Meet a Reader: Father Dominic Garramone, OSB

Meet a Reader:  Father Dominic Garramone, OSB

1.  How do we know you?

I could be known for any number of things!  I’m a 1979 grad of Spalding, a Benedictine priest of Saint Bede Abbey, religion teacher and drama director for Saint Bede Academy, TV baker on public television, cookbook author and children’s author.

2.  Why do you love reading? 

I used to love reading mostly because it transported me to other worlds and alternate realities---I’m a big fan of fantasy writers like Tolkien, Anne McAffrey, Patricia McKillip, etc.  But as I grow older and (one hopes) more mature, I especially appreciate that reading is such a reflective exercise—it promotes reflection, meditation, discussion.  You always have the luxury re-reading a paragraph or having recourse to a dictionary or reading it aloud to someone else in the room, or just saying to yourself: “Stop---I want to think about this for a minute.”

3.  What are you reading now?

Right now our monastery table reading is And There Was Light, the autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, blind hero of the French Resistance---absolutely gripping.  I’m reading Everyday Life of Medieval Travellers by Marjorie Rowling, as part of class prep for teaching church history.

4.  What is your favorite book, and why?

Apart from the Bible and the Rule of Saint Benedict, my favorite book is The Supper of the Lamb: a Culinary Reflection by Robert Farrar Capon.  No other book has influenced my cooking and my view of creation as much as this work---a great read for anyone who can see preparing food as a spiritual act and a share in God’s creative work. 

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Note from your blog host:  This month's "Meet a Reader" is also the author of both of this month's featured books, Thursday Night Pizza and children's book Brother Jerome and the Angels in the Bakery.  I've always wanted to feature local authors here, and when the chance popped up I was delighted, and resolved to ask him to be our "Meet a Reader" this month, as well.

Thanks, Father Dominic, for being willing to be a part of this feature!

A Laugh for Early November

You might, like me, need a good laugh early in the day.  I  recently discovered (via Lisa Hendey of CatholicMom.com & Faith and Family Live!)  a great group of charming videos produced by a Harvard grad student, Matt Weber, that are Catholic, engaging and fun.

This article tells the whole story about how this enterprising young man started making these videos.

Here's one video on confession.  This brought many, many laughs at our house:



We also love this one, an appreciation of letter-writing, the Mother Teresa stamp. I can't find it on YouTube to embed here, for some reason, but if you visit Catholic TV you can view it. Well worth the visit!

First, What are You Reading? Volume 3

Here are my answers to the four questions I ask on the first of each month:
first, what are you reading?
what do you like best about it?
what do you like least?
what's next on your list/pile to read?

I hope you'll consider sharing yours on your blog (I've abandoned the Mr. Linky for now!) and/or sharing yours here in the comments or on Facebook.  This month, I'm scrunching all my answers into one, because I'm concerned otherwise this might never post.  Happy reading and I hope you'll share what you are reading!

First, what are you reading?


I'm reading a ton of books right now, preparing for December's gift column (don't you agree books make a good gift?), as well as improvement books for January, as in turning a new leaf.  Lots of interesting reading to share.

There are two that I'm especially enjoying:

The Grace to Race by Sister Madonna Buder.  This is the story of an 80-year-old nun who is also a record-breaking triathlete.  This impresses me, because while I'm a triathlete (having completed the Seattle Danskin Women's Triathlon last year with my four sisters--that's a great story for another time), I am by no means fast.  She didn't start running until her late 40s, and still keeps going.  I wasn't sure I would like this book, but so far I am loving her style, her call to vocation, and her sheer energy.   Also, she has a special fondness for the Blessed Mother and St. Therese, the Little Flower, so I'm hooked.

Carney's House Party/Winona's Pony Cart: Two Deep Valley Books (P.S.)
in an excellent new edition. I could.not.WAIT for this new release of an old classic, by Betsy-Tacy author Maud Hart Lovelace, because the foreward for Carney's House Party was written by prolific blogger and fellow Betsy-Tacy fan Melissa Wiley.  I knew about Betsy-Tacy books before I knew about Melissa Wiley's blog, but she's made it so much fun to be a superfan of this great series.  And I was not disappointed in her great foreward, and I'm so enjoying reading this great classic again.

St. Andre Bessette, Crutches, and Healing

In summer 2009, our family had the opportunity to travel to Canada, and some of our best memories were from visiting, St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, and the Shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre , outside Quebec City. With the canonization of St. Andre Bessette (who built the Oratory) this month, I was inspired to re-post here what I had written about the crutches in June 2009. As we wind up our discussion of Beyond Blue this month, and learning about healing, I think it's an appropriate reflection.

In both places of pilgrimage, crutches figured prominently.

I'm sure I snapped more than a couple dozen photos of the crutches left behind by those healed through the intercession of St. Joseph and St. Anne. Now I only have a few because I've been fairly ruthless editing the photos we took in Canada. And I experienced such involuntary and powerful emotions when seeing them.   So I've put up a couple of the photos I took that remain.

At first, or at some point after seeing them I thought, could there really be this many people who are cured and no longer need their crutches?  How many people really need crutches these days?  I guess it was different many decades ago when these shrines were being constructed.  But still,  all these people healed?

And yet, you see the hundreds of well-used crutches and canes all over the place, and clearly people left them behind.   Even with my skepticism, at least for me, I continued to have a very strong emotional reaction, my eyes tearing up, when I would catch sight of the crutches as we spent our time at the shrines.  I think part of my intellectual reaction was from my mom, who was pretty practical about these kind of things, almost to a fault.  But still the tears flowed.

An old friend from DC wrote on my Facebook (after I mentioned we were going to St. Joseph Oratory) that she had visited there years ago and, seeing the crutches, was inspired to pray for her own healing.  And I didn't see her note until after we had been there, but I had the same thought.  I couldn't even articulate at the time what I meant by that.  It was just a wordless prayer for healing and grace.

Now, with some time away from the experience, and getting a chance to reflect on it, I recognized that what resonated with me was the common human struggle with brokenness.  For some it is an obvious problem--a physical disability.  Some are more open about their struggles with brokenness--I'm grateful for the blogs I can visit where people share their struggles and their faith journeys.

But even if we are more private about it, or it is not obvious, human life involves struggles and brokenness, even amid joy.   What is important is to be loving and forgiving to each other as we recognize that.  On our own we don't have that kind of love and forgiveness.  That is why I'm so grateful for the grace and supernatural love given freely by Jesus, however imperfect I am at accepting that grace and love.

I was in confession last week with an African priest visiting our parish, and I have to "confess" I was a little concerned, because the last time I went to an African priest for confession (a number of years back), my penance was-- an entire Rosary.  I can laugh now, but in my shock, I had to ask him if that's what he really meant.  Now I know a Rosary isn't terrible (Mary, Mother of God, please still love me for even writing that!).  But for soft old American me, going to confession to very kind American priests, I'm used to a couple of Hail Marys, and some good advice.

But this time during confession (with a penance far less than a Rosary, I might add), the priest at one point said, "dear daughter of the King," and of course my eyes teared up.  I am a daughter of the King--we are all children of the King-- and His grace and healing is available to us.  Let us be given the hearts to know that.

Beyond Blue Question: Other Catholic Books, Resources on Facing Adversity?

I feel grateful to have the chance to review and write about Beyond Blue  this month, and interview author Therese Borchard.  But there are many, many books that approach depression, mental health and promote healing from a Catholic perspective.  Many books were recommended to me, and I searched around for what would be good.  I was surprised at only having a few that I found good reads & worth recommending.  I know that many people would find different books helpful in different ways, so feel free to add your suggestions.

Here are several books I found most helpful and best reads:

*Surviving Depression:  A Catholic Approach by Kathryn J. Hermes, FSP, (a sister in the Congregation of the Daughters of St. Paul) writes a beautiful account of her own struggles with depression, and tells the stories of others, in giving hope and a spiritual blueprint for healing and progress against mood disorders.

The book now comes with a companion prayer book:  Prayers for Surviving Depression and a companion journal, Surviving Depression Journal, making this an excellent series for those grappling with depression.

*Safely Through the Storm: 120 Reflections on Hope by Debra Herbeck is a slim but rich volume of quotes, reflections and poems from saints and spiritual writers on hope in the midst of suffering.  The book is divided into three sections:  "The Quotes," "The Voices" (short description of each writer), and "The Sources" (for each quote).  My only tiny quibble is that the voices (listed alphabetically), do not refer back to the numbered quote, so I can't look up, say, Caryl Houselander's quote.  Still, a wonderful, beautiful selection of voices, in quotes of varying lengths that provide hope and healing.   This would be a great book to have on hand for times of Adoration or for quiet reflection on one or two quotes.

Here's one example, from St. Thomas More,:  "I will not mistrust (God), though I feel myself weakening and on the verge of being overcome with fear ... I trust he shall place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning."

*Another recently released compendium is Hidden Graces: Poems for Crisis, Struggle and Renewal selected and introduced by Gretchen L. Schwenker, Ph.D. and Matthew J. Kessler, a Redemptorist priest.  The poems are selected primarily to help those who have experienced loss, providing a way to navigate your emotions through the "hidden graces" of crisis, the authors explain. Poets from Christina Rossetti to Wendell Berry and many others, both classic & modern, provide space and reflection for those in grief and in the process of recovery.

*Prolific author and trained psychologist Father Benedict Groeschel wrote a book in the 1990s that has enduring appeal:  Arise from Darkness:  What to Do When Life Doesn't Make Sense.  The book handles grief, depression and other issues from Father Groeschel's sensible Catholic approach.   Father Groeschel writes in such an easy-to-read and conversational style, making it well worth a look.

Do you have a favorite read or resource to recommend in this area?

Beyond Blue Question: What Prayer or Devotion Do You Find Helpful for Promoting Mental Health?

In Beyond Blue, Therese Borchard writes of how the Rosary is a lifesaver for her spiritual and mental life.  She also shares that she has several short phrases, such as "God be with me," she uses when she finds anxiety or sadness overtaking her spirit.

I agree very much that the Rosary is an excellent devotion for calming and reflection, and drawing ever deeper into relationship with Jesus and his (and our) Mother, Mary.  I hope this doesn't sound disrespectful when I say that it  helps me get to sleep if I am ever having a wakeful night.  I like to think that it is Mary is practical and knows, as a mom, that a mom needs sleep!  I also find the Divine Mercy chaplet, especially the chanted and the sung versions, very soothing.

What prayers or devotions do you find helpful when you need calming or a mental health boost?  I'm asking this not in a way to say that spiritual practices are only for our physical or mental benefit, because we derive spiritual benefits from the practice of our faith.  But these prayers can have great impact in our life in many ways, and recognizing that is good.

"Beyond Blue," the blog

Therese Borchard wrote the excellent book we're discussing this month, Beyond Blue, and it is also the title of her blog on spiritual and mental health on Beliefnet.

You can visit the blog here at Beliefnet.  I found even though I had read the book Beyond Blue, I wasn't visiting the blog that much because I just don't find the time to be online and visit all the many blogs that I enjoy.  So I signed up for an e-mail delivery of the blog, and that keeps me updated.

Some of my recent and recurrent favorites:

Today's post about friendship is really funny and also instructive, especially number 1 (join a book group, so go ahead, join us here!)

Every Monday, Borchard writes a "Mindful Monday" column with thoughtful reflections on various ways to be intentional and thoughtful in our lives.

Every Thursday is "Therapy Thursday," where Borchard shares ideas, many culled from her small but powerful volume published this year, The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Guide.  Here's a good one from that series.

If you visit the blog, what are your impressions?  Do you have other recommendations for blogs or web resources that promote spiritual and mental health?