Ordinary Time 32/3rd Week before Advent – Saturday
Feria
Two poems by Father Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. that I’ve been pondering on ever since I first read them this week.
From Poems and Prose of Gerard Manley Hopkins (1963: London, Penguin)
‘My own heart let me more have pity on; let’
My own heart let me more have pity on; let
Me live to my sad self hereafter kind,
Charitable; not live this tormented mind
With this tormented mind tormenting yet
I cast for comfort I can no more get
By groping round my comfortless, than blind
Eyes in their dark can day or thirst can find
Thirst’s all-in-all in all a world of wet.Soul, self; come, poor Jackself, I do advise
You, jaded, let be; call off thoughts awhile
Elsewhere; leave comfort root-room; let joy size
At God knows when to God knows what; whose smile
’s not wrung, see you; unforseen times rather – as skies
Betweenpie mountains – lights a lovely mile.
‘I wake a feel the fell of dark, not day.’
I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day.
What hours, O what black hours we have spent
This night! what sights you, heart, saw; ways you went!
And more must, in yet longer light’s delay.
With witness I speak this. But where I say
Hours I mean years, mean life. And my lament
Is cries countless, cries like dead letters sent
To dearest him that lives alas! away.I am gall, I am heartburn. God’s most deep decree
Bitter would have me taste: my taste was me;
Bones built in me, flesh filled, blood brimmed the curse.
Selfyeast of a spirit a dull dough sours. I see
The lost are like this, and their scourge to be
As I am mine, their sweating selves; but worse.
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Reading still helps me to get through the despair. My reading list over this past week:
- Tom Perrotta, The Abstinence Teacher (2007: London, Harper Perennial)
- Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake (2004: London, Harper Perennial)
- Dave Robinson (illus. Oscar Zarate), Introducing: Kierkegaard (2006: London, Icon Books)
- Monocle (November 2009 edition)
- First Things (November 2009 edition)
- The Monthly (November 2009 edition)
Other things to watch as well:
- Getting back up to speed with Stargate Universe
- Lars and the Real Girl (OK, I have a little crush on Kelli Garner)
- The Namesake
- Marie Antoinette
- Juno
- The Edge of Love
+ 1941hrs
Ordinary Time 32/3rd Week before Advent – Tuesday
Feast Day of St. Leo the Great (d. A.D.461), Pope & Doctor of the Church
[ now playing? ] Juan Diego Flórez & Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana (cond. Daniel Oren) – Bel Canto Spectacular
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time/3rd Sunday before Advent
Feria
I’m sitting here in a state of numbness.
Ordinary Time 31/4th Week before Advent – Friday
Feria
[ now playing? ] Mixed by DJ008® – A Portrait of House (2001)
Yes, I am going old school with house music for listening tonight. This is bringing back memories. Good memories.
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Got some good news today as well. Shared it with a couple of close friends at work during the lunch break and after work (well, with one during lunch break and another in the arvo and evening). Darkness lifted briefly at lunch for an hour or so.
Haven’t had as much fun on a Friday night as tonight. The darkness lifted for at least 4 hours… Was rather refreshing. Along with that Corona at the Embassy this arvo and then dinner at Wagamama Wintergarden.
Now just waiting for the darkness to swallow me back up into its belly again. It’s coming for me, but I just can’t spot the damn thing at present so I can’t really hide myself from its jaws.
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“The soul too, has her virginity and must bleed a little before bearing fruit.” — George Santayana (1863-1952)
+ 2200hrs
Ordinary Time 31/4th Week before Advent – Wednesday
Feria
Feast Day of St. Charles Borromeo (d. 1584), Archbishop of Milan, Reformer of the Roman Catholic Church (RC Kalendar)
Michael Spencer (a.k.a. Internet Monk) has got one helluva series of interviews with Roman Catholic philosopher and blogger, Bryan Cross on his blog at the moment. It’s quite amusing (and pertinent) to me to read of yet another person who has crossed the Tiber from evangelicalism (in Cross’ case, Pentecostalism->Reformed Church->Anglican->Rome). Well worth a read if only to broaden your horizons (especially if you only have contacts with those within evangelicalism or within one’s own church denomination).
Here are the direct permalinks to the interview parts:
Part 1 – Introduction and Christian Unity and the Gospel
Part 2 – Unity, Reformation and Tensions in Catholicism
Part 3 – Anglicans, Evangelicals, Convert Apologetics and Books
Part 4 – What should Protestants know about Vatican II?
Christian Unity has been something that has lurked at the near back parts of my mind (is that a contradiction in terms?) ever since I started looking at theology seriously and abandoned my previous views of “Arminians/Calvinists/Catholics/Eastern Orthodox/Anglicans/Methodists/Presbyterians/Baptists/*insert name of Christian grouping here* are wrong” (that was back in 2002-03). I wonder how on earth Protestants can say that we have unity in Christ, when we don’t actually have unity in doctrine (it could be Celebrity Deathmatch if you put an Arminian/Remonstrant and a Calvinist into a wrestling ring), let alone ecclesiology (i.e. how the Church is set up, run, governed and its ultimate purpose), Biblical hermeneutics and exegesis, sacraments/ordinances and a whole bunch of other stuff.
I’ve always wondered how we can sing verse 3 of hymn 425 (“Onward, Christian Soldiers”) in the EMP hymnal of choice, Hymns of Universal Praise where it says:
“We are not divided, all one body we, One in hope and doctrine, one in charity”.
Yes, maybe one in charity. Maybe. But “We are not divided, all one body we”? If one only looks at the church as being some mystical body, then yes. But visible unity? In Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, yes, that exists. But amongst Protestants? You gotta be kidding me.
“One in hope and doctrine”? The hope bit yes, for me that’s a reference to our one real hope, i.e. Christ. But one in doctrine? Again, see above. We Protestants (I include myself in this grouping as technically I am still in this camp) can’t agree amongst ourselves on matters of doctrine and instead of there being one pope, we’ve set up potentially 60,000+ popes instead (assuming one for every Protestant sect/denomination out there). For the most part, Catholics and Eastern Orthodox would be well over 50% in agreement of doctrine (there’s about 75% of agreement in doctrine if I just make a rough guesstimate).
It’s enough to make me want to jump ship. Almost.
Now time to try and get to sleep. Have yet another long day of work ahead of me tomorrow. And I am so over life (in all of its facets) for this week. Looking forward to dinner on Friday. One of the very few highlights of my week.
+ 2318hrs
Ordinary Time 31/4th Week before Advent
Lesser Festival of Richard Hooker, Priest, Anglican Apologist & Teacher of the Faith (d. 1600)
Commemoration of Martin of Porres, Friar (d. 1639)
[ now playing? ]
Ennio Morricone, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Voices & Barnet Schools Choir – The Mission OST
Feist – Let It Die
4th Sunday before Advent/Ordinary Time 31
Eve of All Saints (All Hallows Eve)
4th Sunday before Advent
Yes, I do follow the age old custom in the Christian community (and a tip of the hat to our Jewish forefathers) to treat Saturday night as the beginning of Sunday. So “Reformation Day” (Oct 31) ended about 2 hours ago when the sun set and the darkness arrived.
And this year is somewhat special as All Saints/All Hallows is on a Sunday. Meaning that this year is somewhat special for a solemnity such as All Saints Day to fall on a Sunday.
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iMonk has a very good article, part 20 on his series on the Evangelical Liturgy on the subject of silence in the service. I don’t know why but most churches I have been to don’t tend to like silence (with the exception of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches I have been to). It is filled up instead with some music. But silence is a critical part of services. The Lord asks us to “Be still and know that I am God”. That stillness, to my own experience, cannot be truly achieved in a time of corporate worship where no silence is present in the service/liturgy.
Are we all too scared of silence? Are we scared at what the silence reveals to us about ourselves? Or have we been conditioned by our environment to accept that as much background noise as possible is the “norm”? Go take a read and think for yourself.
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With the last week, I have been more snappy, bitter, judgmental, smartass-ish than usual. It’s a bad thing. Along with that has come regular thoughts about death.
So if I happen to die in the near future, please try and find me a casket like this:
+ 2022hrs
