NEVERLAND. HAPPILAND.

This is the quiet hours; the theaters

Have gathered in their crowds, and steadily

The million lights blaze on for few to see,

Robbing the sky of stars that should be hers,

  a somber man drifts by, and only we

  pass up the street unwearied, warm and free,

For over us the olden magic stirs.

Beneath the liquid splendor of the lights

We live a little ere the charm is spent;

This night is ours, of all the golden nights,

The pavement an enchanted palace floor,

   And Youth the player on the viol, who sent

A strain of music thru an open door.


Sarah Teasdale (1884 - 1933)
BROADWAY


(sampung pasasalamat sa mga kaibigang nakasalamuha)

PRINCETON

Come, you full of knowledge, you know nothing.

Come, you dripping with riches and things, you have nothing.

Come, you dressed in honours and accolades, you are nothing.

Come. Come you all. You who are tired and sick and wounded.

You who are hurt, deceived, and dead.

Come you all and sip of water.

Come you all, be filled with bread.




Come to me, your shelter and stead.

Come be loved,

 and dressed,

  well-fed.

Come to me for I'm your safety.

Come to me,

I'm your salvation.

Come to me and find your friend.

Come and cease being lost, unloved.

Come, beloved,

Come to me.


(sampung pasasalamat sa mga kaibigang nakasalamuha)

VAN GOGH'S EAR

I found this gem in the middle of our afternoon walk. Appropriately called "Van Gogh's Ear," This sculpture/ outdoor installation by Elmgreen & Dragset embodies their art manifesto which seeks to stir in the audience what critiques would describe as a sense of "displacement," of "disconnect" through their oeuvre (most famously represented by "Prada Marfa," which is a full reconstruction of a Prada storefront by the roadside of a Texan desert).

Van Gogh's Ear as a totem for "displacement" and "uprootedness" is none more appropriately situated than in the middle of this brash and unabashed mecca of unbridled commercialism and materialism. A pitstop of sorts for the weary army of people from all walks and persuasions each having his or her own  pursuit both profound and profane, all wanting to tear a bite off the proverbial "Big Apple."


(sampung pasasalamat sa mga kaibigang nakasalamuha)

OVER EARTH AND UNDER HEAVEN

In a plane, alone, again

To see, and smell, and see;

  and touch, and to perceive,

  to be touched

  and be received.


In a crowd, yet unconnected

Surrounded yet unbound.

  In the middle of being lost

  and found

  I am.


Over Earth

And under Heaven.


***

… Prayed the Tuesday Divine Office two days in a row, while chatting with friends from tomorrow: EWTN-meets-Twilight Zone-meets-Back-To-The-Future.


(sampung pasasalamat sa mga kaibigang nakasalamuha)

WE ARE CREATURES NOT GOD: LENT ACCORDING TO POPE FRANCIS

Lent is

A school.

A season.

A crash course.

An important reminder

of something too often forgotten.


Says the good Pope,

We are creatures.

We

Are

NOT

GOD!

We need to disabuse ourselves

of this utterly insane delusion

that we are masters, lords, movers, shakers and gods

in this life

and of the world.


We are NOT.


We're born yesterday.

We'll die tomorrow.

But from whence we came

And whereto after now

We really do not know!


We

Are

Not

GOD!


We are after all

Completely

At the mercy

of Him

who truly IS!

(photo not mine. credit to the owner)

GIFT TO LOLO KIKO (Icon of Filipino Holy Family for Pope Francis' Encounter with families, MOA - Arena)

LIGHT-BEARER

A strange insight that as we processed with lighted candles into the church earlier for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, I recalled that the name "lucifer," too, means "light-bearer."

As Christians we are called to be bearers not just of any "light" but ONLY the light of Christ.

To carry within us and to spread light other than that which comes from God is to be just another lucifer.

(Templon epistyle: Annunciation, Nativity and Presentation at the Temple, 

Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai, second half of the 12th c.)