Posted at 4:00 PM on 12/4/2008 | Permalink

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

For many, Advent would not be Advent if introduced by any hymn other than Conditor Alme Siderum (Creator of the Stars of Night). It is well-nigh impossible for even the best of poets to find a formula that really corresponds to the first line of the Latin text. The Latin "sidus" ["siderum"] means more than "star." It includes the stars, of course, but also sun and moon and planets and all the heavenly constellations and comets and meteors. These are the cosmic elements that will appear in later stanzas of the hymn. For the ancients, these mysterious heavenly bodies that moved about and that had their cycles of waxing and waning and that in some unfathomable way could affect the course of human destiny-these heavenly bodies were perhaps living beings.

The opening line of this Advent hymn should make us think of the great array of all the powerful cosmic bodies that figure in those eschatological texts of scripture where the whole of the created universe responds to the presence of its God. The point of reference is not some lovely nightfall scene studded with gently glimmering stars, but rather that Great Day when "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken" (Matthew 24:29). Indeed, this Advent hymn, if we really look at it, is something of a "Dies irae" in a less strident mode.

In stanza three, the world's evening draws to a close. We recognize in the last three lines of this stanza the allusion to verse six of Psalm 19, the verse that occurs so frequently in the Christmastide cycle: "And he, as a bridegroom coming forth from the bridal chamber, rejoices as a giant to run his course." So just when the world seems doomed to certain extinction, the Sun comes forth in a blaze of light and begins its paschal journey across the whole of human life and experience... (C. Waddell in An Advent Sourcebook, LTP 1988)

Conditor alme siderum,
Aeterna lux credentium,
Christe, redemptor omnium,
Exaudi preces supplicum.

Creator of the stars of night,
Your people's everlasting light,
O Christ, Redeemer of us all,
We pray you hear us when we call.

Posted at 2:00 PM on 12/4/2008 | Permalink

What it looks like when cluster bombs DON'T explode...




What it looks like when cluster bombs DO explode...


Photos from Jack Scully's blog Am I Dead Yet?

(May 25, 2008 post on this same topic)

U.S. not among signers of cluster bomb treaty

By Rich Heffern and Thomas C. Fox
December 3, 2008

(emphasis added)

Some 100 nations signed a major anti-cluster bomb treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, during a conference that began Dec. 3 in Oslo, Norway. It is a move that supporters hope will shame the United States, Russia, China, Israel and other non-signers into abandoning weapons blamed for maiming and killing thousands of innocent civilians.

Norway was first to sign, followed by Laos and Lebanon, both hard-hit by the weapons.

The drive to ban cluster bombs gathered momentum after Israel’s war with Hezbollah in 2006, when it scattered some 4 million bomblets over Lebanon.

Supporters call it the most significant disarmament and humanitarian treaty of the decade, banning the use, production and stockpiling of cluster munitions and obligating user nations to provide victim assistance and to clear contaminated land.

Signatories include many of the world’s producers, stockpilers and past users.

“This treaty shows what can be achieved when states act together,” said Co-Chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) Grethe Østern of Norwegian People’s Aid. “The real winners are the thousands of people who will not have to lose life or limbs in the future. This effort has been driven by cluster bomb survivors in nations affected by them. Because of this the treaty has the strongest provisions to assist victims that have ever been laid down in international law.”

Like chemical, biological and land mine conventions before, the treaty bans an entire category of weapons. For over 40 years, cluster bombs have killed and injured civilians during and after conflicts.

"Innocent civilians should not be the majority of people killed and that’s what this weapon does. Humanity has gone beyond this,” said Lynn Bradach, whose son Travis, a Marine, was killed in Iraq in 2003 while on a team disarming unexploded ordnance.

On average, a quarter of all cluster bomb victims are children. The treaty will help ensure that survivors, their families and communities receive measurable assistance, including meeting physical and psychosocial needs, rights and national action plans.

“Since 1997, there’s been a de facto ban on land mines. We think that will happen again with cluster bombs,” said Thomas Nash, CMC coordinator. “The moral stigma is going to be so powerful, we think cluster bombs also will quickly become a thing of the past.”

The Holy See not only signed the treaty but ratified it. The Vatican said by ratifying the treaty on the same day it was signed, it wanted “to give a strong political signal.” Pope Benedict XVI voiced support for the treaty effort in mid-May.

The United States has refused to sign the treaty, and earlier this year it boycotted the negotiations leading up to the treaty, claiming the cluster bombs are needed for military purposes in some instances.
...

Cluster bombs, which can be dropped from a variety of airplanes, each contain about 200 bomblets, according to Handicap International, which cofounded the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Handicap International won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.

Each bomblet is the size of a soft drink can and, depending on the flight of the bomb, can be scattered over wide areas. It is the equivalent of dropping, as one description put it, “a shower of tiny hand grenades,” all capable of exploding and sending lethal shrapnel flying.

A survivor described the weapons in action: “You cannot understand their sickly consequences. They look like sweets scattered from the sky. You don’t realize what they are until they touch you. You know it when they make you bleed. They massacre people in minutes.”
...

(Complete article at NCR)

-ConcordPastor

Posted at 10:40 AM on 12/4/2008 | Permalink

Pope Benedict XVI had a very full and rich Wednesday General Audience catechesis on St. Paul’s teachings of Christ as the new Adam (you can read the Zenit translation HERE). As we work our way through the first week of Advent though, it was the Holy Father’s comments to the Italian speaking pilgrims that [...]

Posted at 8:00 PM on 12/3/2008 | Permalink

Yesterday the custodian at my church spoke to me as I was leaving after Mass. He mentioned that when he came in early in the morning he had found the heat in the upstairs church at 70º. I immediately realized what had happened. After the last Mass on Sunday I forgot to set the thermostat to have some warmth in the church for Evening Prayer on Sunday night so when I arrived at about 6:00 p.m., I jacked up the heat to 70º with the hope of warming the nave for those coming to pray. The problem was that I forgot to reset the temperature after Evening Prayer. I explained this to Joe and he said he was relieved to know that someone hadn't just played around with the thermostat.

It was much later in the afternoon that I had what I'd call an "attack of self-insight" about this incident. I thought about other times when someone else had done the same thing with the thermostat, leaving the boiler pumping heat into an empty church - something we can't ever afford to and especially not this year! I thought of the judgments I've made about such an error - and others like it. I thought of how upset I would have been had someone else's mistake wasted all that fuel. And I realized I'd made no such a judgment about my own carelessness. I recognized the error but didn't get upset with myself. I thought of it as "lesson learned" - one that I'd need to keep in mind the next time I set the thermostat...

How often do I go easy on myself for the very things that rile and anger me when others do them? How is it that I am so understanding and gentle with my own mistakes and often so impatient with others'?

In this Advent season, there's a lesson here for me as I prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, the Sun of Justice. If there's a lesson here for you, too, feel free to share in my attack of self-insight...

Image above by JoshuaDesigns

-ConcordPastor

Posted at 4:00 PM on 12/3/2008 | Permalink

Image by Genchi

The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many islands be glad.
Cloud and darkness surround the Lord;
justice and right are the foundation of his throne...
The heavens proclaim God's justice;
all peoples see his glory.
All who serve idols are put to shame,
who glory in worthless things;
all gods bow down before you.
Zion hears and is glad,
and the cities of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments, O LORD.
You, LORD, are the Most High over all the earth,
exalted far above all gods.
The LORD loves those who hate evil,
protects the lives of the faithful,
rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
Light dawns for the just;
gladness, for the honest of heart.
Rejoice in the LORD, you just,
and praise his holy name.
- Psalm 97



Be my powerful King, Lord:
give me strength when I am weak
and let your just way be my path...

Keep me from treasuring what has no worth,
protect me when I am afraid,
rescue me from my lack of faith and trust...

Be the light in the darkness of my worry,
the joy in the shadows of my grief,
the ruler of my deeds and desires...

Be the just and gentle King of my life, Lord,
and teach my heart to long to see you soon
and very soon...

Our Father...


-ConcordPastor