"The Lord seeks a heart full to overflowing with love for God and our neighbor." -- St. Seraphim of Sarov

Ubi Caritas

Translation:



Where charity and love are, God is there.

Christ's love has gathered us into one.

Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.

Let us fear, and let us love the living God.

And may we love each other with a sincere heart.

Where charity and love are, God is there.

As we are gathered into one body,

Beware, lest we be divided in mind.

Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease,

And may Christ our God be in our midst.

Where charity and love are, God is there.

And may we with the saints also,

See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:

The joy that is immense and good,

Unto the ages through infinite ages. Amen.

Let Us Love One Another

"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God Dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed that love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him That he who loveth God love his brother also." -- 1 John 4

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." -- John 13:34-35

"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." -- John 14:21

"If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." -- John 14:23

"...right now, on this very day, ask forgiveness of those you've offended, and offer it to those who have offended you. Be reconciled, if you can. Don't live as if you have all the time in the world, because you don't." -- Rod Dreher

The Neighbors Come for a Visit

I saw one of these cubs a couple of weeks ago, and wondered when I'd see the mother. It seems this one somehow found his way into my (unused) chicken coop, and got stuck. Mommy couldn't figure out how to get him out, and was beginning to panic. She and the other cub kept going over to a tree and starting to climb it, then looking back at the stuck one, as if they were saying, "Look, just climb the tree. Like this, see?"

After watching (and filming, for you) for a while, I decided that the only decent thing to do was try to help. So I went back inside, got dressed, and grabbed my rifle. The plan was to scare the mother away, using a shot into the trees if necessary, long enough to grab the cub and get him over the fence. Yes, Mother, I know. Breathe. But I couldn't leave him stuck and scared like that.

Remember, kids, don't try this at home. I've had years of practice being an idiot.

No need to worry, though, because my presence alone was enough to frighten the poor little guy into a frantic effort to climb the fence, and the little family scurried safely away into the forest. Sorry I couldn't get that part on video: I thought I needed to be attentive to what I was doing once I got close to them, and not distracted by trying to film it.

The Scarlet Letter

Psalm 88

O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:

O let my prayer enter into thy presence, incline thine ear unto my calling;

For my soul is full of trouble, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.

I am counted as one of them that go down into the pit,

and I am even as a man that hath no strength;

Cast off among the dead, like unto them that are slain, and lie in the grave,

who are out of remembrance,
and are cut away from thy hand.

Thou has laid me in the lowest pit,
in a place of darkness, and in the deep.

Thine indignation lieth hard upon me,
and thou hast vexed me with all thy storms.

Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me,

and made me abhorred of them.

I am so fast in prison that I cannot get forth.

My sight faileth for very trouble;

Lord, I have called daily upon thee,

I have stretched forth my hands unto thee.

Dost thou show wonders among the dead?

or shall the dead rise up again, and praise thee?

Shall thy loving-kindness be showed in the Hades?

or thy faithfulness in Hell?

Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark?

and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten?

Unto thee have I cried, O Lord; and early shall my prayer come before thee.

Lord, why abhorrest thou my soul,
and hidest thou thy face from me?

I am in misery, and like unto him that is at the point to die;

even from my youth up, thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind.

Thy wrathful displeasure goeth over me,
and the fear of thee hath undone me.

They came round about me daily like water,
and compassed me together on every side.

My lovers and friends hast thou put away from me,

and hid mine acqaintance out of my sight.

"Nature discovers her secrets and yields her treasures only to diligent and thoughtful labour."

-- Andrew Murray

Mr. Morgan's Last Love

Beowulf by Tolkien!

Just happened across this in the bookstore today:

Yay! I've been wishing for this since Christopher released a snippet of his father's translation 10 or 15 years ago, but I had no idea they were actually working on getting it to press. One of the advantages of avoiding news and current events: you get these kinds of surprises.

Seamus Heaney's translation was nice, but it had a Celtic lyricism that I don't think really suited the material. Tolkien, on the other hand, was not only a master of Old Aenglisc, but thoroughly devoted to the mythos of his ancestors. As well as being an absolute genius of a linguist. The snippet I'd previously read was tantalizing, in that it preserved the vigour and rhythm of the original.

"What matters in life are not great deeds, but great love." -- St. Therese of Lisieux

With Christ in the School of Prayer

"In temporal things we are still less able to avail ourselves of the wonderful liberty our Father has given us to ask what we need. And even when we know what to ask, how much there is still needed to make prayer acceptable. It must be to the glory of God, in full surrender to His will, in full assurance of faith, in the name of Jesus and with a perseverance that, if need be, refuses to be denied." -- Andrew Murray

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes,

came upon me to eat up my flesh,

they stumbled and fell.

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear:

though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after;

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion:

in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me;

he shall set me up upon a rock.

And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me:

therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy;

I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice:

have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face;

my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord will I seek.

Hide not thy face far from me;

put not thy servant away in anger:

thou hast been my help; leave me not,

neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

When my father and my mother forsake me,

then the Lord will take me up

Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies:

for false witnesses are risen up against me,

and such as breathe out cruelty.

I should utterly have fainted,

unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord:

be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart:

wait, I say, on the Lord.

"It is a characteristic of the power and vehemence of love that all things seem possible to it."

-- St. John of the Cross

St. John of the Cross on the Dark Night of the Soul

"When this Divine contemplation assails the soul with a certain force, in order to strengthen and subdue it, it suffers such pain in its weakness that it nearly swoons away...for sense and spirit, as if beneath some imnense and dark load, are in such great pain and agony that the soul would find advantage and relief in death."

"My own dark time, as I call it, the time of my loneliness, was most of my life, as I have said, and I can't make any account of myself without speaking of it. The time passed so strangely, as if every winter was the same winter, and every spring the same spring."

Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

Noodle Salad

40

40 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

4 Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

5 Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,

8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.

10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.

14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.

16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.

17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

Psalm 107

"O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men. For he satisfieth the empty soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Such as sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, being fast bound in misery and iron, because they rebelled against the words of the Lord, and lightly regarded the counsel of the Most Highest. He also brought down their heart through heaviness: they fell down, and there was none to help them. So when they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, he delivered them out of their distress. For he brought them out of darkness, and out of the shadow of death, and brake their bonds in sunder."

A Note on my Poetry

The poems I post here shouldn't necessarily be taken to reflect the current state of my heart. I wrote them at different times and in various conditions: some are recent, some are from years ago.

Craving Grace like Chocolate

I don't just plug for the books of everyone I know who's an author. But I believe enough in Ruthie Delk's (whom you can see below, in my post "Orlando") book, Craving Grace, to recommend it to anyone who needs a refreshing new look at the Gospel, or a reminder of the joy of their new faith which has faded with time. It's written and marketed for women, and is apparently very popular and effective with them, as Ruthie now spends most of her time giving lectures and seminars to women's groups around the country and overseas. But I found it very beneficial and encouraging as well and I, as you may have noticed, am not a woman.

Craving Grace: Experience the Richness of the Gospel: Ruthie Delk: 9780802411242: Amazon.com: Books

It is now in its second edition. The original title was Craving Grace like Chocolate, which Ruthie and I agree was much better (especially for a book targeted to women), but Moody Press didn't think so.