withabandon &mdash; Deacon Patrick https://deaconpatrick.org/tag:withabandon Playing in the Most Holy Trinity's Tidal Pool of Infinity, whither intersects eternal and carnal. Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:35:01 +0000 Touring the Highland Cathedral's Flowers with the Little Flower of Lisieux https://deaconpatrick.org/touring-the-highland-cathedrals-flowers-with-the-little-flower-of-lisieux?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[ "If every flower wanted to be a rose, nature would lose her springtime beauty." Who better than Saint Therese the Little Flower of Lisieux and her "little way" from "The Story of a Soul" to accompany us through the meadows of the Highland Cathedral? !--more-- --- "The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother." --- "The splendour of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness." --- "If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient; but I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future." --- "In trial or difficulty I have recourse to Mother Mary, whose glance alone is enough to dissipate every fear" --- "For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy." --- "True charity consists in bearing all our neighbour’s defects – not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues." --- "At first sight, it appears easy to do good to souls, to make them love God more, and mould them according to one’s own ideas; but in practice one finds that one can no more do good to souls without God’s help than make the sun shine in the night." --- "The guest of our soul knows our misery; He comes to find an empty tent within us – that is all He asks." --- "Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love." --- "Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be and becoming that person." --- "I have often heard it said in retreats and elsewhere that an innocent soul never loves God as much as a repentant one, and how I long to prove that is not true." --- "A word or a smile is often enough to put fresh life in a despondent soul." --- "Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing." --- "Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with love." --- "True happiness on earth consists in being forgotten and in remaining completely ignorant of created things. I understood that all we accomplish, however brilliant, is worth nothing without love." --- "My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice; these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words." --- "I learned from experience that joy does not reside in the things about us, but in the very depths of the soul, that one can have it in the gloom of a dungeon as well as in the palace of a king." --- "For a long time now I have not belonged to myself; I have given myself entirely to Jesus. He is free to do with me whatever He likes." --- "I understood that all we accomplish, however brilliant, is worth nothing without love." --- "True love feeds on sacrifice and becomes more pure and strong the more our natural satisfaction is denied." --- "The world’s thy ship and not thy home." --- "I can nourish myself on nothing but truth." --- "Only God can see what is in the bottom of our hearts; we are half-blind." --- "When I die, I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens, I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth." --- "Holiness consists simply in doing God’s will, and being just what God wants us to be." --- --- "The good God does not need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul; one ray from His Heart can, in an instant, make His flower bloom for eternity." --- --- "It pleases Him to create great Saints, who may be compared with the lilies or the rose; but He has also created little ones, who must be content to be daisies or violets, nestling at His feet to delight His eyes when He should choose to look at them. The happier they are to be as He wills, the more perfect they are." --- "Our Lord poured in the light of truth, which shines far brighter than the shadowy light of earthly pleasures. I would not exchange the ten minutes spent upon my act of charity for a thousand years of such worldly delights." --- --- "Our Lord’s love shines out just as much through a little soul who yields completely to His Grace as it does through the greatest." --- --- "Jesus has chosen to show me the only way which leads to the Divine Furnace of love; it is the way of childlike self-surrender, the way of a child who sleeps, afraid of nothing, in its father’s arms." --- --- "Do you realise that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you – for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart… Don’t listen to the demon; laugh at him, and go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love." --- --- --- "I implore You, cast Your eyes upon a multitude of little souls; choose from this world, I beg of You, a legion of little victims worthy of Your love." --- "A soul in a state of grace has nothing to fear of demons who are cowards." --- WithAbandon --- This blog is spread primarily by word of mouth ... please forward with abandon! I'm an award winning author. Here are my books. Oh -- I'm not on social media so to "follow" me: Subscribe and receive new posts free in the mail! !--emailsub--]]>

“If every flower wanted to be a rose, nature would lose her springtime beauty.”

Who better than Saint Therese the Little Flower of Lisieux and her “little way” from “The Story of a Soul” to accompany us through the meadows of the Highland Cathedral?

“The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.”

“The splendour of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”

“If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient; but I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future.”

“In trial or difficulty I have recourse to Mother Mary, whose glance alone is enough to dissipate every fear”

“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”

“True charity consists in bearing all our neighbour’s defects – not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.”

“At first sight, it appears easy to do good to souls, to make them love God more, and mould them according to one’s own ideas; but in practice one finds that one can no more do good to souls without God’s help than make the sun shine in the night.”

“The guest of our soul knows our misery; He comes to find an empty tent within us – that is all He asks.”

“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”

“Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be and becoming that person.”

“I have often heard it said in retreats and elsewhere that an innocent soul never loves God as much as a repentant one, and how I long to prove that is not true.”

“A word or a smile is often enough to put fresh life in a despondent soul.”

“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”

“Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with love.”

“True happiness on earth consists in being forgotten and in remaining completely ignorant of created things. I understood that all we accomplish, however brilliant, is worth nothing without love.”

“My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice; these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words.”

“I learned from experience that joy does not reside in the things about us, but in the very depths of the soul, that one can have it in the gloom of a dungeon as well as in the palace of a king.”

“For a long time now I have not belonged to myself; I have given myself entirely to Jesus. He is free to do with me whatever He likes.”

“I understood that all we accomplish, however brilliant, is worth nothing without love.”

“True love feeds on sacrifice and becomes more pure and strong the more our natural satisfaction is denied.”

“The world’s thy ship and not thy home.”

“I can nourish myself on nothing but truth.”

“Only God can see what is in the bottom of our hearts; we are half-blind.”

“When I die, I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens, I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth.”

“Holiness consists simply in doing God’s will, and being just what God wants us to be.”

“The good God does not need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul; one ray from His Heart can, in an instant, make His flower bloom for eternity.”

“It pleases Him to create great Saints, who may be compared with the lilies or the rose; but He has also created little ones, who must be content to be daisies or violets, nestling at His feet to delight His eyes when He should choose to look at them. The happier they are to be as He wills, the more perfect they are.”

“Our Lord poured in the light of truth, which shines far brighter than the shadowy light of earthly pleasures. I would not exchange the ten minutes spent upon my act of charity for a thousand years of such worldly delights.”

“Our Lord’s love shines out just as much through a little soul who yields completely to His Grace as it does through the greatest.”

“Jesus has chosen to show me the only way which leads to the Divine Furnace of love; it is the way of childlike self-surrender, the way of a child who sleeps, afraid of nothing, in its father’s arms.”

“Do you realise that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you – for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart… Don’t listen to the demon; laugh at him, and go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love.”

“I implore You, cast Your eyes upon a multitude of little souls; choose from this world, I beg of You, a legion of little victims worthy of Your love.”

“A soul in a state of grace has nothing to fear of demons who are cowards.”

#WithAbandon

This blog is spread primarily by word of mouth ... please forward with abandon! I'm an award winning author. Here are my books. Oh — I'm not on social media so to “follow” me: Subscribe and receive new posts free in the mail!

]]> https://deaconpatrick.org/touring-the-highland-cathedrals-flowers-with-the-little-flower-of-lisieux Sun, 14 Jun 2020 23:52:47 +0000 New Colorado, Meet Old Colorado. https://deaconpatrick.org/new-colorado-meet-old-colorado?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[ Snowshoe LCG (lowest common gear) to get up to CR21 from Green Mountain Falls, the morning after the blizzard. What an amazing storm! It not only brought winds in the mountains of 60mph, temps in the teens, and twelve to fourteen inches of very wet snow, but it also was the collision between New Colorado and Old Colorado. !--more-- We’ve been in a drought for over a decade. The last biggish snow blizzard (winds, snow, whiteouts) was over a decade ago. New Colorado mentality is you go and do whatever and if you get in trouble someone is there to save you. It’s their job right? Old Colorado mentality is have good, solid equipment and, most importantly, the skill to know how to handle conditions you may encounter. If you don’t, stay home. It’s embarrassing to need help, and needing help should only be a last resort because something unexpected happened that couldn’t be planned for. New Colorado mentality ran into and killed a Colorado Trooper aiding a stranded motorist. That’s horrible. Let’s learn to be humble before the amazing power of mother nature. It saves lives. Fascinatingly, our town marshall reported that while over a thousand motorists/vehicles were stranded overnight in El Paso County (mostly on the front range), no motorists were stranded overnight that he was aware of up here. Mountains teach skills, including the skill of knowing what is beyond one’s capacity. That is a good skill to have! Yet New Colorado would have common sense and thoughtfulness end up as #vanishingcommonarts. New Colorado, meet the conditions that helped create Old Colorado. May this be a sign that our drought is ending. Grin. May God startle you with joy! WithAbandon --- This blog is spread primarily by word of mouth ... please forward with abandon! I'm an award winning author. Here are my books. Oh -- I'm not on social media so to "follow" me: Subscribe and receive new posts free in the mail! !--emailsub--]]> Snowshoe LCG (lowest common gear) to get up to CR21 from Green Mountain Falls, the morning after the blizzard.

What an amazing storm! It not only brought winds in the mountains of 60mph, temps in the teens, and twelve to fourteen inches of very wet snow, but it also was the collision between New Colorado and Old Colorado.

We’ve been in a drought for over a decade. The last biggish snow blizzard (winds, snow, whiteouts) was over a decade ago. New Colorado mentality is you go and do whatever and if you get in trouble someone is there to save you. It’s their job right? Old Colorado mentality is have good, solid equipment and, most importantly, the skill to know how to handle conditions you may encounter. If you don’t, stay home. It’s embarrassing to need help, and needing help should only be a last resort because something unexpected happened that couldn’t be planned for.

New Colorado mentality ran into and killed a Colorado Trooper aiding a stranded motorist. That’s horrible. Let’s learn to be humble before the amazing power of mother nature. It saves lives. Fascinatingly, our town marshall reported that while over a thousand motorists/vehicles were stranded overnight in El Paso County (mostly on the front range), no motorists were stranded overnight that he was aware of up here. Mountains teach skills, including the skill of knowing what is beyond one’s capacity. That is a good skill to have! Yet New Colorado would have common sense and thoughtfulness end up as #vanishingcommonarts.

New Colorado, meet the conditions that helped create Old Colorado. May this be a sign that our drought is ending. Grin. May God startle you with joy!

#WithAbandon

This blog is spread primarily by word of mouth ... please forward with abandon! I'm an award winning author. Here are my books. Oh — I'm not on social media so to “follow” me: Subscribe and receive new posts free in the mail!

]]> https://deaconpatrick.org/new-colorado-meet-old-colorado Thu, 14 Mar 2019 19:35:48 +0000 Riding the Four Inch Snow Rail https://deaconpatrick.org/riding-the-four-inch-snow-rail?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[ In which we explore the idiocy of riding a 2.1” fixed gear non-fat bike on snow. !--more-- I live on Pikes Peak. In Ute Pass, on the north slope of Pikes Peak, to be exact. This means more winter than the lowlands of the Front Range, but less deep winter than the deep mountains. Amazingly, 2.1” tires is very ridable most of the time, most of the places. I’ve gotten a number of questions about winter riding, so will lay out some of what I know from experience here. Tires Spikes? No. There is actually very little solid, smooth ice on the roads and trails I ride, and where it does occure I can easily see it and get around it, often on foot. Instead, I ride Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.1” x 29 LiteSkin knobbies. Soft, supple, grippy knobbies link onto even subtle texture in ice, and there nearly always is subtle texture due to the freeze thaw cycles we often get daily. Grips even better on snow and snowpack. Fixed Gear This has transformed my wet/frozen weather riding. Conditions that used to freeze up my derailure and my brakes are no longer a factor. I always have backbraking (and usually my cantilever brakes too, even if they freeze and slip initially), and my drivetrain works no matter how much mud, wet then freeze, slush, and snow gets on it. Chain Lube Chainsaw oil, applied judiciously one drop per pin, only when the chain “talks”. Fresh Champaign Powder This stuff is the delight of winter riding! Soft, light, lofty, fun. This falls below 20˚F. The colder it is the dryer it is. The natural silence of these rides is mind boggling. I can ride through a foot of champaign powder if I am the one breaking trail (not many people compete with me for the privledge. Grin.). Wetter Snow The stuff that falls at 20˚F and above. The warmer it is, the wetter it is. Dense. Easily feels like pedaling through concrete, hense the term snowcrete. Grin. Ridable up to 6”, but that is pushing it, and involves a lot of LCG (lowest common gear, aka pushing it). Some rides I work as hard going down hills as I do climbing up them with clear trail. Following in Other’s Footsteps This is less fun. No matter the snow, a single person’s tracks changes the snow density with every footfall. Instead of steadily plowing through even snow, it’s like plowing through mini-walls of snow, each of which wants to change your speed and direction. Oof. Snow is much less ridable when one to 25 people have walked it before me. Once more than 25 people (or so, I picked a somewhat random number) have walked the trail (including me), it becomes ridable again, but generally only on a 4” wide rail, with a 1” buffer on either side, before the snow plunges into the depths swallowing bike and rider into an abyss of nearly no escape. Or guffawing laughter and the delight of plunging into deep snow. Whichever you prefer. Grin. This is the trail in the photo above. Rideable, just. Snow Ages On any given day, depending on a given square foot’s history of snowfall, sun exposure, wind exposure, temperature shifts, and a slew of other factors, the layers of snow change, making every ride different and adventurious. In the shelter of the forest, powder lingers, but emerge to a sun-soaked slope and chunky ice and snowpack dominate. Crusty snow on top, collapsing into deep powder below. Bike Matters I can only speak for my Rivendell bikes, but having a bike that tracks true no matter the speed or incline and that puts weight so it is ballanced properly front to rear and that encourages adjustments to bars and saddle to fine tune these, makes a big difference. I often see mountain bikers on the same trails with twitchy handlebars, struggling to keep a straight line as they climb. That’s got to be hard. I recently shifted to the bullmoose handlebars in the photo, and they are brilliant for all riding. The wide hand position is fantastic for technical trails, giving me plenty of leverage to minimize terrain steer from all those footprints in the snow. Grin. May God startle you with joy! WithAbandon --- This blog is spread primarily by word of mouth ... please forward with abandon! I'm an award winning author. Here are my books. Oh -- I'm not on social media so to "follow" me: Subscribe and receive new posts free in the mail! !--emailsub--]]> In which we explore the idiocy of riding a 2.1” fixed gear non-fat bike on snow.

I live on Pikes Peak. In Ute Pass, on the north slope of Pikes Peak, to be exact. This means more winter than the lowlands of the Front Range, but less deep winter than the deep mountains.

Amazingly, 2.1” tires is very ridable most of the time, most of the places. I’ve gotten a number of questions about winter riding, so will lay out some of what I know from experience here.

Tires

Spikes? No. There is actually very little solid, smooth ice on the roads and trails I ride, and where it does occure I can easily see it and get around it, often on foot. Instead, I ride Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.1” x 29 LiteSkin knobbies. Soft, supple, grippy knobbies link onto even subtle texture in ice, and there nearly always is subtle texture due to the freeze thaw cycles we often get daily. Grips even better on snow and snowpack.

Fixed Gear

This has transformed my wet/frozen weather riding. Conditions that used to freeze up my derailure and my brakes are no longer a factor. I always have backbraking (and usually my cantilever brakes too, even if they freeze and slip initially), and my drivetrain works no matter how much mud, wet then freeze, slush, and snow gets on it.

Chain Lube

Chainsaw oil, applied judiciously one drop per pin, only when the chain “talks”.

Fresh Champaign Powder

This stuff is the delight of winter riding! Soft, light, lofty, fun. This falls below 20˚F. The colder it is the dryer it is. The natural silence of these rides is mind boggling. I can ride through a foot of champaign powder if I am the one breaking trail (not many people compete with me for the privledge. Grin.).

Wetter Snow

The stuff that falls at 20˚F and above. The warmer it is, the wetter it is. Dense. Easily feels like pedaling through concrete, hense the term snowcrete. Grin. Ridable up to 6”, but that is pushing it, and involves a lot of LCG (lowest common gear, aka pushing it). Some rides I work as hard going down hills as I do climbing up them with clear trail.

Following in Other’s Footsteps

This is less fun. No matter the snow, a single person’s tracks changes the snow density with every footfall. Instead of steadily plowing through even snow, it’s like plowing through mini-walls of snow, each of which wants to change your speed and direction. Oof. Snow is much less ridable when one to 25 people have walked it before me.

Once more than 25 people (or so, I picked a somewhat random number) have walked the trail (including me), it becomes ridable again, but generally only on a 4” wide rail, with a 1” buffer on either side, before the snow plunges into the depths swallowing bike and rider into an abyss of nearly no escape. Or guffawing laughter and the delight of plunging into deep snow. Whichever you prefer. Grin. This is the trail in the photo above. Rideable, just.

Snow Ages

On any given day, depending on a given square foot’s history of snowfall, sun exposure, wind exposure, temperature shifts, and a slew of other factors, the layers of snow change, making every ride different and adventurious. In the shelter of the forest, powder lingers, but emerge to a sun-soaked slope and chunky ice and snowpack dominate. Crusty snow on top, collapsing into deep powder below.

Bike Matters

I can only speak for my Rivendell bikes, but having a bike that tracks true no matter the speed or incline and that puts weight so it is ballanced properly front to rear and that encourages adjustments to bars and saddle to fine tune these, makes a big difference.

I often see mountain bikers on the same trails with twitchy handlebars, struggling to keep a straight line as they climb. That’s got to be hard.

I recently shifted to the bullmoose handlebars in the photo, and they are brilliant for all riding. The wide hand position is fantastic for technical trails, giving me plenty of leverage to minimize terrain steer from all those footprints in the snow. Grin.

May God startle you with joy!

#WithAbandon

This blog is spread primarily by word of mouth ... please forward with abandon! I'm an award winning author. Here are my books. Oh — I'm not on social media so to “follow” me: Subscribe and receive new posts free in the mail!

]]> https://deaconpatrick.org/riding-the-four-inch-snow-rail Tue, 26 Feb 2019 23:05:34 +0000 Gift of Days I Can’t Ride? Deeper Delight for Days I Can https://deaconpatrick.org/gift-of-days-i-cant-ride-deeper-delight-for-days-i-can?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Aspen’s wending way. See the Photo Reflection here. WithAbandon --- This blog is spread primarily by word of mouth ... please forward with abandon! I'm an award winning author. Here are my books. Oh -- I'm not on social media so to "follow" me: Subscribe and receive new posts free in the mail! !--emailsub--]]> Aspen’s wending way.

See the Photo Reflection here.

#WithAbandon

This blog is spread primarily by word of mouth ... please forward with abandon! I'm an award winning author. Here are my books. Oh — I'm not on social media so to “follow” me: Subscribe and receive new posts free in the mail!

]]> https://deaconpatrick.org/gift-of-days-i-cant-ride-deeper-delight-for-days-i-can Sat, 23 Feb 2019 23:43:47 +0000 Rivendell’s Bullmoose Bars Brilliant for AllWays Adventures https://deaconpatrick.org/rivendells-bullmoose-bars-brilliant-for-allways-adventures?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Descents were equally confident, with me feeling sure enough of riding the 5” rail that I went faster down in the snow than I ever have, and that’s just the first ride. See the photo essay and initial review. #Rivendell #FixedGear #WithAbandon --- This blog is spread primarily by word of mouth ... please forward with abandon! I'm an award winning author. Here are my books. Oh -- I'm not on social media so to "follow" me: Subscribe and receive new posts free in the mail! !--emailsub--]]> Descents were equally confident, with me feeling sure enough of riding the 5” rail that I went faster down in the snow than I ever have, and that’s just the first ride.

See the photo essay and initial review.

#Rivendell #FixedGear #WithAbandon

This blog is spread primarily by word of mouth ... please forward with abandon! I'm an award winning author. Here are my books. Oh — I'm not on social media so to “follow” me: Subscribe and receive new posts free in the mail!

]]> https://deaconpatrick.org/rivendells-bullmoose-bars-brilliant-for-allways-adventures Sat, 09 Feb 2019 20:15:37 +0000