I write, speak, invest, network, and question to stimulate fruitful conversation. Let's talk about human flourishing! It begins with freedom. Holy leisure is the key to human being, freedom and generativity. Please join me in the adventure of realizing Christ!
Catholics Communicate Christ
Many years ago I published a quick handbook for Catholic writers, hoping to encourage more people to offer their writing in service to the Church. The title is being re-used for this new book, because I could not imagine a pithier synopsis of its content. We Christians exist in this world as the means God has chosen for His own self-revelation. To that end, we need to remedy the sad lack of community life within His Body. First, the Church, then the rise of the persons within her, and, finally, the rescue of those outside her – this is the order of approach. We need for the Church to be more fully realized as community, as collaboration, and as communication of Christ, in order that the Word may dwell more richly within us and resound in the world.
As always, my dream for this book is that it would stimulate many hours of wonderful conversation. Unless it is brought to life among the members of the Body, it will never be fully realized as a means of edifying the Church. I am always available to discuss any of my books, to speak on the topics I’ve invested in for many years, and to offer myself however I can for the good of this membership. Please let me know how I can be of help to you in any way.
I’d also dearly love your feedback on this book!
Thanks, in advance, Charlotte
P.S. See Catholics Communicate Christ at Amazon, here.
A Harmony of Healing
After many years of kitchen table conversation, all my thoughts on ‘alternative’ healing modalities are in one place! I can’t remain quiet while truly amazing remedies are dismissed out of hand by Catholics who call them ‘unscientific’. I can’t stay silent when an over-reliance on the allopathic, Western medical model is daily undermining the health of my brothers and sisters in Christ. On the other hand, I’m unwilling to give unquestioning assent to anything that calls itself ‘healing.’ Attachment to the perfection of physical health and/or fear of the natural risks of being alive also undermine the health of the Body of Christ. There must be a narrow way, where Christ can accompany us on a journey to appropriate what we can, discern what is helpful and what is harmful, and guide those around us to a balanced concern for health, with a balanced interest in the many modes of approach to health available in our interconnected world.
My dream for this book is that it would become the focus of conversation among Catholics and other Christians with interest in the spaces of health, medical autonomy, biohacking, nutrition, holistic wellness, and other related topics. Please contact me if you do want to use this book for a group discussion, and I will supply copies at the lowest possible cost. Since sales of Motherheart Press books support the work of the Joy Foundation, one of Joy’s initiatives is to support the dissemination of MHP books. Use the contact form, below, and allow me to help with a substantial discount for multiple copies.
Find A Harmony of Healing at Amazon, here. I’d also very much appreciate hearing your feedback!
Detective Fiction
Excerpts from 3D Freedom, Chapter 10: Detective Fiction
Just follow along here, and let’s see where we end up:
Character A murders someone, and, though he doesn’t realize it, we see he is doomed to fall further. Evil compounds in the darkness, and his hidden deed imprisons him in that darkness as surely as if he has murdered himself, which of course, in a way, he has. Bummer – and it’s not even tragic, because we have no sense of his having fallen from a great height. We come upon him in media res, and he seems a worm doomed to digging deeper – not a tragic hero at all.
…
But imagine yourself actually in the story, as someone who has been acutely affected by Character B’s demise. Your next move would probably be to demand, from the author, some sort of justice. In this two-dimensional, story universe, that probably will look something like the eye-for-eye, tit-for-tat sort of justice that preceded the coming of Christ. Balance needed to be restored, so some sort of payment – actual money, or punishment – was exacted from the criminal, and all was, if not well, at least restored to equilibrium. For a while. Now and then, reciprocal eye-for-eyeing threatened the social order of a tribe, or community, to the extent that the people rounded up a victim to sacrifice as sort of a backfire to stop the flames of bloodlust.
…
To play the game well, the author must play by some rules, or we’ll take our marbles and go home. This is a sort of game played between us for our mutual delight. The author’s delight is different from ours – more slogging and anticipatory. We have all the fun of opening the surprise package to find a much smaller, less arduous dose of uphill climbing than he had in making it, plus, a swift and thrilling ride to the bottom, which he can only experience vicariously through our enjoyment. The limit to foreknowledge which makes the game fun for us is precisely what he gave up in preparing the story. He is, sadly, too omniscient to enjoy the fun of being in the game with us. Still, he has looked forward to our fun, so we should get back to it.
…
Restoring the life of the Victim was, after the Resurrection, the new normal. Because the Victim has access to eternal life, I can stop short of taking his killer’s life and then waiting for the killer’s relatives to come kill mine in an endless do-loop of titting and tatting. Because Christ can make even the killer into a new man, society could realize, if not a net gain, at least a neutral position in lives by the trade. It’s a hope, anyway, that made more people stop and think before killing again. Suddenly, for Christians, both Victim and Killer were more fully-realized as human beings…even, brothers.
…
How shall Hope enter the story? In the form of the detective! All is dark, but he is a character who brings light into that darkness, because he envisions a future in which the killer has been unmasked. Over and over it has happened, in his experience, so he fully expects it to happen again. (One does wonder why people keep inviting detectives back to dinner parties…) He walks in confidence, even while still clueless. He will look at every Fact he can round up, believing that Facts are wonderful things that, like seeds, contain the light of Reality from beyond the sphere of Here-and-Now. From, in fact, that future he is imagining. That future, far from being ghostly and unreal, is laying all around him in the form of Facts – just waiting to be assembled rightly into a signpost that points to the murderer.
Find out how hope really enters the story! Read the full chapter in 3D Freedom. (Add “Ostermann” to the title search on Amazon, as my books are rather buried there!)
He Must Increase
I’ve just met Jason Nunez, of the John 3:30 podcast. Thanks to a listener who recommended me as a guest on his show, we had a lovely chat this morning. It’s now available here, and on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and anywhere podcasts can be found. Look for Episode #94 for my interview, and stay tuned for Jason’s big surprise in Episode #100, soon to come!
Here’s a bit more about Jason, from the John 3:30 site:
The John 3:30 Podcast is hosted by Jason Nunez. He is a Catholic Husband and Father who is doing everything he can to help get his Family to Heaven. Jason loves to watch movies with his family and he is a huge Dave Matthews Band Fan. He and his Family are Parishioners at The Church of The Holy Spirit in San Antonio TX. Jason was raised Catholic, but as most, he went through the motions for most of his Teenage, 20s and early 30s. After attending an ACTS Retreat in October of 2012 has been “on fire” for his Catholic Faith. Jason began to feel that God was calling him to spread the word on how “everyday” people keep their fire burning for our Catholic Faith. So The John 3:30 Podcast was created!! Join him as he shares the many ways our Faith can keep your fire burning. Thanks for listening and God Bless you all!!
“He must increase; I must decrease.” – John 3:30
Jason was interested in the resource I have available for free here: How to Plan a Great Catholic Event
We discussed the books Souls at Rest (endorsed by Dan Burke) Souls at Work (endorsed by Stratford Caldecott), Upschooling (endorsed by Joseph Pearce), and the Freedom Trilogy (You, Free , Full Spectrum Freedom, and 3D Freedom…endorsed by those I counsel personally). (These link to Amazon sales pages.)
He asked what one thought I wanted to leave with listeners, and that is: “If you need anything, please contact me. I actually respond!!!” Here’s a contact form for anyone reading or listening, who might have questions, need a phone chat or a correspondence or a speaker or help realizing their creative ideas, or who just wants to connect for conversation or some other adventure:
What To Do In A Crisis
Once upon a time, during what felt like a huge crisis, I received some great advice.
Since then, I’ve remembered it by way of the phrase, “Not a ‘crisis’, but a ‘life task’”. I try never to respond while feeling panic, but rather to wait until the ‘crisis’ has passed. The outward circumstances may still be quite pressing and yet my own interior sense of tension has calmed. Then, I’m ready to decide what to do.
C – caution, fear
R – reaction
I – imagining the worst
S – speed
I – identifying an enemy
S – survival, self, strength, sight
In the CRISIS mode, I react out of fear – not boldly, with confidence, but with cautious hesitation – instead of being proactive after making a conscious decision about what to do. I immediately imagine the worst possibilities, and must remember the scriptural admonition to “cast down vain imaginings”. These are ‘vain’ because they can’t actually accomplish anything, and merely work up more fearfulness and confusion.
Speed is almost always a factor in any ‘crisis’. I feel the demand for hasty reaction, and I fail to let myself stop to quietly assess, evaluate, and make a free judgment about what to do. In the fearfulness and narrow vision of a ‘crisis’ moment, I am liable to identify someone as ‘the enemy’, and (usually to my regret) treat that person accordingly. The CRISIS mode is characterized by my focus on myself, my survival, using my own strength, and depending on what I can see. Scripture comes to the rescue again, reminding me to walk by faith, and not by sight; in God’s strength, and not my own.
L – let it be a lesson
I – inhibit reactivity
F – fear not, stay free
E – encourage equanimity
T – trust God
A – ask for the help you need
S – slow down, stop
K – keep your eyes open
If the ‘crisis’ can be seen not as provocation, but as an opportunity, I’ve already changed my mode of action. If nothing else, each such experience can teach me something more about myself, the dynamics of relationships, and ways to apply faith in concrete experience. As a lesson, even the worst experience builds my spiritual riches, so I can face it with courage.
I’ve got to inhibit that first reaction, the snap decision, the reflexive self-defense, if I’m to be fully present to reality in this moment. Naturally, if there is a physical danger, that reflex can be life-saving, but too many ‘crises’ are induced by panic, and not by true danger. St. Pope John Paul II seemed to have his finger on the modern pulse when he cautioned, over and over, “Fear not!” He realized that the person motivated by fear is a person who is not free, and so is contributing to his own degradation.
In a ‘crisis’, if I can ‘encourage equanimity’ in myself and in those around me, the heat of the moment can dissipate. I also try to remember to ‘edify everyone’ involved in a situation, so that no one becomes ‘the enemy’. Trust in God is practiced in situations that feel like crises. Without them, we’d never need to consciously cultivate deeper and deeper trust, and the relaxation into His trustworthiness made possible by these challenges.
How many times have I forgotten, in a moment of ‘crisis’, to ask for help! It seems ridiculous, but when you realize that the CRISIS mode is characterized by a narrowing of vision, it makes sense that we immediately believe the lie that we are alone, and must trust to our own resources to survive. I can’t say it too many times: the enemy of equanimity, of peace, of courage, is speed! If I’ve learned nothing else in life, it is that a moment of ‘crisis’ demands I STOP, not speed up, which was always my natural reaction.
Keeping my ‘eyes’ opened means more than just looking around. If fear is the narrowing of my field of vision to the pinpoint of whatever threatens me, then opening my eyes means growing aware of the many other factors in the situation that are also true, also real. Fr. Luigi Giussani’s definition of freedom – “Freedom is the correspondence to reality, in the totality of its factors.” – reminds me to open the eyes of my understanding to see supportive family and friends, the beauty that surrounds me in nature, the many reasons I have for gratitude, the constant faithfulness of God in my life, etc….
I hope this helps you convert your next ‘crisis’ into a ‘life task’!
Here’s a reminder you can clip and take….and two for friends.
CRISIS or LIFE TASK?
Let me know your thoughts!
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