On breaking out the Christmas records this weekend, the first one I played was In the Swing of Christmas by Barry Manilow. Not only a lovely Christmas album, it's a fine Jazz album as well.
Even with seasonal music, I'm not really in the mood yet. Here's hoping I get a little ho, ho ho into my style in the coming days!
Today we begin the period of preparation for the coming of Baby Jesus, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, who became Man, entering into His creation to redeem us.
We should use this time not only to look forward in joy, but also to look into our own hearts and prepare them to be a place fitting to receive Our Lord.
It's hard in today's world, filled with violence, hatred and distrust. Here in the U.S. protests continue, some peaceful but some otherwise, over the grand jury's decision not to indict a Ferguson, Missouri policeman (who is white) for the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager (who was black).
Though I am disturbed at the decision, it baffles me how setting fires and looting and other violent, lawless acts can possibly help the situation. I'm not even sure what good peaceful protests can do. The grand jury isn't going to reverse its decision. The people of Ferguson, the county and the state need to engage in some hard thinking and equally hard work if they want to correct the conditions that led to this latest outrage, not to behave like mindless hooligans. But smashing things is always easier than designing and building them.
In this season, perhaps more than any other, we need to concentrate on thinking, on designing and building the kind of environment around us and within us where Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love, the four daughters of Truth in Medieval thought, can thrive.
Today is Thanksgiving here in the United States. Shorn of parades and football games, it is a day of reflection and, well, giving thanks for one's blessings. These things aren't so popular in today's world - perhaps they never really were, I can't tell. But in the mad press of commercialism and politics and celebrity news and all the rest of the rush-rush, gotta fill the twenty-four hour news cycle, exploit-umentary, mostly empty blather of modern life it is nice to be reminded to pause and think.
Today is the feastday of St. Hugh of Lincoln, a Carthusian monk, the first of his order to be canonized (1220).
A man of sanctity, uprightness and great energy, Hugh accomplished much in his life being an abbot, a bishop, a diocisan and educational reformer, a defender of human rights and a diplomat. At the time of the Protestant Reformation, he was the second most venerated english saint, behind only Thomas à Becket.
St. Hugh of Lincoln is the patron saint of sick people and especially sick children, shoemakers and, curiously, of swans.
