August 2015

Emile Bernard. Madeleine in the Bois d'Amour on the River Aven. (late 1900s). Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

There is a hush over August. Its quietude invites every Jackself to take as one’s own Hopkins’ interior monologue: “Let be, call off thoughts awhile.” Words, too, need a rest. Only in silence can we hear the psalmist: Be still, and know that I Am God. Until later. And with glad wishes for a sweet summer’s end. Continue Reading
Andreas Feininger. Graffiti (late 20th C). Museum of the City of New York.

A man’s being a poisoner is nothing against his prose. Oscar Wilde
Every embarrassment is not a scandal. Egg on the face washes off. Scandal, by contrast, does not. It cuts to the core. A Church scandal poisons trust in those we look to for guidance through the thicket of our own caprices. And it negates those teachings and practices that exist to purify our own desires. That in mind, I turn to this flurry of recent emails clamoring about the impending gay rites between the organist at St. Continue Reading