tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-193147042024-03-07T22:37:02.735-05:00Caught Up in GodUnable to grasp God's essence, we seek help in words, in names, in animal forms, in figures, in trees and flowers, summits and sources.
(Maximus of Tyre)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger153125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-28867132382329122492024-01-02T15:23:00.004-05:002024-01-02T15:31:03.945-05:00Prayer for the New Year<p><br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">O God, as you once gazed on all you had made and found it good,<br />look now on us, your weak and cherished people,<br />created in the beauty of your own image.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><b>Have mercy on us as we begin a new year.</b></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">We realize that we have fouled your creation through heedlessness and greed.<br />We have defaced your image by making war.<br />Too often we have reached out, not for you, <br />but for possessions, honors, and power.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><b>Have mercy on us as we begin a new year.</b> <br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">We have hearkened to the noise of our fears, <br />instead of entrusting those fears <br />to your gracious guidance<br />and transforming silence.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><b>O divine Mercy, have mercy on us.</b><br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">Consider our woundedness and heal us, <br />for we are helpless to heal ourselves.<br />Consider our smallness and comfort us, <br />for we have known sorrow.<br />Teach us again, as a child is taught,<br />that peace is found by resting in your ample heart,<br />that true bounty flows through love of neighbor,<br />and that while perfect security in this life is an illusion,<br />we need not fear,<br />for you hold us, always and for all eternity, <br />in your everlasting arms.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><b>We pray through Jesus Christ,<br />Amen.<br /></b><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-10955108433047756222023-08-27T21:29:00.000-04:002023-08-27T21:29:31.937-04:00Precious<p> A mysterious telephone call one night:</p><p>"Hello," I answer.</p><p>A woman's voice: "Precious?"</p><p>"Who would you like to speak with?" I ask.'</p><p>"Precious."</p><p>"You must have the wrong number."</p><p>"Oh, I'm very sorry." </p><p>End of conversation.</p><p>This call made me wonder: how often does God call us "precious," only to hear us respond, "You must have the wrong number"? What would it be like if we answered, "Here I am, Lord!" instead of, "Surely you mean someone else"?</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you:<br />I have called you by name, you are mine.<br />. . .you are precious in my sight,<br />and honored, and I love you . . .</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"> (Isaiah 43:1b, 4a)<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-56769559774418549722023-07-28T16:20:00.007-04:002023-07-28T17:30:57.632-04:00Our Call in a Broken World<p>Who are we called to be today in our broken world?<br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITNoaonYvbN1T9V3fRuIASatkLiFUV-1HjnCa55Ojbbo7pfqeZUTvvuif7qFyTlGGErCa1LTVxn9Rty2K8QTThWm8ESuRKe-bLEuamAq2r4Lr9-PsDCo39kw8r9RCR0CDzVSAIAeWmSn8rPyzA61zLvywLmRt6JgvkzZ5e1nsOraqXMDl0wff/s576/sidewalk-flower(1a).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="576" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITNoaonYvbN1T9V3fRuIASatkLiFUV-1HjnCa55Ojbbo7pfqeZUTvvuif7qFyTlGGErCa1LTVxn9Rty2K8QTThWm8ESuRKe-bLEuamAq2r4Lr9-PsDCo39kw8r9RCR0CDzVSAIAeWmSn8rPyzA61zLvywLmRt6JgvkzZ5e1nsOraqXMDl0wff/s320/sidewalk-flower(1a).jpg" width="320" /> </a> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">This is not an easy question. But as we ponder it, we may well glimpse the call to be:</p><p><br />• A witness to the goodness, love, and peace of God in a world torn by violence and hatred.<br /><br />• A witness to the goodness of creation where there is destructive unconcern with God’s good earth and its creatures.</p><p>• A witness to the amazing reality that human beings can know God, even though God always remains mystery.<br /><br />• A witness to the fidelity and love of God, to the truth that it is safe to hand oneself over to God who always loves me, no matter who I am or what I have done.<br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">_____<br /></p><p><br /> And what a wonderful truth: we are created to be <i>capax dei</i>, capable of God, and we are called into communion with the God who is Known and yet Unknown.</p><p style="margin-left: 120px; text-align: left;">“O my beautiful soul…you are capable of God.<span> </span><br /><span></span>Woe be to you if you content yourself with less than God.”<br /><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>- Saint François de Sales <br /></p><p> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-4386920279020761722021-06-28T12:42:00.005-04:002021-06-28T12:47:45.445-04:00God Saw That It Was Good<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitgQQ8_XhPow_Npb1nPziSANpbMOqk5Nncd_kgJ9T6EhQPBMTrWrw_XBzsnKwSQ89-l6gTjFofSlJpe4Dp7tgDYLVb3Rdbse2p15_kMOJADmtwXmtekixQGIHwcDWfUmMIrooQ/s608/Owl-on-lamppost%25285%2529.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="409" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitgQQ8_XhPow_Npb1nPziSANpbMOqk5Nncd_kgJ9T6EhQPBMTrWrw_XBzsnKwSQ89-l6gTjFofSlJpe4Dp7tgDYLVb3Rdbse2p15_kMOJADmtwXmtekixQGIHwcDWfUmMIrooQ/s320/Owl-on-lamppost%25285%2529.jpg" /></a><span class="text Gen-1-24" id="en-NRSV-24"><i> </i></span><span class="text Gen-1-24" id="en-NRSV-24"><i><br />And
God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind:
cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.”
And it was so </i></span><span class="text Gen-1-25" id="en-NRSV-25"><i><sup class="versenum"> </sup>God
made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of
every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind.
And God saw that it was good. </i></span><br /><span class="text Gen-1-25" id="en-NRSV-25"><i><span class="text Gen-1-25" id="en-NRSV-25">(Genesis 1:24-25 NRSV)</span></i></span></div><p><span class="text Gen-1-25" id="en-NRSV-25">______ <br /></span></p><p><span class="text Gen-1-25" id="en-NRSV-25">"God saw that it was good." </span></p><p><span class="text Gen-1-25" id="en-NRSV-25">Who are we, therefore, to act as if the earth is created only for human beings? </span></p><p><span class="text Gen-1-25" id="en-NRSV-25">And of course living in such as way as to make the earth's environment inhospitable to other creatures will in the long run make it unfriendly to us as well. </span></p><p><span class="text Gen-1-25" id="en-NRSV-25"><br /></span></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-28793977071015746722020-11-23T16:19:00.003-05:002020-11-23T16:24:16.048-05:00Why Must We Lament<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Psalms
of Lament make up 1/3 (</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">or even more, <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">depending on whom you ask) </span>of the Book of Psalms. We read Psalm 42, for example, and we
see that the psalmist is remembering the past:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">These things will I remember<br />
as I pour out my soul:<br />
How I would lead the rejoicing crowd<br />
into the house of God,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br />
</i>amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving,<br />
the throng wild with joy. (Ps 42:4)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.0866in; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But things seem to have changed for him. </span><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlO7Hg8MtNA0Mw54AK3eI0SaNijBf5nLK5n_w708kPyQi4sMk8W68D4gRGw6SiVlyN8KlSYYbBb8YDv5AOCcHs4yKilbQpvoV4xGIEqhPoqjIw6YuDDe_gUSAs7M8tTC-gkowP/s432/December-oak-5-sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlO7Hg8MtNA0Mw54AK3eI0SaNijBf5nLK5n_w708kPyQi4sMk8W68D4gRGw6SiVlyN8KlSYYbBb8YDv5AOCcHs4yKilbQpvoV4xGIEqhPoqjIw6YuDDe_gUSAs7M8tTC-gkowP/s16000/December-oak-5-sm.jpg" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He remembers the past, and now laments—lamenting even in</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> a way that sounds at times like complaining. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We notice how the psalmist can move from praise right to lament: </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">…by night I will sing to the LORD,</span><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">praise the God of my life.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">—</span> then in the next verse:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I will say to God, my rock,</span><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Why have you forgotten me? (42:9, 10)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">—</span></span> and then back again: </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Why are you cast down, my soul… ? </span><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Hope in God; I will praise yet again, </span><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">my savior and my God” (42:12).</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Why must the psalmist lament? And why may we also need to lament what is lost? </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /><b>1. First, we lament because we love. </b>“Grief,” says N.T. Wright, “after all, is part of love. Not to grieve, not to lament, is to slam the door on the same place in the innermost heart from which love itself comes” (<a href="https://smile.amazon.com/God-Pandemic-Christian-Reflection-Coronavirus/dp/0310120802/" target="_blank"><i>God and the Pandemic</i></a>, Zondervan, 2020).<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We grieve because we love and because we value what is past and what now seems to be lost. “When we lose the ability to lament, we lose an opportunity to share with our God the things of this world that are breaking our hearts…” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(Ryane Williamson, "<a href="https://www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/articles/the-lost-art-of-lament/" target="_blank">The Lost Art of Lament</a>"). <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /><b>2. And, second, we lament because, without honoring the grief within us, it is likely that we would be hindered in fulfilling our call to move into the future.</b> We may be unable to see beyond the dried winter leaf on the ground. We may remain stuck in unclaimed grief – or in a sterile and perhaps even unrecognized grief – unfruitful, as opposed to the loving lament that helps carry us forward in love. So we need to name our grief, for what one person grieves may not be the same as what another one of us grieves, even in a similar situation. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We need to name for ourselves what it is that we grieve, and lament what we have loved and seems now to be lost. And in so doing we are helped to allow the new to be born. Lamenting helps make it possible for us to move into the future, even as the blessing of what we lament and will never forget remains in our hearts and nurtures the future, so that we can say, with the psalmist in Psalm 27:<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">in the land of the living. (27:13)</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />__________<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="text"></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%;">
</p><p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Psalm quotations are from </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Psalms: The Grail
Translation Inclusive Language Version</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
(London: HarperCollins, 2004).</span></p><p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-59705463487185535482020-11-12T17:52:00.004-05:002020-11-12T18:48:37.069-05:00That You May Lay Hold of Me<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6SXgw6f7EPnmNlUw-KmhjUCw7OOamsX5cAAFFau1umgsAFYxUfrRwlGX-nTJaB2RT_n_caqBa42qc5gM0U5E0H4qL6zLryPvd3RFaB-zmVYKklnZ1M6TorSdFNHrebcQvsNtW/s523/clock+sunlight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="523" height="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6SXgw6f7EPnmNlUw-KmhjUCw7OOamsX5cAAFFau1umgsAFYxUfrRwlGX-nTJaB2RT_n_caqBa42qc5gM0U5E0H4qL6zLryPvd3RFaB-zmVYKklnZ1M6TorSdFNHrebcQvsNtW/w460-h351/clock+sunlight.jpg" width="460" /></a></div><p></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"> </p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">My God,<br />that at every moment you may find me<br />as you desire me,<br />and there where you are waiting for me;<br />that is, so that you may take hold of me fully —<br />both by the within and the without of myself —<br />grant that I may never break this double thread of my life.</p><p style="margin-left: 160px; text-align: right;">Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, <i>The Divine Milieu</i></p><p><i>
</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i> __________<br /></i></p><br /><p></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>Mon Dieu, pour que, à toute minute, vous me trouviez tel que vous me désirez, là où vous m'attendez, c'est-à-dire pour que vous me saisissiez pleinement, - par le dedans et le dehors de moi-même, - faites que je ne rompe jamais ce double fil de ma vie.</i></p><p style="text-align: right;"><i>Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Le Milieu divin</i></p><p style="text-align: right;"><i> </i><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-69319882691633531142020-09-16T16:33:00.007-04:002020-09-16T16:41:03.895-04:00Beauty in a Time of Sorrow<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB9DPSGa_3R3GfG3FcXjnd_Utajh1BeKku3H3_HW9ufsX-ELvwOHOcvJeVyMAkIhtbRA3CLR4M7KX3QaD1GC3ttx92Kh3K5LM69knktsCOA8sXCGQbUZ5aWqN4eOeV3a9TEniPdw/s1024/Cross-and-Orion-1024x256.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="1024" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB9DPSGa_3R3GfG3FcXjnd_Utajh1BeKku3H3_HW9ufsX-ELvwOHOcvJeVyMAkIhtbRA3CLR4M7KX3QaD1GC3ttx92Kh3K5LM69knktsCOA8sXCGQbUZ5aWqN4eOeV3a9TEniPdw/w496-h124/Cross-and-Orion-1024x256.jpg" width="496" /></a></div><p>Where
do we find the beauty and goodness of God during a time of so much
suffering? Pandemic, storms, terrible fires do not tend to make us think
about beauty or express gratitude for the goodness of creation. </p><p>Where is the beauty that we find it easy to relish in calmer times?</p><p>According to Father Stephen:</p><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">"The
great mystery of Beauty is that its most profound statement in all of
human history is the crucified Christ. The human experience of that
Beauty is well described by Isaiah:</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;">Who
has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD
been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a
root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look
at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. … But he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was
the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed
(53:1-5).</p></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">Christ
had “no beauty that we should desire him.” How is it possible that the
King of Glory should have no beauty? This is itself the mystery of
Beauty: it lies hidden beneath the sufferings of God </div><p style="text-align: right;">Father Stephen, <a href="https://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2007/08/04/the-mystery-of-beauty/" target="_blank">“The Mystery of Beauty,” </a><a href="https://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2007/08/04/the-mystery-of-beauty/" target="_blank">Glory to God for All Things </a></p><p>In
the beauty of the crucified and risen Christ, we see that pain doesn't
have the last word; Covid-19 doesn’t have the last word; terrible fires
do not have the last word; destructive storms do not have the last word.
Fear and pain do not have the last word. No, the beauty of self-giving
love does. </p><p>It has been said that we become what we contemplate.
Let us gaze on the beauty of Christ crucified; let us behold the beauty
of Christ risen, even as we weep and grieve the losses of this painful
time in which we are living.<br /><br /><br /><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-33074855190581269812020-04-11T20:27:00.003-04:002020-04-12T12:16:08.589-04:00No Retribution<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="color: black;">The resurrection of Jesus is a victory both of life over
death and of forgiveness over the power of sin and retribution. It is a victory
of love. And in this victory is a call to union in the life and the mercy
proclaimed through the risen Christ. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;">On a very practical note, without
the resurrection the disciples of Jesus would not have fully grasped their own
forgiveness. With the resurrection, however, the despondent and probably
guilt-ridden friends of Jesus begin to learn something new: they learn that the
forgiveness Jesus has been preaching is an energy that changes lives, including
their own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> ... </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;">Retribution would be a natural human response to being unjustly
arrested, abandoned by friends, </span>tortured, <span style="color: black;">and
executed, once one had returned in a body </span>freed from earthly limitations.
Instead the friends of Jesus experience that there is no vindictiveness in him,
<span style="color: black;">which means that there is none in God. In spite of
any appearances to the contrary, love and goodness have triumphed. God is in
control of the universe, and they themselves are forgiven. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">[For more, see <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/That-God-May-All-Christian/dp/0578598183/ref=sr_1_2?crid=24Q8NQAWUO0EI&keywords=that+god+may+be+all+in+all&qid=1582232141&sprefix=that+God+may%2Caps%2C202&sr=8-2" target="_blank">That God May Be All in All: Christian Life and Sacred Paradox</a>, </i>Chapter IV.] </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">_____</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The photograph for today has little obvious relation to the reflection above, but I took it early last evening (Holy Saturday), and it delighted me. We don't ordinarily see rabbits in our courtyard, but here was one (an Easter bunny?) nestled in the grass, seemingly unafraid of the two of us who were there. He (or she) just wiggled its nose at us, followed us with eyes and a gentle shift of the head, but made no move to run off. This morning she was gone.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoWcY37dokE7lv61KJZrXfMR8sjOH0ZOik3E1m0nqgIORPFchz4shjFvW3mP4JC3PN0Mo7iMT8hDc-8GTnK6MKW-zRltVQIB5P-mX39GMqjE11g3FNcewj6qTtjRaVemDz6mDR/s1600/Easter-bunny-sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="432" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoWcY37dokE7lv61KJZrXfMR8sjOH0ZOik3E1m0nqgIORPFchz4shjFvW3mP4JC3PN0Mo7iMT8hDc-8GTnK6MKW-zRltVQIB5P-mX39GMqjE11g3FNcewj6qTtjRaVemDz6mDR/s320/Easter-bunny-sm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-47056927501603075002020-02-20T16:25:00.002-05:002021-05-11T15:31:50.651-04:00<br />
<br />
<h2 class="entry-title">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/That-God-May-All-Christian/dp/0578598183/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-3855" height="360" src="https://www.vocationquest.org/cenaclearchives/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/God-All-in-All-2.jpg" width="232" /></a>That God May Be All in All</h2>
<div class="entry-content">
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/That-God-May-All-Christian/dp/0578598183/" target="_blank"><i>That God May Be All in All: Christian Life and Sacred Paradox</i></a> is the title of my new book, recently published. <br />
<br />
But what does it mean for God to be all in all? Is this mysterious promise only for the end of time, or does it contain a call to us now?<br />
<br />
How are we to let ourselves be transformed in the God who is Unknown,
yet at the same time is our most intimate Knowing? And what about the
wondrous mystery that the God who is supremely Other longs for us to
share the divine life in Christ?<br />
<br />
I invite you to take a look on Amazon.com, which will let you view
samples of the book. Just click on the picture of the cover, and you
will be taken there.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<i>_____</i><br />
<br />
<i>(You'll notice that the book is published under my real name -- that is, my first and last names. Failey is my middle name.)</i><br />
<br /><br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-29690403476643381722019-09-01T16:36:00.001-04:002019-09-02T16:49:25.505-04:00Small Gifts[Used with permission from "<a href="https://www.vocationquest.org/cenacle/2019/08/30/paying-attention-to-the-small-gifts/" target="_blank">Caught Up in God</a>."]<br />
<br />
If you are like me, there are some days when, without intending to,
you move through the day in a whirl, or in a stupor, or dragging in
sadness, or simply preoccupied. On those days we may miss the small but
precious gifts we are given.<br />
<br />
One afternoon, distracted and a bit discouraged, I went outside and
walked around the courtyard behind our house. As I walked I saw,
floating through the air, a small seed surrounded by tendrils. I don’t
know what kind of seed it was, but it was beautiful, and I reached out
my hand toward it.
<br />
<br />
What amazed me was that it stayed with me. Perhaps there was a very fine tendril clinging to my finger.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR0J-9Iw-HprOENIqvTMwv7JIyGe1xu3hKSVg4xHDIobUdhD9Wj1ZwIp_tWpYxLwZ4FY_4I1wohL5VyuFdVKTX-dgO1KpmEU2Vspxz5lolbIApHO8UzL_OZqCo34Jhyphenhyphen6YVBrtx/s1600/Seed-hand2-sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="432" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR0J-9Iw-HprOENIqvTMwv7JIyGe1xu3hKSVg4xHDIobUdhD9Wj1ZwIp_tWpYxLwZ4FY_4I1wohL5VyuFdVKTX-dgO1KpmEU2Vspxz5lolbIApHO8UzL_OZqCo34Jhyphenhyphen6YVBrtx/s320/Seed-hand2-sm.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
But it even changed hands at one point.</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPge41844pMSVpHDpCtMn2wVpI5SSPPkrGWyzU4up3DhmtFoxe1_6fDVH_cIYx-jKi_45WNgW_O3FzjXGfZUF9cMrd4PFNeY_Dn54sNhjP3yOvDC0kcl52d6pGX0b2WGkDTwNT/s1600/Seed-hand-left-sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="432" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPge41844pMSVpHDpCtMn2wVpI5SSPPkrGWyzU4up3DhmtFoxe1_6fDVH_cIYx-jKi_45WNgW_O3FzjXGfZUF9cMrd4PFNeY_Dn54sNhjP3yOvDC0kcl52d6pGX0b2WGkDTwNT/s320/Seed-hand-left-sm.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Taking photos was not easy. I had my cell phone with me, but getting a
picture meant holding the phone in only one hand, tapping, adjusting,
and snapping the camera with the same hand, all the while not
disturbing the beautiful seed hovering at my other hand.<br />
<br />
After a while I blew on it gently and off it flew, only to settle gently toward the ground behind the nearby bushes.<br />
<br />
The presence of the seed felt like a gift, just when I needed one. I wonder sometimes if it has sprouted.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-66443961494969002202015-10-17T23:26:00.001-04:002015-10-17T23:30:56.742-04:00The Prayer of Jesus<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
What we call the "Lord's Prayer" is the prayer Jesus taught to his disciples.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
If we can't pray it sincerely ourselves, we can ask Jesus to pray the prayer in us.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9si76bc6VSw" width="480"></iframe></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-43191327897139885472015-03-01T15:02:00.002-05:002015-03-09T23:27:14.227-04:00Dawn into Flame<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHIN28B3bBBMW4eC8oNymGFzpHT2G2Kd3JdgHSRZiuXRV46pX4ZVWQ0EaMVxVEBzbLDgntZtHd3ZANRUFJorfIX_BW0Sp2ewLBz-WZmHJ9bSozLq-4vjLvyoxvmm9i6Er4Z7a/s1600/Dawn-into-flame2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHIN28B3bBBMW4eC8oNymGFzpHT2G2Kd3JdgHSRZiuXRV46pX4ZVWQ0EaMVxVEBzbLDgntZtHd3ZANRUFJorfIX_BW0Sp2ewLBz-WZmHJ9bSozLq-4vjLvyoxvmm9i6Er4Z7a/s1600/Dawn-into-flame2.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="style184">
</div>
<div class="posttitle">
<div class="post-info">
The essence of mysticism is not, as some think,
visions, levitations, or other extraordinary phenomena. On the
contrary, it is a growing into union with the God of love. “Christian
mysticism,” writes Harvey D. Egan , “is a way of life that involves the
perfect fulfillment of loving God, neighbor, all God’s creation, and
oneself” (Introduction<i>, <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Anthology-Christian-Mysticism-Pueblo-Books/dp/0814660126/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425086633&sr=8-1&keywords=An+Anthology+of+Christian+Mysticism" target="_blank"> An Anthology of Christian Mysticism</a></i>).</div>
</div>
<div class="style184">
<br />
Bernardo Olivera, speaking of the great 12th-century
mystics, uses a dramatic but very beautiful image to describe this
journey of the Christian life.</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="style290">
Thus, mysticism is the reality of grace accompanying
the whole life of the believer, transforming him or her from dawn into
midday and from an individual burning coal into an all-consuming fire.</div>
<div class="style276" style="text-align: right;">
<i> <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Sun-Midnight-Monastic-Experience-Christian/dp/0879070293/ref=sr_1_2_twi_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1425085844&sr=8-2&keywords=the+sun+at+midnight" target="_blank"> The Sun at Midnight</a></i> (Cistercian Publications)</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="style184">
Through the abundant grace of God, may we too be transformed from dimness into an all-consuming blaze of love in God.</div>
<div class="style184">
<br /></div>
<div class="style184">
__________</div>
<div class="style184">
(For more, see "<a href="http://www.vocationquest.org/cenaclearchives/2015/02/27/the-mystic-as-flame/" target="_blank">The Mystic as Flame</a>" on "<a href="http://www.vocationquest.org/cenaclearchives" target="_blank">Caught Up in God</a>.")</div>
<div class="style184">
<br /></div>
<div class="style184">
<span style="color: #999999;">Fire photo with fractal by Faylei (Rose Hoover, rc)</span><br />
<span style="color: #999999;">(Fractal created in Apophysis)</span></div>
<div class="style184">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-36626700317218276782015-01-26T21:09:00.000-05:002015-01-26T21:09:09.067-05:00In Deep Waters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBCfNulYQwkPGdpFtemMuwM65F0q1A3DIuf_FCCUzQ8HsAtpHvfCxbtV123PYZnE6WMUOH9gCqyx2b3cZl0lZg1Ou6o-P9QFmyInntwQ6Z-9T6nuqHvuSkiMTZQ89dOMar-GPg/s1600/Mysterious-swamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBCfNulYQwkPGdpFtemMuwM65F0q1A3DIuf_FCCUzQ8HsAtpHvfCxbtV123PYZnE6WMUOH9gCqyx2b3cZl0lZg1Ou6o-P9QFmyInntwQ6Z-9T6nuqHvuSkiMTZQ89dOMar-GPg/s1600/Mysterious-swamp.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Mysterious Swamp</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="text Ps-69-1">Save me, O God,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Ps-69-1">for the waters have come up to my neck.</span></span><span class="text Ps-69-2" id="en-NRSV-14938"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="text Ps-69-2" id="en-NRSV-14938">I sink in deep mire,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Ps-69-2">where there is no foothold;</span></span><br /><span class="text Ps-69-2">I have come into deep waters,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Ps-69-2">and the flood sweeps over me.</span></span><span class="text Ps-69-3" id="en-NRSV-14939"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="text Ps-69-3" id="en-NRSV-14939">I am weary with my crying;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Ps-69-3">my throat is parched.</span></span><br /><span class="text Ps-69-3">My eyes grow dim</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Ps-69-3">with waiting for my God.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="indent-1"><span class="text Ps-69-3">. . . . .</span></span></div>
<span class="text Ps-69-13" id="en-NRSV-14949">But as for me, my prayer is to you, O <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>.</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Ps-69-13">At an acceptable time, O God,</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Ps-69-13">in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
(Psalm 69:1-3, 13)</blockquote>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-56833424847606721992015-01-08T20:38:00.001-05:002015-01-08T20:38:42.682-05:00Golden Sunset<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh68-SLsumLM8P58toiSx4wHEcnprFL3jjgtOsnOcs8zWx840hqvUGBHTEK-mBeBJqZ_-1TlouqzyXVkM0njddq0je6zvjQxI5La5wjcvifNTTa6v438-NNETd7ZiPUUpWpSu_U/s1600/Golden-sunset-(2)-enhanced.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh68-SLsumLM8P58toiSx4wHEcnprFL3jjgtOsnOcs8zWx840hqvUGBHTEK-mBeBJqZ_-1TlouqzyXVkM0njddq0je6zvjQxI5La5wjcvifNTTa6v438-NNETd7ZiPUUpWpSu_U/s1600/Golden-sunset-(2)-enhanced.jpg" height="220" width="400" /></a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<b>Golden Sunset</b></h3>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(Click to view full size.)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Sunsets in Chicago can be spectacular. (One theory is that the air pollution enhances the colors.) This one was indeed beautiful, but I confess that I have edited it and intensified it somewhat with Photoshop.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-91598163020405370092014-10-04T12:32:00.001-04:002014-10-04T12:32:49.426-04:00Surface Tension<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJ1XKEOiwfh_7YJis3sICExsitt1wQitE6V4JTSLo4d1qBOe2khyphenhyphenkf7sXbynwvLgkYzB_L46FxBlA6Nzg3FUgONvxRFWvWL7xt6gf-Cgw9zNhGS3Vt-rPBDF_tLpE5MxkiUZz/s1600/Surface-tension.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJ1XKEOiwfh_7YJis3sICExsitt1wQitE6V4JTSLo4d1qBOe2khyphenhyphenkf7sXbynwvLgkYzB_L46FxBlA6Nzg3FUgONvxRFWvWL7xt6gf-Cgw9zNhGS3Vt-rPBDF_tLpE5MxkiUZz/s1600/Surface-tension.jpg" height="300" width="400" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I find surface tension—which is a simple phenomenon, I suppose, as far as scientific phenomena go—fascinating and beautiful. So when I saw the water in my teacup hovering above the rim, I took some pictures.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif-0ob3Tw0Y2nstD0mDWpSbV5yS_ZdsE8AWxVn5dLmtEPrdbBMmrKcnpUi7tgonomTZWKRsitZP39jQogY6LZXJFNF6NXiHWU1kHgu3S9o8db9jkfkOMk56ah0cFrdAmH1es2m/s1600/surface-tension-(5).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif-0ob3Tw0Y2nstD0mDWpSbV5yS_ZdsE8AWxVn5dLmtEPrdbBMmrKcnpUi7tgonomTZWKRsitZP39jQogY6LZXJFNF6NXiHWU1kHgu3S9o8db9jkfkOMk56ah0cFrdAmH1es2m/s1600/surface-tension-(5).jpg" height="400" width="357" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
How great are your works, LORD!<br />How profound your designs!<br />A senseless person cannot know this;<br />a fool cannot comprehend.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(Psalm 92:6-7 NAB)</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-76099764427235654272014-09-09T22:37:00.001-04:002014-09-09T22:37:36.331-04:00Big Baby<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLIaHZ6kZFB4Oiia2CZq4zsGsJcomJDDy0L4BGHW4osMlcTj2S0lxXeyEGDYz1qglo-5U4GrTDCW8nygKUPfzWvu1db36kq6p7KNbIef53K1muDp6tAII7bnQ24p2nf_S-bMLv/s1600/Rhino-baby-(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLIaHZ6kZFB4Oiia2CZq4zsGsJcomJDDy0L4BGHW4osMlcTj2S0lxXeyEGDYz1qglo-5U4GrTDCW8nygKUPfzWvu1db36kq6p7KNbIef53K1muDp6tAII7bnQ24p2nf_S-bMLv/s1600/Rhino-baby-(2).jpg" height="307" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby Rhino King</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Here is baby rhinoceros King about three weeks before his first birthday at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. On his birthday he weighed more than 1000 pounds. A zoo official told me, on the day I photographed King, that he was still nursing, even with that horn!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-60362429378503672742014-08-24T20:06:00.000-04:002014-08-24T20:07:35.963-04:00Troubled Planet<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkV9QDcFXxWH-VKzTsTiGbXd4n4uF2ePWhUqV9wgFEpCuZ0R_ocHIvcYsjfXFvUdip9RJG6tD-OkXcbu5rWGlmkddPBU1ZJlvar6gQTDD_gg2BXjogdYYAnnO8P-9P0lSIgrfu/s1600/troubled-planet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkV9QDcFXxWH-VKzTsTiGbXd4n4uF2ePWhUqV9wgFEpCuZ0R_ocHIvcYsjfXFvUdip9RJG6tD-OkXcbu5rWGlmkddPBU1ZJlvar6gQTDD_gg2BXjogdYYAnnO8P-9P0lSIgrfu/s1600/troubled-planet.jpg" title="Troubled Planet" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Troubled Planet</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Let us pray for our troubled world and for all, including ourselves, who commit violence in deed, word, or thought.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
See "<a href="http://www.vocationquest.org/cenaclearchives/2014/08/22/justice-compassion-prayer/" target="_blank">Justice, Compassion, Prayer</a>" on the blog, "<a href="http://www.vocationquest.org/cenaclearchives" target="_blank">Caught Up in God</a>."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
- - - - -</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: grey;">“Troubled Planet” image is by Rose Hoover, rc (with fire texture adapted from NASA photos).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-64677785197112301282014-07-13T20:47:00.000-04:002014-07-13T20:47:32.527-04:00How Manifold Your Works<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYTXd-1MB7ekWdTUHFYHAkuyh7Zv62hnix3i4BJLvc4OYCbougrdf-JBF4TbOltJPlt2roT3HBhOBu9s3kkpfMK3cnWWfoV-rZH7vuwREYMZA5fW_icsPC0D5pVhHSoiusPxMz/s1600/Pepper-and-tomato-(5).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYTXd-1MB7ekWdTUHFYHAkuyh7Zv62hnix3i4BJLvc4OYCbougrdf-JBF4TbOltJPlt2roT3HBhOBu9s3kkpfMK3cnWWfoV-rZH7vuwREYMZA5fW_icsPC0D5pVhHSoiusPxMz/s1600/Pepper-and-tomato-(5).jpg" height="203" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Pepper and Tomato on Ledge</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="text Ps-104-14" id="en-NRSV-15586">You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,</span><span class="indent-1"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"></span><span class="text Ps-104-14">and plants for people to use,</span></span><br /><span class="text Ps-104-14">to bring forth food from the earth,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="text Ps-104-14"></span><span class="indent-1"><span class="text Ps-104-15" id="en-NRSV-15587"><span class="indent-1-breaks"></span>and wine to gladden the human heart,</span></span><br /><span class="text Ps-104-15">oil to make the face shine,</span><span class="indent-1"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"></span><span class="text Ps-104-15">and bread to strengthen the human heart.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="indent-1"><span class="text Ps-104-15"><span class="text Ps-104-24" id="en-NRSV-15596">O <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>, how manifold are your works!</span> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="indent-1"><span class="text Ps-104-15">(Psalm 104:14-15, 24) </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="indent-1"><span class="text Ps-104-15"><br /></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-66954775136776807022014-06-13T00:06:00.000-04:002014-06-13T00:07:54.749-04:00Moon over Chicago<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn7AiRQ11NyON5PwKywVItiITThN3MbcfMHRZwiWzzKM80B7Qizap_BceG3wSI4LQnMv_AOyySngceDbL1BTJQCoMCbju1PYYf2f8jyeRR2kiu6e9qDEDbN-yYhv6eC8pO5wNX/s1600/Full-moon-over-Chicago-(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn7AiRQ11NyON5PwKywVItiITThN3MbcfMHRZwiWzzKM80B7Qizap_BceG3wSI4LQnMv_AOyySngceDbL1BTJQCoMCbju1PYYf2f8jyeRR2kiu6e9qDEDbN-yYhv6eC8pO5wNX/s1600/Full-moon-over-Chicago-(3).jpg" height="195" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Full moon over Chicago from the Cenacle roof</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Click on photo to view full size.)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">THE
MOON IS ALSO BUSY</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I
bow to God in gratitude,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And
I find the moon is also busy</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Doing
the same.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I
bow to God in great happiniess,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And
I learn from where the suns</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And
the children</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And
my heart</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">All
borrow their Light.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I
bow to the Friend in deep reverence</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And
discover a marvelous secret carried in the air:</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This
whole Universe is just as blessed</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And
divinely crazed as I,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And
just as lost in this Wonderful Holy Dance.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">My
dear,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">After
such a long, long journey,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">God
has made another soul</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Free!</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Now
all Hafiz wants to do</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Is
open a beautiful Tavern</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Where
this Sacred Wine</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Of
God's Truth, Knowledge and Love</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Is
forever and ever</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Freely
offered to you.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">O
bow to God in gratitude,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And
some day</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">You
will see how</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="viewport_table"></a>
The moon is also busy doing the
same.</span></div>
<h1 class="western" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Heard-God-Laughing-Poems-Hope/dp/0143037811/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1402631345&sr=8-3" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy</span></i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky) </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Penguin,
2006. </span></span>
</h1>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-85608730167614184802014-05-21T22:14:00.002-04:002014-05-21T22:14:55.969-04:00At Play in the Cosmos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPAoLRWrXbULuN2c9iWOtQHfQzKkmzPiaNYbhFc37fTy_8msK3FCVqfACsbzvRNaN8QdfqmZL0xqqKuna-YquB3bb8FeOxnUscqRJMRe1OsRNJpnjLzn7qM_c72e7Qx1WlXJHZ/s1600/planet-flame-earth-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPAoLRWrXbULuN2c9iWOtQHfQzKkmzPiaNYbhFc37fTy_8msK3FCVqfACsbzvRNaN8QdfqmZL0xqqKuna-YquB3bb8FeOxnUscqRJMRe1OsRNJpnjLzn7qM_c72e7Qx1WlXJHZ/s1600/planet-flame-earth-2.jpg" height="296" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4VmY7oG9XLCxbYIL2nHYHrGSAs1Kc1j9ZYeGVkwSiJkiGYVf3WEorCyTpeisygUNMYr5yO9lk0NIS81Bx3t5cJH-y1r7GLj_mAdWZgRCKZ7QdxcWdB5s_fCNe0UvdnXavsAS8/s1600/planet-flame-galaxy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>(This image is composed of multiple layers: among others, a fractal flame and Hubble's photo of Galaxy Cluster 1E 0657-556.)</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. . .</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ephesians 1:17</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-87411940689482952912014-05-06T21:56:00.000-04:002014-05-06T21:56:09.049-04:00Iced Tea SeasonNow that the weather is getting warmer, it is time to share with you some of my photos of, yes, a glass of iced tea!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjq2QM4eFwnrIMNAw0WXM-m2CTuSduu6cBXJ_3S1is1GuTTTxcCZZ0wXEi6_zrqx-6ZDI1AouhRtSM9wJMQoNOjTQuK8Kn55bfblXjoIgBIt6EBb9JM05-i-r8gL9t7DlWaIEl/s1600/ice-in-glass-with-light.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjq2QM4eFwnrIMNAw0WXM-m2CTuSduu6cBXJ_3S1is1GuTTTxcCZZ0wXEi6_zrqx-6ZDI1AouhRtSM9wJMQoNOjTQuK8Kn55bfblXjoIgBIt6EBb9JM05-i-r8gL9t7DlWaIEl/s1600/ice-in-glass-with-light.jpg" height="331" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Light shining on glass of ice and tea</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Click on image to view full size.)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Variations: </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEDny9b4L-CT2ziTv6CNAv1wDXgGTgGLWJeNJJW4bLOUohHBz0VE1AVmc5Xt-yKD3D7GMx28DTfXquTYCraGL8AdbMUNdG0mqwdjQa7lD7E5zffXnigniZH4fOl6PSJR3fp7e/s1600/ice-in-glass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEDny9b4L-CT2ziTv6CNAv1wDXgGTgGLWJeNJJW4bLOUohHBz0VE1AVmc5Xt-yKD3D7GMx28DTfXquTYCraGL8AdbMUNdG0mqwdjQa7lD7E5zffXnigniZH4fOl6PSJR3fp7e/s1600/ice-in-glass.jpg" height="367" width="400" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiGqhCdYL1ZapA2wE11T-WVUBdQJmD8XCZdn72sjUX5hTzgkgct3cSFCrfXnCNC8cmaOPp6BZeYHGeu0cb1mx3PHFYU-9Ee9VbjaD18ngmxt0EMetboHNueAAnjTSicMG07h_S/s1600/ice-in-glass-multi-effect.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiGqhCdYL1ZapA2wE11T-WVUBdQJmD8XCZdn72sjUX5hTzgkgct3cSFCrfXnCNC8cmaOPp6BZeYHGeu0cb1mx3PHFYU-9Ee9VbjaD18ngmxt0EMetboHNueAAnjTSicMG07h_S/s1600/ice-in-glass-multi-effect.jpg" height="400" width="400" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyM19ASpQFsVNn5DospnTHxx9f-NKSNw4xpWqQITWLJUeNuG2srSaB33Cx9lWHfkc03xMucRLuhw570bF-toS-E15F-5_E2vmN38zpb30s4OTA4Lli-fwNOl9Wj2iaV-Itgq1L/s1600/Iced-tea-glow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyM19ASpQFsVNn5DospnTHxx9f-NKSNw4xpWqQITWLJUeNuG2srSaB33Cx9lWHfkc03xMucRLuhw570bF-toS-E15F-5_E2vmN38zpb30s4OTA4Lli-fwNOl9Wj2iaV-Itgq1L/s1600/Iced-tea-glow.jpg" height="313" width="400" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig4KoZdTZN6akhKFSa1VewH4bUWKtLNt9y9IH-B3xhftffL_p7Wgw5qjVhtRtTI_JqWsXOQOcEsSnFxv6AtCbTBAB-kCuU5EE0bacghICwz6_kGHXBLdhddyH9Ya8ZXH2_Zz54/s1600/Iced-tea-zephyr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig4KoZdTZN6akhKFSa1VewH4bUWKtLNt9y9IH-B3xhftffL_p7Wgw5qjVhtRtTI_JqWsXOQOcEsSnFxv6AtCbTBAB-kCuU5EE0bacghICwz6_kGHXBLdhddyH9Ya8ZXH2_Zz54/s1600/Iced-tea-zephyr.jpg" height="313" width="400" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I saw written as in letters of gold this word Goodness,</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
which I
repeated for a long while with an indescribable sweetness.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I saw it, I
say, written on all creatures,</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
animate and inanimate, rational or not — </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
all bore this name of goodness. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(<a href="http://www.cybernun.org/couderc/goodness.htm" target="_blank">Saint Therese Couderc</a>)</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-60541750142257972212014-03-26T16:12:00.001-04:002014-03-26T16:13:35.385-04:00Flying Saucer?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhiaIC3ipTGagscCKQn843O_0JdPI9tbzIf09ymv2-ru2ZGz9utj977kwXREv5tfdiPWlAUmAIwXQsiUXJOleQrof24x1QtmqdTZM5mieEVI0yXg3jFBDq207sWx6WOhvQB-Y/s1600/Bubble-saucer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhiaIC3ipTGagscCKQn843O_0JdPI9tbzIf09ymv2-ru2ZGz9utj977kwXREv5tfdiPWlAUmAIwXQsiUXJOleQrof24x1QtmqdTZM5mieEVI0yXg3jFBDq207sWx6WOhvQB-Y/s1600/Bubble-saucer.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(Click photos to view full size.)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This photograph is of a large soap bubble in a glass plate. As you see, the room was dark except for one strategically placed light—which, curiously enough, looks a bit like an angel hovering in the bubble.</div>
<br />
Since the picture reminded me of a flying saucer, I decided to have a little fun and situate it in a whimsical space scene. The result is below.<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp72kYO4WpwP3JDqaRT4vrji7w_kcO657D-1pBTYgvzyCqp3EH2ppMrc4Z623VnDFEOaMCQvVciamxKD7bOiMAglfdmQX3t3-bddotnCCJG2mG7VuKwweRpPyFVcFRVOm6Bna1/s1600/Bubble-space.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp72kYO4WpwP3JDqaRT4vrji7w_kcO657D-1pBTYgvzyCqp3EH2ppMrc4Z623VnDFEOaMCQvVciamxKD7bOiMAglfdmQX3t3-bddotnCCJG2mG7VuKwweRpPyFVcFRVOm6Bna1/s1600/Bubble-space.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-81801652710081848052014-03-17T20:26:00.001-04:002014-03-17T20:29:37.334-04:00Hawk Gazing<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKpotdwCjMufZ1JYzvwc8Q9YBKPMFi3PPnr2v3JCIvbSeF2wtpJtNQ1zx-risckhyphenhyphenW9lJpJEGdOJN3snxIgDxhQdqODkNaKY-JKFi7occKv4-j8zIcfHqzbdQWQqYtU4u8XfFZ/s1600/Hawk-at-aquarium-crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKpotdwCjMufZ1JYzvwc8Q9YBKPMFi3PPnr2v3JCIvbSeF2wtpJtNQ1zx-risckhyphenhyphenW9lJpJEGdOJN3snxIgDxhQdqODkNaKY-JKFi7occKv4-j8zIcfHqzbdQWQqYtU4u8XfFZ/s1600/Hawk-at-aquarium-crop.jpg" height="296" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Click photo to view full size.)</span></div>
<br />
(This hawk is not the same bird as Hopkin's windhover, but this raptor can also inspire awe.)<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Windhover</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>To Christ our Lord<b> </b> </i></div>
<br />
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-<br />
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding<br />
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding<br />
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing<br />
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,<br />
As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding<br />
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding<br />
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!<br />
<br />
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here<br />
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion<br />
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!<br />
<br />
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion<br />
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,<br />
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion. <br />
<br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<h1 class="TITLE">
Rock and Hawk</h1>
by <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/199">Robinson Jeffers</a>
<br />
<pre>Here is a symbol in which
Many high tragic thoughts
Watch their own eyes.
This gray rock, standing tall
On the headland, where the seawind
Lets no tree grow,
Earthquake-proved, and signatured
By ages of storms: on its peak
A falcon has perched.
I think, here is your emblem
To hang in the future sky;
Not the cross, not the hive,
But this; bright power, dark peace;
Fierce consciousness joined with final
Disinterestedness;
Life with calm death; the falcon's
Realist eyes and act
Married to the massive
Mysticism of stone,
Which failure cannot cast down
Nor success make proud.</pre>
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15478#sthash.fwInHg0P.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<h1 class="TITLE">
Rock and Hawk</h1>
by <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/199">Robinson Jeffers</a>
<br />
<pre>Here is a symbol in which
Many high tragic thoughts
Watch their own eyes.
This gray rock, standing tall
On the headland, where the seawind
Lets no tree grow,
Earthquake-proved, and signatured
By ages of storms: on its peak
A falcon has perched.
I think, here is your emblem
To hang in the future sky;
Not the cross, not the hive,
But this; bright power, dark peace;
Fierce consciousness joined with final
Disinterestedness;
Life with calm death; the falcon's
Realist eyes and act
Married to the massive
Mysticism of stone,
Which failure cannot cast down
Nor success make proud.</pre>
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15478#sthash.fwInHg0P.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<h1 class="TITLE">
Rock and Hawk</h1>
by <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/199">Robinson Jeffers</a>
<br />
<pre>Here is a symbol in which
Many high tragic thoughts
Watch their own eyes.
This gray rock, standing tall
On the headland, where the seawind
Lets no tree grow,
Earthquake-proved, and signatured
By ages of storms: on its peak
A falcon has perched.
I think, here is your emblem
To hang in the future sky;
Not the cross, not the hive,
But this; bright power, dark peace;
Fierce consciousness joined with final
Disinterestedness;
Life with calm death; the falcon's
Realist eyes and act
Married to the massive
Mysticism of stone,
Which failure cannot cast down
Nor success make proud.</pre>
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15478#sthash.fwInHg0P.dpuf</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-19924994902998661182014-01-22T23:01:00.001-05:002014-01-22T23:04:51.437-05:00Winter Sunsets<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglfIgPR-1yc5nvfXLV0tpsmMsVKNqA8aUAu62HyeBXVDxsnkgl1gZOUi3r5Bs3Abp1UFFxebaZcni6g7gpUHn_RktJTNRY1Ud-pCF_t9jYX3xNVNGRN3eLbFv2f8mBaxz8KMcO/s1600/Sun-through-winter-haze-(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglfIgPR-1yc5nvfXLV0tpsmMsVKNqA8aUAu62HyeBXVDxsnkgl1gZOUi3r5Bs3Abp1UFFxebaZcni6g7gpUHn_RktJTNRY1Ud-pCF_t9jYX3xNVNGRN3eLbFv2f8mBaxz8KMcO/s1600/Sun-through-winter-haze-(2).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pale Sun through Winter Haze</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMZLBECK0zfG-AX-H2PiKNgfXp91ydy2dvVFH8AKpqWZ0lWSBddogVP668HSUrdX-_vXz8VqGI0CfDaEl9oVS7dZy3OlbtD6nOPvHtKnBq-_M_t3X7EbphQixV-W5sMeQ42k3/s1600/From-office-(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMZLBECK0zfG-AX-H2PiKNgfXp91ydy2dvVFH8AKpqWZ0lWSBddogVP668HSUrdX-_vXz8VqGI0CfDaEl9oVS7dZy3OlbtD6nOPvHtKnBq-_M_t3X7EbphQixV-W5sMeQ42k3/s1600/From-office-(3).jpg" height="297" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Same Scene on a Clear Day</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG_cnXYNB23USgXuRaqVMJxTPVppFVB5PqGlWu5iVI85DgKqPLgkIxSf9rSbsnhGfII0V2VCO7RGGazrmhS1TNFHBpuspsb6Zg-VJ0gLAQ_kWL5Lv2qvMg_n57Pfcv9Z_6DLWv/s1600/Sun-through-winter-haze-(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19314704.post-74119708580726184182014-01-07T16:12:00.000-05:002014-01-22T23:02:02.549-05:00January Icicles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGZGSS3TQfHM0jpTs_-46Q5XW7U5Dc58EUwcRLkwkl7VVLWLbEZN_Cmuj0L-y67KzJSBLdz2eV8DOA3vDqD9TU0sRvQX7ytrV7gjbo7TEXozMNpckzFTq9uv4mVQNkloIGkJH/s1600/Icicles-(1)-copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGZGSS3TQfHM0jpTs_-46Q5XW7U5Dc58EUwcRLkwkl7VVLWLbEZN_Cmuj0L-y67KzJSBLdz2eV8DOA3vDqD9TU0sRvQX7ytrV7gjbo7TEXozMNpckzFTq9uv4mVQNkloIGkJH/s1600/Icicles-(1)-copy.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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January Icicles</h4>
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<span class="text PrAzar-1-48" id="en-NRSV-33917">Bless the Lord, light and darkness;</span><br />
<span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text PrAzar-1-48">sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.</span></span><span class="text PrAzar-1-49" id="en-NRSV-33918"></span><span class="text PrAzar-1-49" id="en-NRSV-33918"> </span></div>
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<span class="text PrAzar-1-49" id="en-NRSV-33918">Bless the Lord, ice and cold;</span><br />
<span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text PrAzar-1-49">sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.</span></span><span class="text PrAzar-1-50" id="en-NRSV-33919"></span><span class="text PrAzar-1-50" id="en-NRSV-33919"> </span></div>
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<span class="text PrAzar-1-50" id="en-NRSV-33919">Bless the Lord, frosts and snows;</span></div>
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<span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text PrAzar-1-50">sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.</span></span></div>
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(Prayer of Azariah 1:48-50)</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0