Author: Steve

Poem by George Herbert, music by Ralph Vaughan Williams. I heard this hymn at the Offertory during a Mass on Saturday at the National Shrine. I can’t think of anything more appropriate to sing before the Eucharist. Here’s a MP3 of a solo version of the song with orchestra.

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life :
Such a Way, as gives us breath :
Such a Truth, as ends all strife :
And such a Life, as killeth death.
Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength :
Such a Light, as shows a feast :
Such a Feast, as mends in length :
Such a Strength, as makes his guest.
Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart :
Such a Joy, as none can move :
Such a Love, as none can part :
Such a Heart, as joyes in love.

God’s Spirit calls us to glorify Him in the celebration of the Eucharist. He gives us the grace to sing a hymn like this and understand the great grace we receive in Communion. We call on Him because His call to us is unceasing and unwavering. It is His love that none can part, and that is the hope of every Christian.

This is going to be my last post on this blog. John will still be here posting on music, liturgy, faith, life and whatever else comes up. Keep reading and keep the faith. All you readers whose names I know, be assured that you are in prayers. Pray for me! Thanks so very much for reading, commenting, emailing and linking to us.

I posted earlier requesting comments on certain devotional practices (particularly in the Mass and surrounding the Eucharist) falling by the wayside. I appreciate the comments. I was about to unload on this topic based on things I’ve heard from friends around the country. In the interest of charity I’m going to stay silent!

I hesitate to describe it as “divine providence” because gambling isn’t on God’s a-list of virtuous human activity.

From CNN – New York lottery winning numbers: 9-1-1

Apollo astronaut says he hit man in self defense

…the 72-year-old Aldrin “was forced to protect himself” from independent Nashville filmmaker Bart Sibrel, a much younger and bigger man, who was stopping the astronaut and his daughter from leaving.
Sibrel, 37, has admitted to ambushing Aldrin at the hotel and shoving a Bible at him so that he could swear he really made the second walk on the moon on July 20, 1969.
The filmmaker has made television documentaries and films debunking the Apollo 11 voyage, saying it never left earth — a conspiracy theory that some critics maintain gives conspiracy theory a bad name.

This article from the Washington Times caught my eye today. No time for the mawkish by Jennifer Harper. Regarding December 7, 1942, she writes:

The front pages of the nation’s newspapers were stuffed with news of war: a battle raging in Tunisia, the launch of the USS New Jersey at Philadelphia, and, on the front page of the old Evening Star, a single photographic reminder of the destroyed harbor at Honolulu. On an inside page, Pvt. Joe Lockhard, who had first spotted the incoming Japanese planes at a radar station above Honolulu, was the subject of a small item headlined: “Hero of Navy prefers to forget Pearl Harbor.”
“We have to give our time to what’s happening now,” he said, “and wait for history to catch up with it, when the war is won.”

Our society is very different now. At present the media and our modern notions of the need closure are causing us to be much more introspective than, as it has been called, “the greatest generation.” They were focused on the task and hand. To be fair the enemy was visible with perfect clarity – not the “jihadistan” we face today. President Bush also has to make his case for an attack on Iraq to this country and to the world. He has yet to do so. I pray that we have the resolve to win this war. It is very different from the second great war in some many ways. Read The imperial era begins by Tony Blankley to get an interesting opinion on the current war and what it means for America’s future. It’s a brave, new world.