In Which I Do a Tag Even Though I Said I Was Done With Tags

Simply because the lovely Aspirer tagged me and she's very sweet. :)  And also because I'm listening to a LOTR mixtape on 8tracks, and so am stuck to my computer.

Rules which may or may not be followed:

1) Once you are awarded, post about it on your blog and leave a link back to the person who awarded you

2) Answer all the questions on the tag

3) Do not award anyone who has less than 100 followers

4) Come up with ten new questions

5) Keep your questions clean and refrain from using vile language

6) Tag 5 to 10 people

 Aspirer's questions:

1. How do you like your tea?  

Brewed as dark as I can make it without it making me sick (when it's too strong, it gives me cramps and nausea.  Dunno why.)  About 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and lots of milk.  The best is half-and-half, but that's only around when my grandmother is here for a couple days, so usually it's almond milk.

2. Favorite Jane Austen novel?

YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME!  Eughh...er....Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility.  ( I think...I haven't read S&S for a very long time, so my opinions may have changed.) I think that maaaaybe my top one is now Persuasion.  I'm reading Pride and Prejudice for school, and was extremely saddened to find that its magic has rather diminished for me now.  *tears*

3. Cellos or violins?  

Cellos.  I like the deep tones.

4. Latin or Greek?

LATIN.  Language of the Church!  And it's just so beautiful.  Greek is pretty cool, but it's pagan, and Latin sounds nicer, in my opinion.  I do love the Kyrie Eleison, though.

5. Dream job? (Note that reality does not apply; if you so desired, for example, you could be a librarian in the 1900's)

Nun.  *grins*  To make it more interesting, nun in the early Middle Ages, preferably with a saint for a superior.

6. Favorite saint, and why?

Once again,  there is no way I can just pick one.  However, I suppose I can say St. Therese.  I have, after all, loved her since before my First Communion.  As for why...I love her humility, her Little Way, her abandonment to God's will, and her writing.  It was actually by reading her writings and what others wrote about her that I first learned about subjecting oneself to God's will - and it's a good thing, too, because I've sure needed to trust Him a lot this year.

7. Would you rather live a short life with death by martyrdom or a long, painstaking life with a natural death?

Theoretically, I'd rather live a short life with martyrdom, because then I'd have less time to misbehave and I'd die for Christ, whereas in a long, painstaking life I'd have numerous opportunities to go astray, and I'd get very tired of fighting evil.  Also a natural death could be less meritorious.  However, let me just note that I haven't much desire for martrydom...

8. Favorite kind of chocolate?

Dark-ish, but less than 70%, preferably filled with caramel or some sort of cream filling.  Or those cherry ones.  Heck, just get me a whole box. :)

 

9. Your kind of Prince Charming?

I definitely fall for quiet types.  I like thoughtfulness, quiet chivalry, ability to have deep conversations (especially about literature), and deep voices.  I do not like being paid compliments often - it just embarrasses me.  However, if you never pay me compliments and then one day you drop a little one, I will probably explode from excitement. Oh, and manliness is an absolute necessity.
(I'm allowed to be super picky because I'm becoming a nun so I don't have to be realistic, plus I'm gonna marry the most perfect man ever to be born.)

10. Favorite fictional character?
Wow.  Um. I can't even begin to think.  There are so many.  Also, now that I'm thinking about them, I do believe that I have more male favorite characters than female.  One recent one is Gabriel Gale from Chesterton's The Poet and the Lunatics - in addition to every character Chesterton ever wrote.  *sighs* This is a hopeless endeavor.

Now I was trying to be good and do the new questions and tag people and stuff, but so many of the people I follow have done the tag already, and I can't think of good questions, so....

Bye-the-bye, Aspirer, thanks so much for thinking up such good, thought-provoking questions, and thanks for tagging me even though I'm a naughty child who doesn't follow rules.

Favorite Poetry: Litany for the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart (Part II)

As promised, here is the rest of the poem.  Please do read both parts! (Last time I did a two-part post, the second one got way less views than the first.)

Also, a most blessed Feast of the Sacred Heart to you all!

via Google Images

Litany for the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart (con't)

by Gertrude von Le Fort

Red-thorn of our gladness, 

Sorrow-thorn of our repentance,

Fair evening glow of our own setting,

We ask Thee for Thy love.

Crimson cloth that turns sin pale as death:

We ask Thee for Thy love.

Ruby stream after which the sick souls thirst:

We ask Thee for Thy love.

Whispering nearness in which parted friends may meet:

We ask Thee for Thy love.

Comforting lamp of the distressed,

Lighthouse of the persecuted and the disgraced,

Hidden chamber in which the gentle dead may yet breathe;

All-knowing Heart, all-guiding Heart, ultimate Heart:

We ask Thee for Thy love!

Heart that takes us all to itself,

Heart that strikes the centre of all our hearts,

Heart that breaks the proud hearts of us all:

We ask Thee for Thy love!

Heart that makes solitude into a great people:

We ask Thee for Thy love.

Heart that makes discord into a united people:

We ask Thee for Thy love.

Heart in which the whole world becomes Thy people:

We consecrate ourselves to Thy love.

Overflowing Heart, overflaming Heart, overstorming Heart:

Be loved, Love, everlasting Love, be everlastingly loved.

That Thy Dawn may break with kindling light,

We consecrate ourselves to Thy love.

That Thy day may bring fire to our hearts,

We consecrate ourselves to Thy love.

That Thy day may burn all our hearts into Thine,

We consecrate ourselves to Thy love.

That Thy day may bring fire to our hearts,

We consecrate ourselves to Thy love,

Mighty Heart, ineluctable Heart, all-consuming Heart.

Fire! Fire!  The angels' wings are burning, the swords of the

seraphim are aflame!  

The lights of heaven are burning, the depths of earth are burning,

rocks and yesterdays are all aflame!

 The expectation of all creatures burns -- the spirit burns in the

darkness of high thought,

All has been taken from love, all must become love; sing "Holy,

Holy, Holy!" rustling flames of the seraphim!

Heart from which the heavens draw their glory,

Heart from which the suns and constellations draw their

beginning and their end,

Heart from which the souls of the blessed draw their blessedness.

World-ordering Heart, world-conquering Heart, Thou only Heart

of hearts:

Amen. Amen.  May the day of Thine infinite love come quickly.

Favorite Poetry: Litany for the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart (Part 1)

In honor of the month of the Sacred Heart, I thought I'd post a bit of this very special poem apparently composed for the feast, which, by the way, is this Friday.  It is very long, so I won't post all of it today - I know that you people grow faint of heart at the prospect of very long pieces of writing.  (And I'm not necessarily blaming you - I get the same way sometimes.)  So I shall post some of it now and then the rest on Friday.

As I was writing it out, I was reflecting that non-Catholics or weak Catholics might find it a bit bizarre or over-the-top.  Well --- all I have to say to that is: let no one say that Catholicism is cold, sterile, or repressive. You can't read this and tell me that the religion inspiring it is repressive.
I think it's one of those poems that have to be pondered - I know a priest who made it the subject of his daily meditations, a stanza every day.  That's my favorite kind of poetry.  And its imagery is just perfect.  Agh, just read it already.  More coming on Friday.

Litany for the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart

by Gertrud von Le Fort 

Now I will pray the ardour of the soul as a great litany is

prayed.  Now I will raise the song of praise that is not sung

but loved.  Blood-red secret of all that is:

Holy Heart, divine Heart, almighty Heart.

Be loved, Love, eternal Love, be thou eternally loved.

Hearth in the dark of the frozen world,

Be loved, Love!

Flame-shadow over all the false brightness of the world,

Be loved, Love!

Burning sign in all the false rest of the world;

Lonely Heart, flaming Heart, unquenchable Heart:

Be loved, everlasting Love.

Heart deep as the nights that have no face:

Be loved!

Heart strong as the waves that have no shores:

Be loved!

Heart tender as little children that have no bitterness:

Be everlastingly loved.

Rose from the flower-beds of the invisible,

Rose from the chalice of the humble maiden,

Blossoming rose-bush, in which heaven and earth are entwined,

Be loved, everlasting Love!

Royal Heart in the flowing mantle of Thy blood:

Be loved!

Brother-Heart in the wild mockery of the thorny crown:

Be loved!

Breaking Heart in the stark ornament of Thy death wounds:

Heart dethroned, Heart betrayed, Heart cruelly martyred:

Be loved, everlasting Love, be everlastingly loved.

Heart before whom the mighty find their knees,

We ask Thee for Thy love.

Heart before whom the careless find their tears:

We ask Thee for Thy love.

Herat in whom thieves and murderers yet find forgiveness,

Great Heart, Heart of mercy, Heart of glory, 

We ask Thee for Thy love!