An excellent conjunction of books has happened in my head such that I have a deeper understanding of being "poor in spirit" than I ever had before.
I am currently reading "The Thrill of the Chaste" (book review forthcoming) and Dawn Eden quotes a Psalm about the Lord making a dwelling for those who are hungry. As a daily prayer, I am reading from a Padre Pio devotional. In today's letter, one of St. Pio's spiritual children receives advice that to constantly feel a lack of love for God is a wonderful blessing. The Lord is not only how showing her much she needs Him, but providing motivation to continually find ways to love Him more deeply. The third book in this conjunction is "Transformation in Christ" which is the best book on how to follow Christ I have ever read (I hope to finish it soon). In it, Dietrich von Hildebrand points out many of the character flaws which stand in the way of following Jesus and what their roots are. One of the flaws is a feeling of sufficiency or completeness. To follow Christ is to always search for how you can more deeply invite Him into your life, therefore you must constantly be lacking a "full" conversion to Him on this side of Heaven so that you are prepared for a complete union with Him in Heaven.
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Another book from the new "modestynick" genre is Wendy Shalit's "A Return to Modesty".
Wendy argues strongly for manners and social structures that allow women to reserve themselves for marriage. Arguing from secular and ancient sources, she is brilliant!
I hope you enjoy Dawn Eden's book in the meantime :)
I'm an avid reader of Dawn's blog. I'm just about to pick up her book. can't wait. I'm in the middle of reading "Gilead" which is beautiful. I recomend it.
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