Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Murder in the Cathedral (continued)

At 4:07 of the video (T.S. Eliot):

We praise thee, O God, for thy glory displayed in all the creatures of the earth.
In the snow, in the rain, in the wind, in the storm;
in all of thy creatures, both the hunters and the hunted.
For all things exist only as seen by thee, only as known by thee, all things exist
Only in thy light, and thy glory is declared even in that which denies thee;
the darkness declares the glory of light.
Those who deny thee could not deny, if thou didst not exist;
and their denial is never complete, for if it were so, they would not exist.
They affirm thee in living; all things affirm thee in living;
the bird in the air, both the hawk and the finch;
the beast on the earth, both the wolf and the lamb;
the worm in the soil and the worm in the belly.
Therefore man, whom thou hast made to be conscious of thee,
must consciously praise thee, in thought and in word and in deed.


2 comments:

Caroline said...

Hi Pastor Jon! I've been thinking that I wanted to start checking on your blog again, but just hadn't gotten to it. Great Minds must follow the same course, I guess. ha,ha.

Thanks for providing me with some context in your recent posts to a literary allusion and a biblical allusion that I was already a little familiar with. I teach "Masque of the Red Death" every year, and there's a great line in there where the evil "Red Death" is said to have "out heroded Herod," which I guess is originally from Hamlet. I hadn't put that together with the Feast of the Holy Innocents though...duh. I just hadn't thought about it. And then, I have to brag to you that I've stepped on the spot where Thomas a Becket was murdered..well at least that's what the guide told us:) I remember that supposed quote from that bad old Henry VIII, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest," but I feel like I need to see Murder in the Cathedral now.

Melanchthon said...

Caroline, I'm jealous! One of my hopes is to visit England some day.

I love literature and history and sometimes I think would have been happy as a clam as a teacher or book seller.

Happy New Year to you and your family. Katy and I are going to San Luis Obispo for the day to help my mopm celebrate her birthday.