Daily Signet

As I was driving home, I decided to turn on my iPod not for any purpose but simply to listen to some music. When I hit the play button, I heard a voice distinctly say, “Here is what I want you to play at service.” The first piece, Psalm 117 by Arvo Part, was like taking a hot bath. The aches and pains of the week were beginning to lessen. The second piece, Part’s Magnificat, was nothing short of a raging fire—it was alchemical….As the piece moved from forte to triple forte, I began reaching for the volume switch to back it down. In a voice that could easily be heard over the triple forte sound of the chorus, “I offer you grace and you want to turn it down? There can be no grace until you are cleansed. Let it burn!” And it did. And as it did, the pain began to be transformed into the most profound feeling of love I have ever experienced.  

Earl J. Behnke

On This Day…

Elizabeth Bishop born 1911 in Worcester, Maine, died 1979: Poet Laureate of the United States, Pulitzer Prize recipient. Works: Questions of Travel, Exchanging Hails, One Art
Quotes: “All my life I have lived and behaved very much like the sandpiper – just running down the edges of different countries and continents, looking for something.” “The armored cars of dreams, contrived to let us do so many a dangerous thing.”

Lisel Mueller born 1924 in Hamburg, Germany: poet, recipient of National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Works: Alive Together, The Need to Hold Still, Waving From Shore
Quotes: “Memory and poetry go together, absolutely. It is a matter of preserving and of remembering things.” “Well, language seems to be something that obsesses me. I’m always writing about it.”