Advent warnings

The collect for today, the second Sunday of Advent, speaks of warnings:

"Give us grace to heed their [the prophets] warnings ..." (BCP, Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent)

We (all of us?) are not very good at heeding these kinds of warnings.  For many people, I suspect, the word "warning" does not mean anything at all; it does not even register.  For some others, it causes a slight twinge of embarrassment, for even fewer, a vague feeling of guilt.

Thomas Cranmer from Wikimedia Commons

I am reminded of some striking words from the Homilies of Thomas Cranmer:

"But when he withdraweth from vs his Word, the right doctrine of Christ, his gracious assistance and ayde (which is euer ioyned to his word) and leauth vs to our own wit, our owne will and strength: he declareth then, that he beginneth to forsake vs." from the "Homily on the Declining from God," from Homilies by Thomas Cranmer, Oxford City Press, 2010 with preface from 1562.

First the wrath; then the turning away, the hiding of the face.  I have underlined a rather significant phrase from Archbishop Cranmer.  How deaf to warnings are we now that we consider these things (our own wit, will, and strength) to be virtues and not vain, and even damning illusions.

John of Damascus

Today the church remembers John of Damascus (676-749), a Syrian polymath who served under a Muslim caliph.

John of Damascus from Wikimedia Commons

I also wanted to point out that tonight is the fourth night of Hanukkah, so the four candles should be lit (well, technically five).  This is an interesting evening - halfway between darkness and light.

John of Damascus was also associated with writings about the Assumption of Mary and the defense of iconography.

As you wait in Advent, think, meditate, study.  And read 2 Maccabees.

The first week in Advent

This is the first time I have done this to my recollection, but this really is a nice, quiet reflection on Advent by Archbishop Williams:

ABC's Commentary on Advent

Somehow it seems quite consistent with this morning's New Testament reading from 1 Thessalonians:

"And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands..." (1 Thess 4:11)

You, O Lord, are my lamp

From Psalm 18:

"You, O Lord, are my lamp; my God you make my darkness bright." (Psalm 18:29)

St Mary's Episcopal, Memphis, TN

Little Gidding

Today is the day the church recognizes Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon (1637).  My understanding is that Nicholas Ferrar felt a calling to return to England and found something of an abandoned village.  He lived there with his family.  I have read that there was always someone in his family at prayer.

Little Gidding Church from Wikimedia Commons

And yes, this is the same Little Gidding that is the subject of No. 4 of the Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot.

Bring your brother

Today the church celebrates the Feast of Saint Andrew.  The symbol of Saint Andrew is the saltire, a traverse cross, or simply Saint Andrews' cross.  There is also a spider with this name.

Image from Wikimedia Commons, Saint Andrews Cross.

The appointed Gospel for Evening Prayer on Saint Andrews' recounts how Andrew, having heard John declare that Jesus was the Lamb of God, brought his brother Simon Peter to meet Jesus, saying:

"...We have found the Messias..." John 1:41

Yes, that's the same Peter (stone) upon which the church was built.

Remember to bring your brother.

The answer revealed?

Sometimes I have puzzled over statements, especially in the Gospels, that seem to be purposefully obscure.  Jesus seems downright difficult at times, frustrating his critics and sometimes his followers, too.  For example, in today's Gospel reading from Saint Luke, Jesus turns away the scribes with an abrupt dismissal after a tangled discourse about authority.

"...neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." (St. Luke 20:14)

 For years I treated that as the end of the story.  Maybe it is.  Maybe it isn't.  Immediately following this Saint Luke says "Then he began to speak to the people this parable..."  He turns away the scribes and speaks to the "people."  (Will either party understand him?  Do we?)  What follows of course is the parable of the vineyard.  Here is the answer!  Jesus is the Christ sent by the Lord God to the sinful husbandmen.  Jesus is explaining to everyone what is happening to them in the context of history (God's plan) at that very moment; He is summarizing history; He is expressing the outcome of history.

"Bull of Saint Luke" from the Eglise Saints-Pierre-et-Paul, Rosheim, from Wikimedia Commons used with Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

We do not trust in our own righteousness - Advent I

On this first Sunday of Advent, 2011, I would like to call your attention to Archbishop Cranmer's collect for the day:

"Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility..."  BCP, Collect for First Advent

The homilist this morning reminded us that we can only go so far in putting on this new garment ourselves.  And that's not very far.  This is so difficult to remember.  We must stop struggling and allow the Lord to put this garment on us. This is what St Paul tells us:

"Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light...and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." (Romans 13:13-14)

All familiar words and themes: humility, light and dark, putting away of self, putting on Christ.

How to regard the other

At this conclusion of the liturgical year, the reading from Philippians presents us with words that would seem to be not too difficult on the surface, but what if we truly carried this out?

"...in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." (Philippians 2:3)

Is this a particular aspect of the commandment (law) to love one's neighbor?

Olivet

Only one more day after today in the liturgical year.  We have observed the feast of Christ the King, a feast I'm told was begun by Pope Pius XI in 1925 to emphasize the culmination of the Christian year and the Christian hope.  We listen to the prophet Zechariah talk about the coming of Christ:

"And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives..." (Zechariah 14:4)

 A little research informs me that tradition says that the prophet himself is in the tombs of Mount Olive, perhaps in one similar to that in the image, Tombs of Zkharia and of the Hezir family from Wikimedia Commons.

Words

Imagine the "words" that must have been spoken by Judas Barsabas and Silas at Antioch:

"And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words..." (Acts 15:32)

Silas, Apostle from Wikimedia Commons.

The human condition and its salvation in light and darkness

The readings from Job are relentless and vast in their articulation of the human condition.  "And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me." (Job 30:16).  And consider how Job takes up the theme of light and darkness:

"When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness." (Job 30:26)

The Psalmist addresses this point:

"If I say, surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night," darkness is not dark to thee, O Lord; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light are both alike." (Psalm 139:10,11)

And from the Gospel of John:

"Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12)

Image of the Dividing of Light from Darkness, Sistine Chapel fresco, Michelangelo from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

A light of the Gentiles

The appointed New Testament reading today is from the Acts of the Apostles wherein Paul and Barnabas were preaching at Antioch:

"...I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." (Acts 13:47)

Look at the light in this rose window from the church of the Ebrach Abbey in Bavaria - this just happens to be the picture of the day from Wikimedia Commons, and understandably so.

We are blessed

It is a little tempting to review the beautiful and simple homily from the preaching at the Rite I mass this morning - the meaning of the book of Philemon, practical examples of how to live a Christian life: The example of "radical reconciliation" (Saint Paul); the example of "radical trust" (Onesimus); and the example of "radical grace" (Philemon).

However, the Psalms, as always, provide the overarching theme for the day:

"But the merciful goodness of the Lord endures for ever on those who fear him..." (Psalm 103:17)

David between Wisdom and the Prophets, from Wikimedia Commons.

Another well known phrase - something of a diversion

It is remarkable to note how many of our common phrases and ideas come from the books of the Bible.  For example, from today's Psalm:

"Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:6)

 Morning glories from Wikimedia Commons.

Skin of your teeth

The phrase so familiar to us, "the skin of my teeth," seems to originate with the trials of Job:

"My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth." (Job 19:2)

Image of Job from the Salisbury Cathedral from Wikimedia Commons.

Day and night

The narrative is breathtaking if you think about it.  Jesus passes a blind man; the presence of this blind man invokes a theological discussion with Jesus and his disciples over sin; Jesus rapidly moves through the issue of local culpability (the man or his parents), dismisses it; then in a sudden, startling, revealing burst of truth declares that this situation, this confluence of circumstances is intended for the purpose of making "manifest" the "works of God!"  It does not stop there, but continues with the charged and urgent declaration of the significance of time:

"I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." (John 9:4)

And then - he cures the blind man!

Dusk in Herzliya, Israel, from Wikimedia Commons.

The Devil's Mousetrap

Job asks a fervent, but leading question:

"If a man die, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14)

 Although I am perhaps guilty of taking things slightly out of context, I cannot help but make the connections I see within the day.  I read in Os Guiness, The Last Christian on Earth, of a reference to St Augustine referring to the cross of the Lord as the Devil's Mousetrap (Sermo 130.2).  And of course the answer (not entirely to Job's point) - yes...and it caught the Devil in the bargain.

Image of a mousetrap from Jacob Cats' Emblems, from Wikimedia Commons, complete with moral and scripture references!

A puff of wind

When I read this beautiful Psalm, Dixi, Custodian, I think of my days studying physical anthropology and homo erectus:

"truly, even those who stand erect are but a puff of wind." (Psalm 39:6)

The Psalmist continues "we heap up riches and cannot tell who will gather them."

No, I do not intend to be gloomy.  There is a comfort in knowing that the Psalms account for our existence, that Scripture has this unmistakeable knowledge of who we are.

Image of homo erectus tautavelensis from Wikimedia Commons.

How we deal with the Truth

Today, the church recognizes the beheading of John the Baptist.  We read in Saint Mark, Chapter 6, the account.

Rembrandt, from Wikimedia Commons, The Beheading of John the Baptist, provides for us the light and dark, the human faces, the passion, the arc of history, the hatred.

Augustine of Hippo characterized it this way in a homily: "...a cruel dispatch, like that of a beast, through hatred of the truth..." (from Monastic Breviary, Matins According to the Rule of Saint Benedict, Society of the Sacred Cross).

Pride, Social Equality and the Condition of Man

From my homilist today, a commentary on the Preacher's canonical subject: pride. What is the cause of our constant bickering about equality (or equity or covetousness or any one of a number of social inventions) from social justice to social preening to entrepreneurship to warfare?

"The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its Maker." (Ecclesiasticus 10:12)

Illustration from Wikimedia Commons: Illustration des Bibelspruchs aus Jesus Sirach 25, 17.


When we compare ourselves to one another yes, perhaps there are distinctions.  When we compare ourselves to God Almighty, the distinctions blur into dust and ashes.


Let us apply our hearts unto wisdom and not withdraw them from our Maker.

Blessed Augustine of Hippo

It is not difficult to find something completely relevant to contemporary life in the text of Augustine; oftentimes, alarmingly relevant.  Today, on the feast day of Saint Augustine, I offer the following from the Confessions (text from Oxford University Press, www.oup.com, Henry Chadwick translation):

"In this immense jungle full of traps and dangers, see how many I have cut out and expelled from my heart, as you have granted me to do, God of my salvation (Ps 17:47; 37:23).  Nevertheless, when so many things of this kind surround our daily life on every side with a buzz of distraction..." From Confessions, Book X (Memory), 56.

Illustration of Augustine from a 6th century fresco, Lateran, Rome - Wikimedia Commons.

Consider how this "buzz of distraction" encircles our lives and let us ask the God of our salvation to grant that we may cut out and expel from our hearts these traps and dangers.

Living Water

What an extraordinary and curiously perplexing claim is "living water."  Jesus declares this in the midst of a Pharisee inquiry:

"...If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." (John 7:37)

Illustration from the Bowyer Bible by Jan Luyken, from Wikimedia Commons.

Corollary of Saint Paul

Or is Saint Paul's statement (About Ourselves) a corollary of Job?  This is another ingenious encapsulation of the human condition; a variation on the theme of humanity.

"If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall prove me perverse." (Job 9:20)

Illustration from Wikimedia Commons, Blaubeuren Chorgestühl Hiob, 1493.

A weaver's shuttle

Job, in his reply to Eliphaz, describes his nightly misery, familiar to many of us:

"When I lie down...I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day." (Job 7:4)

 And further Job sharpens his very accurate descriptions of life as a human:

"My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope." (Job 7:6)

 Consider the beautiful weaver's shuttle and the beauty it assists in producing at the very hands of the suffering human.


Illustration of weaver's shuttles from Wikimedia Commons, Väv, Skyttlar.

Handmade coats and garments

Imagine the legacy of the woman Dorcas, known for her skillful construction of clothing, and to have this recorded in Holy Scripture!

"...all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them." (Acts 9:39)

How beautiful to be remembered for such a skill!  This is a wonderful legacy.  We should all aspire to something as pure, noble, and simple.  Think of the example of Dorcas.  Think of the presence of the Lord, the ever constant reality.








Illustration, Raising of Tabitha, by Masolino da Panicale from Wikimedia Commons.

The Promise of a Full Life (Well...Job's version)

Chapter 5 of the Book of Job tells us from the beginning that "...man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." (Job 5:7), but Job also learns that he has a promise of a full and complete life:

"Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season." (Job 5:26)

God is good to his promise.  When you see corn shocks, think of Job.  Think of God's promise to you.








From Wikimedia Commons, Corn Shocks from Forestville, Minnesota.

Returning from a deep sleep - what is in a deep sleep?

We read in Job of what has forever vexed us: thoughts in the night.

"In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men..." Job 4:13

from Wikimedia Commons, Schedelsche Weltchronik, 1493.








Curiously, and speaking to our own experience, the author continues that "it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof..." (Job 4:16)

Esse est percipi

I've thought of many topics since pausing for a few days.  I've had plans.  My mind has worked through many possibilities, none of which are complete.  For some reason, I have thought of the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkley, author of Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge.  Esse est percipi, he said, to be is to be perceived.

In the absence of anyone reading my blog, does it exist?

Many things have happened that I should have told you about.  For example, today was Martha and Mary Sunday: what is truly "needful"?  Are you distracted?

One of the most wonderful descriptions of the monastic life, especially the Benedictine order was given on the Solemnity of St. Benedict: http://chicagomonk.org/mp3/benedict_10_brendan.mp3
You should all listen to this delightful homily.

I am considering a new format - it probably won't happen, but I'm considering it nonetheless.  Perhaps a weekly format with special topics to be drawn from the topics list which I will change at my prerogative - or more hopefully with your input.

Illustration from Wikimedia Commons, First Edition of Berkley's Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge.

A milestone

Yesterday was my 100th post.  I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about this endeavor.  I have been considering taking a break for a few days or weeks.  I may do that.  I had hoped for more of a dialog with you, but maybe that dialog is a different kind of dialog, taking years not the evil microseconds of the internet.

So consider again today a blessing.

"May your barns be filled to overflowing with all manner of crops..." (Psalm 144:14)

Barn in Greene County, Indiana from Wikimedia Commons

The Plowman in the Psalms

Perhaps it's because it has just been announced that the United States has a new poet laureate, W.S. Merwin, that my mind once again turns to the poetry of the Psalms.  Today's Evening Prayer psalter reading is a beautiful example:

"Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon [ploweth and cleaveth] the earth." Psalm 141: 7

Plügende Ochsen by Rudolf Koller, from Wikimedia Commons.

What the Lord hath spoken

Balaam summarizes for Balak the words that the Lord spoke to Balaam in this continuing, somewhat peculiar, chain of communication between the Lord, an angel, Balak, Balaam, the people of Israel, and an ass.  These are words that encapsulate great theology:

"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19)

Balaam blessing the Israelites, from Wikimedia Commons.

More about ourselves

What is it that makes us who we are and act the way we do?  Is it the particulars of our physical nature - our genetics and brain structure?  Is it our environment?  Nature and nurture are two aspects of a tired, old line of human inquiry.  Saint Paul famously writes of another dimension to the problem:

"For that which I do I allow [know] not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." (Romans 7:15)

Paul of Tarsus by Rembrandt (1606 - 1669) from Wikimedia Commons

Can we, in our present condition, overcome this?  Does this mean we should stop trying?  Consider what this means as science discovers more and more about the deep contradictions of our human nature.  It is part of who we are to continue to try to control this dilemma, to control both nature and nurture.  Will it one day succeed or is there something more fundamental at work - the fallen nature of humanity itself?

Uncomfortable words

We know the great "Comfortable Words" of scripture, e.g., "Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you." (Matthew 11:28).  Today's reading from the Book of Numbers is something of the opposite.  Balaam did not listen to God although God was quite clear (Some characters - who are they?).  God chose to speak to Balaam through a very novel means.  Completely perplexed and overwhelmed, Balaam finally listened.

"Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face." (Numbers 22:31)

Odd and uncomfortable to be sure.

Balaam and his Ass by Rembrant, from Wikimedia Commons.

Some characters - who are they?

The Israelites have defeated two kings before crossing the Jordan river: Sihon and Og.  Balak, king of Moab, is concerned that the same thing will happen to him.  He sends emissaries and attempts to enlist Balaam to curse Israel.

"And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed."  (Numbers 22: 12)

Think about the profound importance of blessings and curses and the meaning of human language.

Balaam Receiving Messangers from Balak (illustration from 1890 Holman Bible), source Wikimedia Commons.

Disappointment and its antidote

If you are a caring person, conscientious and kind, you will be disappointed in your own actions some days.  I have been told that one should be positive and recognize that one is doing the best that one can.  This is good advice.  I personally find it difficult to follow, although I try.  The truth is that there is no human remedy for this, despite our best intentions.  Hear the words of the Psalmist, though:

"The Lord upholds all those who fall; he lift up those who are bowed down." (Psalm 145:15)

The Lord understands our faltering nature.  If we do not respond in our failings and shortcomings with a stiff neck of rebellion, but with a contrite heart, He will lift us up.

The Psalmist David by Gustave Dore from Wikimedia Commons.

Sadness for God's rebellious people

The waters of Meribah poured forth out of the bitterness of rebellion.  Soon to follow would be the death of Aaron, the high priest.

The Death of Aaron by Tissot (1896-1902), from Wikimedia Commons.

Domine, exaudi

Psalm 102 remains for me the great Psalm that speaks the words that I am unable to speak.

"My days pass away like a shadow, and I wither like the grass." (Psalm 102:11)

 But yet I am given another day and so are you, my children.


Mudil Psalter (Coptic), from Wikimedia Commons

Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

It is midsummer.  The honey moon and Saint John's wort conspire to make us dream.  But the church celebrates the birth of Saint John.

"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me..." (Malachi 3:1)

As his father Zacharias said, "and thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest" (St Luke 1:76)

Happy Midsummer!

John the Baptist, from Wikimedia Commons.

Human limitations

Sometimes we tire.  Sometimes we see nothing but emptiness.  Sometimes we despair.

"My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation..." (Psalm 119:123)

 We strain to see, to believe, to sustain our selves by our own power.  Recall that we are blessed with the word of God, especially in the Psalter.  This Word is for us, for humanity, as we watch and wait in faith.







David Dictating the Psalms, from Wikimedia Commons.  From the Treasury of Saint-Denis, France.

The power of belief

I have made several allusions over the course of these few months about the importance or recognizing that the foundation of God's interaction with humanity and Christianity itself is grounded in historical fact.  This is something that should not be forgotten - not for a moment.  However, this is in a way just the beginning.  You must believe in the meaning of this history, this communication from God.  Abraham did.

"For what saith the scripture?  Abraham believed God..." (Romans 4:3)

Abraham Entertaining the Angels (Rembrandt) from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Perfection

Perfect.  Complete.  Saint Matthew relates the story of deeply sincere young man who understands the importance of being straightforward with Jesus.  He does not seem to be pretentious.  He is not obtuse.  He is ready to hear what responsibility he might bear.

"What good thing shall I do?" the young man asks.  Jesus has an answer:

"If thou wilt be perfect..." (Matthew 19:21)

We should rejoice that Jesus does not directly rebuke the young man in his desire to somehow earn "eternal life" but presents him with what may be a happy puzzle.  The young man in fact has the capacity to do as Jesus instructs - sell what he has and give to the poor.  But the young man is saddened.  He sees the problem.  One has the feeling that soon he will also see the solution.


Saint Matthew from Wikimedia Commons.

Some concepts - noumenon

You certainly know the term "phenomenon."  This word refers to that which is observable.  There is a contrasting term, "noumenon."  Noumenon sometimes refers to that which is not observable.  Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804) used this term to mean the "thing-in-itself" (or in the German, Ding an sich).

Why is this important?  It is a fascinating and critical key to much of post-Enlightenment Western philosophy.  Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980), for example, rejected the idea of the noumenon.  So have others. Many in our own contemporary culture also reject this idea - dismissing it as something completely incompatible with our way of life.  My suspicion is that most physical scientists reject the idea - certainly in favor of "phenomenon" - that which can be observed.  I have heard it recently said, however, that perhaps noumenon was once historically manifest as phenomenon.  That historical event would of course be the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I may return to these words and ideas in time.


Portrait of Immanuel Kant, from Wikimedia Commons.

Saturday diversion with Murdoch

Reading Iris Murdoch this past week, as I sometimes do, I ran across the following moral assertion:

"As the world runs, evil soon makes tools out of those who don't hate it."  From her novel, The Unofficial Rose.

It's not entirely clear from Murdoch's text if the antecedent is the "world" or "evil" itself.   It's an interesting statement either way, but I choose to interpret it as "evil" that one must hate.  There can be no middle ground.

Ophelia Hybrid Tea rose from Wikimedia Commons.

A plain statement

From today's Psalm, Domine, Deus:

"For I am full of trouble..." (Psalm 88)

No, nothing new or special.  This is every day.  This is true for good days and for bad days.

God upholds Moses

Miriam and Aaron confront Moses about his marriage to a Cushite woman.  God Himself directly intervenes in this dialog and declares of Moses:

"With him I will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches..." (Numbers 12:8)

From Wikimedia Commons, Moses Confronted by Miriam and Aaron (10th century)

Moses is described as being meek.  One wonders if Moses continued to be reluctant in his role and weary of the constant stresses of his responsibilities.

A Wednesday diversion with Chekhov

What is sufficient?  The character is Chekhov's story "In Exile" thinks very little is sufficient.

"...I can sleep naked on the ground and eat grass.  God give such a life to everybody.  I want nothing."

 Indeed, God give such a life to everybody.










Photograph of Anton Chekhov (c. 1904) from Wikimedia commons - Anton Chekhov.  Quotation from "In Exile" from Modern Library edition (1959) of "The Short Stories of Anton Chekhov".

What a menu

Is what God has provided not sufficient?

We desire what we cannot have or perhaps should not have...even though manna ("...as coriander, and the colour thereof the colour as the colour bdellium") is more than sufficient.

"We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick..." (Numbers 11:5)

However, it is hard not to "remember" along with Israel, the fish, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, garlic... There is surely nothing "wrong" with these ingredients.  What wonderful simplicity and beauty.  O Lord, have mercy on our simple hearts.


Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The cloud upon the tabernacle

When the cloud rested, the people stayed.  When the cloud moved, the people moved.

"And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the Lord they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the Lord they journeyed." (Numbers 9:20)

Can you imagine such a God-focused culture?  How inconvenient this must have been.

  Tabernacle from Wikimedia Commons.

Much is given to you

Today my homilist preached from Saint Luke about forgiveness of sins (Luke 7:36-50) noting that we cannot pay our debt of sin regardless of how large or small our self-assessment might be (and for whatever a self-assessment might be worth).  Fifty denarii or five hundred denarii.  It doesn't matter.  I was also struck, though, by the first two readings from second Samuel (2 Samuel 11:26 - 12:10, 13-15) in which David is convicted by God (through Nathan) of his sin; and Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (Galatians 2:11-21) in which Cephas is described as being "self-condemned."  There is a remarkable continuity between these readings regarding the condition of the sinner to convict himself.  Now consider this in light of the Evening Prayer reading from Luke:

"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required..." (Luke 13:48)

 Der Evangelist Lukas from Wikipedia Commons, Meister der Fuldaer Schule, c 840.

We have been given much if we have "heard" the Word of God.  We have even more if we have understood the facts and have no intellectual reason to deny those facts.  Finally, we convict ourselves if we refuse the work of the Holy Spirit in giving us faith.

Taking a break

Marker1662 will be taking a break for an indefinite period of time.  Maybe a day or so, maybe longer.

Image from Wikimedia Commons.

May God bless all of you.

Practical Advice

Since we have been in the mode of Ecclesiastes, with a little English literature thrown in, offering "good advice" and ignoring theology for a few days, maybe just one more day of the same.  Well, not quite.  This is good, practical advice with theology all at the same time.  I credit my homilist who interrupted the regularly scheduled lectionary topic for some practical advice, perhaps urgent practical advice.  Having spent some time at the side of a hospital bed of a parishioner who was unable to read or communicate verbally, the priest attempted to teach the parishioner the so-called "Jesus Prayer" (aka "prayer of the heart").

Lord Jesus Christ, (thou) son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

This may have had its origins it an ancient hesychastic tradition, referring to Gospel injunctions to pray secretly and without ceasing.  Hesychasm - Greek, for stillness, quiet.  The tradition following Saint Matthew's Gospel may imply a stern asecticism, but this is a great and noble prayer, encapsulating an acknowledgement of who man is in relation to God, and provides a means of quiet and interior "apartness" that will go with you in your busy lives.  Busy lives that are in need of God's mercy.

Pray this prayer.  It will stay with you (to say the least).

(There is another one of those wonderful books, this one anonymous from 19th century Russia, that each of you should read: The Way of a Pilgrim.  This is a book about praying this prayer and about studying the Philokalia, a collection of ancient Eastern Christian texts.)

Image of Christogram with Jesus Prayer encircling in Romanian (Doamne Iisuse Hristoase, Fiul lui Dumnezeu, miluieste-ma pe mine pacatosul.) from Wikimedia Commons.

How to get a good night's sleep

If you have little and work hard for what you have, you have more than those who have much and don't work for it.

"The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep." (Ecclesiastes 5:12)

 From Wikimedia Commons, la Meridienne by Van Gogh.  This painting is also known as The Siesta, but I'm sure they will still get a good night's sleep.

Friday diversion with Thomas Hardy

We are expected to make judgments quickly even though we are warned not to judge a book by its cover and other such conventional thinking.  In Far From the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy makes the following observation:

"Wisdom lies in moderating mere impressions,..."

We are impressionable creatures and much of the contemporary world conspires to exploit that.  Not all "impressions" are wrong or misleading, either.  However, Mr. Hardy suggests that if we are to live in wisdom, we should have the ways and means of subjecting our sensitive natures to some kind of thoughtful reflection.  We should not just react, but  pragmatically control our impulses.

Landscape with Sheep Herder from Wikimedia.org (Painting by Henry Brittan Willis, 1810-1884)