"Beloved, we are God's children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed. " 1 John 2:32(?)
And why does it matter?
Think about how much you love your own children. Think about how your heart melts when they ask forgiveness. And now turn that to the true majesty who is Lord and Creator of All. We are dim reflections of His glory. So what is true for us is more true of Him.
Remembering who we are is a wonderful way to embark on a new year. Let us recall and place ourselves under His headship. He is Lord, Creator, Master of all, and Father whose heart breaks with love.
A trying day, and then it shall be over:(by the way, read that as a hopeful statement, not a threat).
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.
Give thanks to God, for He is good, His love endures forever.
Prayers:
For Franklin's father, Bill, who is more seriously ill than had been previously thought. For his family that they are all able to cope with these circumstances.
For me as I deal with a very difficult anniversary.
For Karen Marie Knapp as she recovers from her recent hospitalization.
For the men and women of the American Armed forces who will not be able to spend this holiday season with their families, that this may nevertheless be a season of "comfort and joy" beyond their greatest expectations.
Special Prayer Projects:
(1) Chris Keith, the young lady whose biopsy went poorly got the results of that biopsy--carcinoma of the liver. The cancer is metastatic from colon cancer. Surgery has taken place to treat the colon cancer.
I paraphrase her mother:
"We [members of the family] are standing on the Rock and are rock solid. We are all okay and we are looking for a few prayer warriors to help us in this battle." Because this mother means so much to me for the great good she has done for my friends, I plan to stand with her and her family in this battle, and I invite you all to join me. Expect to hear about this on and off over the next few months.
(2) For Katherine's Mom as she undergoes chemotherapy--that the treatment is successful and her mother comes through this ordeal with a deeper sense of God's abiding love for her.
(3) For Katherine and Franklin, Christine and Gordon, Janet and Louis, and for all who are seeking employment and suffering through difficult times as they wait.
(4) From Davey's Mom: I am with child once again and could use prayers for a healthy pregnancy.
I welcome the addition of other requests via the comment box. Thank you for keeping this poor Carmelite employed.
I have an awful habit of purchasing large numbers of prayer books. I don't buy them to actually use the prayers qua prayers, but because many of the prayers are a fruitful beginning to a period of time with the Lord.
Well today I bought another such book for two reasons--it was already incredibly cheap and marked 50% off even the cheap price. And the following prayer struck me right to the heart. I thought the book worth it, even if there were nothing else between the two covers.
New Friends
Lord, today you have made us known
to friends we did not know,
and you have given us seats in homes
which are not our own.
You have brought the distant near,
and made a brother of a stranger,
Forgive us Lord. . .
we did not introduce you.A Polynesian Prayer
How many opporntunities do we overlook? How many chances do we miss to introduce Him whom we supposedly love to people who have no knowledge of Him? What a wonderful reminder to usher in the new year. In the everyday things of life, in every moment of quiet in every introduction, there should be three involved--you, the new person, and the Lord.
Oh, and just in case you wondered--that wasn't the end of the treasures:
Overcoming Separation
My God and my Lord:
eyes are at rest, the stars are setting,
hushed are the movements of birds in their nests,
of monsters in the deep.And you are the just who knows no change,
the Equity that does not swerve,
the Everlasting that never passes away.The doors of kings are locked
and guarded by their henchmen.
But your door is open to those who call upon you.
My Lord, each lover is now alone with his beloved.
And I am alone with you.Rabi'ah al--Adawiyah,(717-801) India
By the way, if you're interested, the book is called The Bridge of Stars and I found it on the remainered shelves at Barnes and Noble.
Sir Philip Sidney's The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
And a complete on-line Translation of Goethe's Faust
And here you will find a plethora of on-line works including:
Translations of some of the Poetry of Fredrico Garcia Lorca, Osip Mandelstahm, Rainer Maria Rilke (including the Dunio Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus, Petrarch, Leopardi, Baudelaire, Catullus, The Homeric Odes, Chaucer, Sidney, a new Translation of Racine's Phaedra, Cyrano de Bergerac, Aucassin and Nicolette, Verlaine, Apollinaire and others.
And at This site translations of Ovid and others including some interesting rhyming translations of Tang Dynasty Poets.
I found the translation of Baudelaire's extraordinarily difficult poem "Les Correspondences" very nice indeed.
And consider for a moment the notion of this venture--free on-line translations/texts. What a great way to start the New Year.
I might also suggest sampling the poet's original work. Some of it is appealing.
Give thanks to God, for He is good, His love endures forever.
Prayers:
For Franklin's father who is more seriously ill than had been previously thought.
For Karen Marie Knapp as she recovers from her recent hospitalization.
For the men and women of the American Armed forces who will not be able to spend this holiday season with their families, that this may nevertheless be a season of "comfort and joy" beyond their greatest expectations.
Special Prayer Projects:
(1) Chris Keith, the young lady whose biopsy went poorly got the results of that biopsy--carcinoma of the liver. The cancer is metastatic from colon cancer. Surgery has taken place to treat the colon cancer.
I paraphrase her mother:
"We [members of the family] are standing on the Rock and are rock solid. We are all okay and we are looking for a few prayer warriors to help us in this battle." Because this mother means so much to me for the great good she has done for my friends, I plan to stand with her and her family in this battle, and I invite you all to join me. Expect to hear about this on and off over the next few months.
(2) For Katherine's Mom as she undergoes chemotherapy--that the treatment is successful and her mother comes through this ordeal with a deeper sense of God's abiding love for her.
(3) For Katherine and Franklin, Christine and Gordon, Janet and Louis, and for all who are seeking employment and suffering through difficult times as they wait.
(4) From Davey's Mom: I am with child once again and could use prayers for a healthy pregnancy.
I welcome the addition of other requests via the comment box. Thank you for keeping this poor Carmelite employed.
Give thanks to God, for He is good, His love endures forever.
Prayers:
Please pray for me as I struggle with what I think may be remnants of SAD (not nearly so bad as it was in Ohio). I'm waking to tremendous, unnecessary anxiety and have free-floating anxiety through the day. It will pass with the return to work after the New Year, but it is terrible right now.
For Franklin's father that doctors are able to repair the damage to his back.
For Karen Marie Knapp as she recovers from her recent hospitalization.
For all the people who will get back into a church because of Christmas, to be inspired to come back to the Church
For the men and women of the American Armed forces who will not be able to spend this holiday season with their families, that this may nevertheless be a season of "comfort and joy" beyond their greatest expectations.
For Jane, Janet, Shirley, and for all for whom this season of the Nativity is a time of hardship and difficulty because of the pain of the past.
Special Prayer Projects:
(1) Chris Keith, the young lady whose biopsy went poorly got the results of that biopsy--carcinoma of the liver. The cancer is metastatic from colon cancer. Surgery has taken place to treat the colon cancer.
I paraphrase her mother:
"We [members of the family] are standing on the Rock and are rock solid. We are all okay and we are looking for a few prayer warriors to help us in this battle." Because this mother means so much to me for the great good she has done for my friends, I plan to stand with her and her family in this battle, and I invite you all to join me. Expect to hear about this on and off over the next few months.
(2) For Katherine's Mom as she undergoes chemotherapy--that the treatment is successful and her mother comes through this ordeal with a deeper sense of God's abiding love for her.
(3) For Katherine and Franklin, Christine and Gordon, Janet and Louis, and for all who are seeking employment and suffering through difficult times as they wait.
(4) From Davey's Mom: I am with child once again and could use prayers for a healthy pregnancy.
I welcome the addition of other requests via the comment box. Thank you for keeping this poor Carmelite employed.
Went back to the church in question this weekend. Once again the homily was superb. No adult female altar servers--so I suspect the caution about incense was the main cause for the Midnight Mass adult female, and somehow that endears this group to me.
The hymns were mangled once again, but mangled in such a way that it suggests more than inclusivity is going on. There is a general dumbing down of the lyrics. For example, in "Angels from the Realms of Glory" they substituted "morning star" for "natal star." This just suggests idiotic tampering that I've come to associate with a certain major liturgical press. As a congregation generally buys books once, and not necessarily on the niceties of the lyrics, one is inclined to over look this.
In response to Don below, absolutely no mangling of the readings occurred this morning. The Psalm setting was exactly as it should have been and so too were all the readings. Another point in favor.
Nevertheless, we still have certain outstanding problems. Music provided this morning was duet for New Age keyboard and Saxophone with Cantor (okay, so a diverse group is contributing to the Church's music ministry). And the stained glass is ill-considered. Rather than pedagogical or inspirational, it is merely pretty blue, purple, red with a musical instrument motif--lute, French horn, etc.
I cam live with all of these quibbles. I can thrive in this church with the resolution of two questions, neither of which involves me directly.
(1) The first thing Samuel asked when we entered this Church this morning was "Why is Jesus dancing up there?" However, I did note that there seemed to be more willingness to participate and more general involvement with what is going on--so the issue of decor may be easy to put to rest.
(2) Much more problematic is that I don't see any organized catechesis for children. I know that I can do this by myself, and I will supplement whatever he gets wherever he goes with material at home. However, I do think it is good for him to be with others in learning about the faith--from the very beginnings understanding that worship is both private and public, individual and communal. I hope I am mistaken, but it appeared that there was no real means (CCD or otherwise) of cathechizing children. And if the comment I heard from the pew behind me just prior to consecration is any indication, this is a Church that desperately needs it.
A woman was explaining to her child or grandchild what the priest was holding up (the large host). She started with "That's Jesus." Good enough. Then the child said, "It doesn't look like Jesus." And the woman responded, "Well it's just a symbol of Jesus." Yes it is a symbol, but it is not "just a symbol" and in a moment it would not be a symbol at all--it would become the reality of Jesus.
However, this, I'm sure is the state of many in Church today, so I shouldn't be so harsh. And this woman could not possibly have been catechized at this Church, so it is not the influence of the Church itself.
I'll just need to continue my investigations. I thank everyone who has taken the time to respond and to help my thought process. The reality will boil down to what this church offers in the way of assisting me to help my child understand the faith. Everything else, I can deal with. It conjures up memories and spectres of the bad-old-days of protestant-Catholicism that marked my entry into the Church. But perhaps it is time much of that is laid to rest.
Honestly, I suspect the only local Church that I would be truly happy at would be the Byzantine Rite Church that looks like a Baptist Church that had been taken over by the Byzantines. I haven't tried the Maronite Rite Church yet--and the pastor there is fantastic--a man of tremendous faith and spirituality. But most importantly I need to find a place where Samuel can grow and become the person in Christ he is meant to be.
Give thanks to God, for He is good, His love endures forever.
Prayers:
For Karen Marie Knapp as she recovers from her recent hospitalization.
For all the people who will get back into a church because of Christmas, to be inspired to come back to the Church
For the men and women of the American Armed forces who will not be able to spend this holiday season with their families, that this may nevertheless be a season of "comfort and joy" beyond their greatest expectations.
For Jane, Janet, Shirley, and for all for whom this season of the Nativity is a time of hardship and difficulty because of the pain of the past.
Special Prayer Projects:
(1) Chris Keith, the young lady whose biopsy went poorly got the results of that biopsy--carcinoma of the liver. The cancer is metastatic from colon cancer. Surgery has taken place to treat the colon cancer.
I paraphrase her mother:
"We [members of the family] are standing on the Rock and are rock solid. We are all okay and we are looking for a few prayer warriors to help us in this battle." Because this mother means so much to me for the great good she has done for my friends, I plan to stand with her and her family in this battle, and I invite you all to join me. Expect to hear about this on and off over the next few months.
(2) For Katherine's Mom as she undergoes chemotherapy--that the treatment is successful and her mother comes through this ordeal with a deeper sense of God's abiding love for her.
(3) For Katherine and Franklin, Christine and Gordon, Janet and Louis, and for all who are seeking employment and suffering through difficult times as they wait.
(4) From Davey's Mom: I am with child once again and could use prayers for a healthy pregnancy.
I welcome the addition of other requests via the comment box. Thank you for keeping this poor Carmelite employed.