Redefine Success
Friends,
I began this monthly exercise on Ash Wednesday and am completing it after the men’s U.S. hockey overtime gold-medal performance. You may receive this letter in Lent or after Easter. Therefore, I chose an early church reading, Carmen Christi (Hymn to Christ) that St. Paul embedded in his letter to the Philippians to encourage humility and unity and to express in a few short verses the process the Greeks called kenosis. That term referred to the voluntary self-emptying of Christ and then his incarnation and birth, his ministry leading to the cross, Resurrection, and Ascension. In your five minutes of silence, reflect on this Paschal Mystery as we move into spring and the baseball season.
Our article this month offers ethical tips for making morally complex choices. I hope the article will be helpful in addressing present dilemmas or present an opportunity to review a decision that might have gone astray. There is power in small groups enabling participants to see around a problem and provide perspective, insight, and learning.
On to book recommendations. First, a book I have read every morning since the beginning of the year: What Matters Most and Why: Living the Spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This book comprises 365 daily reflections by Jim Manney. The format for each day is a quote from Ignatius and a one-page reflection. I am surprised how often the quotes speak to my current state, and when they don’t they excite my curiosity—both goods!
The second recommendation is my Lenten diet book with the great title, Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life, by Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D. Any health book that lets me eat from my favorite food group I had to buy. Ezekial Emanuel, a bioethicist and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. (Full disclosure: he is Rahm Emanuel’s brother— a Chicago connection). Dr. Emanuel gives good advice with a little laughter thrown in! (Check out title of the first chapter.)
The winter cold has had me reading a lot this past month, and my final recommendation for historians and those concerned with aging is Winter Dreams: A Historical Guide to Old Age by Barbara H. Rosenwein, professor emerita at Loyola University of Chicago. As an old history major, I was delighted to be taken on a ride through the ages in a multi- discipled way, learning how the challenges of aging have been expressed and have evolved over the centuries. A wonderfully written narrative.
Finish Lent strong and have a happy Easter! Remember that we are a people called to live the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity (Love)!
AMDG,
John Fontana