“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubt.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Bertrand Russell 

Today is the feast day of Alfred the Great.  Alfred is the only English king who was ever called “Great.”  He was born in 849, and was king during a time of great distress in England. During his lifetime, both the Danes and the Vikings invaded Britain. Alfred won a decisive victory over the Danish leader Guthrum in 878, and through it, persuaded his foe to accept baptism.  

At the age of four, Alfred was blessed by Pope Leo IV.  This had a great impact on him.  His father, Aethelwulf, married a young Christian woman, who also had a profound effect upon him.

While he was King, he sought to repair the damage done to the culture and language of Britian through the Viking invasions.  With the help of scholars from Wales and the continent, he supervised translations of such writers as Augustine of Hippo and the venerable Bede into English.  At one point he commented:  “He seemed to me a very foolish man, and very wretched, who will not increase his understanding while he is in the world, and ever wish and long to reach that endless life where all shall be made clear.”    From Lesser Feasts and Fasts

Collect for Alfred the Great:

O Sovereign Lord, you brought your servant Alfred to a troubled throne that he might establish peace in a ravaged land and revive learning and the arts among the people:  Awake in us also a keen desire to increase our understanding while we are in this world, and an eager longing to reach that endless life where all will be made clear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  AMEN

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."
                                                                                Thomas Merton

Meditations from the Art Museum
    Last weekend, while visiting my daughter at Family Weekend in Chicago, we had the opportunity to go to the Chicago Institute of Art.  It held a special place in my mind, because my grandmother attended the Institute, and later became a graphic artist for the San Jose Mercury.  It is an amazing place, and the amount of time we spent there was much too small to do it justice.  On the outside, we enjoyed taking pictures of the lion statues in front of the museum, decked out with White Sox hats in honor of the first World Series game happening later that evening.  On the inside, we had a feast for our eyes.  In the midst of a section of impressionist paintings, I came across one with which I was unfamiliar, entitled, “That which I should have done, I did not do.”  

The artist is Ivan Albright, perhaps most famous for “The Picture of Dorian Grey.”  Some of his artwork seems rather horrific, yet there was purpose in his images.  This one, for example, was created to serve as a meditation piece, to reflect on the fact that life is short, and that so often we put off those things which are important, for the things that are convenient, or comfortable.  There is a withered hand reaching for an old, scarred door with an old funeral wreath on it, as if the time available for action has passed.  
    As macabre as the painting seems, I was drawn to it.  Perhaps I needed its message.  Perhaps many of us do.  We have many opportunities in life, some of which are for things we really should do.  I wonder how often we pass opportunities by – opportunities to reach out to someone in need, to spend a bit more time with our precious families, to go about doing the work of a Christian in the world.  When that door closes for us, what will we say?  “That which I should have done, I did not do?”  Or will we be able to say with Christ,  “It is finished....Father, into your hands I commend my spirit?”

"The aim of art is not to represent the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance”
                                                                                                                                        Aristotle

Christ Has No Body

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which is to look out
Christ's compassion to the world;
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.
                                                    Teresa of Avila

Debra’s Midweek Meditation

"We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers."

From 1 Thes 2:9-13


From Sisters of Notre Dame Website

The verse and the picture speak to me of discernment-- a path of wondering and hoping.
Wondering about God's voice and direction and
hoping to have the courage and faith to proceed in the way God would have me go.
Paul is clear with the Thessalonians when he tells them it is God at work in them.
The Word transforms the human heart.
The job of pastor or preacher or companion or Christian is to open the word and let it speak for itself.
This certainly relieves us of a heavy burden.
We are not responsible for transformation--God is.

  Don't lose any opportunity, however small, of being gentle toward everyone. Don't rely on your own efforts to succeed in your various undertakings, but only on God's help. Then rest in his care of you, confident that he will do what is best for you, provided that you will, for your part, work diligently but gently. I say "gently" because a tense diligence is harmful both to our heart and to our task and is not really diligence, but rather over eagerness and anxiety...I recommend you to God's mercy. I beg him, through that same mercy, to fill you with his love.
                                                                                                                                                        - Francis de Sales

This Week at St. James

Tonight:  Christian Formation Community meets at 7:00 in the Parish Library
Saturday:  Confirmation retreat at St. James, 9:30 – 3:30
Sunday:  Worship in our beautifully restored church!

In Closing:

It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them…. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say."
                                                                                                                                               Thomas Merton

ASK ANYTHING

“Ask anything.”
My Lord said to me.
And my mind and heart thought deeply
for a second,
then replied with just one word,

“When?”

 God’s arms then opened up and I entered Myself.
I entered myself when I entered
Christ.
And having learned compassion I
allowed my soul to stay.
                                            St. Thomas Aquinas


Pax et Bonum,

Loree+