It's a very unusual year when I don't mark the mid-March feasts with a culinary treat, but the week's ending without my indulging either soda bread with Patrick or zeppoli with Joseph. Not a penitential decision, just bad planning. And not a happy break with tradition, or one I want to repeat.

The first two paragraphs below are from the newsletter of 15 January 2011 from the Community of Taize.


Psalm 139 (138): Few passages in the Bible speak of God’s closeness to human beings with as much subtlety and force as Psalm 139. “Lord, you have searched me and known me”, say the very first lines. God, the psalm tells us, is not a distant observer but one who looks deeply into individuals, who knows them not partially or one-sidedly but rather in the entirety of their existence, indeed as no one else can.

As the psalm unfolds, the tone becomes more pressing. “Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” The psalmist pictures himself going high and low, and from east to west before hiding finally in darkness in order to elude God, but to no avail. God’s hand now is not only upon him, as earlier (v. 5), but holds him fast (v. 10). The realization seems all at once frightful and reassuring: there is no way to escape from God, but, at the same time, God never abandons individuals, no matter how far they stray from Him.

Let's amend that last line and bring the thought closer: God never abandons us, no matter how far we stray from Him. There's always richness and comfort and support in the notes and messages from Taize, and I've been blessed in receiving them. It's a continuing blessing to the world, too, that the horror of Brother Roger's assassination on that grim August day in 2005 hasn't blighted the influence of his life's work nor dimmed the witness of the community that he founded as a living parable of John17:21: ut unum sint.

That they may be one. Ut unum sint is also the title Pope John Paul II gave to his encyclical and exhortation on ecumenism in 1995,  reminding us that:  

At the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church committed herself irrevocably to following the path of the ecumenical venture, thus heeding the Spirit of the Lord.

And heeding that call must be central to our journey. Even out of the terrible sufferings and persecutions that have scarred the human family in the modern world, the Holy Spirit asks for -- demands -- our renewed commitment to the cause of unity in Christ.

The courageous witness of so many martyrs of our century, including members of Churches and Ecclesial Communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church, gives new vigour to the Council's call and reminds us of our duty to listen to and put into practice its exhortation.

Taize stands as a beacon to those who hear the words of John 17:21 in humility, and following the brothers in their practice of prayer -- short, repetitive song; a reading from Scripture; long, contemplative silence -- works almost as an introduction to lectio divina and deepens our immersion in the Word. Deepens, too, our sense of fellowship with all those who bear the cross of Christ on their forehead.

Gideon Strauss, with whom I had an online connection through our blogs and who's now president of the Center for Public Justice, left a comment here a few years ago. I'd written often of hymns from various Christian traditions and several times of my deep debt to James Montgomery Boice and of the power of his preaching. Gideon, of the same Calvinist tradition as Dr. Boice, took note of some of the things that I'd entered here and left a comment, writing that I "practice a bracing ecumenicism." I was grateful for his visit and support and hope that his words remain true. And I'm grateful, certainly, for the friendship and fellowship of brothers and sisters of other faiths. Much of the good in my fumbling I owe to them, and to the witness of Taize.
 

I like my tea brewed long, dark and strong. I make the iced tea that way, too. When I made a fresh couple of quarts earlier this afternoon, I remembered that I still had a pint container remaining in the refrigerator, and poured it in to the fresh batch.

Here's the unexpected danger of dark tea and unmarked containers: I also had a pint of au jus gravy in the refrigerator. I suppose I should really have realized my mistake before drinking several tall glasses of the brew. And I wouldn't feel so bad, certainly, were today not a Friday in Lent.

"He so loved us that, for our sake, he was made man in time, although through him all times were made. He was made man, who made man.He was created of a mother whom he created. He was carried by hands that he formed. He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, he the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute."
Sermon 188, 2

Prayer: I realize what I am and praise you for it. Come to my aid, that I may not stray from the way of salvation.
Sermon 67, 9


Saint Augustine

Christus Rex.

June is the month of countless academic culminations and I've had the happiness this past week of thinking of four nieces and nephews in the special light of their graduations. I've had the additional honor of being present for three of those ceremonies. Warm congratulations to Mary Peg, Teddy, Brian and Joe as they complete their studies at, respectively, Naperville North High School, Ss. Peter & Paul School, Germantown Friends School and Holy Child Academy.

Every good wish to each of them as they prepare to continue the path of discovery and learning at Loyola University Chicago, Naperville North High School, Haverford College and St. Joseph's Preparatory School.

Rich in gifts, talented of mind, generous of heart, may their journey be gift and blessing to themselves and to those who share it.

On July 20, 1969, the human race accomplished its single greatest technological achievement of all time when a human first set foot on another celestial body.



Six hours after landing at 4:17 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (with less than 30 seconds of fuel remaining), Neil A. Armstrong took the “Small Step” into our greater future when he stepped off the Lunar Module, named “Eagle,” onto the surface of the Moon, from which he could look up and see Earth in the heavens as no one had done before him.

 

MAN ON THE MOON!