Stories for Children and Children at Heart
As many of you know, I love children’s stories. When I finished my term in community leadership, I signed up for two classes as a “reward” for my service. The first was a course at our local seminary entitled “The Psalms and Wisdom Literature in the Bible.” The teacher, Fr. Larry Tosco, was superb! The second was a course in children’s literature taught by one of our sisters, Regina Alfonso. Sr. Regina was well-qualified to tutor me in children’s literature. Not only had she taught elementary school for many years, she had also taught children’s literature at Notre Dame College. Each week for one semester she and I met in a small room in NDC’s library with a stack of children’s books to read aloud, talk about, and thoroughly enjoy. It was a foretaste of heaven!
My love for children’s literature led me to some wonderful websites that feature stories often read by famous people, and sometimes by ordinary people including children. The videos use the illustrations from the books, but often the pictures come “alive.” For me, the stories, the art work, and the lively reading provide an enriching and fun experience.
Today I’m sharing two stories with you. Both are found on Storyline Online, one of my favorite websites now. The first story, The Three Questions, is based on a story by the great Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy. The story is written and illustrated by Jon. J. Muth. It features a little boy, Nickolai, who has three very big questions. He seeks the answers to his questions from his friends and a wise old turtle. The story is read in dramatic fashion by Meryl Streep. The second book is entitled The Kiss that Missed written and illustrated by David Melling. Read strikingly by Karan Brar, well-known child actor (who is now 27), this story features a king in a hurry, his little son, and his loyal knight. It’s a fun story–with a serious message!
The Three Questions: (11:25 mins.)
The Kiss that Missed:
The Kiss that Missed read by Karan Brar: (4:39 mins.)
Reflection questions for The Three Questions:
Nickolai’s three questions are these: When is the best time to do things? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do?
How does Nickolai answer these three questions by the actions he took in the story?
What do you think of Leo the turtle’s summary of the three answers at the end of the story?
Is there anything you especially liked about this story? the characters… the drawings… the reader… the sounds… any specific words?
Reflection questions for The Kiss that Missed:
Why did the little prince miss his father’s royal kiss?
What effect did that royal kiss have on the wild animals in the forest and on the huge dragon?
The King apologizes to his son for always being in a hurry. How does he show his apology is sincere?
What did you find humorous in the story?
I’m eager to know what you thought of these stories. I hope some of you will comment below. Thank you!
In Praise of Curiosity
We’ve all heard the proverb: “Curiosity killed the cat.” Yet I remember what my mother always added: “But satisfaction brought it back to life again!” So, which is it? Is curiosity something dangerous and should be avoided? Or is it something life-giving and should be encouraged and even nourished? What does the Bible say? The Bible presents both views of curiosity. In Genesis 3, for example, Adam and Eve’s curiosity with that talking snake and forbidden fruit led to their sin and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. On the other hand, Moses’ curiosity with the burning bush, led to his life-altering encounter with the Living God.
What about Jesus? What do his life and teachings say about curiosity? To begin with, Jesus appears to have been a very curious person. When he was only twelve, he went to the huge city of Jerusalem with his parents to celebrate the Passover. But after the festivities, he missed the bus back to Nazareth. How did that happen? Wasn’t it because his profound curiosity led him back to the Temple to engage in theological conversations with the elders there?
Jesus’ parables reveal the fruits of his insatiable curiosity. They are filled with his knowledge of plants, animals, weather patterns, house construction, yoke-making, shepherds, farming, bread baking, wine-making. Because he was keenly fascinated with people, he became very knowledgable about human relationships. He appreciated the devotion parents had for their children as well as the devotion of a Roman soldier for his ill servant. Jesus knew the comfort of human friendship as well as the pain of betrayal. He saw first hand the devastating effects of illness, the lasting effects of cruelty, as well as the healing power of tenderness and forgiveness.
Perhaps my favorite gospel story that features curiosity is Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus, the tax collector. Zacchaeus was so curious about who Jesus was, that he made a spectacle of himself by climbing up a tree just to get a glimpse of him. Catching sight of this grown man up in that tree, must have piqued Jesus’ curiosity. So he stops, addresses him by name (Zacchaeus’s bad reputation was widely known!), and tells him to come down. Then Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ home for dinner! Over a meal of perhaps tilapia, wheat flatbread, and fine wine, these two men end up engaging in a life-giving conversation–all because both of them had a lively curiosity!
Ian Leslie has written a book on curiosity entitled Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It. He warns that “Curiosity is vulnerable to benign neglect”–especially as we age. Sometimes we’re just too busy or too tired to be curious. He cautions, “If you allow yourself to become incurious, your life will be drained of color, interest, and pleasure.” I suspect most of you reading this reflection have a pretty healthy curiosity. Why else would you be reading it?
Let me close this reflection with a few quotes from others who have sung the praises of curiosity. Albert Einstein said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” Eleanor Roosevelt wrote, “I think at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow her child with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.” And William Arthur Ward wrote, “Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.”
But I like best what Fr. Ronald Rolheiser said in his book, The Holy Longing. He calls curiosity “a sacred gift.” It is part of the “insatiable desire” that God put inside of the human soul. This desire is “the fire inside of us that points to Divinity.”
For reflection:
On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 meaning “not curious at all” and 10 meaning “very curious,” where do you fall? Are you content with your level of curiosity?
Has your curiosity ever gotten you in trouble? Has it ever led to a significant life-giving change for you?
When you were a child, who nourished your curiosity? How did they do it?
What are some ways we can nourish the curiosity of others–our children, grandchildren, friends, family members? Do you have any ways you keep your own curiosity alive?
PS: Thank you for your prayers for the retreat I facilitated last week for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Buffalo, NY, their Associates, and members from three other religious congregations who live with the SSJ’s. They are the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur, the Franciscan Sisters originally of Williamsville, NY, and the Sisters of Social Service. It was a blessing for me to be in their midst! A special thank you to Sister Liz who kindly helped me throughout the week–and to Meghan who patiently helped me to show my videos!
Rolheiser writes that God has put into our human souls the “desire to understand the profound and loving mystery of God.” This song for me has always captured some of that profound and loving mystery of God. It’s Barbara Farrell’s beautiful “O God, Beyond All Names.” Some of the words that stand out for me are these: “You have made us in your image… all around us we have known you… you are laboring within us… we are bringing you to birth…”
I encourage you to share a thought or two with us below. I assure you we all enjoy hearing from our readers!
What is Meant by Spirituality?
The full title of my blog is “Sunflower Seeds: Celebrating Everyday Spirituality.” Today I’d like to explore that word spirituality. In my book, Traits of a Healthy Spirituality, I say this about my use of that word. Spirituality is our essential outlook on life, the way we perceive reality. Spirituality also includes our responses to that reality, that is, our actions and behaviors that flow from that perception. For example, if I believe God is a real person who is involved in my life and in the world, then one response of mine would be prayer. If I view others as sons and daughters of God, then my actions would include my love and concern for them.
But there are other ways of viewing and describing the word spirituality. Here are 15 more statements that I invite you to ponder. I suggest you read them prayerfully, noticing some of the similarities and differences.
1) The spiritual life is merely ordinary life lived with God as its center. Jean Maalouf
2) There’s a part of every living thing that wants to become itself: the tadpole into the frog, the chrysalis into the butterfly, a damaged human being into a whole one. That is spirituality. Ellen Bass
3) Spirituality is the style of a person’s response to Christ before the challenge of everyday life, in a historical and cultural environment. Katherine Marie Dyckman and L. Patrick Carroll
4) A Christian spirituality poses the question: Whose am I? Michael Downey
5) Spirituality is how I cope with life. Gerard Broccolo
6) For a spiritual life is simply a life in which all that we do comes from the center, where we are anchored in God: a life soaked through and through by a sense of God’s reality and claim, and self-given to the great movement of God’s will. Evelyn Underhill
7) Spirituality is meeting God in all that is life. Pat Livingston
8) Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep. They never understand the loveliness and beauty of this thing that we call human existence. Anthony DeMello, SJ
9) Christian spiritualiy is our conscious attending to God’s loving outreach and presence in our life. Thomas Groome
10) The spiritual life is a life-long wrestling match with God. Joan Chittister, OSB
11) Most of the peoplle who have what I want–which is to say, purpose, heart, balance, gratitude, joy–are people with a deep sense of spirituality…. They follow a brighter light than the glimmer of their own candle. They are part of something beautiful. Anne Lamott
12) We seek help for what we cannot face alone; in seeking help, we accept and admit our own powerlessness. And in that acceptance and admission, in the acknowledgement that we are not in control, spirituality is born. Ernest Kurtz
13) Too often spirituality is profoundly misunderstood, becoming just another commodity, a source of pleasure or power…a kind of Cosmic Linus Blanket. Veronica Brady
14) Spirituality is what we do with the fire inside of us. Ronald Rolheiser
15) The essence of Christian spirituality is this: be Jesus for others; and find Jesus in others. Sister Melannie Svoboda, SND
For reflection:
Are there any quotations above that you especially liked. Why?
Did any of the pictures catch your attention?
Is there a difference between spirituality and religion? If so, what do you think the difference is?
How would YOU answer the question: What is meant by spirituality or by Christian spirituality?
P.S. This week I’m facilitating a retreat for the Sisters of St. Joseph and their associates in Clarence, PA. I ask you for the support of your prayers for all of us! Thank you!
Ernest Kurtz says (in #13) that “when we seek help for what we cannot face alone… spirituality is born.” This song, “Lord, I Need You” by Matt Maher expresses beautifully our need for God, for Jesus. Over the years, I have prayed this song many, many times…
I look forward to reading you comments below–about the reflection, the questions, the photos, or the video!
Who Are the Helpers?
(Note: On my blog, I occasionally feature other peoples’ writing–such as their poems, excerpts from their books, or interviews with them. Today’s reflection is written by Sister Valerie Sweeney, SND, a good friend of mine. Her reflection grew out of a conversation we had recently.)
Many of us are probably familiar with what Mr. Fred Rogers’ shared with the children watching his TV show. One day he said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'”
Following the recent devastating earthquakes in Venezuela, I was moved by videos on Facebook and Youtube of people there pulling survivors from the rubble. Some of them were professional rescue teams with special equipment and trained dogs. But others were family members and ordinary people using their bare hands to dig. All of them were working at enormous risk to their lives. When someone was brought out alive, the joy that erupted never failed to bring tears to my eyes. In today’s world when life often seems expendable, what does it teach us when people will work so hard to save one person?
Those who were rescued from the rubble remind me of Lazarus, called forth by Jesus to live again. What emotions will they have to deal with as they reclaim their lives? Everything they owned has been destroyed, but they are so grateful for the gift of another day. Yet, there may also be a sense of guilt that they survived when so many others didn’t. Now, of course, the time for rescue is past, but the people still work to recover the bodies of their loved ones to bury them with dignity and bring closure to their search. Next comes the seemingly impossible task of rebuilding.
This is only one example of ordinary people helping each other. I am reminded of the many citizens in Minnesota who demonstrated in the bitter cold for their immigrant neighbors. These people were afraid to leave their homes, so ordinary citizens helped them by walking their children to school, bringing them groceries, and picking up their prescriptions. These helpers were people like you and me stepping up to serve because they saw a need.
We can all be helpers. We don’t need professional qualifications to do so. I am a chaplain in a nursing home, and daily I witness our residents helping each other in selfless ways. I have seen them bend over in their wheelchair to pick up an item that another resident dropped. They will notify a server if a tablemate needs something. They often welcome each other to activities with a smile and a cheerful greeting. And that’s not to mention the countless acts of service done every day by our nurses, care partners, pastoral care team, and culniary and housekeeping staff.
Jesus reminds us to be helpers in Matthew 25:35-40 when he says, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me… Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Think of the ways you have been a helper to others. Some ways may seem small, like zipping up a child’s jacket, getting the mail for an elderly neighbor, sending a get well card or a text to an ill friend. Others may take more time and effort, like driving someone to a doctor’s appointment, mowing the lawn for a neighbor recovering from surgery, visiting a family member in a rehab center. Sometimes the help we offer is invisble and unacknowledged. Our prayers can be a powerful way to send help to people and places around the world.
For reflection:
Who or what inspires you to reach out to help others?
How do you fit little acts of service into your busy day?
Who has been a helper for you? Have you ever acknowledged them for their help?
How do you feel when you’re on the receiving end of the helping equation? It is easier for you to give than to receive? If so, why do you think that is?
Sister Valerie chose this song for today: “Make Me a Servant,” written in 1982 by Christian songwriter Kelly Willard. Willard says that one day at home, she felt the Holy Spirit gently urging her to have “a little more of a servant heart.” She went straight to her piano and wrote this song. Sung here by the Maranatha Singers, the lyrics are repeated like a mantra, and the images offer more ways we can be of service to others.
Sister Valerie and I welcome your comments below–about the reflection, the questions, the video, the photos. We love hearing from you!
From Sister Melannie:
It is now the afternoon of Saturday, August 8th. I just want to thank Sister Valerie once again for writing her beautiful reflection “Who Are the Helpers?” for my blog this past week. And I want to thank all of you who commented below–and thank Valerie for taking the time to respond to all the varied comments. She said to me this week, “Your Sunflower readers are certainly a beautiful communty.” I definitely agree! Thanks again to all of you! I’ll be back on Monday with a new reflection, as usual…
The Moon Is Always Whole
Have you given any thought to the moon lately? If not, I hope today’s reflection will lead all of us to a greater appreciation of earth’s only natural satellite. (This post is adapted from my book When the Moon Slips Away.) Let’s begin with a few facts.
Where did the moon come from? The truth is, we don’t know for sure, but one widely accepted theory is that, roughly 4 to 5 billion years ago, a giant protoplanet collided with earth, sending massive amounts of vaporized rock into orbit around earth. Eventually this rock coalesced (due to earth’s gravity) to form the moon. The moon is roughly 238,855 miles from us. Each year it gets farther away from earth at a speed of 1.5 inches a year–about the same speed as your fingernails grow! Since the moon has no atmosphere, temperatures fluctuate widely from 260 degrees F to -243 degrees F. There are no breezes on the moon. The footprints Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made on the moon in July 1969, are still visible. The flag they planted was designed to look like it was blowing in the wind. Otherwise it would have hung limp.
The moon orbits the earth every 27.3 days. At the same time, it is rotating on its axis. Consequently, it keeps nearly the same side turned toward the earth all the time. So, 40% of the moon we humans had not seen before–until, in 1959, the Soviet unmanned Luna 3 probe sent back grainy photos of the dark side. The first humans to actually see the far side were the three Apollo 8 astronausts in1968. The recent Artemis II astronauts saw even more of the dark side of the moon. One of the mystiques of the moon is the way its gravitational pull affects the earth. The moon’s pull is largely responsibile for the tides of the earth. And some people believe the moon’s pull can cause strange behavior in animals–including homo sapiens. When the moon is full, some people say, “My kids and dog are acting strangely. It must be the full moon!”
Although there are several U.S. flags and the Soviet coat of arms on the moon, international treaties prevent any nation from claiming the moon. Instead, the moon is treated like international waters. The Outer Space Treaty further restricts the use of the moon to peaceful purposes, specifically banning any weapons of mass destruction. Ironically, it’s safer to live on the moon than on earth!
I like some of the things people have said about the moon. Here are four:
- “When I admire the wonders of the sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator.” (Mahatma Gandhi)
- I think a future flight to the moon should include a poet, a priest, and a philosopher…so we might get a much better idea of what we saw.” (Michael Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut)
- “The beauty of the moon is hidden in her scars.” (Anonymous)
- “Be the moon and inspire people, even when you’re far from full.” (K. Tolnoe)
All these facts about the moon cannot compare with simply enjoying the moon. There is beauty and mystery in its different phases from thin crescent to round fullness. There is beauty in the different sizes of the moon from huge when it is close to the horizon, to merely ornamental when it is high in the sky. The moon’s changing colors are gorgeous too: pure white, bright yellow, harvest orange, blue, bluish gray, reddish, to name a few. And to think, no matter what color the moon appears to be, all of its light is borrowed from the sun.
Barbara Kingsolver has written a lovely poem entitled “Remember the Moon Survives.” In it she reminds us that despite the moon’s waxing and waning, the moon is always whole. Though the moon seems to slip away at times, it is always there. Even when it seems to disappear, it is always fully present. Some spiritual writers have compared the continuous presence of the moon to God’s presence in our lives–always whole, always fully there. They compare the moon’s gravitational pull, to the gravitational pull of God’s love.
Prayer: Creator of the moon, help me to surrender to your beauty, to your mystery, and to the gravitational pull of your love. Amen.
For reflection:
Did anything in this reflection catch your attention? If so, what was it?
What role (if any) does the moon play in your everyday life? in your spiritual life?
Have you ever had a special experience involving the moon? Would you like to share this experience with us below?
Here are two very short videos about the moon. The first is a 3 min. award-winning poem-video entitled “How to Love the Moon” by Laura Plummer. The second is a 3:30 min. video by French photographer Laurent Laveder called “Playing with the Moon.” It captures individuals just having fun with the amazingly changeable moon. I hope you have time to enjoy both of these videos. And I hope you’ll let us know what you think of them by leaving a comment below.
“How to Love the Moon”:
“Playing with the Moon”:
I welcome your comments below–about the reflection, the reflection questions, the pictures or the videos!
