Patience with Vocations

[Melchior_1]

As most here know, I’m supposed to begin formation with the Lay Dominicans soon. The primary problem is that the formation would be done through the local Priory, which runs a College. The president is a teacher himself, and is gone five or six days of the week to different places. He also teaches a course in France sometimes, which is is great for France but not great for me.

It’s a been a few months, and we simply haven’t been able to meet up. My wife and I were going to meet up with him, but he caught the flu so we had to cancel. Before that my wife took ill, so we had to cancel then too. It’s a bit disheartening, after so many years of searching and discerning for the right Secular Order that it’s taking this much of an effort to get the ball rolling. There’s also the small issue that without spellcheck or a computer handy, my spelling isn’t very good and penmanship atrocious. There’s a portion of me that thinks “what good is a Dominican who has issues spelling and no one can read their writing?”

On the flip side, perhaps God is teaching me patience. Waiting for the right timing. And regardless of spelling or being able to read my writing, I’m not bound by the conventions of several centuries ago. What could have held me back then may not hold me back now thanks to technology.

Anyway, prayers would be appreciated.

 

[TimothyH]

There’s also the small issue that without spellcheck or a computer handy, my spelling isn’t very good and penmanship atrocious. There’s a portion of me that thinks “what good is a Dominican who has issues spelling and no one can read their writing?”

What are you talking about? A Dominican with poor ennmanship and spelling?

St John Vianney couldn’t learn Latin. They told him that he was too dumb to become a priest, now look at him, the patron of every priest!

God is a specialist at using broken tools. A loudmouth fisherman named Simon comes to mind, as does a tax collector named Levi and a Pharisee with a bad temper named Saul.

What are you talking about!?

-Tim-

 

[sllhouette]

Hey Mel,
I will pray for you and your wife. I ask you to pray for me as well as I have lately begun to feel called to discern with the Dominicans.

I would say it is very good that God is giving you a chance to practice patience . Patience is a very important virtue in the Christian life, and especially in the married and fatherly life! I have had a reflection lately on patience in that the virtue is the fruit of Hope.

I should point out to you that most peoples spelling and penmanship is atrocious today. Its not some barrier to you doing God’s will, however your reluctance to practice might be such a barrier. My advice is, keep a Diary. Write in it every day about the events of the day and what you are going through in life. I personally also keep a journal where I write any thoughts I might have about my faith. Anyway, the only way your writing is going to get better is to write!

I would also suggest TONS of reading. I have started getting into tons of catholic books that I never knew existed. There is sooo much that we are simply not taught…

anyways, I hope that helps some and I wish you the best!

 

[Melchior_1]

What are you talking about? A Dominican with poor ennmanship and spelling?

St John Vianney couldn’t learn Latin. They told him that he was too dumb to become a priest, now look at him, the patron of every priest!

God is a specialist at using broken tools. A loudmouth fisherman named Simon comes to mind, as does a tax collector named Levi and a Pharisee with a bad temper named Saul.

What are you talking about!?

-Tim-

Message received, Tim. Was the typo in penmanship intentional?

 

[TimothyH]

Message received, Tim. Was the typo in penmanship intentional?

No.

BTW, my pennmanship stinks. I started re-teaching myself to write in cursive last year after having not used it for two decades or more. I got a letter from someone in Germany and the handwriting was so beatiful that it made me ashamed to write back.

A toolbox full of broken tools, that’s what we are.

-Tim-

 

[Melchior_1]

I can sign my name, and that’s about it when it comes to cursive. My son will have better writing than me by grade two.

It’s been that way since grade school. Speculation is that my ADHD causes my brain to think faster than my hands move, so I get words and whatnot jumbled up on the paper.

 

[sllhouette]

I have a much more likely speculation as to why you have difficultly writing cursive. It is likely the result of your education… Not some intrinsic inability of your own. I have been trying to improve my handwriting for the last two months and that is what I discovered about myself. My education on handwriting was worse than poor. In fact, when you look at the history of handwriting education over the last hundred years you see a marked decrease in good penmanship education over the last 50 years with almost nothing taught in the last 20 or so. Don’t assume that you are fundamentally incapable of doing anything! That is the very last conclusion you should make when approaching any skill.

Two things I have found that has improved my penmanship:
I have started writing with a fountain pen. This improves my handwriting in two ways. One: the pen doesn’t have to be PRESSED onto the page. This encourages much more flow when writing. Two: having a non-disposable pen has improved my respect for the act of writing.
I spent some times researching different techniques of writing. The one that I found most effective for me was (past tense… good penmanship has been almost totally forgotten) called the Palmer Method. Basically the idea is to write with the muscles in the upper arm rather than the muscles in the hand. With practice, this totally changed my handwriting!

 

[TrueLight]

There’s also the small issue that without spellcheck or a computer handy, my spelling isn’t very good and penmanship atrocious. There’s a portion of me that thinks “what good is a Dominican who has issues spelling and no one can read their writing?”

Does anyone write with pen and paper anymore?

Be patient, Melchior. I’ll keep you in prayer.

 

[Melchior_1]

Be patient, Melchior. I’ll keep you in prayer.

Thank you, very much.

I’ve picked up a couple of books Jason recommended, and I think I’m going to grab the Perfect Joy of St. Francis and read through it too in the meantime. Might as well make the wait useful.