I will praise the LORD
for I am his servant.
I will cry out to the Most-Glorious name
of He who reigns all the heaven and earth
and Him alone shall I venerate!
Like a bronze cymbal shall my song
echo over the earth.
It shall rise as smoke carried on wind.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
A Psalm of Anger
The LORD watches over his sheep day and night
and to all men, He left peace.
Therefore, He is your Shepherd
Him shall you follow.
His apostle, you will receive as HE but many of you do not.
You curse the hands raised to bless you.
You cast teachers away.
Whosoever the LORD sends into the sheepfold
bringing food, drawing his staff, you turn upon like wolves!
You want not the LORD's food but to make your own!
All children, have hope in the LORD.
Bless and do not curse.
Love one another so that you may not starve.
This, my petition:
That ye love through Him and are willing to be taught.
That you become disciples
after the truth forever.
and to all men, He left peace.
Therefore, He is your Shepherd
Him shall you follow.
His apostle, you will receive as HE but many of you do not.
You curse the hands raised to bless you.
You cast teachers away.
Whosoever the LORD sends into the sheepfold
bringing food, drawing his staff, you turn upon like wolves!
You want not the LORD's food but to make your own!
All children, have hope in the LORD.
Bless and do not curse.
Love one another so that you may not starve.
This, my petition:
That ye love through Him and are willing to be taught.
That you become disciples
after the truth forever.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Ode to a Mad Scientist
Madness? Formulae scream their names, hurried to tell of their meaning. A single digit by any other name brings disorder upon a newborn system- perhaps utter ruin. It all its perfection, change any fragment, remove one question, touch its delicate process and the numbers return to sheer chaos.
My dear, chaos is from which we work.
Old arts are not forsaken; they prevail as whims; hopes of ascension, seeking impurity for refinement when transumutation clutters my desk. Both fluid and solid, water and metal, hydrargyrum* never makes an elixir of life and she is no great mystery. She pines for sulfur and flees from heat. Bind her with vitriol and vitriol formost, immerse in flame and collect the pieces.
Matter is our metaphysics.
Light fades into the glass I hold, gathered in liquid. No...not cloudy but pure unlike the dought fresh on my tongue. This is all about the distortion of existance. We painstakingly break it apart just to put it back together.
*Hydrargyrum (Hg) - mercury.
My dear, chaos is from which we work.
Old arts are not forsaken; they prevail as whims; hopes of ascension, seeking impurity for refinement when transumutation clutters my desk. Both fluid and solid, water and metal, hydrargyrum* never makes an elixir of life and she is no great mystery. She pines for sulfur and flees from heat. Bind her with vitriol and vitriol formost, immerse in flame and collect the pieces.
Matter is our metaphysics.
Light fades into the glass I hold, gathered in liquid. No...not cloudy but pure unlike the dought fresh on my tongue. This is all about the distortion of existance. We painstakingly break it apart just to put it back together.
*Hydrargyrum (Hg) - mercury.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Of Chemicals and Constituents…
Factus de materia cinis elementi. – “Created from the material of the ashes of the elements.”
I.) Your 92 elements to construct our natural world, your atoms are of varying radii, weights and personalities.
You are aromas, colors and textures. Molecules.
Hydrogen, hot-blooded, volatile and promiscuous, makes one bond. Carbon, cold, aloof and wary, forms four.
Iron, stern metal unbreakable except from work and weather’s wear.
Oxygen, invisible, holds us together.
O’ solvents, solutions and fumes.
Alchemy, transformed sorcery into science.
You are precious as gold; ordinary.
Who made and arranged you? God, Mendeleev or
Lavoisier puttering about his lab?
Atoms, they split, reform and substitute to find themselves.
You are fuel, our poison, our cure.
Acids, bases, distillations and titrations. Not created or destroyed and
forever conserved.
May we never know surely your endless processes.
What elements are they that Aristotle named “Earth, water, wind and fire”?
That the Chinese added to them wood and metal?
To which theologians added “life”?
What is life but a mixture of air, nutrients and water?
That the Latins called anima?
That the French called vif?
Is it all from a spirit, a soul, an earthly body or a brilliant mind?
Most importantly, does it think or does it sing?
Why do the great laws of conservation of matter and of energy
not apply to a man’s lifetime nor his body?
Truly, his bones are rented. His blood borrowed from iron in the dirt.
He seeks transmutation: transforming a foul thing into one that is glorious, but reaches it not.
Truly, gold dug from the grey earth still shines like the dawn and silk spun from a worm’s bottom is firm.
They become poisons, salts and herbs.
From wood comes fire; from a fire greatly-hot come glass vessels, from shriveled
fruit comes wine that lifts men’s’ spirits. From the cold rocks precious staffs are made- and swords.
Who did the elements assemble from clamor and could men tear them asunder or possibly make things anew?
Man took his ideas of power and purity and fashioned the Philosopher’s Stone. Formed of salt, which is earthly wisdom, lead which is earthy flesh and mercury that represents mystery.
Even as the stone transformed all it touched into pure gold; it could not make water into wine - nor wine into blood.
It could not make a criminal innocent, a man a child or a harlot virgin again.
Man threw away the stone, since it could not perfect. All who drew from the gold produced thereof, died in grief.
Amongst all alchemists was the formula lost. Beggars and noblemen would seek after it but not find.
Later, the elements found in our world summed to 92.
They were metals, liquids and airs.
Those necessary for life were called “Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen.”
They found the earth to be made of many things, water but two of these,
Fire was pure energy and wind a light mixture.
All matter had a name and could tear apart.
Still the afterlife eludes us. Consumed with our hands, our spirit is forgotten, lying
in the earth beside that long-gone formula for transformation.
We seek stones, herbs and formulae, which lead to immortality
but as in the past, find only false gold and greed.
Men now desert their spirit to think- and to sing.
Their laws disharmonious to matter: not creating, conserving too much
or not conserving at all.
Cherishing the will of the earthly body and not the silent song within,
we guard our gold from days past and wish not to create.
The life starves, yet as we search our bodies, our minds and even the street-corners for that stone, that sweet elixir.
Because we seek our minds and bodies and no power outside the self,
we seek forever; the ends of the earth and amongst the elements
-and shall never find.
Factus de materia cinis elementi. – “Created from the material of the ashes of the elements.”
I.) Your 92 elements to construct our natural world, your atoms are of varying radii, weights and personalities.
You are aromas, colors and textures. Molecules.
Hydrogen, hot-blooded, volatile and promiscuous, makes one bond. Carbon, cold, aloof and wary, forms four.
Iron, stern metal unbreakable except from work and weather’s wear.
Oxygen, invisible, holds us together.
O’ solvents, solutions and fumes.
Alchemy, transformed sorcery into science.
You are precious as gold; ordinary.
Who made and arranged you? God, Mendeleev or
Lavoisier puttering about his lab?
Atoms, they split, reform and substitute to find themselves.
You are fuel, our poison, our cure.
Acids, bases, distillations and titrations. Not created or destroyed and
forever conserved.
May we never know surely your endless processes.
What elements are they that Aristotle named “Earth, water, wind and fire”?
That the Chinese added to them wood and metal?
To which theologians added “life”?
What is life but a mixture of air, nutrients and water?
That the Latins called anima?
That the French called vif?
Is it all from a spirit, a soul, an earthly body or a brilliant mind?
Most importantly, does it think or does it sing?
Why do the great laws of conservation of matter and of energy
not apply to a man’s lifetime nor his body?
Truly, his bones are rented. His blood borrowed from iron in the dirt.
He seeks transmutation: transforming a foul thing into one that is glorious, but reaches it not.
Truly, gold dug from the grey earth still shines like the dawn and silk spun from a worm’s bottom is firm.
They become poisons, salts and herbs.
From wood comes fire; from a fire greatly-hot come glass vessels, from shriveled
fruit comes wine that lifts men’s’ spirits. From the cold rocks precious staffs are made- and swords.
Who did the elements assemble from clamor and could men tear them asunder or possibly make things anew?
Man took his ideas of power and purity and fashioned the Philosopher’s Stone. Formed of salt, which is earthly wisdom, lead which is earthy flesh and mercury that represents mystery.
Even as the stone transformed all it touched into pure gold; it could not make water into wine - nor wine into blood.
It could not make a criminal innocent, a man a child or a harlot virgin again.
Man threw away the stone, since it could not perfect. All who drew from the gold produced thereof, died in grief.
Amongst all alchemists was the formula lost. Beggars and noblemen would seek after it but not find.
Later, the elements found in our world summed to 92.
They were metals, liquids and airs.
Those necessary for life were called “Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen.”
They found the earth to be made of many things, water but two of these,
Fire was pure energy and wind a light mixture.
All matter had a name and could tear apart.
Still the afterlife eludes us. Consumed with our hands, our spirit is forgotten, lying
in the earth beside that long-gone formula for transformation.
We seek stones, herbs and formulae, which lead to immortality
but as in the past, find only false gold and greed.
Men now desert their spirit to think- and to sing.
Their laws disharmonious to matter: not creating, conserving too much
or not conserving at all.
Cherishing the will of the earthly body and not the silent song within,
we guard our gold from days past and wish not to create.
The life starves, yet as we search our bodies, our minds and even the street-corners for that stone, that sweet elixir.
Because we seek our minds and bodies and no power outside the self,
we seek forever; the ends of the earth and amongst the elements
-and shall never find.
Monday, April 6, 2009
...Of Nature
Of Nature…
"Rosae morentur cum dies sed in memoriam manent."
I.) Roses will wither with the days
But in memory they shall remain.
Their scent abandons them
But in your mind, it is cherished
Once sweet, now black,
But always they will be loved.
Living vines surrender with the frost
But their touch, your hands shall not forget.
Youthful, now dead,
But folly lasts.
Fruits fall and shrivel,
But wine preserves.
Love and youth,
These things shall come to pass.
Yet forever,
Their immortality floats on the wind.
The wind is eternal,
And everything it sees.
A dozen roses had a Latin name:
Rosa Rosaceae.
From rosa prima to rosa duodecima…
By their other name, they went less sweet.
Called after their botanical genus,
they should live forever,
-and not wither.
Lest they be forgotten,
Lest their entry in old, garden books
be erased.
Lest their fragrance disappear with time.
II.) Out of their black sky,
The stars sing.
They see all but do nothing.
Unmoving lamps, ever bright,
The very eyes of God are watching.
III.) To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
- Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 and 3:11.
"Rosae morentur cum dies sed in memoriam manent."
I.) Roses will wither with the days
But in memory they shall remain.
Their scent abandons them
But in your mind, it is cherished
Once sweet, now black,
But always they will be loved.
Living vines surrender with the frost
But their touch, your hands shall not forget.
Youthful, now dead,
But folly lasts.
Fruits fall and shrivel,
But wine preserves.
Love and youth,
These things shall come to pass.
Yet forever,
Their immortality floats on the wind.
The wind is eternal,
And everything it sees.
A dozen roses had a Latin name:
Rosa Rosaceae.
From rosa prima to rosa duodecima…
By their other name, they went less sweet.
Called after their botanical genus,
they should live forever,
-and not wither.
Lest they be forgotten,
Lest their entry in old, garden books
be erased.
Lest their fragrance disappear with time.
II.) Out of their black sky,
The stars sing.
They see all but do nothing.
Unmoving lamps, ever bright,
The very eyes of God are watching.
III.) To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
- Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 and 3:11.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Top ten uses for Latin
TOP TEN VSES FOR LATIN
I. Everything sounds awesom in Latin.
II. Road-rage: Flip the bird and tell 'em to fuck-off just like the Romans did!
III. Recite it loudly at church so they think you're speaking in tonques.
NOTE: this won't work in Catholic church.
IV. Recite it loudly at Wall-Mart so they'll think you're putting a hex on them.
Gesticulate wildly and always roll your r's to make it believable.
V. Make your Mom happy by sounding "educated".
VI. You can finally say on employment applications that you are bi-lingual!
VII. Impress your doctor and/or lawyer
VIII. Ordering at restaurants, so that they give you wierd looks while trying to fetch an
interpreter for whatever language you're speaking.
IX. You'll already know what half the words in an English Dictionary mean and therefore,
will never have to read one again!
X. Si aliquid est dicere, in Latina dic! - If there's something to say, say it in everybody's favorite dead-language!
I. Everything sounds awesom in Latin.
II. Road-rage: Flip the bird and tell 'em to fuck-off just like the Romans did!
III. Recite it loudly at church so they think you're speaking in tonques.
NOTE: this won't work in Catholic church.
IV. Recite it loudly at Wall-Mart so they'll think you're putting a hex on them.
Gesticulate wildly and always roll your r's to make it believable.
V. Make your Mom happy by sounding "educated".
VI. You can finally say on employment applications that you are bi-lingual!
VII. Impress your doctor and/or lawyer
VIII. Ordering at restaurants, so that they give you wierd looks while trying to fetch an
interpreter for whatever language you're speaking.
IX. You'll already know what half the words in an English Dictionary mean and therefore,
will never have to read one again!
X. Si aliquid est dicere, in Latina dic! - If there's something to say, say it in everybody's favorite dead-language!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The Beginning of my Spiritual Life
Part II )
Easter, March 22nd was a night I will never forget.
There I accepted Christ into my life. I chose as my patron Saint, Hildegard of Bingen, an abbess who composed beautiful Latin hymns and was so outspoken to have words with a bishop when he was in error... My kind of lady.
I still remembered my first confession. I was nervous and had a list of sins over a page long, written in Latin to ensure my privacy. After getting it over with I stepped outside and felt sunshine on my face. The birds sang. I oddly felt so alive.
All had been leading to this moment when I approached the Bishop of Peoria who had a fatherly smile and looked kind of like Santa Claus, then was anointed into the Catholic Church. I swear people were purposely hugging me so they could smell the fragrant oil on my forehead.
I must not forget Communion, receiving Christ as I never imagined before, present in that little wafer… humbling himself to be one with men…to know what being fully in submission to God meant.
I asked for guidance from the Lord, that He would show me a purpose. This would not come about for a while…and I still don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I’ve had a few experiences when I have loosely communicated with our Lord, mostly at Eucharistic adoration, always he hinted that I’d have to wait.
Then I got in touch with an old friend who was attending a Baptist Church out in Indiana. I found excitement in talking and debating with his Pastor who used to be Catholic. Many of them did not see Catholics as “saved” meaning they accepted the Lord’s salvation. I proved a few of them wrong, informed them of my new faith and even brought up some details of the Scriptures. After praying for months and months, I met a guy at my friend’s church, Rick, who was born Catholic but converted to Baptist. While my conversion-story tells of God’s immediate presence, richness, refreshing absolution, and an Easter night I will never forget, his latest turn was influenced by a previous love and hurried baptism. I respected this so and did naught but bring him to a Saturday mass. While turned my back focused on prayer, he made the decision to return home.
I’d get into trouble for that… soon enough. Their Baptist Pastor, I’ll call him Hank, sent me to the ground. When Rick voiced his sympathy for Catholicism, Hank replied that he had “contempt” for this. That he’d seen fights between angels and devils (that they fought over his poor, doomed soul). He then implied Catholics sided with the devils. Because I don’t snap off on ordained Pastors, I saved my cussing for at home. That man just insulted my grandma, others in my family, my best friend from college, my favorite priests and the Pope- none whom he knows, not to mention ME. I cussed at such insult and yelled about Pope John-Paul II (so loud it woke my Dad). A man who I’d never met, knew very little of, aside from current biographies, caused great clamor in my heart. Judge not someone you haven’t met- and judge not someone who was shot, almost killed and then moved to forgive his attacker. If that doesn’t describe Christ-like behavior I can’t say what does. If that man worked for Satan then give me a ticket to Hell!
I mention this because John-Paul II would figure into one of my spiritual experiences, you know the kind that are hard to explain that people think you’re nuts for retelling. One night I was talking to my friend and mentioned the episode that brought JP II to my attention, I mentioned his name in passing, stopped and looked above me where this presence had imparted itself. I felt like someone was there but my room was empty. Something just hovered there radiating benevolence and peace. It wasn’t God or Jesus, it wasn’t a bad spirit (trust me I’d had contact with those), it was something good, that really loved me. A being from heaven had come to reassure me and it was this saint who I never knew…told you it was weird but I just knew it was him for some reason.
After that I felt an immediate desire to serve the Lord, to act out his will for me, unfortunately, I still didn’t know what that was supposed to be. I got a biography on John Paul II and started reading my Bible more. I also picked up his Theology of the Body, which discusses the roles of men and women, marriage, lust and most of all –the meaning of true love.
I would read more and slowly fall in love with the my faith. Bringing me close to Christ, I sought to be more like him- it was clear I should emulate him…but how?
Easter, March 22nd was a night I will never forget.
There I accepted Christ into my life. I chose as my patron Saint, Hildegard of Bingen, an abbess who composed beautiful Latin hymns and was so outspoken to have words with a bishop when he was in error... My kind of lady.
I still remembered my first confession. I was nervous and had a list of sins over a page long, written in Latin to ensure my privacy. After getting it over with I stepped outside and felt sunshine on my face. The birds sang. I oddly felt so alive.
All had been leading to this moment when I approached the Bishop of Peoria who had a fatherly smile and looked kind of like Santa Claus, then was anointed into the Catholic Church. I swear people were purposely hugging me so they could smell the fragrant oil on my forehead.
I must not forget Communion, receiving Christ as I never imagined before, present in that little wafer… humbling himself to be one with men…to know what being fully in submission to God meant.
I asked for guidance from the Lord, that He would show me a purpose. This would not come about for a while…and I still don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I’ve had a few experiences when I have loosely communicated with our Lord, mostly at Eucharistic adoration, always he hinted that I’d have to wait.
Then I got in touch with an old friend who was attending a Baptist Church out in Indiana. I found excitement in talking and debating with his Pastor who used to be Catholic. Many of them did not see Catholics as “saved” meaning they accepted the Lord’s salvation. I proved a few of them wrong, informed them of my new faith and even brought up some details of the Scriptures. After praying for months and months, I met a guy at my friend’s church, Rick, who was born Catholic but converted to Baptist. While my conversion-story tells of God’s immediate presence, richness, refreshing absolution, and an Easter night I will never forget, his latest turn was influenced by a previous love and hurried baptism. I respected this so and did naught but bring him to a Saturday mass. While turned my back focused on prayer, he made the decision to return home.
I’d get into trouble for that… soon enough. Their Baptist Pastor, I’ll call him Hank, sent me to the ground. When Rick voiced his sympathy for Catholicism, Hank replied that he had “contempt” for this. That he’d seen fights between angels and devils (that they fought over his poor, doomed soul). He then implied Catholics sided with the devils. Because I don’t snap off on ordained Pastors, I saved my cussing for at home. That man just insulted my grandma, others in my family, my best friend from college, my favorite priests and the Pope- none whom he knows, not to mention ME. I cussed at such insult and yelled about Pope John-Paul II (so loud it woke my Dad). A man who I’d never met, knew very little of, aside from current biographies, caused great clamor in my heart. Judge not someone you haven’t met- and judge not someone who was shot, almost killed and then moved to forgive his attacker. If that doesn’t describe Christ-like behavior I can’t say what does. If that man worked for Satan then give me a ticket to Hell!
I mention this because John-Paul II would figure into one of my spiritual experiences, you know the kind that are hard to explain that people think you’re nuts for retelling. One night I was talking to my friend and mentioned the episode that brought JP II to my attention, I mentioned his name in passing, stopped and looked above me where this presence had imparted itself. I felt like someone was there but my room was empty. Something just hovered there radiating benevolence and peace. It wasn’t God or Jesus, it wasn’t a bad spirit (trust me I’d had contact with those), it was something good, that really loved me. A being from heaven had come to reassure me and it was this saint who I never knew…told you it was weird but I just knew it was him for some reason.
After that I felt an immediate desire to serve the Lord, to act out his will for me, unfortunately, I still didn’t know what that was supposed to be. I got a biography on John Paul II and started reading my Bible more. I also picked up his Theology of the Body, which discusses the roles of men and women, marriage, lust and most of all –the meaning of true love.
I would read more and slowly fall in love with the my faith. Bringing me close to Christ, I sought to be more like him- it was clear I should emulate him…but how?
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