Sr. Wendy says....

Verena von Pfetton at the The Huffington Post:

Sister Wendy is the most adorable old lady on the face of the planet (see photo). She's also a nun. And not just any nun! She's a Consecrated Virgin nun. (Not that I know what that means, but it sounds very important and most definitely deserving of Capital Letters.) She's also a genius art historian who graduated from Oxford and has this video series through BBC and PBS ["Sister Wendy's Story of Painting"] in which she goes to museums and talks about art. She's written a few books, but her most recent (and the reason for her visit) is "Sister Wendy on Prayer". Oh, and did I mention she's taken a vow of solitude?

Why do I believe this young interviewer is not serious? She had not read the book, and the author called her on that.

Von Pfetten: Well... I haven't actually read the book. But I like the idea!

Sr. Wendy: Dear me, I wish you'd read the book. Then you could ask me why I said something or other on page 97 and how page 32 really speaks to you.

But - and it's a very big BUT - she asked Sr. Wendy a brilliant question. I'll give her due credit for that.

Von Pfetten: You've spoken out about gay marriage. How do you balance what you believe with what you have sworn to uphold?

Sr. Wendy: I believe in loyalty. We should respect our church, but never believe that the church has the last word. The church is saying "this", but I believe that sooner or later "this" will change. "This" is not the mind of our Lord. God is all love. It's a delicate balancing thing. The Church has changed it's position over the years, and because the spirit is with the Church, in the end the Church will always get it right. But in the end. The spirit of the Church is the meaning of love, which hasn't yet, perhaps, been fully understood.

See. That's how it's done. I love Sr. Wendy. And yet, I fear for her. You see, she's a Roman Catholic nun. Will this sort of comment go unnoticed by the powers?

UPDATE: Thanks to my faithful stringer, Lapin, for the tip.

Way Down Yonder - Part 2

Photo by Jennifer Zdon from NOLA.Com.

From Dennis in the comments to my first Way Down Yonder post:

Dennis said...

when I was a little kid in Jackson MS back in the 70s my grandmother would take us down by train to New Orleans every December. We would do our shopping at DH Holmes (I would get a new DH Holmes blue blazer each year, plus other stuff) and then it was off to Galatoires. An odd Christmas tradition.

So today was a cold Puget Sound day but I was thinking how it didn't feel like Christmas and that got me thinking about New Orleans and DH Holmes and Galatoires.

And then I find out that you were there today.

Mimi when we do the second OCICBW... gathering in New Orleans we are going to have to do a trip to Galatoires.

All right, Dennis, you made me cry. That's how soppy sentimental I am about New Orleans. When I read the comment I recalled the glory days of Canal Street, when it was an elegant shopping street. Yes, folks came by train and by car to shop there with the locals. As Ormonde said in the comments, they even came by taxi from Thibodaux! The men wore suits and ties, and the ladies and children dressed in their best, which included hats and gloves for the ladies.

And just picturing how adorable Dennis must have looked in his little blue blazer is enough to make an old lady cry. There he is, a proper and well-behaved child, dining with his grandmother in the wonderful Galatoire's. The restaurant is associated with a number of traditions and is quite as rigid in upholding them as the Anglican reasserters with their "Faith Handed Down".

And then I find out that you were there today. It's karma, Dennis.

Galatoire's is still alive and well. We ate there a couple of years ago. The old D. H. Holmes building is now a Royal Sonesta Hotel. The facade is intact, including the clock under which many would meet their friends and relatives to go shopping. The word was, "Meet me under the clock at Holmes." A life-sized statue of Ignatius J. Reilly now stands under the clock. I have quite a story about the clock, but I'll leave that for another post.

The Holmes department store gave me one of my first jobs at the age of 16, as a sales girl in the Men's Furnishings Department, as they called it. The powers wouldn't let me sell suits, because that job required skills which I did not possess. And, then, of course, there was the measuring.

I sold lots of men's underwear, which was a tad embarrassing for this 16 year old teenager. I imagine that it was embarrassing for the men, too, although it's possible that a few loved the idea of buying their underwear from a young teenage girl. I remember a few smiles and humorous comments.

But, I digress.

Once we reached New Orleans, we headed for lunch at a small Italian restaurant, La Vita, which is near the New Orleans Museum of Art, where the Native American exhibit was on view. The restaurant was closed, even though, according to the sign on the door, it should have been open. We don't know if something went wrong yesterday or if the restaurant is gone for good. We couldn't decide where we wanted to eat, and while discussing it, we continued down Esplanade Avenue until we were outside the French Quarter. We decided that we would eat in the Quarter and go to the gold exhibit at the Louisiana State Museum afterwards.

Once we'd parked, the first restaurant we came to that looked inviting was The Court of Two Sisters, which was serving a jazz brunch buffet. We sat outside in the chilly courtyard, so we could hear the jazz combo, a clarinet and a banjo, while we ate. I quickly ordered my medicinal red wine to warm me up, and when that one was finished, I ordered another to stay warm. The food was delicious, just excellent. The most memorable dishes, to me, were pasta crawfish salad, salmon salad, duck à l'orange, sweet potatoes, bananas Foster, and whiskey bread pudding. However, all the food was good.

As we headed out of the restaurant, I found I was a bit tipsy from the two glasses of wine. That, plus my age, plus the uneven sidewalks in the Quarter are a recipe for a fall. Didn't I say somewhere that I was living dangerously at my advanced age of three score and ten, plus three years? My beloved sister, Gayle, broke her foot in the Quarter. I don't know if she was tipsy or not, but knowing her, she could have been. Fortunately, I did not take a spill.

We trekked on down several blocks away to see the gold exhibit at the Louisiana State Museum. The plate pictured is included in the collection. The details of the exhibit, including pictures are available at the website of the Louisiana State Museum. The exhibit was excellent, and included a good bit of the history of gold-mining. One item, which is not pictured, that I found intriguing was a gold penis cover from Peru. It was not similar in any manner to a codpiece but was shaped like a small trumpet, with the narrow end closed and pointing outward.

The exhibit included a scale on which you could weigh yourself and see the results in your weight in gold at today's prices. I'm worth $1,583,388, if you'd like to buy me.

The French Quarter was rather empty, more as I remember it from long ago, when all the tourists were not crowding the streets. That's the way I like it, but I know the restaurants, the merchants, the artists, the street musicians, and the tarot card readers are hurting. I have my problems with the street tarot card readers, and the artists do, too, as they share space. Street tarot card readers are relatively new to the Quarter and not really part of the long-time tradition.

All things considered, (which we listened to on the way home) it was a lovely day.

Blogger Down!

MadPriest, has been having a hard time of it. Go give him prayers and sympathy.

Way Down Yonder

Today, I won't be around much. We're heading:

Way down yonder in New Orleans
In the land of the dreamy scenes
There's a garden of Eden...you know what I mean

We're going to a museum - perhaps to a Native American exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art, or perhaps to a gold exhibit at the Louisiana State Museum - Grandpère's choice. Then we'll eat a delicious lunch somewhere at an undisclosed and, as yet, undecided location. The fans, you know.

Y'all have a good day, and be good while I'm gone.

A Goddess By Any Other Name....

Allison Hantschel, aka as Athenae, (thus the goddess in the title of the post) at First Draft blog and I worked together with a group of bloggers - the First Draft Krewe - from different parts of the country, gutting a house in the Gentilly area in New Orleans. She is as smart and funny in person as she is on the blog, and she's quite attractive, too. While we were in New Orleans, it was not all work. We played a bit, too.

One gracious couple from the city invited us to their home for a crawfish boil. Allison arrived wearing - WAIT! - a smart black dress. That was the only time IN MY WHOLE LIFE - and you know I am old - that I have ever seen a woman arrive at a crawfish boil wearing a smart black dress. When you peel the hard shell off the crawfish the juice inside often goes SPLAT! - on your own clothes, on the clothes of the person across from you, or even on a person a good distance away from you. If you go into a restaurant to eat boiled crawfish, a member of the staff will give you a large bib to tie around your neck. I'm ashamed to say that I teased poor Allison unmercifully about her smart, black dress at the crawfish boil.

She can do a rant about the members of the Bush maladministration like no one else I know. In addition to her work on the blog, she is a published writer. She has published books, and she writes columns for the South Town Star in Chicago. In her latest article she talks about her unease with the religious litmus tests that candidates for public office are called upon to pass in these crazy days. I share Allison's unease.

Tim Russert asks about the candidates' favorite Bible verse. A questioner from the audience holds up a Bible and asks if the candidate believes every word in the book. Mitt Romney plans to give a speech on the effect that his Mormon faith will have on his presidency, should he be elected. How did we get to this place in our politics?

Allison says:

The interjection of religion into politics has never, in the history of the world, ended well for any populace that tried it; one has only to have a cursory knowledge of the Crusades to realize that. And just because it's become customary for presidential wannabes to venerate Christianity doesn't mean it should be comfortable.

Amen to that!

In the first place, if a president wishes to demonstrate faith, there are thousands of ways to do so other than with his mouth, into a microphone. He can do so, as former President Jimmy Carter has, with his hands and a hammer, building homes for the poor. He can do so, as Franklin Roosevelt did, with his work, lifting the country out of economic despair.

Really, though, it's irrelevant. We are not electing a national priest, nor, thank whatever gods exist, a national parent responsible for teaching us in the ways of his or her ancestors.

The words attributed to St. Francis of Assisi come to mind, "Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary." If you are a Christian candidate or a Mormon Candidate, don't blather on about it. Show us by the way you live your life how your faith will help make you a good president for all of the people, but especially for the least among us.

Allison asks what Bush's Christianity counts for in the disaster that is Iraq. What does his Christianity matter to those who were abandoned after Katrina?

She's right. We're electing a president, not a "national priest".

"From Darkness To Light" At Wenchoster

I've received word from my correspondent in the Diocese of Wenchoster that a supplement to the Advent Pharisaios Journal is now up on the website, and it includes pictures of their lovely "From Darkness to Light" procession.

As lagniappe, they've included a hymn, "The Season's Come". Here's the first verse:

The season’s come, the hymns are sung,
The weather we endure.
A question’s raised by old and young:
What is an harbinger?

You can find the other verses at the site.

If you don't know what the word "lagniappe" means, then visit Google and find out, because I'll be using it again.

Feast Day of St. Clement Of Alexandria

Image from Wiki.

The Advent calendar from the Diocese of Washington, DC, includes in it's meditation for the day a prayer-poem by St. Clement. The link to the calendar is posted at the top left of this page. Click on day 5. Here's an excerpt:

Bridle of colts untamed,
Over our will presiding;
Wing of unwandering birds,
Our flight securely guiding.

Rudder of youth unbending,
Firm against adverse shock;
Shepherd, with wisdom tending
Lambs of the royal flock;

Thy simple children bring
In one, that they may sing
In solemn lays
Their hymns of praise
With guileless lips to Christ the King.

Read the rest. It's quite beautiful.

Padre Mickey, as usual, has a wonderful post on St. Clement. I may have to begin charging El Padre ad fees for the publicity I give him about his posts on the early saints.

READINGS:

Psalm 34:9-14 or 103:1-4,13-18
Colossians 1:11-20
John 6:57-63

PRAYER

O Lord, who called your servant Clement of Alexandria from the errors of ancient philosophy that he might learn and teach the saving Gospel of Christ: Turn your Church from the conceits of worldly wisdom and, by the Spirit of truth, guide it into all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Saddest Places In the UK

From the Heywood Advertizer:

The places listed below are the 10 saddest in all England.

1. Middlesbrough £7.58
2. Gateshead, Tyne & Wear £7.29
3. Redcar & Cleveland £7.11
4. Newcastle £7.04
5. Suffolk £6.90
6. North Tyneside £6.81
7. Heywood, Middleton, Rochdale £6.73
8=Blackpool £6.71
8=Hastings & Rother £6.71
10. Norfolk £6.64

The money is the amount spent on antidepressants per person, each year.

"The Tiber Runs Through Boston"

From Commonweal Magazine, by David Gibson.

It seems that former Episcopal bishop Jeffery Steenson was received into the Roman Catholic Church last weekend by Cardinal Bernard Law at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.

You remember Cardinal Law, don't you? He was the archbishop and cardinal of the Archdiocese of Boston, who presided over a horrendous cover-up of child abuse that was in operation for many years. His punishment? Banishment to a position as archpriest of a basilica in Rome.

I wonder if Cardinal Law was Steenson's choice or was he imposed upon him? Could he have said, "No thanks. May I have someone else to do the job?"

The headline is a quote from the online article in Commonweal.

From Our Friend Luiz In Rio

I received this email from Luiz, which I quote in full. Luiz has been accepted as a candidate for the priesthood by the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Rio de Janiero. He spent nearly a year working with Fr. Eduardo Costa in one of the poorest and most dangerous slums in Rio.

Dear friends,
For those of you who have facebook, please visit [here].

As you might know, I did a placement at Christ the King Anglican Church for almost a year, in Cidade de Deus - Rio de Janeiro. Cidade de Deus (City of God) is one of
Brazil's most disadvantaged communities. Built in the sixties to provide a new start for Rio de Janeiro's urban poor, it has become a notorious shanty town, far from being a new hope for the oppressed.

- Only 3% of local people have completed secondary education;
- 22% of residents are unemployed;
- Life expectancy is just 66 (the Brazilian average is above 70);
- 14% of teenage girls are pregnant;
- Average income is just US$ 100.00 per month.

We have started some months ago, a ministry with children of that community, providing them Christian Education, activities, and meals. The parish was experiencing a rebirth (it almost closed), and already had some social projects... so, I sent an appeal to several people, for help.

A couple months ago, two individuals, plus our friends of All Saints' Episcopal Church in Atlanta, have sent about 850.00 US Dollars, which are already being used for buying toys, food for meals we prepare for the children and parishioners and some vestments for our new children choir.

It happens that some sisters and brothers in Christ have started a wonderful Christmas initiative too, in order to raise funds for Christ the King. I do kindly ask you to take a look at the following options:

- PayPal
Currently, some of our OCICBW friends have set up a PayPal account which can be accessed here:

They have graciously started a Christmas appeal. Do find out about it!

- Cheques
In the U.K. cheques (made payable to "St. Francis Church") can be sent to:
CITY OF GOD APPEAL,
St. Francis House
18 Cotswold Gardens
High Heaton
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE7 7AE

(Please write "City Of God Appeal" on the reverse of the cheque.)
In the United States, cheques (made payable to "The Episcopal Church of St. Paul") can be sent to:
CITY OF GOD APPEAL
c/o The Reverend Elizabeth Kaeton
The Episcopal Church of St. Paul
200 Main Street
Chatham, NJ 07928

- ERD
You can also donate to Episcopal Relief and Development. They have been doing a wonderful job helping sponsor one of our projects and surely deserve your help, so, in the future, more and more projects can be funded by them.

If you have questions on Christ the King's projects or on how we intend to use the money, please, feel free to ask.

We are also proud to present Fr. Nicholas Wheeler, a wonderful friend of ours who is coming work at Christ the King as a USPG missionary. Fr. Wheeler is currently the team rector of Old St. Pancras' in London. You can find out more about him here:

Blessings in Christ
Luiz Coelho

"No to hate and yes to love,
No to death and yes to life,
No to falsehood and yes to truth,
No to oppression and yes to justice,
No to cruelty and yes to mercy,
No to violence and yes to the path of peace,
No, no matter what it may cost, and yes, no matter what it may cost.
For you are the source of love leading to reconciliation and forgiveness."
(a Sabeel prayer)
--
"Não ao ódio e sim ao amor,
Não à morte e sim à vida,
Não à falsidade e sim à verdade,
Não à opressão e sim à justiça,
Não à crueldade e sim à misericórdia,
Não à violência e sim ao caminho da paz,
Não, não importa o que custe, e sim, não importa o que custe.
Pois és a fonte de amor que leva à reconciliação e perdão."
(uma prece de Sabeel)

Diana Saga Continues - Good News

When Grandpère brought our dog, Diana, home from the vet last Thursday, he put her papers on the kitchen counter, and they were soon covered with other papers and lost to sight. Yesterday, when I was clearing off the counter, I came across them and noticed in the directions for her care that "Absolute Cage Rest" was checked off.

I was shocked. First of all, we do not have a cage. When she travels in the car, she sits on the seat. Second, she would have been very unhappy if we had put her in a cage once she came home. The only bone that was broken in the accident was one under her eye which was damaged and had to be removed. The vet said that it should heal on its own.

When humans are in the hospital and go home to convalesce, doctors usually recommend that they begin to move around rather quickly, if possible. The first two or three days Diana was home, she hardly moved except to go out to do her poop and pee. Now she is moving a good bit, and she walks better every day. She even did a little hip-hop today.

Tomorrow, we take her to have the stitches taken out of her eye, and according to the directions, she should still have been in a cage until the next visit to the vet. The recommendation that she be confined for that long a period doesn't seem right to me

Anyway, I'm glad that we never saw those directions, because I think she was much better off moving around, as she was able.

Any of you who have not been following the saga, you can read the earlier posts here, here, and here.

Brad And The Pink Tents

Photo from the Associated Press.

From the Times Picayune in New Orleans:

Driving tours begin today of the 150 flamingo-colored fabric houses, stand-ins for actor Brad Pitt's Make It Right architectural project in the Lower 9th Ward.

The free driving tour, modeled on the Celebration in the Oaks holiday tour of City Park, features tent-like structures scattered between Tennessee Street and the Industrial Canal in the Lower 9th Ward.

All the structures are wired to glow from within, with constellations of lights spaced across the ground between them, representing the lives lost during Hurricane Katrina and in the flood that followed. All occupy sites where the Make it Right project intends to build new homes.

I will not make fun of Brad Pitt again. He is doing great work in my beloved home town, New Orleans. He's there, on the ground, talking to the people of the Lower 9th Ward, getting their input. The houses will be environmentally friendly.

Pitt explained that only one pink house thus far has its roof in place. The rest of the roof shapes will be lifted atop their companion blocks when the $150,000 needed to erect each real house is raised.

"As each house is adopted, the roof goes on," Pitt said.

As the houses go up, the pink awning material used in the tents will be recycled into tote bags and, perhaps, umbrellas by workers from the Lighthouse for the Blind to raise money for Make it Right.

Thank you, Brad.

From Dorothy Sayers?

"The worst sin - perhaps the only sin - passion can commit, is to be joyless."
Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night


"As I grow older and older
And totter toward the tomb
I find that I care less and less
Who goes to bed with whom"


"Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force."
Sir Impey Biggs in Clouds of Witnesses by Sayers (Thanks to Allen in the comments)


I could not find a source for the poem and the final statement, and they are only "attributed" to Sayers. Anyway, I like [it] them, whoever said them [it].

Advent Calender 2007

Today is day three of Advent. The beautiful calendar pictured above is from the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. If you click on each day's date, you will find the following:

Daily Meditation
The Daily Office
Carol of the Day
Scriptural Reflection (Podcast)
Give a family a pig.

Yes, they're breaking the rule and doing carols during Advent, nevertheless it's a lovely site, well worth visiting during this season of waiting.

Clumber's Gift Suggestions For Anglicans

Clumber, that absolute genius of a dog, has several excellent gift suggestions for your Anglican friends.

Are Episcopalians Anglican? I'll leave that to the genius canine to answer.

Words From The Bishop And The Verger

Photo from The Pharisaios Journal.

I received notice from the editor that the Advent issue of The Pharisaios Journal from the Diocese of Wenchoster is available on the website of the diocese.

From The Bishop's Column:

The entiphawn in the Altarnative Sarvice Book 1980 (*) reads, “Now is the tame to wick ite of slip, for now our salvat-i-on is narrer then when we fast believed.” These wards are, of course, from Saint Paul’s Litter to the Romans, end they express a deep since of argency at this pint, the beginning of the Charch’s yar. It is a busy tame es our thoughts tarn to fistive pleasures, but I exhort you awl, up end dine the Darsis, to join with me in dippening our prars this Edvent.

Es well as devoting ourselves to studying pessages from the bable, we cen awlso use the great tradit-i-ons of this season to help us. The cendles on the Edvent crown, the enthems sung by the cwar, the litargical blue or violet on the altar end the smell of incense et marss. Awl will increase our expectat-i-ons in warship.

The Collect bids us to, “Put on the armour of late.” I know I will!

+ Roderick Codpiecium

I know I will wear the "armour of late" nearly every Sunday, to the chagrin of the rector and my fellow parishioners. Mea culpa.

Who would be next in the hierarchy of those who actually keep the cathedral running, but the head verger?

From Mr. Grindle:

Where did Pentecost go I hask you one moment there we hall were decked hout in green then it’s suddenly Christ the King and white for the day then now the royal sarum blue for Hadvent must say I rather like this time of year what with all Mrs. Grindle’s seasonal baking last Sunday we did the stir-hup thing and she slipped a couple of coins into the pudding before tying it hup in one of ‘er hold leg bandages the Dean looks a bit stressed these days but I know ‘e’ll be better hafter the Lighting service on Sunday once ‘e gets to the ‘igh haltar and hajusts ‘is cope ‘e hallways smiles and winks which is a sign that hall ‘as gone well and we can hexpect a round of spiced hale in the Nine Bells hafterwards. Yes! If you ‘old it like that of course it’s going to wrinkle!

The Episcopal Church is joined with the Church of England in the Anglican Communion (last I heard). I consider the Diocese of Wenchoster as sort of a partner to Wounded Bird, and I like to keep up with the activities of a typical diocese in the Church of England.

I urge all of you to explore the many riches in Advent issue of the journal at their website. There is more, much, much more. You won't be sorry.

Feast Day of Nicholas Ferrar

St. John's Church at Little Giddings as it stands today, from Wiki.

Nicholas Ferrar was born in London in 1592. He was the son of a merchant, Nicholas, also, who was a member of The Virginia Company. Upon his father's death, John, Nicholas' brother, took charge of the business affairs of the family until Nicholas succeeded him as deputy. When the Virginia Company was dissolved and John was threatened with bankruptcy, in 1624, the family decided to move away from London and devote themselves to a godly life.

Mary, Nicholas mother, purchased the manor of Little Gidding, and the family retired there. Her daughter, Susanna, and her husband and their many children moved there also. The inhabitants of the manor numbered around 40.

In 1626 William Laud, then Bishop of St. David’s but later Archbishop of Canterbury, ordained Nicholas a deacon though Nicholas made clear that he would not proceed to the priesthood. He and the family soon established on weekdays a regular round of prayer based on Archbishop Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer. The family processed to the church for these services of matins, the litany, and evensong, which were led by Nicholas.

Nicholas became ill and died on the day after the first Sunday of Advent in 1637. The family continued to occupy the manor after Nicholas' death.

The Ferrar household was an example of a godly family, neither unique nor monastic, but firmly committed to the established Church of England and its Prayer Book and determined to follow Christ’s commands to forswear worldliness and devote themselves to God’s service.

Quotes and biographical information taken from Little Gidding Church website.

If you came this way,
Taking any route, starting from anywhere,
At any time or at any season,
It would always be the same: you would have to put off
Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more
Than an order of words, the conscious occupation
Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying.
And what the dead had no speech for, when living,
They can tell you, being dead: the communication
Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.
Here, the intersection of the timeless moment
Is England and nowhere. Never and always.

From T. S. Eliot's "Little Gidding", No. 4 of "Four Quartets".

READINGS:

Psalm 15 or 112:1-9
Galatians 6:7-10
Matthew 13:47-52

PRAYER

Lord God, make us so reflect your perfect love; that, with your deacon Nicholas Ferrar and his household, we may rule ourselves according to your Word, and serve you with our whole heart; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Advent

Photo from Catholic Online.

Charm with your stainlessness these winter nights,
Skies, and be perfect! Fly vivider in the fiery dark, you quiet meteors,
And disappear.
You moon, be slow to go down,
This is your full!

The four white roads make off in silence
Towards the four partsof the starry universe.
Time falls like manna at the corners of the wintry earth.
We have become more humble than the rocks,
More wakeful than the patient hills.

Charm with your stainlessness these nights in Advent,
holy spheres,
While minds, as meek as beasts,
Stay close at home in the sweet hay;
And intellects are quieter than the flocks that feed by starlight.

Oh pour your darkness and your brightness over all our
solemn valleys,
You skies: and travel like the gentle Virgin,
Toward the planets' stately setting,

Oh white full moon as quiet as Bethlehem!

Advent by Thomas Merton


Grant me O God the capacity to wait in hope, to allow your own loving-kindness to grow in me, for the life of your world. Amen.
Thomas Merton

A link to the Advent calendar provided by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, at the top left above the picture, will remain throughout Advent.

WORLD AIDS DAY

From Avert:

According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.2 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2007 some 2.5 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.

Around 95% of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing nations. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.

Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is not just about raising money, but also about increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

Take the quiz.