https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fqzWs6KPoE St. Patrick's Breastplate, arr. Ron Lewis, Church of the Apostles, Columbia, SC, 2022 It's not all about St. Paddy's Day parades, no matter how much fun it is to march behind your local candidate for city, county or state office. Nor is it always and only about pub-crawling and dyeing the Chicago River green. … Continue reading It’s not all about green beer: How an Anglican hymn attibuted to St. Patrick got me through a midlife career change and a 12-step recovery program
Jesuit spirituality as a antidote to desolation in the aftermath of a lost election in a dying empire
Thomas Cole, 'The Course of Empire: Desolation,' 1836 (Wikimedia Commons). Even before Pennsylvania was called for Trump, I shut off the internet Tuesday night and went to bed with a good book. The news was too much to bear. By coincidence, Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization had come in the mail that afternoon. … Continue reading Jesuit spirituality as a antidote to desolation in the aftermath of a lost election in a dying empire
Nerdy, music major-y question about an Anglo-Irish hymn — worth a listen even if you aren’t a music theory nerd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fqzWs6KPoE Rod Lewis and students, Church of the Apostles, Columbia, SC, Trinity Sunday 2020 Since it looks like I'm about to get locked out of Facebook again (I blogged about it HERE, back in May), I'm going to post something about a hymn that's associated with Trinity Sunday and St. Patrick's Day instead of Advent. … Continue reading Nerdy, music major-y question about an Anglo-Irish hymn — worth a listen even if you aren’t a music theory nerd
Ringing in the new (church) year on St. Andrew’s Day with the daily prayer and meditation on an Irish Jesuit website
Pietro da Cortona, 'Calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew,' ca. 1626-30 (Wikimedia Commons) One of the few things I remember clearly from my confirmation classes 50-plus years ago in an Episcopal church is the date of St. Andrew's Day. Somehow it lodged in my preadolescent brain, when I wasn't wisecracking about the wives of … Continue reading Ringing in the new (church) year on St. Andrew’s Day with the daily prayer and meditation on an Irish Jesuit website
‘Daniel O’Connell’s Hymn’ performed by Shaun Davey and family, with excerpt from O’Connell’s original speech in 1843
Parked here until I can reactivate my trad music blog Hogfiddle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jqvDp7JnMQ A rather different kind of Irish music, and one I find I'm increasingly drawn to, is by semiclassical Irish composer Shaun Davey. He's known for songs, backed by pipes (mostly uilleann, but with Scottish bagpipes occasionally thrown in) and symphony orchestra, typically featuring … Continue reading ‘Daniel O’Connell’s Hymn’ performed by Shaun Davey and family, with excerpt from O’Connell’s original speech in 1843
Who am I in Christ? Who are the people of God? A surprising answer from Ireland that brings the abstractions down to earth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkLzIeztC3c Shuan Davey, "The Deer's Cry" [St. Patrick's Breastplate]. [...] Christ with me, Christ before me,Christ behind me, Christ in me,Christ beneath me, Christ above me,Christ on my right, Christ on my left,Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,Christ when I arise, Christ to shield meChrist in the heart of everyone who … Continue reading Who am I in Christ? Who are the people of God? A surprising answer from Ireland that brings the abstractions down to earth
Can an 11th-century legend of St. Patrick teach a 21st-century skeptic to pray? Echoes of a hymn from my confirmation
An Ignatian colloquy for Trinity 2020 -- 2 of ___ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fqzWs6KPoE St. Patrick's Breastplate, arr. Rod Lewis, Columbia, S.C., Trinity Sunday 2020 Editor's note. As I try to jumpstart my prayer life, I've been experimenting with Jesuit prayer exercises known as Ignatian contemplation and the Triple Colloquy, in which you imagine yourself interacting with Jesus. … Continue reading Can an 11th-century legend of St. Patrick teach a 21st-century skeptic to pray? Echoes of a hymn from my confirmation
God’s presence in an 11th-century Irish poem and a gust of wind on a nice spring afternoon — for Trinity Sunday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lx-iI-kFDA St. Patrick's Breastplate, Church of the Redeemer, Kenmore, Wash. John 3:1-17 (NRSV). 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being … Continue reading God’s presence in an 11th-century Irish poem and a gust of wind on a nice spring afternoon — for Trinity Sunday
How a trip to the eye doctor’s and the Serenity Prayer renewed my interest in Turlough O’Carolan, the blind Irish harper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xInuesYrUPA Steve Cooney's arrangement of 'Si Bheag Si Mohr' (Carolan's melody begins at 1:32). It started with a visit to the eye doctor's back in October, when the case positivity rate for Covid-19 was low enough to allow for routine medical appointments. My eye test came back with signs of the very beginnings of something … Continue reading How a trip to the eye doctor’s and the Serenity Prayer renewed my interest in Turlough O’Carolan, the blind Irish harper
A ‘Lutheropalian’ take on confirmation classes and an Anglican hymn based on an old Irish legend of St. Patrick at Tara
https://www.facebook.com/peter.ellertsen/posts/2783699998557695 St. Patrick's Day came this year in a flurry of good news, answered prayers and an affirmation of my childhood faith. It came in the middle of a busy week, and I didn't even remember it was St. Paddy's until evening when I saw the pictures of corned beef, cabbage and full Irish breakfasts … Continue reading A ‘Lutheropalian’ take on confirmation classes and an Anglican hymn based on an old Irish legend of St. Patrick at Tara
Serendipity
"There are people walking so softly ahead of us we don't even perceive them." - Mike Anderson, singer-songwriter and storyteller of Jacksonville, Ill. OK, let's get something established right off the bat: This post isn't going to be about little miracles, divine Providence or God's intervention in my daily life. To the extent I even … Continue reading Serendipity
Brother Richard’s “Lockdown,” a Zen moment in this time of coronavirus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x25DwatvjA&t=51s MBPPC Backyard Preacher | Mt. Baker Park Presbyterian Church, Seattle | March 17, 2020 Anderson Cooper closed the CNN News town hall he co-hosted tonight with Dr. Sanjay Gupta by reading a poem by Brother Richard Hendrick, OSF (Capuchin), of County Donegal in Ireland. It's titled "Lockdown"; it has been widely circulated on the … Continue reading Brother Richard’s “Lockdown,” a Zen moment in this time of coronavirus
A bookish, unlikely mantra for Advent in a dark time — wait, be patient, keep faith … just in case the world isn’t about to turn yet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hPDrkqZGWE Canticle of the Turning | katherinemoore77 Advent has always seemed to me like a study in polarities. Darkness and dawn, the soaring promise of the Magnificat -- "He hath put down the mighty from their seat, / and hath exalted the humble." Light overcomes darkness; hope overcomes despair (or, more often in my case, … Continue reading A bookish, unlikely mantra for Advent in a dark time — wait, be patient, keep faith … just in case the world isn’t about to turn yet
John Knoepfle, 1923-2019
John Knoepfle, who died Saturday at the age of 96, was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1999 by Springfield College in Illinois (later Benedictine University Springfield). As the faculty adviser/de facto editor of the campus literary magazine at the time, I obtained John's permission to publish his commencement address to the class of 1999, perhaps … Continue reading John Knoepfle, 1923-2019
Ordinary Time 