The day I’m writing this, my granddaughter has turned a 1/2 year old.
As a novice Catholic blogger I feel the innermost need to write about whatever Catholic celebration is being commemorated that day. But what can I say about this particular high holy Catholic day of obligation that has not already been said better by someone more articulate in the skills of the pen and prayer then I? I feel a cloud over my brain blanking out creative ideas and begging me to lay down and go to sleep and not let my thoughts ascend to the computer screen.
But once again, I’m a blogger. A Catholic writer. It is the feast of the Ascension. I must write something about it.
So I pump up the jam on my brain and think. Think. Think. I also must try and make this blog post somewhat meaningful so you feel that you didn’t waste your time reading it. I mean you could be watching Netflix or you could be online making that great point about a given topic in a Facebook group. This short set of reflections will not be read on the same level as Fulton Sheen, but I think it will be worth your short amount of time. My topic sprang up as I started to type. So here are some thoughts or lessons on how to overcome writer’s block given in the context of writing about Ascension Thursday.
My audience is rather small and those who actually read me probably are not waiting with anxious excitement about anything I have to say about a given Catholic topic. That would be nice but not being as popular as say someone like Scott Hahn gives me a chance to be humble and happy where I am. There is lesson number one folks.
- Be Happy Where You Are, Not Where Your Not.
With my creative writing skills and theology degree I should have plenty to say about the theology or spirituality of something like Christ’s Ascension from Earth to Heaven.
But my mind feels sort of blank. Probably because I have been stuck on working on this long list of a timeline about the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World podcast. So my mind is preoccupied and can’t think of a lot of other things. I get a one track mind and feel compelled to work on a particular project till its done. And then I work on it till it’s even more completely done.
But I need to remember this particular day of great Catholic significance and set aside my other plans for awhile. There is lesson Two.
2. Set certain interests aside to do what you must do.
Now I wish I could write something better than this particular post about my blank state of mine and my own lack of better writing skills. If I had more energy to think and greater recall to retrieve and retain information I could write something grand and good about this most important day or other important days. It reminds me of a conversation I had at work the other day about what skills from school you still retain. Can you still do math? How much science and history can you still remember? How about English? I must remember something regarding english or I couldn’t compose this post. I am using what energy, will and brain power I have to at least construct something somewhat creative, informative and interesting. I am giving God my loaves and fishes and giving you lesson 3.
3. Use what you got. Let God multiply your loaves and Fishes. Remember God uses broken vessels.
Ok here is what I will do now to give you something meaningful to read about the Ascension.
First I will share something piffy about the topic someone else wrote that is worth sharing because it is worth reading. This is Lesson 4.
4. Share Good Writing worth reading.
Our Lord went into the air and went to Heaven, and we’ve been waiting for His return ever since. A door into another dimension did not open for Him on the ground. A spacecraft did not descend from the sky. He, Himself, went up into the air and into the clouds. So where shall we conclude is the home of Jesus Christ?
Let us consider the different clouds. The lowest clouds are at 6,500 feet. Did our Lord enter the doorway to Heaven through a puffy cumulus cloud? Was He welcomed into Paradise by puncturing a dreary gray sky filled with fog-like stratus clouds? Or did He disappear into a forest of stratocumulus clouds? Surely the door to Heaven is not in any of these clouds, for they are too low to the ground, and we would’ve found the gateway to Heaven by now. Perhaps the entrance to Heaven is higher. Did Christ go as high as ten thousand feet and disappear into a “sheep back” altocumulus cloud? Surely, Heaven’s door doesn’t reside in a nimbostratus rain cloud, does it? Where would be the dignity in that? Did Jesus go as high as twenty-thousand feet and disappear into an icy cirrus cloud?
Or maybe Jesus Christ went cosmic instead. Did He continue beyond the orbit of the Moon? Did He suffer from Van Allen Belt radiation? What were the effects of gamma and galactic radiation on His cellular structure? Did the absence of gravity begin to warp the shape of His eyeballs, confuse His vestibular system, and eat away at His bone density?
Laramie Hirsch The Theatrics of Christ’s Ascension( May 19, 2018) One Peter Five
That is some good stuff right there. Melding Science and Faith together in a few short paragraphs.
This post is going longer then I thought my brain could give. Sometimes you got more in you then you realize. Which is lesson 5.
5. Read sentence above.
Next I will let Bishop Barron say a few words about the topic. Lesson 6 is…
6. Bishop Barron usually has something profound to say about any given Catholic topic.
I think that Bishop Barron is the most criticized and misunderstood Catholic personality on the internet which is unfortunate and unnecessary. Sure Pope Francis gets a lot of boos but it’s mostly from one side of the aisle. Both Left and Right Catholics attack Bishop Barron. They both have their own reason to despise him and think he is hot garbage. I think both groups are both wrong. My argument is that Bishop Barron helps me to love Jesus more. He helps me to love theology, the bible, the church and reason more. He makes wanting to evangelize and treat others with love and respect more appealing and attractive. Those who like his teaching understand this. So that is my short argument in defense of Bishop Barron’s teaching. He’s a good solid Catholic teacher and here is another example of it.
Also when you have a wife who can write great lovely poetry, ask her to write a poem for you. Lesson 6 is
7. Ask a good poet to write a poem for your particular post. Your spouse, your kid, your friend, your enemy.
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