“The common element in all the special forms of contemplation is the loving, yearning, affirming bent toward that happiness which is the same as God Himself, and which is the aim and purpose of all that happens in the world.”
-Josef Pieper, Happiness and Contemplation
“…how did the monks train? By singing the psalms. Here is the key to the power, such as it is, of medieval communal prayer: it was focused on the psalms. And why on the psalms? Because, as every medieval Christian knew, they are focused on Christ the Lord, the Word who is with God and who is God, through whom everything was made (John 1), who set his tabernacle in the sun and came forth as a bridegroom from his wedding chamber (Ps. 18:6), the king of glory mighty in battle (Ps. 23:8) who entered into his temple (Heb.) to rescue his people from their sins (Ps. 21).
“Religion, properly speaking, is about worship, and it is the object of worship that defines the community. If the community worships itself (as a city, nation, or empire) then its religion is about belonging to the group (see, pagan Rome, and its opposition to Christians). But a community worshiping Christ is defined by Him—and its individual members have strength to stand up against other communities who define themselves by something other than Christ.”
-Rachel Fulton Brown, interview
Anthony Esolen features this poem by Richard Wilbur on his site Word & Song; here is a clip from his introduction:
“Wilbur takes his inspiration from the words of Jesus, when he was entering Jerusalem at the beginning of that fateful and sacred week, and the people hailed him, laying palm branches before him and crying out, ‘Blessed be the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Then the Pharisees appealed to Jesus, asking him to make the people be quiet, but Jesus said, ‘I tell you, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.’ And we may remember, too, that when the disciples tried to play the tour guide with Jesus, remarking upon the grandeur of the Temple and its precincts, Jesus, who loved the Temple dearly from when he was a boy, said that there would soon come a time when not one stone would be left upon a stone.”
A CHRISTMAS HYMN
A stable lamp is lighted
Whose glow shall wake the sky;
The stars shall bend their voices,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
And straw like gold shall shine;
A barn shall harbor heaven,
A stall become a shrine.
This child through David’s city
Shall ride in triumph by;
The palm shall strew its branches,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
Though heavy, dull, and dumb,
And lie within the roadway
To pave his kingdom come.
Yet he shall be forsaken,
And yielded up to die;
The sky shall groan and darken,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
For stony hearts of men:
God’s blood upon the spearhead,
God’s love refused again.
But now, as at the ending,
The low is lifted high;
The stars shall bend their voices,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
In praises of the child
By whose descent among us
The worlds are reconciled.
-Richard Wilbur
“Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.”
― God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas
Gladsome Lights 