What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu.
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
'You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
'They called me the hyacinth girl.'
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Od' und leer das Meer.
Thus, I began a new direction on this blog, decrying the weakness of modern conservatism. Formerly this blog was called Voice in the Wilderness, but I felt the title was unoriginal and I did not have the courage to claim that I was following in the footsteps of John the Baptist. So I softened it to Whispers in the Wastleland, searched for an appropriate biblical quote -- there are a few places where whispers and wastlelands are mentioned -- but none seemed appropriate.
The title of the website is a play on the etymology of the word hermit. Indeed, also valid for this site is Eremite's Wilderness or eremites wilderness which would mean desert wilderness when the Greek word is translated. Additionally, there are some interesting personal connections. My mother grew up in a village Saint Antoine, more properly, the parish of Saint Antoine L'Ermite, named after Saint Anthony the hermit of the Egyptian desert. Saint Anthony is considered to be the founder of Christian monasticism. My father grew up in a nearby village Notre Dame (Our Lady). My parents married in my mother's parish and my birthday is the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes (however, my actual day of birth was on a Sunday). The healing waters of Lourdes and the desert are quite a contrast and yet, naturally, I've come to think of the Church as an oasis in the wastleland.
So when Pope Benedict XVI spoke of deserts and water during the homily of his installation Mass, I knew I had found a match, an appropriate signature quote for the blog (n.b. Saint Benedict is the founder of western monasticism):
For the Fathers of the Church, the parable of the lost sheep, which the shepherd seeks in the desert, was an image of the mystery of Christ and the church. The human race -- every one of us -- is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; he cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the cross. He takes it upon his shoulders and carries our humanity; he carries us all -- he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.
The pastor must be inspired by Christ's holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God's darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth's treasures no longer serve to build God's garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction. The church as a whole and all her pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, toward the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the one who gives us life, and life in abundance.
Update: Credit to Amy Welborn for highlighting the desert theme and pointing out that St. Benedict was on the pope's mind as he chose his new name.
A personal note: I visited Blessed John XXIII seminary today. I met Father Peter Uglietto (the next rector for Pope John), who remarked to the effect that it was an interesting coincidence that when we scheduled the appointment several weeks ago, we had no idea that it would fall on the day of the pope's funeral.
Indeed.
Summoning all the sagacity and acumen I could muster at the moment, I replied, "Uh huh."
;-)
During the homily during this morning's Mass, the priest noted the pope's constant call for solidarity through prayer. In this time, the world is united in prayer for JPII. May it be done as the Father wills; let it be known that the world stands by the pope in prayer.
After Mass, one of the parishioners (whom I didn't recognize as a daily communicant) came into the sacristy to thank father for the wonderful homily (he is on a roll, yesterday's homily was great as well). As the man turned to leave, he called to his son (around 4 years old), "Come, John Paul." :-) Father mentioned the many baptisms he has done for boys carrying that name.
May his journey be a peaceful one, and when he meets his Risen Lord may he receive praise for a job well done.
Talk is cheap.
To those subject to the totalitarian communist regimes, Pope John Paul II said, "You are not who they say you are." To the "enlightened" West, the supposed free countries of the world, Pope John Paul's strongest words were never spoken. To the post-Christian secular world, which not quite demanded, but strongly urged that the frail and ailing pontiff step down, Pope John Paul spoke for the helpless, the ailing, the weak, "We are not who you say we are." A man's worth is not measured by his utility. His last years will be called heroic -- he kept to his mission until the very last -- but let us not forget this great lesson. In the dark shadow of the tragedy of Terri Schiavo's end, this pope has given testimony by his very actions that it's not about the "quality of life," it's about the "value of life."
Today, AP put the following on the wire:
Navarro-Valls said John Paul asked aides to read him the biblical passage describing the final stage of the Way of the Cross, the path that Christ took to his Crucifixion. In that stage, according to the Bible, Christ's body was taken down from the cross, wrapped in a linen shroud and placed in his tomb.
Navarro-Valls said the pope followed attentively and made the sign of the cross.
"This is surely an image I have never seen in these 26 years," Navarro-Valls said. Choking up, he walked out of the room.
The pope from Galilee is now the pope at Golgotha.
From John 21:
17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." (Jesus) said to him, "Feed my sheep.
18 Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go."
19 He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."