Realised at Christmas quite how much the family will be populated by girls as the years progress. There's these two nieces, and my older brother's youngest too. That's Kiya the spudlet on the left, definite Adrian Chiles thing going on there, which is cruel luck for boy, crueler tenfold for a girl. At 14 months she speaks no or few words, but then neither did Einstein. All in all what we could be talking about here is one of the 20thC's greatest geniuses crossed with a British television presenter, yes, she could be the next Lowri Turner!

Wenyu is watching Pride & Prejudice, the version with the thin girl. The other day it was a programme about a modern dance company and pole dancers interpreting Stravinsky's Rites of Spring. Couldn't tell you how boring it was, or actually I think I could. Take the chemical element astatine, atomic number 85, the rarest element occurring in nature, scientists estimate that the entirety of the Earth contains no more than half a teaspoon of it. By comparison my interest in watching other people dance is positively minuscule. For me it is a perpetual yawnathon*, whatever the form of dance, and I resent that I'm suppose to enjoy watching it. I picture rehearsals and in my mind's eye there are performers contriving that a plie or flexion will entertain me, when all I see is a body part move, and so what if it does? It also grates that the dancers are obviously enjoying themselves while they bore me, which feels like a debt that shall never be repaid.
Wenyu talks of a trip to see a London ballet. I'm broad-minded enough to agree in hope of having my opinion reformed.

Learnt some of the neighbours' names when they popped a Christmas card through our door last week, so progress there. At this rate in around 25 years we might just be signing for packages or watering one another's plants when we go on holiday. The glacial pace of modern suburban conviviality.


*a lie, I remember when I was 11 or 12 seeing some Highland dancers at a games up in Scotland, I enjoyed seeing the girls' knickers as they hopped and bounced.

Livejournal's new stats feature (look for it under the 'Journal' tab) allows me to see how many people have visited my blog on individual days. It only has data since last June, and it is not possible to check more than your latest ten blog posts (at least, none that I have found), but the number of daily visitors does give a nice idea of when my journal was popular. Below are the ten busiest days, with the entries published on that day, of the past six months.

10: My blood, let me give you it and Wisdom is justified (63 visitors on 17 September)
9: Farewell to the city (65 visitors on 20 August)
8: Finding a Mass for the weekend (67 visitors on 21 August)
7: Archbishop Eijk: Monsignor and Manager (70 visitors on 21 November)
6: "Archbishop decision mainly a symbolic act" and The Time Traveler's Wife does get a Dutch release (75 visitors on 13 November)
5: Yet another service announcement (87 visitors on 22 August)
4: Media attention, We're all doomed!, This could be interesting and Ariënskonvikt starts academic year with 24 students (105 visitors on 19 August)
3: A second service announcement, Flight Readiness Review for STS-128, Okay, I'm going to vent now and Interesting, but oh so wrong (209 visitors on 18 August)
2: I'm in the newspaper! Well, sort of..., A beneficial guard at tongue and keyboard and Bits and pieces (224 visitors on 16 August)
1: The dean speaks! Well, e-mails actually, Operation Monsignor Wagenaar: the parish agrees and Service announcement (446 visitors on 17 August)

Unsurprisingly, the busiest days were those around the time of my appearances in the media as a new seminarian, which coincided with the slanderous attacks levelled against me by another blogger. The latter was no fun, but it sure raised the traffic of my blog. I assume that that number was mostly caused by sheer curiosity, but perhaps some readers were genuinely interested.

I am happy to see that a few of my translations of articles also made it into the top ten, chiefly among them of course the one from Bishop de Korte that got the Catholic blogosphere's panties in a twist, but also two about Archbishop Eijk and the Ariënskonvikt.

Of course, keeping a blog for the numbers is never a good idea. However, it is nice when other people read my scribblings, even if they usually do not comment.

Another bit of information concerns what I wrote about in 2009. That's where the tags come in. These are the 20 topic and people with the most appearances:

20: Prayer (31 posts) - Mostly because of my Prayer for Priests project, I think (which I have skipped these past two weeks, I realise. I'll pick it up in the new year.)
19: Archbishop Wim Eijk (32 posts) - The Ariënskonvikt issue accounts for most of that, but I also mentioned him a few times concerning his big interview in NRC and his attendance at events where I was as well.
18: Film (32 posts) - I haven't seen many movies this year, but I guess there was still something to say.
17: Personal issues (36 posts) - A tag I give any post which deals with personal things, of which quite some happened this year, not least concering my vocation.
16: Pope Benedict XVI (37 posts) - The SSPX and the condom issue, but also the fact that the Holy Father is a prolific writer and skilled theologian assures his presence in the top 20.
15: Space Shuttle (38 posts) - Five successful missions in 2009, including the final one to Hubble, and the approaching end of the program.
14: Serving (38 posts) - I served a lot of Masses this year.
13: Finances (40 posts) - A concern that never ends, it sometimes seems.
12: ISS (40 posts) - The International Space Station, tagged often in relation to the Space Shuttle, but certainly also on its own merits. Four shuttle visits, a new Japanese spacecraft and the expansion of the crew from three to six are some of the main highlights.
11: Tiltenberg (42 posts) - The seminary I visited a few times in the first few months of the year and which evidently made enough of an impression to be featured here.
10: Vocation (45 posts) - Perhaps the most prominent issue for me this year, and the one that developed along lines that no one expected.
9: Guido (46 posts) - Friends were my grounding points this year, always there, sometimes more so than I could hope for. Guido and I did many things together this year: student parish stuff, retreats and just hanging out with friends.
8: Mercèdès (46 posts) - Fitting that she is the next in the list. Retreat, student parish and social activities account for her presence as much as Guido's, but so does the fact that I consider her a great friend.
7: Ariënskonvikt (54 posts) - Two reasons for this tag of course: my personal adventure there and the issue of its closing.
6: Inge (57 posts) - In the list because of some shared social media activities, as well as her being a great friend.
5: Father Wagenaar (61 posts) - The priest you can't miss when you're in his parish. And I wouldn't want to miss him either.
4: Bishop Gerard de Korte (62 posts) - He certainly made his presence known in my life and journal in this, his first full year as our bishop. But in his writing and in personal contacts with me has he been a regular presence.
3: Annotated article (66 posts) - Many translations and articles about which I thought I had something to say.
2: Photos (75 posts) - I got ym first camera phone this year and I'm not afraid to use it.
1: Mass (89 posts) - I attended a lot of Masses this year and it is fitting that the Holy Eucharist, source and summit of the liturgy, is at number 1.

Of course, with this post and the ones I may make between now and New Year's Eve, the ilist changes somewhat.

Friends,
Today a somewhat hasty entry as I must write a greeting for
friends in Moscow and then go into New York for lunch and then
an evening meeting. But the content can be rather rich perhaps
all the more for my stepping back.

Two things I hope not entirely for different people! but if you
are interested by one and not the other it is no disaster.

First The Christmas Kontakion by St Roman the Melod. In brief
a kondak is a long collection of verses to a theme of which what
survives in the Eastern liturgy in use is just the prelude
stanza. But I find this season what I did not know the entire
24 verse Christmas Kontakion of St Roman. and I have posted it
backdated.

http://seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com/877757.html

It is in its central part the dialogue of Mary with the three
Mages who came following a star, perhaps in the sky or perhaps
on their astrological charts(there are plausible astronomical
and astrological events which would account for it) in any
case in their hearts. Some would say that they are but figures
of story ,of the mise-en-scene, but that is not necessary
given as we said the existing stars at the moment.
Anyway I think it is a rather wonderful poem...dip into it...
why not? Many of you at least will be interested as I am.
and grateful to Ephraim Lash for translating.

Secondly here from the exhibit in New York is Blue Mountain
by Wassily Kandinsky. It is on the way into the abstract and for
Kandinsky the pure spiritual world but it does not leave behind
the mountain or the two trees now masses of colour, or the
horses. The horses and riders ,and Kandinsky loved horses from
childhood, also represent the age of the Holy Spirit(cf Joachim of
Flora) which is coming as Kandinsky felt and which he announces
through his art.

Today these and as always welcome all your thought ,yours
+Seraphim
.

When I looked at flights yesterday the lowest fare I found was $1585. Today I found the same flight(same times, same dates, same carriers) for $100 less. Excellent! I didn't realize how much of a difference(it might seem small but that $100 pays for my new glasses!) there is between a Saturday night and a Sunday night.

Next step: pay my cc balance early so that I can have the entire credit to pay for my plane ticket. This is happening, and I am excited. Nervous. Very nervous. But, excited. Also, expect postcards! :)

The annual Christmas address by Queen Beatrix caused a minor stir in certain blogging circles as Her Majesty spoke about social media and its influence on young people today. Let's see if it's really worth getting upset about.

----------------

In the shadow of the times the light of Christmas shines. The Christmas story is set in dark days of oppression and concern. It is the story of the Christ child. Searching for a roof Joseph and Mary found no place in an inn. But they were given a safe place in a stable all the same. There Jesus was born. With his arrival the light of love that connects us to God and our fellow man shines in our world.

The ancient call is essential: love your neighbour like yourself. Today it is less clear what that means. Do we still know who our neighbour is? It is everyone who we meet: the fellow people in our lives. But do we see them? Do we ignore those we may need our support and help or are we open for approach and contact and a helping hand? No matter how good professional care may be, we are still reliant on a society in which people see one another. In times of difficulty and sorrow we simply can't expect everything from the government and social institutions. But luckily there are many we make an effort to do what is necessary.

In this time of globalisation, speed has increased and distance shortened. Technical advances and individualisation have made people more independent and distant. We are increasingly left to our own devices. But a place that we can call home, where we can trust the people around us and where we can expect solidarity, remains enormously important. Perhaps the greatest challenge is how the individual and society can reconnect and reestablish trust. The credit crunch also teaches us that.

When concerns are great, the need for a shared perspective grows. Religions and life philosophies point at a responsibility for the neighbour. In the past mutual aid was omnipresent and it formed the basis of society. People knew one another. But modern people seems to have little attention for their neighbour. Now they are mostly concerned with themselves. We tend to look away and close our eyes and ears for our surroundings. Even our neighbours are sometimes strangers these days. People talk without having a conversation, they look without seeing each other. People communicate via short quick messages. Our society grows increasingly individualistic. Personal freedom has become separate from connection to the community. But without a sense of 'we' our existence grows empty. This void can not be filled with virtual encounters; on the contrary, distances grow larger. The ideal of the liberated individual has reached its end point. We must try and find a way back to what connects us.

We fell increasingly less solidarity and compassion towards our fellow men. Tangible closeness is required to live with someone. True contact is formed from words and action. Language is essential to build trust. But if w don't engage in conversation, we exclude ourselves. That is how a means to bring people closer together can also be a barrier for someone who does not understand and is not understood. Then there is no unity and neighbours remain outsiders.

True words and images we see a lot of sorrow, but that is often so far removed and causes feelings of powerlessness more than anything. Too much information numbs. That is perhaps how we have grown blind and deaf to our neighbours. Compassion is nudged aside. A sense of community is lost.

Modern technological means seem to bring people closer together, but they remain at a 'safe' distance, hiding behind their screens. We can now speak without showing ourselves, without being seen, anonymously. Simply venting emotions has become easier. No one is held accountable for speaking disrespectfully. It is not being a stranger that makes other aggressive, but aggression that makes the other a stranger.

The neighbour seems strange and far away, but in need we suddenly see how sympathy is suddenly triggered, causing people to efface themselves, conquer hesitation, set aside fear or dislike and do everything for a person in need. In the most difficult of circumstances compassion can show itself in true brotherly love. Then the beauty in people shows: the willingness to selflessly give aid, to be there for strangers, to support them in despair and pain. Compassion connects us to our neighbour in need. A hand held, a voice encouraging and eyes aimed at contact can piercingly deliver the message of brotherly love. Our nation has a great tradition of voluntary effort for others.

Our world needs people with passion and involvement, who gives room for those outside, who are there for others and who keep believing in good.

Christmas creates an atmosphere of warmth and closeness. In the stable at the crowded inn is the humble place where Jesus' life begins. In the dark of that night the light shines of peace on earth and love for our neighbour.

I wish you all a blessed Christmas.

----------------

I can't disagree with most of what the queen says. Our society has grown very individualistic, which does not mean, of course, that no one is capable of being social. I hope we can all name one or more people who we consider very close friends indeed. But as a general trend, I think we do see a society where people are loners: we are able to do a lot without ever needing anyone else, and if we do need someone else, it is often easier to send a text message, an email or a tweet then to make a phone cal. I do that myself as well.

But the picture painted is a bit one-sided. Social networks like Twitter and Facebook, and tools like SMS and e-mail have created digital societies with their own groups of neighbours. These may be many hundreds of kilometers removed from each other, but at the same time they are just one mouse click away.

So, while I think there is more to the world of social networking and the like than the queen seems to say here (and I certainly do not believe it plays much of a role when it comes to the cause of the increase in individualism), I do think she is right to point it out. I am not certain what can and cannot be done to counter it, to find the way back, so to speak. And perhaps that is not something we can do in the form of a great concerted government-sponsored effort. Perhaps it needs to come from what ironically (and a bit incorrectly) sounds like the root of the problem: the individual.

Via the example of the shephers, Pope Benedict XVI guides us, in his Christmas homily to the very core of Christmas: the Incarnation of the Word and the importance to each and every one of us. It is worth a read, and I mean that. Not only does the homily shed a light on the Christmas Gospels that will be new to many, it also shows the deep theological and pastoral awareness of the Holy Father.

-------------

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

"A child is born for us, a son is given to us" (Is 9:5). What Isaiah prophesied as he gazed into the future from afar, consoling Israel amid its trials and its darkness, is now proclaimed to the shepherds as a present reality by the Angel, from whom a cloud of light streams forth: "To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:11). The Lord is here. From this moment, God is truly "God with us". No longer is he the distant God who can in some way be perceived from afar, in creation and in our own consciousness. He has entered the world. He is close to us. The words of the risen Christ to his followers are addressed also to us: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:20). For you the Saviour is born: through the Gospel and those who proclaim it, God now reminds us of the message that the Angel announced to the shepherds. It is a message that cannot leave us indifferent. If it is true, it changes everything. If it is true, it also affects me. Like the shepherds, then, I too must say: Come on, I want to go to Bethlehem to see the Word that has occurred there. The story of the shepherds is included in the Gospel for a reason. They show us the right way to respond to the message that we too have received. What is it that these first witnesses of God’s incarnation have to tell us?

The first thing we are told about the shepherds is that they were on the watch – they could hear the message precisely because they were awake. We must be awake, so that we can hear the message. We must become truly vigilant people. What does this mean? The principal difference between someone dreaming and someone awake is that the dreamer is in a world of his own. His “self” is locked into this dreamworld that is his alone and does not connect him with others. To wake up means to leave that private world of one’s own and to enter the common reality, the truth that alone can unite all people. Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world. Selfishness, both individual and collective, makes us prisoners of our interests and our desires that stand against the truth and separate us from one another. Awake, the Gospel tells us. Step outside, so as to enter the great communal truth, the communion of the one God. To awake, then, means to develop a receptivity for God: for the silent promptings with which he chooses to guide us; for the many indications of his presence. There are people who describe themselves as “religiously tone deaf”. The gift of a capacity to perceive God seems as if it is withheld from some. And indeed – our way of thinking and acting, the mentality of today’s world, the whole range of our experience is inclined to deaden our receptivity for God, to make us “tone deaf” towards him. And yet in every soul, the desire for God, the capacity to encounter him, is present, whether in a hidden way or overtly. In order to arrive at this vigilance, this awakening to what is essential, we should pray for ourselves and for others, for those who appear “tone deaf” and yet in whom there is a keen desire for God to manifest himself. The great theologian Origen said this: if I had the grace to see as Paul saw, I could even now (during the Liturgy) contemplate a great host of angels (cf. in Lk 23:9). And indeed, in the sacred liturgy, we are surrounded by the angels of God and the saints. The Lord himself is present in our midst. Lord, open the eyes of our hearts, so that we may become vigilant and clear-sighted, in this way bringing you close to others as well!

Let us return to the Christmas Gospel. It tells us that after listening to the Angel’s message, the shepherds said one to another: “‘Let us go over to Bethlehem’ … they went at once” (Lk 2:15f.). “They made haste” is literally what the Greek text says. What had been announced to them was so important that they had to go immediately. In fact, what had been said to them was utterly out of the ordinary. It changed the world. The Saviour is born. The long-awaited Son of David has come into the world in his own city. What could be more important? No doubt they were partly driven by curiosity, but first and foremost it was their excitement at the wonderful news that had been conveyed to them, of all people, to the little ones, to the seemingly unimportant. They made haste – they went at once. In our daily life, it is not like that. For most people, the things of God are not given priority, they do not impose themselves on us directly. And so the great majority of us tend to postpone them. First we do what seems urgent here and now. In the list of priorities God is often more or less at the end. We can always deal with that later, we tend to think. The Gospel tells us: God is the highest priority. If anything in our life deserves haste without delay, then, it is God’s work alone. The Rule of Saint Benedict contains this teaching: “Place nothing at all before the work of God (i.e. the divine office)”. For monks, the Liturgy is the first priority. Everything else comes later. In its essence, though, this saying applies to everyone. God is important, by far the most important thing in our lives. The shepherds teach us this priority. From them we should learn not to be crushed by all the pressing matters in our daily lives. From them we should learn the inner freedom to put other tasks in second place – however important they may be – so as to make our way towards God, to allow him into our lives and into our time. Time given to God and, in his name, to our neighbour is never time lost. It is the time when we are most truly alive, when we live our humanity to the full.

Some commentators point out that the shepherds, the simple souls, were the first to come to Jesus in the manger and to encounter the Redeemer of the world. The wise men from the East, representing those with social standing and fame, arrived much later. The commentators go on to say: this is quite natural. The shepherds lived nearby. They only needed to “come over” (cf. Lk 2:15), as we do when we go to visit our neighbours. The wise men, however, lived far away. They had to undertake a long and arduous journey in order to arrive in Bethlehem. And they needed guidance and direction. Today too there are simple and lowly souls who live very close to the Lord. They are, so to speak, his neighbours and they can easily go to see him. But most of us in the world today live far from Jesus Christ, the incarnate God who came to dwell amongst us. We live our lives by philosophies, amid worldly affairs and occupations that totally absorb us and are a great distance from the manger. In all kinds of ways, God has to prod us and reach out to us again and again, so that we can manage to escape from the muddle of our thoughts and activities and discover the way that leads to him. But a path exists for all of us. The Lord provides everyone with tailor-made signals. He calls each one of us, so that we too can say: “Come on, ‘let us go over’ to Bethlehem – to the God who has come to meet us. Yes indeed, God has set out towards us. Left to ourselves we could not reach him. The path is too much for our strength. But God has come down. He comes towards us. He has travelled the longer part of the journey. Now he invites us: come and see how much I love you. Come and see that I am here. Transeamus usque Bethlehem, the Latin Bible says. Let us go there! Let us surpass ourselves! Let us journey towards God in all sorts of ways: along our interior path towards him, but also along very concrete paths – the Liturgy of the Church, the service of our neighbour, in whom Christ awaits us.

Let us once again listen directly to the Gospel. The shepherds tell one another the reason why they are setting off: “Let us see this thing that has happened.” Literally the Greek text says: “Let us see this Word that has occurred there.” Yes indeed, such is the radical newness of this night: the Word can be seen. For it has become flesh. The God of whom no image may be made – because any image would only diminish, or rather distort him – this God has himself become visible in the One who is his true image, as Saint Paul puts it (cf. 2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15). In the figure of Jesus Christ, in the whole of his life and ministry, in his dying and rising, we can see the Word of God and hence the mystery of the living God himself. This is what God is like. The Angel had said to the shepherds: “This will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12; cf. 2:16). God’s sign, the sign given to the shepherds and to us, is not an astonishing miracle. God’s sign is his humility. God’s sign is that he makes himself small; he becomes a child; he lets us touch him and he asks for our love. How we would prefer a different sign, an imposing, irresistible sign of God’s power and greatness! But his sign summons us to faith and love, and thus it gives us hope: this is what God is like. He has power, he is Goodness itself. He invites us to become like him. Yes indeed, we become like God if we allow ourselves to be shaped by this sign; if we ourselves learn humility and hence true greatness; if we renounce violence and use only the weapons of truth and love. Origen, taking up one of John the Baptist’s sayings, saw the essence of paganism expressed in the symbol of stones: paganism is a lack of feeling, it means a heart of stone that is incapable of loving and perceiving God’s love. Origen says of the pagans: “Lacking feeling and reason, they are transformed into stones and wood” (in Lk 22:9). Christ, though, wishes to give us a heart of flesh. When we see him, the God who became a child, our hearts are opened. In the Liturgy of the holy night, God comes to us as man, so that we might become truly human. Let us listen once again to Origen: “Indeed, what use would it be to you that Christ once came in the flesh if he did not enter your soul? Let us pray that he may come to us each day, that we may be able to say: I live, yet it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20)” (in Lk 22:3).

Yes indeed, that is what we should pray for on this Holy Night. Lord Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, come to us! Enter within me, within my soul. Transform me. Renew me. Change me, change us all from stone and wood into living people, in whom your love is made present and the world is transformed. Amen.

Friends,
Yesterday I met johnchico and Susan Martin at the
Guggenheim museum and we visited the Kandinsky exhibit which now
fills the museum. I for the second time, they for the first and
down from Vermont for that and for Christmas. When we came the
line streched half way around the block in a light rain but we
made it through to the exhibit in 40 minutes or so and then the
flow of viewing worked.
Here we are in the rain. "The Philosophes." thinking of the
Bulgakov-Florensky image painted by Nesterov.
.
and here is a better one as including Susan but I look as if
noticing the rain and the line.( Read more... )
Well the exhibit I have written of before but this time saw
new things, thanks to Chico and Susan's eyes and also just
that when there are so many one notices something new...
At the end I put a smmall version of an early work which is
fascinating to me and maybe to you as you look at it too, a
larger form and some notes if you will click here ( Read more... )
and one more from Princeton, which seems to me a wonderfully
Christmasy image( Read more... )
I am speaking with Julia McIntyre and Richard Fenn in this photo
by Jan Perkins, looking a bit like the lubavitcher rebbe between
moments of a fairbringen gathering perhaps, but in general the color
and light and all details seem to merge as they do in the Kandinsky
Motley Life perhaps!
anyway today these, and as always welcome all your response and
on anything at all, yours
+Seraphim
.
Motley Life. Wasilly Kandinsky. larger form within poat.

I have internet access at the parents' house!

So just time to post this...

( Christmas presentness below the cut... )

Friends,
Christmas at Princeton was as always a true festival and kaleidoscopic..
Perhaps it can be represneted in pictures which can be of general interest
because of this keleidoscope quality even not knowing the people, beside
me whom you know of course...
First perhaps a couple of pictures from the Liturgy( Read more... )
Then the party at the Perkins' ( Read more... )
In this picture I am speaking with Juliana McIntyre, Fine Arts, about
the Wisdom of God , and on left Richard Fenn priest and sociologist who
is working now on the subject of neolithic monuments parallel in Europe
to a cave in India where descending into the darkness at the winter solstice
one finds the image at the end of the darkness of the Buddha illuminated precisely
at the solstice by light from the cave mouth.
He spoke of light and of Presence in the abyss...
of Loren Eisley walking by night in the Dakotas...
of how one finds in oneself the sacred which is
Timeless and the secular mind which is always moving in time. These themes
seem deeply resonant to me...

Those themes sound likely a little erudite but for me I found this
journey into the dark ancient cave a very moving and true thing...
but also discussed was whether Brian Kelley can find a quarterback to
make Notre Dame go next year.
And finally here is a row of nutcrackers and other Christmas things...
Tim Perkins has a collection of nutcrackers and I understand that last night
late as I was preparing my sermon some were in the den smoking cigars and
listening to the nutcracker suite... today Bach's Christmas Oratorio which
Jan's mentor analytic psychologist Robert Johnson regarded as the greatest of
musical works, for example in its use of dissonance in the trumpets...

So these images of Christmas , of one Christmas, and I am yours
+Seraphim
.

Friends,

This is not much of a card although I guess you could print it out
and fold it and put it on the mantle piece but...
but here it is...

Edmund Burne Jones who painted THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM you
see below is not Leonardo about whose Adoration you have heard me
speak too much and which for me is the deepest image...
it is not Fr Zenon Teodor's Nativity Icon or any
other wonderful icon...

Jones work is always charged with a sadness ,a wistfulness, a fantasy,
perhaps in a sense an unintended decadence, a longing to believe but...
in the end believing in the beauty of the story more easily than in the
story. Longing to believe full heartedly in God but apparently sadly,
as far as he knew himself ,a half-believer.

However even a half believer can bring a gift ...

And looking at the painting perhaps you feel, I feel, a beauty and
the power of the colors, the blue and green, but at least one more thing

that the Star is on the earth not in the sky
it is held in the hands of a watcher at Bethlehem

Yes that watcher is a rather languid, not to say debauched, looking
Angelical who has a hard time keeping his feet on the ground but the
star is here. we guard its light against the wind with our own hands.

To us also witnesses is given not only to see but to hold the light of
hope , the Star, between our trembling hands ...to guard it against
the wind...candle in the wind...
to hold the Star for each other,
As Alexander Zorin wrote of Fr Men lighting the way with a candle on a path
by night and saying "Here is your star"...

"And since it seems no one else here below
will light the way, he raised his candle high."

I greet you then all brothers and sisters, all who read this,
not only as witnesses of the Joy
but also as keepers of the Star!

+Seraphim

.

It's already Christmas in some parts of the world, and I await the arrival of midnight with anticipation. I'm really looking forward to midnight Mass and I hope the expected glazed frost won't keep too many people at home.

Anyway, to my friends here, the readers of my journal and everyone they hold dear:



(by the way, despite appearances, this was not inspired by ingridairam's last post.)

Well, according to the old Voyager probes something that no one thought should be there. Just beyond the edge of the so-called heliosheath, where the solar wind meets the interstellar medium, is something scientists have dubbed the Local Interstellar Cloud or Local Fluff for short. It's about 30 light years wide and consists of a smattering of hydrogen and helium atoms at a temperature of 6000 degrees Celsius. The unexpected nature of the Local Fluff is that it manages to exist despite the pressure of a surrounding bubble of gas that is the result of series of supernovas that happened some 10 million years ago. And the Fluff should nto be able to withstand that.

But it does because its much more strongly magnetised than suspected. I'm not sure how that works, but due to that we inhabit this bubble among supernova remnants, and our solar system ploughs through it, creating a bow shock along the way. And the two Voyager probes entered that in 2004 and 2007 respectively. Both probes detected early on that the bow shock, the heliosheath, is not symmetrical and perhaps that is explained by the pressures outside it. Who knows what the old probes will find in the coming years.



Voyager 1 and 2 were launched in 1977 on a mission to visit and explore the outer planets of our solar system. The alignment of the planets in the 1980s allowed for a so-called Grand Tour of the solar system, where a probe could travel from one planet to the next via gravity assists: the gravitational pull of one planet would alter the trajectory of the probe and speed it up, basically flinging it to the next planet in the line.

Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980. It is now 16.49 billion kilometers distant and it takes 14.6 hours for signals from Earth to reach it.

Voyager 2 arrived at Jupiter a few months after Voyager 1 and at Saturn in 1981. It then was able to fly by Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. It is now 13.38 billion kilometers away, more than twice as far as Pluto and is expected to continue transmitting weak signals until 2025.

We've had the flash mob to Snow Patrol's 'Just Say Yes', but another great moment durign Serious Request happened last night. During the 2007 edition DJ Gerard Ekdom playbacked to 'Living Doll' by Cliff Richard and The Young Ones and he said he'd do it again if the amount of money raised by that song then was at least matched now. Well, last night it was more than doubled: 14,238 euros in total. Se Gerard had no excuse, and there he went.

For some reason the video is a full hour, but the section in question starts at 45:40.

The radio station I listen to while at work has a daily quiz(it is a classical music station) and the prize for being the right caller with the right answer is different every day but is usually a cool cd. Yesterday, for the first time, I actually Knew the answer to the quiz, but i didn't catch the phone number, so by the time I got to the right phone number the quiz was over. Today I knew the answer to the quiz as well(though it was harder, yesterday they played an excerpt from the carol "The Holly and the Ivy", a song the madrigal choir at my high school sang, and since I loved the madrigal choir I knew the song after hearing the first few notes, today they played a medley of three carols and the first one you had to really pay attention to the background music, it was the song that is about Jesus being the first and the last, using the Greek letters alpha and omega. I think the song is called "Alpha es Oh" but I'm not sure that I have the right pronounciation). Oh, well, now the announcer just said that the first song was "In Dulce Jubilo", which might be the right name for the song I was looking for.

From the vatican Press Office comes this note that clarifies the reasoning behind the decision the declare Pope Pius XII venrable. As mentioned before this has caused a moderate level of outrage from certain quarters.

VATICAN CITY, 23 DEC 2009 (VIS) – Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. today issued the following note concerning the signing of the recent decree on the heroic virtues of Servant of God Pope Pius XII.

"The Pope’s signing of the decree ‘on the heroic virtues’ of Pius XII has elicited a certain number of reactions in the Jewish world; perhaps because the meaning of such a signature is clear in the area of the Catholic Church and of specialists in the field, but may merit certain explanation for the larger public, in particular the Jewish public who are understandably very sensitive to all things concerning the historical period of World War II and the Holocaust.

[Oops, another example of something the Vatican could have known of beforehand? Communication is still not easy, is it?]

"When the Pope signs a decree ‘on the heroic virtues’ of a Servant of God – i.e., of a person for whom a cause for beatification has been introduced – he confirms the positive evaluation already voted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. ... Naturally, such evaluation takes account of the circumstances in which the person lived, and hence it is necessary to examine the question from a historical standpoint, but the evaluation essentially concerns the witness of Christian life that the person showed (his intense relationship with God and continuous search for evangelical perfection) ... and not the historical impact of all his operative decisions".

"At the beatification of Pope John XXIII and of Pope Pius IX, John Paul II said: ‘holiness lives in history and no saint has escaped the limits and conditioning which are part of our human nature. In beatifying one of her sons, the Church does not celebrate the specific historical decisions he may have made, but rather points to him as someone to be imitated and venerated because of his virtues, in praise of the divine grace which shines resplendently in them’.

"There is, then, no intention in any way to limit discussion concerning the concrete choices made by Pius XII in the situation in which he lived. For her part, the Church affirms that these choices were made with the pure intention of carrying out the Pontiff’s service of exalted and dramatic responsibility to the best of his abilities. In any case, Pius XII’s attention to and concern for the fate of the Jews – something which is certainly relevant in the evaluation of his virtues – are widely testified and recognised, also by many Jews.

"The field for research and evaluation by historians, working in their specific area, thus remains open, also for the future. In this specific case it is comprehensible that there should be a request to have open access to all possibilities of research on the documents. ... Yet for the complete opening of the archives – as has been said on a number of occasions in the past – it is necessary to organise and catalogue an enormous mass of documentation, something which still requires a number of years’ work.

"As for the fact that the decree on the heroic virtues of Pope John Paul II and Pope Pius XII were promulgated on the same day, this does not mean that from now on the two causes will be ‘paired’. They are completely independent of one another and each will follow its own course. There is, then, no reason to imagine that any future beatification will take place together".

"It is, then, clear that the recent signing of the decree is in no way to be read as a hostile act towards the Jewish people, and it is to be hoped that it will not be considered as an obstacle on the path of dialogue between Judaism and the Catholic Church. Rather we trust that the Pope’s forthcoming visit to the Synagogue of Rome will be an opportunity for the cordial reiteration and reinforcement of ties of friendship and respect".

-------------

That should just about cover it, although the conspiracy theorists will continue to have their field day, I don't doubt.

Katholiek Nederland helpfully lists some examples of how Jewish institutions and dignitaries related to Pope Pus XII immediately after the war, and before the publication of the play Der Stellvertreter in 1963.

In 1943, Chaim Weizmann, who would later become President of Israel, wrote: "The Holy See offers its powerful help wherever it can, to soften the fate of my persecuted fellow believers."

In 1945 Leon Kubowitsky, secretary generalk of World Jewish Congress, thanked Pope Pius XII for his interventions and the WJC donated 20,000 dollars to Catholic charities "in gratitude to the work of the Holy See to rescue Jews from persecution by fascists and nazis."

In 1955 the Israeli Philharmonic performed in Rome "to express the continung gratitude of the State of Israel for the help that the pope and the Catholic Church ofered to the Jewish people persecuted by the nazis during the Holocaust."

Israeli foreign secretary Golda Meir, upon the death of Pope Pius XII: "During the ten years of Nazi terror, when our people suffered the horrors of martyrdom, the pope raised his voice to condemn the persecutors and shared in all the suffering of the victims [...] We mourn a great servant of peace."

Something happened in the mean time, and it looks to have more to do with the popular perception of Pius XII than with his actual actions during his pontificate.

Friends,
The Japanese have a saying to the effect that at years-end
even Buddhist priests are busy.

A cluttered day yesterday, sending a large suitcase
ahead of me to Princeton where I will be going for
Christmas, getting my safe deposit box drilled and not
finding a document, spilling chinese mustard on my trousers,
losing a tube of prescription medication, losing my wallet
(later finding it) feeling a bit of acid reflux-- saying
to self calm down or you will make yourself sick. so I did.
calm down.
In evening read, this has been an Advent of reading, as
you know, Kandinsky books, Rudolph Fisher, Claudel,
Nabokov and lately Robert Lax.
I read from an assemblage of materials
called simply Lax. Museum Tinguely photographs,
an interview shorter but more incisive than Dreamcatcher in
ways, minimalistic poems from his last journals, and an
account of his coming home from Patmos to Olean New York to
St Bonaventure's ,to die.

Let me transcribe just a couple of things.( Read more... )
I have included an example of the photography of the book, a
striking image I think.

Now I will go to the City to meet Sonia Kishkovsky whom I have
in recent years seen only in Moscow, and Volodya Schneider for
lunch.
Well, let that be our entry for today, and as always I welcome all
your response and am yours,
+Seraphim
.

In this time of Advent we prepare ourselves for the first Solemnity of the liturgical year: the incarnation of the Word.
We once more relive the announcement of the Good News by the angel Gabriel to the virgin Mary in Nazareth: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God" (Lk 1, 34).

I chose this text from the Gospel of Luke for this year's Christmas card, in addition to Hans Memling's beautiful diptych, the Annunciation, which is located in the Groeningenmuseum in Bruges. This image invites us to follow Mary's example, as the painter depicts here receptive to the Word of God. She holds the book of Holy Scripture in her hand, from which she considers the Word of God and lets it speak to her heart. From this willingness to listen she achieves a faithful obedience after the angel's announcement that she would be the mother of God's son: "fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum", "You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said" (Lk 1, 38). Because Mary had already opened her heart fully to God's Word could it become human in her: "verbum carno factum est" (John 1, 14).

That is also our invitation: to open our hearts to the Word of God, to go from the willingness to listen to faithful obedience. Like Mary we are also called to be "Hörer des Wortes" (after the title of Karl Rahner's first lecture, seventy years ago, at the university of Innsbruck). This vocation is for all disciples of the Lord, because we are all called to contribute to the effort for the Gospel to carry the Good News of God's Incarnated Word into the world (see Mt. 28, 20). We can only do this convincingly when we first deeply realise that we are addressed by God's Word and answer to Christ's mission and consistently follow His loyalty as 'alter Christus'.

We celebrate Advent and Christmas in the "Year of the Priest". Pope Benedict reminded the priests specifically of the inspiring example of Saint John Mary Vianney on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his death. As a young man in the France of revolution and 'dictatorship of rationalism' (Benedict XVI in audience of 5 August this year, shortly after the feast day of the Curé d'Ars) he chose for the Gospel and the Church. As a priest he followed Christ and have his life for the double commandment of love in the Gospel, in a deeply spiritual relationship with Christ, in unconditional servitude to his fellow people in physical and mental need, in a self-forgetting sobriety as 'martyr of the confessional' and as the good shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.

In this time of 'dictatorship of relativism', says Pope Benedict XVI, man, "a beggar for meaning and fulfilment", is constantly in quest of exhaustive answers to the basic questions that he never ceases to ask himself."

Our entire diocese is faced with this missionary assignment in the society of the Randstad. All our efforts to innovate pastoral structures and bundle our forces are aimed at a consistent and true experience of the witness of Christ and His Gospel.

I gladly wish you all a Merry Christmas and God's richest blessings for the new year.

+ A.H. van Luyn, S.D.B
Bishop of Rotterdam

Launched on Sunday, three new crew members brough some Christmas cheer to the ISS late last night. Oleg Kotov, TJ Creamer and Soichi Noguchi docked their Soyuz TMA-17 to the earth-facing port of Zarya, and entered the station wearing Santa hats and bearing gifts. All three men will spend six months onboard, with Kotov set to take over as station commander from Jeff Williams in March. He will also serve as the station medic, a necessary part of the crew complement now that there are five to six people permanently onboard. There have never been any medical emergencies on the ISS, but the Russians have some experience with cosmonauts falling ill while on a mission in orbit. In one case, a cosmonaut had to be returned early because of a toothache that developed into a nasty infection.

At NASA the space shuttle department has been running a contest among all NASA and contractor employees past and present, to design a commemorative patch for the end of the Space Shuttle program. They received some 85 designs, varying from simple crayon designs to sophisticated computer-designed layouts. Some are original, others quite derivative of the crew patches that have been used in the past 29 years. I think this is my favourite:



The artis, whose name is kept secret until a winner is announced, describes some of the design elements. The shuttle is shown from behind, tipping its wing to the earth as a farewell. In front of it the two bright stars represent the crews of Challenger and Columbia who lost their lives in the course of the program. Likewise, the names of the two orbiters are printed in gold, whereas the names of Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour are in white. In the top right corner is the international astronaut emblem. I also like the simple caption, 'Mission Complete 1981-2010'.

I've been listening to Radio 3FM's Serious Request these past days, and been amazed and entertained by all the ways that people have collected and donated money for the Red Cross' fight against malaria in developing countries. And why haven't I done anything? No idea. Time to remedy that.

So, in solidarity with Giel, Gerard and Annemieke in the glass house, I also won't eat for the final day of Serious Request. The three DJs will be let out the glass house around 8pm tomorrow evening, so I'll start my fasting tonight. I've randomly picked 6pm to start, since I'm not entirely sure when exactly SR ends. I've put messages on Twitter and Facebook, and perhaps a few people are willing to sponsor me so that I can donate a bit too.

Of course, an ulterior motive is Christmas. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and at midnight I'll go to modnight Mass. Fasting in preparation for Christmas used to be customary during Advent, as a form of preparation for the coming of Christ, not just His birth 2,000 years ago, but also his future Second Coming.

So it's a win-win situation :)

Just a quick listy entry, 'cause that's all I seem to do nowadays...

1) Work has continued to be Not Good. We're definitely going through job-matching in January/February (applying for our own jobs). Well, if they can find someone better than me to do my job then fine. Not that I'm actually too worried, as the new Vice Dean (previously my Head of Department) thinks I am made of awesome.

2) In two days I'll be in deepest darkest Yorkshire for a few days with little or no internet access. Still, all the presents are bought and wrapped, so I'm all prepared. Just the packing to do now, which I'll make a start on tonight.

3) On Saturday, waltzingalong and I had Epic Night (basically a 28-hour party with no other guests), 'cause we're awesome like that. Epic Night 2 is all planned out for the beginning of next year for more of the same.

4) Yay for impending holiday! We close the office at 2.30 tomorrow (I'm guessing the wine will be opened at 1.30), then it's off to the pub and no more work until January 5th. I love my public holiday allowance.

5) Having given it a few more listens recently, I am pleased to announce my favourite album of 2009 as Dragonette's 'Fixin To Thrill'.

6) I finally ordered the art print I've been eyeing up for months (clicky link - it's the Dors one at the top of the page). I now have art from Kate jackson of 'The Long Blondes'!

7) As this is likely to be my last entry for a while, I hope you all have a great holiday season.