Breath of our breath, heart of our heart, no chartered lines of thoughts this day; no preconceived patterns. Just a chance to pipe a native joy song in response to this intoxicating moment.
Benjamin Martin
On This Day…
Stephen Spender born 1901 in London, died 1995: poet, novelist, essayist who concentrated his work on themes of social justice and class struggle. Works: World Within World, Trial of a Judge, The Temple Quotes: “Great poetry is always written by somebody straining to go beyond what he can do.” “Religion stands, the church blocking the sun.”
What is like Richards, Missouri, filled with riches –if you see? It helps if you’re very, very poor, because then you don’t get held up on the bits and pieces of a populist day with expectations also populist. You end up like nobody else and expecting nothing. But come the first beauty, the first joy, the first lovely love, the first dogwood in bloom, the first stream flowing through a pecan grove, the first real fireplace there to heat the house and light your reading, the first real and human friend—and or young—to be close to, to take you shopping in Nevada or in Ft. Scott with twenty-five cents to spend. Nothing more rich there and nothing costing more than twenty-five cents and all the rest costing nothing. Giving everything.
William Boast, from Seminalia: The Omnific Journey
On This Day…
William Wadsworth Longfellow born in 1807 in Portland, Maine, died 1882: professor and poet. Works: Paul Revere’s Ride, Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline Quotes: “The best thing you can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” “In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.”
Musing on Nature as Teacher…As we were stopped at the light where traffic can merge on to the freeway, we noticed a gaggle of geese huddled on a narrow strip of land between the freeway and the onramp. To the right of the onramp is a dam that is a virtual paradise for water fowl. While we were stopped at the light, we watched the geese venture onto the asphalt of the onramp in an effort to get to the dam side of the road only to retreat back to the strip of land as merging cars sped onto the onramp. We were there long enough to observe several attempts of this gaggle of geese to brave the road only to be forced once again into retreat. As the light changed and I accelerated, I thought to myself, “How ridiculous.” Then, out loud, “Don’t they know they have wings?” Unflatteringly, this “geese crossing” event had a way of slapping me up the side of the head with the metaphor – for I wondered if the same observation might be made of me.
Benjamin Martin
On This Day…
Purim:Jewish remembrance of Esther the Redeemer, who saved her people from genocide
Could I unfold like a map my life from beginning to this precious moment, The course would be studded with the stars That mark miracles.
Photo credit @nasa on Unsplash
Sometimes these stars twinkle late, Hold back their blooming, Some burst quickly in sudden brilliance.
There are stars so obvious You cannot miss them, Some hide out. The wonder of these miracles Is not, as Bill said, a ‘why’ question. Deserving is not involved. As I grow old, I recognize my stars sooner, And am grateful for them Whether as blessings, mercies, travails or sufferings. All gifts of grace, gifts of grace.
Donna Piper Leichtling
On This Day…
St. Walburga: 7C Abbess of Heidenheim Abby, patroness of crops
Consider the sameness of the verb, “to love,” and consider how stagnant its meaning when coupled with ice cream, beer, or riding a bike. And yet, its power is in its context, when applied to a moment wrested from the mundane, where the unexpected opens up into an exchange of regard and chemistry and what seemed impossible becomes known as something wonderful.
Photo credit @jannerboy62 on Unsplash
Take the word love and insert it between two people who have shared the same bed for 50 years and weathered the deaths of their children, the hardships of the wars and times of negative income. Take the word love and insert it between a parent and a child as the mother cares for her handicapped son. Take the word love and insert it between two competitive brothers who come to terms with the intensity of what they have felt for each other over the years. It is not the sameness of the word that is so impressive but that the same word can carry so much power via the context of what resides on either side of it. God can only retain His sameness and still be personal through context. This context of the human makes a universal God (transcendent) into a very personal God (imminent) that cannot be replicated.
In Christuman, we strive for continuity, for a Golden Chain of very personal instances where the world’s chance to be is manifested in the unique context of very soulful priests. We strive for a continuity of origo where the singularity of the one human gives amplification to the oneness of the God everywhere and the God all knowing. We do not seek to distill down to a common understanding or a unifying definition instead we seek to instill the context of all that a human can be with all that the God is and was and is to come. May it be so.
