"I will honor Christmas in my heart
and try to keep it all year."
- Charles Dickens
"Mankind was my business. The
common welfare was my business;
charity, mercy , forbearance,
benevolence, were all my business.
The dealings of my trade but a drop
of water in the comprehensive ocean
of my business!"
- Marley's Ghost to Scrooge - Dickens
Charlie Brown asked Lucy why she was so happy. Lucy explainers
how it was "Christmas" and how it was the time of year to
"Spread joy , caring ,compassion, giving and love , and working
for peace ." Charlie Brown wondered out-loud ,"Why do we do
these things at Christmastime and why
can't we do these things all year round?" Lucy yells at
Charlie Brown "What are you some type of religious fanatic?!"
The Inspiration :
In one of the few credible local newspapers remaining the pages in a recent edition were filled with ads as to the best sales for the best products that one really "needs" to get as presents for their loved ones during this holiday season . In between those color-filled pages were pictures and stories of the horrors of war and violence , famine in countries that seem to be from some faraway planet, debates and quotes from public figures who proclaim that they represent the truth about spiritual matters and why their religion is the only correct path, and how elected officials threaten physical harm to others who don't agree with them and on and on.
Without warning right in the middle of the OpEd pages is an old picture of President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter, who had just passed , sweating as they worked at building a home for the homeless their post political office years . The caption on the picture read " Faith in Action."
The Writing:
Questions : An Advent Contemplation
Oliver wondered while Cockburn conjured
Purpose or rationalization ,
Commandments or subtle suggestions ?
Sometimes confused sheep wander as
A few somehow are lost in the most verdant of valleys
Gifted to every creature hoping for nourishment and serenity.
How is it that some of the most enlightened
Of the most erudite of the Mensa membership
Not only get off course leading seekers
Away from the truth as the answer that has
Been burning brightly within all ways?
Have the pieces of the cosmic puzzle confused
Wandering sentient spirits seeking significance
Of their place in this mandala ?
Hasn't all of Mother Nature ,the essence of the divine,
That eternal magnificent spark,
Graced every aspect of creation in all ways?
Is not this experience and space
Sanctifying all with the ever-present answers to
The great questions ?
- JF Sobecki
__________
The Poems and Such:
"Poetry is a gateway into intuitive consciousness. It knocks on the doors
of the heart and the heart opens"
- Mirabai Starr
"Poetry is an Act of Peace . Peace goes into the making of a poet
as flour goes into the making of bread."
- Pablo Neruda
Is the soul solid, like iron?
Or is it tender and breakable, like
the wings of a moth in the beak of the owl?
Who has it, and who doesn’t?
I keep looking around me.
The face of the moose is as sad
as the face of Jesus.
The swan opens her white wings slowly.
In the fall, the black bear carries leaves into the darkness.
One question leads to another.
Does it have a shape? Like an iceberg?
Like the eye of a hummingbird?
Does it have one lung, like the snake and the scallop?
Why should I have it, and not the anteater
who loves her children?
Why should I have it, and not the camel?
Come to think of it, what about the maple trees?
What about the blue iris?
What about all the little stones, sitting alone in the moonlight?
What about roses, and lemons, and their shining leaves?
What about the grass?
- Mary Oliver
God's Grandeur - GM Hopkins ( Read by Stanley Kunitz)
https://youtu.be/vpEaCp8iiSc?si=u7YUv8gsN6Y2tondThe Music:
Running To Stand Still - Bono (U2)
https://youtu.be/8EAuep7vUdQ?si=DmW0oIUrA45iIxt6
