O Virgo Virginum

O Virgo Virginum (An Anglican Bonus)

O Virgin of virgins,
how shall this be?
For neither before was any like thee,
nor shall there be after.
Daughters of Jerusalem,
why marvel ye at me?
That which ye behold is a divine mystery.

O Virgo virginum,
quomodo fiet istud?
Quia nec primam similem visa es
nec habere sequentem.
Filiae Ierusalem,
quid me admiramini?
Divinum est mysterium hoc quod cernitis.

Luke 1:26-35

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.

Alas! I have not found music for "O Virgo", since this antiphon only appears in the Sarum (Anglican) Rite. The other videos come from a Roman Catholic source.

Image from ChantBlog.

Text from Apostolcity.

Hanukkah Blessings - Second Through Eighth Nights

First Blessing

Borukh Ato Adoynoy Eloyheynu Melekh Ho-oylom Asher Kiddeshonu Be-mitsvoysov Ve-tsivonu Lehadlik Neyr Shel khanuko.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.

Second Blessing

Borukh Ato Adoynoy Eloyheynu Melekh Ho-oylom She-oso Nissim La-avoseynu Ba-yyomim Ho-heym Ba-zzman Ha-zze.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

From About.com.

My Wee ChristmasTree

My wee Christmas tree
Dressed in pretty orbs and lights
Charlie Brown's no more

My first idea to simplify decorating the Christmas tree away from the seven footer, which was our previous practice, was a small twig tree, but I could not find a twig tree. My daughter-in-law knew that I was looking for something small and simple, and she found a Charlie Brownish tree with sparse branches, few needles, and a pine cone here and there. I loved the tree. It was perfect.

Howevah! I dressed the tree, and dressed the tree, and dressed the tree again in ornaments and lights, until the Charlie Brown effect was gone, vanished, disappeared. Who can tell if it has full branches with needles on every inch? No one, because it is so drenched in decorations. There it is. It is what it is.

Another plus with this wee tree is that I can carry it to the closet upstairs, still wearing its finery, place a dustcover over it, and - voila! - it's ready to be carried down the next year and placed on its table. The damask tablecloth was an after Christmas discovery, priced at $6.00 reduced from $26.00.

Hanukkah Blessing - First Night

First Blessing

Borukh Ato Adoynoy Eloyheynu Melekh Ho-oylom Asher Kiddeshonu Be-mitsvoysov Ve-tsivonu Lehadlik Neyr Shel khanuko.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.

Second Blessing

Borukh Ato Adoynoy Eloyheynu Melekh Ho-oylom She-oso Nissim La-avoseynu Ba-yyomim Ho-heym Ba-zzman Ha-zze.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

Third Blessing

Borukh Ato Adoynoy Eloyheynu Melekh Ho-oylom She-hekheyonu Ve-kiymonu Ve-higgi'onu La-zzman Ha-zze.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, and has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this time.

From About.com.

Snow In New Roads, Louisiana

This is nothing compared to the snow in the colder parts of the country, but it was a big deal for New Roads. We were not there when it snowed, but a neighbor sent me these pictures. A true winter wonderland for those parts. Here in Thibodaux, we had a light snow, which did not stick.

The top picture shows the back of our house, and the lower picture shows the back pasture. The pictures are blurred because I enlarged them.



UPDATE: I should have noted that these pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago, back when I was moaning about having no power.

O Emmanuel

December 22

O Emmanuel, our King and our Law-giver, Longing of the Gentiles, yea, and salvation thereof, come to save us, O Lord our God!

Latin

O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster, exspectatio gentium, et Salvator earum: veni ad salvandum nos Domine Deus noster.

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

Antiphon sung by the Dominican student brothers at Oxford.

Text from Fish Eaters.

Will You Hold My Word In Your Heart?

Will you bear my word to the world?
This world?
Will you hold my word in your heart?
This heart, your heart, in this time in history, in this place,
in your skin, in your faith, in your life?

What challenging questions from Jane R., at Acts of Hope, in her lovely sermon this morning on the 4th Sunday of Advent. Please do read the rest. Jane preaches in poetry.

"Louise"

My correspondent says, "This is an article submitted to a 1999 Louisville Sentinel contest to find out who had the wildest Christmas dinners. It won first prize."

As a joke, my brother Jay used to hang a pair of panty hose over his fireplace before Christmas. He said all he wanted was for Santa to fill them.

What they say about Santa checking the list twice must be true because every Christmas morning, although Jay's kids' stockings overflowed, his poor pantyhose hung sadly empty.

One year I decided to make his dream come true. I put on sunglasses and went in search of an inflatable love doll. They don't sell those things at Wal-Mart. I had to go to an adult bookstore downtown.

If you've never been in an X-rated store, don't go. you'll only confuse yourself. I was there an hour saying things like, 'What does this do?' 'You're kidding me!' 'Who would buy that?' Finally, I made it to the inflatable doll section.

I wanted to buy a standard, uncomplicated doll that could also substitute as a passenger in my truck so I could use the car pool lane during rush hour.

Finding what I wanted was difficult. 'Love Dolls' come in many different models. The top of the line, according to the side of the box, could do things I'd only seen in a book on animal husbandry. I settled for 'Lovable Louise.' She was at the bottom of the price scale.

To call Louise a 'doll' took a huge leap of imagination.

On Christmas Eve and with the help of an old bicycle pump, Louise came to life.

My sister-in-law was in on the plan and let me in during the wee morning hours. Long after Santa had come and gone, I filled the dangling pantyhose with Louise's pliant legs and bottom. I also ate some cookies and drank what remained of a glass of milk on a nearby tray. I went home, and giggled for a couple of hours.

The next morning my brother called to say that Santa had been to his house and left a present that had made him VERY happy, but had left the dog confused. She would bark, start to walk away, then come back and bark some more.

We all agreed that Louise should remain in her pantyhose so the rest of the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional Christmas dinner.

My grandmother noticed Louise the moment she walked in the door. 'What the hell is that?' she asked.

My brother quickly explained, 'It's a doll.'

'Who would play with something like that?' Granny snapped.

I kept my mouth shut.

'Where are her clothes?' Granny continued.

'Boy, that turkey sure smells nice, Gran,' Jay said, to steer her into the dining room.

But Granny was relentless. 'Why doesn't she have any teeth?'

Again, I could have answered, but why would I? It was Christmas and no one wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, 'Hang on Granny, hang on!'

My grandfather, a delightful old man with poor eyesight, sidled up to me and said, 'Hey, who's the naked gal by the fireplace?' I told him she was Jay's friend.

A few minutes later I noticed Grandpa by the mantel, talking to Louise. Not just talking, but actually flirting. It was then that we realized this might be Grandpa's last Christmas at home.

The dinner went well. We made the usual small talk about who had died, who was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly Louise made a noise like my father in the bathroom in the morning. Then she lurched from the mantel, flew around the room twice, and fell in a heap in front of the sofa. The cat screamed. I passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and Grandpa ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

My brother fell back over his chair and wet his pants.

Granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the car.

It was indeed a Christmas to treasure and remember.

Later in my brother's garage, we conducted a thorough examination to decide the cause of Louise's collapse. We discovered that Louise had suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh.

Fortunately, thanks to a wonder drug called duct tape, we restored her to perfect health.

I can't wait until next Christmas.

From Doug in his slightly naughty Yuletide incarnation.

Yes, I know. "Louise" has been around the block a few times.

Christmas Surprise!

Wall Street executives are still flying high in corporate jets on your money and my money.

"The personal use of these planes is virtually indefensible at this point," said Patrick McGurn, special counsel at shareholder advisory firm RiskMetrics Group. "Once you're on the federal dole, the pressure is going to become immense on these firms to cut these costs."

Ya think? Ah, but they're a crafty lot.

Wary of being perceived as opulent, most companies fly in unmarked jets. Aviation buffs can usually track planes over the Internet using aircraft tail numbers. But many companies, including AIG and Citigroup, have blocked the public's ability to do so for security reasons.

They're flying under the radar of all of us but the aviation buffs.

Golly, I remember that in the post-Katrina days in New Orleans, a woman who was on public assistance, was caught in possession of a TV that was too big. It's the same kind of thing.

From the AP.

H/T to TPM.

Christmas In Congo

From the New York Times:

BUNAGANA, Congo — At the entrance to this bustling border town is a most unusual sight: a speed limit sign. In fresh red, white and blue paint, it is a rare manifestation of order in a nation better known for chaos.

Gen. Laurent Nkunda, the leader of a group of rebels, with his pet goat Betty in the mountains of Congo. His aims include the removal of President Joseph Kabila, whose power has been waning.

The seemingly innocuous signpost is emblematic of the growing might and wider ambitions of Laurent Nkunda, the renegade Congolese general and warlord who now holds part of Congo’s future in his grip.
....

But beneath the veneer lies a ruthlessness of a piece with Congo’s unbroken history of brutality. With a military campaign in October and November that was met with a feeble response from both the Congolese government and United Nations peacekeeping forces here in eastern Congo, General Nkunda has pushed the nation to its most dangerous precipice in years.

The UN forces are undermanned and under-equipped to stop the violence in Congo. You cannot send in a weak force to do a job, without giving them the means to accomplish the goal, and then blame them because they don't succeed.

The democratically-elected president of Congo, Joseph Kabila, grows weaker by the day, because his army cannot stand up to the powerful rebel army of Gen. Nkunda.

One by one, those who oppose him have felt the violent wrath of his security forces, according to human rights investigators and political analysts. A Human Rights Watch investigation found that 500 people had died and 1,000 had been detained in these crackdowns.

One of many massacres attributed to Nkunda's forces.

Both Nkunda and Kabila "recruit" boys as young as nine to fight in their armies. Sometimes, the boys are placed in front to take the first fire. According to Eric, one of the boys who was "recruited" into Nkunda's army:

“The strategy they use is this,” he explained. “When they met children on the road, they ask them to help them carry their goods.”

The boys are then taken to training camps, given guns and taught to fight, Eric said. His eyes are wide in permanent surprise, and he said he had headaches that did not respond to medicine. Loud noises terrify him.

“Too many bombs,” he explained in a soft voice.

For two years, from 13 to 15, he said he fought with General Nkunda’s troops.

“Many of us were boys,” he said. “They would send us out first, then the men.”

He lives in a shelter for boys separated from their parents by the war. In the next bunk is his friend Fabrice, a 14-year-old former Mai Mai fighter who used to do battle with General Nkunda’s forces.

“I always felt bad to kill other children, because I knew they had been forced to fight just like me,” he said.

According to Human Rights Watch:

Tens of thousands of women and girls have been raped since the war began in 1998, and a recent report from the secretary-general found that between June 2007 and June 2008, the UN recorded 5,517 cases of sexual violence against children in Ituri and North and South Kivu - 31 percent of all sexual violence victims.

From my friend Georgianne Nienaber, who spent time in Congo:

There is total lack of international will to solve this problem and now international resource interests are turning on the peacekeepers (MONUC), blaming THEM for not stopping the violence when they are undermanned and under orders to keep the peace, not wage a separate war. there are dozens of proxy militias. Until there is an international MORAL outrage...maybe churches can do this...nothing will happen

Not a happy post, is it? It's Advent in Congo, too. What kind of Christmas will it be for the Christians in Congo?