Saturday, March 31, 2007

HOSANNA TO THE UNSEEN !!!!



"One cannot know God as long as one seeks to solve "the problem of God." To seek to solve the problem of God is to seek to see one's own eyes. One cannot see his own eyes because they are that with which he sees and God is the light by which we see------ by which we see not a clearly defined "object" called God, but everything else in the invisible one... We exist solely for this, to be the place He has chosen for His presence, His manifestation in the world, His epiphany." (Thomas Merton)

Thursday, March 29, 2007

"The Nazz"


"'The Nazz' had them pretty eyes. He wanted everybody to see out of His eyes so they could see how pretty it was.”

---Lord Buckley,
Speaking of Jesus of
Nazareth

The Transfiguration

Given a glimpse of paradise the rabbi says, “But where are all the saints, the holy ones?”
“Rabbi, you of all people should know --- the saints aren’t in Paradise. Paradise is in the saints! Oh, they come here, some of them, but they usually opt to return to earth so they can see the glory of God everywhere.”

And then he thought to himself. What in the world do people see when they look at me? Do they see that paradise is within me and marvel at the glory of God shining on my face? He thought again: How do I see all the people in my life, in the world? Do I see the glory of God shining radiantly on their faces? O God, have pity on me, on us all, and give me eyes to perceive your glory among us.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

"Be it done unto me according to thy word." The announcement has been made and heard. The world is with child.

In all the busy-ness of the weekend, the feast of The Annunciation of Mary sailed under my radar.It was celebrated on Monday this year but the official date is March 25 ------nine months before Christmas (sorry.) It is the one day during Lent the church calendar allows the "Gloria" to be sung and white vestments to be worn. It also gives me a chance to share one of my favorite paintings:



"The Annunciation" by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937)

Monday, March 26, 2007

Can You Guess This Photo's Title?




Seriously. See if you can come up with a "top three" list. When you feel like knowing for sure, it's posted at the bottom of the very first posting [Feb. 8.]

Friday, March 23, 2007

Allegri: Miserere Dei




This motet was written by Gregorio Allegri during the 1630s. It was so coveted by the Catholic Church, that Pope Urban VIII forbid it to be copied or played anywhere but in the Sistine Chapel on Ash Wednesday, once a year. (And yes, that's a 12 year old boy singing that high C throughout!) Mozart when he was 14 years old, came and listened to it and promptly wrote it out from memory. He gave it to a publisher in London, and after that the Catholic Church lifted the ban.(More info on Wikipedia)
It might strike you as a bit long (about 12 mins.) but it's presented here as time for meditation on the essential things, and, besides, the last thirty seconds of the motet is exquisite!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Dawn, Day, Dusk, Dark...



" Now I am grown-up and have not time for anything but the essentials."
-------------Thomas Merton
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +



I have found a marvelous collection of Merton's words, shaped into daily prayers.
It is "THOMAS MERTON: A BOOK OF HOURS", put together by Kathleen Deignan and published by SORIN BOOKS, Notre Dame, Ind. It really is well done.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The Sounds of Prayer


From her lips to God's ear...
Lillian.mp3

The lovely 93 year-old "Busia" Lillian (seen with a 4th generation Andrew)recites the prayers of the rosary in Polish, as she did as a child.
1. Sign of the Cross(W imie Ocja I Syna I Ducha Swietego.)
2. Our Father(Ojcze Nasz)
3. Hail Mary (Zdrowas Marya)
4. Doxology (Cwala Ojcu...)

Monday, March 19, 2007

Herman Melville

"Yes, there is death in this business of whaling -- a speechlessly quick chaotic bundling of a man into Eternity. But what then? Methinks we have hugely mistaken this matter of Life and Death. Methinks that what they call my shadow here on earth is my true substance. Methinks that in looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters observing the sun through the water, and thinking that thick water the thinnest of air. Methinks my body is but the lees of my better being. In fact take my body who will, take it I say, it is not me."

-----from "Moby Dick"

Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher:

“To be happy, you must have taken the measures of your powers, tasted the fruits of your passion, and learned your place in the world.”

“It seems to me now, that the only real thing to leave in the world is one’s spirit. To me it means that I can leave, for whatever use may be made of it, a kind of residue. I believe that is good. I hope so.

It is the leaving of me, murking up the atmosphere, smogging the air, sprinkling a sort of mist over things, so that perhaps they will twinkle a bit.”

Thursday, March 15, 2007

New in "Browsing" List

"Dominicans' Prayers for Lent" -Join the Dominicans as they pray for peace with a different set of prayers each week of Lent.

A Gift for St. Patrick's Day


Hymn to the Spirit...

“Hymn to the Spirit”

Spirit from heaven, our faith awaken,
And give our hearts new songs to sing.
It is from you that every breath is taken,
You dwell within each living thing.
Grant us your peace, and with love surround us,
And be our souls’ most welcome guest.
Your many graces are all around us,
And with your gifts we are most blessed.

You speak to us in so many voices,
In times of laughter, in times of tears.
This world presents us with many choices.
Our lives are filled with hopes and fears.
You plant the seeds of truth inside us,
All worldly cares to rise above.
You speak the words that alone can guide us:
You speak of wisdom, you speak of love.

Spirit from heaven, our faith awaken,
And give our hearts new songs to sing.
It is from you that every breath is taken,
You dwell within each living thing.
Oh may your hand be on our shoulders,
And guide us through every passing day,
As time moves onward and we grow older,
‘til we are home with you to stay.
**************************************************
My words to the traditional Irish tune, "Kerrickfergus". sung by the choir of St. Joseph Church, St. Johns, MI
TPM;1991

Monday, March 12, 2007

A Morning Prayer

Like an infant’s open-eyed wonder
And the insights of a wise grandmother
Like a young man’s vision for justice
And the vitality that shines in a girl’s face,
Like tears that flow in a friend bereaved
And laughter in a lover’s eyes,
You have given me ways of seeing, O God,
You have endowed me with sight like your own.
Let these be alive in me this day,
Let these be alive in me this day.

--------J. Phillip Newell

Friday, March 9, 2007

Quotes for the Weekend

“The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you.
There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it.
Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”

-------Frederick Buechner


“Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”

----C. S. Lewis
“Weight of Glory”

Thursday, March 8, 2007

I've Finally Found My Patron Saint!!!



"What a great saint Joseph of Cupertino is. He was a remarkably slow learner and could scarcely read or write. When taken with religious ecstasy he would float off to the ceiling or into the sky and have to be ordered down; this occurred most embarrassingly during an audience with Pope Urban VIII. His fellow friars disliked him for failing to take money for his cures, and he was investigated by the Inquisition. Today he is the patron saint of pilots, airline travelers, and bad students."
AND HE KEPT SEVEN LENTS OF FORTY DAYS EACH A YEAR!!!
I'm not sure what I want to emulate first, but if I ever get an audience with the Pope...

(I just thought we could use a smile.)

Monday, March 5, 2007



“Our first task in approaching another people, another culture, another religion, is to take off our shoes, for the place we are approaching is holy. Else we may find ourselves treading on people’s dreams. More seriously still, we may forget that God was there before our arrival.”

Bishop Kenneth Cragg

Sunday, March 4, 2007

"We Are The After-Christs!"


There was an anthem my youth choir used to sing entitled “I will be Christ to you.” They liked it a lot and it was filled with sentiments like “I’ll be his hands to do what I can, because he has loved me too.” Recently, for the first time ever, I started wearing a small cross,(you might remember the "Merton Cross") hoping to remind myself that in some small way I wanted to represent that way of life.
But to actually strive to BE CHRIST to someone was best left to someone bolder.
Then I came across this quote by G. Manley Hopkins:

"Christ was himself but one and lived and died but once;
But the Holy Ghost makes of every Christian another Christ;
An After- Christ who lives a million lives in every age."

I like the historical and spiritual tag, and it doesn’t quite have that “super-hero” connotation: Yes, we come after Christ and we follow after Christ, at least we try. So we are all “After-Christs” to one another. Onward, but gently…