Κύριε ελέησον  (Kyrie eleison)

Bless The Lord, O My Soul (S. Rachmaninoff "All-Night Vigil" / Vespers, ...

 Sheep by the Sea, Rosa Bonheur, 1865

 I will never forget the witness of an Episcopal priest named Tom Minifie several years ago in St. Luke's Church in Seattle, Washington. He spotted a high-profile couple sitting in the last pew with their one-year old Down's syndrome child. It was clear from the parents' demeanor that the little one embarrassed them. They hid in the rear of the church, perhaps planning a hasty exist once the worship service had concluded.

On their way out the door, Tom intercepted them and said, "Come into my office." Once seated, Tom took the Down's baby in his arms and rocked him gently. Looking into the baby's face, he began to sob. "Do you have any idea of the gift that God has given you in this child?" he asked.

Sensing confusion and even concern in the parents, he explained his reaction: "Two years ago my three year-old daughter, Sylvia, died with Down's syndrome. We have four other children, so we know the blessing that kids can be. Yet the most precious gift we've ever received in our entire lives has been Sylvia. In her uninhibited expression of affection, she revealed to us the face of God as no other human being ever has. Did you know that several Native American tribes attribute divinity to Down's children because in their utter simplicity they're a transparent window into the Great Spirit? Treasure this child, for he will lead you into the heart of God."

From that day forward the parents began to brag about their little one.

Uncompromising trust in the love of God inspires us to thank God for the spiritual darkness that envelops us, for the loss of income, for the nagging arthritis that is so painful, and to pray from the heart, "Abba, into your hands I entrust my body, mind, and spirit and this entire day --- morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Whatever you want of me, I want of me, falling into you and trusting in you in the midst of my life. Into your heart I entrust my heart, feeble, distracted, insecure, uncertain. Abba, unto you I abandon myself in Jesus our Lord. Amen."

-Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust

Still Still Still

What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

The end is where we start from.

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

Through the unknown, unremembered gate

When the last of earth left to discover

Is that which was the beginning…

-T.S. Eliot from 'Little Gidding' The Four Quartets

 I heard in Addison’s Walk a bird sing clear:

This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.

Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees

This year, nor want of rain destroy the peas.

This year time’s nature will no more defeat you,

Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.

This time they will not lead you round and back

To Autumn, one year older, by the well-worn track.

This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,

We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.

Often deceived, yet open once again your heart,

Quick, quick, quick, quick!—the gates are drawn apart.

-C.S. Lewis  'What the Bird Said Early in the Year'