Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls by Hiroshi Yoshida
via J.R's Art Place

 

What a little heaven you must inhabit, with angels no bigger than butterflies!

Or it might be the third case, of the madman who called himself Christ. If we said what we felt, we should say, “So you are the Creator and Redeemer of the world: but what a small world it must be! What a little heaven you must inhabit, with angels no bigger than butterflies! How sad it must be to be God; and an inadequate God! Is there really no life fuller and no love more marvellous than yours; and is it really in your small and painful pity that all flesh must put its faith? How much happier you would be, how much more of you there would be, if the hammer of a higher God could smash your small cosmos, scattering the stars like spangles, and leave you in the open, free like other men to look up as well as down!”

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

This is so fascinating when considered with our world 113 years after Orthodoxy was written. With the denial of religion and the underpinnings of Western culture, we can see that there are an awful lot of people who are like "the madman who called himself Christ."

Psalm 20 — The King and the Community Can Trust the Lord with Their Desires

When you see others in affliction, comfort them by praying with them in the words of Psalm 20.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

Several sources point out that this is a royal psalm, invoking blessing on the king during Israel's time of trouble. How many times have we asked God to give us wise rulers, to inspire them to right action, and to bless the outcome of their decisions? I don't know about you, but in my church we do it every Sunday. 

John Paul II points out how this psalm connects us with Christ who is, of course, the ultimate king. His actions and judgments we can trust unreservedly.

King David, David Jarvis (some rights reserved)

The Messiah as Ultimate King

... chariots and horses (cf. v. 8) are mentioned and seem to be advancing on the horizon; however, the king and his people put their trust in the Lord who marches with the weak, the oppressed, those who are victims of the arrogant conquerors.

It is easy to understand how Christian tradition transformed this Psalm into a hymn to Christ the King, the “consecrated one” par excellence, “the Messiah” (cf. v. 7). He comes into the world without armies, but with the strength of the Spirit. He launches the definitive attack against evil and guile, against arrogance and pride, against lies and egoism. The words Christ addressed to Pilate, emblem of sovereign earthly power, reverberate in our ears: “I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice” (Jn 18: 37).

2. In reviewing the structure of this Psalm, we notice that it reveals in filigree a liturgical celebration being held in the Temple of Jerusalem. It depicts the assembly of the sons of Israel who pray for the king, head of the nation. Indeed, it opens with a fleeting reference to a sacrificial rite, one of the many sacrifices and holocausts offered by the king to the “God of Jacob” (Ps 20 [19]: 2), who does not abandon “his anointed” (v. 7), but protects and supports him.

The prayer is deeply marked by the conviction that the Lord is the source of security: he goes to meet the confident desire of the king and of the entire community, bound by the terms of the covenant. The threat of war hangs in the air, with all the fears and risks to which it gives rise. The Word of God does not appear as an abstract message, but rather a voice that adapts to humanity’s miseries, great and small. It is for this that the Psalm uses military language and reflects the oppressive climate of war in Israel (cf. v. 6), thus adapting to the feelings of men in difficulty.

John Paul II, General Audience, Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Sources are here and an index of psalm posts is here.

Preparing for the Matinee

Preparing for the Matinee, Edmund Tarbell

 

Eiffel Tower from Below

Eiffel Tower from Below

 

Whether or no man could be washed in miraculous waters, there was no doubt at any rate that he wanted washing ...

Modern masters of science are much impressed with the need of beginning all inquiry with a fact. The ancient masters of religion were quite equally impressed with that necessity. They began with the fact of sin – a fact as practical as potatoes. Whether or no man could be washed in miraculous waters, there was no doubt at any rate that he wanted washing. But certain religious leaders in London, not mere materialists, have begun in our day not to deny the highly disputable water, but to deny the indisputable dirt. Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Still Life with Oranges by Adelaide Palmer

Still Life with Oranges by Adelaide Palmer

Sharing food ...

Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.

M. F. K. Fisher

We should be displeased at what displeases God

We should be displeased with ourselves when we commit sin, for sin is displeasing to God. Sinful though we are, let us at least be like God in this, that we are displeased at what displeases him. In such measure then you will be in harmony with God's will, because you find displeasing in yourself what is abhorrent to your Creator.

St. Augustine, Sermon

Pazzi Madonna

Donatello, Pazzi Madonna

 

Psalm 19 (part 3) — Right Relationship with Nature and God

As you wonder at the order of creation, the grace of providence and the sacred prescriptions of the Law, sing Psalm 19

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

Psalm 19 reveals the truth about what "everybody knows" in ancient and modern times. First  it sets the record straight for the pagans living around them at the time by pointing out that the sun, moon, and stars are not divine beings.

Psalm 19 has some enlightenment for us today too. It points out that the Law is a source of delight and love, rather than the idea of punishment or restriction that our narrow modern understanding of the word "law" might suggest.

A star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud,
ESA/Hubble (click the image to see it larger)

19:1. The Heavens Tell the Glory of God

A Rebuke to Idolators. Athanasius: Creation ... points to God as its Maker and Artificer, who reigns over creation and over all things, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; whom would-be philosophers turn from to worship and deify the creation that proceeded from him, which yet itself worships and confesses the Lord whom they deny on its account. For if people are awestruck at the parts of creation and think that they are gods, they might well be rebuked by the mutual dependence of those parts; which moreover makes known and witnesses to the Father of the Word, who is the Lord and Maker of these parts also, by the unbroken law of their obedience to him ... Against the Heathen

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

Demythologizing the Cosmos

What we usually recognize as inanimate creation is here given life and voice as the heavens and skies "declare," "proclaim," and "pour forth speech in praise of the creator. ... [The verbs and participles] emphasize the continuously ongoing nature of the proclamation made by the heavens ... This is, then, a continual outcry of nature to God from the moment of creation until now and on into the future.<br><br>In a more subtle fashion the heavens in Israelite Scripture proclaim that Yahweh is the only true God. In the pagan world of the ancient Near East the heavenly bodies — sun, moon, stars — were divine beings who exercised power over their own realms and over humans. In Psalm 19, however, the sun appears not as an independent deity but as one of the "works of [God's] hands" who carry out his bidding ... By removing the polytheistic element of creation the biblical poets emphasize the sovereignty of Yahweh over the created universe. In this way the heavens with all their features testify to the glory and creative might of the one who made them.

Psalms vol. 1 (NIV Application Commentary)

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Torah as Guidance and Blessing

As Psalm 19 suggests, Israel proclaimed the Torah to be no onoerous burden but instead the source of wisdom (19:7), joy (19:8b), and light (19:8d). Torah is both precious (19:10a) and pleasurable (19:10c). ...

It is this broader understanding of Torah that makes the traditional translation "law" such an inadequate interpretaion of this complex concept. We tend to equate Torah and law on a one-to-one basis that leads us frequently to misunderstand what Israel experienced through her long acquaintance with Torah. ...

The purpose of Torah is to "warn" the faithful servant of Yahweh (19:11a) to remain on the path that leads to "reward" (19:11b). By its buidance, one is empowered to understand one's errors and to avoid "hidden faults" or "willful sin" (19?12-13a). Rather than restriction, Torah offers freedom from the rule of sin and consequently escape from divine judgment (19:13b-c).

The appropriate response to Torah, according to the psalmists, is "delight" (1:2; 119-70, 77, 92, 174) and "love" (119:97, 113, 163), not some grim-lipped adherence. It is through Torah that life is preserved (119:93, 149, 165). It is little surprise that the later postbiblical celebration of the end of the yearly Torah reading cycle and the beginning of the next was called Simhat Torah ("Joy of the Torah"), emphasizing the joy that the Jewish community experiences in having the Torah to guide their lives before God. ...

Rather than a heavy burden, rightly understood, the law was the guide to continued life and restoration of communion with the holy God.

Psalms vol. 1 (NIV Application Commentary)

Sources are here and an index of psalm posts is here.

C/o Kancharapalem

From a schoolboy’s crush to a middle-aged bachelor’s office romance, four love stories spanning age, religion and status unfold in a small Indian town.

Kancharapalem is the name of a little neighborhood, which some of the residents actually call their village, in a small Indian town. Telugu is spoken there so this is not a Bollywood film but a Tollywood film, as the Telugu-language film industry is called. This movie features four very sweet love stories which engaged us from the beginning. Interesting side note: none of the 80 people in the film are actors.

Director Venkatesh Maha recruited most of his cast, nearly 80 non-actors, who are from the town itself. While no one in the town took seriously that he was making a film, they had shown great enthusiasm to act nonetheless. — Wikipedia

And they do a great job. The critics loved this and so did we. It went on my favorite movies of 2021 list as soon as we saw it.

Hannah and Rose talk about it in episode 46 of An American's Guide to Bollywood podcast.

It is streaming on Netflix and for rent on Amazon and various other places.

Tasty Caterpillar

Tasty Caterpillar, Remo Savisaar

I do not have to win the world ...

I do not have to win the world, even for Christ: I have to save my soul. that is what I must always remember, against the temptation of success in the apostolate. And so I will guard myself against impure means. It is not our mission to make truth triumph, but to testify for it.

Henri de Lubac, Paradoxes of Faith

Worth a Thousand Words: Celia Thaxter's Garden

Celia Thaxter's Garden, Isles of Shoals, Maine - Childe Hassam
Source

August Afternoon

Childe Hassam, August Afternoon

 

When people forget to worship God

When people forget to worship God they begin to worship human beings, and from there it is but a short distance to tyranny.

Jonathan Sacks, Exodus: The Book of Redemption

À Chloris

À Chloris, Edward B. Gordon

 

Psalm 19 (part 2) — God's Self Revelation

As you wonder at the order of creation, the grace of providence and the sacred prescriptions of the Law, sing Psalm 19

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

God's creation is a revelation. The more we learn, the more we wonder at the intricacy of the natural world, all of which is a mute testimony to God's creative genius.

God's law is a revelation. Below we will see some Jewish commentators about the connection with the sun and Torah. Of course, the Church Fathers didn't miss that connection and further connect the sun with Christ.

Christus helios, the mosaic which is interpreted as Christ-Sol (Christ as the Sun).
From the necropolis under St. Peter's Mid-3rd century

The classical Jewish commentators all point to the connection the psalmist makes between the sun and the Torah. These connections include:

• The Torah enlightens man, just as the sun lights his way (Rashi)
• Both the sun and the Torah testify to the glory of their Creator (Ibn Ezra and Radak)
• The Torah is more perfect, whole, or complete than the powerful sun (Metzudat David)
• While the sun conveys God's glory and greatness in the physical world, the Torah expresses God's glory in the spiritual realm (Malbim).

Wikipedia

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19:6. Nothing Hidden from Its Heat

The Benign Light of Christ. Ambrose: Christ fills his world with copious lights, since "his going out is from the end of heaven, and his circuit even to the end of it, and there is no one who can hide himself from his heat." Benignly he gives light to all, wishing not to repel the foolish but to correct them and desiring not to exclude the hard of heart from the church but to soften them. Hence ... Christ in the Gospel invites them, saying, "Come to me, all you who labor, and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart." On His Brother Satyrus

19:10. To Be Desired

Desirable Light. Clement of Alexandria: "Sweet is the Word that gives us light, precious above god and gems; it is to be desired above honey and the honeycomb." for hos can it be other than desirable, since it has filled with light the mind that had been buried in darkness and given keenness to the "light-bringing eyes" of the soul? For just as, had the sun not been in existence, night would have brooded over the universe notwithstanding the other luminaries of heaven, so, had we not known the Word and been illuminated by him, we should have been nowise different from fowls that are being fed, fattened in darkness and nourished for death. Let us then admit the light that we may admit God; let us admit the light that we may admit God; let us admit the light and become disciples to the Lord. Exhortation to the Greeks

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

Sources are here and an index of psalm posts is here.

Banded Demoiselle

Banded Demoiselle, Remo Savisaar