Words Twice a Week 8.10
Missed this -
August 1 was the birthday of Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, which has left it’s mark on American, and even world, culture with - no, not Ahab, no, not the white whale, but - answer next week!
From the church calendar -
Aug 10 Lawrence of Rome – deacon and martyr. When the Pope was imprisoned, Lawrence became responsible for the church’s treasury. When the emperor asked for it, Lawrence instead gave it away to the poor. When the emperor persisted that the wealth be brought to him personally, Lawrence brought the poor who had been helped and said "Here is the treasury of the church". [nice stewardship moment there] He was martyred by being roasted on a gridiron. His last words were a suggestion that he needed to be turned over "for this side of me is becoming overly done." The Perseid meteors [which should peak tonight and tomorrow night] are sometimes called The Tears of Lawrence.
Aug 11 Claire – the beautiful daughter of an Italian nobleman, she was moved by Francis and rejected marriage. She, her sister, and her mother formed the first women’s Franciscan community – the Poor Claires – devoted to poverty, humility, and charity. She is remembered in a variety of place names – Lake Saint Clair [was navigated and named on her feast day in 1679], Santa Clara, etc. Here’s a poem she wrote -
What you hold, may you always hold.
What you do, may you do and never abandon.
But with swift pace, light step,
unswerving feet,
so that even your steps stir no dust,
go forward
securely, joyfully, and swiftly,
on the path of prudent happiness,
believing nothing
agreeing with nothing
which would dissuade you from this resolution
or which would place a stumbling block for you on the way,
so that you may offer your vows to the Most High
in the pursuit of that perfection
to which the Spirit of the Lord has called you.
Aug 13 Florence Nightingale She gave nursing a favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night. We used this prayer for nurses on Florence Nightingale's birthday - May 12.
Kindhearted, careful God,
your will is that all creation, ourselves included, should find health and strength,
and your promise is to be with us even in times of illness and struggle.
Thank you for all those who follow in the footsteps of Florence Nightingale,
to provide sure, strong, and gentle care for us in our times of need.
Thank you for their kindness, their cheerful presence, their careful attention, their healing hands.
Wrap your grace around them, lift their spirits when they need it, and keep them safe.
Aug 15 Mary, Mother of Jesus Many thoughts and perspectives on Mary on the Wikipedia page. She gives us everything from The Magnificat to Ave Maria to Let It Be.
From the world calendar -
Aug 10 – This is just a too-cool coincidence – the first long distance phone call was made on this day in 1876 and in 2003 Yuri Malenchenko became the first person to be married in space. He was on the International Space Station, his bride, Ekaterina Dmitrieva was at NASA in Texas.
Aug 11 – the Watts Rebellion began in 1965; the Mall of America opened in 1992. Are there issues that connect both events? How would Claire experience the Mall of America? I haven't been there - have you? If so, what was it like for you? Malls don't seem to be doing so well right now -
Aug 14
- Bertold Brecht died. O the shark has pretty teeth dear, and he shows them, pearly white…
- the Social Security Act was signed by FDR in 1935. Thank you!
Aug 15
- first showing of The Wizard of Oz. Some days it doesn't really feel like we are in Kansas anymore! Seems like there should be a haiku about retirement and social security and somewhere over the rainbow and there's no place like home, but it's not coming to me.
- the Berlin Wall was built. Well, obviously not all on one day. W Paul Jones notes that while this seems puzzling, even bizarre to us today, we are still building walls. He notes with irony that Israel is building walls to ghettoize the Palestinians, and of course, the US is working on this wall on our southern border.
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