Darryl Friesen > Recent Status Updates

“I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times. I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to possess my heart, that my true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ.”

This one has really grabbed me! I’m suddenly 10 chapters in already!

Finished Part I! I’m enjoying this so much! A brilliant family drama with the idolatry of their family estate at the heart of it all.

I honestly think Mansfield Park might be my second-favourite Austen! I love it that much!

“Unlike her, he had no refuge, no Presence to seek, no unseen world that could become real at a thought… His gods were dead Squires who had laid up wealth to be his poverty. Her God was a God who had beggared Himself, that she through His poverty might become rich.” ❤️❤️❤️

Chapter 6

We are not merely imperfect creatures who must be improved: we are, as Newman said, rebels who must lay down our arms.

Hence the necessity to die daily: however often we think we have broken the rebellious self we shall still find it alive.

The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it.

[Pain] is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

“Looking upon You, he who loves himself and not You does You great wrong. If, when the soul sees You in [Your suffering], it flies from the sufferings that would make it resemble You, its love for You is imperfect; for it does not wish to be made like You, and therefore has but little desire to suffer for You.” ~St. John of Ávila

Ch. 5—a somewhat speculative chapter about the nature of the Fall of Man. However, the last sentence of the chapter bears absolutely true: “The thesis of this chapter is simply that man, as a species, spoiled himself, and that good, to us in our present state, must therefore mean primarily remedial or corrective good. What part pain actually plays in such remedy or correction, is now to be considered.”

Loving this! It has a similar feel in some ways to Nancy Mitford’s writing style, but without the slight cynicism towards humanity and the hints at the depravity that “everyone” harboured by hid away as best they could.

What a COMPLETELY BRILLIANT introduction!! I must admit, it’s absolutely riddled with spoilers, but it was so compelling and well written that I just couldn’t stop reading it!!

This is going to be a good one… I can just feel it!!!

Another chapter in which I couldn’t even begin to highlight a single quote or stated truth. Wow.

Maybe this: “Many schools of thought encourage us to shift the responsibility for our behaviour from our own shoulders to some inherent necessity in the nature of human life, and thus, indirectly, to the Creator.”

Or: “A recovery of the old sense of sin is essential to Christianity.”

“Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of those which should be especially dear to us. And why? Because it honours Christ Jesus not only in one of His states or particular mysteries, but in the generality and totality of His love, wherein all His mysteries find their deepest meaning.” ~Bl. Columba Marmion

What an incredible achievement in psychological and relational realism!! Every single character has such profound complexity and nuance.

Wanda McCaddon’s narration is simply outstanding… Not surprisingly…!

Chapter 3—a BRILLIANT unpacking of four different analogies of the love that exists between God and humanity: a) as an Artist to his art b) as a human to his pet c) as a father to his son and d) as a man to a woman.

“When we want to be something other than the thing God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy.”

“Let us love each other in the Sacred Heart. Let us love Him for each other; love Him under all circumstances and take for a motto: ‘Thy will be done.’ Love and do what you will, for whoever possesses love has all.” ~St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Terrilee and I had the immense privilege of meeting Janette Oke this past summer, and the chance to chat with her for about half an hour. We were actually both a little emotional—she has a way of writing that is deceptively simple on the surface but runs profoundly deep, and the way she writes about faith struggles, death, and the challenges of life has blessed the two of us repeatedly throughout our marriage.

So excited for another buddy read with Elizabeth and Melody—this second book in the Catholic Women Writers published by CUA Press!

Finished the second of the three parts of “French Life”. Gaskell writes about France and the French people with such affection, it’s really beautiful! And it’s fascinating to see her curiosity about the French Revolution documented here, especially after having read My Lady Ludlow so recently!

Chapter 2—“It remains true that all ‘things’ are possible with God: the intrinsic impossibilities are not things, but nonentities. It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of His creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives; not because His power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God.”

“I believe when Jesus passed by, the children cried, ‘Sweetness is passing.’” ~St. Teresa of Calcutta

Gaskell’s descriptions of the French countryside as she and her daughters enjoy day trips away from Paris are just breathtaking, and so inviting and cozy!

French Life—a fairly extended travelogue, recounting the Parisian middle- and upper-middle-class way of life in the 1860s, and all of Gaskell’s trips to see her friends there.

Chapter 1—“In a sense, [Christianity] creates, rather than solves, the problem of pain, for pain would be no problem unless, side by side with our daily experience of this painful world, we had received what we think a good assurance that ultimate reality is righteous and loving.”

It is useful; nay, it is necessary to honor the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ with singular devotion. It is your refuge; you must fly to it in all your necessities to draw from it the consolation and all the help that you need. Even though all men should abandon and forget you, Jesus will be your one faithful friend. He will always keep you in His Heart. Trust in Him: Rest upon Him. ~John Justus Lanspergius