Le blog de la Bergerie
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Le blog de la Bergerie |
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7 photos of California in Autumn
Years ago, I had read about the value of "memorizing" the psalms and reciting them often interiorly (and lovingly and gratefully) and it made so much sense to me that I decided to do it myself. I had also read that priests, monks and nuns went thru the whole psalter regularly and had memorized most of them, therefore I decided to "learn" a dozen of them and use them as these most beautiful and poetic, essential and formative tools for coming one step closer to God. I also realized within 6 months that I only learned and practiced barely half of what I had set to do, meaning 4 or 5 of them at the max! But I was so happy and fulfilled with them that I certainly wanted to go on with this practice of turning to them often for support and for joy, for their calming and centering effect on my moods and for replenishing my virtuous pools of courage, patience and discernment. All of these tremendous benefits from a few verses written thousands of years ago happened again and again although the specific name of "Christ" was not mentioned. I had noticed already that all prayers and hymns centered on Christ had the same effect on me of getting "resourced" immediately. And these few psalms did the same to me... Isn’t something? I took it as the proof that Saint Pope JP II was right, the Jews are our "older brothers in the faith", that we are therefore the "Chosen people". I also realized very well how this was all happening to me as a grace from God, not because I am exceptionally clever - this being very clear to me daily!
This verse is fascinating to me: so short and so much to the point! In a nutshell, it states :can you "you little humans that you are, can ANY of you manipulate the stars and planets?" and then right after this first part of the verse implying gigantic - and out of this world - powers comes a very simple one re: controlling the end of the hibernation period and getting the mama bear and its baby bears to come out of the cave... It seems that some humans (such as hunters or rangers) might be able to do this, but certainly not myself. Isn't the juxtaposition of these two statements surprising and interesting? Certainly, very poetic.
This verse also speaks to me very clearly whenever I read it: the commands of practicing "patience" and "prudence" are short but profound, and any parent or grandparent, or any teacher or instructor will appreciate this useful reminder. And the expression "in season and out of season" is such a nice creative touch! Here we are, thousands of years later, very much influenced by trends, by cultural fashion, by worldly modes and capricious rages of the moment. For that matter, we even have a very new career (born within the last 20 years, at the very same time than our social media and new platforms arrived, and a constant ever growing dependance on statistics) and it is called "Influencer". "Preaching" is the actual command here but the word "influencer" is today's trendy version of "teaching, leading, guiding"... As Christians, we are all asked to be preachers, for that matter as soon as we get out of bed in the morning and way before we open our mouth. In reality, Christian or not, everyone of us is a preacher and/or an influencer, just by breathing, by being, by existing, we are a role model. For myself, this is how I look at it, so it is better to be aware of it and do the best we possibly can with it! I highly recommend reading Rene Girard and its mimetic theories.
Copyright©2016-2023Michele Szekely
Hommage a René Girard my own article here on this site