March 1st

Feast of St David of Wales.

We read today that St David advised his followers to refrain from eating meat and drinking beer.

Well, I don't really eat much meat or drink beer but I hope the Saint didn't mean that one should refrain from all alcohol! Shock!

I made Welsh Rarebit for lunch.

And tonight some of us are going to the Cyndi Lauper concert! Woo hoo!

I love Cyndi - her music, her clothes, her fun attitude, the fact that she is a strong woman.

I am a pretty strong woman. I guess. Or so others tell me.... And sometimes people say that to me, that I am a strong woman, as though being a strong woman is a bad thing. An un-Christian, un-Mary-like, un-motherly and un-wifely thing.

Can one be both strong and holy?

I was heartened last night, when reading "Holy Women of Russia" by Brenda Meehan. In writing of Margarita Tuchkova , the founder of the Borodino community, Meehan says ~

"...the impression left of her (Tuchkova) is of a woman of great residual willfulness. It was will and determination that had enabled her to build a memorial church, a women's community, and a flourishing monastery. Once committed to someone or something, she used every personal resource and every powerful connection she had, to help that person or plan prosper."

A strong woman, yet clearly pious .

Meehan concludes ~ "In her, holiness and impassioned character were two readings of the same text."

Gives me hope.

As do these quotes of C.S. Lewis - part of our bulletin board for March. Anthony is re-reading "Prince Caspian" and we are doing related activities together this month. I found these quotes to add to March's bulletin board.

A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.

An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason.

Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.

It's so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see one.

The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way."

Thirty was so strange for me. I've really had to come to terms with the fact that I am now a walking and talking adult.

You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.