Setting Table

London, UK, Architecture

Kitchen Counter

Medieval Crucifix

Do, Re, Me, Fa . . .

N.T.'s Theology

" . . . The Jewish story and the Greco-Roman allusions and confrontations meet like two tectonic plates, throwing up the craggy mountain range we call New Testament Theology."
- N. T. Wright

God of All
Our God is the God of all,
The God of heaven and earth,
Of the sea and of the rivers;
The God of the sun and of the moon and of all the stars;
The God of the lofty mountains
and of the lowly valleys.
He has His dwelling around heaven and earth,
and sea, and all that in them is.
He inspires all,
He gives life to all,
He dominates all,
He supports all.
He lights the light of the sun.
He furnishes the light of the night.
He has made springs in dry land . . .
He is the God of heaven and earth,
of sea and rivers,
of sun, moon and stars,
of the lofty mountain and the lowly valley,
the God above heaven,
and in heaven,
and under heaven.
-St. Patrick

Columba’s Affirmation

Alone with none but Thee, my God,
I journey on my way;
What need I fear, when Thou art near,
O king of night and day?
More safe I am within Thy hand,
Than if a host did round me stand.

My destined time is fixed by Thee,
And death doth know his hour.
Did warriors strong around me throng,
They could not stay his power;
No walls of stone can man defend
When Thou Thy messenger dost send.

My life I yield to Thy decree,
And bow to Thy control
In peaceful calm, for from Thine arm
No power can wrest my soul
Could earthly omens e’er appal.

A man that heeds the heavenly call!
The child of God can fear no ill,
His chosen dread no foe;
We leave our fate with Thee and wait
Thy bidding when we go.

Tis not from chance our comfort springs,
Thou art our trust, O king of kings.
- St. Columba
(trans. unknown)

The Christ of Nature

The Christ of Nature
He loved cherry sunsets growing heavy on the branches of the evening;
He loved bud coloured dawns opening from the east’s earth.
He loved the sea, green in its happiness, seeking the shore;
He loved to see it languishing back stonily from its crest to its groove.
He loved the character of birds, the flock that trusted in His Father;
He loved lambs, the most skilfully fashioned: the lambs,
the most innocent in their nature.
He loved the beasts of the borders: the ones that dwelt in the wild;
He loved their sure dependence on that which the wilderness provided.
He loved wheat shivering as it became golden and heavy headed with nourishment;
He loved the fortressed mountain country, the desolation where peace grew.
He loved the earth, loved it as a lover, because it is God’s earth;
He loved it, because it was created by His Father from nothingness to be Life’s temple.
- Donald Evans, Cread Crist, Cyhoeddiadau Barddus, 1986
(trans. Cynthia and Saunders Davies)

Lord, be with us

Lord, be with us this day,
Within us to purify us;
Above us to draw us up;
Beneath us to sustain us;
Before us to lead us;
Behind us to restrain us;
Around us to protect us.
- St Patrick

A Prayer from the Hebrides

The Gospel of the God of life
To shelter thee, to aid thee,
Yea, the Gospel of beloved Christ
The holy Gospel of the Lord.

To keep thee from all malice,
From every dole and dolour;
To keep thee from all spite,
From evil eye and anguish.

Thou shalt travel thither, thou shalt travel
hither,
Thou shalt travel hill and headland,
Thou shalt travel down, thou shalt travel up,
Thou shalt travel ocean and narrow.

Christ Himself is shepherd over thee,
Enfolding thee on every side;
He will not forsake thee hand or foot,
Nor let evil come anight thee.

Monastic Life Ideals

Could we live, ourselves, with the ideals of (at least aspects of) "those humble yet august souls, who dare to live upon the very confines of the great mystery, waiting between the world closed to them and heaven not yet opened, turned toward the daylight not yet seen, with only the happiness of thinking that they know where it is, their aspirations directed toward the abyss and the unknown, their gaze fixed on the motionless gloom, kneeling, stufefied, shuddering and half borne away at certain times by the deep pulsations of Eternity."
- Victor Hugo, 'Les Miserables"


What would I do if I was 'half borne away at times by the deep pulsations of Eternity?

Colonies of Heaven

The Monastery - "that singular place, from which, as from the summit of a lofty mountain, we perceive, on one side, the abyss in which we are, and on the other, the abyss wherein we are to be; it is a narrow and misty boundary that separates two worlds, where the unfeebled ray of life commingles with the uncertain ray of death."
- Victor Hugo, 'Les Miserables'