If I had my life to live over

1. I would go to Church more often
2. I would pray more and complain less
3. I would go to an engineering school and then to medical school – becoming a biomedical engineer
4. I would study more and play less
5. I would have more children
6. I would love more people and dislike fewer
7. I would work [...]

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Mid 60’s and Still Going-and going-and going

Last year I turned 66, and today I am 67. I’m on Medicare and Social Security. Guess I’m officially “old” by societal standards.
Now I have to try to be a “wise” resource for family and friends rather than a burden.
I’m partially disabled, so I could be considered a burden, but I’m still working (part-time from [...]

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October 14 / 25 St. Cosmas the Hymnographer

St. Cosmas the Hymnographer, bishop of Maiuma (787)
Commemorated on October 14
He was from Jerusalem. An orphan, he was adopted into the family of St John of Damascus (commemorated December 4). He became Bishop of Maiuma, a city on the coast of Palestine, which was later named Constantia. Like his adoptive brother he [...]

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Oct 18 (Oct 1 old style) The Protection of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

The Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos
“Today the Virgin stands in the midst of the Church, and with choirs of Saints she invisibly prays to God for us. Angels and Bishops venerate Her, Apostles and prophets rejoice together, Since for our sake she prays to the Eternal God!”
This miraculous appearance of the Mother of God [...]

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MAN CAN NOT COMPREHEND THE DUST, MUCH LESS GOD

St. Ephraim the Syrian
Whither wilt thou mount, feeble man? Thou dust that art flung upon dust, let thy conversation be in the dust! Even the dust which is beneath thee is above thee, to search into. If that beneath be too high for thee, how wilt thou attain to Him who is above? If the [...]

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“… It seems the good die young…”

The death of Tony Snow has left me shaken. I didn’t “know” him – never met him, never talked to him, never corresponded with him. Yet when I heard he had lost his long battle with colon cancer I cried. Many other people have spoken of him much more eloquently than I can – people [...]

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Renouncing Iconoclasm

We have to renounce iconoclasm. In so doing, we inherently set ourselves against certain forces within modernity. The truth is eschatological, that is, it lies in the future, but we also believe that this eschatological reality was incarnate in Christ, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. We do not oppose the [...]

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Prayers by the Lake #7

Would that I could make musicians out of stone, and dan­cers out of the sand of the lake, and minstrels out of the leaves of all the trees in the mountains, so that they might help me glorify the Lord-and so that the voice of the earth might be heard amidst the choirs of angels!
The [...]

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Hymn to Christ on Easter Day – St. Gregory Nazianzen

HYMN TO CHRIST ON EASTER DAY
(AFTER LONG SILENCE),
Cristi anax, se prvton, epei logon heri dvka,
dhnaion katecwn, fqegxom apo stomatwn,
(Dactylic hexameter, and pentameter.)
O Christ the King! since breath pent up so long
I have outpoured, Thou first shalt be my song;
May this my word, the current of my mind,
If lawful thus to speak, acceptance find,
And unto Thee [...]

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From the 55 Beatitudes of St. Ephraim of Syria

St. Ephraim of Syria’s 55 Beatitudes # 48 – 55:
Blessed the one who has kept the mastery of his eyelids and has not deceived himself with either mind or senses with regard to the skin of the flesh that after a little while [...]

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Commitment to Loveliness! – -

ooooooook – according to Emma, “choose five things that you would like to work on or do during the week that will increase the loveliness in your life!” This is the Commitment to Loveliness. Given my life, I’m not sure I’m up for this, but I’ll give it a try.

Do the taxes. This will make [...]

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A Hymn at Night, After Failure to Keep Vow – St. Gregory Nazianzen

A HYMN AT NIGHT, AFTER FAILURE TO KEEP VOW.
eyeusamhn se thn alhqeian, loge,
(Iambic trimeter.)
O Thou, the Word of truth divine!
All light I have not been,
Nor kept the day as wholly Thine;
For Thou dark spots hast seen.
The day is down: night hath prevailed:
My Lord I have belied;
I vowed, and thought to do, but failed;
My steps did [...]

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Admonitory Address to a Virgin – Gregory Nazianzen

Gregory Nazianzen.
ADMONITORY ADDRESS TO A VIRGIN.
Parqene, numfe Cristou,
(The Greek is of varied metre, arranged in lines of generally seven
syllables each.)
O bride of Christ on high,
Thy Bridegroom glorify!
Always thyself keep pure,
In word and wisdom sure,
That bright with Him all-bright
Thou e’er mayst dwell in light.
Far better spouse is He
Than earthly spouse could be:
Thy union happier far
Than mortal [...]

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Remember – -

Last night I awoke in the middle of the night with a poem dancing in my brain. I couldn’t get back to sleep until I had recorded it, so I did. I put it on my space at Pathetic.org, (unless you knew me as a child, you won’t recognize the name – LOL!) and I [...]

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The Blackout – -

This morning we awakened to a major power outage. Don’t know how extensive, but emergency utilities said it was “widespread” and would not be back on for 2-4 hours.
So I sit here with candles on the buffet, the icons on the walls catch the light and seem to glow in a way they don’t with [...]

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Hymn to His Own Soul – St. Gregory Nazianzen

TO HIS OWN SOUL.
ti soi qeleiV genesqai;
(Iambic dimeter catalectic.)
1.
O soul of mine, repining,
What wouldst have done for thee?
Speak, great or small defining:
Granted thy wish shall be.
2.
Of all bright things, prized highest,
Beneath the rolling sun,
Tell that for which thou sighest;
For thee it shall be done.
3.
Wouldst thou assume the measure
Of Gyges, Lydia’s king,
To hide or show at [...]

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Marbles in My Pocket and I Don’t Know Why!

I have about 5 blogs, if I count the blogs on a couple of fora to which I belong. I posted this elsewhere a few years ago, and then recently reposted it on the same blog. I re-read it yet again, and decided to post it here, too. Why? Because I want to! LOL! Besides, [...]

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Memory is a Tricky Thing –

I’ve always had problems remembers nouns and adjectives. It seems to be something congenital, according some research reports I read a while back – but I can’t remember the author or the journal. All nouns.
I have problems remembering people’s names. This has plagued me my entire life. If I don’t see, talk to, or write [...]

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Hymn to Christ – St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 220)

HYMN TO CHRIST.
basileu agiwn, loge pandamatwr
(Anapaestic dimeter.)
O Thou, the King of saints, all-conquering Word,
Son of the Highest, wisdom’s Fount and Lord,
The prop that doth uphold through toil and pain;
The joy of ages through immortal reign;
Yet born of mortal flesh for life’s brief span,
O Saviour Jesus, Shepherd, Husbandman;
Helm Thou to guide, and bridle to restrain,
Wing of [...]

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From a Friend –

“Christ told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, “Give me [...]

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