WHAT  TO  DO

Feast of St. Benedict [c. 480 to c. 547] 


Quote of the Day - July 11,  2010


"To relieve the poor;
to clothe the naked;
to visit the sick;
to bury the dead;
to help the afflicted;
to console the sorrowing;
to avoid worldly conduct;
to prefer nothing to the love of Christ."


From the Rule of St. Benedict - Rule 4 - 6th century

HATRED: 

THERE IS A 
 CONSEQUENCE

Quote for the Day  - July 10,  2010

"You lose a lot of time hating people."


Marian Anderson [1897-1993], New York Times, April. 18, 1965

Marian Anderson photo by Carl Van Vechten [1940]

Photo on Top Right: Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939 - the famous outdoor Marian Anderson Concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The crowd was estimated at 75.000. One song was "My Country 'Tis of Thee'". She had been refused permission to sing in an integrated concert in Constitution Hall by the DAR - the Daughters of the American Revolution. Next the District of Columbia refused permission allowing her to sing in a local - all white high school. Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady, and several other prominent DAR members resigned. Marian Anderson had experienced prejudice and racial hatred in her concerts across America. Her manager, Sol Hurok, persuaded Harold L. Ickes, the Secretary of the Interior, to use the Lincoln Memorial for the famous open air concert - heard on radios across America. Read the quote above again.

PREACH TO THE PERSON
IN THE MIRROR!

Quote of the Day - July 9, 2010 


"People are very inclined to set moral standards for others."


Elizabeth Drew, The New Yorker, February 16, 1987

LIFE:

OUT OF MY HANDS

OUT OF MY CONTROL

Quote for the Day  - July 8, 2010


"Jesus' ministry
was clearly defined,
and the alternativeswere spelled out.
A choice was made -
life abundant,
full, and free for all.
Make no mistake about it,the day that choice was made,
Jesus became suspect.
That day in the temple
he sealed the fate
already prepared for him.
How was the world
to understand one
who rejected
an offer of power and control?"

Joan B. Campbell, Sojourners, August-September 1991


Fresco on top: "The Temptation of Christ", from around 1125 - in the Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga, in the province of Soria, Spain. The Fresco was transferred to canvas.

HOT

Quote for the Day  - July 7,  2010

"And when I say heat, I mean the kind that thickens the whites of eggs left in the coop and that makes the lizzards, scurrying from the shelter of one little bush to another, flip over on their backs and blow their toes."


Juanita Brooks [1898-1989], "The Water's In" - Harper's Magazine, May, 1941


Today it's predicted to hit 101 or 102 degrees here in Maryland.

GOLF: THE GAME 
OF  LIFE 

Quote of the Day - July  6,  2010


"Those little lines around your mouth, those crow's feet around your eyes, the millimeter your derriere has slipped in the past decade - they're just nature's way of telling you that you've got nine holes left to play, so get out here and have a good time."

Bruce Willis, Moonlighting, 1980's

SUMMER CONCERT

Bugs, birds, chirps, squeaks,
bluebirds and frogs, owls
and a bark or two from two

dogs down the street,
wind chimes next door,
so many different sounds
coming through the trees and grass,
streaming across the invisible breeze,
warm summer evening – music
to my ears – sitting here,
in the semi-darkness, simply listening,
in a comfortable auditorium seat,
in a screened in porch.
Who says God didn’t want
to make music in the night
with Bernstein and Bach,
Ravelle and Rachmaninoff?

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2010