Baking

Lectio Divina

No human being might boast before God.

1 Corinthians 1:29

Library

As promised, proceeded with the pamphlets on the Franciscan philosophy and theology. Read much of The Franciscan Intellectual Tradition: Washington Theological Union Symposium Papers 2001 (Elisa Suggau, ed.) Saint Bonaventure, N.Y.: The Franciscan Institute, 2002. Also read half of another pamphlet: Ingham, Mary Beth. Rejoicing in the Works of the Lord: Beauty in the Franciscan Tradition. Saint Bonaventure, N.Y.: The Franciscan Institute, 2009. Next week I will test my spiritual director's generosity and ask him to put more volumes into my hands!

Also retrieved the following from our novice library: Allen, Edward David; Sandstedt, Lynn A., and others. ¿Habla Español? Essentials Edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978. See Log, below.

Continuing Resurrection and Priscilla and Aquila intermittently, that is, every other day.

Log

Friday: First day of ministry at the Catholic Charities office in Santa Maria with three of my novice brothers. We lifted up the spirits of the staff and volunteers and by our goodwill and easygoing nature added a blessing of harmony to the workplace. Our arrival was unexpected to some degree, so there were not many needful tasks for us in either the food pantry or clothing/thrift store. I am sure that will change in the Fridays to come.

Most of the souls who come to our center are Mexican nationals who follow the seasonal agricultural labor. They speak Spanish only or as their primary language. This means I will have to rely on my nonverbal communication skills, which are not nearly as honed as my verbal communication skills. I have concluded that it is about time I picked up Spanish. This is why I picked up the book in the novice library. I can figure out the pronunciation, the vocabulary, the grammar. I am good with language. I am good at word games. Let me treat this as just another word game, as if I did not already have enough motivation now to learn the language. I will pick up conversational Spanish before the novitiate year is through, no matter how many times I have to renew my resolution.

Today: house jobs, including an editorial meeting on The Caperone. This afternoon, I baked a dessert for the evening meal, a blueberry-lemon corn biscuit cobbler. I'm not through, either. In the next 24 hours I will bake a few more desserts for tomorrow evening, when we celebrate the birthday of our novice director!

Weather

Maintaining steady warmth and sun midday and afternoon, with cooler evenings and mornings. Excellent weather for beholding the blue moon.