Poetry Wednesday--Jack Rolph

Perhaps this is what Advent is about: to ask the Infant Jesus to melt the icy cynicism of our souls with His love.

Cynicism

I stand within a cage:
a cage of ice.

I am visible, yet distorted
by layer upon layer of cold armour,
forced upon me by the winds of change
to save and incarcerate the fragility beneath.

The few who have reached me
in hope of finding that which is trapped within,
have suffered the bite of winter's frost
while I stand helpless watching.

Yet I hope that one day soon a warmth
will shatter this prison and set me free
and I will smile without crystal aberration
that allowed me sight with perfect clarity.

Music Monday--Gabriel's Message

This rendition of Gabriel's Message by the Cambridge Choir And Orchestra Of Clare College is accompanied by beautiful pictures of the Annunciation and is an especially appropriate way to begin Advent.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Sunday Snippets is brought to you each week by RAnn at This, That and the Other Thing. This week we listened to a surprisingly well-written and somewhat rebellious song from The Carpenters, read a poem by Robert William Service and looked at a painting by Brenda Thour.

I talked about the first real Thanksgiving, and a reading from the Book of Habakkuk.

The Lord God is Our Strength

For the fig will not flower,

the vines will not fruit,

the work of the olive will be lost.

The fields will yield no food,

the flocks will be cut off from the sheepfold,

there will be no cattle in the stalls.

But I will rejoice in the Lord, take joy in God my saviour.

The Lord God is my strength.

He will make me as sure-footed as the deer.

He will lead me up to the heights.

~Habakkuk 3, from today's morning prayer

This passage from Habukkuk was part of today's morning prayer. The entire world is experiencing economic hardship not seen since the 1930's and political unrest not seen since the 1960's.  So many of us are unemployed or "underemployed", without health insurance and without a safety net of any kind. 

But, "the Lord God is (our) strength. He will lead (us) up to the heights". 

I've been attending daily Mass at a neighboring parish three days a week and one of the priests there had been reflecting on the Feast of Christ the King.  He said, essentially, that there is a lot of fear-mongering going on right now regarding politics in the United States and that we should not be shocked and worried about what might be happening here because the only kingdom that will last forever is the Kingdom of God.  No other ones will last.  That is just a fact. 

The Lord God is our strength.

The First Thanksgiving--Bean Soup After Mass

The winners write the history, hence, the story of the "first Thanksgiving" at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts with the Pilgrims and the Indians.  America being a "Protestant country" gave rise to the idea that the Separatists and Anglicans' feast with the Massasoit Indians in 1621 was the first in the New World.

The real first Thanksgiving in a permanent settlement in the New World took place 56 years before in what is now St. Augustine, Florida between Spanish explorer Pedro Menendez de Alviles, 800 Spanish settlers and the Seloy Indians.

When Menendez landed with his 800 settlers, Father Francisco Lopez celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving for the safe voyage.

After Mass, Menendez invited the local Seloy Indians for a feast, which consisted of a ham and garbanzo bean stew with garlic and red wine.  If the Indians brought food, it could have included such favorites as corn , squash and turkey as well as tortoise and catfish.

Starting Thanksgiving off by celebrating Mass is a great way to center ourselves with the reminder of Who it is we are thanking for our lives.

Poetry Wednesday--Robert William Service

This poem by Robert William Service explores the meaning of success and failure.

Successful Failure

I wonder if successful men
Are always happy?
And do they sing with gusto when
Springtime is sappy?
Although I am of snow-white hair
And nighly mortal,
Each time I sniff the April air
I chortle.
I wonder if a millionaire
Jigs with enjoyment,
Having such heaps of time to spare
For daft employment.
For as I dance the Highland Fling
My glee is muckle,
And doping out new songs to sing
I chuckle.
I wonder why so soon forgot
Are fame and riches;
Let cottage comfort be my lot
With well-worn britches.
As in a pub a poor unknown,
Brown ale quaffing,
To think of all I’ll never own,–
I’m laughing.

Art and Beauty Tuesday--Brenda Thour

Follow Your Heart by Brenda Thour is a bright and cheery abstract painting.  Using lots of primaries as well as hearts and flowers, Thour used a paint knife for parts of this painting. The colors of the heart burst out and splash across the page while the blue in the flowers mixes in with the various blues that float across the background. The splash of white and black in the upper right corner is reminiscent of a smudged yin/yang.

Ms. Thour sells her work on Etsy and lives in Minneapolis, MN.