading what drove people in the past and what they valued. But I most enjoy reading it in their own words.

And when I felt St Alphonsus De Liguori reaching out to me, it was natural for me to order every book he'd ever written so that I could "get to know" this holy man more intimately. It's what I do.

The first thing I'm reading is one of the earliest works of St. Alphonsus first published in 1753. Just for reference, the US was still colonies at this point; Johnathan Edwards and David Hume were publishing theological and political essays; The British museum was granted a charter (to begin building); and Linnaeus instituted the taxonomy of animals and plants that we still use today.

St Alphonsus wrote "A method of conversing continually and lovingly with God" renamed How to Pray at All Times after translation to English.  I have only read one chapter so far and I was so struck by how modern and True it sounded, that I knew I wanted to share his quotations on the blog rather than just write about the difficulties of chemo (I'm writing this the day before, just for clarity). I'm sure there will be plenty of time for that later.

For today, there are some thoughts to ponder from 266 years ago:

• "...He loves you as though He had no one else to love but you alone" (5). 

• "If, then, you desire to please His merciful Heart, converse with Him henceforward with the greatest possible confidence and tenderness" (6). 

• "'I have written you in my hands; your walls are always before My eyes' (Isaiah 49:16). In these words, God says to you in effect: 'Beloved soul, why are you timid or distrustful? I have written you in My hands so as never to forget to do you good" (6). 

• "'My delights are to be with the children of men' (Proverbs 8:31). If one may so express it - the paradise of God is the heart of man...accustom yourself to speak to Him alone, familiarly, with confidence and love, as to the dearest friend you have, the Friend who loves you most" (7). 

As I go to chemo, I am written onto the hand of God.

Jesus, I trust in You.