Hot Off the Presses

Just published a few hours ago, the new encyclical by Benedict XVI has been released. It's titled Spe Salvi (Saved by Hope), and is located here.

I think I'm becoming an Anglo-Papalist, especially with such a cool, Bavarian pope.

Sometimes one has to go through the pain of separation in order to move on in life. Sometimes we must separate in order to be free. It is a relief. Even sometimes we must part from good friends. Yet it can be necessary.

Yesterday I ran through a hard, cold rain. I became soaked, yet it cleared my mind and drained my anger well. I was able to run fast, and hard - frustration is often a great fuel. I savored the discomfort of the weather, every step drove me to my inevitable determination to make a decision.

I've restarted the piano lessons I abandoned when I was young. I am starting with Satie's Gymnopedie #1. It is hard going, yet I'm progressing well. I only need master the second page, and it will be ready. For the moment, though, my hands are quite clumsy.

Song of the day:

Hymn of Thanksgiving

The Akathist Hymn: "Glory to God for All Things"

Lesson

Sometimes the Book of Proverbs can be particularly instructive. I found the following to be particularly full of wisdom:

The Reading is from Proverbs 5:1-15

My son, be attentive to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding; that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not take heed to the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.

And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house; lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless; lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of an alien; and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, "How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. I was at the point of utter ruin in the assembled congregation." Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.

I know I have yet to really write much of substance. I likely will soon.

Church Father

You’re St. Justin Martyr! You have a positive and hopeful attitude toward the world. You think that nature, history, and even the pagan philosophers were often guided by God in preparation for the Advent of the Christ. You find “seeds of the Word” in unexpected places. You’re patient and willing to explain the faith to unbelievers. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

Physician Heal Thyself

I read this today and it really struck me.

The American playwright Thornton Wilder wrote a magnificent short play, The Angel That Troubled the Waters. Do you know the story? It's poignant and powerful. It involves the pool at Bethesda, the famous pool in Jerusalem where the people believed that a movement of the surface of the water was caused by an angel. The pool was surrounded by the ill and disabled who, as soon as they saw the waters being stirred, would quickly enter the pool, as they believed that the first person to enter the moving water would be healed.

In Wilder's play, there was a physician who would go to the pool with some regularity, wishing to be healed of his afflictions of melancholy and remorse. One day as he sat at the edge of the pool waiting and the waters began to stir, the angel appeared and stopped him from getting in. "Healing is not for you," the angel told him.

The physician was very upset. Why could he not receive this precious gift?

The angel responded, "Your melancholy and remorse, and the timbre in your voice when you speak to the broken and wretched, speak volumes and have a healing effect on them. Healing is not for you."

Still, the physician was troubled. But then a man who had been healed and was rejoicing came over, and said, "Would you come home with me just for one hour? My son is thinking dark thoughts. I can't communicate with him. You are the only person who has ever been able to lift his spirits. And since her child died, my daughter sits in the shadow. She won't listen to us, but she does listen to you. Please come home with me."

The angel, standing nearby listening, said, "In love's service only the wounded soldier can serve. All the angels themselves do not have the power to heal as you do."

Link

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