O gracious light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of Life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.
(Prayer in the Early Evening - Book of Common Prayer)
Phos Hilaron (Φῶς Ἱλαρόν) is an ancient Christian hymn originally written in New Testament Greek. Often referred to by its Latin title Lumen Hilare it has been translated into English as O Gladsome Light. It is the earliest known Christian hymn recorded outside of the Bible that is still in use today. The hymn is part of vespers in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and also included in some modern Anglican and Lutheran liturgies.
The picture, taken with my phone camera last evening, is of a slender sliver of a waxing crescent moon and the planet Venus. My hand is not steady enough to capture the true appearance of the sliver of moon as it really looked, but, along with the color of the clouds in the fading light, it was a magnificent sight.
Oooh, I noticed the crescent moon last night, too! Above the lights and happy throng at the California State Fair, where my longtime college roommate friends and I spent a very happy day, and into the evening...
ReplyDeleteWasn't it gorgeous? Glad you had a happy day and evening at the fair.
DeleteJune--Thank you for this--wonderful picture, lovely and very meaningful words. It reminded me of a quotation I ran across as the preface to a novel I just read. The lines are from Melody Beattie, whom I don't know much about; but they seem applicable here:
ReplyDelete"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend."
I am grateful for your Blog.
Thanks, Susan. I thought the name Melody Beattie sounded familiar. She writes about co-dependency, and I read a couple of her books a long time ago and found them helpful. The words in the quote are very wise.
DeleteThat's one of my favorite prayers. Thank you for this, June. It's lovely.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda. The prayer is one of my favorites, too. The sky at sunset is another favorite. Trees and houses obscure the the sight of the actual sun setting, but the sky is so often beautiful.
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