my whole being was
irradiated by a kind
of heavenly joy

I lived in solitude, surrounded by books on the history of religion, which have always been my favourite reading.

This may help to account for a curious episode that took place on one of my stays in the villino. I had a religious experience.

It took place in the Church of San Lorenzo, but did not seem to be connected with the harmonious beauty of the architecture.

I can only say that for a few minutes my whole being was irradiated by a kind of heavenly joy, far more intense than anything I had known before.

This state of mind lasted for several months, and, wonderful though it was, it posed an awkward problem in terms of action.

My life was far from blameless: I would have to reform.

My family would think I was going mad, and perhaps after all, it was a delusion, for I was in every way unworthy of receiving such a flood of grace.

Gradually the effect wore off, and I made no effort to retain it.

I think I was right; I was too deeply embedded in the world to change course.

But that I had “felt the finger of God’ I am quite sure, and, although the memory of this experience has faded, it still helps me to understand the joys of the saints.

Kenneth Clark in (The Other Half: A Self Portrait).

I actually came across the quote in opinion piece, The Shock of Faith: It’s Nothing Like I Thought It Would Be by David Brooks (Dec. 19, 2024 – New York Times)

Mr. Brooks writes: When faith finally tiptoed into my life it didn’t come through information or persuasion but, at least at first, through numinous experiences. These are the scattered moments of awe and wonder that wash over most of us unexpectedly from time to time. Looking back over the decades, I remember rare transcendent moments at the foot of a mountain in New England at dawn, at Chartres Cathedral in France, looking at images of the distant universe or of a baby in the womb. In those moments, you have a sense that you are in the presence of something overwhelming, mysterious. Time is suspended or at least blurs. One is enveloped by an enormous bliss.

The art historian Kenneth Clark, who was not religious, had one of these experiences at an Italian church: “I can only say that for a few minutes my whole being was irradiated by a kind of heavenly joy, far more intense than anything I had known before.”

I liked the quote so much I had to track it down in the original.

Maybe I have too many of these moments, listening to music or walking on the beach on along the road and I see things or hear things that are too much to be man made.

Maybe I go looking for them.

I walk the beach and think of God saying, ‘Just showing off.’

I think of another Kenneth Clark quote that went along the lines of, “… Man leaves his record in his words, his music and his art. Only the art doesn’t lie.”

yield to power isn’t
that it is legitimate
or that it is just

Most of us have sound enough moral instincts to reject the notion that might makes right. Power alone is not a sufficient marker of righteousness. We may watch people bow to power out of fear or awe, but yielding to power isn’t the same thing as acknowledging that it is legitimate or that it is just.

David French in the opinion piece Why Are So Many Christians So Cruel? (New York Times – Dec. 22, 2024).

appropriate but
mistaken impression things
keep getting bigger

From the last line of the article, The Godfather Part II at 50: Francis Ford Coppola’s sprawling masterpiece by Jesse Hassenger in the Guardian.

Mr. Hassenger writes, “The Godfather Part II gave the appropriate but mistaken impression that for a pugnacious American visionary, things could just keep getting bigger.”

Thinking of other big name, pugnacious American visionaries in the news these days.

Mr. Hassenger writes:  Some years later, the ambition and scale of peak American 70s film-making would wobble and collapse, after some big-budget epics failed to pay off and blockbuster sequels – a little like The Godfather Part II, but maybe not so dark, not so long, not so downbeat – became even more enticing.

I am thinking these other big name, pugnacious American visionaries will also wobble and collapse.

As Big Bill wrote … ‘Tis a consummation to be wished.’

get punched in the mouth
exactly what we needed
talking to all of us

“What happens is you get used to eating filet, and I’m talking to all of us,” Campbell said.

“And everything’s good. Life’s good, but you forgot what it was like when you had nothing and you ate your (bleeping) molded bread and it was just fine, and it gave you everything you needed, and sometimes you got to get punched in the mouth and remember what it used to be like to really appreciate where you are.

And we’ll do that.

And so we got a bad taste in our mouth, we got kicked around the other day, we lost a few guys and you know what?

It’s exactly what we needed.

This is exactly what we needed.”

From the article, Lions’ Dan Campbell’s epic interview: ‘You forgot what it was like when you had nothing‘ by Dave Birkett in the Detroit Free Press.

I am not saying the football or sports SHOULD define us but I DO think that there are applications of this to many many facets of life on earth today.

Also have to take my hat to Coach Campbell for is awe inspiriting command of the English language.

I once attended a funeral where the eulogy was made by then Michigan Head Football Coach, Bo Schembechler.

It was a funeral but he had the audience ready to run through a brick wall, head first, when he finished talking.