Category: Observing the Day
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Summer Solstice Day
For the height of summer: a song, and a poem. The lyrics, and another version of the song here. An analysis of the poem here. Image: “Midnight sun” (cropped), Yan Zhang, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Memorial Day
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. Wisdom 3:1
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Feast of the Ascension
It’s today. I love this picture so much. I’ve learned that the iconography of the disappearing feet is a pretty late medieval development – more on that at Ad Imaginem Dei – and that there is lots more of it. The earlier iconography of the ascension is equally awesome, though. Much more recently, Salvador Dali’s […]
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“Christ is Risen”
Two chants from Orthodox Easter liturgy: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life. Thy resurrection, O Christ our Savior The angels in heaven sing Enable us on earth to glorify thee in purity of heart about the image (first posted April 11, 2018)
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Good Friday
Early on we learn that faith is a risk; much later we learn the price of this risk. … Having faith means believing that He fills all space, that no leap can cast me out of His arms. Having faith means believing that He knows everything, that before I arrive He runs through the infinitely […]
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It’s Purim!
Purim – the Jewish celebration of courage, deliverance, and the Book of Esther (about which Martin Luther was despicably clueless) – starts tonight! Time to Read the book of Esther; Send gifts of food; Send gifts of money; Party like it’s Purim! ok, not that, and also, alas, no hamantaschen allowed this year, but fortunately […]
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Bread and Roses!
It’s International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day has taken on the character of a “women’s rights” holiday, but the history of the day is deeply embedded in the international labor movement. In that spirit, today is a good day to remember that The Catholic Worker is a contemporary as well as historic organization. And here’s […]
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Lailat al Miraj
I am not usually clued in to this holiday, or more literally holy day, in the Muslim calendar, but for some reason this year I noticed it when it popped up on my phone. Al Isra and al Miraj are the Night Journey and the Ascent, the occasion of Muhammad’s miraculous journey to Jerusalem, and […]
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Delayed but Grateful
Notes on Ezra will post soonish, I hope, now that I am through being examined by the Presbytery of Ohio Valley and approved for ordination, to a new validated ministry that will involve pulpit supply, sacraments, and governance (i.e., moderating session meetings). This takes place on what I have learned is the feast day of […]