First Sunday in Advent

 See! The ruler of the earth shall come,
the Lord who will take from us the heavy burden of our exile.
The Lord will come soon, will not delay.
The Lord will make the darkest places bright.
--from a monastic liturgy

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

"I did not know where I was.  I experienced an almost total change...I tried to find myself and could not...The greatest joy burst from the depths of my soul; I could not speak...I could not account for the faith and awareness that I had acquired.  All that I could say is that in the moment of this phenomenon, the band fell from my eyes; and not one band, but a whole collection of them, and they disappeared rapidly, one after the other, as snow, mud and ice disappear under the influence of the burning sun."
--Alphonse Ratisbonne upon his miraculous conversion.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

November

Not yesterday I learned to know
    The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
    And they are better for her praise.
--from My November Guest by Robert Frost 

Thanks

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."

--G.K. Chesterton

(I am grateful for each and every one of you, dear readers. May this Thanksgiving Day be a happy and peaceful one for you all, and may Almighty God richly bless you and your dear ones.) 

The road

That is the road we all have to take--over the Bridge of Sighs into eternity.
--Soren Kierkegaard

Never cease loving

“Never cease loving a person, and never give up hope for him, for even the prodigal son who had fallen most low, could still be saved; the bitterest enemy and also he who was your friend could again be your friend; love that has grown cold can kindle.”

--Soren Kierkegaard

Feast of Saint Cecilia

For music, I must think, was given

To be of higher life a token,

The language by the angels spoken,

The native tongue of heaven!

--Christopher Pearse Cranch in "The Music of Nature" 

 

Saint Cecilia, pray for us.