Restraining the tongue
The tongue should be prudently restrained, but not completely tied up.
It is written: Whoever is wise will keep silence until the right moment.
In
other words, when it
is seen that speech would be op****tune the censor****p of silence is
relaxed,
and an effort
made to speak some appropriate word. Elsewhere it is written: There is a
time to keep silence
and a time to speak. Different cir***stances should be prudently judged;
the
tongue should
not be unprofitably loosened in speech when it ought to be restrained; nor
should it indolently
withhold speech when it could speak with profit. Reflecting well upon
these
things, the psalmist
says: Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord, and a door of discretion before
my
lips. He does
not ask for a wall to be set before his lips but a door, in other words,
something that can be
opened and closed. We must take care to learn, then, when we should
discreetly and at the
proper time open our mouths to speak, and when we should keep them closed
and preserve
a fitting silence.
-Gregory the Great
<<>><<>><<>>
January 12th - St. Benedict Biscop
Benedict Biscop was born in 628 into the Northumbrian nobility. He was
raised in the court of the King of England. He served King Oswy and
distinguished himself, particularly in the use of arms. The King had
chosen
him as his personal aide-de-camp and he exercised an im****tant role in the
war campaigns of this monarch. Benedict received many awards and proofs of
esteem for his valor in combat and fidelity to the King.
Nonetheless, after a pilgrimage to Rome, Benedict returned to England and
asked permission to leave a career of arms and to enter the religious
life.
He dedicated himself for several years to study and prayer with the idea
of
promoting on the British Isle the Roman religious art and liturgy of
Western
Christianity.
Later he entered the Order of St. Benedict and founded numerous
monasteries,
the most famous being the Monastery of St. Peter at Wearmouth in 674. He
also took charge and reformed others where fidelity to the rule had become
relaxed. He was a trusted adviser to St. Theodore, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, and St. Adrian in their activities in England.
It was St. Benedict Biscop who initiated a great program in architecture
and
art. He introduced on the English Isle stain glass windows and paintings
on
the Church walls, as well as Roman music and sacred chant. He sent for
architects and artists from Italy to build and decorate the Churches, and
liturgists from Rome to train the monks in the common practices. To
regularize the religious ceremonies, he wrote a book called On the
Celebration of Feasts.
At the end of his life he suffered from a painful paralysis that deprived
him the use of his lower limbs and tested his patience greatly. He died in
690.
Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)
Considering the historical period in which St. Benedict Biscop lived, it
is
interesting to consider his special mission. He followed that era of
saints
who founded nations. Those saints who founded nations were replaced or
succeeded by saints who embellished those nations. And he was clearly a
saint who embellished a nation.
He established the Roman religious styles of art and architecture in
England
by sending for Italian artists with a true Catholic spirit. He sent for
stained glass windows, as well as Mass and music books. He put order in
the
religious feasts, which at that time were almost the only kind of feasts
known. With all this, he introduced elements of beauty into the religious
life. Afterward, these elements of beauty would spread from the religious
to
the tem****al sphere. For, in all the movements of the History of
Christianity, such embellishments began in the religious life and,
afterward, spread to the tem****al sphere. For this reason, he was one who
"embellished" the England of his time.
This saint, this "embellisher" saint, was not soft, spineless, or lacking
in
fiber. The embellishment he made had two great elements of inspiration
that
all adornments need:
First, they reflected the meditation, seriousness, and depth of a
contemplative soul who carries out this action of embellishments with
great
profundity of thought. Such a soul gives beauty a richness of content and
expression that makes it not only a thing that pleases the eyes and ears,
but also something that speaks to the mind.
Second, he carried out this act of embellishment with something of the
spirit of the warrior that he had been. Such warriors are strong, virile
men, men who know how to fight and command. It is men like these who give
rise to the dawn of the art of a nation. Soft, weak men, fearful in face
of
the fight, are the ones who produce the eras of decadence in art.
The saints who know how to meditate profoundly and also how to be warriors
-
these are the ones who give birth to all true artistic development.
This is the lesson we can take from the life of St. Benedict Biscop.
See pictures at:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j002sdSt.BenedictBiscop.htm
Saint Quote:
"Those who go off to heretics, and all who leave the [Catholic Roman]
Church
for heresy, abandon the name of Christ. Those who call these men
'Christians' are in grievous error, since they neither understand
Scripture
at all nor the faith which it contains."
-St. Athanasius (Doctor, 296-373) - "Discourse Against the Arians,"
Bible Quote:
Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory
of
the Lord is risen upon thee.
For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people: but the
Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
(Isaias
60:1-2)
<><><><>
De Profundis
Out of the depths, I have cried to Thee,
O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive to the
voice of my supplication.
If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark my iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand it?
For with Thee there is merciful
forgiveness: and by reason of Thy
law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.
My soul hath relied on His word;
my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even until
night; let Israel hope in the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy;
And with Him plenteous redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel from
all its iniquities.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
And let perpetual light ****ne upon them:
May they rest in peace. Amen.
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