#1716, Part 11 of On the Soul and the Resurrection by St. Gregory of Nyssa

On the Soul and the Resurrection continues, as St. Gregory of Nyssa talks with his dying(!) sister about stuff that doubters say about the Resurrection, continuing to ask her as his old teacher to assuage his fears about her passing.

The freaky thing is that St. Greg was apparently really bothered by the whole question of how it works to be resurrected, to the point of imparting all these complicated Greek worries that sound like Dr. McCoy and the transporter. I guess St. Macrina was used to her little brother freaking out, though. (Indeed, his life story lends one to suppose that he did fret and jump to weird conclusions about something weird all the time. This isn’t to say that he couldn’t be reasonable; he was a great theologian and teacher. But it took him a long hard road to get there, and in this case he may have reverted a bit, under stress.) It’s obvious that he has no hesitation about asking her this stuff; he’s not afraid at all that he might make her lose faith. There’s something very family about that.

Part 11.

36:53.

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My New Advent Header

Pretty nice, huh?

This is a picture of Our Lady of the O, aka Our Lady of Expectation or Our Lady of Hope. This is Mary counting down the last week of Advent, waiting for her baby to come. (You can see the position of the baby marked by the Sun of Justice over her womb.) She is shown singing or pondering the O antiphons of that week from her book, accompanied by an angel band; and she is wearing a belt high over her tummy, which was how pregnant women dressed in many countries around the world.

Here’s another picture of the Madonna del Parto (Our Lady in pregnancy) which shows another common style of olden days pregnancy wear — laced clothing that’s been loosened. It may be a picture of Mary walking around right before birth, as it was common to have companions to walk you around and the angels might be them. The expression seems to say, “C’mon, already!”

Happy new Church Year!

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A Moment of Patristic Song.

Parody, that is. 🙂 “Chrysostom” is a nickname. It means “gold tongue”. (In English, we tend to talk of someone being silvertongued, instead.) Here’s a very short resume of his career.

To the tune of “Goldfinger”:

Go-oldtongue —
He’s the man, the man with the honeyed words —
Not moneyed words.
Heard
His old tongue
Beckon you to break from your chains of sin,
But will he win?

Golden words he will pour in your ear,
But what’s true has to move past your fear.
For the Golden Horn’s lord knows his hyssop
It’s the kiss-up’s death
From Bishop

Go-oldtongue —
Little men beware of his heart of gold —
Their hearts grown cold.

They don’t know real gold.
Lonely gold.
His word’s gold.
He speaks only gold.
Lonely gold.
His love’s gold!

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#1692: “A Colossians Thanksgiving” by St. John Chrysostom

All right, so St. John Chrysostom, patriarch of Constantinople who alternated between superstardom and exile, was not American and never wrote about Thanksgiving. And the Letter to the Colossians is not about Gobble Day, either.

But there’s a lot of applicable stuff about giving thanks in Chrys’ homily series on Colossians, so enjoy!

“A Colossians Thanksgiving”.

14:51.

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Almost Ready to Get Back on the Horse

I’m still having some sinus trouble, but my voice, my nose, and my head all seem to be back somewhere close to normal. I will see if I can get back going this week.

Thank you for your patience. I’ve taken a lot of time off this year, I know.

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Stuff to Listen to While I’m Sinus-y

Yes, I’m still sinus’d up. I’m mostly better, but I just can’t shake this thing. I did manage to get through choir on Wednesday night, but my voice felt pretty shredded afterwards. I’ve been a little hoarse for most of a week and a half, although I’ve never actually lost my voice per se. There’ve been several days this week when my hoarseness did let up (which is why I went to choir), but the sinus headaches kick in when the voice starts feeling better. I love you guys and I love podcasting, but I’m not going to try to read with a hoarse voice or a headache right under my eyes!

If you’re on Audible, they’re having their half-price sale. You can get huge amounts of Bujold, Wodehouse, etc. One real gem is a collection of C.S. Lewis’ radio talks on The Four Loves. Obviously, this primary version is shorter and more generalized than the book. However, it’s also recordings of C.S. Lewis. On the radio. Does it get more awesome!? (It’s also proof that the BBC doesn’t always lose stuff and reuse the tapes… heh heh.)

If you want to listen to stuff free, you know there are tons of podcasts and free audiobooks and audio dramas out there. Sffaudio and Sonitus Sanctus are very good sources for finding what’s being produced, and of course Librivox is always a storehouse of good listening. Forgotten Classics is just starting a new one, too, so you can hop on that train.

With Anglican Use Catholics in the news as the new Anglican Ordinariate gets rolling, you might want to listen to the erudite and lively scriptural talks/classes given by the pastor of the Anglican Use parish of Our Lady of the Atonement. I know I’ve recommended these talks before, but there’s always new ones. (The Acts of the Apostles is ongoing at present.) It’s good stuff: educational, spiritual, and not at all dry. (Scroll down past the sermons to see all the selections — though the sermons are good too, if you’re in that kind of mood.)

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Yes, I’m Still Living in the Land of Sinusitis.

It’s not a good thing.

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Sinus-y Again.

Sorry for my absence again. When my voice is better, I’ll be back.

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Halloween Stuff

Useful stuff I’ve recorded in previous years:

“Hallowe’en” by Robert Burns. (Sorry I’m not Scottish….)

“Lil’ Orphant Annie” by James Whitcomb Riley. And the gobble’uns ‘ll get you ef you don’t watch out.

“A Welsh Halloween” by Anne Beale, excerpted from her novel Traits and Stories of the Welsh Peasantry.

“The Queen of Spain and the Bold MacLean” by Andrew Lang.

“The Nightmare” by G.K. Chesterton.

“Tam Lin”, a traditional ballad.

“Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” by Robert Browning.

And don’t forget the history of my illustrious saintly relative, martyred by bad General Ireton on Halloween!

And for All Saints’ Day:

“Sermon on All Saints’ Day“, by the Venerable Bede.

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Sorry I’ve Been Silent.

My sinuses have been dripping, and my job has been gripping. 😦

You might like to listen to BBC7 tomorrow, or for the next week or so. They’ll be broadcasting a half-hour show about J. Meade Falkner, medievalist and factory exec, as well as the author of three superb books of adventure, horror, and mystery. They just broadcast The Lost Stradivarius by him; and you can listen to The Nebuly Coat here, under Completed Novels.

They’ll also have on the sad radio play about the life of the late Delia Derbyshire, pioneer in sound effects and music who was tragically unappreciated until the end of her life. Fans of Doctor Who owe her big time.

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Our Lady of Good Delivery

“Nuestra Senora de Buen Parto” or “La Virgen de Buen Parto” is mostly known in this country through Our Lady of la Leche y Buen Parto’s statue, down in St. Augustine, Florida. She’s the patroness of the breastfeeding organization, the La Leche League, so we think of her as a patroness of ladies with breastfeeding problems.

But in Valencia, Spain and elsewhere, her patronage of pregnant women and women in labor is very important.

So in honor of Heather Price and her passenger Elizabeth, a prayer from Valencia (translated).

Our God and Father, who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary to be a fitting dwelling, for Your Son, conceived through the work of the Holy Spirit —

Through Mary’s virginal delivery, convert the pains of women who believe in You into joy. Through the birth of our Redeemer, present the good things of salvation to humanity.

Look with goodness upon this daughter of Yours, to whom has also been given the gift of motherhood; and through the intercession of the mother of Your Son, grant that the fruit which she has conceived may develop in good health, come happily into the sunlight, employ her whole life in Your holy service, and attain the Kingdom of Heaven with all her family.

Amen.

Our Lady of Good Delivery, Mission Nombre de Dios, St. Augustine FL.

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Sorry for the Lack of Updates

Had to work overtime on Saturday, and I’ve been fairly hoarse and tired most of the week and weekend. I’ll try to do better next week.

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Feeling Better

As you can tell, I’m feeling a lot better. Still a little scratchy, but nothing compared to before.

Thanks for the ginger advice. I was drinking a lot of lemon ginger tea along with chai and slippery elm stuff. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to the grocery to get whole ginger until after I was already better, but I’ll bear that in mind for next time. (And I’ll be sure to tell the folks in choir. Singers are constantly looking for a better home remedy for throat troubles. It’d be nice to have one that’s actually palatable!)

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#1672: Ch. 19, Bk. 3, An Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales

An Introduction to the Devout Life continues, as our friendly neighborhood bishop quietly and cheerfully defends the value of real friendships to people living in the workaday world.

Book 3, Chapter 19: On True Friendships.

7:36.

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Still Hoarse

Sorry, folks. I know it’s been a while, but I still don’t have much voice. I did actually make it to choir today, but I think I overdid it a little… and now my throat feels cruddy again. (And it’s been very damp and hence moldy outside, which is the other part of the equation.) The other woman at work who got hoarse before me — well, she got her voice back and then TOTALLY LOST IT on Friday. So really, it could be worse.

I think that if I get a good night’s sleep tonight, I will be able to do something tomorrow morning for you. So please be patient with my poor vocal folds!

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