Inner Bowing

 

The German artist, Hans Hoffman painted this marvelous picture (oil on wood panel) in 1585. It is titled simply ~ A Hare in the Forest. I would title it more precisely, A Hare at the Edge of the Forest.  

The alert rabbit is chewing on the stem and pleated leaf of a Lady's Mantle plant. We know the rabbit is at the forest edge because the trees are behind her, the grass along the edge in front. There is a tall thistle plant on the left with a white butterfly. In the front left corner we see the broad leaves of a Plantain which was valued as a wound-healer and remedy for snakebite. Birds ate the seeds of the Plantain herb. It grows where there is sun or partial shade — along the forest edge.  The Hare Bell is blooming with blue flowers. We see a cricket, spotted butterfly, salamanders, striped snails, a tiny frog and a bird perched on a low branch. 

These creatures don't naturally co-exist in nature, but Hoffman has placed them artificially together not only as a nature study, but I can imagine in wonderment and delight. He clearly loves creation and is meticulous in portraying it. If we were to zoom in on the rabbit, we would see that its fur is created with many hundreds of individual paint strokes carefully placed. The top strokes of the rabbit's fur catch little bits of light. 

Here are four verses taken from the psalms which suggest the psalmist understands as well as the artist. I want to see and understand too. May we bow to the imagination and beauty of it all.

For I own all the beasts of the forest,

beasts in their thousands on my hills.
I know all the birds in the sky,

all that moves in the forest belongs to me. Psalm 50:10

When you spread the darkness it is night

and all the beasts of the forest creep forth. Psalm 104:20

The eyes of all creatures look to you

and you give them their food in due time.

You open wide your hand,

grant the desires of all who live. Psalm 144:15

Praise the Lord all mountains and hills,

all fruit trees and cedars,

beasts, wild and tame,

reptiles and birds on the wing. Psalm 148:7,8

Intercessions ~ First Sunday of Advent

El Greco ~ St. Andrew, Apostle

At the start of Advent,/ may the nation begin again,/ re-learning courtesy,/ unity,/ and cooperation—all the values which advance the light,/ helping us to see clearly what is of God,/ and deeply human./ We pray to the Lord. 

Monday is the Feast of the Apostle, St. Andrew,/ who introduced the little boy to Jesus before the multiplication of the loaves in the wilderness./ May we know each other in the life of the church,/ and value and care for one another./ We pray to the Lord.

Eleven percent of all new Covid cases are children./ Food insecurity has spread across the nation./ Hero doctors and nurses are exhausted and even in tears at what they see./ Covid patients/ waiting to be admitted to hospitals/ die while sitting in waiting rooms,/ and still many Americans refuse even to wear a mask./ May God help and forgive./ We pray to the Lord.

The nation is in a difficult time of Presidential transition,/ may we learn what it means to be "great again."/ May we be great in compassion,/ great in feeding the hungry,/ great in establishing peace through the hard work of dialogue,/ great in creating a world of justice,/great in saving our planet-home./ We pray to the Lord.

As the holiday time has begun with Thanksgiving,/ we pray for our families to be safe and well,/ remembering those who have no family,/ or whose families are broken,/ sick or suffering./ We pray to the Lord.

Pope Francis speaks boldly to the world in a new book,/ imagining life for the planet after Coronavirus./ He will be unfazed by the many who will dismiss him angrily./ May we grow in courage,/ which is in short supply,/ especially among those we look to for leadership./ We pray to the Lord.

"Rockefeller" the Owl and God's Anawim

 

The Christmas Tree delivered this year to Rockefeller Center in New York City is being called scrawny. Perhaps its scruffiness signifies the vulnerability we find ourselves in these days of  Coronavirus Pandemic. On the other hand, the man who owned the tree says essentially, "Hooey, the tree is perfect."  Doesn't matter.

But after the tree was cut down in Oneonta, New York and delivered to the city, a tiny Saw-whet owl, no bigger than a soda can, was found inside the tightly bound branches. Bless the workman (pictured here) who discovered the stowaway and had the good heart and presence of mind not to flick the bird off, like a bug. Two hours later and thirty miles away, the little owl was delivered to the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center which rehabilitates injured wildlife. After suffering three days without food and water, (not to mention being snagged in the branches), we can't imagine the bird's condition. But  the team at Ravensbeard saw spark in him/her, and are fixing him up (named "Rockefeller). After the vet gives the go ahead, Rockefeller will fly free in a forest-d area where he should do well. 

The little bird's plight reminds me of the Old Testament anawim. Who Are they? They are the marginalized of the world, the left out, the vulnerable, the desperate, the socio-economically oppressed, the lowly ones. I would say the anawim are the little ones, who might be the Downs Syndrome baby in the womb, might be the many thousands of children in our fifty states who are food insecure, might be the folks who have lost jobs—who are on food pantry lines looking for something to eat for Thanksgiving and might soon be evicted because they can't pay the rent—while the legislators flew home for the holiday, might be the kids faraway who live on garbage mountain, the girls who aren't sufficiently valued to attend school...

I almost never use the word should, but we really should take the anawim seriously, as the Virgin Mary, whom we rightly extol as  Christ's first disciple, referred to herself as anawim. In her Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55)) she proclaimed before her elder relative, Elizabeth:

"My soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour. He looks on his servant in her nothingness; henceforth all ages will call me blessed." 

At Bethlehem, Jesus' first guests were the anawim-shepherds. It's not nice to say, but today, we might hear them called losers. How we persist in calling people names.

It is said that the best kept secret of the Catholic Church is its social doctrine. Well, shame on us for having justice as our top secret. Is justice our secret because the church is afraid people will runaway if that message is proclaimed? Is the church afraid of being called "socialist" or "communist" — even though we use these words foolishly, with no idea of their meaning? We weaponize words to garner votes. Instead, we satisfy ourselves with charity. At 11:00 A.M., "Well, I've done my good deed for the day," one elder, self-congratulating church lady said. But justice means cultural change—far reaching and deep. Justice means re-thinking, creating a new model that serves everyone. Justice means the lifting up of the anawim—bringing them out of the shadows, up from the last place to the head of the line—ahead of the high-rollers. Justice is scary for an entitled people.

So, bless the little owl and all the creatures, so vulnerable before our society that grinds up the living things—the plants and the animals. And bless those (like our Pope) who call for a new world order that many (including clergy) call naive. The genuinely religious people are always said to be naive. 

As wonderful and right as it is to take care of a little owl, may we learn how to take care of the little people of the world. But we are very far from that, aren't we? We can't even lock arms together in taking care of others by wearing masks during this time of devastating disease. 

Psalm Two ~ Choosing

 

This photograph is of an early 17th century crucifix found in the Sanctuary of San Damiano in Assisi, Italy.  Thomas Merton writes of his early days in the monastery, where hand lettered signs were all over the place, reminding the monk to be recollected. He said of the signs, "After you've passed them a once or twice, you don't even notice them." But you can't just breeze by this crucifix — arresting in its emotional beauty. 

This Feast of Christ the King is often celebrated in a triumphant way — rent a trumpeter for the Mass or service, pull out all the stops on the pipe organ to accompany a rousing rendition of To Jesus Christ our Sovereign King. But King-Jesus is not triumphant in any worldly way — he wears the fake crown of thorns on his head to make him look a crazed fool. So in love with earth-power—dictator-like leaders, consumer spending power — I'd suggest the Christians need to rethink this end-of-the-liturgical-year feast day. Big time!

God's power — revealed in the abused, crucified Jesus, is the power of committed love. So, here's the choice. It's the choice nations have before them. It's the choice each individual has to make: Where do I put my trust, my confidence? 

Psalm 2

The Second Psalm begins, "Why this tumult among the nations?"  Other translations ask, "Why do the nations rage?" or "Why do the nations conspire?" It's a line about the nations in the ancient world and, of course, about our own time and place?  It's always crisis time. The first psalm (introducing the collection of 150) says, "Happy indeed is the person who follows not the advice of the wicked, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders God's law day and night." And the last line of the second psalm (its partner) says essentially the same, "Happy are they who put their trust in God." 

There it is. In 150 ways, the psalms put this choice before us — do I put my trust in money, in my connections, in my stored up stuff, in the power-leaders we elect, in my country's military might and threat, in our greatness (whatever that means), in our so-called freedoms — or humbly and simply, in God? Of course, we can be propagandized and not even know how self deceived we are. We can wear and fly slogans and never consider what these things mean spiritually: In God we trust. One nation under God. For God and Country. A nation can use throw-away God-words and still have a weaponized, greedy, arrogant, hater-heart. 

But I'm not despairing. The Vatican nuncio (a pope's national representative) sent an online message to the bishops who met virtually this week. He laments how secularized the world has become by people who live as if God doesn't even exist. But I've known self-proclaimed Christians, and even been taught by or lived with clergy who I've wondered if they even believed. Yes! But then there are movements, not necessarily religious, that give evidence of great love—choosing love for the "crucified" people — the rejects, the wastes, the ones some might think should have been aborted. There's the rub, as they say. 

I saw this news item on TV recently and subsequently found it again as a YouTube video. It's about choosing love (and God is love, St. John tells us, heh?). The second psalm is about that choice — finding and trusting God in a world of raging, conspiring, turmoil. Whether we know it or not, frame it in religious language or not, doesn't really matters: The love matters.

Prayers ~ As We Surpass 250,000 Dead

 

This week in the United States, the number of covid deaths surpassed 250,000. That's a quarter of a million people — gone. These are spouses, parents and grandparents, sons and daughters, siblings, colleagues, neighbors, fellow parishioners, classmates, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, friends...

I'm confounded that there has been no national mourning. There is a great National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. that could host such a prayer. A quarter of a million people is more than all those who died in terrible wars the nation has fought. And there's no national mourning. 

So, here are a few prayers we might pray on our own. They are prayers expressive of a deep solidarity with mourners across the land. The Church of England has made them available for all. 

For those who have died

Almighty and eternal God,

from whose love in Christ we cannot be parted,

either by death or life:

hear our prayers and thanksgivings

for all whom we remember;

fulfill in them the purpose of your love;

and bring us all, with them, to your eternal joy;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

At a bereavement

Father,

you know our hearts and share our sorrows.

We are hurt by our parting from those whom we loved:

when we are angry at the loss we have sustained,

when we long for words of comfort,

yet find them hard to hear,

turn our grief to truer living,

our affliction to firmer hope

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Lord, have mercy

on those who mourn,

who feel numb and crushed

and are filled with the pain of grief,

whose strength has given up.

You know all our sighing and longings:

be near to us and teach us to fix our hope on you 

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Lord, do not abandon us in our desolation.

Keep us safe in the midst of trouble,

and complete your purpose for us 

through your steadfast love and faithfulness,

In Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Amen.

Our eyes are wasted with grief,

you know we are weary with groaning.

As we remember our death

in the dark emptiness of the night,

have mercy on us and heal us,

forgive us and take away our fear

through the dying and rising of Jesus your Son.

Amen.

Intercessions ~ Feast of Christ the King

 

On the Feast of Christ the King,/ may we join Pope Francis in his message for the World Day of the Poor,/ asking that,"The end of all our actions would only be love,/ love that is one of sharing,/ dedication and service,/ born of the realization that we were first loved and awakened to love."/ We pray to the Lord.

On the Feast of Christ the King,/ we pray for the Church to eschew earthly power./ For the healing of the Church/ which has been damaged by political extremism/ and its own failures of conscience./ We pray to the Lord.

On the Feast of Christ the King,/ we pray for the nation to learn God's values again and again./ May we be peacemakers,/ who feed the hungry,/ welcome the stranger,/ ensure justice,/ live in mercy and humility./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the protection and strength of hospital personnel who work to save the lives of coronavirus sufferers./ We pray boldly for the heart-turning of those who refuse to  undertaken the simplest measures/ to keep others safe in this time of pandemic./ We pray to the Lord.

At the end of the liturgical year,/ may we have thankful hearts/ preparing for Advent/ and its invitation to draw near to the light of Christ's mind./ We pray to the Lord.

The nation is not experiencing a smooth transition of power./ May God take us in hand,/ and lead us to peace,/ healed of racism,/ violence,/ indifference/ and consumerist entitlement and greed./ For the heart-evolution of those who are shameless actors in the world of politics,/ media and religion./ We pray to the Lord.

A Prayer to the Mother of God for Our Country

 

The United States is placed under the patronage of Mary in her Immaculate Conception. Hence, the great basilica by that title in Washington, D.C. And here is El Greco's early 17th century painting (1607) of the Virgin Mary in Her Immaculate Conception.

We don't want to be simply admirers of Mary in her sinlessness, but in a sense aren't we all called to be an immaculate conception (small i, small c) — that is — one who gradually but surely turns towards Christ's rule over heart and mind. That I would consistently, as my way of life, be readying myself to give new birth to Christ by the transformation of my life — living that unique life truthfully and beautifully, as Christ lived his.

And here is the earliest prayer (Egyptian 3rd c) the Church has offered to the Mother of God. The word patronage in the first line is important. The Greek word indicates a visceral response which causes someone to run to help the other who is in trouble, danger or distress,

We fly to your patronage, 

O Holy Mother of God,

despise not our petitions

in our necessities,

 but deliver us always from all dangers,

O glorious and blessed Virgin. 

Amen

But let us pray the prayer for our nation which is at risk of losing its identity these days — confounded, bitterly divided, armed, weakened by suspicion, personality cult, and a kind of partisan idolatry, weakened of conscience, such that we devote ourselves to whatever media-news confirms us in our fears and prejudices.

I expect when Jesus said, "Judge not," he meant it.

 

"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back."  Luke 6:37-38

 

This icon is titled: Christ, Ruler of All. Jesus blesses us with his right hand while holding the open Gospel book in his left. The message is simple, "Come to me all you who labor." Matthew 11:28. We might think of "labor" as the tedious work, maybe the thankless, underpaid work, we all have to do everyday. The job I go to. But I would suggest, perhaps the real "labor" is the spiritual labor of forgiving other people and in the gospel verse above, the gospel labor of not judging people. It is very hard, isn't it? But there it is. We might begin by first acknowledging (if we're honest) just how much negative judging, evaluating and assessing we do. 

We're in this very difficult time — the long, ugly and now post election season, and the terrible division we find ourselves in, coronavirus crisis increase, everything seemingly in a shambles, the holidays (and life!) on hold. And in the midst of all of that, Jesus comes along with this instruction and expectation, "Stop judging."  I imagine Jesus wants us to live in the awareness that judging is God's business. Judging and condemning crack open the door to violence. Condemning means essentially, "We can do very well without you." If I feel the need to judge anything, I might turn that spotlight on myself. 

Imagining this: Pray for Donald Trump. Pray for Joe Biden. Pray for Theodore McCarrick. Pray for the millions of people who didn't vote my way. Pray for the enormous number of people who simply refuse to wear a mask—while the virus spreads like wildfire. Pray for the troublemakers. Pray for anyone who I consider to be a royal pain in the neck or worse. We get the picture. "Jesus, give them all they need for their salvation." Very difficult—perhaps so much so, I don't want to hear what Jesus has to say. "Just this once, Jesus. Allow me this exception, Jesus."

I imagine when Jesus gave this direction, he meant it — as much as he meant it when he said over the bread and the wine, "This is my body; this is my blood." 

But notice this—in the icon, the light from Jesus' face (the nimbus/halo) has broken through the interior frame. Could this symbolize the promise that accompanies Jesus' "no judging; no condemning" bit: "good measure, overflowing will pour into your lap." Maybe that's the guarantee of divine assistance we're going to need, if we're to live successfully this requirement placed upon the disciple.

Intercessions ~ Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

May we heal/ and become in truth the/ "one nation under God"/ we admire and profess./ We pray to the Lord.

Another liturgical year of grace will soon draw to  close./ We pray to grow in the gifts of Christ's Word and Sacrament/ which we have received these many months./ We pray to the Lord.

As the nation experiences a daily worsening of the coronavirus pandemic,/ we pray boldly for God to take us in hand,/ and to break the spell of anger,/ indifference and stubborn ignorance/ which prevents us from getting well./ We pray to the Lord. 

May the nation's newly elected officials be kept safe and in good health./ May they remain clean of heart./ We pray to the Lord.

We ask the blessings of strength and assistance for those who are unemployed,/ lacking food  or security./ For those whose jobs have been made more difficult during this pandemic./ For first responders and all who help the sick in hospitals./ We pray to the Lord.

During our contentious election season,/ the rest of the world struggled with many problems./ And so we pray for those who live where there is war,/ disaster,/ corruption,/ injustice and sickness./ For the world's children./ We pray to the Lord.

Blessing the White House

 

President John Adams, (Second President of the United States) composed this short prayer when he moved into the new White House in 1800. We might pray the prayer today.

I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House, and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under its roof.

Today we might write "honest and wise persons." Considering the prayer was written 220 years ago, we can't very well expect Mr. Adams to have had insights into our cultural world today. The prayer is what matters most. For a President (no matter who he or she might be) to be honest and wise, that's what's needed and hoped for.

Reclaiming the Words TWEET and TWITTER

Do you feel the words tweet and twitter have been stolen from you? Once used to describe the lovely sounds of birdsong in garden, park and woodland, they've been more recently been snatched away as media tools to let everyone know where you are and what you're thinking. When the new "tweeting" first appeared, a young woman was invited onto the news show to demonstrate how it works. Her message to all her friend-followers, "I'm sitting in the coffee place on  X and Y streets — stop whatever you're doing and join me."  Stop whatever you're doing? School? Work? Taking care of an ailing parent or child? 

In our own day, we're perhaps more familiar with tweeting as the favorite pastime of bullies: menacing, threatening, contradicting, insulting, mocking others. Instead, reclaim this:

"The birds of the sky nest by the waters,

from the branches they sing their songs." 

Psalm 104:12

So if you'd like to enjoy some real tweeting and twittering, you might like to tune in here. This video is two hours long. Straight through. No looping around so you're actually listening to the same ten minutes over and over. A little while into the soundtrack we hear a real cuckoo!

Maybe you're tired of listening to the garbage truck beeping and grinding up and down the street. Maybe you're frustrated with the lawn mowers and leaf blowers blowing up the silence of your neighborhood. Maybe there's non-stop traffic invading your place. You can tune in here.

No one has to listen to the whole two hours in one sitting. It can be background sound while working. The bar on the bottom of the screen can be moved this way and that. We control the volume. But there you have it — revel in the psalm verse and click on the woodland scene above to take back the words tweet and twitter. 

P.S. A science teacher told me she intended to play the soundtrack as soft background while her classes took their next nerve-wracking test. How kind!

 

Intercessions ~ Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

We pray for the people who suffer in silence,/ secrecy or shame./ For those whose grief is raw,/ who are disregarded,/ betrayed or broken./ For those who have no one to hold them dear,/ who need nurturing or valuing./ We pray to the Lord.

For all of our exposure to media and information,/ we seem perhaps to be entering a new age of ignorance and indifference./ As a nation,/ may we search for God in the silent depth of our hearts./ We pray to the Lord.

Kristallnacht,/ the destructive night which set in motion the Holocaust/ is remembered on Monday./ May nation and church be healed/  of the ugly stain of anti-semitism,/ which is on the rise again in our own time./ We pray to the Lord.

During the Coronavirus pandemic,/ which is out of control in our country,/ some health care workers are mocked and hated for taking the disease seriously./ We ask forgiveness,/ evolution and conversion,/ for those who so little regard the health and wellbeing of others./ We pray to the Lord.

In the United States more than 235,000 people have died of Coronavirus/ and there has been no national mourning./ We pray for those who have died untimely deaths,/ for the comforting of those who loved them and miss them./ For the generous people who continue to assist the sick./ We pray to the Lord.

Autumn is a time for the planting of bulbs/ and the transplanting of plants and trees./ May we put down roots into the love of God/ as Christ has shown us,/ and come to new depths of courtesy,/ kindness,/ friendship and mutual regard./ We pray to the Lord.

We join Pope Francis in prayer for the people of Turkey and Greece/ where there has been an earthquake,/ and the people of France/ where terrorist attacks have left people dead,/ injured and afraid./ May the religions of the world grow up in the knowledge and love of God./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for those who are newly elected/ and for all who propose to lead,/ may they have clean hearts./ We pray to the Lord.

Interceding ~ The Sunday Prayers

 

This lovely 17th century Ukrainian icon is titled, The Protection of the Mother of God. Here we see the Mother of God opening a wide mantle over (symbolically) everyone. There are bishops, priests and deacons, a royal or two, men and women, young children, the sick and the poor. The ribbons ascending from the crowd carry the prayerful intercessions of all.

Since the inception of Pauca Verba, March of 2013, I've offered intercessions each Thursday with Sunday in mind. Some folks write to say they sit with their phones in church before Mass and pray them silently. Priests from Ireland and Vietnam have written to say the intercessions are used in their churches on Sunday. I offer them here, as the generic prayers found in books which most churches use on Sunday, are not especially conducive to prayer. Because they need to speak to everyone, everywhere and at any time, they wind up saying — not much. Of course, as the world goes, between my posting of the intercessions on Thursday and perhaps our praying them on Sunday, a lot can happen that can urgently hope for our prayer. The intercessions I offer are never meant to, say it all. Hopefully, they will be a stimulus to you in your desire to pray for the world in all its weariness, suffering and need.

"If we are truly living in union with God, our minds and hearts, far from being shut up in themselves, open up to embrace the whole universe and the mystery of Christ that saves it." From the Carthusian statutes 34:2

Psalm 107 ~ "I will awake the dawn"

Here is a Carthusian monk standing above the Grand Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps. There are not many Carthusians in the world; their 11th century hermit-life is rigorous. Maybe this monk has been awake through the night singing psalms and now has gone up to "awake the dawn." We can join him in this psalm-prayer.

Verses 1-3:  The psalmist begins by proclaiming his heart-readiness as his life-disposition. He's so moved by the love of God, he's going to sing about it. In the movie, A Trip To Bountiful, elderly Carrie Watts lives in a small Houston apartment with her son, Ludie and chronically irritated daughter-in-law Jessie Mae. Carrie loves to sing hymns, which annoys Jessie Mae no end. "No hymn singing," Jessie Mae calls out from the other room when Carrie starts, We shall gather at the river. "You know how hymn singing makes me nervous." Do you ever sing hymns while you're working alone?

Then we hear the word awake, three times in three lines. "Awake my soul; awake lyre and harp; I will awake the dawn."  Jesus knew these psalm verses and often asks his disciples to wake up. Not a few Christians are in a kind of spiritual coma. They show up, never miss a Mass, go through the motions, maybe they can quote some popes and saints, remember a catechism line or two, say some prayers, but their inner lives are slumbering. They have no knowledge of God and themselves from experience, only what others have told them. Not the same thing. Do you ever have a sense of knowing something of God because you've experienced it? Someone might tell you to distrust that sense or knowing, but that's more likely because they're afraid of losing control over your inner life. Some things are best kept secret — like the Carthusian monk with his own senses, watching for the dawn's awakening.

Verses 4-6: Now the psalmist jumps from praise to thanks. Oh, I forget who said this, but, "If the only word you ever say to God is thank you...." you're onto it.  He's thanking God for God's love which is for all the nations and all the peoples - God's love (which is God's truth) is so vast it's above the skies. Maybe what we'd call outer space. And when he asks that God's glory would shine on earth, does he have in mind the beauty of the temple? Better yet, God's brightness shining through human lives lived well.

Verses 7-11: As is often the case, there is a sudden shift from praise and thanks to complaint and petition as he recites these verses containing mysterious place-names: Shechem, Succoth, Gilead, Manasseh, Ephraim, Judah, Moab, Edom, the Philistines. What are we to make of this? Some of these names reflect that the kingdom had been divided up. Others are the names of enemies. So, perhaps it is all a poetic way of say that God is Lord — Lord of love over all even in our divisions, disputes, challenges, upsets. 

Verse 12-14: Oh, here it is again, (how tiresome) asking God to march with our armies. There are clergy who still bless arsenals, soldiers, fighter jets and ships. We really have to grow up spiritually and put all of that away. If there's a battle, it's interior, in one's own inner place.  Hatred and resentment are always looking for a way in. That's the enemy. And while we "wake the dawn" we might also be wide awake to that inner invasion, and stop saying, "Oh, I don't hate anyone."  Hmm, maybe in our time and place, the other really dangerous spiritual enemy is the nation's depraved indifference. 

Anyway, true to form, the psalmist ends on a bright note — "With God we shall do bravely." Or perhaps the monk is thinking of another psalm - Psalm 29, verse 6b, "At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn."

"If you believe in goodness..."

This is a photo of a Scarlet Pimpernel, a low growing, annual plant, with brightly colored flowers, though most often scarlet. But notice the brilliant yellow anthers! We see its stem and leaves in the foreground, a great, dried, fallen leaf behind, and some soft, brighter green moss. What a lovely combination of colors and textures. But we must look carefully to discover it in the first place. Walking by quickly, we would likely miss seeing it, or might even regrettably step on it. 

St. Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians: My brothers and sisters I need only add this. If you believe in goodness and if you value the approval of God, fix your minds on whatever is true and honourable and just and pure and lovely and admirable." (4:8)

These days, how important is it that St. Paul begins by proposing/asking, "If you believe in goodness..."