Today's Word:
Hosea 6:1-6 (Long have I waited for your coming home to me...)
Psalm 51:3-4, 18-21 (It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice)
Luke 18:9-14 (The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector)
For those watching the calendar, we've passed the halfway point of Lent. Just in time, too; the Vernal Equinox was yesterday, and that makes today the first full day of spring.
The Vernal Equinox is the date on which the setting of other events in the calendar is calculated. The date on which Easter falls is calculated based on the when the Full Moon falls following the equinox.
So, how are we all doing? How am I doing?
As far as the disciplines I set have gone thus far, fair. With my dear wife's help I have continued to at least maintain weight (a one-pound gain this week, but an overall loss from five weeks ago). I have shunned the news on the radio 99% of the time (I occasionally forget to turn it off after the traffic and weather information). And, I've managed to post daily and it has sparked some feedback from those I felt would offer it. It's been refreshing, informative, and challenging, and all at the same time.The challenging part indicates I still have some distance to go, but I see that as a good thing.
While composing my weekly almanac this morning (an e-mail I send out to the extended family as my way of saying we're still alive and breathing) I came across three names that are familiar to me (and should be to most of my best readers).
It's the 324th anniversary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) whose famous Cantata (BMV) 147 contains a well known triplet figure, and ultimately, this text:
Jesu, joy of man’s desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.
Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,
With the fire of life impassioned,
Striving still to truth unknown,
Soaring, dying round Thy throne.
Through the way where hope is guiding,
Hark, what peaceful music rings;
Where the flock, in Thee confiding,
Drink of joy from deathless springs.
Theirs is beauty’s fairest pleasure;
Theirs is wisdom’s holiest treasure.
Thou dost ever lead Thine own
In the love of joys unknown.
--Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (1661)
Original German text by Martin Janus; English translation by Robert Bridges, 19th Century
Original music by Johann Schop; arranged by Johann Sebastian Bach for the chorale closing his Cantata #147 (1723)
It was also on this day 17 years ago that a well-known and local church composer passed into eternal life; this is one of her composition, from the United Methodist Hymnal:
In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there's a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
There's a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
There's a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity.
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
--Hymn of Promise (1986)
Natalie Sleeth (1930-1992)
Last, but certainly not least, today is the date of passage of a Native American legend. Pocahontas died in London on this date in 1617; the fictionalized Disney film about her life when the colonists arrived in Virginia is remembered for this song:
You think I'm an ignorant savage
And you've been so many places
I guess it must be so
But still I cannot see
If the savage one is me
How can there be so much that you don't know?
You don't know ...
You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name
You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You'll learn things you never knew you never knew
Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest
Come taste the sunsweet berries of the Earth
Come roll in all the riches all around you
And for once, never wonder what they're worth
The rainstorm and the river are my brothers
The heron and the otter are my friends
And we are all connected to each other
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends
How high will the sycamore grow?
If you cut it down, then you'll never know
And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or whether we are white or copper skinned
We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains
We need to paint with all the colors of the wind
You can own the Earth and still
All you'll own is earth until
You can paint with all the colors of the wind
--Colors of the Wind (1995) from Disney Pictures "Pocahontas"
written by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
Yes, Spring is here, filled with hope and promise. As the cycle of rebirth becomes more obvious, and the Earth becomes resplendant in witness to God, the spirit of Lent asks, what will we do with it? Will we grow, along with Nature?
Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Luck of the Irish
Feast of Saint Patrick
Patron of Ireland, Nigeria, and the American Catholic dioceses of Boston, MA; Burlington, VT; Fort Worth, TX; Harrisburg, PA; Norwich, CT; Portland, ME; Sacramento, CA; and New York, NY
Also patron of engineers and excluded people; invoked against snakes and snake bites
Today's Word:
Daniel 3:25-43 (The prayer of Azariah/Meshach in the fiery furnace)
Psalm 25:4-9 (Remember your mercies, O Lord)
Matthew 18:21-35 (You must forgive others 'not seven times, but seventy-seven times' or 'seventy times seven times')
In short, you must be willing to forgive. Infinitely. Enough said.
Today's the day when virtually everyone is Irish. Even those you know aren't Irish celebrate today. In the large Irish-American enclaves, parades take place. In Chicago, there are two parades; the Chicago River gets a dye job; and the center pavement stripe on either State Street or Michigan Avenue is painted green. Or at least it used to.
And it strikes me as odd that one of this country's most well known Catholic universities has a French name (Notre Dame) but whose athletic teams are called 'The Fighting Irish.'
I have a feeling the real Irish folks are having to forgive us Americans for tromping all over their patron saint's feast day.
Because March 17 always falls during Lent, the Catholic Church at large more or less ignores it. Even on the Emerald Isle, the 'celebration' doesn't get the same hype as it does here in the USA.
A few things to note about Patrick. I assume you know he's actually British or possibly Welsh, born late in the 4th Century. His father was a Roman official and a deacon (yes, blame us guys with the water balloons).
At the age of 16, Patrick was captured by Celtic raiders and spent six years as a slave swineherd on an Irish farm, where he learned the Irish language, until he escaped to Europe. There he studied theology and was sent by Pope Celestine I back to Ireland to teach the natives about Christianity.
He landed at Wicklow in 432 and soon established religious communities and churches, despite the relentless opposition of the established religion of the pagan Druids - a religion that in succeeding centuries was fiercely suppressed.
Showing great courage, Patrick even preached the Gospel to the High King of Tara, and eventually the faith which he had brought to the Emerald Isle won over almost completely, as is evidenced even today. (Of course, there were many other Christian proselytisers who did the work besides Patrick, as well as many potentates and preachers who felt it their duty to destroy the indigenous religions.)
Patrick’s life story, as it has been passed down over the centuries, is delightfully replete with miraculous events and adventures. As every schoolchild knows, it was he who was responsible for the fact that there are no snakes or similar vermin in Ireland even yet. Of course, that sort of creature does not survive in the ecosystem of the country, any more than they would in northern Illinois or New Jersey. The snakes were symbolic of the pagan Druids.
Now Christianity, as well as Ireland, owes a big 'thank you' to Patrick. For awhile there it seemed that most American Catholic priests were of Irish descent; and three of the five largest Catholic populations (New York, Boston, and Chicago) have provided more of their share of young men and women to the priesthood and religious life.
Legend holds that Patrick used the shamrock, the three-leaved clover, to explain the Trinity to the High King of Tara. Over time, many of the high figures in Celtic mythology became saints of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the traditions we associate with Halloween also come from Celtic tradition and have become either Christianized or secularized (read 'commercialized') over time.
That corned beef sandwich? Better found at a Jewish or Polish delicatessen. Or as my Irish-American cousin-in-law says, the link between corned beef and cabbage to Irish tradition is that "it's boiled meat and vegetables."
What makes this such a big day to everyone, then?
The actual beginning of spring, the vernal equinox, can fall over a three-day period between March 20-22. The weather for the most part starts cooperating early enough and in some places the grass is even green enough again. Yes, St. Patrick's day is close enough and is easy enough to remember; and we're so fed up with winter that it might as well be spring. Here in America, March 17 is about the imminence of springtime as much as it is about the life of a man who is ultimately responsible for a blending of two spiritual paths and spreading it elsewhere in the world. It's a party without nearly as many frills; but you can still send cards and decorate if you so choose.
Before anyone else starts attacking their keyboards, this isn't the first time that such a blending of traditions took place among Western religions. The Greek influence over most of the ancient world (from roughly 323 BCE to 146 BCE, arguably as late as 30 BCE), called the Hellenistic civilization, brought one big concept to the Jewish culture of that time and since.
It got many believing in life after death.
The resurrection.
That's one thing that had many of Jesus' contemporaries puzzled. Evidence of belief in an afterlife goes back to the paleolithic era. However, this was a relatively new thing to the Jewish scholars of the time, and not everybody bought into the concept. The Pharisees believed in it, but the Sadducees did not. So on top of Roman occupation, the Jews of Jesus' time were divided. Yet Jesus was preaching about eternal life in no uncertain terms. Not only was life after death possible, it was real; and He was going to turn the world upside down proving it.
Patron of Ireland, Nigeria, and the American Catholic dioceses of Boston, MA; Burlington, VT; Fort Worth, TX; Harrisburg, PA; Norwich, CT; Portland, ME; Sacramento, CA; and New York, NY
Also patron of engineers and excluded people; invoked against snakes and snake bites
Today's Word:
Daniel 3:25-43 (The prayer of Azariah/Meshach in the fiery furnace)
Psalm 25:4-9 (Remember your mercies, O Lord)
Matthew 18:21-35 (You must forgive others 'not seven times, but seventy-seven times' or 'seventy times seven times')
In short, you must be willing to forgive. Infinitely. Enough said.
Today's the day when virtually everyone is Irish. Even those you know aren't Irish celebrate today. In the large Irish-American enclaves, parades take place. In Chicago, there are two parades; the Chicago River gets a dye job; and the center pavement stripe on either State Street or Michigan Avenue is painted green. Or at least it used to.
And it strikes me as odd that one of this country's most well known Catholic universities has a French name (Notre Dame) but whose athletic teams are called 'The Fighting Irish.'
I have a feeling the real Irish folks are having to forgive us Americans for tromping all over their patron saint's feast day.
Because March 17 always falls during Lent, the Catholic Church at large more or less ignores it. Even on the Emerald Isle, the 'celebration' doesn't get the same hype as it does here in the USA.
A few things to note about Patrick. I assume you know he's actually British or possibly Welsh, born late in the 4th Century. His father was a Roman official and a deacon (yes, blame us guys with the water balloons).
At the age of 16, Patrick was captured by Celtic raiders and spent six years as a slave swineherd on an Irish farm, where he learned the Irish language, until he escaped to Europe. There he studied theology and was sent by Pope Celestine I back to Ireland to teach the natives about Christianity.
He landed at Wicklow in 432 and soon established religious communities and churches, despite the relentless opposition of the established religion of the pagan Druids - a religion that in succeeding centuries was fiercely suppressed.
Showing great courage, Patrick even preached the Gospel to the High King of Tara, and eventually the faith which he had brought to the Emerald Isle won over almost completely, as is evidenced even today. (Of course, there were many other Christian proselytisers who did the work besides Patrick, as well as many potentates and preachers who felt it their duty to destroy the indigenous religions.)
Patrick’s life story, as it has been passed down over the centuries, is delightfully replete with miraculous events and adventures. As every schoolchild knows, it was he who was responsible for the fact that there are no snakes or similar vermin in Ireland even yet. Of course, that sort of creature does not survive in the ecosystem of the country, any more than they would in northern Illinois or New Jersey. The snakes were symbolic of the pagan Druids.
Now Christianity, as well as Ireland, owes a big 'thank you' to Patrick. For awhile there it seemed that most American Catholic priests were of Irish descent; and three of the five largest Catholic populations (New York, Boston, and Chicago) have provided more of their share of young men and women to the priesthood and religious life.
Legend holds that Patrick used the shamrock, the three-leaved clover, to explain the Trinity to the High King of Tara. Over time, many of the high figures in Celtic mythology became saints of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the traditions we associate with Halloween also come from Celtic tradition and have become either Christianized or secularized (read 'commercialized') over time.
That corned beef sandwich? Better found at a Jewish or Polish delicatessen. Or as my Irish-American cousin-in-law says, the link between corned beef and cabbage to Irish tradition is that "it's boiled meat and vegetables."
What makes this such a big day to everyone, then?
The actual beginning of spring, the vernal equinox, can fall over a three-day period between March 20-22. The weather for the most part starts cooperating early enough and in some places the grass is even green enough again. Yes, St. Patrick's day is close enough and is easy enough to remember; and we're so fed up with winter that it might as well be spring. Here in America, March 17 is about the imminence of springtime as much as it is about the life of a man who is ultimately responsible for a blending of two spiritual paths and spreading it elsewhere in the world. It's a party without nearly as many frills; but you can still send cards and decorate if you so choose.
Before anyone else starts attacking their keyboards, this isn't the first time that such a blending of traditions took place among Western religions. The Greek influence over most of the ancient world (from roughly 323 BCE to 146 BCE, arguably as late as 30 BCE), called the Hellenistic civilization, brought one big concept to the Jewish culture of that time and since.
It got many believing in life after death.
The resurrection.
That's one thing that had many of Jesus' contemporaries puzzled. Evidence of belief in an afterlife goes back to the paleolithic era. However, this was a relatively new thing to the Jewish scholars of the time, and not everybody bought into the concept. The Pharisees believed in it, but the Sadducees did not. So on top of Roman occupation, the Jews of Jesus' time were divided. Yet Jesus was preaching about eternal life in no uncertain terms. Not only was life after death possible, it was real; and He was going to turn the world upside down proving it.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
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