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| Our Lady of Częstochowa |
Sunday January 01, 2023
He plans to triple
down on Oratorian
necessities now.
Blessed JHN is his
grammarian of assent.
Monday January 02, 2023
For very many
years they were extremely close
with one another.
Since they also believed, this
meant more than their music.
Tuesday January 03, 2023
The task before him
is to know even as he
is completely known.
The need for him to instruct
others no longer exists.
Wednesday January 04, 2023
It has taken him
decades to comprehend all
the consequences
that his actions have produced.
He has no right to complain.
Thursday January 05, 2023
This latest bout was
the worst it has ever been.
It was exhausting.
For him it was a wake up
call, if ever there was one.
Friday January 06, 2023
Recuperation
is very lazy these days.
He wishes it would
kindly wake itself up out
of its somatic slumber.
Saturday January 07, 2023
The entire thing
was as unrealistic
as it was cryptic.
It was lost in translation
wanting itself to be found.
Sunday January 08, 2023
The austerity
of grammatical assent:
the without which not
of resolute reading and
minimalistic writing.
Monday January 09, 2023
Throwing the ladder
away means more to him now
than when he first felt
The Realist Spirit
of Diamond's pearls of great price.
Tuesday January 10, 2023
After the puzzle
was completed, he began
to see everything
in a caffeinated light.
The pieces fit together.
Wednesday January 11, 2023
Apologia
Pro Vita Sua is the
Oratorian
version of the monastic
version of the monastic
The Seven Storey Mountain.
Thursday January 12, 2023
While pondering the
status-similarity
among so many,
he was reminded again
of the third and final vow.
Friday January 13, 2023
Physical distance
is necessary for this
virtual silence
to so graciously lead him
to his penultimate end.
Saturday January 14, 2023
Acts seventeen verse
thirty-four mentions a man
whom Aquinas quotes
more than seventeen hundred
times while writing the Summa.
Sunday January 15, 2023
Knowing that there is
now no turning back for him
is as comforting
as it has been condemning.
The prodigal son returned.
Monday January 16, 2023
Solidarność
suddenly appears to him
as a reminder:
his love for all things Polish
began at an early age.
Tuesday January 17, 2023
is an instrumental piece
by Pat Metheny.
It was first recorded on
his Secret Story album.
Wednesday January 18, 2023
“I am, you are, he,
she, and it is” what it is.
So shows the grammar.
So must we mean what we say?
So what do we understand?
Thursday January 19, 2023
He too made a mess.
He too has his own Cambridge.
Everything is so
ordinary and silent
now that he is home at last.
Friday January 20, 2023
Walking on the road
under a cobalt blue sky
with the moon on high
made him consider whether
he might have been mistaken.
Saturday January 21, 2023
He has always been
extraordinarily shy.
This is why he chose
to retreat and to retrieve
his private pearl of great price.
Sunday January 22, 2023
Hear his Angelus:
"Silence and simplicity
is all that you need."
Sail away from land and go
out to sea without restraints.
Monday January 23, 2023
Being so snowed in
reminds him that his small cell
is a place apart,
shut off from the outside world,
with only one way to call.
Tuesday January 24, 2023
He says Terce with joy
that remains unspeakable,
below leafless tress
that shine in the morning sun
as they sway without ceasing.
Wednesday January 25, 2023
The command “Get thee
to a Monastery” (or
an Oratory -
if not a cell in a Loft)
began life as a calling.
Thursday January 26, 2023
BJHN and
LJJW serve
similar functions:
one produces the grammar,
while the other describes it.
Friday January 27, 2023
However much he
fumbles around "ador[ing]
the living God" (as
the Rule for Recluses puts
it), he knows he's not alone.
Saturday January 28, 2023
The hermeneutic
of continuity in
change challenges him
to continually See
the center from somewhere else.
Sunday January 29, 2023
He’s going nowhere.
There’s nothing for him to do.
He is not active
like his monastic writer.
Hermits have the perfect vibe.
Monday January 30, 2023
The talking fire,
gesticulating with flames,
tries to say something;
but in the end burns itself
out into silent embers.
Tuesday January 31, 2023
One hundred and eight
years ago today he was,
and is, and always
will be, born anew each day
as he climbs up his mountain.