November 2003 Archives

That has resulted from engagement with Jcecil3's ideas. See this wonderful discussion at Disputations. Much of what Mr. Jcecil has to say is profoundly interesting. I find myself in agreement on many issues, but largely in disagreement with some of the more "controversial issues." I also tend to take exception, as I always to with the blanket labelling of "conservatives." Not all who may have a conservative bent think the same things in the same way. A great many would disagree with much of what I say in the political realm here. The same is true for liberals. But I suppose it is not so much a failing of Mr. Jcecil3 as it is with the method of engagement in political speech. Far too often we find ourselves wrestling not with ideas but with the people holding those ideas. As I will continue to say, charity extends to people, not necessarily to ideas. People must be treated with care, courtesy, kindness, and respect. Ideas need not be accorded these attentions. Hence, I find the notion of applying a label repugnant--even to the extent of labelling and idea because the tendency becomes to apply the lable to a person before dismissing them either as ill-informed or of deliberately bad will. (Although I do have to say that I am not nearly so adamant about this policy when it comes to groups whose sole purpose is to promulgate hatred and antipathy.)

Among the many riches of Jcecil3's site is a sort of statement of faith designed to show that he is, indeed, a faithful Catholic despite disagreement with some key and controversial church teachings. There are probably a great many things to say with regard to this, but the first and most important is to point out that it is not up to us (meaning those looking in) to decide the nature or breadth of another's faith or in what manner that faith is being lived. It IS up to us to refute error and to correct misdeeds, and to his credit, Mr. Jcecil invites this. But there is a variety of categorization that would suggest that it is up to some of us to decide where Mr. Jcecil is with respect to God--that, of course, is presumption--no one knows.

However, I do find some of the positions delineated by Mr. Jcecil untenable, and I do think it is important to state why. Among these positions "That the ancient rite of adelphopoiesis could be restored as a union for homosexual Catholics." Now, this was counter to my understanding of what the rite was established for, and what it really meant in context. As a result I felt led to do a bit more research and happened upon a very fine paper from The Stephanos Project that addresses, and I believe, successfully refutes this misappropriation of this rite to the blessing of same-sex unions. This entire site has some very interesting work examining many questions from the Orthodox perspective and is recommended reading for those who may already have considered Mr. Jcecil's plea, or those who wish to know more about this largely misinterpreted rite.

There may be a hiatus of one or more days as we travel to Virginia. I've already written several people with whom I will try to be in contact over the next week or so--it should be exciting. Please pray for me and my family as we travel.

Later Initially, I misspelled hiatus here. I could have sworn that it was one of those words that I spelled phonetically, looked up and found wrong. But I guess I'm wrong again.

Here's another passage that needs very little in the way of explication. The vision of humanity is distinctly puritan and somewhat repugnant to Catholic sensibilities; however, if we transfer that description to the description of a soul in sin, we are not too far off the mark.

from "Christ Altogether Lovely:
Rev. John Flavel

Secondly, He is a lovely bridegroom to all that he betroths to himself. How does the church glory in him, in the words following my text; "this is my Beloved, and this is my Friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem!" Heaven and earth cannot show anyone like him, which needs no fuller proof than the following particulars:

1. That he betroths to himself, in mercy and in loving kindness, such deformed, defiled, and altogether unworthy souls as we are. We have no beauty, no goodness to make us desirable in his eyes; all the origins of his love to us are in his own breast, Deut. 7:7. He chooses us, not because we were, but in order that he might make us lovely Eph. 5:27. He came to us when we lay in our blood, and said unto us, "Live"; and that was the time of love, Ezek. 16:5.

2. He expects no restitution from us, and yet gives himself, and all that he has, to us. Our poverty cannot enrich him, but he made himself poor to enrich us, 2 Cor. 8:9. 1 Cor. 3:22.

3. No husband loves the wife of his bosom, as much as Christ loved his people, Eph. 5:25. He loved the church and gave him self for it.

4. No one bears with weaknesses and provocations as Christ does; the church is called "the Lamb's wife," Rev. 19:9.

5. No husband is so undying and everlasting a husband as Christ is; death separates all other relations, but the soul's union with Christ is not dissolved in the grave. Indeed, the day of a believer's death is his marriage day, the day of his fullest enjoyment of Christ. No husband can say to his wife, what Christ says to the believer, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you," Heb. 8:5.

6. No bridegroom enriches his bride with such honours by marriage, as Christ does; he makes them related to God as their father, and from that day the mighty and glorious angels think it no dishonour to be their servants, Heb. 1:14. The angels will admire the beauty and glory of the spouse of Christ, Rev. 21:9.

7. No marriage was ever consummated with such triumphal proceedings as the marriage of Christ and believers shall be in heaven, Psalm 14:14,15. "She shall be brought to the king in raiment of needle-work, the virgins, her companions that follow her, shall be brought unto thee; with gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought; they shall enter into the king's palace." Among the Jews, the marriage-house was called the house of praise; there was joy upon all hands, but nothing like the joy that will be in heaven when believers, the spouse of Christ, shall be brought there. God the Father will rejoice to behold the blessed accomplishment and confirmation of those glorious plans of his love. Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom will rejoice to see the travail of his soul, the blessed birth and product of all his bitter pains and agonies, Isa. 53:11. The Holy Spirit will rejoice to see the completion and perfection of that sanctifying design which was committed to his hand, 2 Cor. 5:5, to see those souls whom he once found as rough stones, now to shine as the bright, polished stones of the spiritual temple. Angels will rejoice: great was the joy when the foundation of this design was laid, in the incarnation of Christ, Luke 2:13. Great therefore must their joy be, when the top-stone is set up with shouting, crying, "Grace, grace." The saints themselves shall rejoice unspeakably, when they shall enter into the King's palace, and be forever with the Lord, 1 Thes. 4:17. Indeed there will be joy on all hands, except among the devils and damned, who shall gnash their teeth with envy at the everlasting advancement and glory of believers. Thus Christ is altogether lovely, in the relation of a Bridegroom.

Just as man and woman are made whole and one, in some sense, through the sacrament of marriage, the Marriage of the Soul to Christ is the sign of being made complete. Christ as bridegroom welcomes us to the completion of our days, and so this may be the loveliest of the image of Christ presented.

I have of recent date spent a bit of time elsewhere on the web reading the arguments of some well-intended, but grossly misled people. The following excerpt encapsulates my arguments with postmodern discussions of almost anything:

from Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There
Lewis Carroll

Chapter 6: Humpty Dumpty

`And only one for birthday presents, you know. There's glory for you!'

`I don't know what you mean by "glory,"' Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. `Of course you don't -- till I tell you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"'

`But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument,"' Alice objected.

`When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'

`The question is,' said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

`The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master - - that's all.'

And so it is among the postmodernists. Because it is important that everything return to the dynamic of power, whether it belongs there or not, a subtle warping of the language occurs. This is most particularly noted in the fact that "racism" has ceased to mean any program that posits the superiority or inferiority of a group of people based on race alone and has come to mean (paraphrasing Robert Hughes's colorful terminology), the mindset of "the pale penile hegemony." This is patent nonsense. It is possible for person other than white males to be both racist and sexist. It is not completely a societal power issue. It is or can be a personal power issue. When I was not hired for a position that I was extremely well-qualified because that position "required" a female--sexism was in force. When I make a judgment based solely on race, even if I have no power over the individual and cannot affect anything that happens, I am being racist.

So too with any person of any color who makes a predetermination based solely on race or sex. It is racist or sexist--even if they have no power to affect me directly.

I am disturbed by wishing to see the dynamic entirely in the marxist sense of class struggle. Decisions based on race alone are a sin against charity and an offense to God. To remand such decisions made against white persons to a different class of actions is both irresponsible and perhaps even sinful in itself, because it is a step toward justifying them.

The problem is that when the disagreement is this bone-deep, there is no point in discussing it, because you can't even agree on initial premises. A postmodern thinker would wander through and try to convince me that my definitions are wrong--but I could not accede. I would point out that Robert Mugabe's actions in Zimbabwe are racist, and they would respond that they are postcolonial restorative actions. When you are this far apart merely on definitions, what can you really discuss? You won't even be using the same language (which is another part of the post-modern doctrine.)

So I simply state my grievance here because I have spent many hours considering it and it is time to let it rest so that I might return to a more equilibrated state. Words do not mean what you want them to when you define them. Political reality is not the only reality in which to work--in fact, it isn't even reality--it is Orwellian distortion most of the time. And that, it seems, is one of the primary errors of postmodern vision. For those desiring a more intense, but very humorous look, see James Hynes's The Lecturer's Tale.

I chose this poem because it has been a theme much on my mind since diving into more of the materials on another site--as I hope to discuss in some detail later.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
Wallace Stevens

I
            Among twenty snowy mountains,
            The only moving thing
            Was the eye of the black bird.

II
            I was of three minds,
            Like a tree
            In which there are three blackbirds.

III
            The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
            It was a small part of the pantomime.

IV
            A man and a woman
            Are one.
            A man and a woman and a blackbird
            Are one.

V
            I do not know which to prefer,
            The beauty of inflections
            Or the beauty of innuendoes,
            The blackbird whistling
            Or just after.

VI
            Icicles filled the long window
            With barbaric glass.
            The shadow of the blackbird
            Crossed it, to and fro.
            The mood
            Traced in the shadow
            An indecipherable cause.

VII
            O thin men of Haddam,
            Why do you imagine golden birds?
            Do you not see how the blackbird
            Walks around the feet
            Of the women about you?

VIII
            I know noble accents
            And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
            But I know, too,
            That the blackbird is involved
            In what I know.

IX
            When the blackbird flew out of sight,
            It marked the edge
            Of one of many circles.

X
            At the sight of blackbirds
            Flying in a green light,
            Even the bawds of euphony
            Would cry out sharply.

XI
            He rode over Connecticut
            In a glass coach.
            Once, a fear pierced him,
            In that he mistook
            The shadow of his equipage
            For blackbirds.

XII
            The river is moving.
            The blackbird must be flying.

XIII
            It was evening all afternoon.
            It was snowing
            And it was going to snow.
            The blackbird sat
            In the cedar-limbs.

Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, one God in three Persons, I firmly believe that You are here present; I adore You with the most profound humility; I praise You and give You thanks with all my heart for the favors You have bestowed on me. Your Goodness has brought me safely to the beginning of this day. Behold, O Lord, I offer You my whole being and in particular all my thoughts, words and actions, together with such crosses and contradictions as I may meet with in the course of this day. Give them, O Lord, Your blessing; may Your divine Love animate them and may they tend to the greater honor and glory of Your Sovereign Majesty. Amen.

Please remember:

--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--My good friend Jane in a serious personal struggle and facing some unpleasant medical tests
--For Eric Walker single father of six children, seriously hurt in a propane explosion that demolished his house
--For Smockmomma's seriously ill Grandmother

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Hailey, may God grant them rest and repose in Him
--For the repose of the sould of David Silveti
--For all those living without love that we who may love will touch their lives
--For my [T.S. O'Rama] brother-in-law, who recently told his wife that he has difficulty believing in Jesus
--For an ODCS group that has recently undergone a traumatic change

--Members of St. Blogs and visitors who are pregnant or who desire to become so
--For all of those who have suffered the pain of miscarriage that they may receive the support and love of those around them and the healing blessing of God. Most particularly for Mr. Bettinellis's sister, Evelyn.
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Praise and thanksgiving
--for His glorious beauty and His close embrace
--for His mercy which endures forever

Please let the parishioners of St. Blogs have an opportunity to serve in love; post your own requests in the comments box.

I continue to be annoyed that there is more legislation from the bench than from the legislature. And yet, if the legislature acts to overturn this judicial fiat (as in Terri Schiavo's case) we are somehow tampering with the (almost entirely imaginary*) balance of powers. What "balance" is there to unrestrained judicial fiat? Or, in other words, when do we get our democracy back.

(By the way, I don't know where I stand with respect to the issue at hand in a civil context. I think it's bad law to declare what is morally wrong to be legally right. On the other hand, I don't get as het up about this issue as some.)

*For those unaware--John Marshall invented the "right" of judicial review almost out of whole cloth in the famous Marbury v. Madison case. He decided single-handedly to change what the framers of the Contstitution had set in place (with woeful results down to the present day) and made possible the judicial usurpation of both legislative and executive branches.

We approach the end of the sermon. We will discuss His loveliness in His relations in four parts, and then we will arrive at application. And this is what I love about this kind of sermon--it is rounded out with "So how do I make that useful in my life?" Often the sermons we here, the homilies propounded give a nice glimpse into the world of the Bible, but too often one leaves with no real expectation of acting on what was said because little was provided in the way of guidance. The Puritan sermonizers left little to the imagination when it came to this aspect of preaching. Preaching was to be a practical application of God's prinicples to human life.

from "Christ Altogether Lovely"
Rev. John Flavel

He is Lovely in His Relations.

First, He is a lovely Redeemer, Isa. 61:1. He came to open the prison-doors to them that are bound. Needs must this Redeemer be a lovely one, if we consider the depth of misery from which he redeemed us, even "from the wrath to come," 1 Thess. 1:10. Consider the numbers redeemed, and the means of their redemption. Rev. 5:9, "And they sang a new song, saying, 'You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and people and nation.'" He redeemed us not with silver and gold, but with his own precious blood, by way of price, 1 Pet. 1:18,19. with his out-stretched and glorious arm, by way of power, Col. 1:13. he redeemed us freely, Eph. 1:7, fully Rom. 8:1, at the right time, Gal. 4:4, and out of special and particular love, John 17:9. In a word, he has redeemed us for ever, never more to come into bondage, 1 Pet. 1:5. John 10:28. O how lovely is Jesus Christ in the relation of a Redeemer to God's elect!

He opens the doors of the prison. Where there was darkness, He shines light. Where one could not see, now all is clear. Is there anything more lovely than the smell of fresh air when one has been confined for hours in a stuffy room? How much more so then, when one has been wallowing in the enclosed chamber of one's own sinfulness for a lifetime--what must the breeze of the spirit smell like then. Altogether lovely.

And consider this--He is altogether lovely in that the redemption He offers is for all people for all time. He leaves the ninety-nine and searches out the one lost. He harrowed hell to take back His own, and He constantly works wonders to redeem souls thought lost--consider Matt Talbot, Dorothy Day, (St.?) Charles de Foucauld, St. Augustine, and others who initially lived less than exemplary lives. See how their lives were transformed in His own. Altogether lovely.

See how the action of redemption works in your own life when you let it. See how it can free you from present misery and render you capable of service to the Kingdom of God. Through you, God may speak and redeem a great many others. Altogether lovely.

And the redemption was in His blood and His suffering. He didn't wave a magic wand and cause all human suffering to pass away. He suffered, toiled, died, was laid in the tomb, and rose again in glorious splendor. He ascended into heaven in a sign of our own destined ascension. Altogether lovely.

He is indeed altogether lovely in His relations. He has paid the price for us, and we are unfit to wash His feet, and yet He raises us to the dignity of sons and daughters. Altogether lovely.

Flavel's sermon makes me want to sing His praises all day and all my life--and that is truly the Spirit of God speaking through a man of God. Praise God for His goodness and mercy, the redemption He won for us. Praise Him, the One, Altogether Lovely.

In honor of my trip to Virginia coming up shortly:

Ode to the Virginian Voyage
Michael Drayton

            You brave heroic minds,
            Worthy your country's name,
            That honour still pursue,
            Go and subdue!
           Whilst loit'ring hinds
            Lurk here at home with shame.

            Britons, you stay too long;
            Quickly aboard bestow you,
            And with a merry gale
            Swell your stretch'd sail,
            With vows as strong
            As the winds that blow you!

            Your course securely steer,
            West and by south forth keep;
            Rocks, lee-shores, nor shoals,
            When Æolus scowls,
            You need not fear,
            So absolute the deep.

            And cheerfully at sea
            Success you still entice
            To get the pearl and gold,
            And ours to hold
            Virginia,
            Earth's only paradise!

            Where nature hath in store
            Fowl, venison, and fish,
            And the fruitful'st soil,
            Without your toil,
            Three harvests more,
            All greater than your wish.

            And the ambitious vine
            Crowns with his purple mass,
            The cedar reaching high
            To kiss the sky,
            The cypress, pine,
            And useful sassafras;

            To whose the golden age
            Still nature's laws doth give;
            No other cares that tend
            But them to defend
            From winter's age,
            That long there doth not live.

            When as the luscious smell
            Of that delicious land,
            Above the seas that flows,
            The clear wind throws,
            Your hearts to swell
            Approaching the dear strand.

            In kenning of the shore,
            Thanks to God first given,
            O you, the happiest men,
            Be frolic then!
            Let cannons roar
            Frighting the wide heaven.

            And in regions far
            Such heroes bring ye forth,
            As those from whom we came;
            And plant our name
            Under that star
            Not known unto our north.

            And, as there plenty grows
            Of laurel everywhere,
            Apollo's sacred tree,
            You may it see
            A poet's brows
            To crown, that may sing there.

            Thy voyages attend,
            Industrious Hakluyt,
            Whose reading shall enflame
            Men to seek fame,
            And much commend
            To after-times thy wit.

Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, one God in three Persons, I firmly believe that You are here present; I adore You with the most profound humility; I praise You and give You thanks with all my heart for the favors You have bestowed on me. Your Goodness has brought me safely to the beginning of this day. Behold, O Lord, I offer You my whole being and in particular all my thoughts, words and actions, together with such crosses and contradictions as I may meet with in the course of this day. Give them, O Lord, Your blessing; may Your divine Love animate them and may they tend to the greater honor and glory of Your Sovereign Majesty. Amen.

Please remember:

--My good friend Jane in a serious personal struggle and facing some unpleasant medical tests
--For Eric Walker single father of six children, seriously hurt in a propane explosion that demolished his house
--For Smockmomma's seriously ill Grandmother

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Hailey, may God grant them rest and repose in Him
--For the repose of the sould of David Silveti
--For all those living without love that we who may love will touch their lives
--For my [T.S. O'Rama] brother-in-law, who recently told his wife that he has difficulty believing in Jesus
--For an ODCS group that has recently undergone a traumatic change

--Members of St. Blogs and visitors who are pregnant or who desire to become so
--For all of those who have suffered the pain of miscarriage that they may receive the support and love of those around them and the healing blessing of God. Most particularly for Mr. Bettinellis's sister, Evelyn
--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Praise and thanksgiving
--for His glorious beauty and His close embrace
--for His mercy which endures forever

Please let the parishioners of St. Blogs have an opportunity to serve in love; post your own requests in the comments box.

But thank goodness

this

and

this

are coming to more prominent public attention.

I was feeling bad the other day for buying a toy rack that was made in Thailand because there is no question but that terrible exploitation of children and women take place in the country. And then I thought, at least if the children are working here they are not in a worse place. (Yes, I know JB, hardly a salve to conscience--it's becoming impossible to buy ANYTHING any more. But I don't have the skills to make it all for myself.)

Jcecil posts an interesting article of "conservative's use of language," by which he seems to aim largely at the very intemperate language Mr. Shea tends to use at his blogspot. (Direct linking not available, look for the article, "The Misuse of Language by Conservatives." The very title begs the question--then language is not misused and manipulated by "liberals"?)

I have a number of problems with the reasoning of some of the portions of these posts, as it seems that the source of the information on Africa is largely the Portland Baseline Essays on Multiculturism with their emphasis on warm "Mama Africa" and icy cold "Eurotrash." Much of what is said is simply not substantiated, nor, is it likely substantiatable. (One could point out innumerable examples of cultures in Africa, such as the Ik where what is said is patently untrue). But let me reserve those comments for another time. Something I did want to bring to notice is this:

from Jcecil3's Progressive Catholic Reflections

Look throughout Catholic blogdom and we see "heretics", "dissidents", "feminazis", "bleeding hearts", "lefties", "commies", "racist", "nazis", "bullies", "fascists", "brownshirts", "fuzzy wuzzies", "cafeteria catholics", etc...etc...all thrown about rather loosely, with little discussion of facts and little in the way of a coherent and logical argument.

I am not denouncing the use of labels in general, such as "liberal" or "conservative". This is not name calling so much as trying to locate an opinion on a spectrum. Nor do I mind an occassional playful verbal jab done in humor (I post many of the Curt Jester's playful spoofs on liberals in my humor section).

I agree wholeheartedly with the first paragraph, and have substantial disagreement with the second. I do not think labels "locate" something on a spectrum because the labels themselves are largely meaningless out of context. For example, Mr. Jcecil3 himself labels me as "conservative," but nearly everyone else I know thinks that I have rather liberal attitudes on most things. What Mr. Jcecil3 may mean by this is that among adherents to the true teaching of the church, I tend to be on the conservative side of Catholic Issues. As Catholic Teaching at root tends to be on the "liberal" side of politics (a preferential option for the poor, restricted or eliminated Death Penalty, etc.), the labels become hieroglyphics, interpretable in any number of ways. They more often than not serve as a shortcut for dismissing an opinion. Many of my friends label anything they don't care for "fundamentalist." Now that it is well and properly labelled, it can be shoved on the far side of the table and ignored.

So, I suppose I simply nuance Mr. Jcecil's noble sentiment (and I do not mean that sarcastically or sardonically). It is better to eschew a label that has no real content. In fact, it is better to simply deal with the idea at hand and not use a label that contextually may be perjorative of its very nature. Just as Mr. Shea would do better to exercise some restraint in speaking of people whose views differ from his own, we might all do well to consider that we should deal compassionately with a person and ruthlessly with an idea, without labeling the person for holding the idea.

There seems to be an opinion in some circles that an ex cathedra pronouncement of dogma is essentially an innovation in thought, sprung new-formed from the head of whatever Pope happens to make the pronouncement. I look particularly at the oddities that surround both the Assumption of Mary and the Immaculate Conception. Both of these dogmatic pronouncements had extremely long histories of belief before they were articulated in priniciple by their respective posts.

I am reminded of this because of one of the pictures I saw either at the El Greco exhibit or in an adjacent gallery. The painting was of sixteenth century Spanish vintage and it was titled, "Mary {or perhaps "The Mother of God") of the Immaculate Conception." This was centuries before the pronouncement in 1854(?)

Why then the feeling that something new came to light with this dogmatic definition?

(1) It's a convenient club to further drub the Catholic Church about the head and shoulders.

(2) Protestants do not of their nature care for "tradition." They do not distinguish between "Tradition" and "tradition." Note that the enormously popular book by Rick Warren articulates this once again. A recent article by Christopher Hall in Christianity Today states why Evangelicals can honor the Church Fathers, but pretty much ignore the rest of Catholic Tradition (although his reasoning is somewhat better than Warren's).

So, to those who think that we invent new things to add on to what scripture reveals willy-nilly; please be aware that even very serious dogmatic pronouncements are not innovation, they are articulation--precise definition of what what has long been believed anyhow.

Someone hacked my blogroll and replaced every link with the same link--so I'm abandoning blogroller and shall reestablish a hardcoded link for each blog I visit. However, it will take some considerable time. Please pardon the mess.

I continue now the discussion of "Christ Altogether Lovely." While the doctrine is not thoroughly Catholic, the expression of love for Jesus is profoundly stirring and Flavel points up some things that we too often miss. Find the complete sermon here.

from "Christ Altogether Lovely"
Rev. John Flavel

He is Lovely in His Offices

Secondly, He is altogether lovely in his offices: let us consider for a moment the suitability, fullness, and comforting nature of them.

First, The suitability of the offices of Christ to the miseries of men. We cannot but adore the infinite wisdom of his receiving them. We are, by nature, blind and ignorant, at best but groping in the dim light of nature after God, Acts 17:27. Jesus Christ is a light to lighten the Gentiles, Isa. 49:6. When this great prophet came into the world, then did the day-spring from on high visit us, Luke 1:78. By nature we are alienated from, and at enmity against God; Christ comes into the world to be an atoning sacrifice, making peace by the blood of his cross, Col. 1:20. All the world, by nature, is in bondage and captivity to Satan, a miserable slavery. Christ comes with kingly power, to rescue sinners, as a prey from the mouth of the terrible one.

Secondly, Let the fullness of his offices be also considered, which make him able "to save to the uttermost, all that come to God by him," Heb. 7:25. The three offices, comprising in them all that our souls do need, become an universal relief to all our distresses; and therefore,

Thirdly, Unspeakably comforting must the offices of Christ be to the souls of sinners. If light be pleasant to our eyes, how pleasant is that light of life springing from the Sun of righteousness! Mal. 4:2. If a pardon be sweet to a condemned criminal, how sweet must the sprinkling the blood of Jesus be to the trembling conscience of a law-condemned sinner? If a rescue from a cruel tyrant is sweet to a poor captive, how sweet must it be to the ears of enslaved sinners, to hear the voice of liberty and deliverance proclaimed by Jesus Christ? Out of the several offices of Christ, as out of so many fountains, all the promises of the new covenant flow, as so many soul-refreshing streams of peace and joy. All the promises of illumination, counsel and direction flow out of Christ's prophetic office. All the promises of reconciliation, peace, pardon, and acceptation flow out of his priestly office, with the sweet streams of joy and spiritual comforts which accompany it. All the promises of converting, increasing, defending, directing, and supplying grace, flow out of the kingly office of Christ; indeed, all promises may be reduced to these three offices, so that Jesus Christ must be altogether lovely in his offices.

In all that He was appointed to do for us, there is perfection that transcends the human ability to express. He has perfectly served God's purposes in the redemption He won for us and more perfectly yet served each one of us. I am amazed most particularly by the last paragraph here. Is there a sound sweeter to those burdened than the music that means rest and quiet? Is there a gift greater to those who are in captivity than freedom, and not only freedom, but freedom with dignity and with possibility? We are not set free to struggle yet further for ourselves, as often happens with human captives. Rather we are set free to continue in the perfect freedom of Jesus Christ.

Indeed Christ is altogether lovely in all that He has done for us. In all that He is appointed to do He answers the office to perfection. Another cause for deep praise and tremendous devotion.

George Herbert is one of the greatest poets with explicitly Christian themes. His works are still vibrant and meaningful today, and nearly everyone has already encountered him either in "The Temple" or in "Easter Wings," two of the most widely anothologized poems in the English language.

Note: the word "sithe" below is not the usual "sith" or "since" as context conveys, but an archaic spelling of scythe.

Time
George Herbert

Meeting with Time, slack thing, said I,
Thy sithe is dull; whet it for shame.
No marvell Sir, he did replie,
If it at length deserve some blame:
But where one man would have me grinde it,
Twentie for one too sharp do finde it.

Perhaps some such of old did passe,
Who above all things lov’d this life:
To whom thy sithe a hatchet was,
Which now is but a pruning knife.
Christs coming hath made man thy debter,
Since by thy cutting he grows better.

And in his blessing thou art blest:
For where thou onely wert before
An executioner at best;
Thou art a gard’ner now, and more,
An usher to convey our souls
Beyond the utmost starres and poles.

And this is that makes life so long,
While it detains us from our God.
Ev’n pleasures here increase the wrong,
And length of dayes lengthen the rod.
Who wants the place, where God doth dwell,
Partakes already half of hell.

Of what strange length must that needs be,
Which ev’n eternitie excludes!
Thus farre Time heard me patiently:
Then chafing said, This man deludes:
What do I here before his doore?
He doth not crave lesse time, but more.

Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, one God in three Persons, I firmly believe that You are here present; I adore You with the most profound humility; I praise You and give You thanks with all my heart for the favors You have bestowed on me. Your Goodness has brought me safely to the beginning of this day. Behold, O Lord, I offer You my whole being and in particular all my thoughts, words and actions, together with such crosses and contradictions as I may meet with in the course of this day. Give them, O Lord, Your blessing; may Your divine Love animate them and may they tend to the greater honor and glory of Your Sovereign Majesty. Amen.

Please remember:

--For Eric Walker single father of six children, seriously hurt in a propane explosion that demolished his house
--For Smockmomma's seriously ill Grandmother

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Hailey, may God grant them rest and repose in Him
--For the repose of the sould of David Silveti
--For all those living without love that we who may love will touch their lives
--For my [T.S. O'Rama] brother-in-law, who recently told his wife that he has difficulty believing in Jesus
--For an ODCS group that has recently undergone a traumatic change

--Members of St. Blogs and visitors who are pregnant or who desire to become so
--For all of those who have suffered the pain of miscarriage that they may receive the support and love of those around them and the healing blessing of God.
--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Praise and thanksgiving
--for His glorious beauty and His close embrace
--for His mercy which endures forever

Please let the parishioners of St. Blogs have an opportunity to serve in love; post your own requests in the comments box and I will add them to subsequent lists. It's far easier than trying to find all the individual needs out there and posting them myself, and I'll miss far fewer. Thanks.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm not in any real hurry to get through the Gospel of Mark. The pace is uncannily slow, and yet, every time I open up the Gospel this first chapter screams at me to spend more time and to truly understand the message intended for me. I offer the following not as exegesis or a pretence of some profound explication of the realities of scripture, but as a model of what one can do in the course of lectio and to encourage all to give it a try--daily if possible. Always check your conclusions and "revelations" against the truth revealed in the treasury of the Magisterium, but listen to the Spirit of God breathed out through the words of Scripture as well. The two cannot conflict, and so, if you come to some conclusion counter to that of the Church, discard it as a fancy, a momentary aberration of thought in the course of deep meditation. And always pray and ask God how you might apply what you have gained in the course of your meditation and prayer to the betterment of your life in God. He reveals what He reveals for a reason.

You'll note in the excerpt below, three different movements from three different times of prayer over this scripture. I excerpt to remove much of what is entirely personal and only share the things that may have broader implications and utility.

A Sharing from Lection on the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 1

Mark 1: 7-8 The Preaching of John the Baptist

7 And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Now we know that these are not the only words the Baptist preached. One wonders what else he was saying at the time. Whatever it was, it compelled a great many people to make a long and hazardous trip into the desert to hear him. He had a powerful and persuasive voice and a way of conveying the urgency of the coming kingdom.

The vast sands of the parched wilderness stretch out to touch the deep blue sky. The river itself is a silver gash, alive with ripples. Where are these people in their masses and hordes coming from? What truth do they see in this strange man? And how do I learn to see the same thing? How can I look past the merely unpleasing and see what God is doing? How do I learn not to seek the favor of others by agreeing where agreement is not required? We all must, to some degree begin or become prophetic and our setvice is to all the world, but most particularly we are called to witness to the efficacy of repentence--we best proclaim the Father's love for us as repentant sinners. Our joy is in the Lord who was at this moment in the narrative still unknown.

[2]So here is the problem for each of us--we need to find the desert in which we must dwell to better hear the sweet name of the Lord who redeems us. He speaks to us continually, and we don't hear it--we long to hear his voice and yet we stop our ears against the sound of it. I fear failure so much that often I do not even try--the cost seems too high. The cost is nothing less than all that I am and all that I have.

[3]Repentance and forgiveness go hand-in-hand

From Barclay's Commetary on the Gospel of Mark

A man must make confession to God. The end of pride is the beginning of forgiveness. It is when a man says, "I have sinned," that God gets the chance to say, "I forgive." It is not the man who desires to meet God on equal terms who will discover forgiveness, but the man who kneels in humble contrition and whispers through his shame, "God be merciful to me a sinner."

Saw the interminably titled Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World yesterday. Despite the critics’ raves, I found it a rather poorly narrated, strung together mish-mash of events. The characters, while finally nicely drawn are not well differentiated, the focus being merely on two. Not being familiar with the books, I found the film a dark, vertiginous swirl of events and utterly unexplicated stuff, that I suppose I was to "get" by my acquaintance with the books. This presents another problem--while I find the books nicely written I haven't been able to penetrate more than two chapters into any of them, finding the characters and the nature of events quite thoroughly unlikable.

So, why then take a turn at the movie? Husbandly duty. My wife loves the books and adores Russell Crowe. (This created a second problem. Mr. Crowe had so many extreme close-ups in the film that I found myself utterly transfixed by a small bump in his brow just over his nose. When his brow was furrowed I found myself seeking it frantically, as though looking for a landmark.)

Well, just consider this the counterweight to all the acclaim you're likely to read in St. Blog's. My wife said she'll go and see it again. I'll stay at home and watch the A&E Hornblower Series.

Coda: In case it wasn't already clear, my wife advises that those who are fans of the books will really love and enjoy the movie. I wish all those fans the most pleasant of experiences. It is very prettily photographed and directed by one of my very favorite directors Peter (Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Last Wave) Weir.

Nearly immediately upon return, I'll be visiting Tampa, Palm Beach, and Cleveland. (Business all)

I'm hoping to scrape together the money to go to the OCDS convention in Tampa in January. The roster of speakers will include Fr. Stephen Payne (who is presently editor-in-chief at ICS) and Kiernan Kavanaugh--half of the team responsible for one of the most lucid translations of the Spanish Mystical Doctors. Please pray that I can somehow find the funds (and perhaps more critically the time) to do this.

Where I will return at the end of this week. I'll spend the weekend, and probably a number of weekdays, at Father Jim's parish (Our Lady of the Angels in Woodbridge), though more than likely, not at his Masses--depends, I suppose on the rotation. Most days I will visit Mount Vernon, Gunston Hall, and other such stops, with at least one or two days slotted for trips downtown to keep Samuel up on the dinosaurs etc.

I'd relish the opportunity to meet any bloggers in the D.C. area, but also recognize the limitations incumbent upon it being Thanksgiving week.

Returned from New York where all seemed to go very well. The last time I was there was some thirty years ago when my entire family left for Washington. I remember New York as a dirty, dingy, dark, and dangerous city. The people were cold and distant when they weren't downright rude. This may still be true in part, but it wasn't my experience. Our host very kindly treated us to an evening of theatre (I know you're dying of curiosity--The Producers. Our first choice was Wicked, but the seats were all poor. For the show we saw right front Orchestra aisle, two rows back--spectacular.) After the show we walked back to our hotel--thirteen short blocks away, one of them through Times Square, and I never felt so much as mildly menaced--not true for the time I left--for documentation see Midnight Cowboy. I'm sure there are parts of the city for which this would not hold true, again, not my experience.

Everyone I encountered in my trip was at least pleasant and polite, most were openly friendly and helpful. I can't even begin to say how far this has gone to remove some pernicious misconceptions.

While there, I wad able to take in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and AMNH--as it is known among professionals in the field. I saw two fantastic Vermeers, one of which--"The Allegory of Faith" I spent some time with. There was a nice, if somewhat high-strung and overwrought El Greco exhibit. But the highlight for me was room after room after room of Egyptian antiquities, including, of course, an entire ancient Egyptian Temple. I could probably live in this wing of the museum.

All in all, a very exhausting, exciting, and rewarding trip.

I delight in these finely etched translations of Mary Sidney Herbert. There is something magnificent in the way they capture the essence of the psalm in tightly metrical verse. These could truly be put to music and sound most wonderful.

Psalm 52
Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, 1599

TYRANT, why swell'st thou thus,
Of mischief vaunting?
Since help from God to us
Is never wanting.

Lewd lies thy tongue contrives,
Loud lies it soundeth;
Sharper than sharpest knives
With lies it woundeth.

Falsehood thy wit approves,
All truth rejected:
Thy will all vices loves,
Virtue neglected.

Not words from cursed thee,
But gulfs are poured;
Gulfs wherein daily be
Good men devoured.

Think'st thou to bear it so?
God shall displace thee;
God shall thee overthrow,
Crush thee, deface thee.

The just shall fearing see
These fearful chances,
And laughing shoot at thee
With scornful glances.

Lo, lo, the wretched wight,
Who God disdaining,
His mischief made his might,
His guard his gaining.

I as an olive tree
Still green shall flourish:
God's house the soil shall be
My roots to nourish.

My trust in his true love
Truly attending,
Shall never thence remove,
Never see ending.

Thee will I honour still,
Lord, for this justice;
There fix my hopes I will
Where thy saints' trust is.

Thy saints trust in thy name,
Therein they joy them:
Protected by the same,
Naught can annoy them.

Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, one God in three Persons, I firmly believe that You are here present; I adore You with the most profound humility; I praise You and give You thanks with all my heart for the favors You have bestowed on me. Your Goodness has brought me safely to the beginning of this day. Behold, O Lord, I offer You my whole being and in particular all my thoughts, words and actions, together with such crosses and contradictions as I may meet with in the course of this day. Give them, O Lord, Your blessing; may Your divine Love animate them and may they tend to the greater honor and glory of Your Sovereign Majesty. Amen.

Please remember:

--Special birthday prayers and blessings for my brother Scott on this, his birthday
--For Eric Walker single father of six children, seriously hurt in a propane explosion that demolished his house
--For Smockmomma's seriously ill Grandmother

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Hailey, may God grant them rest and repose in Him
--For the repose of the sould of David Silveti
--For all those living without love that we who may love will touch their lives
--For my [T.S. O'Rama] brother-in-law, who recently told his wife that he has difficulty believing in Jesus
--For an ODCS group that has recently undergone a traumatic change

--Members of St. Blogs and visitors who are pregnant or who desire to become so
--For all of those who have suffered the pain of miscarriage that they may receive the support and love of those around them and the healing blessing of God.
--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Praise and thanksgiving
--For the success of my New York trip
--for His glorious beauty and His close embrace

"Prayer should be accomplished by grace and not by artifice. "
--St.Jane Frances de Chantal

In his article "Meditating Day and Night: Keeping Vigil in Prayer," Fr. Carlos Mesters offers five different sorts of helps to those who would like to pray using the Bible. An excerpt of this excellent succinct guide follows:

from "Meditating Day and Night: Keeping Vigil in Prayer"
Fr. Carlos Mesters, O. Carm

When you begin a lectio divina of the Bible, you are not concerned with study. You are not going to read the Bible in order either to increase your knowledge or to prepare for some apostolate. Neither are you reading the Bible in order to have some extraordinary experience. You are going to read the Word of God in order to listen to what God has to say to you, to know his will and thus to live more deeply in allegiance to Jesus Christ (Prologue). There must be poverty in you; you must also have the disposition which the old man Eli recommended to Samuel: Speak, Lord, your servant is listening (1 Sam 3:10).

2 Listening to God does not depend on you or on the effort you make. It depends entirely on God, on his freely made decision to come into dialogue with you and to allow you to listen to his voice. Thus you need to prepare yourself by asking God to send his Spirit, since without the Spirit of God, it is impossible to discover the meaning of the Word which God had prepared for us today (cf. Jn 14:26;16:13; Lk 11:13).

3 It is important to create the right surroundings, which will facilitate recollection and an attentive listening to the Word of God. For this, you must build your cell within and around you, and you must stay in it (VII) all the time of your lectio divina. Putting one's body in the right position helps recollection in the mind.

4 When you open the Bible, you have to be conscious that you are opening a book which is not yours. It belongs to the community. In your lectio divina you are setting foot in the great tradition of the Church, which has come down through the centuries. Your prayerful reading is like the ship which carries down the winding river to the sea. The light shining from the sea has already enlightened the dark night of many generations. In having your own experience of lectio divina you are not alone. You are united to brothers and sisters who, before you, succeeded in meditating day and night upon the Law of the Lord and in keeping vigil in prayer (VII).

An armor-plated snail.

I think the webowner of Ever New made both of these quizzes, though I can't honestly say that is the case.

Saint Bonaventure is praying for you! To learn more
about this eloquent saint go

Which Saint Would You Be?
brought to you by Quizilla

Another quiz, from the wonderful Ever New blog.

Virtuous:Your answers show that you have the
virtue of being meek and humble of heart.
Humility is defined as: A quality by which a person
considering his own defects has a lowly opinion
of himself and willingly submits himself to God
and to others for God's sake. St. Bernard says:
A virtue by which a man knowing himself as he
truly is, abases himself. Many saints attest to
the fact that humility is the primary virtue in
obtaining holiness.


Virtuous or Vicious?
brought to you by Quizilla

I guess the quizmaster was at a loss for a definition of the virtue of humility. Fill in-the-blank responses welcome in the comment box.

Later: Revisions have been made!

For the next couple of days I'll be on a business trip to New York City. Please pray for the safety of the flight and the success of the trip.

As a result, I may not have access to a machine for blogging for a couple of days (although I may, it's very difficult to tell). Expect that there will be little here for a few days.

from "Christ Altogether Lovely" Rev. John Flavel

How Christ is "Altogether Lovely"

Secondly, Next I promised to show you in what respects Jesus Christ is altogether lovely:

He is Lovely in His Person

First, He is altogether lovely in his person: he is Deity dwelling in flesh, John 1:14. The wonderful, perfect union of the divine and human nature in Christ renders him an object of admiration and adoration to both angels and men, 1 Tim. 3:16. God never presented to the world such a vision of glory before. Consider how the human nature of our Lord Jesus Christ is overflowing with all the graces of the Spirit, in such a way as never any of the saints was filled. O what a lovely picture does this paint of him! John 3:34, "God gives the Spirit [to him] without limit." This makes him"the most excellent of men and [his] lips have been anointed with grace," Psalm 45:2. If a small measure of grace in the saints makes them sweet and desirable companions, what must the riches of the Spirit of grace filling Jesus Christ without measure make him in the eyes of believers? O what a glory must it fix upon him!

He is adorable to both angels and men. Now there is a thought. He is adorable and lovely to beings whose first words to an human are "fear not." These magnificent warriors and messengers of heaven fall on their knees to adore Christ in His humanity and divinity.

Another point here--if virtue is valued in the saints, and such virtue is merely the pale reflection of God's fullness of grace, how much more should we be valuing Jesus Christ. Jesus is the most desirable of companions. Ever present, ever ready to help, always cradling us in a loving embrace--the wisest of counselors, the truest of friends, the only one who will speak the truth to use when others have abandoned truth for gain. Jesus does not merely reflect divinity, He is divinity. The light He brings is the purest of light--so pure indeed that no prism can break or bend it, nor mirror stop its beam. In His light all things are seen as they are. More they are seen in tender love and compassion, so flawed, broken, and imperfect, they are transformed in His light into the image of what they are in God's eye.

As the Holy Father expresses in a letter of 5 August 2002:

from "The Beauty (of Christ) Will Save the World"
A Letter of John Paul II dated 5 August 2002

The radiance of the beauty we contemplate opens the soul to the mystery of God. The Book of Wisdom reproached those who "were unable from the good things that are seen to know him who exists" (13,1), from the admiration of their beauty they should have been able to ascend to their Author (cf. 1,3; 3). Indeed, "from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator" (13,5). Beauty has a pedagogical power that can introduce us effectively to the knowledge of the truth. Finally, it leads to Christ who is the Truth. Indeed, when love and the quest for beauty flow from a vision of faith, we can have a deeper perception of things and enter into contact with the One who is the source of every beautiful thing.

A return to one of my favorite centuries of poetry and to a lyric that is most marvelous and wonderful--one that may have a certain resonance with one of our parish priests

Christ Crucified
Richard Crashaw

THY restless feet now cannot go  
  For us and our eternal good,  
As they were ever wont. What though  
  They swim, alas! in their own flood?  
 
Thy hands to give Thou canst not lift,          
  Yet will Thy hand still giving be;  
It gives, but O, itself's the gift!  
  It gives tho' bound, tho' bound 'tis free!

Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, one God in three Persons, I firmly believe that You are here present; I adore You with the most profound humility; I praise You and give You thanks with all my heart for the favors You have bestowed on me. Your Goodness has brought me safely to the beginning of this day. Behold, O Lord, I offer You my whole being and in particular all my thoughts, words and actions, together with such crosses and contradictions as I may meet with in the course of this day. Give them, O Lord, Your blessing; may Your divine Love animate them and may they tend to the greater honor and glory of Your Sovereign Majesty. Amen.

Please remember:

--For Eric Walker single father of six children, seriously hurt in a propane explosion that demolished his house
--For Smockmomma's seriously ill Grandmother

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Hailey, may God grant them rest and repose in Him
--For all those living without love that we who may love will touch their lives
--For my [T.S. O'Rama] brother-in-law, who recently told his wife that he has difficulty believing in Jesus
--For an ODCS group that has recently undergone a traumatic change

--Members of St. Blogs and visitors who are pregnant or who desire to become so
--For all of those who have suffered the pain of miscarriage that they may receive the support and love of those around them and the healing blessing of God.
--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Sorry for the lack of evening examen yestere'en--Mondays are fellowship nights and it makes it rather difficult to get to some of these things, and we had the extra complication of having my wife preparing for a sleep study.

Ave Maria Weblog.

in the life of a Catholic chez Disputations

from "Christ Altogether Lovely"
Rev. John Flavel

6. All other loveliness cannot satisfy the soul of man. There is not scope enough in any one created thing, or in all the natural universe of created things for the soul of man to reach out and expand; but the soul still feels itself confined and narrowed within those limits. This comes to pass from the inadequacy and unsuitableness of the creature to the nobler and more excellent soul of man. The soul is like a ship in a narrow river which does not have room to turn. It is always running aground and foundering in the shallows. But Jesus Christ is in every way sufficient to the vast desires of the soul; in him it has sea-room enough. In him the soul may spread all its sails with no fear of touching bottom. And thus you see what is the importance of this phrase, "Altogether lovely."

Last week I refrained from comment on the longish excerpt that I noted. However, I need to return to this because I spent much of the weekend thinking about it. "All other loveliness can not satisfy the soul of man." This strikes me as both a wonderful and a terrible thing. If we spend our lives seeking out beauty, no matter how much we find, we will have to find more before we can become satisfied--and if all the beauty we find is merely in the world, no matter how much we find we will not be satisfied. However, if we were confined to a single room, unable to leave, and unable to see anything other than the walls arouind us and we spent the time gazing upon Christ, while we might long to be outside those walls, we would wait upon the Lord and be satisfied with the loveliness of Christ's face and the graciousness of God's will.

"In Him the soul may spread its sails with no fear of touching bottom." In Christ alone is there sufficient depth to bring us to our home port. All else fails. All loveliness, all human works, all human devices and desires, all natural things, all Holy things apart from Christ (an Egyptian Bastet isn't likely to be of much help), everything other than Christ is insufficient. But in Christ alone is depth and height, beauty and perfection, all goodness and all glory. In Christ alone is there sufficient room to move--"we live and move and have our being."

Christ is the vast and beautiful sea of all that is good, holy, and worthwhile. And we do well to spend some time at this oceanside, perhaps finally gaining the courage to take off our sandals and stroll in the surf--perhaps eventually setting sail, with no land in sight, but with great joy in our hearts as we explore all that God has in store for us.

Something a bit more accessible. Even though it is "set" in spring, there is something terribly autumnal about it. And perhaps even worse is "Good fences make good neighbors." Boundaries are good, but they aren't the only good, nor the greatest good. Perhaps good gates also make good neighbors.

Mending Wall
Robert Frost

            Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
            That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
            And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
            And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
            The work of hunters is another thing:
            I have come after them and made repair
            Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
            But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
            To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
            No one has seen them made or heard them made,
            But at spring mending-time we find them there.
            I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;
            And on a day we meet to walk the line
            And set the wall between us once again.
            We keep the wall between us as we go.
            To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
            And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
            We have to use a spell to make them balance:
            "Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
            We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
            Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
            One on a side. It comes to little more:
            There where it is we do not need the wall:
            He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
            My apple trees will never get across
            And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
            He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours."
            Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
            If I could put a notion in his head:
            "Why do they make good neighbours? Isn't it
            Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
            Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
            What I was walling in or walling out,
            And to whom I was like to give offence.
            Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
            That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,
            But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
            He said it for himself. I see him there
            Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
            In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
            He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
            Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
            He will not go behind his father's saying,
            And he likes having thought of it so well
            He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."

0 Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day, for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my associates, and for the general intentions recommended this month by the Holy Father. Amen.

Please remember:

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Hailey, may God grant them rest and repose in Him
--For all those living without love that we who may love will touch their lives
--For my [T.S. O'Rama] brother-in-law, who recently told his wife that he has difficulty believing in Jesus

--Members of St. Blogs and visitors who are pregnant or who desire to become so
--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

From Ikos IV of the Akathist of Thanksgiving by Protopresbyter Gregory Petrov (Martyr)

When the sun is setting, when quietness falls like the peace of eternal sleep, and the silence of the spent day reigns, then in the splendour of its declining rays, filtering through the clouds, I see Thy dwelling-place: fiery and purple, gold and blue, they speak prophet-like of the ineffable beauty of Thy presence, and call to us in their majesty. We turn to the Father.

Glory to Thee at the hushed hour of nightfall
Glory to Thee, covering the earth with peace
Glory to Thee for the last ray of the sun as it sets
Glory to Thee for sleep's repose that restores us
Glory to Thee for Thy goodness even in the time of darkness
When all the world is hidden from our eyes
Glory to Thee for the prayers offered by a trembling soul
Glory to Thee for the pledge of our reawakening
On that glorious last day, that day which has no evening
Glory to Thee, O God, from age to age

Did I miss Mass Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation through my own fault? Did I come to Mass on time? Leave early? Did I do work on Sunday that was not necessary? Did I set aside Sunday as a day of rest and a family day? Did I show reverence in the presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament? Did I fail to give thanks for this glorious day of rest, celebration, and holiness?

How can I come to love God more? How can I hear Him better in the world? How can I carry the spirit of the sabbath day into the other days of the week? How can I show the power of Jesus to all around me? How have I experienced that power in this day? How do I become more aware of His graciousness and His power?

A light entertainment from that most famous of works--Love Sonnets of a Cave-Man

XIII. The First Feminist
Don Marquis

When first I chased and beat you to your knees
And wried your arm and marked your temple bone
And wooed you, Sweet, and won you for my own,
Those were not hairless-chested times like these!
Wing'd saurians slithered down the charnel seas
And giant insects glistened, basked, and shone,
And snag-toothed ape-men fought with knives of stone --
And wise she-spouses mostly aimed to please!
But were not you the Primal Feminist
Ten hundred thousand years ago, my Love,
When we were first incarnate? I will say
Women Expressed themselves e'en then, Sweet Dove!
I do recall as if 'twere yesterday
That time your teeth met through my dexter wrist

O Master and holy God, who are beyond our understanding: at your word, light came forth out of darkness. In your mercy, you gave us rest through night-long sleep, and raised us up to glorify your goodness and to offer our supplication to You. Now, in your own tender love, accept us who adore You and give thanks to You with all our heart. Grant us all our requests, if they lead to salvation; give us the grace of manifesting that we are children of light and day, and heirs to your eternal reward. In the abundance of your mercies, O Lord, remember all your people; all those present who pray with us; all our brethren on land, at sea, or in the air, in every place of Your domain, who call upon your love for mankind. Upon all, pour down your great mercy, that we, saved in body and in soul, may persevere unfailingly; and that, in our confidence, we may extol your exalted and blessed Name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, always, now and forever. Amen.

Lord, one more day to love you!
Brother Charles de Foucauld

Please remember:

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Hailey, may God grant them rest and repose in Him
--For all those living without love that we who may love will touch their lives.

--Members of St. Blogs and visitors who are pregnant or who desire to become so
--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--the people of southern California who have lost their homes and family members
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Praise Report

Keep on praying for Sister Anne!
Sister Anne did not have surgery until late Wed. They had to build up her blood. She had a spinal block, and came out of OR at 10:05 pm EST very chipper. Next day she was sitting up feeding herself and in great spirits. Nine lives. She'll be home soon. Thanks for your prayers.

For my brother's relatively rapid and trouble free recovery from surgery

Please add your own needs and intentions via the comment box.

From the Orthodox Prayer Book--

Evening Prayer to the Holy Guardian Angel

O Angel of Christ, my holy Guardian and Protector of my soul and body, forgive me all my sins of today. Deliver me from all the wiles o the enemy, that I may not anger my God by any sin. Pray for me, sinful and unworthy servant, that thou mayest present me worthy of the kindness and mercy of the All-holy Trinity and the Mother of my Lord Jesus Christ, and of all the Saints. Amen

Rest in God, seek repose. For those for whom this was a day of leisure, how did we meet Christ in our leisure? What did we say to Him to thank Him for the goodness of this world and this life? How did we let Him know that we were content to rest in Him?

For those for whom this was another day of work: How will we meet Christ in our leisure? How will we make every moment a powerful moment of prayer and of love? How will we turn our leisure time into time for Christ and for sharing Jesus with all the world?

Supremacy
Edward Arlington Robinson

There is a drear and lonely tract of hell
From all the common gloom removed afar:
A flat, sad land it is, where shadows are,
Whose lorn estate my verse may never tell.
I walked among them and I knew them well:
Men I had slandered on life's little star
For churls and sluggards; and I knew the scar
Upon their brows of woe ineffable.

But as I went majestic on my way,
Into the dark they vanished, one by one,
Till, with a shaft of God's eternal day,
The dream of all my glory was undone,--
And, with a fool's importunate dismay,
I heard the dead men singing in the sun.

How good it is to give thanks to Thee, O Lord, and to sing praises to Thine exalted Name; to declare Thy loving kindness at the break of the day, and Thy faithfulness during the night.

O Lord, hearken to our voice at the dawn of the day, and in the morning let us be found ready by Thee.

O Lord absolve and pardon all our sins. O Holy one, over shadow Thy right hand upon us, and heal all our infirmities for the sake, of Thy eternal Name.

Amen

(Orthodox Morning Prayer)

Please remember:

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Hailey, may God grant them rest and repose in Him

--Members of St. Blogs and visitors who are pregnant or who desire to become so
--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--the people of southern California who have lost their homes and family members
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Praise Report

Keep on praying for Sister Anne!
Sister Anne did not have surgery until late Wed. They had to build up her blood. She had a spinal block, and came out of OR at 10:05 pm EST very chipper. Next day she was sitting up feeding herself and in great spirits. Nine lives. She'll be home soon. Thanks for your prayers.

For my brother's relatively rapid and trouble free recovery from surgery

Please add your own needs and intentions via the comment box.

As I have it on most excellent authority that I might best ascend to virtue through the regular discipline of morning offering and evening examen, I attempt to reestablish that rhythm here. Be aware that the weekend I may make these prayers, but I'm not certain that I shall be able to post them.

Once again remembering the turmoil of our brethren in the Anglican communion and of those who are presently lost in the riving of the Episcopalian Church:

ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, who confess their faults. Restore thou those who are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen. (BCP, 1622)

Have we forgiven our enemies today? Harder, have we truly forgiven those we love, those closest to us and most capable of really hurting us? Have we offered that forgiveness willingly? Have we forgiven those whose hurt from long ago echoes in our very bones today? Have we forgiven unconditionally, or have we stood on our principles? Have we asked forgiveness of those we have wronged? Have we been able to admit when we have wronged others? Have we been careful of our words so as to limit the times when we inadvertantly offend? Have we offered all our hurt at another's hands to our Lord? Have we asked Him to bind up our hurts and make good of them? Have we turned to Him and asked the forgiveness only He can offer, or have we presumed upon it?

Please see Mr. Bogner's note on the desirability of inclusive language and democratic election in the Church and comment more intelligibly than I could bring myself to do.

The only question I keep bringing to the fore is "Why are we so afraid of God the Father, of Him who is?" Why do some feel the need to geld God in the name of inclusion. God contains the perfection of all that is male and female, and yet revelation teaches us to call Him Father. It would seem to follow from that, that there is a reason for doing so. The calls to change every "Him" to "God" strike me as very misled altruism--the desire for inclusion at the cost of revelation.

Wittgenstein showed us that to some degree language shapes our perception of reality. Mr. Bogner posits that there should be a dual liturgy--one with inclusive language and one without. That seems to suggest building polarization into the Catholic Church in the very liturgy, which would only lead to the same destination as all polarization--further riving and fragmentation.

Later: A wonderful response from Ms. Peony Moss

It is often difficult to think of St. John of the Cross in particularly Marian terms. Not much of his writing touches on the Mother of God, and yet, that may be because she touches every part of his writing in so deep a way as to go almost unnoticed. We have the Blessed Martyr Titus Brandsma to thank for helping to bring this to our attention:

from Carmelite Mysticism Historical Sketches
"The Marian "Doctor Mysticus"
Blessed Titus Brandsma

A much loved comparison of the saint which he employs to express the necessity of our being susceptible and pure in order to partake of the grace of God, and even share the divine nature, is the image of the window through which the sunlight passes. The painters of the Flemish country, the land of Memling, of Quinten Matsys made a plentiful use of this image through their wonderful miniatures. No creature absorbed more purely the divine light that came into this world; no creature gave it back with less blemish or spot and grew more one with God than Our Lady. In the cherished metaphor of St. John of the Cross, Mary appears before our mind's eye as the greatest example of all; nay more, as the first pane of glass without spot, who gave us the light of the world. To her, more than to anyone else, may be applied the words of St. John of the Cross explaining the divine communing of the mystic life: "So close is the created communion, if God grants it this excellent and elevated favour, that the soul and everything that is proper to God are united by a participating re-creation. The soul seems more God than soul, even is God, through this participation, although its natural being, in spite of its re-creation, remains as distinct from God's being as before; just as the pane of glass, however lit up by the sun's beams yet retains its proper essence, different from the beam that passes into it." He further explains the image in a way that more directly concerns Our Blessed Lady. If the pane of glass be clean and spotless, the sunbeam will light it up and change it in such a way that it seems to be the light itself and gives out light itself. That is the reason why Our Lady deserved to become the Mother of God; because she offered not the slightest hinderance to the divine indwelling. Like Our Lady we must absorb the divine light.

For the complete series of essays, go here

I will refrain from extended comment after the excerpt, for what can be added that would not detract from its simplicity? I just bring to your attention the recent work of Fr. Thomas Dubay The Evidentiary Power of Beauty and remark that it treads much the same ground at a finer level. In the meantime, I encourage everyone to take some time to experience some of this beauty. Here is Florida it is easily done--the birds that have dispersed through all the states return in droves so every lawn is whited with the whiteness of egrets and ibises, and the blossoms of the short day flowers color all and sundry. The new birth of lizards and snakes gives us the smallest of creatures, and those few deciduous trees we have give us some moments of glittering color and a few leaves drop.

from "Christ Altogether Lovely"
Rev. John Flavel

Fifthly, "Altogether lovely," i.e. Transcending all created excellencies in beauty and loveliness. If you compare Christ and other things, no matter how lovely, no matter how excellent and desirable, Christ carries away all loveliness from them. "He is (as the apostle says) before all things," Col. 1:17. Not only before all things in time, nature, and order; but before all things in dignity, glory, and true excellence. In all things he must have the pre-eminence. Let us but compare Christ's excellence with the creature's in a few particulars, and how manifest will the transcendent loveliness of Jesus Christ appear! For,

1. All other loveliness is derived and secondary; but the loveliness of Christ is original and primary. Angels and men, the world and all the desirable things in it, receive what excellence they crave from him. They are streams from the fountain. The farther any thing departs from its fountain and original, the less excellency there is in it.

2. The loveliness and excellency of all other things, is only relative, consisting in its reference to Christ, and subservience to his glory. But Christ is lovely, considered absolutely in himself. He is desirable for himself; other things are desirable because of him.

3. The beauty and loveliness of all other things are fading and perishing; but the loveliness of Christ is fresh for all eternity. The sweetness of the best created thing is a fading flower; if not before, yet certainly at death it must fade away. Job 4:21. "Doth not their excellency, which is in them, go away?" Yes, yes, whether they are the natural excellencies of the body, acquired endowments of the mind, lovely features, graceful qualities, or anything else we find attractive; all these like pleasant flowers are withered, faded, and destroyed by death. "But Christ is still the same, yesterday, today, and for ever," Heb. 13:8.

4. The beauty and holiness of creatures are ensnaring and dangerous. A man may make an idol out of them, and indulge himself beyond the bounds of moderation with them, but there is no danger of excess in the love of Christ. The soul is then in the healthiest frame and temper when it is most overwhelmed by love to Christ, Song of Songs 5:8.

5. The loveliness of every creature is of a confining and obstructing nature. Our esteem of it diminishes the closer we approach to it, or the longer we enjoy it. Creatures, like pictures, are fairest at a certain distance, but it is not so with Christ; the nearer the soul approaches him, and the longer it lives in the enjoyment of him, still the sweeter and more desirable he becomes.

6. All other loveliness cannot satisfy the soul of man. There is not scope enough in any one created thing, or in all the natural universe of created things for the soul of man to reach out and expand; but the soul still feels itself confined and narrowed within those limits. This comes to pass from the inadequacy and unsuitableness of the creature to the nobler and more excellent soul of man. The soul is like a ship in a narrow river which does not have room to turn. It is always running aground and foundering in the shallows. But Jesus Christ is in every way sufficient to the vast desires of the soul; in him it has sea-room enough. In him the soul may spread all its sails with no fear of touching bottom. And thus you see what is the importance of this phrase, "Altogether lovely."

Find the entire sermon here

It sometimes astonishes me to realize that a great many people have never encountered the Bard in any significant way, either through choice or through the poor preparation of our educational system. When I was in nineth grade, the required reading for the year included Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." My teacher, Mrs. Erskine, had no time or tolerance for that "muddled romantic prattle" and further thought it set a bad example for young students. And so instead we read, and I fell in love with "The Merchant of Venice." Things I memorized in that year, I remember still and the play lives with me day to day. It is unlikely that Shakespeare meant it as an indictment of prejudices common at the time, and yet it is so easy to discern that thread. And this is a sililoquy that everyone should have some acquaintance with--so, if it is new savor it, and if not, enjoy the reacquaintance.

And so, without further ado, the poem:

from "The Merchant of Venice" Act IV Scene I
Portia, disguised as a Judge speaking
William Shakespeare

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.

Something more of our legal profession might do well to internalize. More, something we could all benefit from practicing more often in our relations with others.

Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, exhilirate me
Water from the side of Christ, cleanse me.

Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within thy wounds shelter me
Never let me separated from thee.

From the wicked foe defend me
At the hour of my death please call me
And bid me come fly to thee
That with the saints I may praise thee,
For thine is the kingdom and the Power and the glory,
Now and for all eternity.

Please remember:

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Hailey, may God grant them rest and repose in Him

--Members of St. Blogs and visitors who are pregnant or who desire to become so
--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--the people of southern California who have lost their homes and family members
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Praise

--for my brother's rapid, relatively uncomplicated recovery
--for the success of Sr. Anne's surgery

Please add your own needs and intentions via the comment box.

Apparently a blog has been set up for this group I'm very uninformed in some things Catholic and I have never heard of this confraternity or group before.

Words from "The Merchant of Venice"

from Act I, Scene III

[Antonio speaking, referring to Shylock]

Mark you this, Bassanio,
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart:
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

Act II Scence VI
[Jessica, disguised as a page speaks, descending to Lorenzo, her suitor]

But love is blind and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit. . .

Act II Scene VII

[A Prince of Morocco has chosen the wrong casket in the lottery for Portia]
All that glitters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgment old,
Your answer had not been inscroll'd:
Fare you well; your suit is cold.
Cold, indeed; and labour lost:
Then, farewell, heat, and welcome, frost!
Portia, adieu. I have too grieved a heart
To take a tedious leave: thus losers part.

And so I bid adieu at least till lunch, and perhaps until this evening. You are all a blessing to me.

from Christ Altogether Lovely
Rev. John Flavel

Fourthly, "Altogether lovely," i.e. Nothing is lovely in opposition to him, or in separation from him. If he truly is altogether lovely, then whatsoever is opposite to him, or separate from him can have no loveliness in it. Take away Christ, and where is the loveliness of any enjoyment? The best creature-comfort apart from Christ is but a broken cistern. It cannot hold one drop of true comfort, Psalm 73:26. It is with the creature--the sweetest and loveliest creature--as with a beautiful image in the mirror: turn away the face and where is the image? Riches, honours, and comfortable relations are sweet when the face of Christ smiles upon us through them; but without him, what empty trifles are they all?

Which brings up the natural corollary--whatever is unlovely in action, word, person, or object is not of Christ. Whence then if not of Christ? Well then it seems two possible causes--the original Fall corrupted not only human nature, but dragged down with it all of nature, and the work of Satan. Satan cannot create, but he can work on what is created to distort. Whatever is unlovely has its source at one of these two fonts. And we are assured by Paul that nature groans for release from the bonds that hold it down. While there are mechanical aspects of a mosquito that are beautiful and remarkable, the propensity for spreading disease and its unpleasant source of food both are unlovely. And Christ has no part in these--we look to the other sources. Now, interestingly, even though He has no part in their production, they do serve His ends as do all created things.

But we should keep in mind, nothing is lovely in opposition to or separation from Jesus Christ. No matter how noble the cause, no matter how deserving the pursuit, if it is not done for the Glory of God at the behest of Jesus Himself, there can be no loveliness in it. Let me give you a prime example. Some people who support the right to abortion do so from a sense of the desperation of the people involved in these situations. They see the poverty and the struggles and the difficulties of the people who are suffering and conclude (erroneously) that their burden would be lightened if only they could relieve themselves of some part of the difficulty. While the motive--alleviation of suffering--might be noble, the effect is evil. It does not come from God nor does it properly fulfill God's commandment to love your neighbor--the quick fix is chosen over the proper thing to do. So too with all our ends. If the proper means is not God's will and God's grace, then the end is likely to be very ugly.

This can lead to long and complicated discussion about God's will in our lives, but I think simple discernment through prayer can help in all of these cases. There are causes that are always good--praying for the good of another, feeding, clothing, and providing shelter for the homeless--these things are things we are obligated to do in some way or another.

The important key is that whatever is beautiful in the world is beautiful inasmuch as it partakes of Christ's beauty. He makes all things lovely. The loveliness of every human being comes from Jesus Christ.

And I sometimes wonder if anyone at all is reading any of these reflections, or if because they come from another tradition, they are not at all interesting. And it occurs to me that it little matters, because this is what I feel God has given me to do here and not to do it would be a far greater folly than to continue in the face of silence.

Taken from the long anthology of small-town gossip Spoon River Anthology. One year I had the privilege of attending a regional Geological Society of America Convention held in Macomb Illinois at the University of Western Illinois. In passing through the state we stopped briefly at Dickson Mounds State park and drove by Edgar Lee Masters house in a nearby town. This was yet another enormous thrill for me. Nearly as exciting as the time when stumbling through Amish Country in Ohio, we happened upon Winesburg.

from Spoon River Anthology
Benjamin Pantier
Edgar Lee Masters

Benjamin Pantier

            Together in this grave lie Benjamin Pantier, attorney at law,
            And Nig, his dog, constant companion, solace and friend.
            Down the gray road, friends, children, men and women,
            Passing one by one out of life, left me till I was alone
            With Nig for partner, bed-fellow, comrade in drink.
            In the morning of life I knew aspiration and saw glory.
            Then she, who survives me, snared my soul
            With a snare which bled me to death,
            Till I, once strong of will, lay broken, indifferent,
            Living with Nig in a room back of a dingy office.
            Under my jaw-bone is snuggled the bony nose of Nig --
            Our story is lost in silence. Go by, mad world!

And for good measure, Mrs. Pantier's side of the story

Mrs. Benjamin Pantier

            I know that he told that I snared his soul
            With a snare which bled him to death.
            And all the men loved him,
            And most of the women pitied him.
            But suppose you are really a lady, and have delicate tastes,
            And loathe the smell of whiskey and onions.
            And the rhythm of Wordsworth's "Ode" runs in your ears,
            While he goes about from morning till night
            Repeating bits of that common thing;
            "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?"
            And then, suppose:
            You are a woman well endowed,
            And the only man with whom the law and morality
            Permit you to have the marital relation
            Is the very man that fills you with disgust
            Every time you think of it -- while you think of it
            Every time you see him?
            That's why I drove him away from home
            To live with his dog in a dingy room
            Back of his office.

Absolutely unlovely, and yet a portrait too clear and true of some unfortunate and selfish souls.

Lord, Jesus,
through the hands of Your Blessed Mother, I offer You all my thoughts, words, and actions this day for all the intentions of Your Most Sacred Heart. Especially, I offer You all the acts of faith in You and Your Love that I perform, in order to obtain from Your Sacred Heart the grace of Baptism for all the innocent babies who will be murdered by abortion today. Because their own fathers and mothers will violently refuse them life, and thus refuse to stand before You as guarantors of their baby's faith in You, accept me as the spiritual father/ mother of those babies. And, within the Divine economy of Your Mystical Body except me as guarantor of those babies' desire to be with You forever, so that having been killed most cruelly, they may be admitted to Your Presence as sinless, martyrs to the truth of Your Love and Your Salvation. I ask this for Your Holy Name Sake. Amen.     

Please remember:

--my brother who is recovering from complications from the surgery he underwent yesterday
--Mother Ann of the Carmel of Port Tobacco who needs surgery for broken bones

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Hailey, may God grant them rest and repose in Him

--Members of St. Blogs and visitors who are pregnant or who desire to become so
--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--the people of southern California who have lost their homes and family members
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Praise

--thanksgiving for the success of Christine's garage sale
--thanksgiving for the relatively good news of Linda's medical report

Please add your own needs and intentions via the comment box.

Since I started this new format, I have discovered that not only must I pray in the morning (as I have done, but now more) but I am given the opportunity to meet God in the beauty of poetry and of Rev. Flavel's marvelous sermon. I don't know if anyone read "My Last Duchess" today--perhaps only a few, but reading it and writing about it made my day an infinitely brighter and more wonderful place. So too with each of the poems I have placed here and commented upon. I shall endeavor to continue this mission--though there is strong evidence that an upcoming business trip may interrupt the cycle for a few days. I am so grateful to God for all that He has given me in the way of inspiration, intellect, and appreciation for the good things of the world. Thank you all for being so patient as I spend time with these things. I hope you enjoy spending the time with me, but if not, I'll try to make them as short or as easy to skip as possible.

Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
our light and our salvation,
eternal Creator of day and night,
to you be glory and praise for ever.
Now, as darkness is falling,
hear the prayer of your faithful people.
As we look for your coming in glory,
wash away our transgressions,
cleanse us by your refining fire
and make us temples of your Holy Spirit.
By the light of Christ,
dispel the darkness of our hearts
and make us ready to enter your kingdom,
where songs of praise for ever sound.
Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

How have we helped our brothers and sisters in difficulties today? Did we keep our promises in prayer? Did we pray for restoration and salvation for those who are lost? Did we invite someone to meet Jesus Christ in our Church or in our homes? Did we make space for God to work in the lives of others? Did we take the opporunities offered to us for prayer and thanksgiving?

Let us pray for the graces and blessings to see God in every moment and to seize every opportunity He offers for expanding His kingdom and His great joy into the world.

I thought I'd offer a few assists for those battling the literalist reading of The Da Vinci Code (Heaven help us if these people start to read everything is so literal a fashion--I'd hate to see what a nation of literalist O'Connor readers migth do to us all. "Wouldn'a been a bad person if there'da been somebody there to shoot him every minute of his life."

Start with this image of The Last Supper. If the person next to Christ is actually female, what are we to make of the second figure from the left and the fourth and fifth figures from the right. (That fifth one looks as though he has breasts.) Our conclusion should not be that Da Vinci inserted a woman into the last supper, but rather than Da Vinci tended to paint very effeminate men.

That supposed disembodied hand holding the knife--look at it. It is obviously being held by the man comforting (not making a chopping motion) the supposed "Mary Madgalene" figure. I think this man is supposed to be Peter.

Absurdities uncollected elsewhere--one of the rhymes near the end of the book requires a eulogy from a pope in England. One of the near idiot intelligence characters from the book points out that "It didn't say the Pope had to be Catholic" (I paraphrase). Well, they are referring to Alexander Pope's eulogy over Sir Isaac Newton, and for anyone interested, that Pope most certainly is Catholic.

Ms. Meisel has done a far more thorough approach to hacking this apart. But I thought I'd add these couple of points.

When I read the book I was astounded at the sheer plodding nature of these supposedly brilliant minds. These people were so slow on the uptake I wanted to knock them upside the head to get them moving.

The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction. No more and no less real that Stephen King's Castle Rock or Michael Crichton's island of dinosaurs. Because a few cranks in the past have held odd notions about Jesus and religion makes them no more valid than if I were to declare the obvious truths of Stephen King's Cujo. The history of religion is the history of odd notions that are suppressed or die out on their own. Many of them were mutually contradictory. If we were to credit each of these with the validity granted The Da Vinci Code, we would have no time to get on with our lives. These notions are being grasped by the same faction of the Catholic Church that wants desperately to see the ordination of women; by people who do not realize that women do not need empowerment--they have enough of that themselves--but women need the courage to live what God has already given them. As with all people the goal is not to seek to be other than what we are, but to seek to be true to God's vision of us.

For those interested in reading one of the earliest novels, this one by Cao Xuequin is now available via Blackmask. It looks like other than the Pinyin transliteration of the Author's name, the translation employs largely Wade-Giles, or perhaps even earlier systems--nevertheless, it can be quite enjoyable. Book two is also available on the same site.

Mr. Lane Core offers a lengthy excerpt from Zell Miller's new book about Southern Conservative Democrats (I wish we in Florida could find such a thing--but no such luck). I normally don't do politics, and when I stray into them it is a disaster--so far better for me to recommend some interesting reading at a better-informed source.

I finished reading The House of the Seven Gables a night or so ago and have allowed myself time to crystallize some thoughts.

Hawthorne never claimed to write novels. He referred to all of his works as romances. This puzzles me, because it is hard to make The Scarlet Letter into a romance unless we view it as an ultimately failed romance. However, he was quite accurate as to the characterization in the sense that the characters in the novels never quite behave as real characters, but take on a fairy-tale like dimension in which they act some role to fulfill a purpose.

So in Seven Gables we have five main characters--Hepzibah, Phoebe, Clifford, Judge Pyncheon, and Holford (or Holworth or something like that--a Daguerreotypist). In addition there is a scattering of other characters--a young boy who patronizes Hepzibah's shop to the point nearly of terrorizing her.

Hepzibah and Clifford live in Seven Gables, a house of ill omen which is said to have brought about the deaths of several residents. Judge Pyncheon has actually inherited the vast majority of the other wealth once associated with the house and is out to get more. Phoebe is some sort of semi-detached cousin who floats in to start up a romance with the Daguerreotypist.

The novel suffers a bit from excesses. There is an entire chapter devoted to exhorting a dead man to rise from his chair and kind of looking at the ghosts that pass parade-like around him. There is a subplot involving mesmerism and of course the obligatory curse from the past that has come to roost on the present family.

What is most remarkable about the novel, despite its divergences from what we commonly consider the novelist endeavor, is how readable and how interesting it really is. I took quite a while to get through it because I read in fits and starts according to mood. This book requires a sustained reading and I am sure the atmosphere would be powerful and interesting. This is what Hawthorne excels at --atmosphere. But also, unexpectedly, he has a penchant for a dry and subtle sort of humor. Take for example this scene from very early on in the book:

IT still lacked half an hour of sunrise, when Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon-we will not say awoke, it being doubtful whether the poor lady had so much as closed her eyes during the brief night of midsummer - but, at all events, arose from her solitary pillow, and began what it would be mockery to term the adornment of her person. Far from us be the indecorum of assisting, even in imagination, at a maiden lady's toilet! Our story must therefore await Miss Hepzibah at the threshold of her chamber; only presuming, meanwhile, to note some of the heavy sighs that labored from her bosom, with little restraint as to their lugubrious depth and volume of sound, inasmuch as they could be audible to nobody save a disembodied listener like ourself. . . .

The maiden lady's devotions are concluded. Will she now issue forth over the threshold of our story? Not yet, by many moments. First, every drawer in the tall, old-fashioned bureau is to be opened, with difficulty, and with a succession of spasmodic jerks then, all must close again, with the same fidgety reluctance. There is a rustling of stiff silks; a tread of backward and forward footsteps to and fro across the chamber. We suspect Miss Hepzibah, moreover, of taking a step upward into a chair, in order to give heedful regard to her appearance on all sides, and at full length, in the oval, dingy-framed toilet-glass, that hangs above her table. Truly! well, indeed! who would have thought it! Is all this precious time to be lavished on the matutinal repair and beautifying of an elderly person, who never goes abroad, whom nobody ever visits, and from whom, when she shall have done her utmost, it were the best charity to turn one's eyes another way?

There is a sly current under this, an amusing undertone that sets certain expectations for the book that certainly are fulfilled.

Everyone should spend some time with the old books. For every modern piece read C.S. Lewis suggested that one of some vintage should be consumed to counterbalance our chronological chauvinism. If you are in the market for such an adventure--you could do much worse than to spend some time in The House of the Seven Gables

Next Report likely to be Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather's masterpiece of the Southwest.

from "Christ Altogether Lovely"
John Flavel

Fourthly, "Altogether lovely," i.e. Nothing is lovely in opposition to him, or in separation from him. If he truly is altogether lovely, then whatsoever is opposite to him, or separate from him can have no loveliness in it. Take away Christ, and where is the loveliness of any enjoyment? The best creature-comfort apart from Christ is but a broken cistern. It cannot hold one drop of true comfort, Psalm 73:26. It is with the creature--the sweetest and loveliest creature--as with a beautiful image in the mirror: turn away the face and where is the image? Riches, honours, and comfortable relations are sweet when the face of Christ smiles upon us through them; but without him, what empty trifles are they all?

If the loveliness of a created thing is sought for itself, it ceases to be lovely--it becomes a momentary distraction from the true loveliness that informas all of creation. If our pursuit of art, beauty, mathematics, science, love, or any other good thing is absent an underlying pursuit of the God who created them all, it is ultimately futile--ashes and dust.

All beautiful things derive their beauty from the One Most Beautiful. All things that are endearing and charming receive their essential character from Jesus Christ. How often do we pause and let the realization that the beauty we are perceiving comes from Christ and reflects him. In the blossom of the hibiscus and in the wonder of the small lizard, everything that entrances does so because of His beauty. And what seems beautiful and does not partake of Him is corruption and horror--and there are those things in the world today.

Spend some time today thanking God for the beauty around you and seeing Him in that beauty. Spend some time with Jesus and let Him know that you are aware of His loveliness that knits the world together into a wonderful and glorious place to live.

Many do not care for my longer poetic excerpts here, but this is so marvelous a lyric, so wonderful a poem, it would be a shame to try to truncate it. The poem is a dramatic monologue, the speaker Ferrara is talking to someone who may be brokering his next marriage. He tells the story of his previous and it is by way of a mystery.

Lord God Almighty, Who have brought us to the beginning of this day, defend us during this day by Your power, that we may not fall into sin but that all our words, thoughts and deeds may always proceed and be directed toward that which is just in Your sight.

Please remember:

--my brother who undergoes surgery for gall bladder removal today

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Hailey, may God grant them rest and repose in Him

--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--the people of southern California who have lost their homes and family members
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Praise

--thanksgiving for the success of Christine's garage sale
--thanksgiving for the relatively good news of Linda's medical report

Please add your own needs and intentions via the comment box.

"O Lord, I call upon Thee; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to Thee!
May my prayer be counted as incense before Thee;
The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering."

Psalm 141:1,2

Sins against the first commandment:

Did I read and believe my horoscope today? Did I give proper time to God in prayer? Did I love God with all my heart and all my strength and all my mind and all my spirit? Did I say anything that would lead others away from the love of God? Did I despair of or presume on God's infinite mercy? Did I rely upon the false gods of money, reputation, pleasure, or property?

Experiencing God,

Where did I hear God today? How did I react? How can I improve my hearing and reaction time? Where did I do well in listening to Him? How did I so so? Did I rely upon grace and upon the Holy Spirit? How can I bring myself to rely more upon God's strength and less upon my own?

An erudite and to-the-point commentary on a subject I feel no competence to comment on from Mr. Morrison. His blog might also be a place to explore for a better understanding of the Church's teaching on homosexuality.

And as much as I admire this well considered and nicely reasoned piece by Fr. Jim, I cannot help but disagree on several major points. I find it difficult to imagine how a man living in obvious sin and holding this up as a model for all to follow will lead souls to Christ. Truly, I hope that it happens, but I don't find it likely. Moreover, I sense a certain air of "I told you so" in the remarks that say we should be unsurprised by these developments. I suppose that the stage had truly been set; however, this is a dangerous departure not simply for the Episcopal Church but for all churches that rely upon the authority of the Bible in any degree. This action simply says that what we find difficult or do not care for wasn't really written with our understanding or for us anyway. Thus, we are free to ignore it. The tendency is already pronounced in our own Church, I fear this will give it greater momentum. But perhaps my difference of opinion is merely of degree, not of kind.

Mr. Bogner asks a question below that I fear I do not have the expertise to address properly, but which I feel should be addressed, and so I place it here.

It also reminds me of Catholicism's approach to homosexual clergy - we all know there is a fair number of homosexual priests, but as long as they are celibate then it seems our bishops don't really pay much attention to them. If homosexuality is wrong, then isn't it wrong whether someone is celibate or not? Or is it? I don't have that figured out, not even close to it.

I venture into this area with trepidation, but I am certain that there are many more studied than I am who can correct my understanding of Church teaching. The church teaches that the inclination to homosexuality is intrinsically disordered but not in itself sinful. Just as the inclination to polygamy and promiscuity is gravely disordered, if it is not acted upon, it is not sinful. Homosexuality is not a sin. Being a homosexual is not a sin. Engaging in homosexual acts either physically or, as with heterosexual acts, entertaining thoughts and encouraging them, is sinful. A chaste homosexual is not committing a sin. He is defying no commandment and no law. Just as a person inclined to theft commits no sin so long as he takes nothing belonging to another. To be attracted to something is not in itself sinful--acting on that attraction can be so.

That's how I understand it, and I admit that it is very crude and not terribly nuanced. But the reason bishops care little if a person is a homosexual is that Priests are called to live a chaste life. I introduce this word because often we use celibate, which technically means only unmarried to mean chaste which refers to conduct. It is entirely possible to be celibate and unchaste and uncelibate but chaste. In the Carmelite Order we make promises of "chastity according to station in life." That is a married person is chaste when faithful to his or her spouse. A celibate person is chaste when he or she refrains from indulging the sexual impulse. A chaste, celibate homosexual should present no more problem for a bishop than a chaste, celibate heterosexual. There are theories and expositors to the contrary, but I will not argue that as I am on even shakier ground than this initial discussion. And I do invite those better informed, more aware, or more skillful in conveying proper Church teaching to jump in and help us all understand better exactly what the Church does teach.

from "Christ Altogether Lovely"
John Flavel

Thirdly "Altogether lovely," i.e. He embraces all things that are lovely: he seals up the sum of all loveliness. Things that shine as single stars with a particular glory, all meet in Christ as a glorious constellation. Col. 1:19, "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell." Cast your eyes among all created beings, survey the universe: you will observe strength in one, beauty in a second, faithfulness in a third, wisdom in a fourth; but you shall find none excelling in them all as Christ does. Bread has one quality, water another, raiment another, medicine another; but none has them all in itself as Christ does. He is bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, a garment to the naked, healing to the wounded; and whatever a soul can desire is found in him, 1 Cor. 1:30.

There is nothing new here. But it helps to think each day about the perfections of Jesus Christ. It gives rise to springs of living water within us. I'm sure many Catholic Saints wrote as evocatively, or perhaps even more evocatively--but few as sustainedly one the single topic of the Beauty of Jesus Christ.

Through Him all things came to be and from Him all things have their perfection of form. A cardinal is a cardinal (bird) because of Him and it differs from a robin because of Him. Herons have their stilty legs, and butterflies their wings because of Him. Through him the frogs and the alligators have their voice, the hibiscus has its blossom, and the palm tree sways in the wind.

In Him the waves break on the shore, filling the air with the smell of salt and sea, the sandpipers dance in the ebb and flow, and the coquina continue their daily chore of keeping up with the ever moving tide.

Everything that is beautiful, all that is, reflects in some way the perfection of the creator, and in the creator is gathered all the loveliness of all created things and more. When we think of awe-inspiringly beautiful things--, the ghost orchid, , appendicularians,, the blue morpho butterfly or the blue-ringed octopus--we see in them a small fraction of the beauty of Christ. Every part of creation partakes of the beauty of the Creator, but in no way does all the combined beauty of creation approach the altogether loveliness of Jesus Christ, whose perfection of love and goodness opens up the perfection of beauty.

Spend a few moments this morning with the beauty of Christ. Revel in it, and bring it into the day to share with all around you. It is far more persausive than any human argument--it convinces to the marrow and convicts beyond question. Many people resist it, but they cannot do so for long. Introduce the unconvinced to the perfection of God in all of His creation, and then invite them into the Word to discover from whence this perfection.

Unlike my plan for the rest of the site, I have not real plan for the presentation of poetry--whatever happens to strike my fancy on a given day. If you were prefer some greater structure, let me know. In the near future I do plan to start "illuminating" the poems--providing explanatory notes and reasons why I like or perhaps appreciate the particular poems.

A Poison Tree
William Blake

            I was angry with my friend.
            I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
            I was angry with my foe.
            I told it not, my wrath did grow;

            And I water'd it in fears,
            Night and morning with my tears;
            And I sunned it with smiles,
            And with soft deceitful wiles;

            And it grew both day and night
            Till it bore an apple bright,
            And my foe beheld it shine,
            And he knew that it was mine,

            And into my garden stole
            When the night had veil'd the pole.
            In the morning glad I see
            My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Besides being William Blake, who is one of the great, if one of the stranger, poets of all time, this poem has a special place in my heart because it gave title to one of the very few mysteries by V.C. Clinton-Baddley (My Foe Outstretch'd Beneath the Tree). I think this author starting writing very late in life and gave rise to only four complete novels and a fifth that was finished by a son. I don't recall the details, but I do remember liking the detective very much.

O Holy Ghost, Divine Spirit of light and love, I consecrate to Thee my mind, heart and will, my whole being for time and for eternity. May my mind be ever docile to Thy divine inspirations and to the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church whose infallible guide Thou art; my heart ever inflamed with the love of God and of my neighbor; my will ever conformable to the divine will; and my whole life a faithful imitation of the life and virtues of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and Thee be honor and glory forever. Amen.

Eternal Spirit, increase within my soul, faith, hope and charity, that I may believe ever firmly the truths which Thou hast revealed, hope ever confidently in Thy divine promises, and love sincerely Thee, my God, and all my fellow men who were created to Thy image and likeness. Amen.

Please remember:

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers
--Ms Moniz and her daughter Halley, may God grant them rest and repose in Him

--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--the people of southern California who have lost their homes and family members
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Please add your own needs and intentions via the comment box.

Please remember the sorrow, heartache, and pain of our Anglican Brothers. Pray that those who have opted to abide by the authority of Scripture and remain within the communion of all Christians may find support, hope, and nurturing with another Church family. Remember how betrayed we felt with the mishandling of the sexual abuse scandal and multiply that into the complete division of the Church. This is the scale of the crisis and all involved need our earnest prayers. Perhaps most of all V. Gene Robinson, by whose precipitate, misguided, and largely selfish action this crisis came to be.

"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen."

Where O Lord did I see your beauty today? Did I bring You to the world as altogether lovely and the perfect vessel of Love? Where did I fail in an opportunity to convey Your love to the people around me? Where did I fail to appreciate Your loving-kindness to me? Lord, give me the strength to love You and to help others to love You. Strengthen my vision so I may see You in Your loveliness, strengthen my voice so that I may always sing of Your loveliness, strengthen my heart that I may always love You in your loveliness, and by loving You make You known to all the world.

I spent much of Saturday afternoon celebrating with other authors and editors the new issue of the local Historical Society's publication It's About Time. I was blessed to have two poems published in the journal. We also had a brief presentation by a local author who is doing guides to the lesser known aspects of our little central Florida world. Anyway--there are two more small poems set free--we'll see what other opportunities arise in the near future.

From the sermons of John Flavel

What is Meant by "Altogether Lovely"

Let us consider this excellent expression, and particularly reflect on what is contained in it, and you shall find this expression "altogether lovely."

First, It excludes all unloveliness and disagreeableness from Jesus Christ. As a theologian long ago said, "There is nothing in him which is not loveable." The excellencies of Jesus Christ are perfectly exclusive of all their opposites; there is nothing of a contrary property or quality found in him to contaminate or devaluate his excellency. And in this respect Christ infinitely transcends the most excellent and loveliest of created things. Whatsoever loveliness is found in them, it is not without a bad aftertaste. The fairest pictures must have their shadows: The rarest and most brilliant gems must have dark backgrounds to set off their beauty; the best creature is but a bitter sweet at best: If there is something pleasing, there is also something sour. if a person has every ability, both innate and acquired, to delight us, yet there is also some natural corruption intermixed with it to put us off. But it is not so in our altogether lovely Christ, his excellencies are pure and unmixed. He is a sea of sweetness without one drop of gall.

Secondly, "Altogether lovely," i.e. There is nothing unlovely found in him, so all that is in him is wholly lovely. As every ray of God is precious, so every thing that is in Christ is precious: Who can weigh Christ in a pair of balances, and tell you what his worth is? "His price is above rubies, and all that thou canst desire is not to be compared with him," Prov. 8:11.

Christ is the apotheosis of loveliness. There is nothing about His person that is unlovely. If we are put off by Him, as sometimes we are, it is because His perfect light exposes the flaws in us--we think for all to see. However, Christ is altogether lovely in this as well, for more often than not, our own unloveliness is for ourselves alone--it is not shared nor bruited about nor a cause for rejoicing or ridicule. Christ, in His loveliness, holds up a mirror to us and asks us to transcend it and to reflect Him instead.

Jesus is without taint of unloveliness. He is perfect and holy, and in His perfect holiness He is not boastful nor self-righteous. He is perfectly hospitable, inviting everyone to share at His table and to rejoice in the triumphs of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is unquestionably welcoming to all who give their hearts to Him, who subsume their fleshly heart in His divine heart.

Jesus is altogether lovely and altogether loving. His love makes us lovable and worthy of love. His compassionate gaze transforms us completely. When we live at all times within that gaze, we become a new people, a people of tender heart and of great mercy.

Jesus Christ is altogether lovely and altogether worthy of everything we can muster in the way of love. Jesus Christ embraces us, loves us, nurtures us, protects us, and gathers us back to the Father.

Jesus is altogether lovely. And all of me, all of my thoughts, all of my goods, all of my feelings, everything I have and am is insufficient to praise His loveliness. Yet, it utter graciousness (and loveliness) He takes the little I offer, accepts it, perfects it and offers it with great Joy to the Father who loves me. And because of this, there is great joy in Heaven over me.

O my Jesus,
altogether lovely beyond words,
let the world breathe a little of your loveliness.
Let me be a vehicle of some small part
of your loveliness. May I decrease so the greater
part shines through. May I transmit
your perfection to all the world
through an unsullied pane of glass.

Let everything about me reflect your loveliness
and bless everyone who is near me today
with an experience of your loveliness.

My blessed Lord, transform me
into your eternal loveliness for the world.
Take what I am and mold it into what you would
have me be--because it must be as you are--
altogether lovely.

Amen.

Later: I note that I have commented upon this in somewhat less detail before; however, there is a litany of loveliness here. Amazing the way we return to certain lovely things.

After some fairly somber and serious poetry, it seemed time for a break, time for a bit of levity, even if Leigh Hunt didn't intend for it to be amusing:

Song of Fairies Robbing an Orchard
Leigh Hunt

We, the Fairies, blithe and antic,
Of dimensions not gigantic,
Though the moonshine mostly keep us,
Oft in orchards frisk and peep us.

Stolen sweets are always sweeter,
Stolen kisses much completer,
Stolen looks are nice in chapels,
Stolen, stolen, be your apples.

When to bed the world are bobbing,
Then's the time for orchard-robbing;
Yet the fruit were scarce worth peeling,
Were it not for stealing, stealing.

Leigh Hunt is the poet who gave us "Abou Ben Adhem" among other pieces. During his time, a well-reputed poet, now nearly forgotten.

Later: Ms. Moss notes that likely Hunt did intend for it to be amusing. It's always so difficult to tell--but given the general tenor of some other poems she is probably right.

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys and sufferings, all that this day may bring, be they good or bad: for the love of God, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for all the sins committed against the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Please remember:

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers

--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future
--Christine and Gordon who endure the burden of separation as they await news of a job that will allow them once again to be together
--the people of southern California who have lost their homes and family members
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Please add your own needs and intentions via the comment box.

“Search me O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Ps. 139.23,24)

Where have I sinned against charity in my thoughts about people today? Where have I dismissed someone with a label? Where have I cursed others without them knowing it? When did I talk about a person or a group in derogatory terms? Where have I failed to value a person as person?

Where did I meet and welcome my Lord today? How can I be more aware of my opportunities to meet Him? What further offering can I make of myself and my goods to further His kingdom on Earth? How can I be better prepared to receive Him?

From the sermons of John Flavel

from "Christ Altogether Lovely"
John Flavel

"Yes, He is altogether lovely." Song of Songs 5:16.

At the ninth verse of this chapter, you have a question put forth by the daughters of Jerusalem, "What is your beloved more than another beloved?" The spouse answers, "He is the chief among ten thousand." She then recounts many of the things she finds so excellent in her beloved and then concludes with these words that I have read: "Yes, he is altogether lovely."

The words set forth the transcendent loveliness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and naturally resolve themselves into three parts:

1. Who he is.

2. What he is.

3. What he is like.

First, Who he is: the Lord Jesus Christ, after whom she had been seeking, for whom she was overcome by love; concerning whom these daughters of Jerusalem had enquired: whom she had struggled to describe in his particular excellencies. He is the great and excellent subject of whom she here speaks.

Secondly, What he is, or what she claims of him: That he is a lovely one. The Hebrew word, which is often translated "desires," means "to earnestly desire, covet, or long after that which is most pleasant, graceful, delectable and admirable." The original word is both in the abstract, and plural in number, which says that Christ is the very essence of all delights and pleasures, the very soul and substance of them. As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is the meeting-place of all the waters in the world, so Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet.

Thirdly, What he is like: He is altogether lovely, the every part to be desired. He is lovely when taken together, and in every part; as if she had said, "Look on him in what respect or particular you wish; cast your eye upon this lovely object, and view him any way, turn him in your serious thoughts which way you wish; consider his person, his offices, his works, or any other thing belonging to him; you will find him altogether lovely, There is nothing disagreeable in him, there is nothing lovely without him." Hence note,

DOCTRINE: That Jesus Christ is the loveliest person souls can set their eyes upon: "Thou art fairer than the children of men." Psalm 14:2.

The entire sermon can be found here. Erik will be delighted to encounter yet another Calvinist with a somewhat greater exposition of the some of the doctrinal infelicities of his ilk; however, what he has to say here is worth our attention.

Jesus Christ is altogether lovely. "Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet." This phrase alone is sufficient for several days of rewarding meditation and prayer. For one thing, do we really believe it? Next, do we act upon that belief? Do we let others know about the storehouse of all that is worthy? If not, how can we do so better? Is Jesus really altogether lovely in our lives. That is, does He take up the greater portion of our time? Do we love Him as though He were altogether lovely? Is He for us the "pearl of great price?" Would we surrender all the material things of the world to Him, surrender our attachment to them and cleave only unto Him? If not, how do we say that He is altogether lovely?

On this day when we honor and pray for those who have gone before us, spend some time seeing them in the embrace of light and loveliness who is Jesus Christ. Be open to their prayers for you and let Him in some small way transform your life.

I provide this link to a poem I wrote after my mother's death and I ask everyone in St. Blogs to remember her today in your own intentions for Mass, if she should need the prayers. Thank you.

Sorry, just one other that gives a sense of the other side of things. Another poem written in memoriam.

from "Lycidas"
John MIlton

Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more,
For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead,
Sunk though he be beneath the wat'ry floor;
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,
And yet anon repairs his drooping head,
And tricks his beams, and with new spangled ore
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky:
So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high
Through the dear might of him that walk'd the waves;
Where, other groves and other streams along,
With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves,
And hears the unexpressive nuptial song,
In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love.
There entertain him all the Saints above,
In solemn troops, and sweet societies,
That sing, and singing in their glory move,
And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes.
Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more:
Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore,
In thy large recompense, and shalt be good
To all that wander in that perilous flood.

From Tennyson's lengthy cycle trying to cope with the loss of a dear friend. Tennyson himself says of it that it is:

"a poem, not a biography .... The different moods of sorrow as in a drama are dramatically given, and my conviction that fear, doubts, and suffering will find answer and relief only through Faith in a God of Love. `I' is not always the author speaking of himself, but the voice of the human race speaking through him."

from In Memoriam--A.H.H. Obiit MDCCCXXXIII #54
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Oh, yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final end of ill,
To pangs of nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;

That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That not one life shall be destroy'd,
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete;

That not a worm is cloven in vain;
That not a moth with vain desire
Is shrivell'd in a fruitless fire,
Or but subserves another's gain.

Behold, we know not anything;
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last--far off--at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.

So runs my dream: but what am I?
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.

Find a formal prayer for each of seven days here

Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, one God in three Persons, I firmly believe that You are here present; I adore You with the most profound humility; I praise You and give You thanks with all my heart for the favors You have bestowed on me. Your Goodness has brought me safely to the beginning of this day. Behold, O Lord, I offer You my whole being and in particular all my thoughts, words and actions, together with such crosses and contradictions as I may meet with in the course of this day. Give them, O Lord, Your blessing; may Your divine Love --animate them and may they tend to the greater honor and glory of Your Sovereign Majesty. Amen.

Please remember:

--the poor souls in purgatory
--all of those departed souls close to any member of St. Blogs who still are in need of our prayers

--Dylan as he is feeling greatly dejected and concerned about the future.
--the people of southern California who have lost their homes and family members
--Ms Schiavo and her family
--the men and women of the American Armed forces
--the homeless, the lonely, and those without recourse in this world
--the intentions of the Holy Father

Please add your own needs and intentions via the comment box.

from Parochial and Plain Sermons Number 32 "Use of Saints' Days"
John Henry Cardinal Newman

I have not yet mentioned the peculiar benefit to be derived from the observance of Saints' days: which obviously lies in their setting before the mind patterns of excellence for us to follow. In directing us to these, the Church does but fulfil the design of Scripture. Consider how great a part of the Bible is historical; and how much of the history is merely the lives of those men who were God's instruments in their respective ages. Some of them are no patterns for us, others show marks of the corruption under which human nature universally lies:—yet the chief of them are specimens of especial faith and sanctity, and are set before us with the evident intention of exciting and guiding us in our religions course. Such are, above others, Abraham, Joseph, Job, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and the like; and in the New Testament the Apostles and Evangelists. First of all, and in His own incommunicable glory, our Blessed Lord Himself gives us an example; but His faithful servants lead us on towards Him, and confirm and diversify His pattern. Now it has been the aim of our Church in her Saints' days to maintain the principle, and set a pattern, of this peculiarly Scriptural teaching.

It was fantabulously difficult to find a poem for All-Saints. Don't know why--I suppose I could have picked any individual Saint. Be that as it may, this hymn came up in the course of search and I thought it wonderful.

Hymn
Alexander Pope

Thou art my God, sole object of my love;
Not for the hope of endless joys above;
Not for the fear of endless pains below,
Which they who love thee not must undergo.
For me, and such as me, thou deign'st to bear
An ignominious cross, the nails, the spear:
A thorny crown transpierced thy sacred brow,
While bloody sweats from every member flow.
For me in tortures thou resign'st thy breath,
Embraced me on the cross, and saved me by thy death.
And can these sufferings fail my heart to move?
What but thyself can now deserve my love?
Such as then was, and is, thy love to me,
Such is, and shall be still, my love to thee--
To thee, Redeemer! mercy's sacred spring!
My God, my Father, Maker, and my King!

Today is the Carmelite meeting, followed closely by a celebratory luncheon for my wife, overlapping with a celebration of the second issue of the local historical society's publication (this time I have some poetry being published rather than acting as editor). A full and wonderful day.