Anne of Green Gables

I've been a huge fan of Anne of Green Gables since I was 11 years old. I am most familiar with the Kevin Sullivan movies that aired on PBS, Anne of Green Gables and its sequel. I read the books when I was young and made a pilgrimage to the real Green Gables nearly 12 years ago with a friend and fellow "Anne fanatic".

I got the bug to re-read the series last week and plowed through the first book Anne of Green Gables in a few sittings. It's one of those books that has multiple levels; there's something for young people and something for adults. When I was young I loved Anne and her world of imagination, because I had my own little world, but reading it now I have a deeper love and appreciation of Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert.

In case you don't know Anne's story, here's the background:
The story is set in the late 1800's on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Anne was orphaned as an infant and taken in by neighbors who did little to educate her to proper behavior or God, but she has a very good heart. She was passed on to another family and made to take care of the children when she herself was a child. The husband was a violent alcohol who would smash windows when in a rage. Finally, she lands in an orphanage where she is adopted by Marilla Cuthbert, a spinster, and Matthew, her painfully shy brother who never married. However, when Anne arrives at Green Gables there is a great surprise because the Cuthberts were expecting a little boy, not a girl. Interestingly, after learning a little of her background the Cuthberts do not send her back, as Matthew says, "Maybe we could be of some use to her."

The things that stood out as I read the story this time was sacrificial love and Christian responsibility. There was no reason for the Cuthberts to keep Anne - she wasn't a boy and God only knows the kind of upbringing she had, but they kept her because they saw a young girl who needed them.

Anne's world produces nostalgia for a simpler time, which is not possible to attain. On a deeper level, though, it stirs a desire to be as loving and willing to face sacrifice, regardless of the cost, as the Cuthberts and that is possible to imitate.

Book on Forgiveness

I'm in the midst of reading a GREAT book on forgiveness: Set Free: The Authentic Catholic Woman's Guide to Forgiveness by Genevieve Kineke. I'm planning to write a proper book review when I finish, but I couldn't wait to share some of the wisdom.

Are you waiting for an apology from someone who has hurt you? Here's why Kineke says that is a bad idea:

"...if your forgiveness hinges on the other's contrition, then he or she is exercising a control over you that is entirely unwarranted. If you put forgiveness in the hands of the wrongdoer then you hand your eternal destiny to a finite creature..."(page 26)

Yikes! I had never thought about waiting for an apology in that way, but it makes perfect sense.  Christ commanded forgiveness, but if I'm harboring a resentment and waiting for an apology, then that is doing harm to my soul.

Another pearl of wisdom that got me was about the act of forgiving. "Forgiveness is a decision, not a feeling." (page 31). I have been in the position when I have wanted to forgive someone - made the decision to put the hurt behind me - but found that I got upset again if I was reminded of the incident. I thought that meant I hadn't really forgiven the hurt and had to wait until it no longer bothered me. Not so! Her advice is to forgive and if you get upset about the incident in the future, then make another act of forgiveness. It makes so much sense since forgiving can be a long and hard process.

Is it necessary to say 'I forgive you' to the person who has wronged you? Depending on the hurt and who did it, it may not be necessary. In some cases, confronting the person can bring back painful memories or perhaps the person has died. So long as I can pray for that person and the idea of meeting them in heaven doesn't fill me with dread or anger, then the forgiveness is real.

These are just a few of the nuggets I've gotten from this book and I'm barely a quarter of the way through. I highly recommend this book for anyone.

Spiraling...

I am delivering an Advent retreat a week from Saturday at Queen of Peace Parish in Olive Branch, MS.  I had hoped that I would have had the retreat written over a week ago...but life got in the way.  I've spent the last few days trying to frantically get it done before Thanksgiving.  Today, I finished it!  I need to polish it up a little bit and prepare a retreat booklet, but the big things are done.  I call the retreat Spiraling into Advent - and I'll share more thoughts after I give the retreat.  

The only spoiler to the retreat I will post right now is one of the books I used to help me prepare: A Coming Christ in Advent by Raymond E. Brown.  Brown is a renowned biblical scholar and I used some of his academic sources in grad school.  While A Coming Christ is based on his 750 page study of the Infancy Narrative of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, it is written as a reflection on the Gospels to prepare for Advent.

If you are looking for a way to enter more meaningfully into Advent this year, I highly recommend Brown's book.

And, in case I don't get another post up before Thanksgiving...I pray you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and can count many, many blessings.

Kristin Lavransdatter

Last night I stayed up late to finish Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset. The story follows Kristin from birth to death in 14th century Norway and it's actually three books: The Crown, The Wife, and The Cross. This book was recommended to me about six years ago by a teacher at a Catholic high school in Chicago. I checked out a copy of The Crown from the library and I found it very hard to read. A few months ago I thought I'd give it another shot and that's when I discovered a brand new translation by Tina Nullally. The original English translation, for some completely bizarre reason, added thees and thous which are not in the original Norwegian and then cut out scenes making the book very choppy and hard to read. The new translation is true to Undset's writing and is beautiful.

I'm amazed I never heard of Undset, especially since I was originally a Literature major. Kristin Lavransdatter is the best book I have ever read! It's also the most Catholic book I've ever read. Being the mom of a toddler, it took me a couple of months to read it since it's nearly 1000 pages. My reading time is when I lay down in bed at night and most nights I read about half a page and pass out! It's one of those books that you want to get to the end to find out the whole story, but you don't want it to end since it's so good. I think it's the kind of book that I will need to read every few years because each read will reveal something different.

Since the book is about Kristin's whole life, I'm not giving anything away by telling you the end is about her death. Kristin is a complex, human person - just like everyone else on this planet - and she is hardly perfect. She is headstrong and makes very poor choices that haunt her and as she ages she comes to a deeper understanding of how her sins have impacted those around her. Kristin is not some perfectly crafted "character", she's perfectly, imperfect and that is what I love about her. As I read the last pages last night I was weeping and finally had to get out of bed so I wouldn't wake up my husband! Even with all of her imperfections, Kristin finally sees how the perfect love of God had surrounded her all her days and in her last breaths she is embraced by Love.